A Warrior s Desire - By Pamela Palmer Page 0,52

mines.

"I learned to use other things to bring myself relief, though sometimes he'd tie me so I couldn't even do that.

One time he left me like that for four days."

Charlie swore.

"A real bastard."

"A few years ago, he was called back to court and he sold me to the drifter, Baleris.

Baleris already had one slave, Yuillin.

But he wanted a female."

Charlie's gut tightened, sick at the thought of the abuse she'd described, and certain she'd touched on only the tip of the iceberg.

She'd been tortured.

But he knew that.

He'd known it on some level since he first met her and realized she'd been a slave to these creatures.

But he hadn't really understood.

Not until he'd seen the slave forced to stab himself, then watched Tarrys in so much misery she would have welcomed rape.

He took her hand and rubbed his thumb over her silken skin.

"I can't imagine.

.

.

."

He shook his head, unable to find the words.

"I always thought Baleris had to have been the worst, but his predecessor sounds as bad."

"No, Baleris was the worst.

Baleris enjoyed inflicting pain."

With his free hand, he reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear.

"I'm sorry for all you've endured.

I wish I could make it all go away."

She smiled softly and met his gaze.

"You have.

Every time you touch me, every time you kiss me, every time you treat me as an equal, you give me strength and sweep away a little more of the past.

I thank you, Charlie Rand."

He didn't know what to say to that, so he kissed her, tasting her Mona Lisa smile.

How had she ever endured what she had? How was he ever going to walk away from her when they got home? When it was time for him to go back to his life? Keep her, a voice whispered deep in his mind.

Impossible, his heart replied.

His path through life was only wide enough for one.

Less than an hour later, they crested a small rise and walked out of the mist as cleanly as if they'd walked through a door into the bright golden light of midday.

The ground rolled, familiar blue dotted with shrubs and bushes.

And no sign of Esri.

Thank God.

In the distance stood a forest as dark and foreboding as its name.

The Forest of Nightmares.

"That's it, isn't it?" "Yes."

On the surface, the trees didn't seem that close together.

Logically, the forest shouldn't be that dark.

But no light penetrated.

None.

In the bright day, those woods were dark as a moonless night.

Scary as sin and, ironically, his only chance of survival.

From what Tarrys had told him, no Esri would willingly enter that place.

"Let's go."

He took off at a run, careful to keep his strides in sync with Tarrys's as he watched for sign of Esri.

"I don't suppose you have a plan for finding the princess and getting us out of there."

Tarrys glanced at him.

"I don't.

This was your mission, remember."

"The mission was only to reach the Forest of Nightmares and rescue the princess.

The details of the rescue have always been a little fuzzy."

Then again, he was a pro at improvising.

Up until now, he'd only been concerned with reaching the forest.

And they weren't there yet.

"How close are we to the full moon?" Tarrys asked.

"If my watch has been keeping the correct time, it's tomorrow night."

And this day was already half done.

"We don't have much time left.

If we don't get Princess Ilaria out by tomorrow night, we'll have to stay another month."

"Then we'll get her out."

Charlie glanced at her.

"If what Kade heard is true, one of the twelve gates lies within the forest.

Will you be able to find it?" Tarrys shook her head.

"Not unless I stumble upon it when it's open.

I can't see the gates and can only sense them when I'm virtually on top of them.

Princess Ilaria may know where it is."

"So you won't even know when it opens?" "Unless things have changed now that all twelve are open, no."

Charlie snorted.

He'd thought reaching the forest would be the hard part.

He was beginning to realize that the real challenge still lay ahead.

The first mile passed easily.

But just as they crossed the halfway point between the mist and the forest, an odd rumbling began to vibrate beneath his feet.

"Do you feel that?" he asked Tarrys.

Her wide-eyed stare swung to him.

"Horses.

Royal Guards!" "Damn!"
Chapter 19
Charlie ran, Tarrys at his side, pounding across the grass-dotted blue terrain, toward the spookiest sight he'd ever seen - the utter blackness of the Forest of Nightmares.

The closer they drew to the dark wood, the more every instinct he possessed yelled at him to go back, as if the ghosts