Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition

by Michelle M. Pillow

  “Oh, yeah, that,” Olena forced a giggle, lying easily. “The guys grabbed the wrong luggage and I’ve been stuck with those things the entire trip.”

  Yusef merely nodded. She had the feeling he didn’t believe her.

  Olena cleared her throat, not sure how much this dark warrior suspected. She didn’t dare mention the gun. “So, you got a shirt or something I can use?”

  “Sure.” He opened another drawer, tossing her a light cotton shirt. Olena slipped it over her head. Then, crossing to her bags, she pulled the first one open and looked inside. Digging, she found her bra and underwear and slipped them on under the shirt.

  Yusef watched quietly. When she turned back to him, she inquired, “Pants?”

  “Sure,” he said again and, leaning over, he opened a bottom drawer.

  Olena’s head angled slightly to the side, admiring his firm backside. She straightened and affected a look of perfect innocence before he turned around. He tossed her a pair of light cotton pants and she slipped them over her hips.

  “If you stay out of trouble,” he said. “I’ll take you to the dressmaker and pick up some things that fit.”

  “Dressmaker?” Olena wrinkled her nose in instant distaste. “No thanks, knight. I’ll stick with these. I don’t care if I never see another dress again.”

  “That might not be possible. Dresses are required formal attire at the palace. If we ever go there, you’ll need a gown.”

  Olena shuddered dramatically and mumbled under her breath, “I don’t care if we never go to the palace.”

  “Come on, wife, you must be hungry.” Yusef led the way to the kitchen.

  * * *

  Yusef spent the evening talking with his wife about non-important things until a late hour. She still refused to tell him her name, though he had tried several times to trick her into revealing it. She didn’t seem too terribly disappointed by the idea of being married to a common man. That pleased him.

  Yusef found, to his pleasure, that his wife had a quick wit, an open laugh, and a smile that curled easily on her beautiful lips. Her bold emerald eyes shone in constant mischief, even when she did nothing. It made him curious to discover everything about her, and at the same time, perfectly content to know nothing.

  Seeing her yawn, Yusef urged her to bed to conserve her strength. He again spent the night alone on the couch.

  Chapter 11

  To Olena’s dismay, she kind of liked her husband. His dark eyes penetrated as if they saw everything and would reveal nothing. His smile was slow to come, but it was genuine. He was laid back, easily taking her jokes in stride, never taking offense at her impishness. He was polite and well mannered. He treated her like a lady.

  Since she had recovered almost completely by the next morning, aside from a slight glow to her skin that wasn’t at all unappealing, he took her to the village as promised. Yusef wore one of his casual black tunics with the dragon emblem and Olena wore his baggy clothing over her thin frame. Several people stopped to stare at them. She grinned at the attention, not discouraged one bit, not even as she felt Yusef watching her reactions from the corner of his eye.

  Olena thought the Qurilixian village very nice—for a barbaric planet in the middle of nowhere. Her husband—she giggled silently at the thought—appeared to have the biggest house on the edge of town. It was a short distance from the village, but a pleasant walk through a wide cobblestone path in the forest. Yusef didn’t touch her as they strolled, but there was an easy companionship between them, carried over from the night before.

  The village spread out over a valley, close to where the marriage festival had taken place. All the tents had been dismantled and the nearby field looked barren without them.

  “That is the royal palace.” Yusef pointed to a cliff side at the edge of the village.

  “Where?” she asked, craning her neck to see up to the top.

  Yusef laughed, “The mountain.”

  “I don’t see a palace,” Olena answered skeptically. Again she eyed the mountain.

  “It’s hidden inside the mountain. There, see where that man just came out of the side?”

  “Yes.” It looked as if he came straight out of the rock.

  “That’s the front gate. The four princes designed it to be an impenetrable fortress,” he continued. “This village is under the protection of the House of Draig.”

  “Smart,” Olena mused wryly. “That way, their noble backsides are protected while all these villagers take the brunt of the enemy’s wrath.” She shook her head in distaste. “No matter where I go, royalty is all the same.”

  She glanced at him and caught his frown at her words. Figuring he was perhaps a loyalist to the crown, she thought it best to change subjects. A courtyard surrounded the palace fortress, close to the surrounding valley. Olena detected men on a long practice field to the side, training for battle.

  “Why do they train in human form?” She nodded in the soldiers’ direction. “Wouldn’t it make sense to shift for battle?”

  “It would,” Yusef answered. “But not all the wives know of the shifting and —”

  “You don’t want to scare them by a show of battling dragons,” she broke in. “Too bad. I would really like to see that. Though, judging from some of the women on the journey over, it’s a very wise you ease them into the truth. Galaxy Brides doesn’t even hint at your abilities.”

  Yusef chuckled quietly to himself.

  “So what do you call yourself anyway, dragon?” she asked, continuing up the path.

  “Do you so easily forget, wife? I am Yusef.”

  Olena rolled her eyes heavenward. “What is your shifted form called?”

  He smiled. “We are Draig.”

  “Named after?” she prompted, unable to help her curiosity. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, getting a chill. She wondered if he could change for her on command. She’d really like to get another closer look at him in Draig.

  “It means dragon. Draig is what our race is called, the name of our royalty, what we become when we shift.”

  “Ah, inventive,” she teased.

  “Easy to remember,” he teased back.

  The village presented a charming scene of domestication. The homes were built of natural materials. Cobblestone streets had been constructed almost meticulously, as if someone actually measured each angle and distance. The people smiled at each other and waved. Olena found it very disconcerting. Her first instinct was to run, unable to shake the tiny feeling that she was about to be arrested.

  “What are criminal punishments here?” Olena asked before she could stop herself.

  Yusef arched a brow. “It depends on the crime. Atonement. Or, generally, people are put into the underground dungeons if the offense is bad enough.”

  “So, no burning at the stake? Stoning? Racks?” They were reasonable questions considering who she was. Plans did occasionally go wrong. Though, she was beginning to suspect the only thing she could do to Yusef was run out on him. She didn’t think she had it in her to steal from him.

  He stopped walking and placed a hand on her shoulder. “It is safe here, bride, there is no reason for you to worry.”

  Oh, how little you know, supernova. Olena merely smiled at him and continued walking.

  The Draig wore light linen tunics during the day, minus the dragon crest and finer embroidery that was on her wedding gown. According to Yusef, they were a happy people, hardworking and honest. Olena noted her husband appeared to be well liked. Most of the villagers called out greetings to him, looking up from what they were doing as the couple walked by.

  To the dressmaker’s dismay and Yusef’s obvious amusement, Olena refused to be measured for a dress. Olena picked out several cotton pants and tighter feminine shirts with built in breast support. She piled them haphazardly in her arms before changing behind a screen. When she’d finished, she tossed the borrowed clothes back at Yusef and smiled brightly.

  “Now this is more like it,” she beame
d, stretching her arms around. Seeing a pair of black leather boots in her size, she grinned. “I’ll take these too.”

  Before Yusef could protest, not that he would have as he kept insisting she buy whatever she needed, she was pulling them on her feet. The dressmaker gathered the discarded pile of clothes and clucked her tongue at the impudent Olena in dismay. The woman began folding them and placed them carefully into a basket. She grumbled under her breath.

  Olena frowned at the dressmaker in turn, grabbed the remaining pile and dumped them on top without folding. The dressmaker’s old face contorted with irritation and she began scolding Olena with a pointed, wrinkly finger. Olena, who couldn’t understand one word of it, smiled back and nodded with eyes wide with mischief.

  The woman tossed up her hands and waved Olena away. Olena leaned over and kissed the old woman’s cheek. The dressmaker’s face rounded in shock and she shook her head, continuing to shoo Olena from her store. Though, this time, she was smiling as she did so.

  Yusef waved a boy over and pressed a coin into his hand along with the bags. After asking him to deliver the purchases to his house, he continued with the tour of the village, stopping to speak to a few people in his language. Bright blue birds flew overhead, singing in a strange low shrill. An animal Yusef called a ceffyl grazed in a fenced yard. It had a fat elephant body and a single horn mounted on his head. As she watched, it hissed a long, slithering tongue in her direction.

  Though villagers eyed her curiously, they did not speak directly to her. Olena didn’t take notice. Seeing a boy laughing and pointing at her to his friends, she wondered if he was maybe one of her pond-side watchers. She blew him a kiss and he nearly fell off his perch in shock. The boys ran away from her laughing, calling out words she didn’t understand.

  “Ach, Yusef!” came a loud cry. “I was just on my way to see you.”

  Olena jolted in surprise to see a giant of a man with two blackened eyes lumbering toward them. She remembered him vaguely from the morning after the Breeding Festival. The man had an easy smile, full of a mischief that Olena could readily relate to. Instantly, she liked him.

  “Agro,” Yusef answered in the Old Star language so Olena could understand. “Meet my wife.”

  “Hello, wife of Yusef.” Agro audaciously winked, showing that he too remembered her. “Have you a name of your own?”

  “She’s not saying,” Yusef said, with a shrug. “Maybe you can get it out of her.”

  “I wouldn’t dare,” Agro said gallantly, grinning at her like a fool. “A little mystery never hurt a woman none. Don’t you dare tell him, lass, at least not for the first fifty years or so.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” She grinned, liking this beast of a man’s easygoing nature.

  Yusef groaned.

  “In fact, I don’t want to know it either,” Agro declared amiably. “I’ll lie awake at night thinking about it. It will be good for me.”

  “Don’t let your wife hear you say that,” Yusef said, unconcerned. Everyone in the village knew that Agro was more than taken with his bride. He was a doting fool and didn’t care who saw it. But, try to tease him about the obviousness of his undying affections for her, and he’d knock your skull in.

  “She’ll be happy to have me preoccupied.” Agro didn’t lose his charm for an instant.

  “Why were you looking for me?” Yusef asked, turning serious. “Has anything happened?”

  “No, nothing like that.” Agro latched his hands to his waist and rolled back on his feet. Eyes narrowing, he turned serious. “Word is you just got back from a hunting trip to the north last week.”

  Yusef laughed, as if already knowing where this was going.

  “That I did,” Yusef said, nodding.

  “Catch anything?” the man asked.

  “Maybe,” Yusef said, drawing out the suspense.

  “Could be you want some company over at that house of yours to help you cook it?” Agro persisted.

  Olena watched the friendly ritual in amusement.

  Yusef scratched his chin. “I don’t know. I might have to clear it with the wife first.”

  Agro turned his wide green eyes to Olena. Gazing through his bruises, he said, “My most gracious lady, would you do me the honor of telling your husband to take his—”

  “Hey.” Yusef growled in mock battle. The low rumbling sound caused a small shiver to work over Olena’s spine.

  “What?” Agro gave an innocent shrug.

  “I already have several times,” Olena said. “The stubborn man won’t listen to me.”

  Yusef threw his hands in the air, clearly not able to fight an attack on both fronts. Agro’s hearty laugh rang out over the village, drawing smiles from around them.

  “You don’t need an invitation from him, Agro,” Olena said. “You just come on over and we’ll help ourselves to whatever is in the fridge.”

  “Now, you’ve done it,” Yusef said with a mock frown. “This giant will eat us out of house and home.”

  “Ach, off with you,” he said to Yusef, before bowing over Olena’s hand. “Tonight I’m a guest of the lady.”

  “You’d better bring the wife,” Yusef said. He casually draped his arm over Olena’s shoulders and steered her away. “I might need help keeping you at bay.”

  “She’d love it,” Agro announced, grinning like a fool. “She’s pregnant again, by the way.”

  “Congratulations, friend,” Yusef called, leading her away. “Why don’t you bring the boys with you?”

  “Will do,” Agro called, saluting gallantly as he trotted off to the practice field.

  “I like him.” Olena enjoyed the feel of Yusef’s hand on her shoulders, but artfully slipped out of his embrace with the pretense of picking a yellow flower from the ground. When she stood, she kept out of his reach. Keeping her expression guarded, she took a little too much time studying the flower without seeing it.

  “I could tell.” Yusef said.

  “What exactly does he want you to cook?” she asked.

  “Agro has a terrible fondness for roasted baudrons. They are only found in the north hunting grounds. I already planned on asking him over, as is our tradition after each hunting trip.”

  “Did I ruin your tradition?” She flicked her finger over the top of the flower.

  “No.”

  “How many sons does he have anyway?”

  “I think, with Cordele pregnant again, this will be twelve.” Yusef turned his steps back home. “Do you need anything else while we’re in town?”

  “No, I’m fine,” she answered in distraction. “Is that normal? I mean having so many children in one family?”

  Yusef grinned. “Agro has been, ah, blessed with good fortune. Although, anywhere from two to six sons is more of a normal size for our families.”

  Olena was quiet.

  Yusef bumped her playfully in the shoulder and asked, “Why? Do you want to try and beat him?”

  Olena paled at the thought of one. She shook her head in denial. “No. I don’t want any children.”

  The answer didn’t appear to be what he wanted to hear. She should have played along, pretended to be the wife he wanted, but for some reason she didn’t want to act the part.

  * * *

  Yusef’s spirits were dampened a bit by his wife’s desire not to have children. When he’d put his arm around her, it had felt natural to claim her as his. In that moment, he felt a connection stirring between them. It was not only his emotions, but the promise of what their future may be.

  Now she stayed away, keeping distance between them. He pretended not to notice the withdrawal. When he looked at her, the easy companionship of the morning was gone from her guarded features.

  They made the journey home in silence.

  Chapter 12

  A dusting of flour coated Olena as she kneaded and formed the dough into loaves. Being elbow deep in Qurilixen blue bread dough wasn’t how she thought to spend the afternoon. She scowled at Yusef, hating the chore, as
she grumbled, “I didn’t realize I would have to do all this. Can’t we hire a servant or something?”

  Yusef, who was helping her prepare for her guests, laughed. “You’re the one who invited him.”

  “Yeah, one man,” she said. “And he offered to help cook. You had to go and invite the entire brood.”

  “It’s improper for a woman to extend an invitation to a man and not his wife and sons. I was saving you an embarrassment.”

  “Who says I would have been embarrassed? Anyway, how was I to know?” She finished forming the last loaf. They weren’t perfect, but they would do. Yusef took them and put them in the brick oven over the low fire.

  Olena jumped up to sit on the countertop. Brushing a sweaty strand of hair off her forehead with the back of her arm, she sighed. “I’m about ready to get bitten by another snake so I can lie down and let you do this. In fact, I think I’m coming down with something.”

  Yusef chuckled. “Come on, you’re almost done.”

  “You need a better job,” she continued to complain, though she smiled shyly at him. She pushed gracefully back on the counter, making her legs go straight. Her feet stretched over the edge, dancing absently in the air. She leaned toward her toes, folding over in half, to stretch out her back. Resting her head on her knee, she finished, “Then you could afford to pay someone to do this stuff.”

  Yusef eyed her flexibility with obvious interest, as if he thought of different ways he could bend her body to accommodate him.

  Men.

  Olena turned her head to face her lap and closed her eyes.

  “That’s why I got married,” Yusef said.

  Olena gasped at his comment and sat up, scowling until she saw him wink playfully at her.

  “Oh,” she huffed, taking a handful of flour and flinging it at him. Yusef ducked, laughing.

  She grabbed another handful, launching it at his dark head before he could stand. It hit him and showered over his shoulder to the floor. Flinging his hair up as he stood, he lunged for her. To Olena’s surprise, his eyes flashed with gold and he hopped from the floor to the countertop in one swift motion, landing effortlessly on his feet. Bending at the knees, he crouched over her.