Savage by Robyn Wideman Read Free Book Online Page A

a cup of water. Her taut and athletic body easily stretched out, showing off her well-formed ass and shapely legs.
    Bazur watched Kyra’s performance with a mixture of arousal and amusement. He’d seen her use her sexuality to get things from other men, but she’d never turned her charms on him before. She must really need something , thought Bazur as he took the pieces of rabbit from the marinade bowl and skewered them. Satisfied that the coals were now perfect, he placed the rabbit skewers across a cooking stand he’d built from old sword blades. Bazur glanced at Kyra. She was leaning back against the cave wall watching him. “You know you don’t have to do that.”
    “Do what?” asked Kyra.
    “Seduce me to get what you want.”
    Kyra grinned. “That obvious, am I? What if I was seducing you for my own pleasure?”
    “You didn’t walk from Pera to get a little physical attention. What is it that you need?” Whatever it was, it was important enough that she felt the need to seduce him into doing it. Their previous work together had been simple, he’d provided security while she did whatever it was she was doing, which usually meant stealing something or reading something so she could create a forgery later. This had to be something big, something he wouldn’t want to do.
    She put down the water cup and sat down across the fire from Bazur. “When is the last time you’ve been to Draisha?”
    Draisha. Bazur, in the four years he’d lived in the badlands, had only been to the kingdom twice. The first time he’d been working for an Azmarinian trader as a bodyguard until a pair of Draishan City guards picked a fight with him in a bar. After Bazur was done with the two city guards, his employer decided he couldn’t afford to have the city guards on his bad side. The city guards controlled the trade market and required bribes for foreign traders to enter the kingdom. With Bazur as his guard, the bribes would’ve been abhorrent. The second trip to Draisha had been to deliver a document to a forgery expert. That was the first time Bazur and Kyra crossed paths. “You were there the last time I was in Draisha. They don’t like my kind there.”
    “Your kind? You mean big aggressive fighters with a chip on their shoulder?”
    Bazur laughed. She didn't have the right of it, but he wouldn't refuse the compliment. Though he didn't go looking for a trouble, he would never refuse to satisfy it should it find him. He was half orc after all. “Perhaps you are right. Now tell me what you are stealing.”
    “Actually, this is far worse than stealing. This is a legit job.”
    Bazur eyed Kyra. Now he was curious. To his knowledge, she’d never had a legit job. “Why on earth would you take a legitimate job, and what does that have to do with me?”
    Kyra tossed Bazur a brooch.
    Bazur’s eyebrows raised as he studied the brooch. It was an emblem of the Astar family, used by their representatives. The royal brooches were not randomly handed out. “Where did you steal this?”
    “I didn’t steal it,” said Kyra with a slight tone of indignation in her voice. “You know, I am not only a thief. As it happens, Prince Valentine handed me that brooch himself, along with this one.” Kyra opened the flap on her tunic, revealing her own brooch. “You and I are now official representatives of the royal family. We have nearly unlimited authority in Draisha.”
    Kyra and himself official representatives of the royal family? Had the royal family lost its collective minds?
    “I can see what you are thinking. I am not that kind of thief. I am not going to take advantage of this to steal from the royal family. I am going to attempt to do this job straight. However, I need a partner I can trust. I need you Bazur.”
    Bazur shook his head. “What would you need me for? I am no official.”
    Kyra smiled. “Nor am I. You and I are going to be investigators. Someone is messing with Prince Valentine’s business associates, trying to