Chapter 212

I was very confused, but I could hear feet coming toward us.

“After he collars me?” I asked.

“Subdued and a little sullen,” Kein whispered crouching beside us and touching my face lightly, “but follow directions after our symbol is on you.”

Since I had been captured, I had to look the part. My hands and feet were tied and I was slung over Bane’s shoulder. We walked from my “campsite” into the roughhewn area the men knew as “the caves.”

The warriors were here to hunt for a lost shopkeeper, but finding the runaway slave was fun. The men surrounded us and looked at me. No slave had ever lived alone in the mountains before. I was unique. I saw them inspecting my campsite.

As we walked, several warriors wanted to buy me, but Bane refused. He just walked briskly through the barren landscape. I watched as Damien and Christof appeared to complete the family.

As I had been instructed, I struggled in Bane’s grip and cursed him. It took some force of will, b