“It’s best to just do it, Willow,” Seth said. “It’s just a bit of cleaning up. Don’t worry. Come.” He bent to his knees in front of her and unchained her ankle.
“Be nice, Willow flower.” Martin called out to her, listening to the sound of their footsteps echoing down the long hall.
Just a bit of cleaning up turned out to be more like waiting hand and foot on a large group of Catchers while they ate in the enormous dining hall upstairs. There were a few other women there, jumping to attention when one of the men ordered them to get more mead, or more food, or to clean the drooling food off their filthy lips.
“Why are you making me do this?” Willow turned to Seth at the door before they went in. Her eyes pleaded with him, but he wouldn’t look at her. “I have no choice,” he said quietly, ushering her inside. “Besides, it is not the worst thing you could be doing.”
The sight of these men eating made Willow’s stomach turn. They laughed with their mouths open, spit their food on the floor just to make someone standing nearby clean it. They were loud, and most were drunk. Willow’s heart near pounded out of her chest.
“I’ll be close by,” Seth told her, leaving her in the middle of the room.
“Wench!” someone called out a moment later. “Get me a towel.”
Terrified, Willow looked around and saw Seth not too far away standing against a wall. He watched her and nodded. She closed her eyes and did as she was told with clenched fists.
“Wipe my mouth,” the Catcher demanded, tilting his head back to aid her. Willow wished she had a dagger to cut his throat, but slid the towel across his thick, wet lips instead. She shivered, and the group at the table laughed.
Suddenly Drakar was towering over her. “Hello, Princess,” he sneered and ran his fingers along her cheek. She pulled away, glaring at him. “Get me some food.”
Cursing him to Hades under her breath, Willow turned away from his dark, hooded glare and went to the table where fruit and roasted chicken were laid out. Her mouth watered while she made him a dish and carried it back to him.
“I’ve changed my mind,” Drakar snarled when she offered the dish to him. He smacked her hand away and the plate and its contents crashed to the floor.
“Clean it up!” Drakar commanded.
Looking up into his hate-filled eyes, Willow stiffened her shoulders. She would have given anything to have feasted on the dinner, and here it was wasted on the filthy floor. “I’m not the one who spilled it,” she said through clenched teeth. “You clean it up.”
Drakar leapt at her before she could run. He snatched her wrist and spun her around, holding her arm behind her until she thought it would break. “CLEAN IT UP!” he bellowed, bending her to her knees.
Through her angry tears, Willow saw Seth running toward her, and for a moment, she thought he was Caleb coming to save her. Seth drew his sword and faced Drakar, holding the hilt in both hands, its point aimed at the huge Catcher’s throat.
“Let her go,” he warned quietly. His lip curled with an unspoken deadly threat.
“Stay out of this, Seth, before I pound your head into the ground,” Drakar roared.
“Let her go, or I’ll cut your throat,” Seth spoke quickly and with complete confidence that he would and could do what he said. Drakar stared at him, then laughed and shoved Willow away.
Seth caught her before she fell to the floor. He threw Drakar one last venomous look before he bent to her. “Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Seth snapped his fingers and another woman came running. He pointed to the mess on the floor and she immediately began to clean it up.
“No,” Willow admonished him. “I’ll do it.”
Seth released her. She placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder and gently pushed her away from the broken dish.
Willow worked in the dining hall for two more hours after the men left. Cleaning tables and scrubbing floors. Seth stayed with her the entire time, watching her from his place against the wall, and when she was finished, he handed her a plate piled high with food.
“Aren’t you going to eat it?” he asked her after some time had passed and she still hadn’t touched a bite.
“No, I’m saving it for Martin. All he had to eat today was an apple and a slice of bread.”