Chapter 9

Naomi resurfaced unwillingly. Her back ached. The branding mark shot pain out to her in a steady throb. She was lying face down on a bed. She suspected she’d been returned to Lady Alyssa’s room.

From her right, she heard Lord Tavik say, “Why hasn’t she awakened yet?”

“She will be fine. She's just had a few too many shocks is all. She just needs a little rest.” Yula’s voice came from her other side.

Naomi couldn’t stop the sigh that escaped when she felt a cool balm spread across the branding mark. There was no hiding her consciousness now. She let out a low groan from under her curtain of hair. She tried to rise and hissed in pain.

“Lay still,” Yula ordered, pushing her back down.

Naomi let herself collapse. “My day can’t get any worse, can it?”

She turned her head, and through her hair, she looked at Tavik sitting by her bedside. “Oh, my mistake. The day isn’t even half over, and you have all sorts of wedding day festivities planned. What’s next—thumb screws or Chinese water torture?”

Tavik leaned forward. “You know that deal you proposed?”

Naomi nodded.

“I accepted.”

Naomi’s eyes widened. “Then why didn’t you say so?”

Tavik rose without answer. He nodded to Yula and left the room. He’d accepted her deal. What did that mean? He wouldn’t have sex with her, but what else would he do with her? Yula went back to treating the burn.

The night was cool. Naomi stood at her window in a light trance. Yula could rouse her if she spoke to her, but if silent, her gaze would float back to the night sky. Yula had expressed worry that Naomi’s dazed behavior was due to her injuries and shock, but Naomi had assured her that she was fine. She’d told the serving woman that she just had a lot on her mind but that had been a lie.

She did not have ‘a lot’ on her mind. All she could think about was how she would get home, and she had no idea. She did not understand how she had arrived there, so could not fathom how to reverse it. She wanted to go home. She wanted her two bedroom apartment back. She wanted her bank teller job back. She wanted her family. Naomi veered away from thoughts of her family in fear of tears. It wouldn’t do to break down in front of Yula. She didn’t want to distress the older woman. She turned her mind back to thinking about how she would go home, and her mind went blank again.

Yula gathered her mending and stood. Naomi’s eyes barely flickered in her direction at the woman’s movement.

“I am retiring now. Lord Tavik should be with you shortly. Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?”

“I guess Lord Tavik has to stay here tonight for appearance's sake, huh?”

Yula nodded her head. She did not look comfortable.

“What is it, Yula?”

Yula twisted the shirt that she’d been mending. “Lord Tavik is not exactly a cruel lord, but he’s very exacting, but this agreement of yours—I’m not sure how much weight it has. I mean what reason does he have to keep it? Not that I am questioning my lord’s word, but…”

“I’m not worried about Lord Tavik keeping his word. He didn’t need to agree to the deal at all. That much is obvious from the ceremony. Maybe he agreed to only placate me, but why after and not before? I think he’ll keep his word.” Naomi turned back to the window. She did not want to worry about it anyway. “Thank you, Yula, for keeping me company. Good night.”

Yula nodded and slipped out of the room. Naomi sighed and turned to the sky. The moons above her inspired revulsion, but she couldn’t stop staring at them. The red moon looked like a giant angry potato while the yellow one looked like an egg. They must mock the hungry. She turned away and went to the hearth. She picked up a fire poker and began jabbing the embers, stirring up sparks.

“It is not good to stir a fire too much,” Tavik said from the chamber doorway.

Naomi glanced at the man. He still had the helm on. She raised an eyebrow.

“You will have to excuse my ignorance of proper fire tending. We don’t use fires to heat our homes where I am from,” Naomi said in a faux-haughty tone. Tavik entered the room and closed the door. Naomi stiffened. She’d claimed to not doubt Tavik, but now that the possibility was in the room…Her grip tightened on the fire poker.

The war lord crossed the room but stepped around the bed to take a seat at the breakfast table. Naomi warily tracked him with her eyes as she kept the iron poker at her side.

“I think we have much to discuss,” he said.

She cocked her head to the side. “Discuss what?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders and slumped back in his chair. “We could begin with your claim that you are not Lady Alyssa. Do you still hold to that?”

Naomi nodded.

“You say you were brought here by trickery.”

She nodded again.

“And the witch’s name was Agatha.”

“It seems like you know her.”

“Yes, and if I find out you are in collusion with her, your punishment will be absolute.”

“Believe me, I only met her today.”

“Tell me your story.”

Naomi raised her eyebrows at the request. “I’m not from here. I’m from a very far away place, with very different customs. I don’t know how I got here. Agatha helped me fight off a soldier. She brought me here and put me in that gown. I trusted her because she helped me with Hammond. Then all of this happened.”

“How do you think you came here?”

For as ridiculous as it seemed to her, she was sure it was the unicorn horn, but she was loathe to express it to the masked man. “I don’t know.”

“But Agatha brought you to the castle.”

“Led me here like a stupid, sacrificial lamb.”

“Why do you think she did that?”

Naomi shrugged. “She said she’d gotten all the women and children away safely already, but I guess she was lying. She sure didn’t get me away or safe.”

“My men think you are Lady Alyssa. You will let them continue to think that. If you try to escape, you will be punished. If Agatha tries to contact you, I want to know about it immediately. I don’t think she is done with you. And I have unfinished business with her.”

"Why do you want everyone to think I'm Lady Alyssa?"

"Because this is over if I have Lady Alyssa. I can return to my fortress victorious, and everything settles down for a while."

"What about the real Lady Alyssa? What if she turns up?"

"If she has any sense about her, she'll stay hidden. She knows what will happen if I find her."

Naomi nodded.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"Like what?"

"If you are new to this land, you must have questions about it."

Naomi’s brow knitted. “I don’t know if I want to know anything more about this place. Everything I have learned so far has been rather unpleasant.”

“That is probably true, but do you want to be taken by surprise again?”

Naomi caught his drift. “All right, what exactly am I supposed to do as your wife, other than what we agreed to exempt me from.”

He chuckled at the not so subtle reminder of their agreement. “Other than that, you are supposed to follow any order that I give you and tend to me.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Well, that is very vague and blanketing. How am I supposed to ‘tend’ to you?”

The masked lord raised a hand to massage one of his shoulders. He tilted his head and thought a moment. “You tend to me by bringing me my food, making sure my rooms are always in order, and a massage would not be out of the ordinary.”

“A massage?” Naomi said flatly.

He nodded. “Yes, one now would be nice.”

Her mouth dropped open. She could not believe this man. He motioned her over. Taking the fire poker with her, Naomi hesitantly stepped across the room.

“Naomi,” he said. He held out his hand. She reluctantly placed the fire poker in his palm. He laid it in his lap. She took position at his back. He dropped his head and waited. Naomi nervously cracked her knuckles and rubbed her hands together to stall for a few seconds, but soon her hands were loose and ready, and if she took much longer, he was likely to say something. She put her hands on his shoulders and began to knead the muscles.

The only person that she could recall ever giving shoulder massages to, was her father. The thought of him made her hands still for a moment. She had not spoken to him for a week, and now she was stuck here. She wondered if he and the rest of her family knew she was gone yet and what they thought. The worry they were experiencing was probably awful. She hated the thought that they were searching for her right now and fearing her dead.

“My shoulders are still knotted.”

Naomi jumped slightly at the sudden interruption of her thoughts which made the tears that had gathered spill. She began working the muscles again and cried silently. It was all right. No one could see her.

Continue to Chapter 10.