Innocence Enslaved

by Maddie Taylor

  Muriel nodded. “I heard him say the horses reacted for no reason. When the commotion died down you were gone.”

  “There was a reason the horses got scared. If truth be told, it was indirectly my fault.”

  Intrigued, Muriel’s head snapped up. “How?”

  She talked while she rinsed out some kitchen rags. “I didn’t tell Corbet this, but Lomb scared the horses as a diversion. My father sent him to bring me back. He was posing as a peddler selling apples while searching for me. He caught sight of me and Corbet when we left the lodge and created the commotion on purpose so he could get to me without anyone noticing.”

  “If he was sent to rescue you, why would he bring you back?”

  “I asked him to.”

  “What?”

  “He wasn’t going to. I talked him into it.” Feeling like the fool that she was, she carried some clean clothes to a large boulder they used to dry garments in the sun. As she walked back, she caught Muriel’s worried expression.

  “You shouldn’t have come back,” she admonished.

  “That’s what I’ve realized.”

  “Why did you?”

  Emilia shook her head sadly. “You sound like Corbet.”

  “You’ve fallen in love with him, haven’t you, Em?” She cocked her head enough to see her while she continued her task.

  “Yes! I mean, no… I shouldn’t because he doesn’t feel the same, but I can’t help myself.”

  “He feels more than you think. I’ve never seen him so agitated before.”

  “Truly?”

  “Love,” she huffed, looking skyward in exasperation. “It makes sensible people lose all good sense. You two are as bad as Charles and my mother.” Muriel got up and strode to a line strung between two trees. As she hung several shirts up to dry, Emilia followed with a sheet.

  “Your turn,” she said, giving the girl a nudge with her hip.

  Muriel bowed her head, hands gripping the coarse rope until her knuckles grew white. “I shouldn’t say, but it isn’t fair that you don’t know. It’s time you did even if I get my hide tanned every shade of red until mother’s arm gives out.”

  “What does it have to do with me?”

  Muriel didn’t answer right away.

  “You’re scaring me.”

  “The reason that he moved up his trip…”

  “Yes? For heaven’s sake, Muriel, I’ll go mad if you don’t spit it out.”

  “It’s to protect you in case Lord Ervin decides to take an interest in you as he did Sara.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Remember how I told you how Corbet had to fight to win Sara? That never happens. A contract of indenture is as good as done once it’s signed. It’s unheard of for it to be broken without paying the full bond price. Instead, Lord Ervin decided to play with him, feeling sure he would be defeated, but he won.”

  “That’s amazing. How did he do it?”

  “I was there that day and saw it myself. It isn’t anything I’ll ever forget.”

  “You were there? You couldn’t have been more than nine or ten! Who lets children watch such a thing?”

  “One story at a time, please. Which do you want to know, about me at the manor, or how the master won the fair Sara?”

  “I want to know about Corbet first.”

  She grinned. “That’s what I thought. A huge crowd had gathered to watch. Men were yelling and shouting as Corbet was shackled to the wooden pillar. He saw his sweet young Sara, bound at Lord Ervin’s side as though she were his already. His face darkened and he shook with such rage that I thought his blood was boiling. Then the earl’s champion entered the field.”

  “This?” his loud voice boomed. “This boy is my challenge?”

  It was Huan, a giant of a man. His chest was as wide as a barrel and his arms were thick like logs. No one thought Corbet stood a chance. That suited the crowd fine and their blood lust grew to a near frenzy as they began cheering for the champion.

  “Torture him,” some cried.

  “Make it slow. Skewer him and make him squirm on your pike,” called another.

  “No, make it swift and sure. Lop off his head.”

  “Don’t matter how,” came a resonant shout. “Just be sure to make him bleed.”

  Emilia gaped in disbelief. “This is truly an awful, terrible place.”

  “As we’ve been telling you,” Muriel said with a roll of her eyes.

  “What happened next?”

  “Corbet is brave, more so than any man I’ve ever met, and he’s smart. He stayed focused on the big brute being shackled across from him, closing his ears to the roaring crowd until the king exclaimed loudly, ‘Let it begin.’ He raised his sword as the knight lifted his chosen weapon, a tri-headed flail.”

  “No,” Emilia murmured in horror; the long staff with its three barbed steel balls was virtually unstoppable.

  “Yes, that awful thing could reach beyond the ten-foot chain easily. I was so afraid for him; I almost couldn’t abide watching.”

  “Yet you did.”

  “I was compelled to,” Muriel admitted sheepishly. “They stared each other down for a long moment until finally Huan made the first move. With the dull end of his mighty spear, he swung it like a club and struck Corbet in the shoulder; the blow knocked his sword clean out of his hands. Huan was almost on him, the deadly point aimed at his chest before he regained his wits enough to scramble after his fallen sword. Reaching the end of his chain, Corbet fell.”

  Emilia screamed, her hands flying up to cover her mouth as though she were watching it happen for real. Muriel continued despite the interruption.

  “The sword had landed almost out of his reach. He stretched for it, the tips of his fingers barely reaching the handle. Scooping it up in one hand, he also collected a handful of earth. He rolled, bringing up his sword as Huan was readying his death blow. When the large man charged point first, he threw the dirt into his face, blinding him. Huan stumbled, a hand automatically reaching for his eyes. Seeing his opportunity, Corbet wasted not a moment. With a bone-chilling war cry, he drove his sword up into the knight’s belly with both hands. As the man lumbered and started to fall, he pulled out his blade and drove it through his heart. The first had been a death blow, so the second was unnecessary, but he was still moving and he had to make sure it was over.”

  “Oh, my dear heaven,” Emilia exclaimed.

  “Yes, the crowd was as shocked by the outcome as you. Silence descended, but only for a moment. Then, having been robbed of their favorite’s triumph and the silver they likely laid down in his favor, they became angry, blaming the victor. They started chanting, ‘Kill him… Kill him.’ Before things could escalate further, King Nordman spoke.

  “Good people of Lancore, today, we lose a brave warrior yet our honor we shall keep. This brave young soul is the champion, and for this, which he so cunningly achieved, goes the spoils. Unbind the girl and the young man, they are free to go.”

  “King Norman took his side over Ervin?” Caught off guard by the monarch’s support, Emilia couldn’t help interrupting to clarify.

  “It’s unbelievable,” Muriel agreed with a nod, “but true. The earl was livid and what Corbet said next made it worse.”

  “Thank you, sire.” As he bowed to the king, he had to shout to be heard over the crowd. “I’d like to claim my prize. I was also promised fifty pieces of gold from Lord Ervin and the promise of a wedding night with my bride unmolested.”

  Nordman quirked a brow at his daring; still, he agreed. “So be it, sir champion. Step forward and I shall have the royal bishop do the deed himself.” The man who was praying over the prostrate and lifeless form of Huan nodded and approached the dais.

  “It was over as quickly as it had started and before long he and Sara were wed and leaving the manor with unexpected wealth and a bright future ahead. He vowed never to bring her to the vile town or near Ervin’s keep again, and refused to let her stop and tell her father about his success
. He took her straight home and undoubtedly deflowered his sweet young bride, robbing the evil earl of that too.”

  “Merciful heaven,” she sighed sadly. “What they endured. No wonder he loves her so.”

  “Yes, although that isn’t where it ended.”

  “No, I can’t take anymore.”

  “Unfortunately, when Ervin didn’t get Sara, he decided to make both her and Corbet suffer.”

  “Oh, no!”

  “Oh, yes. Ervin lives to torment people, whether out of pure evil or boredom, no one really knows. He decided Corbet and Sara wouldn’t know a moment’s peace after that and harassed them incessantly. Any time they came to town, his soldiers were there to enforce the most minor of rules and the fines mounted.”

  “How did he afford it?”

  “His uncle and cousin fell suddenly ill about that time; when they died, he inherited the family leather works.”

  Emilia stared wordlessly at Muriel for a moment. “Suspicious deaths have occurred with Lord Ervin before. Do you think…?”

  “Without a doubt.”

  “But why?” she frowned, unable to see how Ervin would benefit.

  “It wasn’t well known, at least not to the earl, that Corbet was his uncle’s heir after his unmarried and childless son.”

  “He thought the property and his wealth would revert to the state.”

  “Precisely,” Muriel nodded. “It is rumored the earl became enraged when Corbet inherited.”

  “He is the devil incarnate.”

  “That is true as well.” Muriel sighed as she looked toward the bank and the pile of still unwashed laundry. “We better get back to work. At this pace, it will be dark before we’re through. Mother will fall into fits.”

  “You’ve yet to tell me about your mother and why she won’t admit to her love for Charles or what happened to Sara.”

  Muriel frowned at her.

  “We had a deal,” Emilia reminded her.

  “You’re determined to see my behind blistered, aren’t you?”

  “A bargain is a bargain.”

  “Fine, but I think we need to renegotiate because I’m certain I drew the short straw in this exchange.” Standing over the pile, she picked up a pair of thin drawers, men’s drawers and with a grin tossed them at her. “You wash Charles’ small clothes. That will make it more even.”

  “I’d rather do Corbet’s.”

  Muriel tossed her head and laughed merrily. “Ah, sweetie, the master doesn’t wear any.”

  Emilia’s mouth dropped open at the thought of the man wearing nothing beneath his tight braes and sweat broke out on her upper lip. Muriel pointed at her shocked expression and laughed all the harder.

  “Hurrumph.” The clearing of a throat ended story time. As they twisted around, they saw Alice wasn’t pleased. What’s more, she seemed irate.

  Fie, but the woman had bad timing.

  After that they worked in silence, with her grumbling by their side that they didn’t have time for such foolishness.

  * * *

  Late that night, well after midnight, Corbet dragged himself up the stairs. He’d visited all of his customers in Lancore and collected on past due accounts. He’d also called on a few close friends and claimed a few markers. All was in readiness for their departure.

  As he made his way down the hall, he paused at the open door of the chamber where Emilia slept. Her bright hair was dark upon her pillow and he could make out the curvy outline of her body in the narrow bed. She had haunted his thoughts the entire time he’d been away. How would he ever get her out of his head after she was gone? And, he was beginning to think himself a damn fool to even want to.

  With a sigh as heavy as his tread, he moved on to his room. Stripping off his clothes, he crawled into bed. Exhausted, he closed his eyes hoping for a sound, dreamless sleep. But it didn’t come. Although his body was drained, his cock wasn’t, hard and aching with need as it had been from the moment he first saw her. Naked, on a stage, suffering the hands of a stranger and the lust-filled attention of a leering crowd, he couldn’t leave her to that horrible fate.

  He hadn’t lied when he’d told her she reminded him of Sara, not that they looked anything alike. Emilia’s red hair and green eyes were the opposite of Sara’s blond and blue, and where his wife had been tall and willowy, his siren was not, her curves more pronounced and womanly. It was their spirit that they had in common.

  The way she had fought her captors as they dragged her up on stage, though she hadn’t a chance of escape, had made him want to champion her. And the way she stood up to him, told him of her desires, despite having reddened her bottom for her audacity, she was an incomparable prize. If only he was free to love her.

  Fingers of light were creeping into the eastern sky when sleep claimed him.

  * * *

  In a meadow, with bright sunlight gleaming off her blond hair, she came to him, arms extended, a stunning smile on her lips. Dressed in blue, she was as pretty as the first time he saw her.

  “Sara!” he called, running toward her.

  “Let me go, my love, it’s time.”

  “What?” he asked, lurching to a stop. “No, I’ll never let you go.”

  “You must, Corbet, she is meant for you. More perfect than I.”

  “Stop this, we were a faultless match.”

  “No, we were never meant to be, or I would still be with you, my love. Emilia, she is the one.” She backed up a step, a sad, yet resigned expression on her face. “Be happy.”

  “Wait.”

  “Please, Corbet. You must let go. Do it so both of us may find peace. It is long past time, love.”

  “Sara…” he called, but her name vanished on the wind as it molded her dress to her form and ruffled her long curly hair. Her image wavered as she lifted her hand to her lips and blew him a kiss before she faded out of sight, leaving only the meadow of wildflowers, buttercups, and pink foxglove, her favorites, bending gently in the breeze.

  * * *

  The first thing he saw as he came awake were the curtains flapping in the light breeze from his open window. Beyond that, the rising sun was low on the horizon, which meant he hadn’t slept long. Surprisingly, he felt refreshed as he sat up at his bedside, his mind clearer than it had been in years, as was his dream. At long last, her message was clear. And, though he was sure it was only a reverie likely fostered out of yearning, he took it to heart and bounded out of bed.

  Chapter Sixteen

  After breakfast the next morning, she was again summoned to the master’s study. Alice must have given him an earful when he’d arrived home, the traitor. She knocked on the door fearing she was once more about to be taken to task for her misbehavior, but that was truly the least of her fears. With one more day before they left on their journey, Emilia was at her wits’ end. Desperate to make Corbet see things her way, she decided she didn’t have anything to lose by trying to change his mind one more time.

  As she stood before his desk, with him watching her steadily, she blurted out what was on her mind. “I know about Sara.”

  He stared at her through narrowed eyes. “What do you mean, you know?”

  Unwaveringly, her gaze held his. “I know what Ervin did to you both, but you can’t let him win. By staying here miserable and alone, you do exactly that. Once we’re out of Lancore, we’ll be free to be together.”

  “Who told you of this? Muriel?”

  “Um…” She hesitated, realizing she hadn’t thought it all through. By showing her hand, she had inadvertently betrayed Muriel’s trust. Hastily, she tried to think up another source, or a way to keep from implicating her friend.

  “Don’t exacerbate gossiping, which I loathe, by lying, which is far worse.”

  Feeling trapped in a mess of her own making, she took the coward’s way out and bolted for the door. She had no idea where she’d go once she got out, but she needed time to think and couldn’t do that in front of him. As she reached the door, his command, coming low and
sternly, stopped her in her tracks.

  “If you dare go without my permission, I won’t leave the paddle lying in the straw this time.”

  “I don’t feel well. Please, may I go back to bed?” Inwardly she groaned. The poor excuse wouldn’t ever be believed.

  “Are you truly ill?”

  “I am now,” she quipped. She thought she heard his soft laughter; however, as his footsteps slowly approached with an ominous thud, she convinced herself she’d been mistaken.

  “Then the answer is no.” She heard him right behind her now. “Look at me, Emilia.”

  She didn’t, faintheartedly giving the door her apology instead. “I’m sorry for gossiping. I needed to find out why you didn’t want to be with me.”

  His hands curved around her shoulders and squeezed. “I’ve always felt cursed when it comes to love,” he began.

  She immediately jerked away and crossed the room, well out of reach. “That’s a load of horse manure!”

  He twisted, looking at her with shock. “What did you say?”

  “You don’t need to lie to me. I understand that you don’t want me, a girl with a silly infatuation, but you needn’t make up excuses like being cursed.”

  With slow purposeful movement, he faced her, crossing his arms over his chest. There was a lethal calmness in his face as his left brow rose a fraction. “Don’t think that because I have gone easy with you and allowed you some leeway, that I am not the master in my own house.” Measured and resolute, he continued. “You will speak to me with respect, Emilia, as I do you. Furthermore, what I’m telling you is not manure. I killed a man for the sake of love once and then lost her anyway. I thought being alone was for the best.”

  She was too upset to heed his warning and didn’t guard her tongue. “I know all about Huan, and by God’s teeth, I don’t flaming care.”

  Both eyebrows rose as his jaw dropped. His surprise lasted only a moment, then his mouth snapped shut, clearly having come to a decision. It was her turn to gape when he crossed to the small table by the wall and pulled out one of the chairs. He set it in the middle of the room, took a seat, then patted his thighs, a gesture she couldn’t misinterpret. But she didn’t move, standing her ground.