Savage Chains: Captured (#1) by Caris Roane Read Free Book Online Page B

opened and her captor entered the room.
    “Angelica, turn toward me and I’ll get the shackles off.”
    Cringing at the sound of his voice, she rolled on the bed, unable to pull the robe around her; once more she lay exposed. The shackles were heavy, and a short chain between each set prevented much movement.
    He looked damn serious as he knelt beside the bed with a tool in his hand that sort of looked like a screwdriver.
    “Is this going to hurt more than it already does?”
    But he didn’t say anything. He just scowled as he placed the tool against the bolt holding together the manacle on her left hand. He tapped and at the same time, some kind of energy flowed.
    And so did the pain. She screamed.
    “Mathilde,” Reyes shouted. “Get me a goddamn healer here. Now.”
    “I already called. She’s on her way.” The housekeeper moved back into the room to stand beside Reyes. She was very short and wore thick blond braids wrapped around the crown of her head. She sported an equally serious expression.
    He pulled apart the first shackle. Though the weight was no longer there, the pain pulsing up Angelica’s arm remained, and the skin at her wrist bled even more than before.
    She wanted to tell him how much it hurt, but she didn’t see the point. He was no longer someone she could ever think of as a friend. He’d bought her at auction and now no doubt thought of her exclusively as his property.
    He glanced at her. “Preternaturally charged shackles cause a lot of pain, even when they’re gone. That’s why I called for the healer.”
    She didn’t want a healer, which sounded very new age and probably wouldn’t be of much use. She wanted a medical doctor, an emergency room, painkillers. And what did he mean,
preternaturally charged
?
    She nodded, but she didn’t know what else to say. She’d entered an extremely sadistic world, an experience that had begun with her abduction, moved on to a strange woman with curly red hair sending shards of pain through her breasts, and ended at an auction with Reyes controlling her through the shackles he was now removing.
    He repeated the process with the other manacle, and she screamed again. And just as Reyes had said, the removal of the shackles still left her arms feeling as though fire burned up to her shoulders.
    He turned and went to work on her ankles. When she heard the punch of the tool against the shackle, the same electrical charge ripped through her leg so that she screamed all over again, then started sobbing.
    The last tap of the tool sent pain flowing through the rest of her body. She writhed and screamed. “I hurt. Oh, God, I hurt.”
    “Master?” Another woman’s voice this time.
    “About time you got here. Dammit, help her.”
    “Yes, master.”
    Reyes drew back to allow the new arrival to take his place. She had light-brown hair and pinched gray eyes. She knelt beside the bed the way Reyes had done. The moment she put her hand on Angelica’s head, however, sudden warm waves started passing through her; like magic, the fire in her arms and legs drifted away as though it had never existed.
    The relief was so great that Angelica sobbed all over again.
    But the woman continued to work on her, releasing some kind of healing touch with her hand so that in slow stages, even the terrible pain in her head eased up.
    Angelica finally started to breathe again, deep draws into her aching lungs. She lay on her back so relieved that for a long time she couldn’t even speak. Finally, she managed a weak “Thank you.”
    The woman nodded. “How do you feel?”
    “I’m very tired, but my arms and legs no longer hurt and my headache is completely gone.”
    “Good. I’m happy to have been of service.”
    She rose to leave, but Angelica grabbed her arm and pleaded with her. “You have to help me. I’m a prisoner here.”
    The woman met her gaze, removing Angelica’s hand gently at the same time. “I’m sorry, mistress, but I treat a lot of slaves. I can’t do