Shattered Read Online Free PDF

attention grew too great and Nathan looked down.
    “Eyes up prince,” she corrected, and he obeyed just in time to see her pop a morsel of cheese into her mouth.  Had he not been so thirsty he would have salivated at that.
    “You surprised me,” Robin continued on.  She sounded more sure this morning, more collected.  “I didn’t think you’d enjoy the lash.”
    “I didn’t ,” Nathan replied. The words came out raspy against his dry throat.
    Robin’s boot slid up the inside of Nathan’s leg and pressed against his balls.  He grimaced and tried to twist away from her, but the ropes held him secure.
    “This little guy disagrees,” she said.  She bounced her foot up and down a few times to emphasize her point before returning her foot to the ground.  “Also, I wasn’t asking for your input.  You’re to be silent unless I have need of your voice.”
    Nathan s wallowed down the urge to cry.  He was trying so hard to ward off hopelessness.
    Robin plucked a grape from the plate and held it out beside her knee.  Nathan strained forward, grimacing against the rope that was already cutting into his underarms and pressing into his frayed skin, but she pulled the bite an inch out of reach.  His strength gave out and he dropped his eyes again.
    “Is that all the fight you’re willing to put up for food?  You must not be that hungry yet.”
    Nathan tried to hold back the tears that threatened and his sinuses tingled with the effort, but soon they gathered at the corners of his eyes just the same.
    “Look at me prince,” she commanded, but Nathan couldn’t muster the will to obey.  His body was simply too heavy and he sagged against the rope.
    Robin had a hand beneath his chin a moment later and his eyes met hers as she tilted his face up.  The sudden jerk freed some of the moisture from his eyes and sent it down his cheek in a single streak.  Dull grey scanned his face, back and forth, until she satisfied herself with whatever answer she sought.  When she dropped his chin again it was with a little snort.
    “Take it,” she said and forced the tiny bite into his mouth.  After that she fed him piece after piece in silence.
    When the platter finally sat empty Robin turned her attention to her goblet, contemplating its contents before downing the whole thing in three quick gulps.  Then she stood and left, only to return a minute later with another.
    She sat before him again and brought the cup to his lips.  The sharp, acidic smell of wine drifted up.  It stung his nostrils at first, until the sweeter undertones played out.  He didn’t normally drink wine, but if he ever craved a glass it was now.
    He wouldn’t think about what he had done to earn this.  He was so focused on the drink, the relief it brought his cracked throat and the warmth it spread over his body that everything else faded away, and when she pulled away the cup he gasped for breath.  His eyes stayed on hers though, he remembered that much.
    Robin crouched before him and ran her gloved hand over the rope across his chest, tracing it until it disappeared beneath his arms.  She touched at his taut muscles and tested the tension of the rope with one finger.
    “ Your handlers will take you down and clean you.  Don’t fight them prince.  They are not your enemy, only tools I employ.  Save your fight for me.”
    Robin patted him once on the cheek before taking a blindfold and tying it over his eyes.  Locked again in darkness reminded him of his trip here – of the blurred hours and his throbbing head, of his inability to distinguish reality from delirium, of the isolation, of uncertainty.  It reminded him of the box.  But the wine was already dulling his aches and the food sat warm in his stomach, and right now this darkness wasn’t so bad.

**
     
    The specters, his handlers , came in shortly after Robin left him.  As soon as they loosed the rope holding him to the ceiling Nathan fell sideways and curled his knees to his