Chapter 20: 20_Hoodwinked by the Barb

Startled, she gripped his arms.

“Hold still,” he murmured, glancing up to meet her gaze for a moment.

In an instant, he was behind her, the heat of his body enclosing her. Her face was warm with clear shock at the lingering feeling of his fingers on her waist.

His horse started walking again and, like she wasn’t scandalised enough, she felt Thoran reach over to grasp her thighs so he could lift her and set her astride the horse. Her eyes widened further at the boldness of him to physically part her thighs as he set her down. She swallowed hard. The audacity of him.

The stallion’s silky-smooth coat slid along her legs, but Amie wouldn’t have noticed had it made her legs bleed.

Not while she had to come to terms with the fact that she now sat with thighs apart in the most indecent position possible, and with every inch of her back, buttocks, and outer thighs, pressed firmly against Thoran Steel.

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His arms caged her in as he held the horse’s reins, the warm physical presence of his face only inches above her ear.

Amethyst was in an infernal tumble of emotions. She was angry he’d made her walk and wanted nothing more than to get off his horse to continue walking as her pride demanded, but she couldn’t move an inch for the life of her.

She could feel the contrasting liquid flow and solid kick of his muscles as he expertly guided his beast, his body moving against her in a way she helplessly found transfixing.

She couldn’t allow this to go any further. It appeared her mother had been right. All those novels she’d consumed growing up really *had* corrupted her mind! It was up to her to now undo the damage. It was frightening to imagine how much damage had really been done if she was at a point of feeling her body react to the proximity of a criminal. Heaps of damage, no doubt.

Determined to restore the innocence she’d willingly eroded with countless nights of giggling her way through endless book pages, Amethyst tensed her core and leaned her body away from his. She may have looked like she was trying to cosplay an acute angle, but at least her purity was being protected.

A sudden thump from the horse startled her and she frantically flailed about, sliding rapidly over the silky coat.

Thoran’s hand shot around her middle and caught her. He just held her there, his hand warming her skin through the dress. Without a word, he pulled her back against him, plastering her even closer to his body than before.

“Don’t move,” he murmured.

Gulping hard, she sat as still as she could. All along, she’d thought the universe was on her side. But now she was suddenly given the option of choosing between falling off the horse to smash all her teeth on the ground and staying plastered to the warmth of a criminal’s hard body.

Amie bit her lip. She’d read too deeply into her relationship with the universe, they weren’t allies as she’d thought. She was the victim and the universe, the aggressor. That she hadn’t realized this sooner was sad, really.

Releasing a shuddering breath, she resigned herself to her fate and tried to detach herself from the situation. As soon as they arrived at their new lodgings, she would demand the battle and get this over with.

She just hoped he would meet her other requests, even for the short time she’d spend away from home. Her sisters would murder her as soon as she got back, she had to spend her last days in comfort.

With a tense sigh, she remained as stiff as a plank against him and counted down the hours until she could get a steaming hot bath and a massage from her appointed maid.

It was only after a few horrid hours of travelling that they arrived and Amie realized what had happened. She’d been hoodwinked.

In open-mouthed shock, she looked around at the place they would be staying. Weaving around her, the men carried things around as they finished setting up.

What was this? Lifting her gaze, she looked at the giant trees all around. In the middle of the forest?!

But they couldn’t mean to make her live in the middle of the wilderness, surely not?!

Spotting Thoran as he talked with Gunnar near the entrance of the large camp, she angrily clenched her teeth. Was he toying with her? Did he consider her an idiot or did he simply consider her unworthy enough to be stuck into such a place?

It didn’t matter, regardless of the answers to those questions, Amie was done and she would tell him so.

Thoran’s speech slowly trailed off as, looking over Gunnar’s shoulder, he spotted a whole lot of trouble marching his way. With her black boots dirty, her dress torn up to her thigh and her hair bouncing wildly with every step she took, she was the very face of outrage.

“Excuse me.”

Gunnar glanced back at her and then stepped out of the way as she reached them, clearly unwilling to stand beside Thoran in his time of need.

“Yes, *princess?”* Thoran said flatly.

She raised one hand to stop him. “Don’t call me that.”

His head tilted slightly. “I didn’t think you’d be modest about your title.”

“I’m not at all, but I refuse to hear it from your mouth when you say it as a derogatory term of mockery.”

A miniature shift in his features showed only a speck of his amusement. “How could I ever? *Lowly* criminal that I am.”

“I’m going home,” she stated firmly. “I’ve decided I won’t stay a minute longer.”

“Because I called you princess?”

“Because you call me princess and yet expect me to live in the *jungle* with your sweaty Barbarians like some poor *squatter!”*

Ivar inched closer with a curious ear, but stood aside next to Gunnar where they pretended they weren’t listening.

“I have no idea what you mean,” Thoran said calmly, holding his hands behind his back as he leaned down to her height. “Perhaps the princess is only being a tad irrational?”

“Irra—” Gripping the back of her neck as she felt heatwaves of anger wash over her, Amethyst clenched her jaw to remain calm. “Irrational? If I’m irrational then you’re a lying, thieving *criminal!* I politely made my requests and you *agreed* to them! You said I would get my own bed chamber!”

Giving her an unaffected blink, he straightened. “Whatever do you mean? I’ve been nothing but faithful to my word, *prencessi.* I promised you your own bed chamber and that’s exactly what I’ve given you. That you’d be so ungracious as to call me names when all I’ve done is my best to make you comfortable…”

He trailed off and pursed his lips, shaking his head in distaste. Amethyst paused, looking at him as her angry expression unravelled into mild confusion.

Had she been wrong? “Oh… I…” Perhaps she’d been wrong and he’d prepared a separate place for her. Of course. Who in their right mind would expect her to stay in a place like this? “My apologies. I didn’t think of that. Will I have to wait much longer before I’m taken to my lodgings? I hope the maid’s waiting for me there, I’m dying for a bath.”

Thoran smiled at her but it was more of a diabolical smirk. “You don’t have to wait at all, the place is right behind you.”

Ivar snorted and turned away, covering his mouth.

Puzzled again, Amie turned around and stood on the tips of her toes, trying to see into the woods for a cute wooden cabin of some sort. “I don’t… I don’t see it.”

Stepping forward, Thoran grasped her shoulders and, firmly turning her away from the woods, made her face the large, black tent set up in one corner of the camping ground. “There you are.”

“Wait…” Her jaw dropped. “That… that—”

“Yes, that tent right there. You see it?” He stood beside her, leaning down so he could point directly at her tent.

“A tent?!”

“Yes.” He nodded firmly, hearing Ivar choke on his own laughter as Amethyst grew paler and paler. “Would you like to see it? Of course, you would.”

He took her wrist, tugging her across the camp until they came to the entrance of the tent. He threw one side open and waved a hand at the inside.

Amie’s jaw dropped open again. “What’s this?!”

At the center of the makeshift room was a dingy bed surrounded by the bubble of a thin, tattered mosquito net. The rest of the tent was empty, except for a small trunk that sat to the right.

“Your personal chambers,” Thoran told her. “I took into consideration all you said and made sure it was made this well. Only the best for the *prencessi,* you see.”