Hey Y'all! This is a story I'm co-writing with KaAaArl, who's idea it was to write this story!

It has a 'sneak peek' of VPS, and we hope you enjoy it,

Please let us know what you think :)

And since I don't do enough of these as I should, DISCLAIMER: We do not own the characters in this story, they belong to the lovely Maria V Snyder, however much I want Valek :( we only own the plot :)

Harlequin x


CHAPTER 1

It had all happened so quickly, and without anyone noticing. Cahil had amassed an army and was threatening everyone I loved. His condition – that I marry him. I shuddered at the thought internally.

I was terrified and heart-broken as I walked down the aisle. All I could think about was losing Valek. A numb pain slashed through my chest and I fought against my desire to look to the back of the room to see if he was there. I had asked him to come, even if I knew it would just hurt me more for him to be here. For him to see me in someone else's arms – even if it wasn't by choice. I didn't bother to stop the flow of tears running down my cheeks. There was no point. Everybody in this room – including the groom knew that I was unhappy with my fate.

As Cahil pulled me up the steps in front of the minister, I choked back a sob. But when he forced me to my knees beside him, I was unable to do so. The sob broke loose, followed by another, and another, and another. Soon, I couldn't stop.

When Cahil scooped me up for the kiss, I recoiled. I couldn't let him. He had already taken everything from me. I wouldn't let him steal the kiss that sealed the marriage. But there was nothing I could do to stop him. When he released me, I looked around the room through my wet eyelashes. I saw him. He was standing right beside the door. Despite my current predicament, I found a way to smile. Valek had gifted me with his presence on the last day of my life as I knew it and that was enough to make me feel better. I thought back to our last day together.

I knew it would be the last time I slept in his arms, the last time he ever held me. Maybe even the last time I saw him. Valek and I had spent the day together, just staying close. I was in his embrace the entire time. There was an emotion brewing within me that I was sure that I would never feel again. It was the feeling I got whenever I was near my beloved.

That night, Valek held me in his arms, pulling me close. We didn't speak and that bothered me. I wanted to have his voice engraved into my mind. I needed to remember him, something to keep me going through the rough time ahead of me. After a long and unbearable silence, I finally said, "Valek."

"Mmm…" I felt him breath into my hair.

"Are you sad?" I whispered.

He didn't answer right away. Then he sighed and whispered back, "You're really leaving aren't you?" His eyes closed and he took a deep breath. "Yes, I'm sad. I don't want to lose you to the wannabe king. I don't want you to be with another. To tell you the truth, I' m rather selfish. I want you to myself. If I had it my way, you would never be out of my sight." Then, after a long pause, he continued. "Yelena, I want you to know something. I regret not asking for your hand. I regret waiting a year to tell you how I felt. And I regret not being able to do anything about Cahil. But more importantly, I regret not being with you every minute that we were apart. The thought of you with him makes me sick. I want so much to keep you safe, but nothing I do can change this."

He paused to gather his thoughts. "And I want you to know that I'll always be there for you – even when you leave. If you ever need help with anything, don't be afraid to come and ask for it. Whether it's a shoulder to cry on, a place to stay, a friend or even a loaf of bread to put on your table, you come to me. Understand?"

I was speechless. His kindness made the lump in my throat now impossible for me to speak. I smiled softly before pulling his face down to mine and kissing him with everything I had. Determined to show him how I felt.

Right now, I was sitting in a carriage, riding with Cahil to his estate – or so he said. Suddenly, the ride stopped with a jolt. I flew forward in my seat. Cahil ignored me. He had been ignoring me ever since the carriage had left the wedding. My tears had finally run dry, but tearless sobs still shook my body every time I took a deeper breath. I was shaking with the effort to finally compose myself.

When we entered, Cahil told – no, scratch that, he ordered me – to get changed. Shoving a bundle of clothes at me, he pushed me into the small bathroom. After quickly locking the door with shaking hands, I leant against the door and took a deep breath. Hot tears began to stream down my face, despite crying my eyes out for hours before.

Looking back down at the clothes he had given me, I picked up the top garment, a dress, and held it out in front of me. The plain black material resembled a maid's outfit. It didn't surprise me that he had chosen me to wear this. Now that I'm his wife, I'm expected to wait on him hand and foot.

Reluctantly, I looked at myself in the mirror. As I had suspected, my face was blotchy and my eyes were puffy. Using the water pitcher next to the mirror, I splashed the cold water on my face, wishing it was all a dream I could wake up from.

A loud knocking at the door made me jump. I should have known that he wouldn't have given me much time. I contemplated staying in here, but he could easily knock the door down and I didn't want to face his wrath.

The thought of making him angry, made me quickly gather my wedding dress and open the door. Without saying a word, he grabbed my arm in a tight grip, and lead us through the maze of hallways until we reached a small room next to what I assumed was his. He unlocked the three locking mechanisms on the door before shoving me in the dark room.

Slamming the door shut, I held my breath until all three locks clicked. I collapsed on the floor as a new wave of tears flooded through my body. Sobbing into the soft material of the dress, I cried long into the night.

It's been over four months since I got here… I think. I rolled over on the wooden plank that was supposed to be my 'bed'. I winced at the pain in my side it caused. I fingered the tender bruise there. I had gotten it two days prior, when Cahil had lost his temper. I closed my eyes, but was unable to block the memory.

The night of my wedding was the first time he had raped me. Now, I have lost count the number of times he has raped and abused me. You would have thought I would be used to it by now, after Reyad and now Cahil, but I wasn't. All I wanted was the tender caresses of Valek. Many times I had tried to imagine that it was Valek and not him, but no matter how hard I tried, it never worked. Valek's touch would never be rough. He always handled me as if I were made of glass. I had once believed that it was a normal thing, but now I knew that he didn't have to be that gentle – I was just very lucky to have someone that cared as much as he did.

I lay on the bed, not caring what was going to happen to me now. I had no will left. The fiend had taken everything from me. I tried to breath but it hurt too much. Every touch from his hard hands made me feel dirty and empty inside – worse, it made me feel like I was betraying Valek. Every time he laid a hand on me, I was the guilty one. I was just Cahil's puppet. He pulled the strings, he controlled me. There was nothing I could do to stop him.

Closing my eyes, I waited for his shouting to stop. "Look at me!" he yelled at my face. Instead of obeying him, I closed my eyes tighter, unwilling to look at him as he abused me.

His hand connected with my cheek with such a force that my head was thrown back.

"You bitch," he roared, standing over me on the floor. His foot connected with my side. Hard. Tears slid down my cheeks before I could stop them. That was one of the things I learned here. Never let the pain show. "Guards," he shouted. Two men entered. "Take her away."

I was dumped onto the cold, hard floor of my tiny room. Then I was free to cry all I wanted.

Servant
Walking into Yelena's room for the first and only time today, I was still shocked at the conditions she is forced to live in. Even though it has been a month since I have been ordered to give Yelena her daily ration of food – if you could call it that – I'm still disgusted every single time I walk into that small dark cupboard of a room. And to think that she's been living in there for a month, revolted me.

Every day, I give her a plate of two slices of hard and moldy bread and a glass of stale water. I couldn't believe that she was still alive after eating only that for a season's time.

And I'm not unaware to what Cahil does to her either, I heard the screams the first few nights, but now it's like she has given up hope. She was an empty shell of a woman, she doesn't even move when I enter the room. She flinches as the door opens and closes, and then she stays still as I place the food on the floor, never looking at me or saying anything. Sometimes I have even questioned her of being dead, but whenever I try to get near to check her pulse she shies away from me. I don't push her though, especially since I know what he puts her through every chance he gets.

But now I've had enough of this torture, I was going to help her whether it got me fired or not. I couldn't sit back and allow this to go on any further.

Walking into the room, I set a full plate of piping hot sweet cakes in front of her. She didn't look at me or even acknowledge my entrance of the room, let alone the new food in front of her. I quickly left the room to give her some privacy.

I remained beside the door, leaving it open a crack to see what she would do. What I saw sliced deep into my being. She was like a raving animal – looking around the small space cautiously before throwing herself at the food. It disappeared in mere seconds.

I knew then that I would do as much as I can to help her. I owed her that much.

Valek
It has been four months since I had received my last letter from Yelena and I couldn't help but worry. Even though it took her a long time to write to me, it has never taken this long before. I wrote back to every one of them, even though I knew she most likely never even received the replies. It just made me feel better to give her an answer – unheard or not.

Throughout every day since I had received her first letter, I have been rereading them every chance I could get. I have them all memorized but I still read them again and again, bringing them to my face I close my eyes as I inhale her scent. Lavender. The smell always brought me back to when she broke into my office.

Since I had assigned myself to Ambrose's side until Brazell and Mogkan leave, I hadn't been in my office all day. As soon as I let myself in, an overwhelming smell of Lavender hit me, Yelena. It didn't pass my mind that she would break into my office, searching for the antidote. Even though most of her predecessors don't possess the skills to pick locks, they all have the same intense interest in the whereabouts and recipe of their so called antidote.

After sitting down at my desk, and lighting a lantern, I briefly looked around the room. I couldn't see her anywhere, unsurprisingly. Strangely, I wasn't mad at her for sneaking into my office and looking through my files. I knew that she would never find the antidote to Butterfly's dust since the poison doesn't even exist in the first place. And since she will always think I had destroyed all information on the poison and the antidote, I knew that she would never suspect it was a ruse.

In fact, I was actually relieved that she had taken the obvious approach of searching my office for clues. Although I am very good at reading people and predicting their next move, Yelena has proven a puzzle to me. I never could predict what she was going to do next, and even if I did, I was never right. That's why I'd rather she follow the standard procedures of escape, rather than creating her own plan.

A knock at the door interrupted my thoughts.

After dealing with the prisoner, I slid my chair back and placed my feet on my desk, stretching my arms behind my head I exhaled a loud yawn.

I hoped that overhearing the conversation of giving him a new life would cause some reaction from Yelena. I decided it was time to let her know that I knew she had been there all along, "So Yelena, did you find our question interesting?" I asked her.

I waited a few seconds for her response, but I got none, I suppressed a smirk, did she really think that I was bluffing? "I know you're behind the table."

Her expression when she came out from her hiding place nearly made me lose my control. She looked like a child who just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

I even considered faking anger with her, just to see her reaction.

"How did you…" she began before I interrupted her.

"You favor lavender-scented soap, and I wouldn't be alive today if I couldn't determine when someone had picked my locks. Assassins love to ambush, leaving dead bodies behind mysteriously locked doors. Fun Stuff." I yawned again. I was more tired than I thought.

"Your not angry?" see seemed surprised, I guess witnessing my anger before, and my reputation had made her expect me to be angry at breaking into my office instead of being relieved.

"No relieved actually. I wondered when you would search my office for the recipe to the antidote."

Her expression turned from shocked to angry. "Relieved? That I might try to escape? That I rifled through your papers? You're that confident that I won't succeed?"

I tilted my head to the side as I considered her words. "I'm relieved that you're following the standard steps of escaping, and not inventing a unique plan. If I know what you're doing, then I can anticipate your next move. If not, then I might miss something. Learning how to pick locks generally leads to this." I gestured around the room, indicating what she'd just done, breaking into my office to find the recipe. "But since the formula has not been written down and only I know it, I'm confident that you won't find it."

I hid my amusement as I noticed her hands balled into fists, I guess being told there is no hope of her escaping riled her even more.

"Okay, so there's no chance for escape. How about this?" she asked me. "You gave Tentil and new life, why not me?"

I was surprised that she had to ask me this. I thought the answer was fairly obvious. "How do you know I hadn't already?" I put my feet back on the floor and leaned forward in my seat. "Why do you think you were in the dungeon for almost a year? Was it only luck that you happened to be the next in line when Oscove died? Perhaps I was merely acting at our first meeting when I seemed so surprised that you were a woman." Which I was. I smirked internally.

"What do you want Valek? Do you want me to give up trying? Be content with this poisoned life?"

"Do you really want to know?" I asked her as I stood up and stepped towards her.

"Yes."

"I want you… not as an unwilling servant, but as a loyal staff member. You're intelligent, quick thinking and becoming a decent fighter. I want you to be as dedicated as I am at keeping the Commander safe. Yes, It's a dangerous job, but on the other hand, one miscalculated somersault on the tightrope could break your neck. That's what I want. Will you be able to give it to me?" I asked her, I wanted nothing more for her to accept. "Besides, where would you go? You belong here." 'With me' I wanted to add.

I waited as she considered my offer, [while my heart pumped madly in my chest.] "I don't know," she said. "There's so much…"

"That you haven't told me?" I wanted to give her the opportunity to tell me of her past, but I knew that she wouldn't.

"Trusting is hard. Knowing who to trust, even harder." I knew that from my own experiences.

"And my track record has been rather horrendous. A weakness of mine." I could tell that she regretted something in her past, but I didn't push it any further.

"No, a strength. Look at Ari and Janco. They appointed themselves your protectors, long before I assigned them. All because you stood up for them to the Commander, when their own Captain wouldn't. Think about what you have right now before you give me an answer. You have gained the Commander's and Maren's respect, and Ari and Janco's loyalty."

"What have I earned from you, Valek? Loyalty? Respect? Trust?"

"You have my attention. But give me what I want, and you can have everything." 'Including my heart.' I added in my thoughts.

Coming back to the present, I gently placed the letter on the desk, before putting my head in my hands. Rubbing my face roughly, I tried to forget the memories, since they hurt too much.

Many times before, I have had to say goodbye to Yelena. The hardest before this was to the Fire Warper, I had no idea when she was going to come back, if she was going to at all. The whole time I was an empty vessel. Now I feel exactly the same, only worse. Not only had I lost her, I had lost her to another man, the wannabe King, a man no better than Reyad. I stopped my thoughts as pure fury invaded my body. I couldn't believe I had let her go into a similar situation as to the one that haunted her past. I knew the truth that everyone chose to overlook. I knew that he would treat her like an animal. I knew that he would hurt her and I knew that she would suffer, but what hurt me the most was that there was nothing I could do about it.

Disgusted at myself, I let my head drop, banging against the side of the desk. The pain that shot through my body distracted me from my thoughts. Numbing me temporarily.

Yelena
It has been four months since my last letter to Valek. But it's not that I wanted to stop. I wanted nothing more than to write to him, even if I was unsure whether he read them or if he even received them. Even with no replies, I still felt that little bit closer to him. Like he was still there for me to rely on, and to seek comfort with, just like he had said the night before I had left.

In every letter, I had told him not to come after me, I didn't want him getting hurt or worse, especially since he is the only thing that is keeping me alive. The hope and dreams that I can see him again, for him to hold me in his arms and tell me everything's alright, even if it isn't.

Three months ago, Cahil had discovered the secret letters I had been sending. All hell broke loose and I haven't seen the servant who had taken pity on my predicament since. I don't know what happened to her, I only hope that she lost only her job and nothing else. I had asked for full blame, I told Cahil how I ordered her to send the letters. Even though he didn't look like he believed me, he didn't miss the opportunity to torture me further.

The ice cold floor against my bare skin brought me back to the present. Standing above me, a cruel smirk spread across Cahil's face.

"We'll be starting with page two tonight."


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