Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition (57 page)

O
lena stood
before the council leaders, bowing her head regally to the king and queen seated in the center of the ranks. They nodded back, their crowned heads tilting forward. They smiled graciously at Yusef and his bride. The royal couple was dressed in matching purple tunics. Looking over at Yusef’s black outfit and then hers, Olena frowned. They weren’t going to have to dress alike every day, were they?

The bonfire in the main yard had burned low sometime during the night. Olena noticed no one looked the worse for wear, expect for one beefy warrior on the sideline with two black eyes. Seeing he had her attention, he smiled jovially and nodded his head. Olena insolently winked back.

“Queen Mede, King Llyr, may I present Lady…” Yusef’s voice trailed off. With a sheepish grin, he turned to his wife.

Olena absently rubbed her arm and flinched as she came too close to the wound. She was glad Yusef had stopped asking about it. It was not something she could explain without first telling him she was a pirate.

Yusef put his hand over hers and leaned to whisper, “You know I never got your name.”

Unable to stop herself, she smirked. “I know.”

“What is your name?” Yusef asked, insistent.

The king and queen shared a look. Olena smiled at them and the queen hesitantly returned the look.

“You should have thought about that earlier, dragon,” Olena said mischievously. Someone from the crowd began to chuckle.

Straightening, Yusef announced, “My lady wife.”

The queen tried to hide her amusement behind her hand. The king pressed his lips and nodded. Olena tried not to laugh.

“Beware, wife, you’ve had your fun, but I’ll discover your name.” Yusef’s voice held much promise in it. “Now crush my crystal and be done with it.”

Olena’s suppressed laughter died at his words. Her smile wavered slightly. Lifting one hand, she took the crystal from his neck and dropped it on the ground. With a hard
whack
, she crushed it beneath her boot. The gathered crowd cheered.

Through a haze, she heard the queen speak, as if in slow motion, “Welcome to the family of Draig, my lady. I hope you will enjoy your new home.”

The gentle fog that had remained over her, lifted. Her eyes became clear and the pain in her arm intensified tenfold. She blinked, feeling the blood run out of her features. It was as if some protective shield had broken and she was again human.

“Yusef.” The queen rose to her feet. She pointed at Olena. The proud smile faded from his face. “Grab her. She’s bleeding.”

A commotion started and a councilman called for a medic.

Olena blinked, not understanding what was going on, not understanding the queen’s frantic words as she pointed in her direction. Numbly she looked down at her arm. Her hand was covered in blood. Her ears rung, deafening her with the rush in her brain. She saw Yusef reaching for her as she fell. It was like watching a dream. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She was out.

Y
usef gathered
his wife into his arms, catching her against his chest as he lowered her to the platform. Her blood covered her arm. He ripped her sleeve open, revealing the blood-soaked bandage wrapped around her upper arm.

The king ordered the onlookers back and the crowd parted to let a medic through. Yusef unwound the bandage as Tal ran up the stairs. The man dropped his kit beside her and pushed the prince back.

“Yusef,” his mother asked in shock. “Y-you…? Never mind, I know you couldn’t have, but how could you not see this?”

“What happened?” the medic asked.

“I’m not sure,” Yusef answered very quietly, conscious of the dragon-shifter ears listening around them. “I did not see.”

The king looked at him, revealing with his gaze that he expected a full report later. Yusef nodded. He had nothing to hide from his parents.

The medic grabbed a hand laser and seared the wound shut, burning the flesh together in a thin thread. Her emerald eyes popped open. Yusef grabbed her hand. She squeezed him tightly.

“Stop,” she demanded.

“No, it’s all right. He’s fixing it for you,” Yusef said.

“No,” she said, growing more insistent. The medic was almost done. Turning her gaze to Tal, she startled him by mumbling, “Don’t take the scar.”

Yusef shared a look with the medic. Slowly, he nodded, assenting to his wife’s request. She closed her eyes and passed out again. The medic pulled back. The wound looked angry but it no longer bled.

Quietly, the medic took a reading of her blood before giving Yusef instructions and some medicine from his kit. There was nothing else he could do, except lessen the scar later if she changed her mind. The medic then announced to the crowd that the new princess was going to be fine. The crowd cheered happily with the news

Yusef picked up his new wife and cradled her in his arms. Then, bowing his head to his parents and to the council, he carried her off to his home.

T
he queen watched
her son leave. Turning to her husband, she whispered, “What is going on? Last night was so promising. Our sons, our nephews…” She let her words trail off, conscious of where they were. Instead, directing her thoughts at her husband so he could hear them in his head, she continued, “That is two of our sons with troubled marriages. And our nephews are—”

“I’ll speak to Yusef and Olek,” the king interrupted her panicked thoughts. “They are dependable men and will have it all in hand. Do not worry, my love, they are all strong, good men. They are finishing their wedding ceremonies. That is what matters today. I’m sure they’ll settle right into marriage without issue.” King Llyr moved to take his seat.

“You’re probably right. Let us hope the others have an easier time.” Queen Mede joined him as they awaited the arrival of the next newlyweds.

O
lena curled into a little ball
, feeling like she was five years old again. Her body burned as if she had been set on fire. The man in the dirty black coat was coming for her. His old, leathery hand shook as he wielded an injection needle. She was like an animal, so small, so scared, kept in a cage she couldn’t stand up in, as they drugged her to sleep…to sleep…

Olena’s eyes opened in horror, wild and dazed as she thrashed around on a bed. A hand came for her and she screamed. But the past was not through with her, as she drifted back into her black torment of dreams.

She was in a ship, her spaceship. Her crew was gone and she was crashing onto an unknown planet. Her heart pounded in fear, fear she never admitted to herself. She was alone. She was sure she was going to die alone, but she didn’t die. She crawled out of the wreckage, shooting her way out, as the path was blocked, and then she was running and wasn’t going to stop.

“Easy, now, wake up.”

Olena blinked, confused as she stared at him. Hoarsely, she insisted, “My ship.”

Her ship was gone. Everything was gone. She had nothing left but herself. What if her crew didn’t come? What if she was trapped in the tiny box forever with only glimpses of a dirty man with leathery hands? To sleep…to sleep…

“
T
o sleep
,” his bride whispered.

“Shh.” Yusef studied her face carefully. He’d gone back to the tent, sniffing out her blood by the tub. It hadn’t been hard to conclude she’d inflicted the injury on herself with the knife from the fruit tray. He could also smell traces of her on the blade, though she had washed it. The only question was why? Pushing back her hair, he murmured, “The medic says he found tantren fruit in your bloodstream. The knife was used to cut it before you used it. You’re allergic to tantren and that’s why you feel so ill.”

His bride’s infected arm was an angry red and her pale skin even whiter. Hair spilled out around her over the pillow in flaming waves. He’d dressed her in one of the nightgowns from her bags. It looked frumpy on her, with wide ruffles and lace on flannel. She nearly swam in it, but it was the only nightgown he could find.

Frowning, he glanced at her bags. He’d also found a gun, an expensive one that could be slipped past most security points. Next to the weapon, he’d discovered a wad of intergalactic cash and a packet full of different ID’s—all with her picture, and all from different planets and sectors. Who exactly had he married? Margaret Meriwether? Torch Fontaine? Olena Leyton? Sage Miller? There were about twenty different names to choose from.

As her eyes opened and looked at him, she rose up on the bed. Painfully, she clutched his arm, and said, “My ship has crashed. I need a new one fast. They’re coming.”

Yusef frowned. It was clear she hadn’t heard him and was still in the throes of her nightmare. The medic had warned him she might have an adverse reaction. Thankfully they’d crushed the crystal when they did. It had been numbing her to the worst of the pain, and if she’d stayed under its spell she’d have died before any of them realized what had happened.

“Here, take some medicine,” he offered, getting up from his bed to get her some water. “It will help you to sleep.”

“Don’t,” Olena growled. “No painkillers, it’s against the code. No killing the pain for three days. Let it bleed.”

Yusef frowned. What code? What was she talking about?

He went to her, lifting up her head to force the medicine back. Her round emerald eyes looked at him and she stubbornly pressed her lips together and shook her head in denial.

“You won’t best me. Let it bleed,” she said, growling with the insistence of her words.

“It will help,” Yusef said soothingly. He kept the worry from his voice. Never in a hundred years would he have imagined his first day of marriage would turn out like this. He tried to force the pills into her mouth, but she stubbornly refused, biting at his finger when he would pry her teeth apart.

Standing, he went to the wall and talked quietly into the intercom. His home was directly linked to the mountain palace. Within minutes the medic was there. Yusef ordered him to inject her with the medicine.

The medic obeyed. His wife saw the needle and panicked, trying to scurry across the bed. Yusef caught her and held her down. Soon it was over and she was limp in his arms.

“Don’t look so worried,” Tal said, standing. He moved to help adjust her on the bed. “She’ll heal up just fine. Once this medicine kicks in, she’ll be good as new. It will kill the bacteria in her blood stream. Just make sure she never eats a tantren. It could kill her if she doesn’t get help immediately.”

“Thank you,” Yusef said, leading the man out. When he came back carrying a bowl of hot water, she hadn’t moved. He sat on a chair next to her and cleaned the dried blood from her arm.

“Torch?” he asked, thinking her hair indeed deserved such a fiery name.

She didn’t move.

He tried a few more before saying, “Olena? Margaret?”

She answered to none of them.

“Sage, can you hear me?”

She mumbled in her sleep, but didn’t speak. Yusef looked at her ravishing face, thinking how beautiful she was and how fragile she seemed at the moment.

Sage,
he thought.
My wife’s name just might be Sage.

I
t was
a long first day of marriage for Yusef, watching over his delirious wife. He sent word to his parents through Tal that she would recover. As he watched her sweating body toss and turn for several hours, he wasn’t so sure. Due to her allergy, her reaction was much worse than it would have been if she’d merely been cut.

Questions swam in his head, but he did not reveal what he had found in her luggage. Watching her toss and mumble once again, Yusef knew he would have to wait for his answers.

After careful examination, he would almost venture a guess that the luggage wasn’t hers at all. All of the clothing, but for the tight black number with the torn sleeve, wouldn’t come close to fitting her. The name written on the luggage tag read,
Doris O’Rourke
, a name that didn’t match any of her numerous ID’s.

That first day of marital bliss came and went with her moaning gasps of pain and insane ramblings of crashed spaceships, slavery, and pieces of adventures Yusef couldn’t begin to decipher. It would appear his little mystery wife led a very exciting life. He wondered what would bring her to Qurilixen as a bride.

Letting her have his bed, he chose to spend the night on the couch. It was a long time before he finally slept. And when dreams finally came, they were troubled and full of unanswerable questions.

O
lena cracked open her eyes
. Aside from needing a drink of water, she felt wonderful. Her dreams had been dark, nightmarish horrors of the mind, but she was used to that. Nightmares had plagued her ever since she could remember. Not once could she recall having a good dream.

Looking around, she frowned. It took a moment for her to remember where she was—Qurilixen. The word was like a slap of cold water in the face. Blinking, she looked at the disgustingly proper nightgown she wore. It was as if she’d been attacked by ruffles in her sleep. She practically gagged in repulsion. Olena never slept in a nightgown, preferring to sleep with her gun and nothing else.

Yawning, she scratched her backside out of habit, where her slave brand used to be. The bedroom was wide, with low ceilings. A fine breeze drifted through a crack in the picturesque window that made up the far side of the wall. A dark curtain was pulled over it and Olena could see just a sliver of trees outside.

The bed she laid on was stuffed with feathers, light and downy and the thickest she had ever felt. A black coverlet draped over her legs, the emblem of a large silver dragon’s head across the top. Wearily, she kicked it off, realizing she was naked beneath the gown. She took mental note of her body, checking it for injury. Aside from the slight ache in her bandaged arm, she appeared unharmed. For that she was relieved.

Seeing the floral bags she had stolen, she froze. The ugly nightgown had come from them. Olena rushed to the bags and began digging through them. The ID’s were right where she’d left them but the gun was missing. Olena scowled. That weapon was rare and had cost her a very extraordinary pearl, the size of her fist, and nearly two years of negotiating with the Boiler Sect to acquire.

Having spent the better part of the last month in a robe being pampered, mainly because she didn’t have anything else to wear, Olena dug through a large carved dresser of dark wood. She didn’t find anything worth putting on. All the clothes belonged to her “husband” and would undoubtedly swim on her.

Again, she scratched her backside. Olena smirked, thinking it very hilarious.
She
was married. Poor man who’d taken her on. She felt only a little sorry for him. As soon as she got her gun back, she was out of there.

“Swim,” she said softly, crossing to the window and looking out into the bright forest. She yawned, stretching her arms. She could use a little exercise. Smelling under her arms she flinched—ugh, and a bath.

Padding barefoot to the bedroom door, she cracked it open. The house was large and open and very much like a lodge. Wood made up the walls in giant, round logs. She recognized the wood as coming from the forest outside. A fireplace of natural stone was set into the wall, with a chimney leading up to the roof. Little wooden figures were on the mantle. Fur rugs were everywhere. A small skylight dome in the ceiling was covered with curtains, matching the dark curtains hanging on one of the walls. Olena detected another large window beneath the curtains and smaller ones on the opposite side of the home.

The house was split into two levels. Where she stood, on the top level, was the bedroom. A large bathroom was across from the bedroom and a sliding door led out to a back patio of broken yellow stone. The top floor curved around the center lower section to the kitchen area. Taking two steps down would get you to the living room and fireplace.

By the small windows was a wooden dining table set into the wall, with rounded cushioned booth seats. An open kitchen with wooden cabinets, glossy countertops, and a food bar with stools was next to it. Everything was dark wood accented with black. A carved dragon’s head was above the food bar, embedded into the wall where the ceiling rose higher. It matched the design on the coverlet.

Before the fireplace was a wood couch with plush black cushions, a matching wide-based chair, and a rocking chair—now that was something she’d heard of but had never seen. Draped over the end of the couch, she saw a tanned masculine hand. It wasn’t moving. She guessed Yusef was asleep, as she heard a soft snoring coming from his general area.

Seeing her husband took her a little by surprise. It shouldn’t have, as she expected to see him eventually. But remembering his hands, so strong and sure as they touched her, sent a shiver over her spine. Instantly, she grabbed her sore arm and frowned. She wondered what the Pirate Code said about someone else healing you against your will. Honestly, it had never once come up until now. Most pirates were a callous lot and did not take well to nurturing each other.

Ignoring Yusef, she stealthily moved across the wood floors. The boards did not creak as she walked over them. Going to the sliding glass door, she unlatched it and sneaked outside without making a sound.

The air was surprisingly cool for such a bright day. Birds sang beautifully in the distance. Little noises of insects came from the large forest. The air was fresh and the sky a clear greenish-blue. Three suns shone in the cloudless sky—two yellow, one blue.

Seeing a path leading into the forest, her curiosity got the better of her and she wandered off. The new, longer length of her hair was heavy on her back but she ignored it. She was sure she looked horrible. If anyone came across her, they would probably scream like they were under attack. Olena smiled. It wouldn’t be the first time she was mistaken for a witch. She just hoped the Qurilixen people didn’t burn anyone at the stake. She didn’t want to go through that one again.

To her pleasure, she saw a small pond just off the side of the path. Picking her way through the yellow ferns she came to the edge and smiled. The water looked clear. Dipping her toe in, she smiled. It was warm.

Olena glanced around and listened. The insects still buzzed, but aside from that the forest was quiet. Without further contemplation, she pulled the nightgown over her head and dove naked into the pond.

Y
usef yawned
, rubbing his tired eyes. He had been up most of the night looking after his wife. Her fits had stopped during the late hours and he could finally relax enough to sleep.

After going to the bathroom, he went to check on his patient. Cracking open the door, he frowned. She was gone.

Yusef pushed back his hair and made a quick survey of his home. Seeing the latch to the sliding glass door was unhooked, he went outside, not bothering with boots. It wasn’t hard for him to pick up her scent and he followed the trail to the east pond. Hearing splashing, he slowed. Seeing the discarded nightgown, he grinned.

Coming up through the trees, he quietly pulled back a branch. The surface of the water rippled where she had gone under. He made his way to the shoreline, crossing his arms over his chest as he waited for her to emerge.

His wife surfaced with a graceful flow of the arms, leaning forward to float naked on the water before diving back under. He wanted to growl at the little wood sprite scene. His eyes blazed with golden fire. He found no reason to hide the dragon from her.

He was sure she’d seen him on the shore, but was choosing to ignore him. When she stayed under a long time, he frowned, about ready to dive in after her. She broke through the surface with a loud gasp and treaded water. Slowly moving her arms, she brought herself around to face him.

“You really shouldn’t be swimming in there,” Yusef called when she looked at him.

“Why? Afraid I’ll drown?” She leaned back to get her hair off her face. The red flames were darkened by the water and drifted around her on the surface.

“No,” he said, “
givre
.”

“Giv—what?” she asked, her tone playful as she again dove under the surface, giving him a quick view of her very muscular backside. When she resurfaced, she had swum closer to better hear him.

“Ah, snake, I believe is the Old Star language word. They love to swim these waters.”

His bride laughed and swam back out to the middle where the sunlight was brighter. The warm light struck upon her body, as she turned in the water to let it hit her flesh.

“Nice try, knight.” She chuckled. “The water is too nice. I don’t want to leave it quite yet.”

“I am Yusef.” He frowned. Did she not remember him?

“Whatever you say, knight.” She spit a mouthful of water in his direction. It fell very short of him, but she grinned impishly nonetheless.

“Come,” he motioned his hand, not sure he liked the way she said the word “knight”. It didn’t exactly sound like a compliment. “It’s time to get out.”

“No,” she sighed, again rinsing her mouth and spitting. “I’m not finished.”

“Come on,” Yusef said. “Seriously.”

“Oh, seriously? Well, seriously then, you’d better tell those boys over there that the show is over. I wouldn’t want to come racing out and startle them into manhood too quickly.”

She jerked her finger to the far tree line and twirled herself in little, playful circles. Yusef frowned, instantly seeing what she meant. He saw a head pop back behind a large trunk. Giving a gruff wave of his hand, he shooed them away. The pack of obnoxious boys ran off into the forest, laughing.

“They’ve had me trapped for some time,” his wife said. She didn’t seem all that concerned by it.

“The medic warned that you shouldn’t spend too much time in the sun today. The injection he gave you can make you sensitive.” Yusef eyed her eager to see her naked body more fully.

“Nice try, knight,” she called, swimming forward. She came up closer than before. Droplets of water clung to her face and lips. “You’re just trying to get a show of your own.”

“If I wanted a show, wife, I would go swimming with you,” he answered without flinching.

That brought her up short. He’d knocked her off guard.

She waited, as if to see if he would turn around to give her privacy. When he didn’t, she shrugged, and stood in the shallow water.

Yusef’s gaze devoured her naked, wet flesh. His wife rang out her hair, twisting the locks before throwing them over her shoulder. In the sunlight, he noticed her nether hair was a darker shade than her fiery locks. If he was a weak man, he would have fallen to his knees and worshiped at her feet.

“Finished?” she asked, her hands moving to her hips. She didn’t even try to cover herself from his view.

“No.” He was pleased she wasn’t too shy to stand before him. “You’re shivering. Come here. Let me warm you.”

“No thanks, knight,” she tossed glibly. “I’m warm enough.”

“Then come cool me for I am hot.”

She stepped forward, opening her mouth, probably to return a quick jibe, when instead she gasped. Flinching as if in pain, she looked down at her ankle.

“Ah, great.” She made an annoyed sound of irritation. Blood trailed over her anklebone. His wife blinked heavily, her eyes rolling in her head as she fell forward into his arms.

Yusef caught her naked, unconscious body against his chest. The telltale red and black tail of a
givre
slithered into the water. Cursing, he easily lifted her up into his arms and carried her quickly back to his home.