Chapter 4

~.~

(Becky's POV)

I wake up the next morning, dried tears on my cheeks, encased in Eret's arms.

I don't remember anything that took place the night before, but I don't really care at this point, as I know Eret is there for me – and he's going to keep being there for me, no matter what.

March soon fades into April, and I try my best to seem normal. Not overly happy, but just normal so no one suspects anything.

I hate lying to Eret; he's done nothing to deserve me lying to him. But I have no choice.

I've actually contemplated telling him and we keep it a secret, but if Eret knew and he planned to lash out at Drago, we'd both be in danger, me more so than him.

When I have nightmares during the night, and Eret wakes me up, I always tell him I don't feel like talking about them. But, in truth, they're about seeing my son being slaughtered by his own father, along with Anthony's murder. Over and over and over again.

Eret guesses that me having so many nightmares and not sleeping enough is from Drago…he's half-right.

The guilt I feel for losing my son and Anthony – even though, at the time, I couldn't do a thing to stop either murder – takes its toll on me, and Eret notices one night as we sit down to our weekly meal of beef stew, as it's become a tradition to have it once a week since my return.

"My darling, are you all right?" Eret asks me.

The way he says it makes me drop my bowl and I go to the bow of the ship, shaking.

Eret immediately follows me.

I empty out the contents of dinner, all the while shaking and sobbing. Eret starts to rub my back as my breath accelerates and I collapse onto my knees, clutching my chest, unable to catch my breath.

(Eret's POV)

In my mind, I cry out to all the gods, old and new.

Thor, Odin, Freya, Loki...all the gods, old and new. What do I do to help her?!

"Becky, honey, you've got to breathe. You have to breathe."

Her breathing doesn't seem like it's going to slow down or calm down anytime soon.

My crew gathers around us, worried.

"Not too close." I tell them. I kneel in front of Becky, wanting to help her somehow, but not knowing how.

"Baby, follow my breathing."

Slowly but surely, I help Becky get her breathing back to normal. Once it gets back to normal, she breaks down, and I don't hesitate to hold her close.

"Easy, my darling, easy. Gods, Becky. What did that monster do to you?"

Seeing my girlfriend get sick and have a panic attack for an unknown reason - at least to me - breaks my heart. I really hope she's not coming down with something.

"Baby, what's wrong? You know you can tell me anything. Are you sick?" I ask. Becky shakes her head.

"My darling, please tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on."

That somehow makes her cry even harder.

"Shhhh. Shhh, darling. Shhh. I'm here, my love. I'm right here." I do everything I can to help Becky.

It's then she says something.

"Eret, I want to tell you everything. I really do. But I can't..."

"My love, why can't you tell me?"

"He said it'd be the last thing I ever did."

Whatever Drago put her through and made her promise not to tell anyone...gods, my poor Becky.

"My darling, whatever that monster put you through, I'm here for you. I'm not leaving you, okay? I promise." She nods and I kiss the top of her head. I clean her mouth with a cloth and she leans against me, all the while I'm wishing I could take her pain away. I hate seeing her like this so much, and I...

I love her.

I love her, but I can't tell her, for fear of Drago hurting her again.

Me? He can hurt me as much as he wants, just don't hurt my Becky.

As soon as I realized I loved her when we were apart for almost a year, and that ending just a few weeks ago, I promised myself I'd show her in every way possible, that way I wouldn't have to tell her. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, no matter how short that time would be, should Drago find out and react badly. And I knew just how to tell her. Well, in my mind, at least. Out loud? I'd need the confidence to tell her - something I don't usually lack.

(Becky's POV)

Days pass and it's the night just a few days before my 20th birthday, and I notice Eret is a bit nervous. My head instantly fills with questions.

Did I accidentally talk in my sleep and Eret heard the truth?

Is Eret going to break up with me?

Am I being voted off the boat because I'm a woman or I'm not useful enough?

Did I do something to make Eret hate me?

My thoughts are interrupted when Eret clears his throat and turns to me.

"Becky, my darling, words cannot express how much I care for you. I don't know what I did to deserve someone as amazing as you. I don't know what Drago put you through, but I know your life depends on not telling anyone. I trust you and I care about you so so much. So, here I am, and I'm asking you a question. A question that I'm hoping the answer to it will make me the happiest man alive. Becky, will you marry me?"

Oh, my gods.

I stare at Eret. Here is the man, not once has he told me he loves me – he's shown me in a lot of ways, of course – and he's asking me to marry him?

In my heart, despite him never actually saying "I love you" to me, I feel like Eret is actually my true love. Stunned, I nod.

The next day, one of the crew members, Teeny, who was his island's officiant before he was hired to work for Drago, performs my and Eret's wedding ceremony. It's not the wedding of my dreams – not that I really have one – but it's all we can do until we're free from Drago – if we ever get free.

I turn 20 in the next couple of days after Eret and I are married, but I don't like celebrating my birthdays, and I don't know why; I think I just feel like I don't deserve to be celebrated.

~.~

Just a week before Eret's birthday in late May, we're met with a note from Drago:

"Ten dragons are to be caught before the week's end. Do not fail me this time."

The week goes by quicker than expected, but only three dragons are caught. Eret and I both fear what Drago will do to us when he finds out. Soon, Drago's ship approaches. Drago comes on board, eyeing me greedily. I stand my ground as Drago's men force Eret and me on board his ship.

Many hours pass as Eret and I anxiously stand by as Drago inspects our small fleet.

"Six hours later, the branding iron is ready. Gustavo, you hold her back. Halstein, you and Kensley hold Eret back." My breath quickens as Gustavo holds me back, thinking Drago will be branding me.

"Drago, please don't do this. She doesn't deserve this." Eret starts, but it's not until Halstein and Kensley push Eret onto his back that I realize what Drago is doing:

Drago is forcing me to watch the branding take place.

Drago takes the branding iron off of the hot coals – where it had been absorbing the heat for hours – and takes his place over Eret, putting the branding iron to Eret's chest. It's unbearable to watch, but I have no choice.

"NO! Stop it! Please! Leave him alone, Drago!" I exclaim to Drago, but my pleas fall on deaf ears as I watch my one true love be branded by Drago Bludvist himself, right in front of me. As soon as the branding iron leaves Eret's chest, I run to his side after breaking out of Gustavo's grasp.

"You belong to me now." Drago tells Eret. I flinch, as that is exactly what Drago told me after our first "session".

"I'm here, baby. I'm right here. Oh, my Eret. I'm so sorry this happened to you." One of Drago's men tries to drag me away from Eret, but, to my surprise, Drago stops him.

"Leave her be. I'll have better use of her later."

"You're a monster." I tell Drago while he is still in earshot.

"What did you call me, girl?" Drago asks me, gripping my left upper arm hard as I stand up.

"YOU'RE A MONSTER!" I scream, not caring about the consequences. Drago slaps me across my face, but even as I turn to face him again, I'm still glaring daggers at him; Drago simply walks away. I go back to Eret's side and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Drago smirk; I know what he has planned even if I hadn't seen him smirk, but right now I need to be focused on Eret.

I see the heat and smoke radiating from the branding scar.

"I'm so sorry this happened to you, Eret." I say, stroking his hair.

"Not your fault, darling." Eret says, his voice scratchy, as if the burn had found its way into his throat.

"But it's not yours either, Eret." I retort, getting a ladleful of water from a nearby trough and putting it to his lips; Eret accepts it graciously. I then cut off a piece of my tunic and dip it into a nearby bucket after filling the bucket with water.

"How's your arm?" Eret asks me, his eyes glancing to the spot on my arm where Drago had gripped it.

"It's fine." I reply, knowing Eret's abuse marks were more severe than mine.

"Drago could've crushed the bone the way he was gripping it." Eret say. I ignore Eret's comment as I wring out the rag.

"This'll sting a bit." I say, dabbing at the burn; Eret grits his teeth, sucking in his breath. Soon, I'm done doing all I can do to help Eret's burn. I turn to throw the water out into the sea, but Eret's hand grips my own and I can see determination in his eyes.

"I promise you, Becky. One day, we're both going to be free of Drago and his torture." Eret say.

When Drago is done doing what he does to me – as punishment for my cheek and not capturing enough dragons – he lets Eret and I leave. We help each other onto our small ship and Teeny mans the helm as Eret and I try to get some rest.

Eret isn't up for celebrating his birthday a few days later, but who can blame him? The man got branded by Drago Bludvist himself!

Over the next couple of weeks, as May fades into June, Eret begins to feel like himself again, but I and the other crew members can tell he's not completely there.

I know how that feels.

~.~

At the beginning of June, I suggested to Eret that I take up sword fighting so I can defend myself if needed. That and Eret needs a distraction from the pain of his branding scar.

He agrees, and begins to train me every morning throughout the rest of June.

It takes that much time for me to perfect it, as I'm a slow learner when it comes to combat skills, but Eret is patient with me and never fails to correct me if I'm wrong about how I'm standing or a move I'm working on.

Soon, just at the end of June, Eret congratulates me at learning all he could teach me.

Eight months pass, and, within those months, we've set up a fort in one of the archipelagos. It serves its purpose and, since I basically have no decorating experience, much to Eret's crew's dismay – as they thought I, being a woman, knew everything there is to know about interior and exterior decoration – we made it just a plain old common fort.

We settle in, as Drago had given us a year to collect dragons, as he's getting older, and his crew can't build his growing fleet fast enough and he's running out of room to keep the dragons.

~.~

It's late.

Some of Eret's men are, as usual, on patrol, guarding the trapped dragons.

Eret and I are currently asleep.

Until I bolt up from yet another nightmare.

I realize that I'm with Eret and that I won't be in Drago's custody again for – hopefully – quite some time.

I slightly jump when I hear Eret asking me:

"You all right, my love?"

"Just another nightmare. Sorry for waking you." I reply.

"It's all right."

We sit in silence as I lean up against Eret's chest as he wraps his arms around me.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

I open my mouth to tell Eret, when we suddenly see a blur of movement outside.

We run to the window and see it's a dragon rider, and their dragon is setting all of the dragons free.

Eret and I race down the steps of our fort, ready to face the intruders.

Eret goes out to face the rider and I help Eret's men secure the cages.

But we're too late as the dragons fly upwards, out of our reach.

"Ah, ah! Not tonight, dragon rider." Eret says as I stand in the background, my sword at the ready, should Eret need help (I don't think he will, but who knows?).

"These dragons belong to Drago now." Eret says.

All of a sudden, a ton of the mysterious rider's dragons blast forth as an ice-spitting dragon comes and aides the trapped dragons, setting them free.

"Drago Bludvist will hear of this!" Eret calls to the dragon rider as said rider and the dragons get away.

But not before the dragons burn our fort the ground and the ice-spitter covers it in ice.

Eret and I look at each other, knowing we've got a long night ahead of us.