The girl lowered her eyes for the briefest of moments at Denrick's not-so-veiled threats, feeling her heart pound. He seemed perfectly capable of following through with sating his despicable lust. She could see it in his eyes. The look had always been there, had always been a part of Denrick Pharaboldi's visage, for as long as she'd known him, and it was what was always so off-putting about the man. Emriana had just never realized what it truly signified until just then.

"So, whether you begin to recognize the value in making me happy, or I have to extract my enjoyment from you the hard way, I will get my satisfaction from you. It was promised to me from the start of this little venture, and I will have you."

Thinking of her uncle negotiating with such a man and using her body as part of the offer incensed Emriana. She began to thrash, jerking on the strips of cloth that pinned her to the chair, grunting in fury and desperation. Her rage washed over her, and she wanted nothing more right at that moment than to lunge at the glowering, smirking cretin and scratch out his eyes. She wanted to ram her knee up between his legs as hard as she could. She wanted to cry.

"Excuse me, Master Pharaboldi," came a voice at the door to Emriana's rooms.

Denrick spun around with a sigh of exasperation.

"What is it, Bartimus?" he asked, impatient.

The man standing there was slightly paunchy, with a round face and a flat nose on the end of which sat a pair of spectacles. The man's hair was sort of greasy and white. He seemed to be working very hard to be ingratiating to Denrick, for he wore a silly grin, but at the same time he appeared distracted, as though he was thinking of something completely separate from the discussion at hand.

"Master Talricci and Master Matrell have finished dealing with everyone else at the meeting. And the house is secure."

"Excellent," Denrick said, nodding. "And my mother?"

"She is waiting with the others. Master Talricci would like to know if you want to deal with her yourself."

"Hmm" Denrick said, thinking. "Yes, I suppose I owe her that. All right, tell them I'll be right up to explain things to her."

"Of course," the man named Bartimus said, then he turned and ambled off.

Denrick came back around to face Emriana.

"Well, I guess you've earned yourself a short reprieve. If I were you, I would spend it giving careful consideration to the repercussions of continuing to defy me. My patience is growing thin, and you must realize that, sooner or later, I will get what I want. You might as well make it easy on yourself and not anger me further."

He spun on his heel and left the room, walking confidently and quickly out the door.

As soon as their tormentor was gone, Jaleene burst into tears.

"Oh, Mistress Emriana, I'm so sorry! He's a wretched man, but you mustn't be afraid. He'll do what he's going to do and be finished, and it's only one moment. Don't fight him and make him angry, Em. Just let him finish and he'll leave us alone."

Like hell I will, the girl thought, and she screamed through her gag as loudly as she could, forcing Jaleene to stop her chattering. The handmaiden looked at Emriana, her eyes wide with fear.

"Mmph," the girl vocalized, then jerked her head down toward her arm, which was bound by the cloth.

"What is it?" Jaleene asked. "What do you want me to do?"

"Mmph!" Emriana yelled, rolling her eyes.

She gave her companion a look of patience and, taking a deep breath, she began to rock her chair from side to side. Jaleene watched her, confusion still obvious in her visage, but Emriana had to concentrate on her own movements. Slowly, steadily, she got a rhythm going, making the chair tip just the slightest bit each time she shifted her weight. As she worked, she made the rocking grow a little with each pass, until soon she was riding up on two legs each time, making the chair lean way over from side to side.

Finally, Emriana threw her weight as hard as she could toward Jaleene, causing the chair to tip once more, hanging in the air on two legs, and her center of balance shifted enough. The chair continued over, and it would have fallen completely sideways, had it not come to rest against Jaleene's chair. Emriana's hand and Jaleene's were close enough that they could touch.

"Mmph!" Emriana said, reaching for Jaleene's wrist.

She didn't have a lot of room to work, as her own arm was lower than her handmaiden's, but she had enough play in her bonds that she could begin to work on the knot that held Jaleene immobile. Desperately, ignoring the ache growing in her fingers, Emriana pulled at the knot trying to loosen it and free the woman. At first, the tie wouldn't budge at all. The girl delivered a number of frustrated grunts and moans as she worked on it. Then, slowly, she began to feel some progress. Frantically, sensing that at any moment Denrick could return, she jerked at the knot, feeling it slip little by little. Suddenly, Jaleene was able to slip her arm free.

"Oh, thank goodness!'' the woman said, reaching over to untie her other hand. "If Waukeen is with us, perhaps we can slip out through the porch and into the garden. You'll have to show me how to sneak, of course, but-"

"Mmph!" Emriana screamed in exasperation, wanting Jaleene to stop her prattling and pay attention. "Mmph," she repeated, wiggling her own arm.

Please, she thought, free me first.

Jaleene stared at Emriana like the girl was being intractable.

"Yes, of course I'll untie you next. I'm not going to leave you, you know."

Emriana rolled her eyes and gave the best exasperated sigh she possibly could with a gag wedged into her teeth.

"Mmph!" she ordered, wiggling her arm again.

"Oh, all right, don't get into a snit," Jaleene grumbled, reaching over and working on Emriana's knot. "I thought it would be better to get me completely free, first, so I could perhaps get away and get help if he came back before both of us were undone, but goodness gracious, you still act like the spoiled child sometimes."

As soon as Emriana was able, she jerked her arm free and reached up to tug the sour-tasting gag out of her mouth.

"Hush," was all she said as she took hold of the opal pendant Vambran had given her.

Closing her eyes and concentrating, she envisioned her brother's face and, when it was clear in her mind, she felt a stronger connection between herself and the mercenary.

"Vambran, help me! Denrick has taken us prisoner! They have the house guards on their side. Jaleene and I are tied up in my rooms-" and the connection shifted somehow, and Emriana knew that the rest of her plea was not getting through.

Almost immediately, though, she heard her brother's voice, as though he was sitting beside her, talking to her in a soft tone.

Hang on, Em. We're coming. Stay strong.

And that was it.

Except that it wasn't. Just as Emriana was letting go of the stone and trying to start untying her other arm, Denrick returned.

"Hey!" he shouted, seeing that his prisoners were about to get free. He charged across the room as Emriana and Jaleene both struggled frantically to jerk free of the last bonds. He was by far the quicker. Grabbing at Emriana's free wrist in his painfully strong grip, Denrick jerked her hand away from the knot she'd been struggling with and pinned it down against the chair arm again, righting the seat in the process. Then he got his face right down in hers.

"I warned you," he said. "You just won't listen. If you're not careful, I'll let them do to you what I had them do to Jithelle."

Emriana swallowed hard as she tried to lean back, away from her captor's vicious gaze. His eyes told her he was not lying.

"I was afraid you wouldn't be able to find me if I left the porch," Kovrim explained as the entire group of people, including the platoon of mercenaries from the Sapphire Crescent, headed closer to the Matrell estate. "But I didn't see any choice. Those were some of Grozier Talricci's men, and they were sniffing me out pretty well."