Page 96 of Her Mercenary

Blood was everywhere.

Finally, his grip loosened. He turned his cut wrist and rubbed it against my mine.

My stomach roiled. I felt the open flaps of skin smearing against my skin as he transferred his blood onto me, making it appear that my skin had been carved as his had.

“Roman.” I sobbed, staring at the blood—his blood—now covering my wrist.

“Tomorrow,” he whispered back with a squeeze.

“Tomorrow?”

“Yes.”

He released me, wiping the blade on his thigh. Before he pulled down his cuff to conceal his wound, I saw what he’d carved onto his wrist.

The letter S.

Sam.

47

SAM

I awoke to a blast of thunder rattling the windows. The gradual beat of rain on the roof turned into a loud, deafening roar. Flashes of lightning popped against the windows, followed by more thunder, like cracks of whips against brick.

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow was now today. Today, Roman would rescue me.

I sat up, searching the room for Roman, praying to see him hidden in the shadows, just waiting for the right time to unlock my cage and save me once again. Instead, I saw the twins, locked in separate cages next to each other, directly in front of me.

My heart leaped out of my chest as I scrambled across the cage. They were in bad shape but alive.

I pressed against the door, wrapping my fingers around the steel wires. “Psst ...”

The girl’s arm jerked at my voice, but she kept her eyes shut, pretending to be asleep, unaware I was the one trying to wake her.

Their clothes had been changed, and I realized she was in my blue housedress. The one I’d been given after being captured, the one I’d left on the bedroom floor after Roman had saved me. She was wearing my old dress while I was wearing the yellow dress the brunette had been wearing when she was shot.

Apparently, the guards simply rotated the dresses between the slaves. It made me sick.

“Hey,” I whispered louder.

Her eyes shot open, rounding as they locked on mine. She looked at her brother, checking on him, then back to me.

“Come here. It’s okay, we’re alone.” I gestured upward, indicating the rain. “They can’t hear us.”

Thunder boomed as she crawled forward, and I noticed a nasty, infected wound on her wrist.

She’d been branded. She was about to be sold.

“Is your brother okay?” I asked.

The girl shook her head, panic flickering in her eyes. “He has a rare disease. He can only eat and drink some things, and he’s supposed to rest a lot. He’s not doing okay.”

Shit.

“I’m going to get you out of here, all right?”