Sold to Serve: The Dark Brothers Book 1

by Kyra Alessy

  Every time his horse’s hooves thudded in the dirt, his ribs jarred. He gritted his teeth. His body ached dully practically everywhere. What he wouldn’t give for a barrel of wine to himself. But he needed his mind sharp if he wanted Kora. She was a quick little thing. It would take effort and determination on his part. But he would do it. He had to. The want of her was driving him insane.

  And then there was Kade speaking of Fourths. Not only were Fourths so rare that they were practically a myth, but Kade might as well be writing sonnets and declaring his undying love. Mace too. In the short weeks that Kora had been at the keep, both of his Brothers had changed. How had she turned them into these weak creatures? Was she some sort of witch?

  Their party neared the keep and he noticed the portcullis open. That wasn’t unusual, but he’d ordered it closed before they left – because she’d tried to escape that way before, not for her safety …

  He gripped the reins more tightly. Something wasn’t right, though he couldn’t rightly say what had warned him. Everything but the gate seemed normal, but the others were looking as wary as he felt. They rode through the main entrance in silence and saw that they had visitors. Lucian frowned. How long had they been here and where was Kora?

  Yorn approached them under the guise of taking their horses to the stable. ‘Their lord is inside. Been here since early afternoon, perhaps,’ he murmured quietly.

  Not very long, then.

  ‘His men are deep in their cups, but she bade us to keep clear heads.’

  ‘Who did?’ Mace asked inanely.

  ‘Kora.’

  Clever girl. But curious that their men had listened to her orders. She wasn’t a good manipulator from what he had seen ... Perhaps she really was a witch, he mused.

  At Lucian’s inquiring look, Yorn simply shrugged.

  Lucian began to climb the steps to the main door slowly, speculating as to why the man was here. His brothers were just behind him. Mace had mentioned seeing him in the market at Kingway, but he didn’t usually have business this way these days, which meant that this was a special trip.

  Suddenly he heard a shout and then a loud scream from the main hall. Disregarding his injuries, he leapt up the remaining steps and ran towards the sound, drawing his sword.

  Chapter 14

  Kora walked slowly down the corridor. She carried an ale horn for the lord, who had been sitting in the great hall for quite a while now. She’d tarried as long as she could, hoping the Brothers would return, but they hadn’t, and there was only so long that the man would wait passively.

  She opened the door quietly and he turned his head towards her.

  ‘Finally. Your keep’s hospitality is lacking,’ he sneered.

  ‘My apologies, my lord,’ she murmured but didn’t offer an excuse.

  She approached slowly, noting that his eyes took in her opulent gown and cursed herself for not thinking of exchanging it for one of the rough-spun ones in the stores. She saw his eyes drift to her chest and suddenly recalled, in vivid detail, when he had touched her in the market. She shivered and hoped he hadn’t noticed her fear, but when she looked up and saw his lascivious smile, she could see that he well knew his effect on her.

  ‘Come, come. Surely you can greet your betrothed with more warmth than that.’

  Betrothed? She didn’t let her confusion show, but the bile rose in her stomach immediately. What was this? Another of Lucian’s tricks? But how would he know? She’d been so careful.

  ‘I’m sorry, my lord, I don’t understand your jest,’ she said faintly.

  ‘Oh, Kora. You’re wondering how I found you after so long. Well, you can blame your uncle for that.’ He gave her a grin that didn’t reach his eyes. ‘To be honest, when I intercepted the man he’d sent to find his wayward niece and I was told that the woman I’d been searching for was in this very keep, I couldn’t believe it. I do business just down in the valley. How’s that for providence? You had been in my grasp and I’d just thought you were a pretty bauble I could play with. You were almost mine that day in Kingway and I didn’t even know it – nor did you from the looks of things.’ He shook his head in bafflement. ‘I’d probably have killed you that night,’ he said, half to himself, ‘and that wouldn’t have done at all. I suppose I have the gods and their whimsy to thank though it would have been so much easier if you hadn’t run off in the first place.’ He stood, not bothering with the pretence of ale any longer. ‘You’re going to come with me. Now.’

  She took a step back, the first of a few concerns coming to the forefront of her mind after his tirade, idiotically, was that he knew her name. ‘I don’t understand.’

  He laughed loudly. ‘Your father was right. You are a bit simple. I’m your future husband, of course. I’m Blackhale.’

  Blackhale. Her mind didn’t comprehend what was happening. This was Blackhale. The man from the market was Blackhale, her betrothed whom she had been running from for so long. Blackhale. How was it possible? She stared at the crest on his tunic, the same one she couldn’t place that day in Kingway, and remembered, with a dawning realisation, where she’d come across it. Papers on her father’s desk. The marriage contract. This was Blackhale, the man her father would have given her to with so little thought. This was the powerful figure who commanded a personal army, who had been married three times before her and whose wives had all disappeared, and who bought slave girls to torture. This was the man the servants had whispered about behind closed doors where they thought she couldn’t hear even as they lamented her fate. If Mace hadn’t bought her that day …

  She took Blackhale in, this man whose existence terrified so many. He was large and broad, but with little of the honed muscles of the Brothers His greying hair was thinning now she looked closer and he looked tired in the eyes. He was older than he first appeared too, yet his towering presence still had her quaking. And now he knew where she was, what she looked like. There was nowhere to hide from him. He would make her go with him. He would pay the Brothers for her and make her marry him. She covered her mouth with her hand, afraid she would be sick.

  ‘You’ve led me on a merry chase, you know. Now you’ve lost. Don’t make a fuss, girl.’

  She didn’t move, still rooted to the spot. Then he lunged for her. She threw the contents of the drinking horn in his face, an instant reaction she couldn’t help. He jumped back with a yowl and she ran for the door in a last-ditch effort to spare herself this awful fate. Something heavy thudded into her and knocked her over like a skittles pin. She lay on the floor, stunned, vaguely realising he’d thrown one of the heavy wooden dining chairs at her like she was nothing but a nuisance. Ageing his body may be, but it had held its strength. Luckily nothing seemed broken. He hefted her up and she let her head loll, pretending to be senseless before she struck, gouging a chunk out of his cheek as she raked her nails across it.

  He yelled in pain and shook her. ‘You little bitch,’ he said quietly. ‘It will be my pleasure to break you.’ He pulled her head back by her hair to look at him. ‘I think I’ll start now.’

  He threw her face-down onto the large table in the centre of the room and she let out a cry as her head bounced painfully off the rough wooden surface. She struggled under the hand keeping her down as he hiked her dress up. She kicked at his shins and tried to pull herself across the tabletop.

  ‘I’m not yours yet, Blackhale!’ she bellowed. ‘If you do this, my father will have you flayed alive!’ She wished she could speak as coldly and dispassionately as he did, but found she couldn’t quite manage that in her current state of panic. What she said was true, though. Her father may have no love for her, but family honour was paramount to him.

  ‘Your father is dead,’ Blackhale sneered. ‘Your simple mother too. Your childhood home is a pile of ash. I watched your mother burn as she sat in that faded blue chair with the yellow flowers. The ridiculous creature didn’t even try to save herself.

  ‘You lie,’ she said through clenched teeth, her stomach dropping.


  She knew it was true. He’d described her mother’s chair from her private rooms. No one went there but the servants. She felt a pang of sadness at his words. Less than she should have at learning her family and home were gone, however. Her family’s house had always been simply a roof over her head. Her father had been a tyrant and though her mother had given birth to her, she had done little else.

  ‘My uncle, then,’ she tried as she heard him loosen his belt.

  He ignored her, so she screamed as loudly as she could, praying that the men in the yard would come to her rescue even knowing that they’d be too late.

  ‘I’m no longer a virgin!’ she cried suddenly, grasping at straws now, but his body froze over hers as if such a thing had never crossed his mind. Imbued with hope, she elaborated, ‘All three of the Brothers have had me. In every way you could imagine!’

  ‘You were meant to be mine!’ he sneered, grabbing her by the hair and slamming her head into the table.

  She cried out weakly, her mind going fuzzy.

  The door banged open and she turned her head to look, but where she expected a guard stood Lucian – a dark, malicious knight with his sword drawn. He looked more furious than she’d ever seen him as he advanced into the room, not saying a word, but Kora had never been gladder to see anyone.

  Blackhale put his hands up in surrender and she slid dizzily off the table, pulling her skirts down and skittering as far from him as she could get. She felt her head and found it already swelling, but there wasn’t any blood.

  ‘Your slave is mine by rights,’ Blackhale said by way of explanation. ‘I’ll give you the twenty pieces you paid for her, but I’m taking her with me.’

  If Lucian was surprised, he didn’t show it. ‘Do you want to go with him, Kora?’

  ‘No.’ She shook her head for extra emphasis, pleasantly surprised he had bothered to ask her.

  Lucian shrugged. ‘Well, the lady seems to prefer us to you, and we have the of Writ Ownership.’

  ‘My men are in the yard,’ Blackhale said easily. ‘Surely you saw them already within your keep’s walls. You’re outnumbered. Give her to me now or there will be bloodshed.’

  The other two Brothers appeared in the hall. ‘Your men are all too drunk to help you,’ Mace interrupted. ‘Get out or we’ll kill you all regardless of the law.’

  Blackhale let out a growl of frustration. ‘This isn’t finished,’ he promised, storming from the hall, his heavy steps echoing loudly.

  Kora heard the massive front door crash against the wall as he left the keep and she half fell into the nearest chair. Blackhale knew where she was. All of a sudden, great gasps of mirth began to erupt from her chest. She giggled and giggled and then she was sobbing; heaving cries that choked her as she laughed. Great tears tracked down her cheeks as quickly as she could wipe them away, but she couldn’t stop.

  The Brothers stood by, staring at her and then at each other. They probably thought she’d lost her wits. Perhaps she had.

  Kade stepped forward slowly and knelt in front of her. ‘What happened? What did he do?’

  ‘Nothing, really.’ She laughed harder, gasping for breath. ‘You don’t understand. I ran for so long and so much happened. I tried so hard and, in the end, there’s still no escape. He found me regardless, and even in the market that day, he would have bought me if Mace hadn’t. I would have been his anyway, then or now. None of it made any difference.’

  She knew she wasn’t making any sense. She tried to calm herself. The Brothers were silent until the only sounds in the hall were her slow breaths.

  Someone stroked her hair and hushed her, and she closed her eyes as she felt herself being lifted; more easily than when Blackhale had picked her up. She wasn’t sure why that mattered, but it did.

  She was taken upstairs and into a room she knew by the smell of the books alone. Kade sat in one of the chairs by the hearth, settling her on his lap like a babe. He heaved a great sigh and she followed suit. The slow rise and fall of his chest and the smell of him lulled her into a drowsy haze.

  ‘Thank you,’ she blurted out, ‘for not letting him take me.’

  His arms tightened around her and she drifted slowly into slumber.

  She woke to whispered conversation and opened her eyes. The fogginess in her vision had gone now, leaving her sight as it had been before the blindness.

  All three of the Brothers were there. Mace and Lucian sat at the table. Kade still had her in his arms by the hearth.

  ‘How do you feel?’ he asked her.

  She eased herself from Kade’s arms and he let her go, albeit reluctantly.

  ‘Better.’ She looked out of the casement. It was late afternoon, and the sun was still high above the mountains beyond the valley.

  Another day gone. She wondered if it would be her last at the keep.

  ‘Davas brought you food and drink.’ Mace gestured in front of him where a goblet and a plate of meats, cheeses and bread sat.

  Her stomach still revolting, she shook her head. ‘Perhaps later.’

  Something passed between the Brothers and she looked down at the floor morosely. ‘What do you want to know?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘All of it,’ came Lucian’s cold reply.

  She flinched and nodded, not able to look at them. ‘My father made a contract with Blackhale for my hand.’

  ‘In marriage?’ Mace exclaimed. ‘But I don’t understand. He was at the market that day …’

  ‘A chance encounter. I didn’t know Blackhale’s face before today, nor he mine. We’d never met. My family owns a vast estate. My father is – was – a wealthy man. I wasn’t a slave before.’

  ‘Does anyone else know?’ Kade asked.

  ‘Davas. I didn’t tell him. He guessed it.’ She smiled in spite of the predicament she was in. ‘I ran away from my home before I was to marry Blackhale. I joined the Priests of the Mount. I knew that once I had taken the final rites, contract or no, he wouldn’t be able to stake a claim to me. No matter how many powerful friends he has, no one would let him insult the gods. But the night before I was to begin, I was stolen from the dormitories.’

  Kora rubbed her eyes in fatigue. ‘Next I knew, I was in Kingway to be sold by that slaver.’ She glanced at Mace. ‘He knew nothing of me. He made up lies to sell me for a higher price because he was afraid I wouldn’t sell at all. Blackhale had told him I wasn’t worth much. I didn’t know who he was, but I knew I didn’t want him to buy me. I was glad when you did.’

  ‘So you tried to escape to get back to the priests?’

  ‘Yes. I had six days to return to them.’

  ‘And do you still want to go back?’

  She shook her head. ‘The ritual had to be started while the moons were in position. That door is closed to me now.’ She shrugged. ‘But even if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t choose it. It was just the only way I could think of to put myself beyond Blackhale’s reach. But now he knows I’m here.’ She heaved a sigh. ‘He has more men than you do. You and the keep are in danger because of me.’

  ‘Why does any of this matter,’ Kade muttered, ‘She’s here with us now. Who cares who she was before or where she comes from?’

  Lucian spoke over him. ‘You’re not from this world, Brother. I wouldn’t expect you to understand the nuances of the situation.’ He turned on her, ignoring Kade’s answering growl. ‘What do you suggest we do with you then?’ Lucian asked her, his tone condescending.

  She hung her head and tried to keep the tears that threatened at bay. ‘You could ransom me to my uncle if he still lives,’ she bit her lip, ‘or to Blackhale if you wish. My dowry was vast. That’s what he wants. He won’t stop until he gets it and my family’s property if my father really is gone.’

  ‘But the property won’t pass to him in marriage unless it’s part of your dowry,’ Mace said.

  ‘No,’ she agreed. ‘Not until I’m dead …’

  The Brothers were silent. She didn’t need to look up to know that three pairs of
eyes were fixed on her and she wanted to sink into the floor. She could feel their ire. She should have simply told them the truth before. Then at least Blackhale wouldn’t have found her here. They’d put so much work into the keep, into their new lives after their tragedies. Because of her it was all in jeopardy.

  ‘I’m going to … go to my room,’ she muttered, practically running for the door. Thankfully they let her go. She rushed for her chamber and closed herself inside before she let her tears begin to fall.

  LUCIAN

  Lucian watched Kora leave the library. She blamed herself for everything, even Lucian could see that, but the others didn’t seem to. They thought she was just afraid of Blackhale. But Lucian knew guilt. He knew it well. He’d felt it every day since he’d left Lori to fend for herself while he went and joined the Army.

  He was at a crossroads, he realised, but he’d already decided what path he would take. He could do nothing else. He knew it was wrong, but he didn’t care. She was weakened now. She felt responsible, thought they hated her and he would use that to his advantage. It might very well be his only chance.

  He left the other two talking and made his way to her room. He listened outside the door to her muffled sobs for a time before silently opening it and slipping inside.

  She was on her bed, crying into her pillow – great wracking sobs. He stole closer, watching her sadness and her fear and he suddenly saw her, really saw her.

  The realisation that she was no devious creature, no heartless wench, slammed into him. She was simply a girl with a shit family who’d caught the attention of a very powerful and dangerous man. What would he have done if such a man had wanted Lori? He knew at once he’d have gutted the bastard while he still breathed to save her from even one lecherous glance.

  He sat on the bed and pulled Kora gently into his arms. She startled, but curled into him at once the way she had when he’d come to save her from her bad dreams while she slept. How many nights had he secretly lay here with her? He remembered the first time he’d woken to the sounds of her screams deep in the night. He’d burst in expecting to find an intruder. Finding none but the girl writhing around in her bed, he’d intended to shake her awake, berate her for his lost sleep and leave. But for reasons he still didn’t understand, he’d wanted to comfort her when she’d been at her most vulnerable. And so, careful not to wake her, he’d cuddled her to him – something he’d only ever done with Lori. But, as his cock sprang to life, he’d seen how different it was with Kora. His feelings were most definitely not brotherly.