*
“Hello again, Jade,” he said mildly, “Welcome to my little mountain hide-away. And you can quit trying to mind-speak.”
He shook his head. “That doesn’t work here.” He smiled again.
Jade stared at him. “What? Why not?” She had already discovered she wasn’t reaching anyone, and she was trying her best not to panic.
She knew now what that feeling she had been getting from him back at the camp had been. She was feeling it from him now - in batches. The revolting asshole wanted her.
Yeesh, she thought, he’s old enough to be my father - she looked at him again - or grandfather! Double yeesh!
“Because I’ve got something I’ll bet you never heard of,” he said coming over to the bed.
Jade noticed he moved stiffly with a slight limp.
“Where’s my friend? Where’s Ro?” she asked fearfully. Oh gods! Ro had been walking with her. What had this…this…nut case done to her?
His eyes grew cold. “Oh, she’s probably okay…for now. But she won’t be when I get my hands on her again.” His face went stony.
“The little zarbon burned me. And for that she’ll have to pay. But, I don’t want to talk about her.” He carefully sat on the edge of the bed. “You are absolutely exquisite. You, I think, will be the complete crown on my special collection. There is no one else in the world like you.” He smiled and began stroking her arm where it was bound to a ring in the headboard of the bed.
Jade’s stomach churned and it was all she could do not to throw up on him. Her skin crawled. She had to think!
“What do you want with me?” Stupid question. She castigated herself. She knew what he wanted with her. She could feel it coming off him in waves. She felt a flash of anger at him for calling her friend such a nasty name. Zarbons were ugly, scaly little pest creatures and it was an huge insult to liken anybody to one.
She mentally shook her head. This man was out of his mind and she needed to concentrate to stay alive - and not get un-virgined. Or whatever you called it.
“Why, nothing you won’t enjoy, Jade…eventually.” He heaved an insincere sigh. “You’ll have to wait a bit though. I’m having a little problem right now. But don’t worry,” here he smiled again, “I’ll be fine by tomorrow and then we’ll become much better acquainted. And I guarantee you will learn to like me. Just as all the others did.”
He quit stroking her arm and patted it. “You be a good girl now and I’ll send you some supper. Oh, and you can forget trying to fly away from me, too. Those rings you’re bound to go all the way into the walls.” He chuckled. “I’m no fool, you know. I prepared for you because I knew you were special.”
He’d called ahead and ordered two of his men to make the room flyer escape-proof.
He got up stiffly and started for the door. “I’ll be back soon, don’t go away.” He chuckled at his own little lame joke as he shut the door.
Jade panicked. For about a minute. That was all the panicking she would allow herself because she knew if she didn’t keep her head on, she’d never be able to get out of here…wherever here was. She could panic after she was free.
There was a window to the left of her showing her it was dark outside. How long had she been here? She cast around to see if her finder esa worked. It did. She found there were twenty people other than Montford in the place. Two were very young.
She couldn’t mind-speak any of them, though. She lay there thinking, trying to figure out why mind-speak wasn’t working.
The only thing she’d ever heard of that would block it was a…
It dawned on her: The jerk has a telepathy suppressor! How in all the names of the gods had he managed to get his hands on one of those? Private citizens were prohibited from having those things. In fact, it was a criminal offense and the punishment was wiping. They wiped all your esas out of your mind.
Only Continental Law was allowed to have one of those. Jade couldn’t think of any instance where anyone other than Law had possessed a telepathy suppressor. Not even the ruling council members kept one on hand. Even they had to go to Law if they wanted to use one for any reason.
Crap! This guy is crazy! she thought.
She remembered what the punishment was for kidnapping - and hadn’t he said something about finding Ro and “making her pay”? That was possibly murder. Or at least maiming. There was no death penalty, not as such, anyway. But the punishment for his crimes would amount to that just the same. Even the ones he had committed so far.
She shook her head. Why would anyone want to risk permanent total wiping?
She knew she was in horrific trouble. Everyone knew the penalty for what he was doing, and if he was willing to chance it, then that meant he was capable of anything.
She was bound by her wrists, her arms going to either side of her into rings that appeared to be made of some type of metal, though her ties appeared to be made of a hard plastic. She raised up as far as she could - which wasn’t much. Her legs were bound separately but fastened to one ring at the footboard.
Bet it goes into the floor, she thought, bitterly.
She tried to fly - the bed trembled a little and she got nowhere.
Well, it was worth a try, was her unhappy thought. She didn’t have much leeway in her ties either. She lay back down. She knew where she was too. She was in a large house in Alden Mountains, a chateau. She actually knew exactly where she was but it wasn’t doing her much good right now to know that. She had no way of contacting anyone for help.
Gods! Kendis must be going out of his mind, she thought, with worry. And Mom, and Alex, and…and…all of them.
And she felt Kendis, not just with her finder esa: she felt him with what felt like her soul. She realized it was their bond she was feeling and that gave her hope. Because, if she could feel him that way, then he could feel her. But would he be able to find her?
She knew where he was because of her esa. Would the bond link lead him to her? And in time? Before that imbecile tried to do what he wanted to do? She didn’t know, but at least Kendis would know she wasn’t dead - yet. She heard the door open again.
She raised up and a woman was coming through the door carrying a tray. She came over and set it on a stand near the bed.
“He has sent your dinner,” she announced without preamble.
Jade watched her as she pulled the stand over to the bed and took the cover off the food. She was medium built, on the slim side, like perhaps she didn’t eat enough, maybe about Jade’s height. She was older than Jade - thirty-ish maybe. She had light brown, non-descript hair and brown eyes.
Her eyes looked … haunted was the best way Jade could think to describe them. She didn’t smile.
“Who are you?” asked Jade.
The woman didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she looked at Jade and said, very softly, without moving her lips, “He can listen to us if he wants.” She started dragging the stand over noisily, obviously trying to cover up what she was saying in case Montford was listening.
“My name is Jade,” said Jade just as softly. “How long have I been here?”
The woman stared at her, for a moment. Then she said, as if she had to think to remember it, “S’tella. My name is S’tella. I know who you are; you’ve been here two days.”
She reached up over Jade and did something to the ring her right hand was going through, and Jade felt both arm fasteners loosen. She didn’t loosen her legs though, and her arms were still fastened, just not as tightly.
“I have to stay until you finish all your food and you have to eat it all. If you don’t eat it all, I have to go get him and he’ll see that you eat,” she said, again very softly.
Her face stayed the same but her eyes begged Jade to understand what she was trying to tell her.
Jade sat up. She had just enough slack to move the fork from her plate to her mouth.
She was shocked at hearing she’d been the
re two days. What had Montford done to her while she was passed out? Obviously, he’d given her something to knock her out. Just as obviously, he hadn’t been in any condition to do anything of a sexual nature to her.
She concentrated on what S’tella was saying and she got it. Uh-oh. That sounded bad. Really bad. Montford had put something in the food to knock her out. And if she didn’t eat it he’d probably come in and knock her senseless - with his fists or something. Shards!
Then she remembered something Kendis had told her. He couldn’t be knocked out with sedatives unless he wanted to be. He had a minor healing esa, and it also afforded him the ability to resist or remove medications and poisons from his system.
She had taken on some of his attributes when they became bonded. She prayed to the gods that was one she’d gotten. And when she thought of that, she felt a new spurt of hope.
He had gotten some of her attributes too. The bond might lead him to this area but it may not pinpoint it. Maybe he got a little of her finder esa.
S’tella was watching her closely so she picked up her fork and started eating. She had no idea what she was eating and she didn’t care. She was trying to access Kendis’ healer esa, truly hoping she had it.
She finished eating and laid her fork down. “Thank you S’tella, for bringing my dinner. Um, I have to go to the bathroom.” She looked at her hopefully.
S’tella nodded. She reached beneath her bed and pulled out a…bed pan? Jade stared at it with fascination. Was she serious? No one had bed pans anymore, even hospitals didn’t use them.
Where the hell had Montford gotten such an antique? And how was she to use it with her legs tied up like that? Oh. S’tella reached under her and rolled her underwear down - which she was happy to know she had on - slid the pan under her and stepped back.
“Hurry Jade, you’ll be asleep soon.”
Yep. There was something in the food all right, some type of drug to knock her out for the night.
“I’m finished, thank you,” said Jade a few minutes later.
S’tella, who’d turned her back, turned around and removed the pan - and incidentally, wiped Jade’s fanny, for which she was grateful - embarrassed, but grateful.
She pulled Jade’s panties back up. She still hadn’t smiled once. She pulled the stand away from the bed, reached over and tightened Jade’s ties back up, picked up the tray, and the bed pan and headed for the door.
“Good night, S’tella,” said Jade, sleepily.
S’tella paused, and Jade heard, very softly, almost a whisper, “Good night, little one.” She didn’t turn around and she went on out the door.
Jade lay there puzzled. Why had S’tella called her “little one” as the Elvwists sometimes did? Who was she? And why was she in this place with Montford? Was she his vow-mate maybe? Was she just a servant or had she, too, been captured at some point? And if she had been, and she could now move around freely, why would she stay?
Jade had felt a deep sadness from her, mixed with fear. She seemed to be trying to help her and it felt to Jade as if she could be a…friend. She had the impression S’tella had been trying to say something to her…help? Hope?
She wasn’t quite getting it. Her brain gave up. Too many questions, but she had the feeling S’tella was a fellow captive somehow.
She realized she was falling asleep in spite of her struggles to remain awake. And she reached deep down within herself, and with a great effort of will, latched on to something. It tried to slip away but she held on to it and she pulled it, and the more she pulled, the more awake she became. Soon, she was wide awake but she kept her eyes shut. And she lay there trying to make a plan for freeing herself.
She heard the door open again and she kept pretending to be asleep. She reached out with finder esa: it was Montford. She forced herself not to shudder. She could feel him standing there looking at her.