Toy Soldiers (Helford #1)

(1) Tricks

"Tell me," he whispered into my ear, his breath hot as it brushed against my neck, raising gooseflesh. He breathed out like he knew, and I bit my lip against a shiver, biting it so hard that I split it open, but I still didn't allow myself to move away. He leaned a little closer, breathing in deep. "Tell me everything."

I said nothing, did nothing. I didn't even blink.

Not the first time, I tested the strength of the ties that bound me, and just as I expected they didn't give way. The plastic bit into my skin and raised irritations but I didn't care about that, didn't care about the bruises and the scars and all of the other times that I had been in this exact same position, all of my limbs linked to a chair that was nailed to the ground, nothing to keep me company but the reassuring beat of my own heart. And the brutes, sent in to torture me, sent in to force me into telling them what I know. But I had survived a long time, and it was going to take a lot more than a couple of grotesque men to freak me out.

He breathed in, and he breathed out. I felt it all; he was so close. He was trying to make me think about nothing but his closeness. He wanted me to panic because of it. But I was stronger than this.

I was stronger than him.

"Cat got your tongue, princess?" he purred, moving away only so that he could move to the other side of the chair, moving so close to me that our legs were touching, and I was looking him right in the face. He was an average looking fellow of about thirty years old with a day-old beard on his face and brown eyes that flickered flames with nonexistent candlelight. He was ruthless, no-nonsense, and I was the only thing standing in between him and what he wanted.

This was a dangerous position for anyone, but I was the one in it. I was going to have to face the consequences of getting caught.

So I opened my mouth to speak, blood overflowing from my lips and dribbling down to my chin as I leaned forward, putting me and the man nose-to-nose as he stared me in the eye, trying to read me but I had no words on display. I smirked up at him, feeling the wickedness on my face that felt as sharp as the stabs of a thousand knives, and I knew that the blood from my mouth was still stuck on my teeth, giving them a sinister look.

"You're going to have to torture me, stud," I murmured into the space between us as seductively as I shall, raising just one eyebrow to challenge him. He inched back so that he could catch the expression on the whole of my face before he grinned, and he thought that he was going to be calling my bluff. He had no idea that he was walking directly into my plan.

"As you wish," he replied, and he left me there, bloodied and bound, laughing as he walked away.

~*~

When I opened my eyes, they felt like lead weights. My chest was heaving with the effort it took to take in a breath and my heart beat sluggishly, as if it no longer had much of a desire to go on. Everything in body was lethargic, moving too slowly, waking me up too slowly. I wobbled on the chair, my equilibrium off, before I forced my swollen eyes all the way open, just enough for me to see the gray, nondescript room that I had been growing used to the last couple of days. I glanced around and allowed my eyes to close.

I pressed my fingers tighter into my palm and felt the familiar feeling-a point of a knife against my skin. I relaxed my hold and grinned widely, showing my teeth. I twisted my hands, pressing into the plastic ties with the razor.

They fell away to the ground, and I let out the breath I had been hurting.

I left my legs captive-it would be too obvious to them initially that I had found a way out if I would have removed the ties-and I picked up the ties from the floor and feigned it with my hands holding them in place, leaning back into the seat and waiting patiently for the next time the iron door would open, the next time some unsuspecting soul would walk into the room. I hung my head, controlling my breathing, counting my heartbeats, doing everything they had trained me to do.