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Chapter three: My Captor

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Taehyung

She recognized him. That was his first thought. Her face was alive with fear, yet she clenched her teeth to keep her lips from trembling.

His second thought was how foolishly brave she'd acted—it was clear now. She'd bargained her freedom, used herself to distract him so her female companion could get away and her guards could stand a fighting chance in combat.

Taehyung was furious. Nothing had gone according to plan. It usually didn't, but somehow his band always managed to succeed through instinct and swiftness. Their ability to play dirty made them oddly efficient.

The fireball of a female writhed beneath him, refusing to give up even though she had nothing on his strength. She flopped around, arms and legs going everywhere, and he considered whether he should wait her out until she got tired or do something more drastic.

She spit at him. Drastic it was.

He dug his hips into the juncture of her thighs and she stiffened. She hadn't expected that. The same way Jungkook hadn't expected the girl's knee to meet his groin—Taehyung had seen the whole thing and would deal with Jungkook later.

"Where is it?" he asked.

She shook her head. Not a very talkative one.

Taehyung tilted his head, studying her for a moment, watching her face suffuse with color, pink bursting from her cheeks. He lowered his voice another notch.

"Where. Is. It?"

"It's yours if you let me go."

He laughed and quirked an eyebrow.

"Somewhere private, I'd wager."

His hand drifted down her ribcage, getting dangerously close to her navel, further down still...she squirmed, her hips bucking upward and causing him to jerk in surprise.

It had been a reflex. She hadn't intended it. She'd been trying to fend off his hand, but his anatomy responded all the same.

This infuriated Taehyung off even more. His hand continued its descent.

"Okayokayokay," she pleaded. "It's up here." Her eyes flitted toward her bodice to indicate the ring's location, and she turned away, biting her lip, her embarrassment evident.

Taehyung squinted at her. Carefully, slowly, he reached into the front of her gown, feeling her heartbeat quicken, beads of perspiration forming over the downy skin between her breasts.

His fingers wrapped around a cold surface. He pulled out the ring, and they watched it glint between them.

"I won't say anything." Her scratchy voice snapped him out of his trance. "You can let me go—"

He unsheathed a knife and pressed it to the hollow beneath her throat.

"I'm sorry, Lady Luna, but I cannot." Taehyung used his free hand to dig through the pack strapped across his chest.

Pulling out strips of cloth, he proceeded to tie her wrists, then gag and blindfold her, making quick work of it. He hauled her to her feet, chuckling and dodging her efforts when she tried her signature knee trick with him. He swung her over his shoulder and carried her across the forest while she flailed about like a madwoman.

"Untie me, you criminal!" she shrieked. "Let me go! Let me gooooo!"

By the time he reached his group, the girl had lost momentum and hung there like a hundred-pound sack of flour. She'd probably exerted herself to the point of unconsciousness.

Jungkook, Jimin, and Hoseok waited by their usual rendezvous point with the horses.

Jimin and Hoseok bagged weapons they must have pilfered from the guards.

Jungkook kicked the ground and stewed. The lump on his head stuck out, and he was walking funny. He was going to have a hell of a time riding his horse back to camp.

Taehyung considered that punishment enough for his friend's lapse in focus.

Instead of doing what he was supposed to and heading straight for Lady Luna, Jungkook had gotten jumped by that tiny, dark haired girl and had decided to intimidate her.

Then the maiden had jumped in to save her companion, and Jungkook had gotten double blows to the codpiece and temple.

Out of everyone in their criminal group, Jungkook was the most reckless and temperamental, always acting on impulse.

But he'd been the first friend Taehyung had ever made on the road, so Taehyung couldn't stay mad at him for long.

Taehyung wasn't surprised to see his band all in one piece. They could handle their own without the benefit of his arrows, though they preferred not to.

His aim was their secret weapon. They informed him that, thankfully, they'd overtaken the royal guards without any casualties. Their rule was never to kill unless absolutely necessary.

But dammit, the girl's actions had increased that threat that today. Someone could have ended up dead because she led him astray. No mistaking, the guards had outnumbered them greatly.

Jimin tossed an apple at Taehyung, which he caught with one hand.

"Looks like you made a pretty friend," Jimin cooed, eyeing the landscape of curves dangling from Taehyung's shoulder.

"What do we need her for?" Jungkook demanded. "You got the ring, right?"

Hoseok read Taehyung's face and answered for him. "She belongs to the king."

"She's a bargaining chip," Taehyung clarified.

"Can she ride with me?" Jimin asked, flashing his teeth and mounting his horse. "I'd love to feel her bounce."

Taehyung bit into the apple, chewed, and swallowed. He wasn't in the mood to joke. He was in the mood to plan.

The people of the kingdom were denied the basics of survival, and he stole it for them at every opportunity.

Thinking on it, the ring's value was nothing compared to the body balanced on his frame. When he first saw Lady Luna and her jewel in the courtyard, he hadn't thought to set his standards higher, to up the stakes.

Now, he could. And he would use this pampered and privileged girl to do it.

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Luna

I awoke blindfolded and with a sore bottom. Something massive and alive pounded beneath me. The rhythmic breathing that could only belong to an animal pelted my ears. Recognizable forest sounds—the crumpling and quivering of leaves—floated through my ears. Feeling the sun on my face, I jerked and my back collided with a muscled torso.

Then I remembered. That man had kidnapped me. The scent of horse flesh and male flesh and sandalwood and, peculiarly, cinnamon wafted through my nose. A pair of arms draped loosely across my lap, holding me in place. I was on his horse. I was in his arms. I was his prisoner.

He'd had his hands down my dress.

I wiggled as far from him as I could get and heard a mean-spirited snicker. "You're awake," he said, his breath stroking the back of my neck, my skin betraying me by sprouting goose bumps.

I pressed my lips together.

"You will talk to me, eventually," he said. "Or I'll use you for target practice. I never miss."

"Arrogance is an affront to humility," I said.

"Big words are an affront to intelligence."

It irritated me that he got me to speak in the first place. My silence was the only weapon I had, though I didn't doubt his promise to use more violent methods to get whatever he wanted from me.

"If you never miss, there's no need to practice," I muttered.

"That's true. Nevertheless, I'll say it again. I never miss," he repeated.

"And if you do, I also have something sharp and straight that never misses its target," a suave voice said from somewhere to the right. "Bet that would be more effective on her."

My captor pulled me closer as if claiming ownership over me. I heard and felt him whip the reigns, sending us galloping ahead, away from his companion's masculine laughter. We rode in silence for so long that it startled me when we stopped.

The man with the bow jumped off the horse and pulled me down, then seized my arm and dragged me with him.

He sat me against what felt like a tree trunk, then bound me to it, the straps tight enough for me to breathe but not move.

The stomping of hooves signaled that the rest of his band had reached us and were dismounting.

Whispers. I shifted, attempting to beat down the panic worming its way through my blood. What would they do to me?

Out of nowhere, the blindfold was removed. I blinked and focused on those steely dark eyes.

My captor knelt in front of me and held out a piece of bread. My mouth watered. I hadn't eaten breakfast. The morning's official engagement announcement had left me without an appetite.

My head leaned forward to bite the bread, but he withdrew it at the last second.

"We're going to play a game," he said. "I'm going to ask a question and if you answer, you can have a taste."

I glared at him.

I took my time agreeing to his terms, using it to inspect my surroundings. It was a camp. Wide tents circled around a fire pit. Pots and pans hung from strings tied to a tree branch and hovered above a crude, makeshift oven.

Target markers were painted onto other random trunks. A stringed instrument that I identified as a lute—probably stolen—rested by the pit.

The place was surprisingly cozy. And remote. We'd traveled deep into the woods.

Another man planted himself by the pit and began grinding something into a mortar. A shorter man with blonde hair and the facial features of a mythological deity winked at me as he passed.

The one I defended Jisoo against fumed, not knowing what to do with himself. "Where's Jieun?" he asked, glancing around.

"Probably working off her anger," the short man said.

Her? Who was her?

The short man gestured toward me. "Aren't you going to introduce us, Tae?"

Taehyung pointed out each man and rattled off their names. Jimin. Jungkook. Hoseok.

"And I'm Taehyung. I'm—" he began.

"The notorious legend," I said. "An outlaw, and a thief, and now my captor."

His smile took me off guard. The was no other way to put it. It was adorable. And utterly disproportionate to his reputation as a dangerous criminal.

"What's your family name?" I asked.

"Kim," he answered, bemused by my interest. "Ready to play?"

I nodded reluctantly. I was too hungry and too kidnapped to refuse.

"Why Seokjin?"

I gaped. I hadn't anticipated that question. "Mr. Kim—"

"Taehyung."

"Mr. Kim—"

"Taehyung."

"Very well, Taehong," I said, deliberately mispronouncing his name, "I'm not sure what you want to know."

"It's Taehyung," he said. "Putting aside the question of taste in general, I want to know why, in the name of sanity, you'd choose that louse. Did I make myself clear enough for you?"

"You have a refined tongue for a ruffian," I remarked, adding a dash of haughtiness to my words.

"Poverty doesn't make us simpletons, my lady. My father taught me to read. I've taught my friends as much as I could, but I wouldn't fret over it if I were you. Our differences in rank will be more obvious once you see us eat with our hands. Are you going to answer my question?"

"I have to marry him. The kingdom will give Busan food and protection if I do. We have scarce resources, and the king likes me, and I'm of age."

Taehyung frowned. What had he thought? That I'd made this match for self-advancement? For wealth and power?

Well, of course he did. That's what everyone thought.

My response seemed to have caused a rift in his interrogation because he struggled to come up with another question.

Though he didn't have to. Just then, a girl with long hair—marched into the camp and flung an axe across the space.

It landed right between Jungkook's legs, sending him falling off the log where he'd stationed himself. The one called Jimin burst into laughter. The one called Hoseok shook his head.

"You left without me again," she hissed.

Taehyung nodded his head toward the girl, not taking his eyes off me. "And that's Jieun."

Jungkook rose, wiping dirt from his pants. "Why do you always take this stuff out on me?"

"You took off behind my back!"

"It was Tae's call. You're not ready for fighting yet. We all agreed with him."

"Not ready? You see where my axe landed? I didn't miss, you idiot!"

Jungkook grunted and stalked off. Jieun gave the group a onceover, pausing to grimace at me. "Who's she?"

"A hostage," Jimin beamed.

Jieun didn't bother to respond. She pointed at Taehyung. "You went without me. You left while I was asleep. I hate you."

Taehyung sighed. She took off after Jungkook.

Taehyung held out the bread, waiting patiently while I ripped off chunks with my teeth, not caring how savage I looked doing it.

He offered me water from a canteen and watched droplets leak from the corners of my mouth, eyes lingering there before snapping up to meet mine. I gulped.

Without a word, he straightened and left, heading toward wherever Jieun and Jungkook had gone. Jimin and Hoseok followed him as if by unspoken rule.

My head fell against the tree. Being face to face with that boy was exhausting. I imagined he and his band were about to have some sort of meeting about what to do with me.

Dread coursed through my chest. I knew that Taehyung already had something in mind. It wasn't hard to guess what.

My life had been bargained once already, so I knew the signs. Taehyung wanted to sell me back to Seokjin, to negotiate my freedom at the right price. A price high enough to feed the whole of the Kingdom.

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By nightfall, I lost all feeling in my body from being secured to the tree. Taehyung and his band of rebels gathered around the fire.

The flames licked the air and flickered off his chiseled jaw, illuminating his face as he stared at the pit. Since we last spoke, he hadn't glanced at me once.

Jungkook strummed that lute I'd seen earlier. I recognized the tune.

When he finished playing, he stood and crossed over to me, offering me a piece of meat they'd been roasting, evidently taking over his boss's job. "Hope you like squirrel," he said.

His dialect, is pretty familiar,
How had I not noticed this before?

'"You're from Busan," I ventured.

Guilt creased his features. He didn't deny it. He hadn't reacted when I mentioned earlier that I was from there. He must have given his corded Busan bracelet to someone because I didn't see him wearing one.

He nodded. "I am. Eat."

I accepted the squirrel, letting him feed me, too famished to savor the taste. "What are you doing here?" I asked after my last bite.

"Long story," he said. "I got caught poaching. I was banished."

"That was you?" I reeled.

I knew the story, but I'd never met him and hadn't known his name. His parents had died in some sort of accident almost a year ago, leaving him to fend for himself. My father, being a member of the aristocracy, had jurisdiction over poaching. He understood why people in Busan did it, but he believed in duty and upholding the law.

Thus, our sheriff, was obligated to maintain the example by punishing such lawbreakers. Jungkook was one of them.

"I know that song you were playing," I said, and then hummed the melody.

Jungkook's face lit up. "Yes, that's it. And you have the voice for it."

"I'm not as good as DongHyun's wife. She sings it every year at the Spring Festival."

"I remember her. My parents used to buy potatoes from her family. How are they?"

"Bickering as usual."

He offered me a tentative smile. I matched his grin with one of my own.

A thud made us jump. Taehyung had thrust a log into the fire, his eyes trained on us. He'd witnessed our bonding session and hadn't enjoyed it.

He picked up his bow and pack of arrows and stalked over to us, looking for something to say. I waited.

"Are your bindings comfortable?" he asked.

For some reason, I lied and said they were. He nodded and retreated toward his tent.

Jimin shook his head, picking up another piece of squirrel. "Wow, Tae. You really know how to charm a lady. It explains your track record."

Taehyung spun around and impaled Jimin's meat with an arrow. In the dark. Again with no time to aim.

Jimin reflexively dropped his food. "I really hate it when you do that."

Making no effort to conceal the nerve his friend had hit, Taehyung scowled and disappeared into his tent.

The minute he did, Jieun threw a bone at Jimin. "What's wrong with you? Are you that brainless?"

"I..." Jimin sighed, seeming to realize he'd crossed a line. "I didn't think."

Jungkook went back to playing the lute to cover up the silence that followed, leaving me to ponder what that had been about.

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Something tugged me from my slumber. My lids fluttered open and I gasped, afraid I was dreaming.

"Jisoo!" I pressed my head into her shoulder when she hugged me. "Oh my God, Jisoo."

She pulled back and put a finger to her lips, pointing at the tents. It was the middle of the night, and everyone was asleep.

"Where are you doing here?" I said as she undid my restraints.

She freed me, and I cried out in relief, rubbing my wrists and shoulders, then standing to stretch. We hustled a short distance from the camp.

"I followed you," she admitted.

I balked. "You what?"

"I couldn't leave you. The guards got away and took Soojin to safety, but I hid in the trees so he wouldn't see me, then I followed the not-so-merry boys, and then I saw him carrying you, and I tailed you here. When I saw them tie you up, I got worried they'd hurt you, but I couldn't fight them by myself. I went back to the king's palace to get help."

"Then where are the reinforcements?"

My friend wavered.

"Jisoo?" I prompted.

"They're not coming."

"What?"

"I'm sorry, Luna. I told the king about their camp. I said that he was real, not just some legend. And the king does want to save you, but...he had...another idea."

"Idea?" I repeated in disbelief. "This is his chance to catch him. You have the location to his camp."

"He wants more than that. He wants to catch the legend in the palace, in front of everyone. He wants to make an example out of him. He wants it to be a...a show."

My heart sank. "And he wants me to bring him there."

Jisoo nodded, checking over my shoulder to make sure we were still alone.

"He wants you to get close to them, earn their trust if you can. You're to tell them that a large import shipment of riches is arriving in a week's time. Gold. Jewels. Relics. Armor. Anything that sounds impossible to refuse. Tell them you know the layout of the castle. Tell them you can get them in. It wouldn't be a lie."

"A trap," I said.

Jisoo smiled sadly at me.

"I can't deceive people."

"It's the only way. You may be his fiance, but he wants to catch the legend in a public way more than he wants to rescue you for himself. If we run now, the king's withdrawing the betrothal contract and Busan will..."

Busan would lose the food and protection my marriage would have bought it. My family, my friends and neighbors, they would all starve and continue to live in the same deprivation that had been crippling them for years.

Seokjin might even make an enemy of us. This thought made my gut twist and haunted me to no end. I owed it to my home to do this, but so many doubts and terrors clamored inside me, especially the fear that I wasn't up to the task.

There was nothing spectacular about me. I wasn't good with speeches. I wasn't a leader like Taehyung. I lacked the skill to convince strangers, a band of outlaws no less, to welcome me into their lives. I wasn't that good. Why didn't Snow see this?

"Luna, are you listening?"

Whatever Jisoo had been saying, no, I hadn't been listening. I'd been too busy thinking about my options. And they're not great.

"I'll do it," I said numbly.

My friend smoothed her fingers over my braid. "I can come here every day and make sure—"

"No. It's too risky," I lectured. "You won't be hurt because of me."

We grasped each other in a tight hug, and I thought of every time we snuck into one another's room to whisper and laugh until dawn, every time we shared a private joke, every time Jisoo told me I was strong even though I didn't believe her.

I'd never had a more unconditional friend. I wanted nothing but to keep her by my side. She gave me peace. Seeing her batch of crooked teeth whenever she smiled reminded me why my life needed to be secondary, why every sacrifice I made was worth it.

She had to leave as soon as possible before I clung to her permanently. Or began to cry.

"Should I tie you back up?" she whimpered.

"No. Leave me like this," I said. If I had to get Taehyung and his band to trust me, I needed to start right away. But there was one pressing question coiling within me like a spring.

"What if I fail?" I asked.

"I don't know," Jisoo whispered. "The king didn't mention that."

Because he wasn't expecting me to fail. It was a silent message from the king to me. Failure was out of the question

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(a/n)
Two chapters in one day?!
You're welcome x
Hope you're excited for the next chapter, i promise its more spicy and interesting.
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