Morrigan had awakened and had been allowed to go home to finish recovering. The woman told her that the pain medicine they gave her would keep her sleeping most of the time. Prince Ualan had been in the medical ward with her, but now he was meeting with his brothers.
Yusef was still unconscious, and Alanda asked Nadja if she would stay for a while and sit with the patient until she returned from a short errand. Nadja readily agreed, pulling up a seat by Yusef.
As soon as she was alone, Nadja studied her brother-by-marriage. Finding a pin light, she lifted one of his eyelids and then the other. She took a reading of his levels with a handheld unit. Next, she began to examine his wounds, rotating him over to the side to see his back. She coated her hands with a protective film and then lifted the bandages to probe each wound gently. As she came to a particularly long gash, she frowned.
Going to the glass cases behind the desk, she was surprised to see they weren’t locked. Within seconds she had several bottles lined up and was mixing ingredients together. She had helped her father with post-operative care enough times to know what she was doing.
Returning to the patient, she rolled Yusef onto his back and brushed a piece of dark hair from his forehead. Taking a deep breath, she whispered, “Yusef?”
No answer.
“I’m just going to give you a shot,” she continued. “It will make you feel better. It’s much better than those pain killers. It will help you heal faster.”
Still no answer.
Finding an old fashioned syringe, she filled it with her mixture and injected it into a vein in his arm.
Almost instantly, Yusef’s eyes opened. His body shuddered with pain. He looked quizzically at her and then down at the needle in his arm. His eyes narrowed.
“Shh,” she whispered, drawing the needle away. “This will help you.”
Yusef’s eyes fluttered closed, and the man relaxed.
Nadja threw the supplies into a trash compactor and pressed the button. Then, she put the bottles back where she found them. By the time Alanda came back, she was sitting innocently by Yusef’s side.
The woman took one look at the patient and shook her head. “I’ve been staring at him almost the whole night and I haven’t seen a change. But I actually think his color is coming back. Whatever you have been saying to him must have worked a miracle.”
Nadja smiled and said nothing. She walked out of the medical wing, feeling like she may have finally done something right for once with the knowledge her father had given her.
* * *
Olek gripped the center horn of his mount as he rode with Ualan, Zoran and the king. The ceffyl’s wide back shifted easily with each stride, used to the weight of a warrior rider. He’d been told the creatures were unique, but to him they looked like a cousin to the dragon of legend. Reptilian eyes looked out from a mammal’s face. The animal’s fanged mouth snapped open with a hiss of its long tongue. Large hooves balanced the thick, hairless body. Considering its size, the animal was deceptively fast and incredibly deadly.
Olek’s hand strayed to the short sword at his waist as the riding party slowed, falling into line behind his warrior brothers as they neared the shadowed marshes. The trackers admitted it had been difficult, but they found Yusef’s wife and her Var captors camping in the area. The marshes were an awful place, filled with the rotting smell of moldy plant life and animal carcasses. Decay masked even the barest traces of scent from all but the trackers, an elite bunch of Draig who were chosen for their highly developed sense of smell.
The trackers had said Princess Olena was still alive. Olek knew they had their orders, or they would have gone in to save her the moment they saw her. But protocol was clear. Someone needed to report the finding in case the mission failed.
The princess appeared unharmed, though she was tied to a tree and half naked. Olek silently wondered if she had been ill-used. It wouldn’t matter to Yusef. He would take her back and not judge her for it, so long as she hadn’t been willing. From the looks of her current position, Princess Olena was not a willing member of this group.
He thought of his wife. Olek didn’t know what he would do if the frustrating woman was ever taken away from him. Even when Olek wanted to strangle his lovely wife, he still wanted to kiss her. She was his other—very aggravating—half. Perhaps it was lucky Yusef wasn’t awake to know what was happening. By the time he recovered, Olena would be safe.
Olek growled low in the back of his throat, drawing the glances of his brothers, who shared his dark mood. The king frowned, clearly knowing all his sons were in a state of torment.
Last night had been so achingly sweet. It was the best Olek had ever felt. He’d longed to hold his wife since first seeing her, had been so desperate to claim her body with his. Even now, he wanted to turn his mount around and go to her. But, this morning she had ripped the feeling away from him. How dare she yell at him for trying to shield her from a harsh world? He only sought to protect her. She was his wife. He was honor bound to take care of her. That was what husbands did.
“Save your anger for the Var,” Zoran commanded softly. His shifted eyes glowed with deadly intent. “If spilling their blood does not placate our wrath, then nothing will.”
* * *
The princes and their father were spattered with blood after the battle with the Var. None of Olena’s four captors were left alive. The princess had killed one of the cat-shifters by breaking his neck with her legs as he hung from a tree.
“Hold, woman!” Olek ordered, fighting to keep his seat as Princess Olena tried to wiggle out of his arms. She elbowed him hard in the stomach and grunted. He had half a mind to take the fiery red-head back to the Var and drop her off with his apologies. Surely, he would be doing Yusef a favor.
Fine thanks that was for trying to keep her astride the ceffyl when she had passed out. Grabbing at the center horn of his mount, Olek righted himself. Only, this time, he was careful not to touch the woman in front of him any more than necessary.
Zoran and Ualan broke into snickering laughter. King Llyr watched with a vastly amused smile on his face. Olek’s brothers had refused to carry the aggravating woman.
Princess Olena turned emerald eyes around to glare at the moody Olek in warning. She wore Zoran’s overtunic. It flowed over her slender body. When he didn’t make the mistake of trying to hold her up again, she relaxed her tense arm.
“Where are we going?” Olena asked, as if she hadn’t just tried to throw him from his seat.
“Good morning to you too, princess,” Olek grumbled, rubbing his stomach. How he missed his gentle Nadja at this moment. After seeing the menace Yusef’s bride was, he wasn’t so disappointed in his married life. She might frustrate him, but at least Nadja didn’t try to kill him with her fists.
Olena grimaced at being called a princess and Olek felt somewhat vindicated. She had just discovered her new title and ranking, and was about as happy as the other brides had been when they were told. Apparently, the princes had found the only four women in the universes who didn’t dream of being royal, rich and adored by their husbands.
“Home,” Ualan stated in answer to her question, when he saw Olek had no intention of speaking to her.
Olek ignored the others, concentrating on keeping his ribs away from Olena’s elbows. The traveling party entered the small village outside the palace, riding through the center street. People came out of their houses and shops to watch the blood-covered soldiers. They were hardly shocked by the scene, though they were curious as to what caused it. Young boys waved at the passing royals, some cheered and shouted. The princes waved back solemnly, acknowledging them.
Olena stiffened as Olek reined in near the palace’s front gate. Her face paled. Olek swung down and lifted a hand to help her from the animal’s back, glad to finally be rid of the woman. Olena ignored him, jumping off the other side on her own.
Olek and Ualan grabbed the reins and walked the animals toward the stables. When they were out of earshot, Olek
grumbled, “Fine thanks that was for saving her life. It makes me appreciate my wife’s continual silence.” He inhaled a deep breath and held it. His side was bruised from the ungrateful, accursed mor-forwyn. “I think she broke my rib.”
Ualan chuckled in dark humor. “I’m telling everyone you were beat upon by a woman.”
“Of course I was beat upon. What was I supposed to do? Restrain my brother’s wife?” Olek defended. She was Yusef’s wife, and a woman, so he couldn’t strike her back. The idea of Nadja’s softness sounded better and better with each passing moment.
“She has been shaken up too much, like a shake and pop chemical bomb,” Ualan said. “I am sure once Yusef deals with her she will be better.”
Olek looked at his older brother in confusion, but before he could ask what he meant, a stable boy came out to take the ceffyls’ reins. As Ualan answered the boy’s excited questions about the battle they had obviously been in, Olek slipped away and moved toward the castle gate. It was time he had a talk with his wife to clear a few matters up between them. Though he wanted to stop by the medical ward to see Yusef, he knew the fiery wench his brother had married would be there, so he decided against it. He’d had enough of Princess Olena to last him five Draig lifetimes.
Chapter 32
The news arrived that the men had safely retrieved Princess Olena from capture and were heading back to the keep. Nadja refused to go and greet them, as she was still too upset with Olek. He didn’t even bother to tell her he was leaving, and so the news that he was back, had come as a particular surprise to her.
“Typical,” she had said to the guard who delivered the message before she firmly shut the door in his surprised face.
Nadja was staring at her formula notebooks, not really seeing them in her anger, when Olek arrived home. She glanced up from the couch, ready to give him a cold dismissal when she noticed his blood-covered clothing. Instantly, she shot to her feet in shock. The notebook fell forgotten to the floor as her heart squeezed in her chest. Her lips worked frantically, but no sound came out as she rushed to him.
“Olek,” Nadja managed in horror. She reached a trembling hand to touch him, but then pulled back. “What…? Are you hurt?”
Pulling his arm from behind his back, Olek held out a bouquet of flowers.
Nadja blinked in confusion to see the offering. The beautiful flowers showcased white porcelain petals around a lovely light blue center ring. The light brown stem appeared as soft as silk.
“They’re called solarflowers,” Olek said. “I thought you might like them.”
“I-I do.” Nadja blushed. Her hands shook as she reached to take them. She had never seen flowers so beautiful, and the fact that he’d named her after something so exquisite, melted the anger from her until she was left smiling in pleasure. “Do I put them in water?”
“You can.” Olek let the stems slide from his fingers. “However, if you take the center bud out and plant it, you can grow them in your garden.”
Nadja nodded. She would definitely have to try that. Lifting them to her face, she found they were one of the most exotic perfumes she had ever smelled.
“Thank you.” Her eyes again found his marred clothing. “So you’re not hurt?”
“No. It’s not my blood, but the blood of our enemy. I told you I would protect you, Nadja, and today I have.”
She studied his chest.
“Does it upset you?” he asked.
“What?” Nadja inquired, finally meeting his eyes. “Blood?”
He nodded.
Nadja wanted to laugh. Ever since she was a child, she had seen more blood and gore than she cared to remember.
“No,” she answered. “Blood doesn’t bother me.”
“Because of your father’s work?”
Nadja nodded. Feeling rather soft from the gift of flowers, she admitted, “I used to help him take care of patients after surgeries, and when I was older, I assisted him.”
“What about your mother?” Olek kept his voice quiet, as if not wanting to scare her away.
“She’s…” Nadja paused, trying to think of a delicate way to paraphrase her mother but was not able to think of one. She didn’t approve of her mother’s lifestyle, but she did love the woman. “She’s an ornament. My father married her for her beauty, which he helps her maintain, and nothing else. She smiles prettily and throws parties and never raises her voice to him. Though, to tell the truth, no one ever raises their voice to my father.”
Nadja chuckled darkly and thought, Yeah, if they did, he’d surgically remove their voice box while they were still awake.
“Why are you running away from them? Did they hurt you?”
Nadja stiffened at the question. Instead of answering, she said, “Why don’t you go wash up? I’m going to put these in some water before they wilt.”
“Nadja.” Olek said lifting his hand to touch her cheek. His eyes glanced over the dirt marring his fingers and he thought better of it. “I won’t let anyone hurt you. You know you can tell me anything.”
“I know,” she whispered. As she said it, she thought that perhaps it was the truth. But being able to tell him anything was not the same as actually telling him, because to admit about that part of her life, she’d have to tell him the awful truth of who she was. “I’ll be in my laboratory.”
* * *
I know.
Well, that admission was something at least.
Olek couldn’t have been more pleased by her show of concern when he walked in the door. It had not been his intention to scare her, which he clearly had. Normally, it was considered an insult to assume a man had been hurt in battle. Though something told him she did not show concern as a way to question his manhood, but rather as an expression of caring. It wasn’t an “I love you” but he’d gladly take it.
Olek watched as she walked away from him, holding her gift. As much as he liked knowing she didn’t wish him dead, as her eyes had shone out from her chalk-white skin and her lips had trembled, he’d been overcome with the strongest urge to comfort her with kisses. Instead, he’d given her the flowers.
Taking his time in the shower, he let the cool water beat against his skin. Merely thinking of his night with Nadja, made his flesh heat. With a slight smile on his face, he tried to come up with ways of wooing her once more into his embrace.
Finally forcing himself out of the water, he dried and wrapped a towel around his waist. Kicking his dirty clothes into a pile, he went to get dressed. Almost immediately, his Draig senses detected her in the bedroom. His pace quickened.
Stopping in the doorway, his expression fell in puzzlement. It wasn’t his wife who stood next to his bed, but a buxom blonde wearing his wife’s clothing as she posed in front of the mirror. Sniffing, he smelled Nadja but couldn’t see her.
Coldly, he demanded, “Who are you? Where is my wife?”
The woman spun from her trashy reflection in horror. Big, gaudy jewels graced her neck and hands. Her fat red lips moved as if to speak. Olek glared hotly at her, eyeing the busty woman in repulsion. Her large backside and overabundant chest stretched Nadja’s clothing. Platinum blonde locks were piled and fluffed high over her head and her blue eyes were surrounded by an ungodly amount of green makeup, contrasting the awful pink blush on her cheeks.
She lifted her hands to keep him from attacking. In a whiny voice, she said, “Olek, wait.”
“Who are you?” he demanded, storming forward.
The towel dropped from his waist and the ugly woman stared at his member as if she wanted to touch it. Instantly, the half erection he was sporting in thoughts of his wife drained from him. He frowned.
She gasped to see his member become flaccid.
“Olek, don’t, stop,” the intruder whined in her high-pitched resonance, reaching for the ring on her finger. “It’s me, Nadja.”
“You are not in the least like my wife.” He lunged to grab her throat. “Tell me what you have done with her.”
She gasped and lift
ed the large gemstone on her ring finger. As his fingers closed over her neck, she managed to turn it.
Olek recoiled as the woman’s features began to melt. The lips thinned, the makeup faded. Even the hair tamed and wound itself into a neat brown bun. Within seconds, Nadja was as he knew her.
“What trickery is this?” he demanded in horror. His eyes devoured her to make sure she was complete. His nostrils flared to take in her scent, proving to himself that she was really his wife.
“You weren’t supposed to see that,” she said, her voice low and pleasing once more. She took off the only jewel left on her finger and held it up to him. “It’s a morphing gem.”
Olek eyed the big diamond and frowned. Placing his hands on his naked hips, he asked, “Why would you have this?”
“I…” Nadja pulled away from him when his scowl didn’t lessened. “I didn’t hear you get out of the shower.”
“Why would you have this?” he repeated.
“It was a gift.”
“Who would give you such a repulsive thing?”
She was so beautiful, it didn’t make sense that someone would want her looking like a cheap, used whore.
“Well, you asked earlier why I left my father’s house,” she began.
“Your father wanted you to look like that?”
“No,” she said as if choosing her words very carefully. “My father wanted me to marry a man who wanted me to look like that. This horrible thing was my engagement ring.”
Olek frowned. She had been promised to another?
“Don’t take it like that. I never agreed to marry Hank,” Nadja said. Then, as if she wanted to get the truth out so it could be over with, she suddenly began to babble, nearly incoherent as she rushed to explain, “My father flew us to a district where arranged marriages were permitted and then he just made the announcement one night at a dinner party that he hosted for some business associates. I had no idea. One second I was ordering a servant to bring a guest some mead, and the next, everyone was clapping and congratulating me.”
Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition Page 48
