Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition (83 page)

P
ia awoke
the next morning on the bathroom floor, curled in the warmth of Zoran’s overlarge robe. Her body was so stiff from the hard stone that it took a moment before she could even move. Her eyes opened, automatically going to the door. She’d stayed up most of the night, watching to see if Zoran would come after her. He didn’t, and Pia wasn’t sure that what she felt was relief.

Taking a deep breath, she pushed to standing. Her stomach twinged slightly and she remembered all too vividly what had caused the ache. Going to the bathroom door, she lightly slid it open. Hesitantly, she poked her head outside.

“Pia?”

Pia jumped to hear her name. Glancing over, she saw Zoran was sitting on the couch. Her first reaction was to slam the door and continue hiding out like a coward. But Pia wasn’t a coward. She stood tall, regally wrapping his robe around her trembling body as she looked at him. Her confidence wavered as she saw his handsome face, and she had to look away.

Zoran looked as if had waited all night for her. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and stepped out of the bathroom. There was an awkward silence. Pia’s hand tapped along the outside of her upper thigh. When he didn’t speak, she glanced up.

“Pia...?” he began, his voice full of questions. There was a rift between them and neither one knew how to cross it.

Her mouth opened, but no words came out. She hesitantly walked toward him. Zoran didn’t move. Stopping several paces away, she said the only thing she could think of, “Shouldn’t you be at work?”

Slowly, he stood and said, “All right, I’ll go, Pia.”

When he turned from her, Pia had the strangest urge to run to him. Her eyes devoured him now that he walked away. Zoran disappeared into the bedroom. When he came out, she hadn’t moved. He’d changed his tunic, donning another black one.

He looked at her from across their home. “You’re free to leave. I’ll reprogram the door for you.”

Pia nodded weakly. She wanted to go to him, but her fear of rejection and ridicule held her back.

Zoran said a few commands and then turned to her.

Pia repeated the words, “open” and “shut” at his signals. Her voice was hoarse and strained but the door obeyed her.

Before he left, he nodded once at her and said, “I’m sorry, Pia. I never meant to hurt you.”

Pia’s legs weakened as the door shut behind him. She sunk wearily to the floor. Her heart poured out of her and she cried anew.

Z
oran had sent
word to the field that he would be late. He wanted to wait for his wife to come out of the bathroom on her own. When she did, he hadn’t known what to say to her. He’d seen her fear, felt her rejection, and it hurt him deeply. He still wanted her so badly, and she could barely bring herself to look him in the eye.

She didn’t want him there. He couldn’t blame her. There was nothing he could say to appease her. How could he even begin to say he was sorry?

Z
oran didn’t come home
that day. Pia went only as far as the outer halls, stopping to look for him, debating whether or not she should try to find him. She wanted to say she was sorry, too. That she shouldn’t have run away. That she could now remember the pleasure of his touch and wanted to be a wife to him, if he could still bring himself to have her. She turned around each time, too much of a coward to make it to the end of the hall.

Zoran also didn’t come home that night. Pia waited up for him, falling asleep on the couch sometime during the early morning hours. When she awoke the next morning, she was still alone.

Z
oran took
the soldiers through night drills, letting them rest in hour-long shifts. The war games were normally great fun, though Zoran’s heart wasn’t in his work. He watched with a melancholy the men could easily see on their leader’s stern face. As dawn approached, Agro, who was always one of the first to volunteer for the night games, drew near him.

“I’ll finish up here,” Agro said quietly. “Why don’t you go to your wife?”

Zoran’s expression was all the answer he needed. He shook his head in denial, continuing to yell out his orders. Agro stepped back from the man, clearly hating to see the commander’s raw pain and self-loathing.

P
ia lifted
her hands in the air, slowly falling back to arch her stomach before her legs moved over into a leisurely back flip. The exercise was helping her sore insides to relax, though it did nothing for her downtrodden spirits. She watched the exercise room ceiling go past as she fluidly repeated the process. On the third try, she froze, stomach arched. Someone was at the door.

She flipped herself around to her feet. Brushing her hands, as she rushed through the living room to the front hall, she yelled, “Open.”

Even though she should’ve known it wouldn’t be Zoran, she was still disappointed. However, soon her disappointment turned to surprise.

“Nadja?” Pia asked, blinking to see the woman she’d known from the ship.

“Hello, Pia,” Nadja said, her voice soft. Her light brown hair was pulled neatly back and her blue eyes shone pleasantly. She held a small bag in her nervously twisting hands. When Pia only looked at her, Nadja asked, “Do you mind if I come in?”

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

Nadja smiled, her nervous stance seeming to relax. Pia ordered the door shut behind her.

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

“No, I’m fine.” Nadja looked around the home. “I see you were assigned the princess suite, too.”

Pia chuckled, relieved to learn that someone as tolerable as Nadja was a princess. She’d been worried she’d have to spend the rest of her life surrounded by women like the brassy Gena talking about breast augmentations. “You, too?”

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

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

Pia laughed, instantly understanding. “So which prince did you get?”

“Olek.”

“Ah, the ambassador.” Pia nodded.

“What about you?”

“Zoran.” Then to change the subject, she asked, “What do you have there?”

“Oh!” Nadja lifted the bag. “Before I show you, I have to apologize in advance.”

Pia frowned.

“It was my husband’s request,” Nadja said. She reached into the bag and pulled out a hair extender. “He said your husband cut off your hair and asked if I could…” The woman hesitated in embarrassment.

“If you could grow it back for me,” Pia said with a wry grin when Nadja didn’t finish. The woman nodded. “Zoran didn’t cut my hair, I did.”

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

“It’s all right,” Pia laughed. Nadja had been quiet on the ship, but she found she liked the woman. She was one of those rare creatures who radiated a kind of goodness not often found in the circles Pia traveled. “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. “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 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 admitted. “She isn’t so bad. From what I can tell, her intentions appear genuine.”

Pia arched a brow in disbelief.

“So, do you want me to grow it for you?” Nadja asked, lifting the extender. “If anything, it should give us something to do today.”

“Why not,” Pia answered. She thought of Zoran. He really did seem to like her longer hair. Suddenly, the idea of pleasing him excited her. She glanced at Nadja, eyeing her in consideration.

“What?” Nadja questioned, looking down her front.

“Do you think you could help me with the other stuff too?” Pia asked, her voice dipping shyly.

“Other stuff?” Nadja questioned in surprise. “What other stuff?”

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

Nadja smiled. “Sure, it would be my pleasure. But, honestly, I don’t think you need all that.”

Pia looked down.

“I mean,” Nadja corrected, “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 furrowed her brow, amazed anyone could be jealous of her. “You want me to teach you how to defend yourself?”

Nadja’s face lit up. “Oh, could you? I mean, you’ll probably hate teaching me. I don’t even know…I don’t know anything.”

“It would be my pleasure.” Pia found she really would enjoy the lessons. Fighting was the one thing she could do well, and that she could return a favor to Nadja pleased her greatly.

Nadja bounced in giddy anticipation. “All right, let’s get started.”

P
ia felt like a changed woman
. After disappearing for a few minutes, Nadja brought back a servant laden with makeup and hair accessories. Pia confessed that dresses were being made for her, and Nadja sent the man to the village to see if they were finished.

Nadja extended her hair down past her shoulders. It wasn’t as long as before but it was a nice compromise. Nadja also taught her a few easy tricks for pulling the hair into different styles and showed her how a little darkening of her eyes could really bring them out, though she continually claimed Pia didn’t need the makeup.

Pia showed Nadja a couple of self-defense moves, promising to teach her more at a later date when they were more properly dressed for it. Afterwards, Nadja had invited Pia to come over for dinner. Pia refused. Nadja nodded in understanding without even needing to hear the reason.

Pia waited, all dolled up, for Zoran to come home. The dresses weren’t finished, but the seamstress had sent word that they would be delivered the next day. She waited in a comfortable outfit of cotton pants and a tight blue shirt. Zoran didn’t show and it was getting late.

Pia, unable to stand waiting any longer, started for the door yelling at it to open. Stepping out into the hall, she paused. A soldier was coming toward her.

“Sir Hume,” Pia said in surprise.

Hume stopped, looking up at her hair and face. A slight smile came to his features as he bowed. He stared at her, refusing to look down to the floor. “My lady, Prince Zoran wished me to inform you that he has been called away on duty.”

“Duty?” she asked in surprise. “What duty?”

“I’m sorry, my lady, I do not know,” Hume said. “The king sent him away an hour ago.”

“And when will he be back?” she asked, frowning. “Can you tell me that?”

“Two days, my lady, maybe more,” Hume said. “He wished me to tell you that if you had a need for anything, to call on this.”

Pia took the hand communicator he gave her. Turning it over in her palm, she studied it and frowned.

“The queen will be happy to assist you.” Hume again bowed.

“Wait,” Pia ordered to stop his retreat. Grimacing, she asked, “The queen?”

“Yes,” he said. “She possesses the other communicator. Just push the button if you have need of her.”

“Great,” Pia mumbled wryly. She watched the man as he again bowed. Backing up, he stared at her, grinning like a fool. At his look, Pia frowned at him, wondering if Hume had suddenly gone mad. He backed up to the end of the hall and she said, “Uh, thanks.”

Going back inside, she set the communicator aside with no intention of actually using it.

Z
oran was exhausted
. He hadn’t slept for three days. Gripping the center horn of his mount, he swung up behind the beast’s bare shoulders. The ceffyl’s wide back shifted low at the weight of its warrior rider, used to the rough handling. His fanged mouth darted open with a hiss of its long tongue. It had the eyes of a reptile, the face and hooves of a beast of burden, and the body of a small elephant. It was wickedly fast for an animal of its size and equally as deadly.

The ceffyl’s hisses kept most of the large swamp life at bay. Its thick hide could withstand the bite of the poisonous givres that swam freely in this part of the kingdom. Zoran had been all over the swamplands, tracking the Var scent to the outer edges of Draig territory. The thick moss-covered trees dripped with moisture from the recent rainfall and a hot steamy fog hung over in dense patches.

Zoran lifted his feet before him as the animal trudged its way through deeper water. Its foot sank slightly stirring up a nest of red and black tailed givres. The ceffyl howled in annoyance but kept moving to drier land.

He frowned, letting his feet slide down over the sides of his mount, ignoring how the swamp water made his pants stick to the animal’s sides. He longed for home and his bed. His mission had been fruitless. Whoever had tried to break into the royal offices was long gone.

He wondered if Pia would welcome him back, and briefly considered sleeping in his small office on the practice field. Looking up at the sky, he knew he couldn’t, for the same reason he had to turn back home without completely tracking his prey. The coronation was tomorrow night and he needed to set things right with Pia before then.

Not knowing what he would say to her when he saw her, Zoran made the last leg of the journey home.

Z
oran left
his mount in the stables. He ignored the soldiers as he passed them on the practice field. Coming to the knife post, he glanced briefly at the gathered crowd. For a moment, his heart stopped and he searched for Pia. She wasn’t there. It was his brother, Ualan, and Agro who drew the crowd.

Seeing him, Ualan nodded in greeting. His brother looked exhausted, and his frown only deepened as Agro spoke to him.

Zoran nodded back. He was too tired to do much else.

“Hey,” Zoran heard Agro taunt Ualan when the prince tried to leave the field. “What about eyes closed?”

Zoran couldn’t help the slight smile when Ualan closed his eyes and spun, blindly throwing the blades as he turned. Four landed in the pattern of a cross on the post, the last landed in between Agro’s feet. Agro jumped back with a hearty laugh of amusement. Ualan quietly nodded and continued down the path to the castle.

Agro gave an impish grin and waved at Ualan’s back. Zoran had left the man in charge of the training. It seemed training, to Agro, meant field games. Before Zoran could say anything about it, Agro commanded the men gruffly, “Ach now, you pups, back to work.”

“I see you are working them hard,” Zoran called, amused. He yawned, watching the men depart.

“Ach,” Agro grumbled good-naturedly. He picked the blade out of the ground. “You’ve worked them hard enough to last a year. What’s wrong with a little sport now and then? If you lightened up, maybe your face wouldn’t look so damned ugly.”

Zoran chuckled. “Me, ugly?”

“Aye, you,” Agro nodded. He went to the post and pulled out the rest of the blades. “I think it’s your temper as of late. Half the men are scared to cross your path for fear you’ll work them into the ground.”

Agro absently threw the blades at the post. They all hit in random order. Retrieving them, Agro gave the blades to Zoran. The prince looked at them briefly before tossing them out of old habit. The blades landed in a straight line.

“Is it the wife?” Agro asked perceptively.

Zoran took a deep breath. Suddenly, everything rushed out of him in a frustrated confession.

“She’s, argh, she’s so aggravating at times and so damned ravishing at others. I can hardly keep my head straight. I’m trying, but I don’t understand what she wants. One minute she looks at me like I should kiss her, the next like I’m insane for trying. Hot, cold, hot, cold, she makes my head spin in circles until I can hardly see straight.” Zoran frowned. Agro chuckled knowingly, leaving the knives in the post. Zoran continued, “I’m a man, Agro, a warrior. I’ve outsmarted and outguessed some of the worthiest of adversaries. I’ve conquered entire armies against the worst odds, but I can’t seem to conquer her. I can’t figure her out.”

“Hmm,” Agro mused. He walked to the post and pulled the knife blades.

“You’re married,” Zoran said, forlorn. “Are all married women like this?”

Agro chuckled as if at a private joke. A wealth of husbandly wisdom filtered in his eyes. When he came back, he threw the knives and said thoughtfully, “Maybe the problem is that a woman doesn’t need to be conquered,
Draea Anwealda
.”

Zoran’s brow furrowed in thought.

Agro turned to give the last blade to his friend. “Maybe she needs to be won.”

P
ia flinched
, barely making a sound as the medic, Tal, sealed the gash in her side with his laser. She lay on her couch, arm raised above her head. Her hair was pulled back into a bun for exercising and her clothes were lightly drenched with sweat. Lifting up to watch the medic work, she gave a hard sigh.

“Are you sure you wouldn’t like me to deaden the pain, my lady?” the medic asked when she jerked at a particularly deep section of the wound.

“No,” Pia answered between her tightened lips. Sweat beaded her brow, but she answered, “It’s fine. Just keep going.”

Nadja stood behind the medic, worrying her hands. Her eyes filled with what looked like tears. “I’m so sorry, Pia. I didn’t mean to kick you that hard.”

Pia chuckled, sucking in a breath as she was again seared with the laser. Refusing to cry out at the pain, she said, “It’s nothing, Nadja, quit fretting. I should have been ready for it. You’ve got some power in those legs of yours. Next time, we’ll just make sure we’re nowhere near the sword display.”

Nadja relaxed some, though her face was still pulled tight.

Pia closed her eyes waiting for the man to finish. Hearing the door slide up, her eyes opened. Instantly, she moved to stand. The laser bumped and seared off course. She frowned slightly. The medic huffed and turned it off.

“You have to sit still,” he ordered.

“Zoran.” Pia ignored the medic as she stared at her husband in the doorway. He appeared tired but still incredibly breathtaking. He scanned the room, glancing over Nadja and the medic. Black circles marred the skin beneath his light brown eyes. Pia bit her lips, wanting to say so much, wanting to apologize for overreacting the other night, wanting more than anything to give it another try. But the words stuck in her throat. Now was not the time.

Coming forward, he eyed Pia’s bloody side. His wet hair was brushed back from his face. “What happened? Who did this?”

“It...it was an accident,” Nadja said. She trembled before the man as he looked at her. Slowly, she glanced at Pia.

Taking pity on the woman, Pia motioned for Nadja to leave. “Nadja, thank you for visiting. I hope you’ll see me again soon.”

“Pia, I’ll see you later,” Nadja said.

“Open!” Zoran barked, opening the door to let the woman out.

“Thanks, Nadja,” Pia tried to give the woman a smile, but Nadja had already turned away. At the medic’s insistence, Pia laid back down to let him finish. As an afterthought, she called to the woman, “Remember to practice!”

“Pia?” Zoran asked.

“You’re wet,” she said, very aware of Tal’s presence.

“I stopped by my parent’s to report. I bathed there before coming home because I was covered in swamp.” He eyed the wound, as if assuring himself she was going to live. “What happened?”

She frowned, ready for a lecture. “It’s nothing. I was showing Olek’s wife how to kick. She accidentally knocked me into your sword stand when I was distracted by something else. It was a simple mistake.”

Zoran glanced at the exercise room.

The medic finished and Pia sat up.

“Don’t worry. Your precious weapons are unharmed. Nadja cleaned it up.” She’d meant it to be light, but her tone was a little too harsh in her nervousness and she ended up sounding bitter.

Frowning, he glanced at Tal, clearly not wanting to discuss any marital discontentment in front of the man.

“Try to take it easy for the next couple of days, my lady,” the medic said, putting his handheld medical unit back into his bag. “I’ll come back in a week to smooth out the scar. If you like I can get the other one, too.”

Tal nodded at her ribs. Pia hastily pulled her shirt down over them.

“No, it’s old,” she shrugged as if it was no big deal. “Don’t worry about it.”

“
Draea Anwealda
,” Tal said to Zoran, standing. He leaned over to grab his medic bag.

“Tal,” Zoran acknowledged, tilting his head to walk him out. Pia watched the men, before turning to examine Tal’s handiwork. The scar was thin. Compared to the burns, she hardly noticed it.

Z
oran tried to remain calm
. He didn’t care about his weapons. Pia was all that mattered.

In case she could hear them as he escorted Tal to the door, Zoran asked in the Qurilixian language, “How is she?”

Tal answered in kind, “She’ll heal fine,
Draea Anwealda
. The wound was deep and she should take it easy.” The medic frowned, glancing back toward Pia on the couch before turning to the prince.

“What is it?” Zoran insisted.

“Nothing really.” Tilting his head, he asked, “Has Lady Pia had any extensive surgeries?”

“Why?” Zoran too glanced at Pia. She poked at her ribs, grimacing after each jab. It didn’t stop her from repeating the process.

“It’s just her skin, my lord,” the medic answered. “It’s normal but it appears to have been altered recently. The levels are healthy, like a newborn’s, but when I took the laser to it, it didn’t want to heal as if it had been worked over quite extensively within the last six months. We usually only see such occurrences with post-operative patients. I had to set the beam fairly high. The condition isn’t noticeable except...well, except when she needs medical attention like this.”

“She hasn’t said anything to me. Did you ask her about it?”

“She said no, but that’s what puzzles me. Her tolerance for pain is incredibly high—too high, especially for what I have seen in the other non-Draig women. The laser level I used would’ve made grown Draig warriors black out from pain. She barely even flinched.”

Zoran glanced at Pia again. She was stretching her arm. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she lowered it down, testing the wound’s limitations.

“I took a reading of her nerve endings to make sure there’s no damage in them,” Tal continued. “She’s completely healthy—very healthy in fact. She felt what I did, only she withstood it.”

“Thank you,” Zoran said, puzzled by what the man told him.

“Whatever she’s been through,” the medic continued as he turned to leave, “it must have been something terrible.”

“Thank you,” Zoran repeated.

“What was that all about?” Pia asked when Zoran came back inside, frowning absently as she lowered her shirt over her ribs. “Is there something wrong with me?”

“No,” Zoran lied, “he was updating me on the soldiers’ medic reports. Some of them got in to a brawl the other night. They’re fine.”

“Oh,” Pia said. She looked down at her lap. “So, is that where you were? With the soldiers?”

Zoran tried to smile, but the three long days of no sleep were getting to him and he yawned instead. “No, I had to attend to some official business for the king. Nothing exciting.”

“Oh,” Pia mumbled.

He wouldn’t tell her any more than that. Zoran yawned again.

“I asked Hume to tell you I would be gone.” When he looked at her, he still wanted her. He wanted to hold her, kiss her, and protect her. Right now, he wanted to curl his body around her and sleep next to her. With shame welling within his chest, he knew that she probably only wished to be protected from him, not by him.

“Yes, he did,” Pia said. “Thank you for the courtesy and for the communicator. I didn’t use it. I left it on the dresser for you.”

There was an awkward silence.

“Pia…” he began.

“No,” she interrupted, moving to stand. He looked so worn. “Why don’t you get some sleep? We’ll talk tomorrow morning.”

Zoran, too exhausted to protest, nodded. He wasn’t sure that anything he tried to say would come out right anyway. He slowly turned to the bedroom, glad that she hadn’t tried to kick him out of his own home. The sight of her beautiful body, her lovely face, stayed with him as he fell onto his bed, instantly asleep.

P
ia watched
her husband walk away. He could barely keep his eyes open, let alone think coherently enough to have a serious conversation with her. Hearing him fall on the bed, she waited for signs of movement. After a significant time had passed with no sound, she went to peek in on him. He was fast asleep.

Quietly, she sneaked into the bedroom. Her eyes roamed over his body, making sure he was uninjured. She’d been so worried about him the last several days. Luckily, Nadja had kept her so busy with training and beauty lessons, that she hadn’t been able to dwell on it too much.

Pia took the boots off his feet, dropping them on the floor. He sighed, but didn’t wake up, hardly even moved. Then, covering him with a blanket, she hit the button for the curtain dome. Darkness fell over the bedroom as she softly shut the door.