Redemption - M J Marlow (good book recommendations .TXT) 📗

Susa had never seen there before. “You can’t let them do this to us, Marit!”
“Silence the animal,” Tavin hissed and shoved Susa towards his men. “Her chatter annoys me.” He caught Marit as she tried to go to Susa’s aid. “Oh no, my lady,” Tavin said as he yanked her to his side. “You must learn that these animals are not worthy of your notice. She will not be harmed,” he continued as he saw her watching Susa being gagged again. “Your little magpie is here only because you care for her.” He saw Marit’s tears. “If you wish it, she will be sent back to her lord Edmund. But,” he continued as he leaned in over her lips, “only when we have mated.”
“Tavin!”
Tavin released Marit and moved off with his father. Susa came back to Marit’s side, her eyes showing her anger. Susa was not used to being manhandled in such a fashion. And hearing herself being referred to as an animal and unworthy had only made her angrier. She tried to undo the knots on the gag and her fingers could find no purchase. Marit removed it, after a great deal of trouble, and they moved off. There were men guarding everywhere, so they knew there was no hope of escaping.
“He really means to force you to marry him?” Susa asked, stunned. “But he’s your cousin, Marit! It is not done.” She saw Marit’s tears of frustration. Susa put her arms around her and stroked Marit’s back. “Don’t you worry,” she said to her friend. “Edmund will come. He won’t let these monsters keep either of us.” She frowned when Marit shook her head. “You are not going to marry him to save me, Marit! I would slit my throat before I let them use me against you.”
“Fiercely spoken, girl,” Tavin’s voice sounded behind them, “but wasted words.” He nodded towards the man behind him. “You will return to camp with Zel,” he ordered Susa. “My cousin and I want to be alone.” Once Susa had gone, after Marit had nodded, he pulled Marit up against him. “Your suitors have joined forces and are hunting us, cousin,” he smiled down into her face. He saw the hope in her eyes and frowned. “You can not truly want either animal, little one,” he said coldly. “Neither is worthy of you.” Tavin turned her and parted her hair so he could nip at the back of her neck. “You are mine, Marit!” he cried as he felt her stiffening in anger. Why wasn’t she surrendering to him, he wondered briefly. “I will kill any man who thinks to take you from me.”
“I don’t belong to you, Tavin,” Marit cried. She slapped him as he yanked her away, but he did not stop. Only when they were alone, did he stop. “Let me go!” she screamed as he shifted and pressed her down on the ground. His head lowered towards her and she was struggling wildly in terror. “No!” He clamped his jaws on her arm and she screamed as he bit in deep, drawing blood. “Don’t do this to me!”
“It is too late now, cousin,” Tavin laughed as he shifted back and drew her to her feet. He ripped her sleeve and kissed and licked her wound. “You will never be free of your heritage now!”
He left then and Marit knew he still meant to cause harm. There had been such rage in his eyes as he had left. She started after him, laying her hand on his arm. When he turned, she stepped back, terrified by the expression in his eyes. She watched him shift and run off and looked around for her uncle. He could not allow this to happen. Taryn saw the fear in his niece’s eyes and knew Tavin had done exactly as he had instructed. The girl was convinced Tavin would murder her precious prince, and would do whatever they asked to keep him safe.
“Go after my son,” he told two of the men, “and see that he does no harm to our hunters.” He looked down at Marit’s arm and smiled. “There is no need.” They shifted and ran off and Taryn looked down into his niece’s eyes. “You will accept him, Marit?” Marit lowered her head in defeat and he kissed the top of her head. He turned her towards Susa, who was waiting beside a pavilion. “Go to your pet and let her bandage your injury.”
Marit did as she was told, knowing she had no choice. Tavin would murder to possess her; she had seen the truth of that in her cousin’s eyes. She entered the pavilion and Susa lowered the flap. At least in here they were alone. Marit poured a cup of wine and drank it. She didn’t say a word as Susa cleaned and dressed the bite. She could already feel a strange fever building inside of her, and her entire body was beginning to ache. She could feel her talent already struggling to combat what was happening.
“They think me cowed, Susa,” Marit whispered to her friend. “But I have no intention of allowing this marriage to happen.” She looked around for some weapon, but there were none. “We will make our plans as we go.”
“You would be wiser to accept your fate, princess,” Amabet’s cold voice came in ahead of her. The tent flap was held aside by the guards outside and the woman who had chained Marit’s voice came inside. “Go to your place, little animal,” she ordered Susa, pointing to a small cot in the corner. “I would have words with your mistress.”
“Do not speak to her like that,” Marit hissed, angry on her friend’s behalf. “She is not my property; she is my friend.”
“You are above such things now, niece,” Amabet told her. She saw Marit’s shock. “I am Amabet; your mother is my twin.” She looked Marit over. “You have her look, but,” she continued as she saw Marit’s rage, “you have my temperament. A merging of light and dark.” She nodded, pleased. “As it should be in our next alpha female.”
“Why is this being done to me, Aunt?” Marit cried. “I have no wish for this union.”
“As I am certain your future mate told you,” Amabet smiled darkly, “your wishes are of no consideration at this point. Once you have survived your first shifting, and been mated to Tavin, you will understand why this was done.” She walked around her niece, her eyes filled with delight. “You will be preserving a tradition that has been passed down among our kind from the first.”
“Why?”
“It is time for us to take our place as rulers,” Amabet told her as she went to pour herself some wine. “And we can only do that through you.” She took a sip of her wine. “Your father will be joining his wife in confinement once you are mated. Tavin will rule the borderlands as his heir through marriage.”
“My mother is alive?”
“Of course she is,” Amabet replied. “Have you not seen her in your visions?” She saw Marit’s shock and smiled. “Margarete has a very powerful mind. She has been trying to warn you.”
“She didn’t want this for me,” Marit guessed and saw Amabet nod. “You allowed her to remain alive to see what she’d do.”
“Because she is of our house,” Amabet nodded, quite pleased with her niece’s intelligence, “she was not destroyed for her part in hiding you from us. Instead, she was sentenced to return to our house.” She ran her finger along the rim of the wine cup. “Margarete will be so happy to have a companion in her cage.” She poured out another cup and poured wine into it. She took out a packet and put a powder into it, her movements hiding what she was doing. Then she picked the cup up in her hand and held it out to Marit. “Join me in a toast to your mating, niece.”
“I would rather die,” Marit cried and moved away. A moment later, she saw a wolf’s paw on her arm, the claws pricking her skin. She turned to see Amabet glaring at her coldly. “No!” she screamed as the woman shoved her on the bed and straddled her. “I won’t!”
“Don’t fight me, little niece,” Amabet laughed as he yanked Marit’s head up and forced the wine into her. “You will not win!” When Marit was unconscious, Amabet turned to Susa. “Dress her, slave. The guards will be coming for her soon.”
Susa watched the woman leave shaking in anger. She went to Marit and found her friend merely sleeping. Susa dressed her friend as she had been told and turned as two guards came in. One of them carried Marit out and she heard a horse leaving. The other man shoved Susa face down on the bed and bound her wrists behind her back. Then he dumped her outside next to a tree and blindfolded her. He left her lying there as the sound of more horses was heard outside. They were leaving her behind, Susa realized. She didn’t know whether to be relieved or horrified.
“You will not remember you were here among us, animal,” Amabet smiled as she crouched down next to Susa with a cup of drugged water. “The last thing you will remember is riding out with your lord Edmund.”
“What have you done with Marit?” Susa demanded as she struggled to sit up.
“The princess is quite well,” Amabet replied. “She is being taken to her wedding place by her future mate.” She forced the drug into Susa. “While you will be returning to yours, as she wished.” She saw Susa’s relief. “Do not be too relieved. Our house will soon be ruling the borderlands and you will all be ours to do with as we choose.”
Her cold laughter was the last thing Susa remembered as the drug took hold. When she woke up, she was looking into the eyes of the prince Rafel. He freed her and she looked around in confusion. She could not tell him why she was here, or who had been behind it. Rafel frowned, knowing she had been drugged to keep this from her mind. He carried her out as she proved too weak to stand and his frown was almost as dark as Justin’s and Alexander’s.
“She has been robbed of memory, my friend,” he said as he handed Susa up to one of the men. “Take the lady Susa back to my uncle,” he told the man. “Give her into the lady Sysha’s care.” He mounted and looked at Justin. “Now that the lady Susa is safe, let us see what we can do about freeing my cousin.”
It was the early hours of the morning when the party from Stormkeep arrived at the river and found the ferry gone. The ferryman was found bound and gagged in his home. He told them that he had been attacked a few hours earlier and his ferry cut loose to drift downstream. His attackers had been hooded and masked, so he had no idea who they were. So they set up camp, and the ferryman gave his home over to Marit and Amabet. They were both asleep when the trap door in the building opened and two men crept in. They sedated Amabet where she was lying and carried Marit down through the tunnel to a cave system further down the river. Marit was laid down on a pile of furs in a boat tied to a thick iron stake at the entrance by the river and taken downstream.
“Princess?” Edmund Fellstone’s warm voice sounded in her ears, causing the waking Marit to frown. “You must wake, Your Highness,” he said to her is a soft, urgent tone. “We still have a long way to go before you are