Jade's Dragon by Maren Smith

Author:Maren Smith [Smith, Maren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blushing Books Publications
Published: 2016-07-12T05:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

For all that it was a prison, the bed was soft and warm. Mad as she was, Chin couldn’t deny that he’d done his best to make sure she was comfortable. Bored half out of her mind, maybe. Regretting every decision she’d made from the moment she’d followed her mother’s command to run right up until this moment, absolutely. She hurt, too… everywhere. Her ankle was killing her; her knee was only marginally better. Her thigh felt the best of all and her hand, the worst. The bandages (although fine when he’d first wrapped) were now so tight that her fingers throbbed. It felt on fire. Her whole arm burned, all the way up to her shoulder.

But, at least the bed was comfortable.

Chin stared at the ceiling, listening to the rain and the sound of heavy footsteps clumping back and forth across the lower floor. Earlier she had heard the low indecipherable rumbling of Cullen and his brother talking, but that had stopped. How much of what they’d had to say had been about her, she didn’t know, but she suspected she’d find out just as soon as someone came up the loft ladder. She wasn’t looking forward to it. She already knew what was coming. Her gaze drifted to the cut length of saddle strap Cullen had hung on the wall just above her. When a man did that, a girl pretty well knew exactly how her night was bound to go. Chin couldn’t even argue with her impending sentence. She deserved it. She had been so stupid, but worst of all, she knew if given the chance, she would be just that stupid all over again.

And again and again, if she had to. She couldn’t stay here. Every minute she lay staring at the unchanging ceiling, all she could feel—apart from the minor agonies of her wounded body—was the imminence of Quan Ji coming closer.

Run, her mother had said. But the fact was, she couldn’t even crawl. At this point, she could barely roll over without help and without crying out. She was done. She had found her limit, and what a bitter, painful pill that was to swallow. She was as helpless as a newborn and there was nothing she could do about it.

Hell, she couldn’t even squat over the chamber pot by herself.

Great. Now she had to pee.

Chin closed her eyes, her throat tightening against all the most impossible of choices: Either she would need to call out and beg someone to come untie and then help her, or she was going to have to wet the bed. She was still trying to decide which would be the least humiliating when heavy steps began to climb the ladder.

As if she were a guest, he paused to knock on the hatch before pushing it all the way open.

“Evening,” Cullen said as he bent to accept the glass and plate Garrett must have been waiting to hand him. Setting the glass on the floor beside him and juggling the plate one-handed, he climbed the rest of the way up into the room.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.