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second-in-command ducked through her door and turned his deadly gaze on Jax. “Who’s this?”

3
    H EARING ROMANIAN AGAIN after two days of nothing but English was almost a shock. Amanusa slid her eyes toward Jax. She didn’t want the outlaws to know she spoke English, but did Jax understand Romanian? Had the outlaws heard her give that order in English?
    â€œHe is my servant.” She kept packing her box.Would they accept this change? “His body is strong even if his mind is not.”
    â€œWhere did you get him?” Teo walked to Jax, who cowered and drooled a bit as the second-in-command circled him. The other five stood at the door, blocking the light, but they stayed outside the cottage, thank God.
    â€œI found him in the forest. Filthy, bleeding, and hungry. He’s like a stray dog. I fed him, and now he won’t go away.” She set the last jar in her box, packing it tighter and heavier than usual because this time she wouldn’t have to carry it herself. She braced her hands against the table a moment to steady her nerves.
    When she looked up, Jax was pulling double handfuls of her undergarments from the wardrobe drawer and stuffing them into the carpetbag.
    â€œJax, no!” Amanusa leaped across the room, shoving Teo out of the way to grab her petticoats from her servant’s hands. “
No.
I won’t be needing these.”
    â€œNo?” Teo’s voice was dark, filled with heavy sensuality as he lifted her washed-thin nightgown from the bag with one finger. He laughed when Amanusa snatched it from him and shoved it back into the bag.
    Teo caught Amanusa’s elbow and spun her into his arms, crushing her tight as he ground his hips against her. Amanusa swallowed down her revulsion along with another surge of hate. Teo liked that she hated him, the pig.
    She turned her face away as he licked a long, wet swath across her cheek, hanging onto her composure with her short-bitten nails. Dark things swirled in her mind, making her heart race. She thrust themruthlessly away. She did not dare lose herself in memory now.
    â€œYou sure I can’t tempt you to revisit old times?” he crooned.
    Amanusa spoke in her sweetest voice. “Only if you want to wake with your balls shriveled to the size of peas and your bowels so loose they’ll never close again.”
    Teo laughed as he let her quickly go, then laughed again, true laughter. “Look at your idiot. He wants to kill me.”
    The murderous hate in Jax’s eyes sent alarm knifing through Amanusa. She wanted to learn magic from him, not bury him. “
Jax.
I need two dresses. The brown ones. And stockings. Get them
now.
”
    Jax glared another moment at the outlaw, until Teo lifted his hand as if he meant to strike. Amanusa winced, but Teo only pretended to hit Jax and laughed when her servant pretended to cower in fear. Too much pretending. But it meant survival.
    â€œHe is loyal to me,” Amanusa said. “Like a dog who has been kicked too many times and finally finds someone who does not.”
    â€œWe have enough dogs at our camp.” Teo glowered at Jax. “He stays behind.”
    Amanusa shrugged. “He will only follow. You may as well let him come. He can carry the medicines.”
    Teo scowled. “You always carry them.”
    â€œAnd I often run out because I cannot carry much weight. He is simple. He is obedient. What harm can he do?” Amanusa didn’t truly want the responsibility of keeping Jax
and
herself alive and unharmed in the outlaw camp, but he could not stay behind.
    She glanced up and saw Jax unbuttoning his trousers as if he meant to relieve himself in the corner of the room. One way to convince the outlaws of his missing good sense. Would it work?
    â€œNo!” she cried. “Jax,
no.
”
    He turned, holding his trousers together, his expression vacantly wondering.
    â€œOutside.” Amanusa pointed at the door. “You