Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition (40 page)

S
leep did not fix
their marital discord and Olek was still irritable the next morning. Nadja stayed out of his way. He left with a case full of documents around mid-morning without saying more than two words to her. Nadja let him go. There was nothing she could do about his mood. She told herself she’d be content to work in her lab.

But that was before the patients started coming. Apparently, word had spread in the village that Princess Nadja could cure naturally, just as well as a medical unit. The villagers brought her everything from skin disorders, to a burn, to cuts and scrapes. When she asked why they didn’t just go to the doctor, one of the women told her that the man with the limp had proclaimed her touch to be a miracle and now everyone wanted to see for themselves what she could do. Nadja suspected a few of the wounds had been self-inflicted—nothing too dangerous, just cuts and scrapes that really didn’t need medical attention.

The superstitious villagers, for one reason or another, all seemed reluctant to try a medic unit, which was still considered a new contraption to the planet. They kept her busy until the late hours of evening. Sending the last one out the door, Nadja sighed, shaking her head in wonder.

Olek had not come home and she was too tired to wait up for him. Taking a quick shower, she crawled into bed and was asleep within seconds.

“
W
hat exactly are you doing
?” Nadja demanded, her eyes narrowing in displeasure.

She stood in the doorway looking into the bathroom. She’d just woken up and was going to clean her teeth when she discovered Olek on the floor. He was surrounded by the contents of her beauty bag.

“Please tell me you are not putting on makeup,” she demanded dryly, shaking her head in dismay.

Olek arched a brow, pressing his lips together at her statement. He eyed her beauty devices with an avid curiosity, trying to snap them open and make them work. “Zoran’s wife needs to grow her hair. Do you have something for that?”

“That is an eyelash curler.” Nadja reached over to snatch it from his hands. “I don’t think that’s going to help you.”

Olek picked up a pair of laser tweezers and began playing with them. Taking them between his fingers, he pushed at it to make the laser snap as the jaws opened and shut with loud clicks. Nadja took it from him. He gave her a small grimace, before smiling slightly as he picked up a blush tinter.

“Your brother, Prince Zoran?” Nadja sighed, leaning over as she began putting the devices back into the beauty bag the way she liked them.

“Yes.” Olek stood. He held the blush tinter in his hand and clicked through the color selector. Absently, he said, “It seems she did something and he had to cut off her hair as a punishment.”

“That would be Pia, wouldn’t it?” Nadja said, remember what the queen had told her. She frowned. Pia was perhaps one of the most beautiful women on the ship. She had the prettiest blonde hair Nadja had ever seen. “Why would he do that to his wife?”

Olek shrugged. “I hear she shamed him at the Breeding Festival.”

“What kind of monster is your brother?” Nadja huffed, unable to imagine what she’d do if Olek tried to do anything to her appearance without her permission. Placing everything in the bag, she stood. Well, almost everything. She gave a dramatic roll of the eyes as she held the beauty bag open for Olek to drop her blush tinter into it.

Olek frowned but gave the contraption back. “Do you really need all this stuff?”

“Yes,” she defended as if it were the stupidest question in the world.

“But, you’re pretty,” he offered, confused.

“Thanks,” came her wry answer.

“Well, do you have anything for Pia or not?”

“Yes.” Nadja put her things back where they belonged and went underneath one of the counters. “Here. It’s a hair extender. It will grow her hair back in about an hour or so.”

Olek took the hair-growing apparatus and frowned. It had a giant suction cup on one end, a funnel on the other and more buttons than a computer. He looked it over. Then, glancing curiously over his wife’s body, he motioned meaningfully at her lower stomach and asked in manly curiosity, “Can you use it anywhere?”

Nadja again rolled her eyes at him. He grinned.

“How does it work?” he asked when she refused to dignify his last question with a response.

Nadja smiled. Suddenly, she had an idea. She really would like to see some of the other women—someone who understood her when she spoke, and whose voices weren’t marred with a handsome burring accent. “Why don’t I take it to her and help her?”

“Would you?” Olek asked, sounding very relieved as if he hadn’t relished playing the role of hairdresser.

“Sure,” Nadja said, in girlish excitement. She didn’t have a chance to make many friends before leaving the medic ship and, though they never really talked in depth, Pia had seemed very nice. “It doesn’t use a lifecell so I’ll have to charge it today, but I can go tomorrow. I wouldn’t mind visiting with her. I haven’t seen any of the other women since we arrived here.”

“Perfect.” Olek nodded. He looked her over, before turning away from her. Clearing his throat, he said, “I must go now. I have to meet with the king and finish going over trade agreements.”

“So, you’re not still mad at me?” Nadja inquired, biting at her lips. She wished she could take the words back because his face became a blank mask.

“No,” Olek replied softly, sighing. The words were unconvincing, but he added, “I’m not mad.”

O
lek didn’t
like thinking about what she’d done in the medical booth. He wasn’t mad. How could he be mad at her alleviating her pain? But he was hurt. She didn’t seem at all interested in having his children and that fact tore at his heart. The life he’d dreamed of since before he could remember was slipping away. Marriage was not what he’d been taught to expect.

O
lek stayed
with his father for the rest of the day, and Nadja refused to make the mistake of opening the door to the persistent knocks of villagers again. She had no desire to be the new village doctor, or more correctly, the village miracle worker. The knocks didn’t stop until late in the evening, after which she climbed into bed alone. Although, she did awake several times in the night swearing she heard more knocks, only to determine it was nothing but the sound chasing her in her dreams.

Olek was home when she came out of the bedroom the next morning. He reminded her to go to Pia’s, giving her directions to Zoran’s home. He was quiet as he once more gathered up his case and left, telling her he wouldn’t be home until late.

Nadja hated his inattention, but felt she had no right to complain. When he did give her attention, she batted him away. She had secrets she didn’t want to share. He kept secrets she desperately wanted to know. If they tried to communicate she would make him mad, or he would make her mad, or they’d make each other mad. It was a strange cycle they couldn’t seem to break out of. Throw denied passion onto their marital discord, and Nadja was left staring at a giant mess of a relationship with a stranger who she wanted but didn’t really know.

The idea of visiting Pia lifted her spirits some, as she packed her charged hair extender and other random beauty devices in a bag. Afternoon could barely come fast enough. The knocking sounded again, and Nadja had to time her departure carefully to escape undetected down the hall. She hadn’t relished another day of avoiding the villagers, and that added to her excitement as she stood outside of Pia’s door.

“Nadja?” Pia’s hazel eyes widened in surprise as she opened the door to Nadja’s knock. The woman leaned out and glanced around the hall in confusion.

“Hello, Pia.” Nadja nervously patted her hair into the bun at the nape of her neck and gave what she hoped was a pleasant smile. It wasn’t as if they had been great friends on the ship. Pia unconsciously mimicked Nadja’s movement, touching her shorn locks. Olek was right. Zoran must have cut it. Gripping a small bag in her hands that held the hair extender, she hesitated before asking, “Do you mind if I come in?”

“Oh, yeah,” Pia said, with a small smile of apology. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I have been cooped up in here for so long, I forgot my manners.”

For a moment, she’d thought Pia was going to kick her out and she desperately wanted to stay and talk. Nadja relaxed as she stepped inside the beautiful home. Pia ordered the door to close behind her.

“Can I get you anything?” Pia asked, beginning to move toward the kitchen. “I think we have juice.”

“No, I’m fine.” Nadja glanced around the Lintianese style home and wondered how a Qurilixian prince could be influenced by a planet that was so far away. It had the classical circular motifs, asymmetric minimalist décor and natural building materials. There were even the tiny alcoves that looked as if their altar-like contents had religious meaning. The walls were evenly spaced wooden planks to create straight lines. Long wooden strips had been cut to create an intricate pattern on the front hall’s floor, in the center of which was the impression a giant dragon. Rounded globes created a chandelier, which hung beneath a giant center dome. Crystal shards created a pattern inside the globes and reflected the light to brighten the room.

Paper-thin interior doors separated the rooms and did not appear to be voice controlled. There were no locks on them. From the front hall, a single step down led to an open living room with a marble fireplace, which had asymmetric lines carved into the plain surface, and a dragon head in the center top. A step back up, led to a dining room, complete with low table and cushioned floor seats.

A tapestry hung on the far wall, just behind the table. It was red with the depiction of a black forest. In the middle was a noble bird rising up from fire.

“I see you were assigned the princess suite, too,” Nadja mused by way of starting conversation.

“You, too?” Pia laughed, sounding relieved that Nadja said something about it first.

Nadja nodded and an instant camaraderie was struck up between the women.

“It’s so nice to see another woman from the ship,” Nadja admitted. “This planet has entirely too many men, which wouldn’t be so bad except they are all so mannish.”

Pia chuckled, instantly seeming to understand.

“So which prince did you get?” Pia inquired.

“Olek.”

“Ah, the ambassador.” Pia nodded.

“What about you?” Nadja asked, though she already knew.

“Zoran,” Pia answered. The woman’s eyes clouded slightly as if she were in pain. Nadja politely looked away. Pia pointed at the bag Nadja clutched before her. “What do you have there?”

“Oh!” Nadja lifted it up, suddenly remembering the reason she’d been sent there. She hesitated, feeling a little presumptuous in offering. “Before I show you, I have to apologize in advance.”

Pia frowned, looking worried.

“It was my husband’s request,” Nadja rushed, not wanting to be rude. She reached into the bag and weakly pulled out the hair extender. “He said your husband cut off your hair and asked if I could…” Her voice trailed off weakly and she shrugged.

Pia gave a wry grin, putting her at ease. Easily, she finished, “If you could grow it back for me.”

Nadja nodded.

“Zoran didn’t cut my hair,” Pia confessed. “I did.”

“Oh,” Nadja said, horrified. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I like your hair short.”

“It’s all right.” Pia laughed. “I guess it’s called disfigurement. It means I shamed myself or something. You should see the looks the people gave me when I went outside. It was like an evil spirit came into their midst. I was waiting for mothers to rush their children away screaming.”

Nadja giggled, relaxing once more. How could she not relax in Pia’s laid-back presence? “Well, it’s a planet of men. Go figure they’d come up with a tradition to keep their women looking soft and feminine.”

“The queen stopped by just to look at it,” Pia continued with a look of vast amusement. “I thought she was going to throw up on me.”

“Queen Mede was probably mad at her son. She says the princes are a handful,” Nadja said. “She isn’t so bad. From what I can tell, her intentions appear genuine.”

Pia eyed her in disbelief, clearly not knowing what to think of the Draig queen.

Nadja thought it best to change the subject. “So, do you want me to grow it for you?” She lifted the extender. “If anything, it should give us something to do today.”

“Why not,” Pia answered with little consideration and an easy shrug. Then, her gaze moved to Nadja to examine her.

“What?” Nadja glanced down over her clothes, needlessly brushing them off.

“Do you think you could help me with the other stuff too?” Pia’s tone lost some of its confidence. From what Nadja had gathered, Pia was one tough lady. She envied the strength in her.

“Other stuff? What other stuff?”

Pia waved her hand to encompass Nadja. “You know, beauty stuff—dresses, hairstyles, makeup.”

Nadja was surprised to hear the woman speaking so modestly. She smiled. “Sure, it would be my pleasure. But, honestly, I don’t think you need all that.”

Pia looked down.

“I mean,” Nadja said, detecting something amiss in the woman’s response to the compliment. “You have a strong, natural way about you that the men around here seem to respond to. I wish I could be more like that.”

“What?” Pia asked. Her brow furrowed in question. “You want me to teach you how to defend yourself?”

“Oh, could you?” Nadja practically gushed in excitement. Her face lit up. She hadn’t been asking that, but the idea fascinated her. Her father never let her learn such things as self-defense. Quickly, she warned, “I mean, you’ll probably hate teaching me. I don’t even know…I don’t know anything.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Pia said.

Nadja grinned, giddy with anticipation. “All right, let’s get started.”

B
y the time Nadja left
, she felt as if she and Pia were longtime friends. The woman was modest and didn’t seem to know her own beauty. When they finished growing her hair, Nadja had invited the woman to join her for dinner. Pia refused and Nadja had the feeling she was anxious for her husband to come home.

Prince Zoran worried Nadja. She felt Pia’s apprehension when she mentioned the man. She’d also seen the slight bruise on the woman’s chin and wondered if maybe Zoran hit his wife. Nadja was too polite to ask.

Pia showed her a couple of self-defense moves that Nadja could practice on her own. They tentatively scheduled to meet with each other in a day or two, thinking it would be best to hold off the real training until a later date when they were both up for it. After saying their goodbyes, Nadja bounced all the way home. She couldn’t wait.