Through the Looking Glass

by Rebecca Lorino Pond

  “The pants too.”

  She rolled her eyes then jerked her sweats down to her ankles. The chair she had been tied to was a good support for her while she stepped out of the pants.

  “Satisfied?” She glared at him.

  “I will allow you to keep on those scraps of material only until you are in the water.” He nodded to the tub filling with steaming water.

  The wooden floor was cold under her feet as she walked slowly over to the tub. The side of the tub was too high for her to just climb over, but her dilemma was quickly resolved when he lifted her by the waist and put her in the water. This was going to be the most humiliating experience of her life.

  Chapter 5

  Jakar was having a hard time controlling the lust he felt as he watched his prisoner disrobe in front of him. He should be ashamed of himself for making her do such an action in front of a total strange, but he had this gnawing need to see what was under the wet clothes that already revealed too much.

  The flimsy material covering her breasts and the triangle between her legs didn’t hide very much, but it had left him with a wanting he hadn’t expected to feel. Something was trying to tell him this woman was not a spy as he insisted she was. The stories he had heard of a woman coming from far away to help destroy a powerful enemy, had been nothing but a myth to him that he refused to believe. For so long now, the two halves of Aslog had been at war that no one hardly remembered a time when the two were united. It was equally hard to think that one woman would or could be the savior the people of Aslog had been waiting for.

  She stood before him virtually naked and shivering as he stood there ogling the shape of her legs, waist and much more. He had to force himself to speak in a normal tone or he would give away the lust he was feeling inside. When he saw her hesitate at the rim of the tub, he told himself it was a prime chance to feel her skin that looked so inviting to him.

  Her gasp when he lifted her into the water made his cock jump and when she he sank down into the water with an audible sigh he wanted to join her.

  “Are you going to stand there and watch me bathe?” Her sarcasm was beginning to wear on his nerves.

  Why couldn’t she just do as she was told without opening that pretty little mouth? He was very tempted to stay in the room with her and bathe her himself. He needed to at least give her decency of bathing alone without someone staring at her the entire time.

  “I can stay if you would like.” He gave her a look that said he was deadly serious.

  Her face paled with his statement. He chuckled out loud then left her to her bath. He closed the door behind him right before he heard a thud hit the door. If he wanted to be a complete ass to her, he should go back in there, pull her out the tub, and spank her shapely rear.

  He gave her enough time to clean herself when he decided to go back in there and tell her time was up. Not bothering to knock, he pushed the door open and heard her shriek loudly. She stood there dripping with water, holding a large towel up to cover herself.

  “You’ve had enough time. Get dressed!” He tossed her one of his shirts because he didn’t have anything else for her to wear. Nana would have to find her more appropriate clothing in the morning. For tonight, he would have her right where he wanted her in order to get the truth out of her.

  He waited in the bedroom while she dressed, pouring himself a glass of wine. The first sip slid down his throat smoothly with a slight burn to it. Unable to help himself, he down the rest of the glass in one gulp and hiss as the raw burn slid down to his stomach. He needed to be slightly numb before he started questioning her or he might not have the willpower to stay away from her.

  The door to the bathroom creaked and he turned around to see her come out dressed only in his shirt. It fell below her knees while the sleeves covered her small hands. His thoughts tried to stray to the images he knew were underneath the same material he had worn against his own body. The sight of her standing there in his shirt with her wet hair hanging down with a large clump of it covering half of her face.

  “Over here,” he said and pointed to the chairs in front of the fireplace. It wouldn’t do him any good if he continued to allow her to be cold.

  Her feet were soundless as she moved across the room to sit in the chair he had directed her to. After pouring himself another glass of wine he went to sit in the chair across from her. He wasn’t about to give her any kind of advantage by allowing her to sit where he could not see her face in order to watch her expressions.

  “What is your name?”

  “I already told you that,” she snapped at him.

  “Your entire name,” he said.

  “Isobel Hyde.”

  “Where are you from, Isobel? And do not lie to me!”

  He saw her jump at the force of his last question.

  “Do you really expect me to think that you are going to believe me?” She folded her arms over her breasts.

  He was willing to play along with her game for a while, just to see how far she was willing to take it, but his patience was wearing thin. He wanted to see how creative she would be with the lies he knew she was going to spit out.

  “Answer the question.”

  She sighed before she finally answered him. “I am from Louisiana.”

  He knew she was going to lie! “And where is this Louisiana?”

  “Umm… it’s in the United States! Where else would it be?”

  He wasn’t sure how much of her flip attitude he was going to be able to take. It was going to take a lot of patience, which he didn’t possess, to get any information out of her. He would question her all night if he had to, even if he was exhausted.

  “I would suggest you just answer the questions.” He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees.

  “Whatever,” she said so low he barely heard it.

  He glared at her before he proceeded with his questions. “How long have you been with Tuloch? And what were you doing out on that field?”

  “Are you kidding me? I already told you all of this! Why do I have to repeat myself?” she shouted at him this time.

  “You will answer my questions!” he roared at her.

  She flinched at his words and sat back in the chair. He sensed that he was scaring her but right now he didn’t give a damn. He wanted answers! Too many people depended upon him to keep them safe.

  Through clenched teeth she answered him. “I don’t know who this Tuloch is and I don’t know how I got out there. I was in my hotel room one minute and the next, I’m lying flat on my back in a puddle of mud with you on top of me! Why don’t you tell me how I got here?”

  She was challenging him. He had to give her some credit for at least sticking to her story. Not one word of her story had changed. That gnawing feeling was back but this time it was in the pit of his stomach. Something just wasn’t right here and he needed to get to the bottom of.

  “Believe me, Jakar or whatever your name is, I don’t want to be here anymore than you want me here. If you took me back to where you found me, maybe I will be able to get back home.”

  Her green eyes, that were so dark earlier, were now a lighter shade of green. They pleaded with him. He saw the water that filled those gorgeous eyes and watched as one tear escaped and slid down her cheek. Could she possibly be telling him the truth? He rubbed his hands over his tired eyes. This was going to have to wait until the morning. The wine was having more of an effect on him than normal and he was plain worn out from the day’s events.

  “We’ll talk more in the morning. I need to get some sleep.” He walked over to the bed and pulled back the covers then looked at her. “Well?” he asked her.

  “Well what?” Her eyes were wide with confusion.

  “Come get in the bed.”

  “I will not! I am not sleeping in the same bed with you!”

  “Are you going to fight me on this too? Come get in the bed,” he repeated. “If you don’t come get in the bed…” he didn’t have to finish because she got up and
walked to the other side of the bed. He swallowed when he caught a glimpse of her secret place when she had to pull the edge of his shirt up over her knees in order to climb into the bed. Once in the bed she pulled the blankets over her legs then laid down, waiting for him to follow suit.

  He did just that, but before he laid down he took out the metal cuffs he had slipped into his pocket while she had been taking her bath. She refused to look at him until she felt the cold metal ring snap closed around her wrist.

  “What the…” she squealed. “You’re handcuffing me to you?”

  He shook his head. “No. I’m cuffing you to the bed.” As he spoke he closed the other metal ring around the metal post of the head board. She wouldn’t have much room to move around or turn over but he would have peace of mind knowing that she would still be there in the morning and that she wouldn’t have access to anything in the room she could use to kill him.

  She flopped back down onto the pillow. Her arm was raised slightly as she lay on her side facing him. A smile played across his face when he laid down next to her. He could hear her grunting and sighing as she fought to get comfortable in the big bed. Every move she made caused the bed to shake as she flopped around like a fish out of water until he had finally had enough.

  Without thinking about what he was doing, he reached out and pulled her to him. He tucked her body close to his as he lay on his side. Her movements ceased immediately. “If this is the only way to keep you still so be it,” he whispered into her ear. He draped his arm over her waist while his hand came to rest on the curve of her stomach.

  The feel of her body pressed against his was going to be the death of him, he was sure of it. She felt so warm and soft, not to mention she fit perfectly into the curve of his own body. Yep, it was going to be a long night.

  Chapter 6

  Isobel awoke the next morning alone in the bed. Her wrist was still shackled to the bed post making her mood turn sour instantly. She was exhausted from not sleeping too much because of the man who held her close to him. Whatever possessed him to do such a thing was beyond her. She just hoped that he would return soon because she really needed to pee.

  The room was still just as warm as it had been the night before. Someone, probably Jakar, had put more logs on the fire and had it burning hot and bright. Sitting there in another man’s bed, Isobel came to the realization she was definitely not dreaming. If she had been dreaming she wouldn’t be able to feel the heat from the fireplace or hear the rumble her stomach made.

  The sound of the door opening had her flopping back down and pretending she was still asleep. The voice she heard coming from in front her let her know she wasn’t able to fool him.

  “I know you are awake,” Jakar’s deep voice said to her back.

  She rolled over to face her captor and give him a piece of her mind but she stopped the sarcastic words from escaping when she saw he was holding a tray of food.

  “Since you did not eat last night, I thought you might be hungry this morning.” He set the tray on her lap after she sat up.

  She eyed the food suspiciously and dared not touch any of it for fear he had poisoned it. The smell was very tantalizing and very hard to resist but she would rather keep on living.

  “Don’t trust me?” He raised an eyebrow at her refusal to eat. “I promise, the food is fine. It hasn’t been poisoned if that’s what you are thinking.” He picked up a slice of the toast bread and took a bit to show her it was edible. “See, no poison!”

  Reluctantly, she began to nibble at the food and before she knew it she had eaten everything on the tray. She hadn’t paid any attention to Jakar as she scarfed down the food and suddenly realized he was still watching her as she finished her last bite of the toasted bread.

  “I’m glad to see you have a healthy appetite. You’re going to need it today.” His pleasant look was gone and had been replace with a scowl.

  The door opened again with a loud bang as Nana walked in carrying a stack of clothes. The woman dropped the pile on the edge of the bed and did a double take when she saw her arm cuffed to the bed. Horror crossed the old woman’s face as she turned and directed her anger at Jakar.

  “How could you, Jakar?” Nana pointed to the metal around her wrist.

  “Nana, it none of your business.” He walked away from the woman who obviously had some kind of special connection to him.

  “It is my business and you know it! She is the one. When are you going to accept that? If your mother was here she would be ashamed of your actions towards your future wife!”

  Isobel nearly choked on her own spit when she heard what Nana said. “What? I am not about to marry him!”

  “Jakar, you have to marry her! It is the only way to protect her!” Nana was beginning to panic by the look on her face.

  Jakar moved quickly to her side and put his hands on her shoulders as he tried to calm her down. “Nana, please! I do not believe in those old tales. I will defeat Tuloch without the help of a woman. Now please calm down.”

  Nana straightened her back which didn’t help any compared to Jakar’s size. “I thought you might say that, so I brought along someone you must believe since you obviously do not believe what I say.” Nana spun to the door and called out for someone to come in. “Nyla!”

  Isobel looked to the door at the same time Nana and Jakar had. The door creaked open but not far enough for a person to fit through. Whoever Nana saw through the crack made her smile and made Jakar lose his coloring. She didn’t understand what had changed to make this giant of a man pale so quickly when he had been so confident seconds ago.

  Something flew into the room. It zipped through the air and circled above the bed before it was landed on the foot of the bed. Isobel felt her own color drain from her face as she looked at the fairy standing in front of her staring back at her. Her little eyes squinted at her then a huge smile broke out on her tiny face. Her silver wings fluttered quickly right before she took off again only to land on Nana’s shoulder and whisper something into her ear.

  Isobel was speechless. Not only was she in a strange place but it contained real life fairies! It was Tinkerbell come to life! She had an odd feeling she was literally in another world, a world far from her own.

  “I tried to tell him, Nyla, but he won’t listen. He still has that hard head!” Nan folded her arms across her plus-size bosom.

  The fairy, Nyla, launched herself off Nana’s shoulder and flew until she was hovering in front of Jakar who still hadn’t regain his color.

  “Lord Jakar,” Nyla’s voice sounded like a little girl’s. “You do not believe in the myth of the woman from far away?” Her little hands were on her hips. She was noticeably angry with him.

  Jakar shook his head as he looked at Nyla. “I am beginning to think I need to, but it impossible.”

  “My Lord, the tale is true. My people would never lie about something so important. We people will also benefit from the one who has come from so far away. We all have been waiting a long time for her to come and she has finally arrived.” Nyla flew over to where Isobel sat in the bed. Her fingers ran over the cold metal still attach to Isobel. “My Lord, did you really believe she was the enemy?”

  For such a large man, who was used to getting his own way, Jakar looked like a little lost boy standing before a tiny fairy who was chastising him. “I found her on the battle field where I had seen Tuloch disappear.” He eyes turned to Isobel then. His shocked look changed again. “There is no way possible she is answer to Aslog’s problems.” His eyes darkened as his anger rose.

  “Whether you believe it or not, she is the one.” Nyla flew away from him to land back on the bed. “I would suggest that you marry her as soon as possible to hide her identity. If Tuloch somehow finds out she has arrived, he will stop at nothing to get to her and kill her. It is widely known from the tale that this is the time our Lady would come.”

  Nyla’s words made Isobel pale. Why the heck was she the target of some guy she didn’t even know? Thi
s was getting worse by the minute.

  “Can’t you just return me to my home?” Her voice was shaky with fear.

  “I am sorry. That is not possible. You were sent to our world for a reason and you have a role to perform. There is nothing I can do,” Nyla spoke softly to her.

  “But…but I don’t understand. Why am I this chosen person? I just want to go home. I didn’t ask to come here.”

  “It was told long ago that a woman would be sent to us from far away who would be in need of protection not only from this world but also her own world.” Nyla’s sad smile tugged at her heart.