Shattered Read Online Free PDF Page B

chest.  When they unbound his wrists he found he couldn’t move.  Everything was simply too stiff.  A sturdy set of hands had to lift his body while another moved his arms out from under him.
    He groaned as they repositioned him onto his back and stretched out his aching limbs.  Fingers, warm and naked, worked the tension out of his muscles.  When they finally had him relaxed he was lifted to his feet, his arms draped over a pair of shoulders, and carried out from the room.
    Nathan thought to memorize the path they traveled and was disappointed when it was simply a quick turn from Robin’s room to this new pla ce, where they stopped and he was made to stand there in a room he didn’t know.
    The hands never left him long.  Nathan was anxious when they did for they were his only point of contact from where he stood, there in his prison of darkness.  The quiet voice of his subconscious broke through every now and again to mock his obedience.  The handlers didn’t have him bound, he could just as easily rip the blindfold off his eyes, but he couldn’t will his hands to rise from his thighs.
    W ater was dumped over his body and they scrubbed him down.  Those soapy, warm sponges rubbed the sweat from his back and worked free any remaining knots in his muscles.  They moved over his legs, his shoulders, and his arms with pressure enough to banish all stiffness from his bondage.  But they were indifferent to his tattered front and the same pressure applied there made him groan and tense.
    Nathan fought back any respons e to the cleaning.  It was bad enough Robin saw him hurting.  He need not show that to these faceless specters as well.
    As if speaking her name in his mind summoned her Nathan heard the familiar sound of her approach.  It felt like a weight was being applied to his chest and his heart had a mind to beat free from its ribcage prison.  One by one the hands touching him fell away.
    ‘ Take the blindfold off and swing at her,’ his mind seemed to scream.  ‘ They won’t be able to stop you before you hit her, break her nose, something. Fight.  You’re dead either way.’
    Nathan’s fist clenched at his side but otherwise he didn’t move.  The clicking had stopped just before him.  He could reach out and touch her.
    Robin touched him first.  Nathan knew the feel of leather anywhere, it was imprinted on his mind now and permanently.  She ran her hand over his chest, where the rope had been, and lifted his arm to allow her fingers to trace it around.  He heard the click of her boots as she followed the tender pathway around behind him and up to his shoulder blades.  Her fingers lifted off one side and came down on the other, beneath his arm again, until she stood in front of him once more.
    Hands were on him after that.  He felt them at his wrists, binding something to them , but there was no tension when they released his hands back to his sides.  Nathan tried to bring one hand around to the other, to feel at whatever implement they just fastened to him, but his handlers returned his arms to his sides.
    “ They’re leather wrist guards,” Robin explained. “Since you can’t seem to hold still… they should protect your wrists from further chafing when I have you tied again.”
    “Why do you…,” Nathan mumbled, but Robin’s fingers on his lips silenced him.
    “Nothing I said needed a response , prince.  I’m getting tired of reminding you of that.”
    His handlers too k charge of him again.  They turned him and walked him forward a few paces.  Nathan felt the change in flooring, from smooth to grate.  Then one more step to smooth again.  Strong hands on his shoulders forced him to kneel against some contraption with his shins pressed into a plank of angled wood.  Another thin plank was brought around and clicked into place beneath his thighs.  His knees were tethered apart and a draft of cool air caressed his backside.  His face went warm in embarrassment, as he was