Total pages in book: 138
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 127461 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 637(@200wpm)___ 510(@250wpm)___ 425(@300wpm)
Timur wrapped his arm around her neck. “I couldn’t live without you.”
His men made kissy noises.
Are they always like that? Tanja asked Maya.
Gorya was pleased to note that Tanja sounded as if the teasing gave her hope that she could have a relationship with Kyanite after all.
They get worse. They’re crazy about each other, Maya confirmed.
Once their army was settled, Gorya and Maya followed Tanja and Kyanite into a smaller chamber where they could have privacy.
Tanja shrugged out of the small pack she had and gestured toward the crude seats made of planks of wood. “I’m sorry we don’t have anything more comfortable.”
“This is just fine,” Gorya said. “You’re the unexpected treasure we never hoped to find. Please tell us how you managed to survive.”
“Savior. She did it. I was only four. I was given to this huge man and because I was fighting him and managed to kick him in the balls, he was furious. I wanted to get to Maya, but that sealed my fate. I was dragged outside. Maya and my mother were still inside. My father and brothers had been killed. I saw their bodies. The man’s friends followed us outside and they were laughing at him. That only made him madder, and he grabbed me by my hair and slashed at my legs when I tried to kick him again. He cut the backs of my legs.”
Involuntarily, Tanja reached down and rubbed her calves. She didn’t seem to notice she was doing it. Kyanite immediately lifted her left leg into his lap and began to massage it.
“It hurts, doesn’t it?” he asked, his voice gentle.
“Sometimes.”
“All the time,” he corrected. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”
“Quite a few of the girls I bring here have worse things to contend with,” Tanja explained, her voice soft. “I try to tell them it’s important not to give in to self-pity.”
Kyanite didn’t stop the slow massage, and Gorya noticed Tanja didn’t pull her leg away from him.
“Please continue, Tanja,” Maya pleaded. “How did you manage to escape? It seems so impossible. You were so tiny.”
And surrounded by those men, she added to Gorya, a little sob in her mind. I wasn’t with her. I couldn’t help her.
You were a baby. He put his arm around her. Maya and Tanja hadn’t embraced. Neither had touched the other. He knew Maya was afraid that if she did put her arms around her sister, she might shatter into a million pieces.
“He told me he cut my legs so I could never run from him again. And then he slashed the knife across my eyes. When he did, he laughed and laughed. My world went bloodred and then dark. The pain was so bad I nearly passed out. He thought I had. He dropped me on the ground and kicked me out of his way while he and the others dragged a couple of women who worked on our farm over to the stairs. They had bottles of something they were drinking. I couldn’t see, but I could hear them beating and raping the women. That’s when I heard Savior talking.”
Her leopard, like yours, came to her rescue, Gorya said. He couldn’t help but be a little shocked. Savior had been a toddler too. Technically, she shouldn’t have even been aware. Somehow, she had managed to become Tanja’s eyes and legs.
“There was so much blood from all the people killed around the houses, Savior told me not to worry about binding the wounds yet, just to run toward the hills, away from the farm. The pain was very bad, but I just did it. I did everything Savior told me to do, such as collect water bottles and then rags to bind my legs. She was the one who found the opening to the cave, and she also showed me how to erase tracks. I was so small I didn’t really make many impressions on the ground anyway.”
“I can’t imagine the agony you must have gone through to make your way here from where the farms were located, dragging water bottles and rags with you when you were wounded so severely like that,” Kyanite said. “You have courage, woman.”
Tanja flashed him a smile. “I think it’s called being stubborn. It took a long time to heal and to learn to work with Savior. I would steal food, but mostly I learned what plants I could eat and where to find fresh water to drink. I was here alone for several years.”
Gorya exchanged a long look with Kyanite. As far as he was concerned, the two men had hit the jackpot. They’d somehow managed to find the two strongest women on the planet.
“And then you decided to start taking back trafficking victims,” Gorya guessed.
Tanja’s gaze met her sister’s as she nodded. “I did. I hated those men so much. I was certain Maya was dead. I knew they would kill my mother. By that time, I’d snuck down to the port enough times to see what happened to the victims. But I just couldn’t bear thinking of my Maya gone from the world.” Tears filled her eyes. “You were the brightest light in my world when I was a child.”