“That is certainly so. But enough about my troubles. Are you truly feeling better?”
“Yes. I think I was poisoned.”
“So I guessed. Why?”
“You don’t know my story?”
“When Taris Elian brought you here to Pian’s camp, I overheard your story. At least part of it.”
Anxiety started to rise to the surface. “What did you hear?”
“He said that a woman poisoned you on board the Beast and sold you to him.”
“There is so much more to the story than that.” Xandra decided she could trust the woman and explained her entire story up to a point. “Admiral Aramus’ wife wanted money to escape him. She even apologized as I was collapsing from the poison.”
“So she made a pact with Taris Elian and sold you to him. How did she make contact with such a man?”
Xandra retuned to the bed and sat down. “I don’t know. All I do know now is that she isn’t the kind woman I first believed.”
Silence gathered, as if the woman didn’t want to add conjecture. Xandra ran her hand over the surface of the bed. Two pallets of soft cushioning, thick and sturdy, lay on top of each other. Pillows stacked at the head.
Suddenly the woman moved to a small table near the bed. “What am I thinking? Have more water. You must be parched, and the poison may take some time to purge from your system.”
“Thank you.” Xandra took the refilled tankard and sipped slowly.
The woman moved to the tent flap and pulled it aside to peek out. “You do not have to worry about Pian mistreating you. I told him you would work for me.”
Xandra’s suspicious nature, something she’d never had until this whole mess started, reared its head. “I thought you said you were a slave?”
“I’ve been with Pian for almost three years. He’s gained my respect.” She shrugged. “I cannot fault Pian for all that he’s done when there is so much I have to atone for.”
Curiosity got the better of Xandra. “What could you have done that was so bad?”
The woman returned to the chair by the bed. “Deception. Judgment. Impetuousness when caution would have been prudent.”
Xandra frowned. “Everyone has deceived and judged and been impetuous at some point. I’d hardly call those horrific sins.”
The woman nodded and smiled. “Perhaps. But maybe the average person hasn’t done them in the quantities I have.”
Xandra took a deeper sip of her water and noticed her head had started to clear. Strength returned to her limbs. “Revenge seems to be a common thing in Dragonia.”
The woman laughed, and the soft, feminine sound drifted on the air. “Dragonians are a wild and treacherous lot. But then you already know that.”
Xandra had an idea, relieved this woman displayed kindness and consideration. “Perhaps you could help me.”
“How?”
“Help me escape. I’ve escaped Taris Elian but now I’m someone else’s prisoner. I’m tired of being passed from one man to another.” Xandra heard the whiny tone in her own voice but wasn’t proud of it. She explained that she’d married a second time, to a man on the Beast.
The woman looked more than curious now. “I don’t know that I can help you. Besides, why would you want to be with this second husband? You were just complaining about passing from man to man.”
Why indeed?
“He is a former Daryk One. I believe he cares for me. I know he’ll come looking for me. He is a slaver but…but he isn’t really. It’s complicated. He wants revenge on Admiral Aramus, the man who murdered his sister.”
The woman squinted a moment, taking a measuring look at Xandra. “A Daryk One. There is only one man I knew who does what you’ve described. He was once a good honorable man.” Conflicting emotions raced across her face. “Is your husband’s name Rayder Tyrus?”
Alarm raced momentarily through Xandra. “Yes. How did you know?”
The woman stood again and paced the room, her expression grave and taut. “You’ll want to know then, that I once wanted revenge against Rayder Tyrus in the worst way.” She turned to Xandra, and the anger in her eyes was palpable. “I wanted him dead for destroying my life. I wanted him to suffer the hells of the damned just as I did.”
Fear ran a fast river through Xandra. Her fingers clutched the tankard. “Why? Who are you?”
The woman took a step forward and held out her hand. “I am Aknada Tyrus.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Xandra’s mouth opened but shock kept her quiet. She shook Aknada’s hand.
Aknada released Xandra’s hand, and Xandra found her voice. “By the god.”
“By them all.” Aknada’s expression stayed solemn. “I did not catch your name.”
“Xandra Shorenus. Xandra Shorenus Tyrus.”
“Do you love my brother?”
The unexpected question hit her so hard, she couldn’t think. Her heart pounded, her breath shorter at the startling question. “Do you still want to harm him?”
“Answer my question first.”
Xandra swallowed hard. “Your brother will be so happy to see you alive. No matter how much you might hate him, I know he grieves deeply to this day over your loss.”
Aknada made a soft noise. “Even if he does, he may disown me when he learns what happened to me when I was on the Beast. Now do not avoid my question. Do you love my brother?”
She couldn’t express her deepest feelings because she didn’t know them. “He compels me more than any man I’ve ever known. We are… He has taught me so much of physical love.”
A quick smile touched Aknada’s lips. “Please, the man is my brother. I can be spared such details.”
Xandra flushed. “Of course. It is just that he means more to me than I could have imagined anyone meaning to me. If that is love, then yes. I do love him.”
Aknada paced the big tent slowly, her hands clasped behind her back. “Good. At least I know he’ll be happy. If he loves you, that is.”
An ache started in Xandra’s midsection. “I don’t know. He’s very protective of me.”
“Sounds like my brother.” Aknada chewed on her lower lip for a second. “But then he is protective of all women. I would have to see how he is with you to be certain about love.”
Xandra wanted to run, to leave all this behind and return to Rayder. To ask him the critical question of love and know his truthful answer. Beyond that, she knew how much Rayder would want to have Aknada back in his life.
“Rayder thinks you’re dead. He…he showed me your book of poems, and I read them.”
A flush filled Aknada’s face. “Poems are nothing more than foolish musings.”
“Do you really believe that? How could you write so beautifully if you believed it was all foolish?”
Pain echoed through her eyes. “Yes. When I realized how foolish it was, I stopped writing them.”
Disappointment for Aknada and sympathy for her pain filled Xandra. “Beautiful musings all the same. The poems spoke to me as if you’d experienced and known so many of the things that I have.”
Aknada looked at the tent floor. “I wrote those poems when I believed in love. When there was a man who…”
“Rayder told me that your betrothed was killed. He told me the whole thing.”
“He told you what he thinks he knows.”
Curiosity gripped Xandra. “He said he failed to protect your betrothed and that his guilt for that is enormous.”
Aknada looked up at her, her eyes inscrutable. “When Admiral Aramus killed my betrothed and took me prisoner, I thought I’d never get off that ship.”
“Why did Rayder think you were dead if you weren’t?”
“Because a tale circulated that Aramus threw me overboard to drown. Instead he sold me to Pian.”
“And you’ve been here all this time.”
“Yes.”
“That’s why Rayder wants revenge against Aramus. That’s why he has spent the last three years trying to undermine his
slaving operation.”
Aknada turned away and lifted her own tankard. “I grieve that he believed I was dead.”
“Yet you let him believe it, and you say you wanted revenge against Rayder.”
After taking a sip, Aknada returned her gaze to Xandra. “I don’t wish revenge anymore. I’ve learned so much since I’ve been with Pian about forgiveness. Perhaps it’s been too long for me to ask for Rayder’s pardon.”
Xandra’s stomach dropped at a sudden thought. “What did Aramus do to you?”
Aknada’s expression tightened, confirming terrible darkness lived in her thoughts. “He raped me before he sold me. The only way he managed it was by having six men hold me down. They watched it, enjoyed it. Then he let them take their turns. When they were done, he said I’d always remember him. That day I lost my… I lost my desire to fight like a Daryk One. All my strength, all my training, my extraordinary strength, it didn’t save me.” She shrugged. “What use was it?”
Xandra’s stomach soured, her throat aching with sudden tears. She told Aknada what had happened to her on the ship and how Rayder had kept her as safe as possible but that Aramus had tried to snatch her from the bowels of the ship.
“There was a slave on the ship, Phili. She locked me in the slave hold to save me from Aramus and the other women down there kept me safe as well. Rayder wants to free all of them. You should see how well he treats them.”
Aknada placed her tankard on the table and paced once more. “I’m sorry you have endured such hardship at Dragonian hands. You’ve heard of the rogues and Drakus’ minions wanting to steal Magonian women for procreation?”
“Rayder explained it to me. He abhors it.”
“My brother does love you.” Aknada smiled, her eyes warming. “He must.”
Hope bloomed in Xandra’s thoughts. The idea that he could love her filled her with an inexpressible joy. “When I first met him, I thought he must be a horrible man. But he kept doing things that made me wonder if he wasn’t a good man wrapped in a disguise. His words were sometimes harsh, but he never hurt me and always protected me.”
A teasing smile touched Aknada’s mouth. “Rayder is a rascal. He knows how to charm women. But I think this time with you is different.”
“He said I’m his mate and he can’t be parted from me. I’m the only woman he can ever be with.”
Aknada’s mouth hardened. “I lost my belief in the so-called mating when Aramus took me.”
Xandra wondered if she’d allowed her horrible experience with Taris color her perceptions in some ways. She also had a feeling there was more to Aknada’s story than Aknada would admit to out loud.
“Perhaps you’ll regain that belief someday,” Xandra said softly. Her mind veered to another question. “With all that you went through, why have you stayed with this desert slaver?”
“To avoid making another grave mistake. Staying with a slaver who has no designs on my body is a relief to me.”
Xandra thought she understood now. She placed her tankard on the table. “Pian offers you protection and understanding. Aramus destroyed your trust in men. With Pian you know you’re safe. He’s the lesser of evils.”
Aknada stopped pacing and stared at her. “Very astute. Though he has bought slaves from Drakus, it’s more to keep them away from Drakus and Aramus than to enslave people.”
“A good man?”
“Better than most.”
“You’re hiding,” Xandra said with conviction. “You don’t want anyone to know you are alive.”
Aknada nodded slowly. “Not Aramus.”
Kinship made Xandra want to help Aknada. “I am so sorry you’ve had to endure so much.”
Aknada settled into the chair by the bed. “Thank you, but it seems you’ve been through a fair amount yourself. Tell me more.”
Xandra gave more details about her time on the ship, and Aknada listened without interruption.
When Xandra finished, she wondered if Aknada would help her return to Rayder. “I cannot stay with Pian and his group. I want to go back to Rayder.”
“Where is he now?”
“When he left me on the ship, he planned to negotiate selling Magonian slaves to Felican Castle.”
Aknada visibly paled.
“What is wrong?” Xandra asked.
“The other man I don’t want to see is Marc Gampia of Felican Castle.”
* * * * *
Rayder’s heartbeat seemed to be pounding out of his chest as they crossed the remaining jungle between Marc’s compound and the Ithaycan desert. Soon they would come upon Pian’s caravan of animals known as alamuts and the desert people who relied on them.
Alongside Rayder, Marc kept the pace. Rayder understood now he’d underestimated Marc in more than one way. Granted, he hadn’t spent much time with his old acquaintance and friend for three years. Devoting himself to revenge had cut his friendships, devoured his ability to imagine friendship with anyone again. Even fellow Daryk Ones Eryk Gauth and Dane Charger thought he was scum, or at least not much above the slimiest life forms that populated the Tarrian jungle floor. More than once he’d deserved their scorn. Perhaps wallowing too close to evil had transformed him into the thing he hated most.
Rayder regretted the damage to those friendships but not why he’d followed a murky path. He didn’t expect to repair his relationships with Dane and Eryk. Once a betrayer, always a betrayer. No getting around that solemn and true statement. He closed his eyes and allowed the pain of his failures to settle inside him. He would make this situation right for the women back on the ship. Hatred he’d carried inside him for years still boiled for Aramus, but so did his need for Xandra. Running through the jungle had drained his energy, and he didn’t care. Getting to Xandra quickly was all that mattered.
Marc came to a full stop in a small clearing where a dragon had obviously smashed fronds for a bed. “Wait. We need to eat before we attack. We’re almost there.”
Rayder had stopped, but he grumbled. “We need to hurry.”
“Think, man.” Marc’s breath sluiced in and out as he caught his breath. “You need energy. Eat and drink. Then we’ll go on.”
Rayder heard distant sounds, perhaps the slave caravan. “They’re near. Fuck me, we should have brought Arcos.”
“I don’t think we’ll need him. I understand Pian is peaceable.”
“Peaceable?”
“They never venture into the jungle. They stay on the outskirts or deep in the Ithaycan desert. The alamuts hate the jungle.”
“I’m surprised dragons don’t eat the alamuts.”
“Not bloody tasty, I imagine. I hear their hide is tough and stringy. If you’re going to run out of food in the Ithaycan desert, you better hope there’s a tender young alamut in the herd.”
Rayder grimaced. “I’d rather eat dragon meat.”
“You have eaten it, haven’t you?”
“Yep.”
Marc shook his head. “But you have also killed dragons. Something I could never do. Not even one that wants to kill me.”
Rayder didn’t see jealousy or hatred in Marc’s eyes. Only understanding and matter-of-fact reality. Rayder hated this adventure, his worry over Xandra’s safety messing with his normally cool ability to fight without regrets or concerns.
“Damn it,” Rayder said under his breath.
“What is wrong?”
“I’ve fought in the sands, but it’s been a long time.”
“So have I. We’ll press on. We’ll save your mate.”
They sat on some rocks and retrieved food from their packs.
“Do you trust Aramus’ concubine?” Marc asked. “She seemed as tough as a boot.”
Rayder opened his pack and found the dried meat stored in a pocket. “Phili is a better person than I gave her credit for. She did not have to come and tell me what happened to Xandra, but she did.” He chewed the tough meat, hating the taste but understanding if he planned to fight for his mate he’d need strength. “And I’m grateful
.”
Marc sighed. “I must be mad helping you with this.”
Anger sprouted in Rayder. “You didn’t have to help me. Why are you?”
“For your sister’s memory. Then I’ll do something I should have done a long time ago. I’ll help you kill Aramus.”
Rayder pinned the other man with a glare. “He’s mine to kill.”
“I have your back.”
“Why now? You could have killed him a long time ago. You know murderers who would do your bidding without question. I figured you didn’t give a shite.”
“Is that why you went after Aknada’s killer yourself?”
“I asked you to help me. You would not.”
Regret etched Marc’s face, a haunted and sorrowful look that Rayder doubted the man could fake. “I was mistaken. I should have helped you then. In my defense, I was not thinking correctly. I was thinking…”
“Yes?”
“Your sister was a bright planet in the sky. More beautiful than any woman I’ve beheld before or since. I could never replace her.” He placed a hand on his chest. “When Aramus killed her, I knew I had failed her. Knew that I was to blame for her death.”
Perhaps what he thought he knew about his sister’s relationship with Marc did not resemble reality. Rayder finished off the meat and drank water from a water skin he’d stuffed in the pack. “Why didn’t you help me before?”
Marc closed his pack. “I regret every day that I waited this long.”
Rayder’s doubt didn’t budge. “What is different this time?”
Marc licked his lips, his expression restrained, as if he didn’t want to tell Rayder anything. “Because I did have feelings for Aknada and I never told her. A hundred times a day I regret not telling her. It’s too late now to save Aknada, but I can atone for it by honoring her memory and saving Xandra. Your mate… Have you told her how you feel about her?”
Rayder had never heard a man talk about a woman in such sensitive terms. Though he understood his fellow Daryk Ones mated for life, he now understood feelings came into play and not just heightened primal need.
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