Unarmed (Unarmed Trilogy)

by Nina Monroe

  Before Tamzin could even finger the dagger beneath her pillow, the Johansson boy grabbed her roughly by the shoulders and lifted her like she was a rag doll and dropped her to the floor. Tamzin landed on her tailbone, thankfully not her belly, before she began to back away towards the wall next to the fireplace. The pain in her back shot through her as she winced as she kept pressing onto the sore spot as she crawled backwards.

  “Less than ten soldiers? Your husband disappoints me,” the man said as he eyed Tamzin with a hunger in his eyes. “Not one soldier posted outside your door, though if Rainer hadn’t pointed out the wall entryway, I would have never found you. It is a very clever hiding spot.”

  “Rainer?” Tamzin asked with shock as she ran her fingers over the stone. “Have you taken him hostage?”

  “Hostage?” The Johansson Bastard laughed. “He’s been helping us. Too bad the fat fuck couldn’t guarantee that you drank more of that blueberry wine. Lucy did say it was one of your favorites. I guess you and I were destined to meet, Your Highness.” He ran a hand through his blond hair as Tamzin watched as he pushed the blood off of his scalp. She saw no cuts on his forehead and her stomach churned. “For how well trained your men are, they fell so quickly.”

  “They’re injured,” Tamzin defended as the venom seeped in between her teeth. “You didn’t win some great battle against my husband. It took nightfall and injured soldiers, along with my husband being gone to gain control.” He approached her with rapid steps and he raised his arm and hand well above his head before he swung down. His slap stung her skin but she didn’t once budge. She would let this man force her closer to the floor.

  “Pretty little kitten,” the Johansson Bastard said before he cradled Tamzin’s bruised face. “My sister said you would be a handful, but so worth the trouble. Gods, I would take you right now if I could. I bet your thighs are nice and warm. You whispered his name before I approached you,” he taunted. “But now we must wait.”

  “Wait for what?” Tamzin asked as she pulled her face from him. She was terrified and almost felt her babe quiver within her, but she would never let this animal know it. He must have been an inch or two taller than Will, but he was hulking. He was solid muscle and his hand was as large as her face.

  “If everything goes perfectly, your husband will die in battle. My father knows that we will never be able to unseat the Thurstons on the battlefield, but if Will does die, Duke will marry you. If he doesn’t die, then we have you,” the man eyed her lustily. “Will would give up his crown in a heartbeat to save you. I don’t think I will have to use force, but I will if it is necessary to make my point to him.”

  “Are my soldiers dead?” Tamzin asked defiantly; she refused to let him believe that she was frightened by his comment.

  “I doubt so, at least not yet. I kept a few alive to protect you from my men. I’m sure your husband has told you of what my men do to pretty little girls. What they did to my sister, specifically,” the Johansson Bastard said with an evil glint in his eye. “I let them do that to my flesh and blood. Just imagine what I would let them do to the wife of my sworn enemy, only after I take my share first.”

  Tamzin’s brown eyes stared back up at him as she bit her tongue to stop herself from screaming. She remembered the ways of her father and of the Northern men. There was no shame in surviving a rape as the fault lied with the man. The man was the one unable to control himself and the girl was merely in the wrong place at the wrong time; the men were the weak ones. If Will were here, the Bastard would be put to the sword just for his comment.

  But Will wasn’t here, and Tamzin was alone. Her fear made her shrink into herself as she covered herself from the Bastard’s disgusting stare and the cold slinked across her skin. It was then that the screaming happened.

  “The South has no use for people that don’t carry their weight. Why is it necessary to have two sellers of potatoes? Multiple seamstresses? Unnecessary wastes.” The Bastard’s voice was cold as the frost outside as Tamzin launched herself the floor and crawled to the window. Her back screamed in pain as she watched men, women, and children were being thrown into their homes, where the roofs were set on fire. Tamzin’s eyes widened as she watched her people dwindle so quickly before she gritted her teeth together to stop her moan of agony.

  “You’re a monster,” Tamzin cried as she held onto arch of the window for support. “You can kill them; the people, my husband, his father, their army but it doesn’t matter. I am the sole rightful heir. I. Am. The. Queen.”

  “You certainly are brave, though I know you shiver in fear. But isn’t a brave princess a contradictory? A woman cannot be brave,” the Bastard raised his eyebrow at Tamzin. “These are words your father probably said to you. You recite them like a canary to a song.” The Bastard said before he looked around the chamber and his eyes settled on the large bed. “These are lovely quarters, dear girl.”

  “And my handmaiden? Has Lucy ordered her execution?” Tamzin ignored him as she pulled herself from the window. She silently made note of all who had been killed or were waiting. She would not take a final breath until Johansson Territory was burning, like her territory was.

  “That bitch wounded two men before I threatened you,” the Bastard growled as he approached and opened Will’s armoire but found it empty. “I doubt I could fit into William’s fine clothing, anyways.”

  “You will address my husband by his God anointed title, you filthy creature,” Tamzin snarled as she turned her body to face the Bastard. “Your father shamed his Queen by laying with another woman to conceive you. He doesn’t even legitimize his grand hero. Even if you succeed, you will never be rewarded. You can’t even be a count or a true landowner by Southern customs,” Tamzin continued before the Bastard turned around to face her. The Bastard almost charged her before the door opened and interrupted him.

  “The Princess is more useful if she is unharmed,” Rainer said from the opening of the doorway. He looked pleased with himself, his fat face framed with a shit-eating grin. “The King has requested you bring the Princess to the Throne Room. We have wrangled up the Royal Court and what remains of the townspeople. I don’t know how you slept through the first massacre when we took the town outside the walls.”

  “Are you adverse to fire, Rainer?” Tamzin asked as she felt the Bastard grab her arm roughly. Rainer raised an eyebrow in confusion. “For when you are killed for treason? I can’t decide if I want you burned alive or quartered.”

  Tamzin watched as a split second of fear flash through his eyes as she smirked to herself. She may not have left Rainer shaking like the Bastard would, but there was enough fear for Rainer to know he would face retribution if this plan would fail. She was unable to grab her robe as the Bastard dragged her down the stairs in only her chemise and her body reacted to the cold. Tamzin tried to swallow back the shame from her body’s natural response, but she knew Rainer and the Bastard stared at her breasts openly. Tamzin would rather a thousand bugs crawled over her than to feel their stares on her body.

  Tamzin could tell immediately that half of the men that invaded took post in the castle while the others must have been arming the perimeter around the walls of the kingdom. The soldiers openly eyed her and she heard their lewd remarks, but she kept her head high. Silently, she swore the babe in her belly would live to be the true heir of Thurston Territory. Tamzin didn’t care if she had to give birth in the snow or the forest; her child would escape this invasion.

  The Throne Room easily held the capacity of the Royal Court, the small population of the kingdom, and the soldiers that stood around Lucy and Duke. The false royal couple sat on the thrones belonging to Gregory and Will, though Lucy sat in the slightly grander seat for Gregory. Tamzin honestly wondered if Duke was dumb enough to not know that the King sat in the middle while the Queen or heir sat to his immediate right or left.

  “The Queen!” a member of the Royal Court said before a nearby soldier beat him fiercely over the head with a baton like weapon. This
was how it would begin. Duke would attempt to break the people’s loyalty by breaking her. It would begin with beatings and degradation, but Tamzin knew enough to know what to expect. It was not as if Duke would be original.

  With her informal announcement, Tamzin yanked her arm away from the Bastard and walked confidently down the long pathway to Duke. She imagined she was in the grandest dress she had ever seen with a crown fit for a true Queen, instead of her nearly see through chemise and bare feet. Her body shivered from the cold, but she wasn’t a human that needed warmth. She would be the figurehead of hope and strength for her remaining people and Royal Court.

  Tamzin’s eyes first met Lucy, who looked away instantly and focused on the ring on her left hand. No amount of makeup could hide the slight bruise on her face. Tamzin could not bring herself to feel sympathy for her; all her compassion left her body instantly when she saw the state of the illegitimate children of the prostitutes. The women and their children stood to her immediate left and the women all sported various injuries to their faces and hands. Their children fared little better, with all the older male children had bloodied faces and one appeared to have his nose far from where it was supposed to be on his face. Her breath caught when she saw the little girls, and she prayed they would not be harmed, like their mothers were sure to face.

  The entire room, even the Johansson soldiers, was kneeling for her in respect. The Bastard wasn’t, as didn’t Lucy or Duke, but no one resumed their original position until Tamzin nodded. A crown didn’t give anyone true power; only their loyalty crowned a royal. After her nod, Tamzin watched as the three remaining Thurston soldiers surrounded her, followed by Jacque with his broken cheekbone and swollen lip, Kendall and her slice collarbone, and surprisingly Lord Henry Covington. The prostitutes flexed their fingers to show their sharp nails and the other lords and ladies stepped into the pathway. They stood united behind Tamzin.

  “Princess,” Duke said as he combed through the book in front of him. Tamzin recognized it vaguely as the expense book for the Kingdom. “I knew my brother was a frugal man, but the surplus in this kingdom is amazing. The Royal family doesn’t dress like royalty or eat like royalty. You only eat what is in season here.”

  “The money is for defense…”

  “Which is clearly lacking,” Duke and his men laughed while Tamzin’s gaze hardened.

  “And for the people. No Northern man, woman, or child starves here,” Tamzin stated proudly as she clenched her fists at her sides. “What you’ve done, the people you’ve murdered, they won’t be forgotten. Even if Will dies or you persuade him to abdicate his right to the throne, my father will come. Killing a child is a reprehensible crime. What you have done cannot be forgiven.”

  “Yet it is law that a woman may drink a tea to shed a baby or to stop one from taking root? That is very hypocritical indeed,” Duke chastised before Tamzin looked to Lucy.

  “Your whore had no problem shedding my babies for me,” Tamzin glared a hole through Lucy with her anger and the coward continued to shrink away. “Before I die, I promise I will burn Johansson Territory to the ground. No man, woman, or child will escape my wrath, and that includes the Royal family. Anyone who stands against me is my enemy.” Tamzin continued to glare at Lucy, who finally met her eyes. “You’re crazy to think that the army will let you get away. You’ve killed their wives, children, mothers, and fathers. Will may abdicate but the army will have their revenge. They will tear each of you limb by limb.”

  “They were lying when they said you were the compassionate one. The lioness has teeth,” Duke frowned as he nodded to the Bastard. “You should be bowing to me.” She watched the shadow of the Bastard reach for his belt and the click of the baton flicking out. It was something she had never heard before. Tamzin felt the back of her legs be struck with the baton; the shock and the feeling of hotness on her legs forced her to the ground. “You look right at home on your knees. Does my nephew make you service him often?”

  “It is an honor to service my beloved husband,” Tamzin spoke truthfully before she chuckled. “It’s too bad you won’t ever experience it. A man who has to steal another man’s kingdom must have a severe inferiority complex about something.” Tamzin heard the quiet chuckle from her few remaining soldiers, as well as the uncomfortable shuffle from the Johansson soldiers.

  Tamzin watched with glee as Duke clenched his jaw, but his nod to the Bastard and Tamzin felt the same sting from her legs on her back. The unexpected agony made her release a squeak of pain, which seemed to make Duke smile. Lucy looked away as the Bastard continued to hit Tamzin’s back with the same solid object as her legs.

  “You will show me respect and you will never speak to me like that again. I am your King,” Duke leaned back in his throne and continued to watch as the Bastard rapt Tamzin’s back with the weapon in his hand. Tamzin tried not to cry out but the Bastard’s strokes were too strong. There was no shame in crying out from pain, Tamzin tried to think but the agony overwhelmed her mind too quickly. As he hit her more, Tamzin had no choice but to lean forward into a bowing position. That part shamed her as she felt her face touch the cool floor. When no one could see her face, she let a few tears slip out of her eyes and felt them dry on her cheeks.

  When the Bastard was done, Tamzin was very close to lying on the floor. Her back throbbed intensely and she felt gentle hands touch the ruined and bloodied fabric of her chemise.

  “You’ve sealed your own fate, False King,” Jacque said as he helped Tamzin stand up gingerly and had her lean against one of the soldiers. “Will Thurston will never let you get away with this. Don’t think for a second he won’t hesitate to bring her father into this war.” Jacque removed his robe and placed it on Tamzin’s shoulders, before she cried out again. Though the cloak wasn’t particularly heavy, it weighed enough to brush against her wounds.

  “The Princess should consider herself lucky. Junior Johansson over here certainly wants a piece of her. My poor men haven’t had a woman in the days since we left Johansson Territory. Literally the only reason why I have not tossed her to the wolves is because I need an heir. I need the world to know that the heir inside Tamzin Roth…”

  “Thurston,” Tamzin croaked out as she struggled to keep her footing next to her soldiers. “Not even you would question the legitimacy of my marriage to Will.”

  “You may have a legitimate marriage, but even he didn’t get you with child. Lucy made sure of that, and I am pleased to see that she stopped it even after you discovered her faulty fertility drinks,” Duke said as he ran a finger over Lucy’s hand. “Don’t worry, Princess. I have no intention of raping you. If I got you with child now, it would be a bastard. When Will abdicates in order to save you, your marriage to him will be void. He will no longer be of royal blood and Gregory will have no choice but to name me as heir. If Turner Roth wants to save his kingdom from Thurston soldiers, you will be my wife.”

  “I would sooner slit my own throat than be your wife or carry your child,” Tamzin groaned as the soldier holding her accidentally touched her wounds.

  “Princess, I will forgive these words because of your state. Thurston soldiers, escort the Princess and her handmaiden to the tower…”

  “That tower hasn’t been used in decades. I’m not even sure there is a bed for the Princess,” the soldier holding Tamzin spoke up.

  “Would you like me to beat your Princess for your insubordination?” Duke asked as he placed his hand over Lucy’s. “Escort Tamzin to the tower and she is not to leave it until I summon her. She will take her meals there and she does not have permission to use any part of the castle.”

  Tamzin felt the air leave her lungs as the three soldiers surrounded her and two of them nearly carried her out of the Throne Room. The pain in her back made her lull her head to the side as she felt her feet drag over the stone floor.

  “You will attend to the Princess’ wounds, Jacque, is it?” Duke called out but Tamzin didn’t hear the rest. She felt her eyes slide shut and the
world around her went dark. Tamzin was awoken when her body was placed gently on the cold floor. The freezing ground felt nice on her injured back but she sneezed when she smelt the dust. There was another shot of pain in her tailbone and it crawled up her back.

  “Princess, try not to move. Jacque is retrieving some medical supplies for you,” a brusque voice said as Tamzin felt another cloak be placed over her body. She opened her eyes and saw a man with an older face. She had never seen him before.

  “What is your name?” Tamzin asked as she watched the two other men and Kendall began to pull the curtains open and it sent the dust flying everywhere.