The Bid Read Online Free PDF Page B

softly. It was completely non-sexual, like a sister or a mother might do to comfort a loved one. It only made his head ring with more confusion, even though it eased him physically. “I will make you this promise, Vejhon,” she murmured. “If you invest your trust in me, I will help you to become a part of your new world. I will help you replace what you have lost as best I am able.”
    “I have lost my freedom, my Lady,” he growled, stressing the title with contempt. “Will you replace that?”
    “As best as I am able,” she agreed with a nod, amazing him with the sincerity she managed to put behind the vague remark.
    “How stupid do you think I am?” he bit out, jerking his head out of her hands since it was the only thing he was truly free enough to do. “Your approach is sweet as sugar, but your promises are as bitter and incomplete as a wine turned to vinegar.”
    She stepped away from him the instant he began to balk against her touch, and Vejhon tried not to miss the warmth of her closeness to his bare skin. The ambient temperature of the room kept him from being chilled, but her absence made him want to shiver nonetheless. Yet another reaction he couldn’t understand any more than he could control it.
    “Very well,” she said with resignation and a sigh. “We shall have to come about this by a more difficult route.”
    “Lady, if you thought this was going to be easy, then you aren’t near as smart as I thought you were.”
    The insult did not affect her, but it certainly didn’t sit well with her boy toy behind her. The other slave was clearly so inured and enamored of his mistress that he took offense whenever she was insulted and threatened. How had she taken a man of such obvious power and managed to mold him into this disgusting display of obedient loyalty? Vejhon couldn’t escape the tendril of dread working through him that told him that if he didn’t entrench himself against this woman with every last cell of resistance and strength in his body, looking at Najir was as good as looking at himself in the future.
    “Najir, you are dismissed.”

3
    T he directive was soft spoken and almost matter of fact. Yet, Vejhon watched with surprise as Najir hesitated to obey his mistress as instantly as he had been doing up until then. Clearly he feared for her safety and disliked the idea of leaving her alone with a barbarian warrior who insulted her, with one who would not care anything about her health or safety should the opportunity to escape arise.
    “Najir?”
    A simple name spoken, but the layers of tone and intent within it radiated from the single word. It was a scold and a reassurance all at once. There was even a hint of secrets that flashed between them as she exchanged a long look with him. Finally, he bowed his head in acquiescence and obeyed his Master. He left the room, sealing the door in his wake.
    “You haven’t asked me who I am,” she noted as she walked a short distance away and opened a small chest made of wood standing close to the hooks and their strange occupants. As she opened the chest it displayed trays of what looked like jewels and jewelry. The contents of that box could buy him passage and freedom anywhere a dozen times over. “Not my name, or where you are, or anything about the woman who owns you.”
    “The only thing I’m interested in is what your neck will sound like when I snap it like a twig.”
    She ignored him. “My name is Hanna Drakoulous, Master of House of Drakoulous, one of the most powerful Houses in the political structure of this society. To belong to this House,” she pointed out, “is to be protected by a great and powerful name.”
    “Owned, sweetheart,” he bit back caustically. “Call it what it is. ‘To be owned by this House.’ Don’t think for a minute I’m going to let you whitewash that fact from my mind with euphemisms and other delicately put bullshit.”
    “I did nothing of the kind. Free or owned , those who live here