Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition (67 page)

O
lena didn’t stop
as she hurried past the front entrance to the castle. The guard nodded at her as she went by him but did not block her way. By the expression on his face, he didn’t know who she was.

Seeing the village before her in the valley, she ran for the forest path that would lead down to the paved roads. It was dusk, but the three suns merely tamed themselves, giving a dark blue haze to the ground that she could easily see by. All she had to do was reach the Outpost to grab her Galactic ID’s and some clothes. Then she would be out of Yusef’s life for good.

Even if she had to go before King Attor of the Var and make a deal, she would never go back to the Draig palace. Nothing and no one could make her.

“Captain Olena.”

Olena froze as the dark, deep words came calmly from the forest. It was as if their speaker had been waiting for her. Her jaw lifted. The voice was not of her crew.

“I didn’t realize you were pirating these parts,” the man’s words continued. “It seems a little beneath your skills.”

Olena looked around the colossal forest, seeing the red earthen path before her surrounded by yellow ferns that looked green in the twilight. She didn’t move until she detected movement at her side. It was the flick of a match and a lighting of an old fashioned cigar. Only one person she knew smoked cigars.

“Doc?” Olena asked in surprise. She never imagined she would find a head of the Medical Alliance here. Taken aback, she couldn’t speak through her confusion. Doc Aleksander was someone she had crossed paths with a few times on minor jobs. He stayed out of her way and she stayed out of his, after paying a small fee of rights of course. It was robbery on his part, but Olena just smiled. It was usually robbery on hers. Finding her voice, as the orange glow illuminated the man’s dark face, she said, “I didn’t know the Alliance was doing missionary work on this forsaken planet. What brings you?”

Aleksander stepped out from the trees, pushing off the rough bark, as if he were in the finest of gentleman’s clubs. His movements were graceful and refined. When he waved his cigar around, it was with an air of elegance. He wore a dark suit, expensive and handsomely cut. His hair was slicked back, the locks matching the black of his thick mustache, which twitched when he spoke or took a long draw, as he was doing now. He smiled as the smoke curled out of his lips.

“A minor detour,” he dismissed with a wave.

Olena didn’t dare move. She didn’t dare show fear. Men like Doc Aleksander never traveled alone. She could just imagine the biogenic goons he had hidden in the trees. Pretending as if she had all the time in the world, she said, “Me too.”

“So you don’t have something going, Captain?” His eyes roamed over her tousled hair and pale cheeks. Taking in her lithe body, he let an interested smile form on his lips.

“Sorry, Doc,” Olena said.

She held her ground as he stepped daringly closer. Nerves jumped all over her skin. This man was bad news. She’d heard horror stories about what he’d done to people who merely looked at him wrong. He’d surgically remove their eyes without letting them pass out first.

“You know I’ve always been straight with you,” Olena said. “I lost my ship and had to hitch a fast ride. The ride landed me here. If I had a scam, I’d let you in on it. But you know me. I always end up where the money is. I’ll find something to pay my insurance policy with. I just need a little time first to get the angle. For a primitive race, these shifters aren’t too badly off.”

“Shifters?” the Doc asked. Olena thought he would have known. His type usually knew everything there was to know. His eyes narrowed slightly in displeasure. He was also rumored to be a purist. He put up with alien races out of necessity, but he didn’t think they were good enough to wipe a human’s…well… “Tell me Olena, do you know your way around here pretty well?”

“Well enough,” she answered, forcing herself to shrug. “There’s not much to know. This place is dreadfully barbaric.”

The man’s arm came forward to leisurely drape over her shoulders, as he strolled down the path with her, leading her deeper into the forest, away from the palace. Suddenly, her stomach lurched and she thought of Yusef. Doc’s cigar dipped dangerously close to her cheek, warming her skin. She smiled slightly, ignoring it. She didn’t for a moment think it was an accident.

“How would you like for you and your crew to never pay another insurance premium again?” he asked.

Olena’s ears perked up, intrigued by his offer. Such an opportunity never came up lightly. “I’m listening.”

“Do you think you could steal me a prize?” he asked smoothly, stopping to turn to her. His arm slid across the back of her shoulders as his free hand rose to touch the base of her throat. “It would be worth your while.”

“How worth?” she asked like a true pirate. Doc grinned in appreciation of her, as his hand trailed leisurely over her neck to rest lightly above her breasts. She didn’t flinch as he touched her, but she wanted to. His embrace was nothing like Yusef’s—even if her body still ached from where he’d skewered her.

“Name your price.” Doc moved his hand to flick the cigar before puffing. He dropped his hands from her chest. “Ah, damn, it’s too bad I’m a married man.”

Olena ignored the confession as his gaze moved over her like he wanted nothing more than to press her into the earthen floor. Feeling the twinge Yusef had put in her body, she said, “Passage off this rock.”

“Done.” Doc nodded.

“Fifty thousand,” she continued to barter, as was expected.

“Done.”

“My own spacecraft?” she questioned, letting an impish smile cross her features.

“I appreciate your greed,” he chuckled heartily. “Don’t push it.”

Knowing he wouldn’t be trying anything, she shrugged and pursed her lips together. She affected a sultry pout. “Can’t blame a girl for trying.”

“Especially one as devious as you, my dear Captain,” the Doc said. There was only pleasure in his tone, no disapproval.

Passage and fifty thousand? Not to mention immunity from the Medical Alliance for her and her crew. This deal was too good to pass up. The only drawback was that she had the feeling she would be going back inside the palace. If what he wanted was outside the fortress, he would have just taken it himself. She did not relish facing Yusef again. She was too mortified. But, if she refused Doc Aleksander’s direct request, she’d end up dead.

Better humiliation than torture,
she thought.

“So, boss, what you looking to get?” she asked with a forcibly bright smile and a sparkle to her mischievous eyes. “If it can be lifted off the ground, Captain Olena can rightly steal it.”

The Doc’s smile wavered from his features, as his expression lost all its charm. “My daughter, Nadja.”

T
he palace keep
was a dazzling place. For a fortress designed and decorated by a race of antiquated, warrior men, it was well done. There were five wings built into, up, and around the small mountain. Olena was told that each prince had designed his own section. Too her amazement, and judging by their homes, she discovered that the brothers were anything but carbon copies of each other. Whereas Morrigan’s home with Ualan was all fire, marble, and fur, Zoran and Pia’s wing was constructed with a wood finish, giving the place a real oriental lodge feeling to it. Yusef’s home was too plain, though she had a feeling the Outpost is where he spent most of his time.

Prince Olek and Princess Nadja’s home teemed with lush plant life. It grew out from a sunroom to vine around a door and part of the trellised ceiling. Giant fish tanks took up two walls entirely. One was clear with an oversized pink sucker fish adhered to the glass, and blue fish with big, blinking eyes. The second had dark murky waters that Olena couldn’t see into except for hints of life that fluttered past the glass.

In the center of the hall was a natural water fountain, relaxing and calm in its resplendent beauty. It too had plant life growing in its stone crevices. The water fixture did nothing to soothe the sour temperaments of the four gathered princesses.

Olena didn’t go back to Yusef in the medical ward, choosing to do the cowardly thing and hide out. He was trapped in the hospital and so couldn’t go to his palace home. She took advantage of that fact and quarantined herself from the rest of the family. Only by the grace of Queen Mede was she fed when a servant brought her a tray of food. The queen had come to the home once to give her a tour of the palace and to introduce her to her new sisters-by-marriage. It had been extremely awkward.

She was surprised to get Nadja’s invitation to join her and the other princesses for a visit. But, thinking of Doc, she knew she had no choice. She had to go, if only to judge his daughter for herself. She didn’t see a way around it. If she didn’t retrieve the woman for him, he would find a way to get to his daughter himself, and Olena’s body would never be found.

How did a man like Doc Aleksander produce a daughter like Nadja? It seemed a complete mystery. Perhaps Nadja was raised away from him and his dealings.

Looking around at the other high-backed chairs, Olena noticed the others looked as dismal as she felt, especially Morrigan, whose unusually pale face and red eyes, screamed that she was hung-over. Stretching her arms over her head, Morrigan yawned. It was the most movement she had made in a long while.

“So, have any of your husbands lied to you about who they are?” Olena tried to encourage conversation. Her hair was pulled back into a bun and her eyes flashed with purposeful mischief to hide what she was really feeling. Maybe the Doc’s daughter would want to be rescued and returned to him. Maybe she’d be doing the woman a favor by taking her back.

“I thought mine was a prison guard,” Pia chuckled. Olena glanced at her. Okay, there was one unhappy princess.

“I used to call mine a gardener,” Morrigan said, tucking her hand beneath her head on the high-backed chair. Mumbling softly, she said so as not to disturb her delicate head, “And a caveman.”

The other women chuckled. Olena frowned slightly. Morrigan didn’t appear to be too unhappy, though she was obviously in physical discomfort. Olena couldn’t tell if it was because she didn’t like Prince Ualan or because she’d drunk to excess the night before.

Nadja just blushed shyly. “I call mine a dragon.”

Hum,
Olena thought,
that answer was vague.

“They’re all dragons, if you ask me.” Morrigan winked at Nadja.

Nadja halfheartedly laughed as she rose to answer a summons from the door. It was the queen.

Queen Mede stepped into the intimate circle of women and nodded. “I heard you all were hiding out here.”

Olena didn’t move. She kept her expression veiled as she watched the three women. Nadja smiled in genuine kindness. Morrigan miserably refused to move. Pia looked guarded, as if she didn’t know how to take the queen.

“How’s Yusef?” Olena asked, before she could stop to think. She suddenly blushed at the outburst and refused to glance at the other women.

“Still awake,” the queen answered. “And still with his brothers. They speak of fighting and fighting always makes warriors happy, for it is something they know how to do.”

Olena nodded, leaning back in her chair and trying to pretend she didn’t care either way. No one was fooled.

Queen Mede glanced at the hung-over Morrigan and raised her delicate brow slightly. Morrigan had to turn away. To her credit, the queen said nothing.

Nadja suddenly asked if anyone wanted something to drink. Morrigan balked and instantly declined, turning a shade paler.

“No, dear, we’re fine,” the queen answered. Silence followed. When the lingering nothingness became almost unbearable, the queen announced, “Daughters.”

The princesses looked at Queen Mede expectantly. The queen came forward and took a seat amongst them, looking them over in turn.

Olena saw the woman’s cunning and wondered what she was up to. When she had given the palace tour, the queen had tried probing her. Olena had given the woman nothing, artfully avoiding all her veiled questions.

“Enough of this. This planet is in desperate need of more women and I intend to see that each one of you explore the power you possess,” the queen said. “Your husbands are warriors. I expect by now each of you has a clear idea of what that means. But just because they made the rules, doesn’t mean you can’t use them. You have more power than you think. So, tell me your problems with my sons, and I’ll give you the Qurilixian solution. I think it’s time that the royal women had the upper hand for once.”

Slowly, one by one, the women smiled, growing more and more trusting of the earnest queen—all but Olena who only smiled because it was expected of her. The queen nodded, happy.

“Pia.” Queen Mede looked pointedly at the woman. “Why don’t you go first?”

Before Pia could answer, Olena slowly stood, drawing all eyes to her. Quietly, she said, “I should go check on Yusef.”

The queen nodded. The princesses were silent, all except for Nadja who ordered the door open. Olena silently trailed out of the home.

As the door slid shut, she heard the queen ask, “Has she said anything about her kidnapping?” Silence met the question, but someone must have gestured in denial because the queen added, “Poor, poor woman. I can’t imagine the horror she went through.”

Y
usef grinned
, happy to be surrounded by his brothers. Even though they made jokes about the scratch his man bits had received from his wife’s blade, he still managed to laugh at the good-natured teasing. Naturally, he was still sore about having to put her in chastisement. But discovering she was a virgin at the time lessened his irritation.

“On the way back to the palace,” Zoran stated, “she almost unseated our little brother from his ceffyl.”

Olek frowned. “I don’t envy you a bit, brother. I almost did you the favor of dropping her back off at the Var doorstep.”

Yusef chuckled, knowing Olek jested.

“I owe you all a great debt in retrieving my little firebird.” Yusef turned serious. “Her medicine is just what I needed to come around.”

“Oh,” Ualan laughed wryly. “I don’t want to hear any of that.”

Yusef grinned, proud and unashamed.

“So how are your wives?” Yusef asked. Instantly, the princes’ expressions faded. Yusef sighed. They didn’t readily answer. Then, to lighten the mood, he said, “Well, whatever it is, at least they didn’t try to dismember you.”

The brothers laughed anew.