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An Excerpt From: CHAINS OF DESIRE
Copyright © NATASHA MOORE, 2009
All Rights Reserved, Ellora's
Cave Publishing, Inc.
Suddenly the music in her head was replaced by terrified
screams.
Hanna’s eyes flew open and she froze. At least a dozen
tall men, clad in heavy black body armor, surrounded them. Where had they
come from? They held weapons as large and powerful as the warriors themselves.
The women tried to scatter, but the men grabbed them
before they could get far. A compact man with icy blue eyes stepped up to
Hanna as her heart beat frantically against her ribs. The weapon he pointed
at her looked huge and lethal. “Princess Serena. Control your women.” He
glanced at the mayhem around them. “Otherwise I cannot guarantee what my
men will do to subdue them.”
She straightened her shoulders and forced herself not to
look at her princess. Hanna’s entire body trembled. Was this truly happening?
She’d been raised to wear the red that signified Vanyan
royalty and to serve as a royal decoy, but she never thought she’d truly be
called upon to serve in this way. Hanna glanced around at the terrified
women struggling in the warriors’ grasps. When she finally looked at the
princess, her eyes were wide with fear as she met Hanna’s gaze.
“What is the meaning of this?” Hanna demanded, doing her
best to sound royal. And royally upset.
The soldier grabbed her arm, his fingers easily spanning
her flesh, and yanked her to his side. His body was hard and unyielding. He
rubbed the barrel of his weapon across her breasts and she shivered with
dread. “My men won’t hesitate to use their weapons. Wouldn’t you rather be
a live slave than a dead princess?”
Terrified screams rose around her. Slave? No one
on Vanya really believed the stories of slave
ships that took away bad little girls and boys.
“Captain. We must go before the screams bring their
guards.” Another soldier stepped up, taller, broader, with a deep, warm
voice that sent a different kind of shiver along her skin. She’d never seen
anyone with skin as dark as his. She looked into his eyes, but saw no
compassion there.
The captain rubbed the tip of his weapon against Hanna’s
cheek and she shuddered. “What do you say, Princess? Do we leave dead
bodies behind or will you and your women come quietly?”
Hanna had no idea if the stories she’d heard of sex
slaves were true. If they were, maybe she’d rather be dead. But as long as
she was alive, as long as all of them were alive, there was still hope. She
nodded and the women quieted. They had been trained to obey her as they
would the princess.
The princess! Hanna gasped as the men herded them all
into a small circle. She hadn’t protected the princess, after all. As she
frantically searched the crowd for Serena, a burst of bright light engulfed
them and a surge of pain turned everything black.
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