Taken by the Enemy Read Online Free PDF Page A

shadows. Emmie turned away from her, furiously rubbing her cheeks and nose against the fabric of her shirt until she felt more composed.
    “Are you – um… are you okay?” It was a quiet whisper, and she heard the shuffling of the girl moving towards her.
    “Fine,” Emmie muttered.
    A figure entered her peripheral vision to her right, but she refused to face the other woman – too aware of the mess she probably was. The girl cleared her throat again. “I’m Alice. Did they get you today?”
    All Emmie wanted was to be left alone. She wanted to be back under the peaceful canopy of the trees, scrounging for another half-hearted salad, away from everyone, but if she couldn’t have that, she at least didn’t want to have to entertain someone else.
    The silence stretched, and then Alice shifted closer to her. “They found me a little over a week ago, so I understand—”
    “You don’t understand,” Emmie snapped, and the girl’s stunned expression as she turned towards her would have made her feel guilty if there had been enough room to feel more guilt on top of all the other sins weighing on her.
    “Okay, then why don’t you tell me what happened? Why were you exiled? How did they find you?” Alice’s voice was soft, incredibly quiet in the gloom.
    “No.”
    The girl sighed and crossed her legs. “Well, I was exiled for my debts. I wasn’t able to pay my rent, but I refused to move out and live in the streets. I still owed the woman teaching me to make clothes for my beginning materials, and she refused to take me on as a full apprentice. She just wanted me to work for her, learn from her, without any guarantees. When the guards arrived to drag me out of my room, that was the first I knew that she had reported me for theft of the materials. No one listened to me when I told them how many dresses, pants, and shirts I had crafted in her shop. My own landlord called me a squatter , and shunned me. Then the town council exiled me – I didn’t even get to speak at my own trial. They told me to be silent, and then threw me out of the gates.”
    Emmie stared at the ground, trying to block out the woman’s sob story, but she just kept talking.
    “By the time they found me I was so hungry I didn’t really fight when they tied me up and brought me back here.” Alice scooted a little closer to her, lowering her voice even further, “But the best part is I kept the needles the woman gave me.” The girl twisted, grabbing at the hem of her top. “See?”
    The dull metal caught the light, and Emmie recognized the shape of a needle. It was similar to the one she had practiced her needlepoint for hours with, crafting flowers and leaves and phrases. Alice grinned and turned again to embed it in the hem once more. “They took the bag I had with some scraps of fabric, but they never searched my actual clothes.”
    “What do you think you’re going to do with a needle?” Emmie turned on the girl and her eyes widened as she hissed, “Do you think that you’ll be able to do anything with a tiny thing like that? You’re a fool.”
    “I just…” the girl sputtered, dropping her head to allow a dull, brown braid to drop over her shoulder. “I just haven’t had a moment to tell anyone, I thought you might be—”
    “What?”
    “My friend,” Alice whispered and Emmie tried to pull back from the desperation the girl poured out, but it was difficult. It became impossible when the soft sniffling of the girl crying filled the space.
    Dammit .
    “I’m sorry,” Emmie whispered.
    “Huh?” She lifted her head and Emmie cringed at repeating herself.
    “I said I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings, I just—”
    “You’re having a really bad day.” Alice filled in the blank, wiping her cheeks, and Emeline had to agree with her. She was having a terrible day, a fucking horrible, bad day.
    “Yes.”
    “My mother always used to tell me that bad days exist so that we can recognize the good ones, and