Dark Prince (13 page)

"My father traded us for a cheap drug and to pay off a gambling debt about a month after our fifth birthday. We were sold into slavery." She stirred, laughing bitterly. Smacking her lips, she said, "Damned drug couldn’t have gotten him very high. It was a cheap knockoff of the good stuff. I tried it some years later. It didn’t do a thing."

"And that’s how Sage died, as a slave?" Yusef stiffened at the admission. He could feel her pain, but he couldn’t keep from asking. He might never get another opportunity to have her open up like this.

"No," she murmured, half awake, half asleep. "The man with the needle threw her into the wall because the other children were crying."

"Did anything happen to the man with the needle?" he asked.

She shuddered under his palm and he stroked her hair. She froze, keeping her fingers on his hair, before gently moving her hand to feel his heartbeat.

"He was the first man I ever killed." Olena sighed, feeling comfort in his nearness. A soft moan escaped her. He massaged her lower back, causing her words to tumble forth without thought. "I was ten. Jack had taken me in and showed me how."

Ten? By all that was sacred! Not even their warriors in training learned to kill at the age of ten.

"Jack bought you as a slave?"

"No, he was a pirate. He raided the ship of the man who bought me. He was trying to sleep with me when Jack found us. He killed the man and took me in. He was my new father before he died. He said he liked my spirit ‘cause I didn’t even cry when he stabbed that man and got blood all over my body. He said I would be a great space pirate and he was right. I’m one of the best. Jack left me his crew."

A pirate! That was almost harder to believe than the story of her killing a man at the age of ten. He thought of the gun and the ID’s. Suddenly, all her rambling nightmares made sense. There was no other possible explanation for it. His wife was a pirate. With her nestled so trustingly in his arms, her voice a soft murmur against his chest, he knew she couldn’t have thought to lie. She’d probably never remember any of this.

"I won’t let any of them hurt you." His grip on her tightened. "I won’t let them take you away. You’re safe here."

Olena snuggled against him. "You’ll have no choice, Yusef. If the demons come for me, you’ll not be given a choice."

Yusef would have denied the claim a million times over if he thought it would do any good. He was never given the chance. The servant his mother had sent was knocking at the front door. Reaching behind his head, he pushed the intercom button to tell the man to come in. He had a whole cleaning crew with him and they set to work tidying his house.

By the time he finished intercoming instructions, Olena was fast asleep in the tub. The simple conversation had worn her out completely.

Yusef sat for a long time, holding her and contemplating what she had said. Her words only brought him more questions he couldn’t answer on his own. If she was a pirate, then why was she here? Why did she come to be a bride? Was she trying to escape her former life? Was she running?

Somehow, he managed to get them both out of the water and dried off. Dressing was another slow-going affair as was combing their hair. Then, lifting her back in his arms, he pulled her close to his chest and pretended to ignore the servants who watched the couple cross back over to the freshly made bed.

Yusef, aware of their eyes on him and mindful of what his father had said about the Var spies, propped her arm over his shoulder. She smiled and made a noise of contentment. Lightly, he kissed her lips and she moaned. She stirred, holding the back of his head. The servants chuckled quietly to see the loving interplay between the Prince and Princess.

Closing the door behind him, Yusef set Olena on the bed. She blinked and her hand reached for him when he pulled back. Her expression was soft as he took her hand in his.

"Stay with me, knight." She yawned, as she barely woke up enough to make the request. "Just stay."

Urging him beside her, Olena rolled over and snuggled her back into his chest. She held his arm around her waist, her fingers interlocking with his.

Yusef sighed, content to hold her while she slept. Her wet hair tickled his face. His stomach growled as he smelled the food being prepared in the kitchen. He ignored his own discomfort, choosing instead to stay by her side.

Olena slept contentedly, oblivious to everything he did for her.

Chapter Nine

"What do you think you are doing?"

Yusef blinked. Olena was wide awake, her eyes clear as she stared at him accusingly. Her tone had been deadly hard in its anger. She fought his hold on her waist and he lifted his arm to let her go. She scooted away from him, trying to get away by crossing to the far end of the bed.

She tried to sit up and flinched when she used her bad arm. Cradling it to her chest, her glare darkened. "What did you do to me?"

Yusef had heard the servants leave earlier and so he knew they were alone in the house. Her flaming red hair had curled around her temples in little ringlets, waving beautifully down her back. The soft cotton of her tight black shirt was crumpled from lying down. Her cheeks were a wonderful sleep-warmed hue of pink. Her lips pressed together as she eyed him and then herself.

Olena blinked, trying to figure out what was real and what was dream. She remembered running away from him. She remembered hiding. She remembered falling. The rest was vague, part dream world, part reality--part nightmare, part sweet agony.

"Don’t look at me like that," Yusef said, growing a little hard at the accusations in her eyes. "I’ve been taking care of you."

"I don’t need anyone taking care of me! I can take care of myself."

His brow rose in disbelief, as if to say, Can you now?

"I’ve done fine so far," Olena said, angling to stand from the bed. She clutched her arm more firmly.

"You’d have been dead three times already if not for me and we have not been together even a week," Yusef yelled, frustrated with her. All hope he’d felt at her drug induced softness was ripped away, leaving him bitter and very much alone. He’d wanted her from the first moment, had given part of his life to her, and she wanted nothing to do with him. She made that abundantly clear at every turn.

Then why did she choose him? She didn’t even think, just ripped off his mask and chose to be his wife--no hesitation. Was this just a game to her? Did she not understand that his whole life was now wrapped up into her? He couldn’t take it back, even if he wanted to. There would never be another woman for him. It was their way. When she broke the crystal, she broke any chance of him loving anyone but her. Even without the crystal sealing his fate, Yusef knew he would never have found anyone else.

Olena eyed him warily. What he said was true. He’d saved her life. But Jack had never taught her to apologize. Had never once said those simple words to her and she wasn’t sure how to do it.

"I," she began. Pressing her lips together, she merely nodded her thanks to him. She didn’t look pleased, or grateful, or angry. She just looked at him, studying his face. The words wouldn’t come, so she simply asked, "Why?"

"You are my wife," Yusef answered just as simply, as if that one sentence would explain everything.

"You don’t owe me anything. I never asked you for anything," Olena said carefully, almost defensively.

"I know, Olena," he murmured. Standing, Yusef scratched the back of his head. He was tired of this game of theirs. He wanted peace between them.

"And I don’t owe you," Olena insisted, trying to convince herself more than him. Jack would be so disappointed in her. The thought caused her to stifle any tenderness she felt for Yusef. Jack had saved her. Jack had avenged her. And when he left her the crew, he had told her he loved her without ever having to say the words. It might not be perfect, but it was all she had.

Yusef nodded, turning away from her.

"So I can go?" she asked, wondering why the thought of freedom didn’t sound so appealing.

Yusef turned to look at her. His eyes hardened. "No, you still have your chastisement to deal with. Law is law and I won’t break it. Whether you like it or not, wife, you chose to be with me and we are forever linked because of it. If you don’t like it, you have only yourself to blame. I am through trying to save you. It’s like you said. I don’t owe you a thing."

Yusef shut the door behind him, closing her away from his sight. He didn’t want to see her right now. The pain was too unbearable. He was at a loss. He didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t know how to please her, how to make her happy.

Olean’s lips parted with a gasp and her eyes threatened to fill with tears. His words stung. She was still tired and lay back down on the bed. It was late and she was in no shape to continue fighting with him. Her gut ached in a way she couldn’t comprehend. It was a feeling of loss, so intense that it rivaled the pain of her past with the pain of the present. Even when Yusef was unhappy with her, she wanted him. But it didn’t appear as if he wanted her anymore. He was wiping his hands of her. Hadn’t Jack always told her that a man’s attentions would wane, but a loyal crew would always remain constant?

"Take what you want, Olena, take it with both hands…," Jack had said to her more times than she could remember. He squinted in quiet pondering, wrinkling out at the edges in lines so familiar to her even now. He’d give a gruff sigh, before adding, "…because no one is ever going to hand you a damned thing--including me."

Waking up in Yusef’s arms had been the first real feeling of contentment in her life and it had scared the hell out of her. That’s why she reacted in outrage. She didn’t know how else to respond. For the first time in her life, she couldn’t readily see what was in it for the other guy.

* * * *

"You have to be hungry," Yusef said from the door to the bedroom. It was morning and neither of them had slept all that well. Olena eyed him, cautiously.

He gave her no lenience. His face hardened. Her eyes danced with their usual mischief. He knew the mischief was a disguise, but he couldn’t pry it apart again--not yet. He didn’t have the energy to try.

Reacting on instinct, she spat, "What? Do you need your slave to cook for you?"

"You’re not a slave," Yusef stated. "You are a wife."

"Same difference," Olena grumbled, starving.

"Think what you wish," he answered, dejectedly. "Your chastisement begins now. Everything you need to make breakfast is in the kitchen. Then I need you to clean the bathroom. The mud you covered yourself in is staining the tub."

"When exactly does this chastisement end?" she asked, not liking the idea of cleaning. When she was little, she had made her way cleaning Jack’s ship. She had sworn she would never have to clean another thing again. It looked as if she had been wrong.

"That depends on you," Yusef said. By the look on her face, he thought it would be a long, long time coming.

"What is the aim of this chastisement? To get me to say I’m sorry for injuring your manly pride?" A fake pout came to her lips. "To get me to part my legs for you, dragon, so that you may have your way?"

"An apology for drawing your husband’s blood would be a beginning," he allowed, not falling for her baited contempt. "But the purpose is for you to realize what we have and what you will lose if you were to actually do me harm. The purpose, firebird, is to repent for doing it, to admit that you were wrong and that you were scared, and that you want me as I want you."

"I didn’t want you. That was the whole point!"

"You did want me, Olena." Yusef’s eyes took her in, glinting with golden slivers. Even like this, she was so ravishing it made him hurt. He took a step closer, stalking around the bed to get to her. Towering before her, he couldn’t help saying, his tone low as it rolled over her in its thick burring accent, "I smelled it on you. I felt it on my hand when I touched you. I heard it in your voice as you moaned my name, begging me to take you."

Olena shivered at the bold words. Combined with the heated fire of his dark gray eyes, her desire for him aroused itself anew. He made a show of leaning forward to sniff at her. Olena reddened in mortification and turned her eyes icily away to stare at the wall, knowing he was sensing her body’s treachery.

Not daring to touch her at the risk of losing his hard won control, he let his eyes flash golden. Whispering with a growl, he said, "Your body wants me even now."

There was no use trying to deny it so she said nothing. Her words were stuck in her tight, dry throat anyway.

"Today you cook and clean." Yusef pulled back as if nothing had happened between them. As he made his way around the bed, he said, "I keep your work light in respect to your injury. But do not think for a moment that I won’t get more demanding should you slack in your duties."

Her eyes narrowed in resentment.

"Hate me if you wish, firebird." He reached the door. "But remember, you did this to yourself."

"Don’t do me any favors, dragon!" she yelled at his departing back. He didn’t answer her as he went to the patio door and slipped outside.

* * * *

Over the next several days, Olena cleaned things that didn’t need cleaning, she cooked every meal, and she did it all in silence. She also discovered that chastisement also meant she couldn’t leave the house or receive guests. Cordele stopped by once. Yusef told her that his wife was sick and sent her away. For Olena, who enjoyed an immense amount of freedom and loved the open air, the stifling prison walls of the house closed in on her until she wanted to scream.

During that time Yusef was a silent warden, all but ignoring her. The only time he spoke was to give her the morning’s list of chores. Then, for the rest of the day, he pretended she wasn’t there. She wished she could dismiss him as easily. But, everywhere she looked, she saw him.

Once he received documents from a courier. They looked very official. She dusted around him trying to get peek at what they said. All she saw was his emblem of a dragon on the top, before he stood without comment. He took his work to the bedroom and shut the door. Her curiosity nearly drove her insane and she cleaned with a fury, doing more than she was told to.