Bound by Elisabeth Naughton Page B

already told her. She wished she had her remaining dagger, but she’d known to leave it her tent. No one armed was allowed anywhere near the queen. “Your Grace.”
    “Rise, Natasa. And tell me of your travels.” Aella sat on the ornate couch. Though she was tall like all Amazons—literally towering over Natasa—she wasn’t as hard. There was a softness to Aella’s features, a beauty the others lacked. Her skin was pale, her hair dark and styled in curls that fell down her back. She wore khaki trousers, knee-high black boots, and a long blue tunic cinched at her waist with a stylish gold belt. And on her fingers and wrists, ancient jewels marked her as the queen of her race.
    Natasa moved to one of the sitting chairs. She liked Aella. Had been relieved when the Amazon had agreed to protect her. But she was smart enough to know everyone in this world was out for only one thing: self-preservation. That didn’t make Aella her ally in any sense of the word. “I know you’ve been told I brought a prisoner back with me.”
    “I was,” Aella answered, clasping her hands around one knee. “A male, as I understand it. This surprises me, I must say.”
    “I didn’t do so to upset you. It’s just…” Gods, how did she rectify this? “He’s important to my quest.”
    Aella’s eyes narrowed. Natasa had told Aella she was searching for Prometheus, but not why. And she knew the queen had agreed to protect her in the hopes that when Natasa did find the Titan, he might be able to aid the Amazons with their little Zagreus problem. But that was a big maybe, and they both knew it. “How so?”
    Shit. Perspiration slid down Natasa’s spine. Lies ran through her mind, gathered on her tongue. “He knows things. About the gods. I’m prepared to leave here with him now. I only came back to”— Come on, lie better than this. His life is on the line here! —“to gather my things. And to thank you. For everything you’ve done for me.”
    Crap. Had she just said that? She was leaving Antiope with the Argonaut now? Great. Score one for not thinking faster. But now that it was out there, she couldn’t take it back. Her future was going from bad to worse faster than she could blink. All thanks to her inability to leave well enough alone…or to leave one Argonaut she didn’t need alone.
    “I think,” Aella said slowly,” I would like to meet this male for myself. Before you go, that is.”
    Natasa’s adrenaline jumped. Oh, no no no. That couldn’t be good. Forget the fact Titus was an Argonaut—a fact Natasa was not about to share with anyone in this tree city—he was the exact specimen Amazons looked for when in need of a man. Strong, sexy, powerful, and handsome. Not to mention just a tad bit dangerous. Amazons loved danger. In fact, they thrived on it.
    So do you .
    Natasa shook off the thought and tried to figure out how to deter the queen. Think, dammit.
    Aella pushed from her seat and gestured toward the tent’s door. “Lead the way, my dear.”
    Panic cycled in. “But—”
    A wicked smile spread across the queen’s lips. “But nothing. I’m anxious to see for myself what has you so…flustered.”
     
    * * *
     
    Bound and crippled …
    The bound part, Titus didn’t mind. Especially if Natasa was the one doing the binding. Hell, if she wanted, he’d let her do just about anything to him. Which totally went against everything he’d become thanks to his curse. But those few seconds they’d spent pressed up against each other in the trees hadn’t been nearly long enough. And if the only way he could get more rubbing, more touching and a hell of a lot more skin-on-skin contact from her was to submit, he’d do it.
    The crippling thing, however? Yeah, that wasn’t happening.
    The tent flap pulled open before he could get lost in the fantasy of her in that black leather dominatrix outfit, wielding a crop while he was tied to this tree, naked and ready. Excitement pulsed in his chest but quickly morphed to