Beneath The Shadows of Evil... Torn

by Jolynn Raymond

  Natalya made a sound of outrage at his last statement. “Do not threaten them. You truly know nothing about women if you think it is wise to terrify a woman who is with child.” Dismissing him, Natalya went towards the group of villagers, smiling at the two women who had done as they were told, trying her best to put them at ease.

  “Thank you, come, show me where you live. We shall need privacy. Lucian, have the men who have pregnant wives gather outside here so they can take me to their homes when I am through. I don’t wish to make any woman wait in the cold. Send the usual midwife to me as well. She may have information I need.”

  Lucian bristled at her orders, staring after her retreating back, but did as she asked in the end. What did it matter as long as they accomplished what the Master had ordered them to do? All he wanted was to be done with it and return to the castle.

  He organized the men, taking names, telling them to stay where they were and questioning them about all the women who lived in the village. As far as he could tell there were six women who were with child, one of whose husband had been the large man who had dared to speak out. He had begrudgingly given Lucian the information he asked for, and agreed to wait, but Lucian suspected he might be trouble over time. He had a look of defiance about him and that didn’t bode well. It would upset Natalya if he had to resort to violence to keep the man in line.

  Giving him one more look, a blazing gaze that said without doubt that the man should remain where he was, Lucian went into the cottage where Natalya had gone to assess her skills as a midwife. He didn’t know much about the subject himself, and found the tending of pregnant women to be somewhat embarrassing. It certainly wasn’t work meant for a man, but that mattered not. It was what Mikhal the Merciless had commanded him to do, and so it shall be done. At least he mused; he had the bewitching Natalya to keep him company.

  He watched her work as they went from cottage to cottage, silently sitting in a chair, eyes hooded, but taking it all in, judging her competence as she tended to each of the women before her. Doing his best to remain unobtrusive, knowing his presence was cause for great embarrassment. She was kind, covering each woman with a shielding blanket and speaking in hushed tones to give the aura of privacy even though with his vampire hearing every word was quite clear. That wasn’t what mattered though, it was the effort she took to try and put them at ease.

  Some were pleasant, some terrified, some rude in their silence and refusal to look at her, but Natalya treated each one with the dignity due a queen, trying to make them all feel secure with the night’s turn of events. All went smoothly until they reached the house of the large brutish man.

  It had been three hours since they had first arrived and it was clear he was in a foul mood to have been kept waiting, but like the others, he didn’t dare speak out to Lucian. As Mikhal the Merciless’s first in command settled into a chair by the hearth, the man stood at his wife’s bedside, glowering, towering over Natalya as she tried to question the timid woman who was well into her pregnancy.

  At each question Natalya asked, the woman would glance at her husband before mumbling an answer that was hard to make out, and Natalya finally turned on the man in frustration.

  “Sir, I wish for you to leave us.”

  The man looked at her, indignant, furious, and then looked at Lucian, judging his next move. He wasn’t about to be upstaged by some Gypsy whore.

  “I’ll not be leaving my wife alone with the likes of you. Tis bad enough that your filthy hands will be upon her, but I won’t leave you to cause trouble in my home where there is none.”

  Lucian had silently stood during the man’s tirade, but he had done so, so silently that the man was unaware of his near proximity.

  “I am not here to cause trouble, just to assess your wife condition and find out when the babe is due.”

  “Your kind always causes trouble.”

  “Hold your tongue, you are speaking to a Lady, and you will address her as such.”

  “She is no Lady.” That said, the man spat upon the floor just missing Natalya’s feet, and in an instant Lucian was at his back. He took the man by the arm and spun him around, ready to deliver a blow but Natalya’s hand and the frightened whimpers of the woman in the bed before him stilled his hand.

  “Lucian, please. This is neither the time nor the place. Peace is what’s needed for me to do my work here.” Natalya looked at the vampire and other the man pointedly and held his gaze unflinchingly as his fingers curled into fists. She would not give in to this brute. His actions made her suspect that he had a habit of beating on defenseless women, namely the one lying in the bed before her.

  “Aye I’ll go, but I’ll be right outside, Rowen.” He gave his wife a meaningful gaze and pulled from Lucian’s grasp, before storming out of the tiny cottage. Once he had gone, Lucian moved back to his chair near the fire and Natalya sat on the edge of the bed and took Rowen’s hand.

  “Tell me now, tis alright, how have you been? Have there been any troubles with the child?”

  “I am a clumsy woman, becoming more so now that I am heavy with child, I fear it has taken its toll. Whenever I try to tend to my duties there is cramping here.” The woman held her hand on her lower belly. “And sometimes there is blood.”

  “When you’ve fallen, have you struck your belly or your back?” Rowen nodded and Natalya’s eyes flared with outrage, knowing perfectly well that the woman before her had never fallen and that the bastard that she called husband had been so vile as to strike her where she was most vulnerable.

  “You must stay off your feet. If you don’t, the babe will come. How far have you to go?”

  “The midwife says two more months, tis far too long to stay abed. You understand don’t you M’Lady? I must tend my husband and my home.”

  “I am here under the orders of Lord Arcos. He said I was to see to your care and so I shall and if I say you stay in bed then you will. If you feel your husband will have trouble with my decision, then perhaps you would be better off at the castle until the babe is born.”

  This in fact was exactly what Natalya wanted, but the look on Rowen’s face told her that would never happen. Intense fear had contorted her face into a mask of pure terror at the mere suggestion.

  “No M’Lady. Please don’t say such a thing.”

  “Then I shall check on you each day and each night. You are not to do any work around your home, nor are you to even get out of that bed. Someone must tend to you. Do you have someone, your mother or other family who can help with the chores?”

  “Yes, M’Lady. My sister is close by.”

  “Very good then. Lucian will speak to your husband and explain how things will be from now on. I expect to be obeyed in this Rowen, or I will have no other choice but to move you to the castle for the sake of your child. Lord Arcos would be very displeased if I were not able to do my job as he has decreed.”

  “Yes, M’ Lady.”

  “Good. Tomorrow I shall bring you a tonic to keep your womb strong. It will help with the bleeding.” In truth, Natalya had two purposes in mind when she told Rowen she would be returning during the day as well as each night. One of course was so that she could tend to her new charge, but the other was so she could come to the village without Lucian. Natalya desperately wanted to look for the child who had the medallion.

  “Thank you, M’ Lady. You have been most kind.”

  “You are welcome, Rowen.” Turning from the bed, Natalya gathered her things and went to where Lucian sat. If he’d heard their conversation, and she knew he had, he gave no sign of it. Natalya didn’t know if his lack of expression was out of pure boredom or because he was trying to give Rowen a bit of privacy. She herself would have been mortified to have a man present during an examination by a midwife. At least he’d had the courtesy not to gawk or appear interested throughout the entire night. Perhaps there was hope he would learn some manners towards her as well.

  “Lucian, please inform Rowen’s husband that she will no longer
be waiting on him or doing the chores. He is not to bed her either. If the babe is to stay put until it is time, she must have complete rest.”

  Lucian smirked at her words, he hadn’t cared for the lout anyway, and it would be amusing to inform him that he would no longer have his wife to beat upon or to tend his every need.

  He left the cottage while Natalya pulled on her cape, then waited for her outside, leading her silently to their horse when she appeared, lifting her up upon it sidesaddle before she could climb astride. He then swung up behind her and settled her sideways into the crook of his arm, telling her to rest. It had been a long night and she had to be exhausted. He’d been ordered to take care of her, so care for her he would.

  They took off into the blackness at a much easier pace, Lucian in no hurry to be rid of the warmth Natalya’s body provided against his. After only a short time, he felt her relax against him and heard her heart slow to a regular steady beat as she dozed off, still not liking the man who held her, but unable to resist the swaying rhythm of the moving steed.

  Neither was aware that Andor was watching them with avid curiosity as they passed a copse of trees along the road. He had gone to one of the outlying farms and created a disturbance so the farmer would come out and check on his herd in order to catch himself a meal. When the man had done just that, Andor had knocked him over the head and sunk his fangs deep into his neck, drinking the potent blood that spilled over his tongue.

  He drank deeply for a few precious moments then forced himself to stop even though he was starving. He simply couldn’t drain the man though he longed to fill his belly, for back at his own humble abode waited Marishka, and his dark princess expected a meal. She’d become far too thin during their time of exile and it was getting harder to get her to eat each day, but this, this news would interest her, pique her appetite, and perhaps put him in a favorable light. He had seen the woman whom he thought was the new Natalya with his own eyes and he knew his Mistress would want to know each detail.

  Chapter Six

  Mikhal sat before the hearth in his chambers, waiting for the return of his first in command, his seemingly relaxed posture masking his true inner tension. If it weren’t for the relentless strumming of his fingers upon the arm of the chair, one would suppose he hadn’t a care in the world. The little movement was there though, persistent and precise, never ceasing, never lessening, in his bid to dispel the coil of tension that lay like a stone in his gut.

  Mikhal was restless, no, more than restless; he was on edge, ready to leap out of his skin. Thoughts of Alliana were filling his head as surely as her scent still lingered in his nostrils. He longed to go to her bed chamber, to silently enter and watch her sleep, to protect her, to feel their child move in her belly, to simply be with her, but he denied himself that pleasure, hard as it was to resist. If she were to wake and find him there at her bedside, she would surely fly into a rage; the angelic picture of serenity she presented in her sleep would disappear, only to be replaced by glaring eyes and a bitter tirade of words better left unspoken. The last thing he wished for was to push her away. Mikhal felt as if he’d made progress in his war to win her heart, and there was no sense in tempting fate simply because it pained him to be parted from her.

  No, he decided, he would wait and hear Lucian’s report about the night’s activities in the village, then take himself to bed for a few hours of much needed rest. Though he was bone weary, he was determined to change and become accustomed to living during the daylight hours so he could spend time at his wife’s side. No more would he live in the darkness while she inhabited the light, that wouldn’t do at all, never again. She belonged with him, and so he would compromise and change his way of life just as he had made her change hers by bringing her to his home. The demon in him hated this concession of course, thought he was weak to alter his ways for a woman, but he didn’t care. Alliana wasn’t just any woman, and if he wanted her, it would have to be on her terms, so like it or not, that meant changing his entire way of life. At least he could rely on Lucian to run things while the others were up and about.

  As if on cue, there was a sharp knock upon his door, signaling Lucian’s arrival. He bid him entry, not bothering to rise, and waved the other vampire over, indicating the matching chair to his right without a word. After a quick bow, Lucian did as his Master desired and sat beside him, staring into the dancing flame of the blazing fire, waiting for Mikhal to speak. When no words were forthcoming, he began his report.

  “The night was a success, Sire. We saw to all the women who are with child. Mistress Natalya appears to be quite capable in the art of being a midwife. She is intelligent, quick of hand, and seems to have a ready knowledge of the herbs and potions needed for such a task. I foresee few problems. There is one woman who will require much of her attention though. She has been troubled throughout her pregnancy and her husband seems to be an uncouth lout. I suspect he has a heavy hand with his wife and we will need to keep a sharp eye on him in the future if it is your wish for the child to be born without incident. He was none too happy about our presence.”

  “Did he dare to challenge you?”

  “No, nothing of any matter.”

  “Then this human will be of little concern. Eliminate him if necessary, he is not a problem for us. You will accompany Natalya to see that she is safe. Is this woman’s time near? When will she deliver? I am interested in learning if Natalya can manage a birth when things do not go smoothly.”

  “I do not know of such things, but she appears to be close. Her belly is quite large. As for my protection, there is an issue to be dealt with in that regards.”

  Mikhal raised his brows, eyes flashing, a low growl issuing from deep in his chest. He was in no mood for problems of any kind. He was tired and had fully expected Lucian to handle this situation in all aspects. Now it seemed that wouldn’t be so. Was Lucian going to be so bold as to suggest someone else be assigned the task of protecting Alliana’s friend? Mikhal could hardly believe he would dare after what had transpired in the dungeon just a short time ago.

  Lucian rushed on with his explanation, not wanting his Lordship’s temper to flare more than it already had. “Mistress Natalya wishes to see to the woman during the day as well as at night. She told the woman she would return to see that her orders were being followed and said that she would require very frequent visits. I believe she wishes to arrive during the day to make sure the woman’s husband isn’t trying to put her to work. As I said, the man was a bastard.”

  “I do not like the idea of her going without you. What are your thoughts?”

  “Honestly, she seems to be one who can handle herself. She gave me quite a tongue lashing each time we spoke. The serfs seem to have accepted her though somewhat grudgingly, and I am certain no one, not even the disgruntled husband, would raise his hand against a Lady of the castle. If she is accompanied by a band of servants she should be fine.”

  “And this is needed? These added trips to the village are not a ploy to be free of the castle? She is not up to some mischief? Some magickal doings? A means to escape back to her clan?”

  “As for the necessity, My Lord, I cannot say. I know nothing about birth and babies. Lady Natalya seems to care for the Mistress, and I sensed no longing to flee from her. She never tried to remove herself from my presence. In my opinion, I feel she is content to remain here with us.”

  “You seem to have formed many opinions about our newest resident Lucian. Do not ever forget that I am the one who brought her here, and her reason for being in this castle is to be a companion for my wife. She is marked.”

  Lucian nodded slowly, he knew better than to deny the attraction he felt for the fiery red head, but he also knew that Mikhal the Merciless must know he would never lay a hand on her without permission. Natalya was claimed, plain and simple. Every inch of her, no matter how delectable, was strictly off limits. And while he may have future plans for her, they wouldn’t proceed without the Master’s consent.

 
“Yes, Master. I know whose mark she carries, and would never forsake you by harming her.”

  “I do not speak only of harming her, Lucian. The Lady does not belong in your bed either.”

  “I am of the opinion that there is no place she’d rather avoid. She is safe with me, Sire, in all ways. I will admit to being attracted to her, but I know to whom she belongs. To do anything else would break all the laws of our kind. I assure you, My Lord, I have no intention towards Mistress Natalya, ill or otherwise.”

  Mikhal sensed a bit of untruth to Lucian’s statement but knew it for what it was. While the man’s mind spoke what he thought was the truth, his body still desired the Lady in question and could not fully dismiss future plans to pursue her. It mattered not. Lucian was a man good on his word; Natalya was safe, Mikhal was certain of it.

  “So be it. You will accompany her to the village each night as she sees to the needs of the women there, and I shall arrange for a daylight escort as well. Keep a keen eye out for Andor or Marishka during your travels. My senses tell me they haven’t fled the area, but I feel it is far safer to keep an army of minions based here at the castle, guarding it and my wife, then to send them scouring the countryside. To split up the men would and make the many entrances less secure would be like issuing and invitation to my sister to wreak havoc in our lives. She is demented and furious, and will resurface eventually. When she does, we shall be waiting with a battery of defenses.”

  “Yes, Master. Mistress Natalya shall not leave my arms during our journeys to the village.”

  Mikhal raised his eyebrows and smirked at Lucian’s choice of words.

  “I mean while she is held securely upon my horse. Nothing more.”

  “So you continue to tell me. Keep yourself in check, Lucian, I meant what I said. Natalya belongs to me.” Lucian opened his mouth to again protest his innocence and assure his Sire of his good intentions, but Mikhal held up his hand to silence the man. He knew Alliana’s friend was safe, he simply wanted to remind his first in command, who was known for his ease in bedding the ladies, that Natalya was not to be among his conquests.