Dark Prince (12 page)

* * * *

Olena crouched low against the tree branch, rubbing dirt on her skin to mask her scent. The dusky colored night wasn’t that easy to see by in the dense forest and she wasn’t sure how far she could get before Yusef got home. Already her lungs rapidly inhaled with a sharp pain and she knew her weakened body wouldn’t be able to run much further before she collapsed. It didn’t help that she’d stepped on the carving knife in her haste to get out of the bedroom, cutting her foot.

To her horror, she heard a dark growl that sounded suspiciously like her name coming up the path. Yusef hunted her. She looked around wildly, as she crawled to a nearby tree. Hoping to find shelter from the path, she gripped the rough bark, hiding from view. She held her breath, trying not to move lest he hear her. Closing her eyes tightly, she swore she’d never be a man’s slave again.

Chapter Eight

Olena waited a long time, pressed against the tree, too afraid to move. Only when her arms ached to the point that she couldn’t any longer lift them did she fall to the ground. Her body was weary, but she couldn’t stay this close to the path. She couldn’t risk Yusef making another pass by her.

Desperately, she clutched handfuls of mud and rubbed it into her already covered skin. Hopefully that would mask her scent long enough until she could figure out what to do. She’d never expected Yusef to turn like he did--from caring husband to slave master. When he didn’t get his way, his nature had shifted as easily as his body. But she should have known to expect it. Hadn’t Jack always said men only wanted one thing from her--her complete and utter submission?

Seeing a low branch, she went for it and climbed, working her way higher into a tree. Then, finding a particularly large perch, she lay against the trunk, high off the ground. She closed her eyes, taking a little rest. She would just wait out the dusk. Then, when her body was stronger from sleep, she would move on.

* * * *

Yusef ran nearly five miles knowing there was no way she could have gotten any further than that with the time she had been afforded, especially since she was bleeding. To his relief, he didn’t detect any Var within the trees as he had first suspected and feared.

It was nearly morning and he knew the village would be waking in a few hours. Turning back, he took his time backtracking. He sniffed the air, trying to get even the faintest hint of where she’d gone. He’d lost her scent completely about four miles back, only to pick it up and lose it once more.

Jogging, barely out of breath, he turned back to human form. His eyes looked through the darkness for her, scanning the endless trunks of trees. He hated to do it, but he needed to get help. There was too much forest for him to search alone. Picking up his pace, he made the trek home.

* * * *

Olena was trapped. It was dark, so dark in the tight cargo port. Suddenly, little fingers came through her cage’s grating. They were so tiny, those hands, just like hers. Her body was cramped and hurt so badly. They only let them out once a day to relieve themselves or else the cargo would smell too bad. It was impossible to stand in the little cage. They had been there for months, crunched in those little containers, stacked on top of each other.

Twisting around, she heard crying. The tears were nothing new in this hellish place. They always heard crying. There were so many children trapped in the crates. Soon the man with the needle would come to poke them with it, shutting them up when he could take their tears no more.

"Olena," came a faint call, followed by a sniff and a trembling whimper. "Olena?"

Olena continued to twist, trying to touch the little hand. When she managed to get around, she felt for the fingers. They were as cold as ice.

"Sage?" Olena squinted into the darkness to find her sister. A face pressed into the grate. It was an exact replica of her face staring back at her as if from a mirror.

"Olena," Sage whimpered. "I’m scared."

Olena nodded, too afraid to speak. She couldn’t remember very well what happened next, not even in her dreams. She had only been five. Sage must have started to cry because the man came with his needle.

"Quiet!" he’d yelled in his stiff voice, slamming her sister’s cage.

Sage cried louder, screeching in exhaustion and fear.

"I said quiet!" the man bellowed.

He must have been drinking, because Olena remember the smell of him. It was the smell of ale coming from an unclean body, stale liquor curling from his pores. When he moved to hit the cage, he missed and tripped over his feet.

Sage screamed louder in fright. Suddenly, all the children started screaming at the top of their lungs. Sage’s cold fingers dug desperately at the grate, trying to get to her sister through the unforgiving metal.

Olena held quiet, clutching desperately to her sister’s hand, whispering to her to be quiet, not to yell. The man in the black coat hollered for silence but the other children wouldn’t stop. Their voices rose like a chorus of horror--echoing for an eternity in the memory.

"Olena," Sage whined fearfully.

Sage’s cage was open and she was being torn from Olena’s five year old hands. There was a loud crash and then deadly silence. The children stopped screaming. All she heard was her heart beating in her ears.

The man stumbled off. Someone sniffed to her right. Slowly, Olena edged around.

"Sage," she had called weakly when the man was gone. Her sister never answered, would never answer her call again. When Olena finally got to the front of the gate, she saw Sage’s lifeless eyes staring back at her. She’d been thrown into the sharp hook on the metal wall, dying instantly.

Olena’s eyes jerked open with a cry. Her body flailed, forgetting where she was. The nightmares hadn’t been that real for a long time. Suddenly, she blinked. Screaming, she realized she was falling from the tree limb. Her arms and legs flailed in the air. It did no good. She landed on the ground with a heavy thud.

* * * *

Yusef heard the bloodcurdling scream and his heart nearly stopped. Turning, he shifted once more and ran full tilt into forest, following the direction of the sound. It didn’t take him long to discover Olena on the ground. Her eyes were rolling in her head but she did look at him.

He was surprised when she recognized him in his Draig form, as she said softly, "Knight."

She was covered in dried mud from head to toe. That was why he could only get faint traces of her scent. She had masked herself with the forest. Even as he cursed her, he bowed to her cunning mind. Stepping over crushed leaves and yellow ferns, he knelt by her side. Her arm was broken, the bone jutting out from her skin.

She stiffened when he pushed her hair from her face. The red flames were muted by the red mud of the earth. Yusef shifted to human form and lifted her up.

"You foolish woman." He swore he heard her chuckle.

"You won this round, dragon, but I’ll escape you," she said on a faint breath. Her voice was strained. She fought against the pain in her arm as he slowed to step over a fallen log in his way. Gritting her teeth, she said, "I’ll be no man’s slave."

"No, Olena," he swore, as he carried her to the path. She grunted in pain, blacking out. "You will never be my slave, but you will never escape me. You are mine."

* * * *

Tal placed his hands on his hips, eyeing the mud caked woman wearily. He’d given her something to help her sleep while he set her bone. Her arm was fixed and the bleeding stopped. With little else to do, he put it into a sling and said she would recover.

Setting his medic kit on the dresser, he turned to Yusef and said, "I’m leaving this here for emergencies. I’ve got a spare kit at the office. With as many accidents as your wife is prone to have, I suspect you’ll need it."

Yusef nodded his weary thanks.

"As you to, Prince Yusef, you must get some rest," Tal said. "This exhaustion won’t do you any good."

Yusef glanced at Olena to see if she heard the title. Then, seeing she was out and realizing she couldn’t speak their language anyway, he relaxed.

"I will," he said, "just as soon as I get her cleaned up."

"Fine," the medic said. "I, myself, am going back to bed. Do you want me to report this for you?"

"No," Yusef said. "My parents have enough to do right now. I’ll tell them of it later and I would appreciate it if you didn’t say anything to anyone else."

"Can’t," he said, "It’s the doctor-patient privilege. Besides, I am loyal to your family, Draea Anwealda."

"Draea Anw…?" Olena murmured, blinking her tired eyes. For a moment, caught in the haze of pill induced sleep, she smiled to see Yusef’s face. "What is that?"

"Dragon Lord," Tal answered, matter-of-factly. "It’s what we call him and his brothers."

Olena blinked, looking at Tal and then to Yusef. She yawned, her eyes drifting, "I didn’t know you had brothers."

She was again out.

Tal frowned at Yusef.

"She must be out of it," he lied, urging the man politely to the door.

"That’s understandable," Tal said. "With as much as she’s been through lately, a bit of bed rest won’t hurt her one bit."

Yusef let Tal out of the house, thanking him for his loyalty and for the medic kit. It would undoubtedly come in handy.

When he went back to the bedroom, Olena was asleep. He was too tired from his night of searching and worrying to bathe her. So, instead, he crawled into the bed next to her. He pulled the covers over their bodies and held her in his arms. Holding her to his chest was the only way he could guarantee she wouldn’t try to leave him again.

Closing his eyes, he kissed her dirty temple. She jerked and mumbled incoherently. Yusef sighed, not opening his eyes, as he murmured into her soiled hair, "Whatever am I going to do with you, firebird?"

* * * *

When Yusef awoke that late afternoon, Olena was still sleeping in his arms. He crawled wearily out of bed. Finding a blood gauge in the medic bag, he checked her. Her levels were fine considering her state. He sighed in relief.

She had awakened him a few times during the day as she tossed in her nightmares. He frowned, thinking of it. Calling up to the castle on the intercom, he asked his mother to send a maid down to clean the house and cook dinner. Mede inquired after his marriage. By her tone, Yusef guessed his father had told her what had happened. He lied and said everything was going well. She seemed relieved to hear it.

Then, crossing the hall to his bathroom, he ignored the waterfall style shower in the corner as he began filling the porcelain bath with warm water. It was a large tub, not as pleasant as a natural hot spring, but it had jets in it and was big enough to fit both him and Olena.

Once it was filling, he crossed back over to the bedroom. Olena hadn’t moved. Gently, he lifted her up and stripped her of her dirty clothes. Then, as she lay there naked, he gathered the clothing up and put them in a pile by the door. Next, he striped his own clothing and set them atop her dirty ones. He grabbed a fresh change for both of them and put them in the bathroom, shut off the water, and went back to gather his wife.

As he carried her in his arms, she stirred. Blinking in confusion, she tried to look around. Her movements were still weak.

"Shhh," he whispered when she would speak. "We’re just going to take a bath, nothing else."

She must have believed him because she settled into his arms and closed her eyes. Yusef carried her to the tub, shaking her gently so she’d wake up.

"Try to stand for a moment," he urged, setting her on her feet in the water. Steadying her, he was careful of her arm, which he had taken out of the sling. He stepped in behind her and slowly lowered her into the water.

Dazed, she looked at him, her eyes rolling slightly in her head. Her mind was numbed by the medicine the medic had given her. She didn’t fight him, as he settled back and pulled her to sit between his legs. Though she was beautiful, there was nothing passionate about the way he held her. Even he wasn’t such a monster as to think about sex at such a time. Marriage wasn’t only about slaking desires. Although, that was a benefit he would like to someday have.

"Olena, can you wake up?" he asked. She murmured contentedly and opened her tired eyes. "I’m just going to help you wash your hair. I’m not going to hurt you."

"I know," she murmured. Her eyes closed once more.

Yusef’s heart sang at the gentle admission. It was something at least.

He gently washed the dirt from her hair and then his. Rinsing was awkward, but he managed. Next he rubbed her skin clean and leaned to pull the plug with his toe.

Through the haze of her fogged mind, Olena had been enjoying the attention of his gentle hands. She blinked feeling the water drain and a chill set in. Looking at him, with big emerald eyes, she said, "Not yet. Can’t we sit in here awhile longer?"

How could he not comply with such a simple request? He drained the dirty water and slowly refilled the bath with fresh, adding bubbles to it in an attempt to please her. She smiled, not opening her eyes. When he leaned to turn off the water, he felt her snuggle into him.

"Olena," he whispered against her wet hair.

"Mm?"

"Who’s Sage?" he asked. She’d been saying the name over and over in her sleep.

"My twin," Olena answered without thought. Her legs absently stirred against his as she burrowed deeper into his protective embrace. He was so comfortable. She could think of nothing else. The texture of his moist skin was enfolding her. His gentle, yet overpoweringly strong, hands were stroking her side. "She’s dead."

He stiffened. He couldn’t imagine losing one of his brothers. He stroked her temple and she seemed to enjoy it because she nestled and turned into his chest to lay her cheek by his heart. She held onto his neck, absently twining the raven locks with her fingers. Her other hand skimmed close to his waist. His body stirred at the caress, but he forced his passion to behave.

"What happened to her?" he asked softly, desperate to know anything about her. He rubbed his hand over her back, stroking her wet skin beneath his palm as he tried to relax her tired muscles. She moaned in contentment as he glided his fingers over a hip.