Dragon Lords Books 1 - 4 Box Set: Anniversary Edition

by Michelle M. Pillow

  Ualan reached for his wife.

  “Don’t.” Nadja’s tone was raw with fear. Ualan drew back in surprise, but Nadja only nodded at his arm where red blisters were forming on his skin. “She is poison to you.”

  Ualan tensed, but he held back. Hearing her calm, eerie tone, Olena had no doubt Nadja was the seed of Aleksander. Olena had seen that exact expression before in the Doc.

  “You can’t move her yet.” Nadja obviously tried to remain calm.

  “But, the poison…” Ualan began, desperate to help his wife.

  “Quiet,” Nadja ordered.

  Zoran and Pia hung back, quiet. Nadja refused to look any of them in the eye. Her hands shook. Olena saw the pulse jumping beneath Nadja’s skin.

  “Let me think. I need to concentrate.” Nadja made a small noise and then decided, “Give me your knife.”

  Nadja held her hand out to Pia. The woman instantly handed a blade over. Taking a deep breath, Nadja cut into Morrigan’s throat where the dart was embedded in the skin. Instantly, green liquid began to drip and ooze from the wound, mixed with blood. Soon, Nadja 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 quietly told Ualan, “Try touching her.”

  Ualan did. He was left unharmed.

  “It’s as I thought,” Nadja breathed. The knowledge didn’t appear to bring her pleasure as she again looked frantically to the trees. I’ve seen this kind of 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 would never have been able to touch her again. It’s ironic really. That way, it is the current lover who poisons the woman, sealing their fate.”

  Olena followed Nadja’s lead and examined the trees. She wondered if she considered running or if she was scared the Var warriors remained hidden within them. Or did she detect her father nearby? Shaking her head, Olena knew there was no way Nadja felt her father’s presence. She most likely considered running. Olena almost wished she would run away on her own. It would save her the trouble of a delivery.

  “You should get her to a doctor,” Nadja said, her tone lowering to a mere whisper. She stood, warily trying to edge away from the dragon-shifters to go down the path where they’d come from. Olena watched her carefully, unsure if she should do something to help her.

  “I would say that whoever poisoned her didn’t want you to be with her,” Nadja told Ualan. Suddenly, she turned and ran from them, desperate to get away. Olek was right behind her.

  Olena stood, watching the woman until she was gone. “She didn’t know about the Draig.”

  Ualan picked up Morrigan. Yusef fell into step beside Olena. Pia and Zoran were right behind them. As they followed Ualan, he carried Morrigan to the medical ward. No one said another word.

  Chapter 35

  “Why do they attack the princesses?” Yusef frowned. Olena stood by his side, her expression carefully blank. Nadja and Olek hadn’t joined them, but Zoran and Pia stood next to Ualan and Morrigan. The doctors checked Morrigan and gave her something to help with her recovery.

  “Because without us you will have no sons. Your line will end,” Pia said. Zoran stiffened at her soft words.

  Olena’s eyes drifted to Yusef. He looked tenderly at her with a strange light in his eyes. She quickly turned away. There was no reason to think about having children. She wouldn’t be around long enough for such concerns.

  Even so, the idea terrified her. Not because she was scared of pregnancy, but because the images of cages tried to filter through her mind. She couldn’t bring a life into the universes after what she’d seen, what she’d been through.

  Yusef’s hand touched her back, jolting her out of her thoughts.

  Pia was still speaking, “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, but gave away none of their thoughts.

  Pia looked up at her husband, her face taut 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 nodded at the woman’s insight.

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

  “What better way to end this age-old feud than to wipe out the leaders before they are born?” Yusef frowned, drawing Olena under the protection of his good arm. She found herself melting eagerly into his warmth. He moved his hand up to cup her elbow. She closed her eyes, breathing in the scent of him. She wanted nothing more than to club him over the head, drag him back their palace wing, and hold him there as her love slave. Forget wars and cat-shifters, pirates and cages, doctors and mafias. They could lock themselves away and never come out.

  Desire curled inside her at the idea. But there was more than lust churning inside her. An almost desperate need to make that fantasy a reality filled her. What if they ran away? Just climbed into a spaceship and flew to where no one would find them?

  “For, if we were to die,” Ualan said, “there would be an heir that could sometime rise against them. If they ensure 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.”

  She looked around the room. Now was definitely not the time for fantasy.

  “It is imperative we discover who is spying for the Var,” Yusef said.

  “Spy?” Pia blinked in surprise. She turned to frown at Zoran. “You said nothing of a spy.”

  Zoran sighed.

  “Olena,” Pia turned to her. “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 fitted to be a servant than I am.”

  Olena shook her head, barely recalling anything but her husband from that night. Thinking of him wrapped in nothing but fur, she shivered anew. Yusef’s arm tightened on her waist and she shook out of her trance. He let a roguish smile play his mouth, as if to tell her he knew her wicked thoughts. Olena’s eyes darted away from him, embarrassed.

  “What are you talking about?” Zoran demanded, taking Pia by her arms.

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

  “No,” Pia said. “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 when it came to serving. 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 lifted her hand for attention and said, 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 from speaking.

  “I was supposed to write a story about the royal weddings,” Morrigan said softly, turning to her husband. “My camera will have recorded part of that night. Maybe Pia’s servant can be found on the relay.”

  “It’s worth a shot,” Yusef’s tone indicated that, whatever Ualan was thinking at his wife’s confession, it was best he saved it for another time.

  “I’ll go find it.” Ualan left the hospital room. It was silent until he got back. When he did, he handed a small eyepiece and an emerald to Morrigan.

&nbs
p; “Can you make it work so we can all see?” Yusef asked.

  Morrigan nodded. “I think so.”

  She requested some saline and wetted the lens before placing it in her eye. Slipping the emerald on her finger so it could react with her nervous system, Morrigan turned the stone. A light shone from her eyes, darkening as the woman blinked. The others watched in amazement as they saw a picture of the Breeding Festival floating on the air. Olena had seen such cameras for sale on the black market.

  They came to stand across from Morrigan to better see the round projection.

  “Can you see it?” Morrigan asked.

  “Yes,” Ualan said.

  “All right, just let me leaf through these.” Morrigan closed her eye and the picture disappeared. The woman turned bright red and Olena wondered about it.

  “Morrigan,” Ualan stated.

  Morrigan blinked at the sound and a flash of Ualan’s naked backside came up bigger than life before his brothers.

  “Oh,” Morrigan panicked. Zoran and Yusef laughed heartily. Olena chuckled next to him. No more mystery there about what had the woman blushing. Morrigan squeezed her eyes tight.

  Wryly, Ualan said, “I had no idea I looked that good from behind.”

  He was rewarded with punches from his laughing brothers.

  “Here,” Morrigan said, breaking into the jesting. A screen of the festival came up. “I can’t play sound, but you should see the picture moving like a silent movie.”

  They watched in silence. Then suddenly, Pia pointed into the projected image. “There, stop, that’s him.”

  Morrigan froze the picture.

  “Yeah.” Olena leaned forward to get a closer look at the corner of the frame. “I remember him. Now that you mention it, he was rather strange.”

  “He has the coloring of a Var,” Yusef said.

  “But not the scent of one,” Zoran said. “Do you think he has found a way to mask his smell?”

  “He wears the tunic of the kitchen staff,” Yusef said. “We will find him and question him. If he is Draig, it will be easy for him to prove it. If he is Var, he will come up with an excuse not to shift.”

  Ualan nodded. Yusef and Zoran motioned that their wives should come with them as they left.

  Once the couples were alone, Pia asked Olena, “Did you know Rigan is writing a story about us?”

  Olena shook her head. “She said she was, not is.”

  Zoran and Yusef exchanged looks. Olena knew they wouldn’t much care for their private lives to be made known to the entire galaxy. The Qurilixian, by tradition, were a race that kept to themselves. Olena understood the sentiment.

  “Ualan will speak to her and take care of it,” Yusef said.

  * * *

  Yusef made sure his wife was escorted back to their home before following Zoran to the kitchen. With a few gruff words Zoran was able to ascertain Pia’s blond servant-spy was hiding behind one of the large brick ovens, ducking from his work. The servants were only too happy to clear out of their way so they could apprehend him.

  Zoran walked around the oven. The cat-shifter charged the kitchen door. Yusef choked on the overbearing scent of Draig pheromone. He automatically lifted his good arm to stop the man’s escape. He punched the man in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor. Oh, but it felt good.

  The servants cheered, clearly not understanding what was happening.

  Zoran clapped his hands, laughing. “I am almost sorry he didn’t give you more of a fight.”

  “He will pay for what he did to me,” Yusef said. “When Agro has finished with him in the dungeons, he will wish I’d stabbed him and left him for dead.”

  Chapter 36

  Olena let the servant escort her home while Yusef tended to the matter of the spy with his brother. After seeing Morrigan laid up in the hospital, knowing that Nadja had saved her life, she couldn’t force herself to turn the woman over to Doc Aleksander. No matter the cost, for once in her life, Captain Olena was going to make the right decision. She was going to do the right thing.

  Thinking of Yusef, she knew she had made the right decision. He had shown her the true meaning of honor. It wasn’t a simple, silly little code that you followed. It wasn’t a set of rules, self-punishments, and self-denials. He’d shown her that there could be a purpose in life higher than gold and fortunes, more rewarding than sailing the high skies. He’d shown her that belonging to one man, and a family, was so much sweeter than having all the freedom in the world.

  The fantasy of sailing away with him wasn’t probable. But what if she stayed? The answer seemed so simple. Stay. Choose a new life. Take the biggest risk she’d ever known. Stay.

  Her crew would understand. Now, to make Doc Aleksander understand.

  Her decision made, Olena pulled back her hair into a serviceable bun. Then, stealing into Yusef’s closet, she grabbed the valuable gold bracelet and slid it over her thigh, hiding it beneath her black pants. It pulled tight against her skin as she walked. Once she had to stop to pull it up higher so it wouldn’t fall and give her away.

  Then, strolling out the palace’s front gate, she was happy to discover the guard did not stop her. Affecting an air of nonchalance, she strode into the evening light settling on the forest, and didn’t look back.

  * * *

  Yusef came home to find his wife gone. He frowned, wondering where she could have gone off to. Taking the sling from his arm, he stretched the tight muscles. The limb felt much recovered, so he threw the sling aside and left it unbound.

  The capture of the spy was a big relief for the royal family. He wanted to share the news with his wife. Olek had come in time to escort the man down to the lower dungeons, and even now the Var was being questioned by Agro. Yusef had no doubt Agro would discover the entire plot.

  Taking a slow bath, he waited for Olena to come home. By the time he finished it was getting late. Was she with Pia? The servant had been with both women when he last saw them. Perhaps she was checking on Morrigan or visiting with Nadja. Nadja had been upset and no doubt needed to have some kind of girl talk. Yusef chuckled at the thought. Olena didn’t seem the kind for girl talk.

  With a sigh, he dressed. He’d give her a little more time before going out to search for her.

  * * *

  Olena didn’t have to walk the path long before hearing a noise within the trees. Freezing, she cursed herself for a fool. How could she know Doc Aleksander would be the first to find her? There could still be Var hiding within the forest, still eager to kill a princess.

  “Captain.”

  Olena sighed, forcing her heart to slow at the sound of the Doc’s voice. At least the right enemy had found her. That was something at least.

  “I hope you have good news for me.” This time Doc Aleksander held no cigar as he stepped from the shadows of the forest. The hairs on her neck stood on end at his hard look. He definitely wasn’t going to be happy with her.

  “I can’t get you what you want,” she said, direct and to the point. Direct was better. Men like Aleksander could respect direct—somewhat.

  “Really?” His eyes narrowed, contrasting the small smile that curled on his lips. A little too mocking, he said, “I thought you could steal anything.”

  “She’s too well guarded. She doesn’t trust me,” Olena said. “I’ve tried to get her outside the palace alone with me, but she won’t come.”

  “Try harder.” Doc gritted his teeth.

  “I have.” Olena looked him square in the face. “They have all the princesses under tight guard because of the Var attacks.”

  “Princess?” Aleksander mused. “My daughter married a prince that keeps her prisoner?”

  Olena shivered. Oops. It would seem he didn’t know that bit of information. Or did he? Was he toying with her?

  “I am truly sorry I couldn’t bring you what you asked for,” Olena said as bravely as she could manage. Leaning over, she worked the bracelet from her leg. The Doc tensed, watching her closely, ready to defend
himself. When she pushed the bracelet from her thigh and out of her pant leg, she offered it to him. “As per the Pirate Code, what I couldn’t obtain for you, I have replaced with something valuable.”

  To her hesitant relief, Aleksander smiled. He snapped his fingers and motioned to her. Olena tensed as a henchmen clone came from the trees. He took the bracelet from her and handed it over to Doc. The man studied it very carefully before nodding his head.

  “Nice,” he murmured in approval. “A very fitting replacement of the Pirate Code, captain.”

  Olena nodded. “Again, I am sorry, Doc. I wish you well in your endeavor and give you my word as captain of the high skies that I’ll not impede your goal.”

  “That is very commendable.” He passed the bracelet to the henchman at his side. Olena swallowed, preferring to see the man get angry. His silent calm terrified her.

  “Well, I should get back in before they start looking for me.” Olena turned her back on him and walked away. Not making it more than two steps before his words stopped her.

  “Oh, captain?” Doc called, his words ringing with the oddest mix of sweetness and ease.

  Olena stiffened. Fear came over her in agonizing waves and she couldn’t help but shiver at the coolness of his placid tone. Forcing a muted smile, she turned to look at him.

  “I only see one problem, my dear Olena, with your pirate’s offering,” Doc said, his pleasure showing with a damnable smile. He picked a cigar out of his pocket, clipped the end, and lit it. Taking a deep puff, he pointed the tip at her. “You see, I’m not exactly a pirate and I don’t recognize your terms.”

  Olena tried to run but the path filled with the Doc’s goons. Hands clasped her. When she would have kicked her captors to free herself, she felt a hard jab of a needle in her arm. Her vision blurred and she swayed. Right before the black pit of unconsciousness hit her, her eyes focused for the last time on Doc. He saluted her, and a grin spread over his features as he waved goodbye.