Dark Prince (8 page)

Yusef stood, looking down at his wife. Her face was rosy, but not as bad as a moment ago. Her hair was tousled around her head in damp tangles. Slowly, he shook his head and picked up his discarded tunic.

Retrieving a brush from the bathroom, he brushed her hair out for her in quick strokes, doing what he could to keep the locks from drying into knots. Then, going to the kitchen, he made himself breakfast and ate alone at his dining table.

The second day of his marriage was spent as the first, tending to an unconscious, sick wife.

* * * *

That evening when Olena awoke, it was to find Yusef at the end of the bed. His feet were resting on the edge, the legs of his chair pushed back to tilting. He was studying her intently.

Olena flushed. She was lying on her side. Her arm was beneath her head, the other bent seductively over her waist, and the top sheet was pulled down around her hips to reveal her breasts and stomach.

"Don’t move," Yusef ordered quietly. He worked his hands, but she couldn’t see what he was doing in the dim light. His voice was low and hoarse as he spoke. Something in his tone kept her from sitting up.

"What are you doing?" Olena asked. Suddenly scowling, she asked, "You’re not … ah, playing with yourself, are you, knight?"

Yusef chuckled, before saying honestly, "No, wife, I would rather have you play with me."

Olena blushed. Yusef couldn’t see it in her rosy features.

"So what are you doing then?" she asked. Her lids dipped slightly over her vivid green eyes.

"I’m carving you," he answered. Suddenly, he dropped his feet. The chair righted itself with a thud. Yusef set a small knife on his dresser. "You can move now."

Olena sat up, pulling the sheet to hide her breasts.

"How do you feel?" he asked, standing.

"Ah, fine. I’ve been through worse. But I tell you if that Tal comes at me with another shot, I might lay him out good."

Yusef chuckled. "I would be nice to him if I were you. He’s saved your life twice."

"Oh." Her frown deepened, and she grumbled, "I’ll send him a card or something."

"That won’t be necessary," Yusef laughed. "Tal sent the bill around this afternoon."

"You’re a nobleman," she said, defensive. "I am sure you can afford it."

Yusef’s smile faded and he watched her carefully. "What makes you think I am a nobleman?"

"The servant at the festival called you lordship and this house," she answered smoothly. Olena waved her hand absently around them.

"Ah," Yusef mumbled.

"You’re not, are you?" Olena grinned. She gave a delicate shrug, causing the sheet to dip low. "Oh, well, a girl can’t have everything."

Yusef chuckled at her teasing tone. She didn’t seem too terribly disappointed by the idea of being married to a common man. That pleased him. His dark eyes lit slightly to see the curve of her breast. He’d been staring at her body for about an hour without being overrun with passion. But, now that she was awake and moving, his body wasn’t so easily tempered back.

"I much prefer not to be nobility," she mused honestly, confirming his assumption. It would be harder to sneak around the galaxy if her picture was published everywhere as a missing ladyship.

"What’s your name?" Yusef’s tone was light, though the question had been driving him mad.

Olena just smiled widely. Yusef knew she wasn’t going to tell him. She was enjoying teasing him too much.

"Well, knight, are you going to let me see me or what?" Olena demanded, holding her hand out and wiggling her fingers.

Yusef tossed the carving at her. Olena caught it with both hands. To his delight, she dropped the sheet to do it. Quickly, she righted it, pulling back to lean against the dragon headboard. She held the sheet down with her arms.

Olena was amazed. The carving looked exactly like her, though the edges were a little rough and unfinished, down to the way her hair curled by her temples when she let it dry naturally. It was perhaps one of the most beautiful things she had ever had done for her. Hiding her emotions, she forced a sardonic tenor to her words, as she expressed, "Typical."

Yusef raised a brow. Olena tossed it back at him.

"You made my breasts bigger," she explained, acting as if she didn’t care. Inside, she shook violently. This game was getting too close.

Remember your scar, she thought, trying to remind herself to be strong. As he watched her, she saw hurt flicker in his eyes before he hid it. Or did she see it at all? Did she just feel it as if it was her pain, too?

Great, she thought, growing bitter. I must have hit my head when I fainted. Fine pirate I’m turning out to be.

Olena had a feeling her whole body would be marked with cuts before this ordeal was over--especially if he kept looking at her with those liquid, shifting eyes of molten gray.

Yusef pulled open a dresser drawer and dropped the sculpture unceremoniously inside. Olena’s eyes nonchalantly followed the movement. She itched to get a hold of the sculpture. She wanted to keep it.

"Are you hungry?" he asked.

"Mm, starving," Olena admitted. Without thinking, she added, "You wouldn’t happen to have any clothes I could borrow, would you?"

Yusef glanced at her bags on the floor.

"Oh, yeah, that," Olena forced a giggle, lying easily. "The guys grabbed the wrong luggage and I’ve been stuck with those things the entire trip."

Yusef detected the falsehood and said nothing, merely nodded.

Olena cleared her throat, not sure how much this dark warrior suspected. She didn’t dare mention the gun. "So, you got a shirt or something I can use?"

"Sure," he said, opening another drawer and tossing her a light cotton shirt. Olena slipped it over her head. Then, crossing to her bags, she pulled the first one open and looked inside. Digging, she found her bra and underwear and slipped them on under the shirt.

Yusef watched quietly. When she turned back to him, she inquired, "Pants?"

"Sure," he said again and, leaning over, he opened a bottom drawer.

Olena’s head angled slightly to the side, admiring his firm backside. She straightened and affected a look of perfect innocence before he turned around. Yusef tossed her a pair of light cotton pants and she slipped them over her hips.

"If you stay out of trouble," he said. "I’ll take you to the dressmaker and pick up some things that fit."

"Dressmaker?" Olena wrinkled her nose in instant distaste. "No thanks, knight. I’ll stick with these. I don’t care if I never see another dress again."

"That might not be possible. Dresses are required formal attire at the palace. If we ever go there, you’ll have to have a gown."

Olena shuddered dramatically.

"Come on, wife, you must be hungry," he urged.

"I don’t care if we never go to the palace," Olena mumbled under her breath.

Yusef led the way to the kitchen, hiding his grin at her distasteful look.

Chapter Six

Yusef and Olena spent the evening chatting about non-important things until it got late. She still refused to tell him her name, though he had tried several times to trick her into revealing it. Seeing her yawn, Yusef urged her to bed to get her strength. Yusef again spent the night alone on the couch.

Yusef found, to his pleasure, that his wife had a quick wit, an open laugh, and a smile that curled easily to her beautiful lips. Her bold emerald eyes shone in constant mischief, even when she did nothing. It made him curious to discover everything about her and at the same time perfectly content to know nothing.

To Olena’s horror, she kind of liked him too. His dark eyes penetrated as if they saw everything and would reveal nothing. His smile was slow to come, but it was genuine. He was laid back, easily taking her jokes in stride, never taking offense at her impishness. He was polite and mannered. He treated her like a lady.

Since she had recovered almost completely by the next morning, aside from a slight glow to her skin that wasn’t at all unappealing, he took her to the village like promised. Yusef wore one of his casual black tunics with the dragon emblem and Olena wore his baggy clothing over her thin frame. Several people stopped to stare at them. Olena grinned widely at the attention, not discouraged one bit. Yusef watched her reactions from the corner of his eyes.

Olena thought the Qurilixen village very nice--for a barbaric race in the middle of nowhere. Her husband--she giggled silently at the thought – appeared to have the biggest house on the edge of town. It was a short walk from the village, but a pleasant one through a wide open road of forest. Yusef didn’t touch her as they strolled, but there was an easy companionship between them carried over from the night before.

The village was spread out over a valley, close to where the marriage festival had taken place. Olena noticed that all the tents had been taken down. The field looked barren without them.

"That is the royal palace," Yusef said pointing to a giant mountain at the edge of the village.

"Where?" she asked, craning her neck to see up the spiraling of cliffs to the top.

Yusef laughed, his accent becoming thick, as he said, "The mountain."

"I don’t see a palace," Olena answered skeptically. Again she moved her head around to eye the mountain.

"It’s hidden inside the mountain," Yusef replied. "There, see where that man just came out of the side?"

"Yes," she drawled. It almost looked as if he came straight out of the rock.

"That’s the front gate. The four Princes designed it to be an impenetrable fortress," he continued. "This village is under the protection of the House of Draig."

"Smart," Olena mused wryly, not noticing Yusef’s frown at her sarcasm. "That way, their noble backsides are protected while all these villagers take the brunt of the enemy’s wrath." She shook her head in distaste. "No matter where I go, royalty is all the same."

A courtyard surrounded the palace fortress, close to the surrounding valley. Olena detected men on a long practice field to the side, training for battle.

"Why do they train in human form?" she wondered aloud, nodding her head. "Wouldn’t it make sense to shift for battle?"

"It would," Yusef answered, still stunned by her easy acceptance of his Draig form. "But not all the wives know of the shifting and --"

"You don’t want to scare them by a show of battling dragons," she broke in with a nod. "Too bad. I would really like to see that. Though, judging from some of the women on the journey over, it’s a very wise idea you don’t do it."

Yusef chuckled quietly to himself.

"So what do you call yourself anyway, dragon?" she asked, continuing on up the path.

"Do you so easily forget, wife? I am Yusef," he answered.

Olena chuckled and rolled her eyes.

"What is your shifted form called?"

He smiled. "We are Draig."

"Named after?" she prompted, unable to help her curiosity. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, getting a chill. She wondered if he could change for her on command. She’d really like to get another closer look at him in Draig.

"It means dragon," he admitted. Her chuckle joined his. "Draig is what our race is called, the name of our royalty, what we become when we shift."

"Ah, inventive," she teased.

"Easy to remember," he teased back.

The villager’s homes they passed were constructed of rock and wood, so that even the poorest of families looked to be prosperous. The village roads were of the rocky earth, smoothed flat and even. They were built with almost a military perfection of angles. The village itself was kept immaculately clean.

The Draig wore light linen tunics during the day much like the royal family, but minus the dragon crest and finer embroidery. They were a happy people, hard working and honest. Some smiled and waved at Yusef, looking up from what they were doing as he walked by. Olena noted that he appeared to be well liked.

To the dressmaker’s dismay and Yusef’s amusement, his wife refused to be measured for a dress. Olena picked out several cotton pants and tighter feminine shirts with built in bras. She piled them haphazardly in her arms before changing behind a screen. When she finished, she tossed the borrowed clothes back at Yusef and smiled brightly.

"Now this is more like it," she beamed, stretching her arms around. Seeing a pair of black leather boots in her size, she grinned. "I’ll take these too."

Before Yusef could protest, not that he would have, she was pulling them on her feet. The dressmaker gathered the impudent woman’s discarded pile of clothes and clucked in dismay as she folded them and placed them carefully into a bag.

Olena frowned at the dressmaker in turn and grabbed up the remaining pile and dumped them on top without folding. The dressmaker’s old face contorted with irritation and she began scolding Olena with a pointed, wrinkly finger. Olena, who couldn’t understand one word of it, smiled back and nodded with eyes wide with mischief.

The woman tossed up her hands and waved Olena away. To Yusef’s surprise, Olena leaned over and kissed the old woman’s cheek. The dressmaker’s face rounded in shock and she shook her head, continuing to shoo Olena from her store. Though, this time, she was smiling as she did so.

Yusef waved a boy over and pressed a coin into his hand along with the bags. After asking him to deliver the purchases to his house, he continued to give a tour of the village, stopping to speak to a few people in his language. Bright blue birds flew overhead, singing in a strange low shrill. An animal Yusef called a ceffyl grazed in a fenced yard. It had a fat elephant body and a single horn mounted on his head. As she watched, it hissed at her.

The villagers eyed her curiously, but did not speak directly to her. Olena didn’t take notice. Seeing a boy laughing and pointing at her to his friends, she wondered if he was maybe one of her peeping toms. She blew him a kiss and he nearly fell off his perch in shock. The boys ran away from her laughing, calling out words she didn’t understand.

"Ach, Yusef!" came a loud cry. "I was just on my way to see you."

Olena jolted in surprise to see a giant of a man with two blackened eyes lumbering towards them. She remembered him vaguely from the morning after the Breeding Festival. The man had an easy smile, full of a mischief that Olena could readily relate to. Instantly, she liked him.