This chapter sort of goes hand in hand with the last so I wanted to upload it almost right away. I had to do a little research to find a natural sedative that would be around in Europe, Valerian root. A natural sedative thaat when taken in large doeses can do what it did to Arielle. I'll be using that other little natural herbs will be used in further chapters. Enjoy. . .

When Derbith got the struggling woman back to his horse he held her with one arm and with the other pulled out a normal looking bottle that would normally hold wine. He ripped the cork off with his teeth and then forced Arielle to open her mouth, she tried biting him once he slapped her and then shoved the bottle neck halfway in her mouth. He plugged her nose and squeezed her jaw, forcing her to swallow the strange tasting concoction inside. She tried shaking her head to rid her mouth of it but Derbith wouldn't let her. She was forced to ingest it all.

Almost instantly her head felt dizzy and she became terribly disorientated. She stopped struggling and Derbith could feel her body relax in his arms. He grinned and nodded, after which hauling her up into the saddle and jumping up behind her. He quickly rode to Hartmann's castle and was met by the very man himself on the front steps.

He looked at the woman closely while he put on his riding gloves and readied to jump into his own saddle. "What ever did you do to her? She's usually such a fighter."

"Valerian root is more than useful when dealing with hysterical women," the spy replied with a grin.

They laughed and rode off to another castle far to the east, one that no one knew one outside of his family knew about.

When she awoke she jumped and right away knew she was tied to a bed. . .again. She could feel it in her wrists. She looked around and began yanking at the ropes. Instead of how The Kurgan would tie her with her hands above her head, this time her bonds led to the sides so that she was forced to have her arms out wide. She felt so exposed and despised it. During her struggles the door swung open and Duke Hartmann strode in with several men behind him. They fanned out to the sides of the room and the last one shut the door, Hartmann stood at the foot of the bed, smiling at Arielle, she glared back.

Suddenly she scoffed and threw her head back, "Oh I just knew it! I knew it was you! He had suspicion but I knew." She glared at him.

He raised a questioning eyebrow. "You dare speak to me without being addressed first?"

She stared him in the eye, "Yes." She replied with an icy tone.

He grinned, "Well Kurgan Whore, you have a lot to learn about your place."

"My place!? Don't you tell me about my place!" she shouted.

He grinned, "Are you frightened of being away from you protector whore?"

"My name is Arielle!" she shouted again. Her mind quickly processed that he had referred to The Kurgan as her protector, the idea that making it seem like The Kurgan didn't care for her made her hope that Hartmann would release her. She put her idea to words, "Protector you say? No, he doesn't care for me. I am simple a play thing for him until he finds a new woman." Even as she said it the idea seemed like a bad one, after all her had showed her off enough that she to everyone else she seemed more important to him that a mere sex slave.

Hartmann examined her robe closely. "Well he must care about you somewhat. He dresses you finely. Since I have known him I have never seen him dress more extravagantly than he does when he wears his black armor. Not even at the ball you two attended did he dress finer than this simple robe you wear."

"It's just a robe, there's nothing special about it," she replied with a hard glare in her eyes.

He laughed once, "Gold thread embroidered, white fur, velvet? Come now my whoring sweet," his comment only fueled her anger, " he must care about you if he dresses you so finely. It's obvious that while he doesn't care about what he looks like he wants everyone to see you."

Her cheeks burned as he spoke the truth and she knew it. She knew he called her lie and proved it but she was desperate to keep denying it. "Foolish old man! The Kurgan isn't one to care about how he looks! He's not an effete git like you!" She shouted. "I am a slave to him he doesn't care about me! H-he gave me a choice when he bought me; either fight him and-and suffer, or submit to his every wish and live a privileged life. I chose life." She spat the words at him, in a way she had chosen life but not as his slave.

He chuckled and shook his head as if he knew something she didn't and he couldn't wait to tell her. She guessed he probably did.

He looked at her and that arrogant light was in his eyes. "He came to my family's castle demanding to know where his mate was. He attacked my family." She paled and closed her eyes. "I can only assume that means you because you're the only woman he kept with him who wasn't a servant. The Kurgan's mate."

"This is so.. . .so! So fucking infuriating!" She screamed, using a favorite word of hers from her past life that she hardly used anymore. She opened her eyes and glared at him again, he looked surprised. "How many times do I have to scream at you that I don't matter to him!? Keeping me here is pointless because he'll never come!"

THWACK!

The sound was loud, hard, and sharp. Arielle gasped and her jaw hurt from the impact of his slap to her face. She sat back up and a red hand print was imprinted on her fair skin, the print even began to welt. She looked at the man steadily, her gaze never so much as flickering to the other men in the room. A few thin strands of his carefully placed grey hair had come undone and the arrogant look turned into something else. Something Arielle couldn't place. He was hunched over and his breathed in deep while looking at her, his eyes grazing over her body. She sneered at him and then sniffed and looked away.

Without looking at his men he commanded them, "Leave us."

They silently nodded and then left. Hartmann looked at Arielle hungrily and slowly stalked forwards. Despite the fact that she was a whore to The Kurgan she was woman, and a desirable one at that. He got on his knees on the edge of the bed and it was then that Arielle knew what he had planned, her breath quickened and each gasp made her chest heave rapidly. She still refused to look at him, keeping her eyes tightly shut. She pulled the ties that held her wrists and her biceps flexed with feminine muscle. Very quickly she felt his hot breath on the exposed skin of her neck. She felt his cold fingers reach out and slide past her high collar, coming to a stop wrapped around her neck.

He kissed her neck once, twice, three times. With one hand he undid the small buttons on the front of her robe one by one until he could open it enough to slide down one shoulder and kiss the skin. He saw the goose bumps appear and grinned. Suddenly he shoved her down and she slammed against the bed roughly. She opened her eyes and concentrated on staring at the window across from the bed, just like the one across from where she slept at her castle. She willed The Kurgan to hear her mental cries for help. Hartmann kissed her collar bone and she suddenly thrust her knee up, catching him in the groin.

He cried out and rolled off of her, cupping his hurting goods. She couldn't help but smirk at her work, the smirk turned into a fully fledged smile. She almost even laughed but knew that that would bring something worse than a slap. She suppressed some snide comments and laughs and continued looking at the wall. She heard him huff in anger as he recovered and stood up on his knees on the bed, he looked at the woman.

"Bitch!" He shouted.

Quick for a man his age he bolted to her and leaned in close, crushing her with his body weight, his breath was rancid and he pulled out a dagger, shoving it close to her face. She put on a cold glare of defiance. His breathing was ragged and Arielle squirmed beneath him.

"By all accounts I should gut you now," he looked down at her chest and then back up at her face. "But I am a merciful man and I've never killed a woman before." He sat back and used the dagger to toy with the chain that her red crystal hung from. "Although I'm not sure just exactly what you are. You speak very differently from me, though I understand you I feel like I should not. You have this air about you that I've never seen before and I don't understand you or why The Kurgan has kept you for as long as he has." He leaned in close again, his face just inched from hers. "Do you know what he's down to other woman in that castle? The rape, the torture, the beatings even." When she said nothing he laughed once very softly in his throat. "No I don't believe you do. But you? He gave you things he has never given his other women, treated you like no other he's had before. You lived past three moons."

She grinned at that, "You have no idea where I come from, or how I came to be here. What my love and I have gone through to be together," she looked at him and the determined glint in her eye was unusual for a woman in Hartmann's time. "Yes, we are mates. He does love me and I him and he is coming for me. You better pray for your soul Lord Hartmann because that's all that will be spared from his wrath when he finds me here. We will always be together, even in death, and nothing you do will stop it!"

Her words sent a chill down his spine because she said them with no hesitation or stuttering. He moved away from her and then stood up.

"We'll see," he said with ice lacing his voice.

He turned and left the room, but not without some obvious discomfort. As soon as the door slammed shut behind him Arielle blew out the air she had kept inside. She didn't feel adrenaline or panic, she felt that this was a situation that called for being calm in the face of danger. She knew that she wasn't going to escape the ties on her wrists any time soon so she decided to try and send out mental signals for her mate to follow, maybe if it worked he would find her.

Can Arielle have a temper to match her mate or what? I've been really inspired lately and my keybaord is on fire. More to come soon. : )