Dragon Lords 4-Warrior Prince (31 page)

* * * *

Pia’s blond servant was apprehended almost immediately upon the Prince Zoran and Prince Yusef entering the palace kitchens. Zoran’s nose picked up the Var smell beneath an all too potent scent of Draig. They found him hiding behind one of the oversized brick ovens, ducking from his work.

The soldier must have known that he was found out, because he tried to run. It was no use. Yusef was standing in the doorway and with a swing of his good arm he punched the man square in the jaw, lying him out on the floor.

The Draig servants blinked in surprise at the sudden attack. However, as they witnessed the lazy man sprawled on the floor, they cheered without knowing his treachery. As a fellow worker, the indolent Var spy wasn’t well liked in the kitchen.

The royal family was relieved as news was spread of the spy’s capture. Olek escorted the Var to the lower prisons where he would be questioned by Agro. Zoran had no doubt that the beefy giant would discover much from the man. When Agro chose to shift, he could be most persuasive.

* * * *

"I’m very impressed by your knowledge," Zoran admitted to his wife.

Pia flushed, turning to look at him. He quickly told her all that had happened--the capture of the spy, his impending interrogation in the lower prisons. When he finished, Pia was nodding her head, her eyes drifting over his body.

"I got you a present," Zoran said. A smile fanned over his lips.

Pia furrowed her brow, and asked, "Another set of knives?"

"No," Zoran said carefully moving across to the couch were she sat. Reaching behind his back, he pulled the blindfold out from behind him. "This."

Pia flushed. Biting her lips, she backed away. "I don’t think we can."

Zoran’s look disagreed.

"Zoran."

This time he stopped, frowning. "What is it?"

"I’m ... tender," she answered delicately.

"From the fight?" he questioned, growing worried by the way she said it.

"No."

"From...?" Zoran’s brow rose and she swore she saw a swelling of masculine pride at the idea that it was his lovemaking that caused her soreness.

"Ah," Pia flushed, her cheeks flaming. "You’re going to make me say it, aren’t you?"

"Pia," he whispered, unable to help his chuckle. "I’m your husband, you can tell me anything."

"I’m female tender," she answered.

"You wish to love a female?" he frowned, not believing the words, but not understanding her.

"No!" she said, nearing mortification. She’d really never discussed this with anyone, aside from the nurse on the medical base. She couldn’t even remember the technical word the old, burly woman had for it. Lifting her hands to motion toward her chest, she didn’t touch herself, as she tried to explain, "I’m sore. You know, women once a month get ... sore."

Zoran’s eyes narrowed and to Pia’s horror, he sniffed at her. The blindfold dropped from his fingers to the floor. Shaking his head, he said, "You are not on your Breeding time."

"I’m not saying I’m pregnant," Pia shot, a look of utter horror coming to her face. Zoran frowned at the way the statement came from her lips. Pia was too embarrassed to notice. "I’m going to ... get ... all bloodied."

He wanted to laugh at her description of it. For the Draig, the woman’s Breeding time was almost regarded as sacred. The pheromones the women’s body sent off drove husbands mad with lust and the need to procreate. It turned them into true beasts. And from what he’d been told, although women were not made to conceive at such a time, it didn’t stop the effect. When she was in such a state, Draig seed could stay within the woman, waiting inside her until her new cycle, causing a greater chance for a belated pregnancy.

"So?" he shrugged reaching forward to kiss her.

"It’s gross."

"It’s normal," Zoran said, kissing her protesting lips.

Pia instantly began to melt. Then, catching herself, she pulled away.

"Is this because you do not want my children?" Zoran asked, letting her go. When she couldn’t answer fast enough, he stood. His gaze hardened, seeming almost to crack within its depths. "If it’s what you wish, wife. I’ll leave you alone."

Pia gasped at his sudden anger. Zoran didn’t give her time to explain. He turned and stormed away, heading out the front door.

Pia sat, staring after him, her mouth hanging open, stunned to silence.

* * * *

Zoran didn’t come home that night. Pia stayed up until her eyes felt so leaden she couldn’t lift them. He didn’t come home the next day either.

Pia, bored out of her mind and needing an excuse to leave the house, went to search out the other Princesses. Olena and Nadja weren’t answering their doors. Knowing Morrigan was more than likely recovering, she left her alone. She walked outside. The practice field had a few men on it running laps, but no Zoran or his brothers. Frowning, she turned to go inside. Queen Mede was coming out the front gate.

"Mede," Pia said, smiling.

"I was looking for you," the Queen admitted. "One of the men said they thought you went this way."

"What’s happening?"

"Nadja and Olena were attacked last night," the Queen said.

"The Var?" Pia asked instantly.

"No, Nadja’s father." A light frown came across Mede’s features.

"Are they...?"

Mede shook her head in denial. "No, they’re fine."

Pia nodded.

"You were right about King Attor’s motives. Agro interrogated the prisoner and confirmed it. He seeks to kill Morrigan, Nadja, and you. It seems that he’s taken a liking to Olena, though. That’s why he attacked Yusef," Mede said. "The man gave Agro directions to Attor’s hidden camp. The trackers go there even now to confirm it."

Pia didn’t need to ask the tactics Agro had to used to get that much from the spy.

"They go tonight, then, if he’s where they think?" Pia asked.

The Queen nodded.

"I would go with them," Pia admitted.

"Zoran has forbidden it," Mede answered. "Come, let’s go back inside. It isn’t safe out here."

Pia wasn’t worried, but she didn’t feel like fighting with Mede over it.

Walking inside, they passed the guard in silence. When they were far enough away to speak in private, Pia stated bluntly, "I have some daughter questions."

Mede was surprised, actually stopping mid-stride with her mouth falling slightly apart. Clearing her throat, a deep pleasure came over her face. Reaching to boldly touch Pia’s cheek, she was pleased when the woman didn’t flinch and pull away.

"And I would have mother answers for you Pia," she answered, her Qurilixen accent rolling softly. She drew her hand away. "What is it?"

"I know nothing of being a wife."

"You seem to be doing well enough," Mede answered. "There’s no ‘way’ to being a wife, you just are."

"I know nothing of being a woman," Pia elaborated.

"Oh." Mede pressed her lips together. "You mean you and my son haven’t...?"

Pia flushed, but she was too serious to let embarrassment stop her. "Yes, we’ve come together. What I mean, is that I know nothing about this Breeding time, as Zoran called it." Pia shrugged. "I’ve always referred to it as getting bloodied."

With much effort, Mede managed not to laugh. Pia made is sound as if she got into a fight each month and lost. Having been raised on a male dominated planet, and raising only sons herself, Mede had no idea how to have such a conversation.

"What is it you would know?" Mede asked carefully.

"Zoran wants sons."

"As do all men," the Queen answered with a nod.

"How do I get them?" Pia asked.

This time Mede did grin. She took up her arm and began guiding her down the red passageway. "Oh, Pia, what do you think you’ve been doing with my son?"

"So when he leaks, that makes sons?" Pia asked, nodding her head as if she understood. "He hinted as much. I wasn’t sure as to the how."

"Basically, he becomes even more a part of you, growing inside you," Mede answered.

"And then when he grows in me, he’ll go to another until I am ... until it’s removed?" she asked. She’d heard that many married men cheated on their wives when they were pregnant.

The Queen merely laughed. "No, it would be impossible."

Pia was confused again.

"Once mated, they do not go to other women--ever. He couldn’t even if he wanted to. You would know right away. Besides, if he wanted to, you would know that too. He doesn’t desire anyone else, rest assured," Mede said.

"How do you mean I would know? I can’t read his thoughts," Pia replied.

"Qurilixen men are given a crystal when they are born. It’s their guiding light. When you were paired by the crystal, your lives became joined in such a way that can never be taken back. When he took you to his tent, it was his choice. When you stayed, that was yours. You exchanged part of your souls. By crushing the crystal, you assured that the exchange would never be reversed. There will be no other in his bed or his heart. When a Draig man looks at his wife, all he sees and feels is for her. Very beautiful, isn’t it?"

Pia nodded, though she didn’t really understand. Surely, the Queen merely spoke in metaphors. She stopped walking to look up at a particularly bold statue of a Draig in human form.

"Do you understand what that means for him and for you?" the Queen asked, her eyes shifting to a subtle gold at her words.

Pia shook her head, her wide eyes staring out carefully, not moving from her spot before the statue.

"It means his crystal is broken. It means he put his every chance at happiness in you. He gave his life to you. There will never be anyone else for him so long as he lives. That’s a long time for our people, and for you. By giving you his life, he shortened his and extended yours so your fates could remain together. If you were to choose to leave him, he would be alone for the rest of his days." Mede stopped, letting her words sink in.

Pia trembled. Her heart fluttered dangerously in her chest.

Mede continued, "When you feel as if you can sense him inside you that’s what I speak of. It’s very real. Soon, when you are bonded completely, you will be able to hear his thoughts in your head. You’ll sense his troubles. You’ll hear him call you from across the palace. You’ll know every moment he wants you, when he’s sick, when he’s hiding something from you in an effort to protect you. And it will be the same for him with you."

"So if he thought I didn’t want his children..." Pia began.

Mede’s face paled. She looked as if she might be sick. "Why would he think that?"

"I ... might have ... led him," she began. "I was frightened by the prospect."

"Do you want them?" Mede asked.

"Yes, but, I don’t know. I’m scared. What if I do something wrong with it? Or forget to ... do whatever it is you do with them," she said.

"That’s why you have family," the Queen said, smiling in understanding. "Every woman is scared, especially with the first. But, I guarantee, there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing your husband’s face in your child’s."

Pia nodded. With a family nearby, it wouldn’t be so bad. How hard could it be?

"If Zoran believes you feel this way," Mede said, "he’ll be hurt beyond measure. To tell a Draig husband that you have no wish to give him a child, is like telling them you have no wish for their love."

Tears came into Pia’s normally strong gaze. She thought of her old wounds. Somehow, she hadn’t thought about them for awhile. They no longer mattered. Voicing her last suspicion, a fear that nagged at the back of her mind since Zoran first mentioned he could give her strong sons the night of the Breeding festival, Pia asked weakly, "And if I can’t give him sons? What will he do then?"

"Do you have reason to think such a thing?" Mede asked.

"I was injured once, pretty severely," Pia admitted. A tear slipped down her face. "The doctors who took care of me said there was a chance that I may not function as a woman in such a way."

"Let’s find out then, shall we?" the Queen answered. "Come on, we’ll ask the medic to take a look."

Chapter Twenty-one

Draig trackers soon had the position of King Attor’s campsite confirmed. The news came that night that the men were off to battle with King Attor and his Var warriors. Pia respected Zoran’s wishes and didn’t follow him into battle. If what Queen Mede had said was true, then she had a lot of thinking to do.

Pia hardly slept, waking up from small naps every hour or so. The men were gone all night. Mede stayed with her most of the evening, never once mentioning a fear for her husband. Once she admitted that worry was a lot every woman must bare--worry for husbands and sons. But they were all fine warriors and to voice such concerns would be to dishonor them.

Pia said nothing, having faith that Zoran would come home to her. The next morning, he did.

Remembering what the Queen had told her, she smiled at him as he walked into the door and acted as if he’d just came home from a day training the men. She stayed on the couch, where she’d been silently staring at the fire, lost in a world of thought.

Quietly, she said, "I knew you would meet with victory."

Zoran’s eye lit with pleasure at the compliment. He nodded, filled with pride by her words.

"Now, tell me what happened," she griped with a pout forming on her lips, "since you forbade my going with you. It’s not fair that you get all the fun."

"It was a small encampment of Var. King Attor is dead. We tried to arrest him according to our treaty and he called his troops to battle. Attor’s son will take the throne. Olek is speaking to the new Var King, negotiating a peace," Zoran obliged. He carried his sword to the exercise room, placing it in its place. Then, stretching his arms over his head, he yawned.

Pia stood, following him into the exercise room. She clutched the blindfold behind her back, twisting it between her fingers.

"It will be slow going, but peace can be achieved," Zoran said, feeling her behind him. "Some of the older nobles will protest on both sides. However, in the end, they would bow to the decision of their leaders."