Dragon Lords 4-Warrior Prince (13 page)

"Are we nobility?" Zoran made a great show of sighing. "The Queen called you Lord Zoran and said I should ask you to explain it to me."

Zoran chuckled quietly at that so she couldn’t see. Trust his mother to try and help things along. He knew it was irritating the Queen that she couldn’t openly go to her new daughters and proclaim their relation. No doubt she had grand feminine plans in store for all the new brides.

"I’m trying to get this done, Pia. Do you mind if we talk about it later?" he asked, giving her his most serious face. The truth was he wasn’t sure he wanted to tell her. He had no idea how she would react. If she were happy, he would worry that she would start looking at him for his title and not himself. If she were mad about it, he would worry that she wouldn’t get over it in a week’s time.

"Oh, sorry," Pia mumbled. With a loud sigh, she sunk back into the couch and absently kicked her feet at the cushions.

Zoran looked over at the couch. Her foot was lifted over the back, swinging in loud boredom. He tried not to smile. She’d been trying to get his attention ever since he walked in the door. Ignoring her wasn’t a tactic he would’ve thought of before now. It was working beautifully.

"Pia?" he sighed, forcing exasperation.

Her head popped back up from behind the couch, expectant.

"Can you do that a little quieter?" he asked, with a meaningful nod at her still dangling foot.

"Sorry," she huffed, scrunching up her face. As she lay back down, he heard her mumble, "You try spending all day in this stupid house and see if you don’t get a little stir crazy."

Pia would never tell him, but earlier that day she’d been so bored that she tried on all his formal tunics and pretended to fight with one of his swords. The sad thing was the imaginary creature she fought against won the battle. Though, her dramatic performance in the death scene was quite good, if she did think so herself.

Pia quietly got up from the couch and wandered around the house. Slowly, she circled her way closer to him, going into the kitchen before slithering out to loom behind his back. She raised up on her toes, trying to read over his shoulder to see if he was almost finished.

"Argh, woman," Zoran said, spinning around to look at her. He leaned a hand on the floor behind him to support his weight. She was beautiful. Even without her little noises, she would’ve been distracting him with her presence. Every time he tired to read a line, he’d start imagining her naked body on the page and what he’d do to her if she’d only let him. Already, he’d started the same paragraph five times. "What is it you want?"

"I wanted to ask you something," she said. "Are you still busy?"

Zoran’s eyebrow rose on his forehead. A lecherous smile came to his lips as he looked purposefully over her body.

Pia blushed, denying instantly, "Not that!"

Zoran watched the heat that came to her features. He shrugged. Was he busy? He looked back at the stack of royal documents needing his attention.

"I need your permission for something," she rushed to keep his attention on her and not the paperwork.

That intrigued him. Zoran slowly turned to study her again.

Pia idly made her way past him to sit across the table. She crossed her legs as she lowered herself onto the surprisingly comfortable cushion. Her eyes drifted to his documents, seeing a dragon on the top of the page--his dragon.

Pia swallowed, thinking he would deny her if she asked him what she wanted to. So, instead, she lifted her finger to ruffle the side of his stack and inquired, "What are all these, anyway?"

"Work," came the short answer. Pia gave a light grimace at him and drew her hands to her lap.

Zoran’s body tensed. Oh, how he wanted nothing more at the moment than to crawl over the table and kiss the incredibly erotic pout off her face.

"Well?" he probed, feigning an annoyance he didn’t feel. He enjoyed their little games.

"Any chance you’d just give me permission without knowing?" Pia asked. His expression said that it wasn’t likely. She shivered, very drawn to the handsomeness of his eyes. Every time she thought of them, she got chills. "All right, I want ... "

Zoran smiled, growing unbelievably aroused by the way her mouth moved when she talked. His stomach tightened and his leg muscles were ready to pounce at the slight command from his brain.

Swallowing, Pia was completely unaware of the effect she had on him. However, she was all too aware of the effect his presence was having on her. Easily, she could recall the look and feel of his chest. Considering her words carefully, they still came out all wrong. "I want to touch your weapon."

His grin grew, as did his desire. Slowly, he stood. Pia followed suit. A soft look of hope came to her innocent features. His manly ‘weapon’ stirred to eager attention. What exactly was she asking him? To his disappointment, her next statement answered that question. It wasn’t the answer his taut body wanted.

"Just the throwing knives," Pia hastened, seeing his look and mistaking it for displeasure. She came forward to lay a pleading hand on his arm. "I wasn’t allowed to bring my set on the ship and had to leave them behind."

In truth, Pia had to sell the antique set to get to the Galaxy Bride’s corporation headquarters to see the doctors.

"Please," she begged. She bounced in jittery excitement. "It’s been making me crazy staring at them all day and not being able to do anything. I’ll go mad without something to keep me busy."

"Knives?" he mused, just to be sure his body’s disappointment was founded. His hand lifted to stroke her cheek. She blinked in surprise at the touch, almost startled, and he drew away.

"It’s polite to ask before taking," Pia explained. "Otherwise I wouldn’t have bugged you about it. My father ... "

She stopped suddenly.

Zoran saw the look on her face and frowned. Something in her eyes wavered, but she lifted her chin proudly and didn’t continue. He smelled her pain as well as felt it inside of his chest as she mentioned the man.

"Give me a kiss," Zoran said instead, a grin curling his devilishly handsome mouth.

Pia’s brows furrowed.

"Just one."

Pia swallowed and didn’t move. His eyes were staring boldly into hers. Her mouth pressed shut and she denied him. With a shake of her head, she said, "Don’t change the subject."

"Can I at least kiss you?" he murmured seductively, drawing closer still.

"Please," Pia said, staring at his full mouth. Then, shaking herself, she added, "I’ll take good care of them."

"I can’t supervise you just now," Zoran answered at last, sighing in disappointment. He glanced back at the documents. His father would expect their return the next morning. Zoran doubted the King would take any excuse short of him impregnating Pia with a grandson. Since that wasn’t going to be happening, he knew he should get back to work. "But I’ll show them to you later."

Pia wrinkled her nose at him and grumbled, "I don’t need supervision, tyrant. I know what I’m doing."

"I don’t want you hurting yourself." He crossed his arms in a very commanding way that was full of authority and power, as he looked down at her. "I keep all my weapons very sharp and ready for battle. Maybe I could get you a child’s set to begin with."

The offer had been genuine. Pia was genuinely ticked off. Her face turned a bright shade of angry red. Her mouth fell open at the audacity.

"Yeah, you do that and I’ll shove that child’s set right up your stubborn--"

"Pia," he warned.

Her mouth snapped shut and she glared at him in consideration. Suddenly, she smiled agreeably, "Husband?"

Now Zoran was worried.

"Is this my house, too?" she asked, her voice sweet.

Stiffly, he nodded, very afraid.

"Fine, if you are going to be a tyrant, so will I. Where I come from a wife runs the household and if I have to get used to your culture, you have to get used to mine. And I’ll make you as crazy as you make me. You are to pick up after yourself. No more leaving laundry on the floor, no more dirty boots in the front hall. You’ll rinse your own swamp mud out of the shower. That was really very gross--"

"Pia," Zoran interjected. He’d noticed with no small amount of husbandly pleasure that she was picking up after him.

"Huh?"

"Are you finished? I really need to get back to work." His eyes were devouring her face. He kind of liked her giving him commands.

"Zoran, what part of this are you not understanding? I’m going crazy in this house," she cried. "Please, please, please, let me go outside."

"Open," he yelled at the door. Pia turned her eyes to the front door. It slid open. He waved at it. "Have fun, try not to get lost."

Zoran sat back down at the table, pretending to ignore her.

Pia glared at his down turned head. "You know what I mean. Program my voice into it so I can leave during the day."

"And what will you do?" he asked. To the door, he called, "Shut!"

"I’m going to get a job," Pia answered, carefully. She drew her finger in absent circles around the table. "You’re gone all day so it’s not like you’d even notice."

"You don’t need to work." Zoran didn’t like the idea of her being able to support herself. He didn’t want her getting any ideas in her head about leaving him again. He studied her carefully, wondering at her forlorn expression. Was she pouting about his absence? Did she actually miss him during the day as he did her? Rationally, he added, "We don’t need the money."

"Oh, but I do need to work," she rushed. "I’ve never been as useless as I have been these last several days. If you’re not going to let me divorce you, then you have got to give just a little. Otherwise, you will have a neurotic mess on your hands and not a wife."

"And what exactly are you going to do?" Zoran asked, standing once more and stalking forward to tower next to her. To his delight, she shivered and inched back from him in nervousness. He couldn’t take much more of this. His hands were itching to touch her. His mouth throbbed with the need to kiss her.

"I--I don’t want to tell you," she said, backing further away from his looming body. "You’ll only laugh at me."

Zoran grew worried.

"I’m going to talk to the dressmaker," she lied. "I’m pretty handy with a ... needle."

"Really?" Zoran mused. Sewing wasn’t too bad. It could have been much worse. "I’ll speak to the seamstress tomorrow for you. I don’t think she’s looking for an apprentice, but it doesn’t hurt to ask."

Pia scowled. She had no intention of speaking to the seamstress. The only thing she’d ever stitched up was her own hide. "Never mind, I would’ve rather done it myself."

"She doesn’t speak your language."

His logical tone frustrated Pia even more. This conversation wasn’t going as she’d hoped. All she wanted was to use his knives and to go outside to do it.

Zoran turned back to his documents. Giving her an expectant look, he asked, "Was there anything else?"

Pia glowered hotly at him and stalked away.

Chapter Nine

Pia smiled, watching the slight spark as she hit two wires together. The front door slid up. It had only taken an hour for her to find the controls in the wall and reprogram the door. The hole she’d dug in the side wall was unfortunate, but didn’t her husband say it was her house, too? And why couldn’t she dig a hole into the wall of her house if she wanted to? She’d hoped it wouldn’t come to sneaking out, but Zoran really left her no choice.

She wore the boots he’d given her and a pair of the more sturdy pants and a cotton shirt. Her outfit was all black, matching the mischievous ninja-like mood she was in. At her waist was her tyrant of a husband’s throwing knives. Hey, she’d asked him. It wasn’t her fault he was stubborn and forced her to resort to borrowing without permission.

Turning down the hall in the direction she’d seen Zoran walk in that morning, she looked around. Their apartment was adjoined to a long red hallway. As she made her way, she saw portraits, statues, and tapestries decorating with subtle beauty. She ignored them all, not really interested in fine art except as markers for direction.

Coming to the first turn, she frowned. The halls looked the same, only the decorations were different. Seeing a small panel on the wall with strange carvings, she looked at all four corners. Three were the similar in design, one was different. She tried the hall with the different symbol.

She got lucky. The hall led her down a straight path, past several closed doors and a shorter hallway. She kept going straight and hit upon the front gate. Sunlight streamed through the opening. The guard on duty looked her over, stopping to stare at her hair. He seemed to have heard of her, because he merely nodded his head and allowed her to pass without speaking.

Pia narrowed her eyes and made a face behind his back. These stupid Qurilixen and their hair fetish! She cursed them all with baldness.

Going into the soft haze of the triple suns, she took a deep breath of air. She instantly felt better. She was in a courtyard. Glancing up in surprise, she realized she lived in the tall mountain she’d seen from the festival ground. From the ground, because of the angle, you couldn’t see the windows or balconies that were adjoined to the homes. They were carved just so, that even from a distance it looked just like a mountain cliff. It was truly an impenetrable fortress. Pia was impressed.

A path went down one side of the courtyard to the forest. Another split off to a tiny village nestled in the valley. The red earth streets were carved to perfection and the town looked very tidy. Pia walked slowly away from the forest. Past the village she could see the edge of the festival grounds and the platform where she’d first met the King and Queen. The tents were all gone and the field looked barren.

The villager’s homes were of rock and wood, so that even the poorest of families looked to be prosperous. Pia could see some of the villagers down below. They wore light linen tunics and all had long hair. Pia touched her short blonde locks, hating how she was suddenly self-conscious about them. Taking a tie from her pocket, she pulled her hair back into a small ponytail.