Thick as Thieves by Tali Spencer Read Free Book Online Page A

worked the sponge vigorously over the ridges of his companion’s spine. He was tempted to follow that path down to the round globes of Madd’s ass, but resisted.
    “So witches hide here?” he asked.
    “That’s right.”
    “From what?”
    “Necromancers. Wizards.”
    “Tell me, then,” he said, leaning nearer, wanting to lick skin but instead inhaling Madd’s wet, musky scent, “why these women are willing to harbor a wizard?”
    “Because, dammit, I’m not a wizard. I’m a fucking witch .” Exasperated, Madd shook his head. “I’m witchkin. We can take natural magic and use it to work spells. Wizards are different. They use death and incantations to summon creepy dark spirits, and feed them magic to do their bidding.”
    “They’re not like you?”
    “Fuck, no.”
    “Explain witches to me. I don’t understand them.”
    Madd looked around. “This isn’t the place.”
    Unable to resist a moment longer, Vorgell placed his lips on Madd’s shoulder, tasting skin so supple and rich he wanted to test it with his teeth. Honey exploded in his loins. A deluge of ice water engulfed all else.
    “Idiots!” Ibeena did not look stooped in the least as she stood beside Vorgell, an emptied pail in her hands. “You would abuse our sanctuary for a taste of his skin?”
    “I—I,” Vorgell sputtered. Water plastered his hair to his head and his beard to his face. Wet tendrils matted his chest.
    “You are acting like a rutting bull! And you —”
    “What?” Madd glowered at Ibeena just as fiercely, the effect only somewhat diminished by his being naked in a tub of water. “Can’t you see I’m taking a bath?”
    Pushing back his sodden hair, Vorgell noticed a dozen women and children lurking near the doorway. He waved to show he’d seen them and half of the group scattered back into the shadows. The remainder fled when Ibeena turned to rebuke them.
    “Leave! There’s nothing to learn here.” When they were alone again, she tapped the collar around Madd’s neck and spoke in a low, still furious voice.
    “Fool! You let yourself be bound ?”
    “Ibeena—”
    “Your mother, your grandmother… that you should become that man’s creature!”
    Vorgell rose until he stood over Ibeena like a bear over a weasel. “Leave him be! That thing was forced on him! He wants it off!”
    “You speak for him now?” Her dark eyes flashed, undaunted.
    “No, he doesn’t,” Madd snapped at her, shooting Vorgell a look saying to just shut up and let him handle this. Vorgell settled for glaring at Ibeena. “But he’s right.”
    Now it was she who sighed unhappily. “So the baron grabbed you. You didn’t abandon her.”
    “I abandoned no one. Can I finish my bath? The water’s getting cold.”
    “I don’t care about cold water,” Vorgell volunteered, earning a scowl from both.
    “And you are now keeping company with an escaped slave?” Ibeena asked.
    “I’m not a slave,” Vorgell informed her. “My father was chief of the Scur tribe.”
    She waved a hand. “Flemgu is saying you’re a slave, and we have no knowledge of the Scur. We don’t care about you. Maddog, however, is one of our own.”
    Madd lifted the sponge to his chest and began scrubbing. “I want to finish my damn bath, all right? And then I want to bathe this big ox and rid him of the rat’s nest hiding his face.”
    To illustrate the need, Vorgell shook his head, sending water droplets flying far and wide. The old woman ducked but could not escape getting drenched.
    She gave Madd a hard smile. “Slave or not, the barbarian follows you. That much I see. Turn him into a human being if you can. Then the both of you will join me in my room and reveal what you mean to do about the abomination the baron worked upon you.”

Chapter 6

    “B E CAREFUL !” Vorgell warned.
    Madd held his tongue as the woman shaving the barbarian calmly lopped off another chunk of beard. Thanks to Ibeena’s erection-killing intervention, Vorgell’s bath had been