The Barbarian Prince (26 page)

Morrigan turned, seeing Ualan going towards his brother. A bright smile lit her face.

"Careful," teased Olena, bumping into her arm. "Or else we might think you actually like the barbarian."

Morrigan blushed, turning her eyes away, only to peek again from beneath her down turned lashes.

Zoran frowned at Ualan’s fevered whisper. Without uncrossing his arms, he nodded his jaw to where Morrigan stood with the other Princesses.

Ualan felt instant relief when he located her. But worry made his face look harsh as he came to claim her. Seeing Olena with the blades, he said to Morrigan, "Come."

"What?" she whispered in question. "We’re still practicing. Pia is going to show us how to roll while throwing.

"Don’t argue with me," he hissed. "Come, now."

Morrigan was embarrassed. When she looked over her shoulder while being dragged roughly away, she received looks from the other women that seemed to say they understood her situation completely and were sorry for it.

Morrigan’s embarrassment turned to anger as Ualan dragged her along a path that would take them closer to the village. Stumbling behind his faster stride, trying to retain some dignity, she hissed, "What in the hell do you think you are doing?"

Ualan turned, making sure no one watched. They kept their voices low. Morrigan did not want to create another scene.

"Where were you this morning?"

"What? Is that what this is about?" she asked in disbelief. "You’re mad because I wasn’t in bed when you woke up. I’m sorry, I didn’t realize it was my duty to see to your…." Morrigan looked down at his pants and uttered, "…your release each morning."

"Rigan," he warned. That’s not what he meant and she knew it.

Ualan, not wanting to draw attention by standing so close to the village, grabbed her arm and dragged her deeper into the forest. Morrigan trailed along in silence, hurt by his attitude. She’d thought that after what happened between them in the night hours he would trust her more. Obviously, she was the only one deeply affected by their joining. The realization stung.

"Rigan," Ualan began again when they came to halt. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. She was so damned beautiful and even more infuriating.

"No," she growled in a heated whisper. "I didn’t realize I had to check in with you whenever I wanted to do anything. You don’t want a wife, you want a cook and a maid and … You want a slave. Well, I’m sorry master. I didn’t realize I had to be there for your pleasure each morning. Should I relieve you right now? Right he … re?"

A dart shot out from the trees, hitting Morrigan in the neck. Her eyes rolled in her head, and she fell forward. Ualan caught her with one hand, automatically lifting his sword with the other. Twelve light blonde warriors jumped out from the trees, their bodies growing with fur as they shifted with the features of wild cats.

Ualan was forced to shift awkwardly, using his arm to deflect the enemy’s blows. He tried to protect Morrigan, her feet trailing in the dirt as he called out to his brothers for assistance. Soon his brothers were by his side, shifting into the Draig while they fought against the Var. The one-armed Yusef bravely hacked forward with his sword, giving Ualan time to get Morrigan to safety.

Ualan dropped Morrigan to the ground behind his battling brothers as softly as he could before returning to the fight against the attackers. Pia ran swiftly to join the men, throwing a blade into one of the creature’s throats. When Zoran swung his arm, she ducked beneath him, grabbing a knife from his belt.

Nadja stiffened in fear to see the fighting creatures--human dragons against human tiger-like beasts. Shaking herself at Olena’s call, she darted forward to the fallen Morrigan. With Olena’s help, they pulled the woman from the fray to safety.

Almost immediately the Vars retreated to the forest. Zoran nodded to his wife in pride, shifting back. Ualan turned, sniffing out Morrigan’s trail and took off down the path, Yusef and Olek were behind him.

Nadja was by Morrigan’s side, her narrowed eyes examining the wound. She jolted to see Ualan’s Draig face before he shifted back to how she knew him. Looking around, she wearily eyed Olek’s human features.

Ualan began to reach forward.

"Don’t," commanded Nadja. Ualan drew back in surprise. She nodded at his arm where red blisters were forming on his skin. "She is poison to you."

Ualan’s jaw tensed, but he held back.

"You can’t move her yet," Nadja said.

"But, the poison.…" Ualan tried, desperate to help his wife.

"Quiet," Nadja hissed. Zoran and Pia approached from the battle, having checked to make sure none of the enemy remained. "Let me think. I need to concentrate."

Ualan looked at Olek who appeared as confused as he was. Olek shrugged.

"Give me your knife," Nadja said to Pia. She reached out with shaking fingers. Her eyes darted around the now silent forest. Pia immediately handed her blade over.

Taking a deep breath, Nadja cut into Morrigan’s throat where the dart had embedded in the skin. Instantly, green began to drip and ooze from the wound. Soon, she had dug out the star tipped points of the dart.

Nadja dropped the blade and continued to bleed the poison out. When she had finished, she commanded Ualan, "Try touching her."

Ualan did. He was left unharmed.

"It’s as I thought. I’ve seen this kind if poison before. Usually jealous old lovers do it for revenge. If you had torn the dart out of the skin, it would have released a poison into the blood stream. She would have lived but you never would have been able to touch her again. It’s ironic really. That way it is the current lover that poisons the woman, sealing their fate. You should get her to a doctor."

Nadja stood, wearily trying to edge away from the Draig shifters.

"I would say that whoever poisoned her didn’t want you to be with her," Nadja said, before turning and running away from them. Olek was right behind her.

Olena stood, watching the woman disappearing into the forest. Her eyes narrowed. Solemnly, she uttered, "She didn’t know about the Draig."

Ualan picked up his wife, not caring about Nadja’s fear of him and his brothers. She would get over it easily enough. All he cared about was getting his wife to safety. The others followed as he carried Morrigan to the medical ward. No one said a word.

Chapter Eighteen

"Why do they attack the Princesses?" asked Yusef with a frown. Olena stood by his side, her face unmoving. Nadja and Olek had not joined them, but Zoran and Pia stood next to Ualan. Morrigan was on the hospital bed, having been checked by the doctors and given some medicine to help along her recovery. If not for Nadja’s interference, she would have been as good as dead. She couldn’t imagine never being able to touch Ualan.

Ualan looked at his wife. Her face was pale, but was regaining color. The puncture on her neck left a small mark, but nothing that wouldn’t be healed. His heart beat painfully with the thought that he’d almost lost her--again.

With sudden insight, Pia whispered, "Because without us, you will have no sons. Your line will end."

Morrigan blinked. Her throat hurt too bad to speak, so she held quiet. She watched the hard side of Ualan’s face for a reaction. They had not spoken of sons.

Morrigan knew Ualan was mad at her. She couldn’t blame him. She had said some pretty mean things. She just couldn’t help it. His eyes had been so accusing, like she was up to something devious. Now, he barely even looked at her. Her entire body ached and she wanted nothing more than to be pulled into his arms and protected. Once, she saw his hand straying as if to touch her, but it changed course and only scratched the back of his head. Her spirit fell in disappointment.

Pia’s lips stiffened, as she continued, drawing Morrigan’s attention away from her husband to the problem at hand. "It makes perfect sense. I’ve seen you all fight. Especially with all four of you banded together, you would be a formidable opponent. You expect the attack. We are new here and it would be assumed that we had no clear idea of the dangers. Plus, we are women. Men … ah, no offense to anyone here … men, especially those from warrior classes, often misjudge women as unworthy opponents."

The Princes listened closely to her words, giving away none of their thoughts. Morrigan watched Ualan slowly nod in consideration of her words. Her hand automatically sought for him, but dropped back, unsure how he would take the familiar contact.

Pia gazed up at her husband. Her face was pulled with concentration. "If you were to destroy an enemy, Zoran, would you attack their weakness or their strength?"

"Only a fool would choose to fight a strength if a weakness was to be had," Ualan said, nodding to the woman’s insight. Morrigan couldn’t take her eyes from him. How she wished they were alone so she could talk to him.

"Only they have obviously underestimated the strength of our women," added Zoran.

Ualan glanced at his wife, wondering at the look on her face and dismissing it as part of her illness. He wanted to hold her, but knew after what she yelled at him that she would think he only sought to force her into his arms. True, this morning he had been ready to make love to her again. And why not? It was one of the few times they weren’t strained emotionally towards each other. It was the one time when he knew her actions and words were pure and untainted by deceit. Besides, she was his wife. It was only natural that he wanted to make love to her. He refused to feel guilty about it.

"What better way to end this age old feud than to wipe out the leaders before they are born?" said Yusef. He frowned, unconsciously drawing Olena under the protection of his good arm.

"For, if we were to die," added Ualan, turning his eyes again to his brothers. He again resisted the urge to pull Morrigan into his embrace to convince himself that she was unharmed. But he did not want to risk her rejection in front of his family. "There would be an heir that could sometime rise against them. If they secure that our line is ended, when we die there will be no one to avenge us. With no King or protection, our people will be left without defense. Everything will be in chaos."

"It is imperative that we discover who is spying for the Var," said Yusef. Whoever had stabbed him knew the back passages well enough to escape through them.

"Spy?" asked Pia, blinking. She turned to frown at Zoran. "You said nothing of a spy!"

"Olena," said Pia. "You remember that servant at the festival, don’t you? The one who spilled his drink? It has to be him. He was no more fit to be a servant than I am."

Olena shook her head, barely recalling anything but her husband from that night.

"What are you talking about?" demanded Zoran of his wife, turning to grab her arms and study her eyes.

"There are too many servants in the kingdom," mused Ualan. "For festivals many come to help. It would take forever to locate them all just to find this one."

"No," said Pia. "He was at the coronation. The spy would be here in the palace kitchens. I remember watching him fumble with some plates. He only carried two, unlike the other servants who carried four or more. It has to be him. He was graceless. Yet there was something different to his walk and his hand had a sword callous along the ridge. I would almost bet my life he was your man."

Morrigan, having an idea and desperately wanting to help, glanced hesitantly at Ualan. He didn’t pay her any attention. Knowing that lives were more important than her pride or Ualan’s anger, she uttered with her hoarse voice, "I recorded that night on my camera." Everyone turned to look at her.

Sheepishly, she admitted, "I’m an undercover reporter for an intergalactic newspaper chip."

Ualan stiffened but did not stop her. Morrigan’s eyes searched his for a sign of anything. He was cautiously blank. She swallowed, nervously.

"I was supposed to write a story about the royal weddings," she continued softly. Turning to Ualan, her eyes pleaded with him not to be mad. But, her own discomfort over the confession would not stop her from helping her new family. Quietly, she admitted, "My camera will have recorded part of that night. Maybe Pia’s servant can be found on the relay."

"It’s worth a shot," said Yusef.

"I’ll go find it," Ualan said stiffly. He went from the hospital room, his arms rigid with anger. His stomach tightened at how easily she spoke of exposing him and his family. Hopefully, his brothers would take little heed of her confession. Knowing exactly the container the camera was in, since he had been the one to put it up, he grabbed it. His gut ached and he paused taking a deep breath before returning to her.

Morrigan watched him leave, knowing he was upset. It was silent in the room and she couldn’t meet anyone’s gaze, afraid that they would be mad at her. When Ualan came back, he handed her a small eyepiece and the emerald trigger.

"Can you make it work so we can all see?" asked Yusef.

Morrigan nodded. "I think so."

She requested some saline and wetted the license before sticking it into her eye. Slipping the emerald on her finger so it could react with her nervous system, she turned the stone. A light shone from her eyes, darkening as she blinked. They watched in amazement as they saw a picture of the Breeding Festival floating on the air.

Coming around to stand across from Morrigan, they eyed the round picture.

"Can you see it?" she asked.

"Yes," Ualan said, his tone stiff. He took a deep breath, trying to relax his body. It would not do for the others to see his fury.

"All right, just let me leaf through these," she murmured. Morrigan closed her eye and the picture disappeared. Instantly, she came across a video feed of Ualan the night of the Breeding Festival -- his proud face, his delectably oiled body … Gulping, she pushed the button, trying her best to get through all the naughty photographs to the important ones. She’d forgotten all that was on there and made a note to erase it--just as soon as she looked the fur loincloth over another time.

"Morrigan," Ualan began. He saw her turn bright red and wondered about it.

Morrigan blinked in surprise at the gruff sound of his voice. A flash of Ualan’s naked backside came up bigger than life before his brother’s faces. Ualan felt his stomach lurch with manly arrogance that she had taken such a thing, tempered with just a touch of embarrassment.