Suddenly, she broke through the rope and his feet were freed. She crawled back toward Valten’s head, holding the knife, and started trying to cut the rope around his hands. The hemp made a soft squeaking sound as she sawed through the tough fibers.
“Wait.” Valten’s hoarse warning made her cease and look at Ruexner. He was moving. Any moment he might open his eyes and see her kneeling in front of Valten’s hands. She dropped the knife on the ground and held her hand over it to hide it. Ruexner mumbled a bit and rubbed his face. Gisela quickly lay down, only now she was close to Valten, and they were lying face to face. She turned her head so she could better see Ruexner, who was still rubbing his cheek.
Suddenly, Ruexner jerked himself upright, his eyes popping open.
Gisela closed her eyes, feigning sleep. Her heart was pounding, making it hard to keep her breathing under control. As much as she wanted to know what Ruexner was doing, she kept her eyes closed.
She heard faint rustling sounds coming from his direction. Then the crunching of leaves, then more rustling. Someone mumbled something that sounded like, “Your turn.”
Gisela dared open her eyes just a bit. One of Ruexner’s men was walking over to where Ruexner had been sitting and Ruexner was now lying down. Gisela waited, trying not to move. Soon, their guard’s head drifted to the side, and he started snoring again.
Gisela waited. She wanted to make sure Ruexner was asleep. When she couldn’t wait any longer, she turned to face Valten. His gray-green eyes were staring right at her. How could he look so handsome with a bruised eye and dried blood at his temple? She sat up on her knees and he held his hands out to her as she took up the dagger again and started sawing the thick rope. How tight it was on his wrists! His fingers were purple. She was desperate to get the cruel twine off him, but she didn’t seem to be making much progress.
“You are very brave,” Valten whispered.
She stopped, only for a moment, to look into his eyes. The admiration in them made her heart grow and press against her chest. She kept sawing even harder, but trying not to cut his arm or fingers in the process.
“But don’t tell Ruexner you will marry him. Because you won’t.” His jaw seemed to have turned to stone and the soft expression disappeared.
His words made a warmth come over her neck and travel up to her head that had more to do with anger than his handsome face.
“I said that so he would stop beating you,” she huffed. “Would you rather I let him pound you to death?”
She kept working on cutting through the rope instead of looking him in the eye.
“You won’t have to marry him,” he continued, as if she hadn’t said anything, “because I will rescue you.”
The determination in his voice sent more warmth through her. “I couldn’t bear to see him hit you again. But I would never marry him. I would get away from him somehow.” She couldn’t help adding mischievously, “Maybe I will rescue you.”
He made a growling noise in his throat, and she was hard-pressed to keep from laughing. Her amusement at least took her mind off how horrible she felt seeing him get beaten. After all, it was only happening because she had been foolish enough to get herself captured by that despicable Ruexner. Earlier, when they’d stopped to face their pursuers, how elated she had been to find that Valten had actually come himself to rescue her! Immediately afterward, she’d felt horribly guilty, since he was certain to get hurt, or killed. She should have prayed for him to stay away, to let his men rescue her.
The rope was so tight that her sawing at it was causing it to chafe his skin. She became afraid his wrists would bleed. “I’m so sorry I’m hurting you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Keep cutting.”
He shifted his weight a bit, and Gisela paused to get a better grip on the knife.
“My men have orders from me not to follow us. They will gather the rest of our men and come to Ruexner’s castle in Bruchen, which is where Ruexner is taking us. But we can avoid any of them getting killed if we can escape.”
“I am afraid Ruexner will kill you before we ever reach his castle.”
“No. He’s jealous and cruel and wants to humiliate me. But he has some kind of plan for when we reach his castle. He’ll keep me alive until then.”
She could feel the intensity of his gaze on her. She stopped and looked up at him.
“He’s already hurt you.” She had a sudden thought and grabbed his arm, squeezing to ensure that he was listening. “Promise me that if you get a chance to escape without me, you will do it. He won’t kill me. Go find your men and come back for me.”
His eyelids and brows lowered. “You don’t know me very well or you wouldn’t say such a thing. I won’t leave you.”
He was angry. How could he be angry with her for wanting him to be safe?