Read Chained (Brides of the Kindred) for Free Online

curls. He hoped he
would dream of her, just once more, before he went. Truly, she was a lovely
sight—a beautiful last vision to rest his weary mind on before he crossed the
threshold to the other world.
    “Goddess have mercy on me,” he croaked
through parched lips.
    Then his eyes closed and he knew no more.

Chapter Four

 
    Shouldn’t be doing
this, Maggie thought to herself as she crept
along the corridor that led to the dungeon. This isn’t part of the plan at
all. I’m just supposed to get the documents and go—that’s all.
    But even though the remote to the collar
had been found and she now had the Kindred documents in her possession—they
were in fact in the compressed form of a pill-sized pellet and stuffed down the
front of her bra—she found she couldn’t just leave. When Lady Pope’nose had
politely asked if she wished to spend the night, Maggie had agreed without even
thinking about it. She had lain in the plush bed she was given until the early
morning, arguing with herself but she couldn’t talk herself out of the plan
that had formed in her mind.
    Somehow, she was going to set the prisoner
free.
    This is stupid,
Maggie, she told herself even as she checked to
see if the coast was clear outside his door. It was hard to tiptoe around in
the tight green dress and ridiculously high heels and for a moment she wished
she had left the shoes behind. But if she was caught, she wanted to say she was
just out for a stroll. It would look bad for her to be sneaking around in her
bare feet. It looked, well…sneaky.
    He’s a murderer—maybe
even a psycho, she thought, as she
surveyed the prisoner’s unguarded door. He might kill you if you let him go.
    But that was just what Lady Pope’nose had
told her. Probably she was lying or exaggerating. But even if she wasn’t,
Maggie couldn’t forget the look on his face as he had nodded to her. Had she
been imagining the respect and gratitude she saw there? She didn’t think so. Are
you willing to bet your life on that? asked a little voice inside her head.
Maggie didn’t know.
    She got to his door, expecting to find it
locked. Instead, it opened easily with only a little creaking. Wow, Lady
Pope’nose was really confident in her security system. Either that or
some careless slave had left the door unlocked.
    Somehow Maggie doubted that. Considering
that even a minor infraction could result in mind-bending agony, it didn’t make
sense for the slaves to be anything less that super scrupulous about every task
they did.
    No, it was more probable that the door was
unlocked for the same reason that Lady Pope’nose left the key to the prisoner’s
chains inside the cell with him—it was just another form of torment. A way to
taunt him with the freedom which was so close and yet so maddeningly out of
reach. A way to—
    Maggie’s thoughts cut off abruptly when
she got a look inside the cell. The prisoner was sprawled on his back with his
head in the stream, unmoving.
    “Oh my God!” Quickly she closed the door
and ran to kneel beside him, almost tripping over her high heeled shoes. “Hey,”
she whispered as loudly as she dared. “Hey, you. Uh…” She didn’t know what to
call him. “Hey, wake up!”
    To her intense relief, his eyelids
fluttered open, revealing those strange, pale blue eyes.
    “You,” he murmured again, just as he had
when he first saw her.
    “Yeah, it’s me,” Maggie told him. “And I’m
going to get you out of here if I can. Just hold on a second, okay?”
    She hopped up again, nearly tripping on
the shoes again, and ran to get the key. When she got back to him, she realized
she would have to roll him over since his hands were chained behind him and he
was lying on his back. But this was easier said than done.
    “Oof,” she gasped as she shoved at one broad, muscular shoulder.
“You weigh a ton! And I thought I ate too many cupcakes.”
    “Haven’t eaten…much of anything lately,”
he groaned and gave a hoarse laugh.