Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Nadja dropped the blade on the ground and continued to bleed the poison out. When she had finished, she quietly told Ualan, “Try touching her.”

  Ualan did and was left unharmed.

  “It’s as I thought.” Nadja breathed. The knowledge brought her little pleasure as she again looked frantically into the trees. It was as if she could feel eyes on her but couldn’t find them. “I’ve seen this kind of poison before. Usually jealous old lovers do it for revenge. If you had torn the dart out of the skin, it would have released a poison into the blood stream. She would have lived, but you would never have been able to touch her again. It’s ironic really. That way, it is the current lover who poisons the woman, sealing their fate.”

  “You should get her to a doctor,” Nadja said, her tone lowering to a mere whisper. Standing, she edged away from the Draig shifters to go down the path where they’d come from. “I would say that whoever poisoned her didn’t want you to be with her.”

  Feeling she had done all she could, she turned and ran away from them, desperate to get away from the hidden eyes that looked out at her from the forest.

  Chapter 38

  Olek hadn’t stopped to consider his wife as he shifted to fight at his brother’s side. But, as soon as the Var were retreating in the forest, the full consequence of that act hit him. He’d run to find her, a little surprised to find her tending to Morrigan and not hiding up in a tree somewhere. Her pale face gave away her fear of them, but hadn’t stopped her from helping Morrigan.

  He’d detected her quivering hand and saw her shoulders shake ever so slightly. With the connection that had been building between them, he felt the full blown blast of her terror. He wasn’t sure what scared her more—the fact that she was surrounded by dragons, or that they’d just been attacked by cats.

  “Nadja, stop!” Olek ordered softly, not wanting to scream at her in front of his family. When she only ran faster at the words, he darted forward, using the unfair advantage of his Draig speed to catch up to her.

  Nadja inhaled noisily as he touched her. Her shoulder jerked violently beneath his hand. Olek was sorry for it, but didn’t let her go.

  “Nadja.” Trying to caress her through the dark cotton of her shirt, he whispered, “Please. Don’t do this. Can’t —?”

  “Let go of me Olek,” she whispered fearfully, not turning around to look at him. She desperately tried to tug from his grasp. Her head tilted toward the trees to see if they were being followed. Olek wasn’t worried about more Var. He had listened to them run away like the cowards they were.

  She jerked away and Olek let her go. His eyes narrowed. He detected her deep fear and was sorry for it. He wanted to hold her, to comfort her. But, believing he was the cause of her fear, he held back and waited for her to speak.

  * * *

  Doc Aleksander had come to Qurilixen. Nadja knew this fact just as sure as she knew her father was in the forest watching her, just as she knew she couldn’t risk being seen with a shifter touching her.

  She might not be able to see her father, but then she wouldn’t, would she? No, he’d hide until he was ready to reveal whatever plan he’d concocted. He was going to play with her first, punish her with her own fear. She glanced around the colossal forest anyway, seeing the red earthen path before her surrounded by yellow ferns that looked almost green in the shadows.

  The dart that had hit Morrigan was very alien to this planet and only traded on the darkest of black markets. She had transported them in her hair through customs before. Usually they had procured the poison for spurned kings who sought to punish the local village beauty for not returning their attentions. It was a valuable commodity. For the Var soldiers to have it, meant someone very high up in the Medical Mafia had sold it to him. Her father was about as high up as any could get.

  If Olek had only been a human prince, Nadja could have clung to the barest of hope that her father would understand and forgive. It wasn’t likely, but there was always the chance.

  However, Olek wasn’t human. He was a shifter and that made all the difference in the world. Doc Aleksander was a human purist. He put up with alien races out of necessity, but he didn’t think they were good enough to lick the bottom of a human’s boots.

  Oh, if he discovered Nadja had fallen in love and actually slept with a shifter, it would mean a horrible death for the entire royal family. Her heart squeezed with an unbearable pain she couldn’t let Olek detect. Her father might only disfigure her, but he would skin alive each and every person she’d come in contact with. And, if they were lucky, the other human princesses would only be sold as slaves to the lowest form of humanoids he could find.

  But no fate would be worse than Olek’s. Looking at his handsome face, she knew it didn’t matter how strong he was or how brave. He couldn’t fight Doc Aleksander or his genetically altered goons. When Olek was caught, as he surely would be if his connection to her was found out, his death would be the most slow and painful. And she would be forced to watch the whole thing.

  Nerves jumped all over her body. She’d seen what her father did to people who merely looked at him the wrong way. He’d surgically remove their eyes without putting them under general anesthesia. If they fainted, he would revive them so they didn’t miss an agonizing second of his torture.

  Olek took a desperate step forward, his arm reaching to pull her back to him by force if necessary. Nadja’s eyes darted away, looking again at the trees. He glanced, trying to see what she looked at.

  “Stay back, Olek,” she warned. Nadja had no doubt her father knew she’d recognize the dart, just as she knew he’d sent it to her as a calling card. If the man was close, then he already knew these princes were shifters. She could only pray she might convince him that she didn’t know until today—which was true—and that she hadn’t had anything to do with any one of them.

  She would tell him she got scared, hitched a ride, and ended up here after she realized her foolishness. The princes were nice enough to put her in a room of her own until she could contact her father to come and get her. It had to work. Seeing Olek’s tortured face, she was sorry for it. His feelings for her were the only kink in her plan. She had to sever them immediately.

  “Just stay back. Don’t come near me,” she warned in a low voice.

  “Nadja, please.” He reached for her again. His eyes implored her to come to him and she wanted nothing more than to go. “Have I ever hurt you?”

  Nadja held back. If she loved him, then she would be forced to hurt him to save him. Letting a distasteful snarl hit her lips for the sake of her father’s watching eyes, she asked, “What are you?”

  “I am Draig. Nadja—”

  “I don’t even know you,” she answered before he could give her away. She let her voice rise, praying they were overheard.

  “You know me, Nadja,” Olek pleaded, his tone soft, tortured, caring. “I’m the same man. Here, take my hand. See. I won’t hurt you, solarflower.”

  “Just stay back.” She refused his offered hand and glanced around for the sake of her spying father. “I only asked two things, honesty and loyalty. And so far you haven’t been very honest. You never told me you were a shifter and—”

  “You never asked,” Olek defended.

  “Well I’m asking now. Is there anything else I should know, your highness? Any other surprises, like, do you have five other wives and twenty kids hidden somewhere?”

  Olek flinched.

  “I told you never to lie to me, Olek,” Nadja continued, quietly. “You lied about being a prince—”

  “I said I worked,” he broke in. “Why are you bringing this up now? I thought we were past this.”

  “You knew what I was asking.” Every fiber in her being hated what she was doing to him. “Why couldn’t you have just been a small time farmer?”

  He didn’t move.

  “Actually, it doesn’t matter.” She realized now that a small time farmer wouldn’t have been able to protect her any more than a prince. Do
c Aleksander wanted his daughter back and he would get her.

  “I never lied.”

  “And yet, you never really told me the truth,” she replied. “Go check on Morrigan, Olek. I need to be alone for a while.”

  There. It’s done, Nadja thought, her heart breaking into a thousand different pieces. Her body was cold and she suddenly wished the Var had poisoned her instead. She looked out over the distance, hoping her father enjoyed her little performance.

  Olek nodded. He didn’t try to touch her again, but moved past her, down the red trail leading toward the palace. Nadja moved behind him, keeping her distance to make sure she didn’t encounter him again.

  Once she came to the front gate, she ignored the guard on duty, who merely glanced up at her entrance. She took quick steps through the passageways, running when no one could see or hear her. She knew everyone would be with Morrigan in the medical ward. She wanted to check on the woman, but couldn’t risk being stopped.

  Getting home, she hurried inside. Looking around, her heart ached for the life she would never lead here, for the children she would never have, for the ambassadorship she would have worked at with her husband, for all the smiles and laughter she would never experience married to a man like Hank.

  She had been a fool to think she’d ever escape marrying her father’s choice. She’d been a fool to think she deserved more. After the years of her life she’d spent standing aside, saying and doing nothing to stop her father’s cruelty, she didn’t deserve Olek. She’d known what her father was doing to those poor victims, victims he forced her to help recuperate. Their endless faces flashed across her mind.

  Now there was only one thing left to do. She had to go and find her father before he came to claim her.

  * * *

  Olek felt as if his soul had been ripped from him. Hopelessness and despair surrounded him. The link with his wife was severed and he was left feeling hollow and dead inside. He could no longer detect her fear. She’d cut herself from him, refusing to let him feel her.

  Unable to do anything else, he did as his wife asked and went to check on Morrigan. He told himself if he just gave her enough time, she would come around and accept his shifting. He had won her once, he would do so again. He had to. There was no other option to his troubled mind. He needed her like he needed air and food, even more so. She was his heart, his soul.

  Morrigan was checked over by the doctors and released to go home with Ualan.

  Apparently, when Olek had been busy with Nadja, Princess Pia had discovered the identity of the Var spy using a video feed Morrigan had taken of the coronation. It seemed Morrigan was an intergalactic reporter and had been doing a story on Ualan and his brothers’ royal marriages. Thinking of his marriage, he scowled—some story that would be.

  It had also been determined with this last attack on Morrigan, that King Attor planned on striking the princes’ most vulnerable place—their marriages. By killing the princesses, King Attor would ensure they never produced heirs, and their line would end.

  If Olek lost Nadja, there would never be another for him. It was the way of the crystal. When she broke it, she joined them forever. The Draig mated for life. If they lost their mate, they lived the rest of their days alone, never taking another to their bed or into their hearts.

  As Ualan took his wife home, Olek went to join Zoran and Yusef in the palace kitchens to hunt for the spy. They found him hiding behind one of the big brick ovens, ducking from his work. He had somehow managed to mask his Var smell beneath a too potent scent of Draig.

  The spy must have known that he’d been discovered, because he tried to run. It was no use. Yusef was standing in the doorway and with a swing of his good arm he punched the man square in the jaw, sprawling him out on the floor.

  Olek missed most of the fight, but did offer to escort the Var soldier to the lower prisons. A Draig guard was sent to retrieve Agro for the interrogation. It was believed that if any of the princes questioned him, they would most likely kill the insolent man for the harm he intended to do their wives. It was better to have someone with a cooler temper. Olek had no doubt that Agro would discover much from the man. When Agro chose to shift, he could be terrifying.

  * * *

  Nadja tried to pack, but she couldn’t risk carrying too much and being discovered. She debated whether or not she should leave Olek a note trying to explain, but in the end decided against it. It wouldn’t do to give him hope. If he tried to come after her, then everything she had just put them through would’ve been for nothing, and she would have to watch him die.

  In the end she took nothing, leaving the house exactly as it was. It was getting late. Dusk had formed some time ago. There was no time for goodbyes. This was it.

  Nadja took a deep and steadying breath. It did no good. She instinctively knew where her father would be waiting for her. He would be at the scene of Morrigan’s attack, or close to it. Walking down the earthen red trail, she clutched her fingers before her. The dusk made the forest darker than usual, but if she squinted, she could see where she was going fairly well. The deeper sections of the forest were a mystery.

  Tears entered her eyes and only the thought of saving Olek kept her moving. Her body trembled with an uncontrollable fear. Her steps faltered as she neared the place where Morrigan fell.

  Nadja stopped, and looked around the colossal forest. In the shadowy twilight, she saw the red earth before her, surrounded by the yellow ferns. She waited, not stirring from the path until she detected movement at her side. It was the flick of a match and the lighting of an old fashioned cigar. She opened her mouth to speak, but her voice only came out in a squeak.

  The orange glow of her father’s cigar brightened, illuminating his sinister face. He lounged against a tree as if he had been watching and waiting for some time. Doc Aleksander stepped out from the sanctuary of the forest, brushing off the rough bark, as if he were in the finest of gentleman’s clubs. His movements were graceful and refined. He wore a dark suit, expensive and handsomely cut. His black hair was slicked back, matching the black of his thick mustache that twitched when he spoke, or when took a long draw as he was doing now. He smiled as the smoke curled out of his lips.

  Instantly, she felt like a child, about to be punished for eating a scrap of her mother’s chocolate, or being reprimanded because some handsome foreign dignitary held her eye a second too long.

  “How did you find me?” she whispered, looking piously at the ground.

  The comment caused a chuckle to rumble along his deep voice. When he waved his cigar around, it was with an air of elegance. “Nadja, darling, come give your father a hug.”

  Nadja couldn’t disobey. Taking small steps, she didn’t look him in the eyes. Her arms spread and she put them around his upper body. He lifted his cigar up as she pressed her cheek to his chest in a brief embrace. As she pulled away, his cigar tip hit her arm. She jolted back.

  “Oh, sorry dear,” he said, his eyes hard and unforgiving. “How clumsy of me.”

  Nadja didn’t say anything, didn’t reach to touch the little burn. She pressed her lips together to keep from screaming for Olek. This was her responsibility. No matter how bad she wished for her husband to save her, she wouldn’t call him to his death.

  Aleksander’s hands reached to touch her shoulders, rubbing her arms gently. “Tsk, tsk, Nadja Mandylen Aleksander. How you gave us a scare. Your mother has been frantic with worry over you.”

  Nadja lowered her head, stiffening as she awaited another burn. It never came. Meekly, she said, “I’m sorry, father. How did you find me?”

  “You didn’t honestly think an act of privacy would keep me from finding you, did you?” he mused. “You would be surprised what laws can be broken with enough money and persuasion.”

  Nadja had seen this man’s form of persuasion.

  “You…” she began. Pausing, she took a deep breath and tried to look him in his dark eyes. “You didn’t hurt anyone, did you? They didn’t know who I was w
hen they let me aboard.”

  “No, darling,” he whispered as if he was the most caring man in the world. “But you’ve hurt me. You embarrassed me and your mother. She was very upset. She hasn’t left her room aboard the medic ship since your engagement party. You looked me in the eye and said you were going to marry Hank. You lied to me.”

  “No,” she whimpered. Tears sprung to her eyes when she looked up at him. “I didn’t lie.”

  “Oh,” he soothed. “Don’t cry, Nadja.”

  “I don’t want to marry, Hank,” she whispered. “He scares me. Please don’t make me marry him. Let me stay with you and mother. Hank wanted to-to—”

  “Boys,” Doc announced coldly, not giving her a response. His large, genetically altered henchmen came from the forest as if they grew from trees. “Take my daughter here to our camp, and have her arm looked at. She burned herself on my cigar.”

  “Miss Aleksander.” One of the men bowed. Nadja recognized him, but didn’t know his name. He was one of the many mindless clones her father grew in his lab. She could see by the look on his face that if she didn’t follow willingly, he would take her by force.

  Nadja nodded at him to walk. And, as he led her into the forest, she knew her fate was sealed.

  * * *

  Olek frowned at the servant who stood before him and then at the note he tried to pass him. The man had said it was from Princess Olena. Shaking his head, he said, “That letter is not for me. You seek my brother, Prince Yusef.”

  “No, Draea Anwealda,” the man assured. “Princess Olena bid me to find only you. She was very specific. She told me to give it to you tonight.”

  “Very well,” he answered, “I’ll clear up this mistake myself.”

  Olek took the missive and nodded the man away. Why would that fiery tree witch be sending letters to him? The very impropriety of it made him sick. As far as he could tell, she didn’t even like him. He clutched the letter in his fist, not wishing to read it when eyes could be on him. He could only imagine the rumors that would be started by this little stunt of hers. He hoped they didn’t get back to Nadja before he had a chance to explain.