The Blacksmith Queen (The Scarred Earth Saga, #1) - G.A Aiken Page 0,112

. .” Straton’s words faded out. “That mad bitch.” He laughed. “That mad, wondrous bitch! The false queen is here attacking me!”

Loving the very idea, Straton adjusted his armor and stalked through the feasting hall toward the front doors but abruptly stopped midway.

And without even turning around, he knew the false queen was already behind him.

* * *

Keeley pushed her way through the small door that led into the jarl’s bedroom. She hadn’t been acquainted with this type of royal home; the jarls of the past had faded to mere memory ages ago. But these stone buildings had held up well and the dwarves knew about the ways those rulers would get their young children and wives to safety during wartime.

Once she was halfway out of the escape tunnel door, she paused to take a quick look around the bedroom. She didn’t see anyone, but she could hear . . . sobbing. Muffled sobbing.

Dragging herself completely out, Keeley stayed in a crouch and inched quickly across the dark bedroom. She froze when she reached the bed, spotting the bruised and obviously battered naked woman chained to the bedpost. Keeley went to her quickly. She knew she shouldn’t. She had one goal. To sneak up behind Straton and slit his throat. That was it. That was all she was supposed to do. But how could she just leave this woman here? Suffering. The answer was, she couldn’t.

Keeley grasped the cuffs that kept the woman trapped.

“Don’t bother,” the woman whispered through her tears. “They’re dwarven made. You can’t—”

One cuff fell away; then the other.

Shocked, the woman gawked at her. “How did you . . . ?”

“Blacksmith secrets,” Keeley whispered back. “Now go. Through the tunnel on the other side of the bed. I left the door open. Go before he comes back.”

“He’ll kill you,” she warned.

“Maybe. But at least you’ll be gone. Go someplace safe; don’t look back.” Keeley started to go but stopped, grasped the woman’s bruised but now free hands, and added, “I am so sorry for what’s happened to you. So sorry.”

Determined to keep Straton off this woman’s back, Keeley would no longer lure him to his bedroom for a quick blindside attack, which was what she and Gemma had planned. Instead, Keeley went to the big open doors that led out into the feasting hall. No longer crouching, she walked away from the safety of that bedroom and into the hall. She waited until he turned and spotted her.

“Come to face me, bitch?” Straton taunted.

She was surprised to find that he was actually quite handsome. She’d assumed he’d be horrific looking. A living monster. But no.

It was amazing how someone so handsome could be so unbelievably cruel.

“Want revenge, do you?” he asked. “For your family?”

Keeley pulled her hammer from its sheath, letting the head slap hard into her opposite palm.

The prince laughed. “Oh, dear girl . . .”

He made a motion with two fingers and soldiers appeared from dark corners around the room. Weapons out, advancing on her.

The prince, however, spun around and again started toward the exit.

* * *

Samuel was busy trying to figure out how he could get the poor girl away from her captor and get the rest of the women out of the brothel without being harmed by these brutes, when Keran suddenly slapped both her hands onto the face of the man in front of her and leaned in as if to kiss him. But the man started screaming as Keran forced him to the ground.

Startled, most of the soldiers simply watched the attack, but a few attempted to rescue their comrade. The captive girl tried to drop down so she could get away from the blond man holding her but he was quick and yanked her back. But then the other women threw themselves at the soldiers standing with him. The soldiers who’d kept them here against their will. With just fists and feet and their bodies, they assaulted the men.

Samuel jumped over Keran and the soldier she still had pinned to the floor and went right for the young girl. The blond man started to drag the blade across her throat, but Samuel followed Keran’s example and tackled the man to the ground with the poor girl stuck between them. He grabbed the man’s hand and pulled with all his strength to get the blade away. The girl took her chance and slipped out from between them.

The soldier used his leg to flip Samuel over him. When Samuel landed, he rolled