Grind (Into the Fire Book 8) by Mia West

Author:Mia West [West, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: romance
Published: 2016-04-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

Wolf sat near the brazier in their antechamber. Marc had ordered Tiro to join them, and now they watched the man pace.

“If they harm him,” Tiro said, “I will murder a king.”

Wolf felt for him. Had it been Marc being held hostage, he would have his hands wrapped around someone’s throat.

“For that matter, why wait?” Tiro said. “Clovis is here, in our guest chambers. We can take his men—”

“Hold.” Marc’s authority was such that his second-in-command halted abruptly. “Philip’s fine right now, and he’s a negotiation tool. No good to them dead, eh?”

Tiro shook his head. “That’s what I’m saying. Killing him won’t do any good, but…” He trailed off, his fists clenching uselessly.

Marc glanced at Wolf, his mouth a tight line etched on his face. “If they were torturing him, Clovis would have said so. They aren’t.”

“Yet.”

“Men survive it,” Marc said evenly. “You know that.”

Tiro did. It wasn’t something broadly known around the stronghold. Marc knew only because Tiro was his second, and still Marc had learned the story just two years before. Tiro had grown up in the Cambrian hills of Britannia. At about the age at which Marc had joined the Roman army, Tiro had grown similarly restless and run from home, looking for adventure. He’d been captured by a band of marauding Saxons, who had tried to use his knowledge of the region to their advantage. On a good day, he was allowed to earn an extra meal telling tales. On worse days… Well, he’d managed to keep his people safe as long as he could bear to do so, but when an opportunity arose to escape, he did. Too frightened to return to his home, he’d taken sail to Gaul. Most strongholders knew him as a gregarious storyteller, an outrageous flirt, and the best scout the defensive corps had ever had. The pain on his features now spoke of a darker history.

“He’s not one of us,” he said. “He’s not trained to withstand it.”

“Neither are most of our men,” Marc said. “Don’t underestimate him.”

Tiro snorted. “I learned that lesson long ago. But come, man. If they held Wolf?”

Marc looked at Wolf, his brow pinched. “I would find him.”

“Likewise,” Wolf said.

“Good,” said Tiro. “That’s agreed, then. I’m going after him.”

“You certainly will not.”

Tiro glared at Marc. “Is that so?”

Marc gave him a warning look. “You’ve never defied me. Don’t start now.”

The man’s jaw moved on some sentiment, but he swallowed it back.

Marc lowered his voice. “They’re watching you. They probably know you’re here, to begin with. You won’t be able to slip away—as good as you are.”

“Do we hand over the stronghold?”

“Not yet. I think we can use the harvest celebration as a distraction.”

“For what?”

“For me to scout the forest.”

Wolf stood. “What?”

Marc turned to him, placating hands raised. “I only want to find out how many we face. Merely a contingent of hostage holders or an armed force? Once we know, we can decide how to proceed.”

“Why you?” Wolf asked.

“Because I have a vested interest.”

“So do we all.

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