Chapter 53

After he had gone, Quynn headed to the bathing chamber and she wished she could have heated the tepid water that was warmed with light from the suns that streamed into the chamber from skylights overhead. Without the aid of females that would only annoy her, she washed days of accumulated sweat and filth from her trip from Teralon in which Kai had only allowed her to take care of her personal needs while standing nearby. He had fed her from what he found among the Calabrian's possessions, so she had little choice but to eat the creatures they had harvested from the marshlands. After a few days, she had grown to appreciate the food and understood why the Calabrians had been so delighted by their days in the marshlands even though she suspected the Teralonians avoided them.

When she finished bathing, she wrapped the drying cloth around herself, finding that while she rinsed her hair, some sneaky servant had taken her battle suit and the tunic Staefyn had draped over her. Quynn did not bother dragging her feet to the chamber where she would wait for Staefyn. That would not change her fate. Her training at the academy had taught her when it was prudent to fight and when giving up might mean gaining more time to scheme for escape. Since the Cinq Kingdom had no enemies, she often wondered what those lessons were for, but now she had a good reason to remember them. She was Staefyn's prisoner and he was going to do what he wished, using what methods he wished, and he had already proven that his arsenal was considerable. What other captor could boast to take his prisoner to the moment of her conception? He could certainly do much worse.

Wearing only the collar around her neck and the drying cloth around her naked body, she went to the obscene pile of satiny covered cushions and pillows. Before lying down, she exchanged the drying cloth for the flimsy long robe she found lying over a padded bench. As she tied it, she mused that Amyr would probably enjoy running his hands over the fabric that Quynn knew had come from a frontier world.

At first she lay stiffly waiting, convincing herself that he could do what he wanted to her body, but her heart and soul belonged to Amyr. She had been trained to endure many sorts of torture and although the trainers did not force the cadets to submit to rape, they had completed a virtual simulation that made her feel dirty afterwards. She could only imagine how dirty she would feel after Staefyn finished with her.

By the time Staefyn passed through the door wearing a silky robe that matched her own, she realized that the simulation had not prepared her for the reality of submitting her body. She was shivering and she felt tears burning the back of her eyelids. Amyr had been the only man to touch her and she felt sick and sorrowful that Staefyn would despoil the love she felt for his brother.

When he sank down on the edge of the bed, Staefyn did not look at her for a moment and Quynn wanted to make some clever remark to keep from begging him ignobly not to touch her. But she could not speak and as he sat staring at some point across the room, she began to feel more relaxed and wondered if he had enveloped her with a spell.

Finally he turned his head to look at her. "By the gods," he murmured hoarsely. "You are so beautiful!" She waited, her body tense, but he only looked at her and then heard that his breathing was rapid, laboured and looking at his eyes, saw him pressing his lips together tightly. His eyes snapped shut.

What was he doing? Was he getting up the nerve to touch her? He had purchased her, so she was his slave, and he had given her the impression that he would fully enjoy her whether she wanted it or not. The hand that he raised to touch her was shaking and she nearly jumped in shock when he placed it only briefly on her belly.

Suddenly he stumbled from the bed and he barely made it to the basin that was left for her personal needs. After several moments of heaving, he returned to her, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand.

"You are with child," he observed hoarsely.

She shrugged. "I did not know that would be an issue with you." Where she got the bravado to speak, she did not know when she was trembling uncontrollably. But she thanked the gods for Amyr's lack of self-control if it meant his Guerani brother could not touch her.

"A female."

A wave of calm washed over her and she relaxed enough to meet Staefyn's gaze. If he had done that to her, she could not complain. "That is what the idiot said after he did it, so I guess you have confirmed it."

He took a deep breath, then straightened and strode from the room with a curse on his lips.

Quynn fell back against the pillows to rest deeply for the first time since leaving Teralon, her hand on her belly to thank her unborn daughter for saving her.

The following day a silent serving woman came to her with clean clothing, silky pants that barely reached her hips and a flimsy garment that did not even reach her belly and which was open on the sides. More of her was out of the clingy garment than was in and when she requested something to wear under or over it, the serving woman frowned and told her it was unnecessary. Quynn refused to leave the chamber dressed as she was, so the woman, Vaedra, gave her a wrap to wear over it. She was relieved to be covered as Vaedra led her through the airy corridors of the palace that might have been her home.

They came to a terrace overlooking the mountains and in the distance she could see the glistening ribbon of a river that ran through the Wastelands. She noticed a lovely structure nearby just below the palace and wondered what it was.

Staefyn answered her unspoken question. "The residence for the imperial guard of the crown prince."

He was standing at the edge of the balcony looking out over the breathtaking view. The serving woman snatched the wrap from her shoulders before she could guess her intention and had bowed out before Quynn could stop her. She had little choice but to turn back to the man who probably considered himself her master.

"It is comforting to know that Amyr made some provision for Taeron," she remarked.

"Amyr would not have thought of such a thing" said Staefyn without turning around. "My brother has always been beyond selfish. When plans were being made, he suggested that it was unnecessary, but my father disagreed. He has always loved his imperial guards to a fault."

Staefyn turned to look at Quynn for only a moment, his soft gaze moving over her before he looked away. She could see a mixture of revulsion and pleasure in that brief glance. "I should have realized that sooner or later my father was going to claim Taeron. Perhaps that is why he planned a beautiful home for him."

There was a table set with food and Quynn was hungry, so without asking permission she headed to it and was pleased to see food more acceptable to her palate in addition to the delicacies probably gleaned from under forest rocks. She reached for an oddly shaped fruit, then took a few fat white grubs and popped them in her mouth. Not so long ago she would have been disgusted, but she found she could eat like a Calabrian if she did not dwell on what she was chewing on.

Her belly rebelled more from her condition than from what she was eating, so she drank some sweet juice which helped to settle her stomach.

"You are quiet," he observed without looking at her.

"I really have nothing to gain by talking to you, Staefyn. You are a traitor and a murderer, and I don't even know where to begin wondering what your motives are in kidnapping me."

"I am not a murderer," he said irritably. "Kai is responsible for what happened at Edgeland Fortress."

"Just because he did it makes you no less responsible." He looked as if he wanted to argue, but he must have decided it was futile. She was right and he knew it.

Deciding that a handful of grubs was a good enough start, she took a fruit and bit into it. She was annoyed to see that half a worm remained in the fruit where she had taken her bite, and wincing, she chewed, then swallowed quickly.

Staefyn chuckled. "You are an ill-suited mate for my brother."

He seemed to be in a more tractable mood so she suggested, "Why don't you send me to Edgeland Fortress with an escort? If what you say is true, that Kai is responsible," Quynn suspected it was mostly true because of what the Varoonyan bastard had revealed to her on the transport, "then your father will forgive your part in it." She took another bite of the fruit, not really caring if there was another worm. Did they go out of their way to find wormy fruit?

But Staefyn spun around so fast that she was startled and almost choked on the fruit. "You think my father will forgive me? I tried to kill my own mother, and I called her a wasteland whore! You think he will forgive that?"

"You have made a strong argument against forgiveness," she remarked flippantly.

"Do you know how many assassins have been sent to kill Taeron in my name?" He laughed bitterly as he ran a shaky hand through his hair, his gaze still darting around her, staying on her for only seconds as if he could not bear to look at her. "They see me as a dishonorable cur."

"You are a dishonorable cur," she pointed out.

If he was going to respond, he did not have a chance because the Varoonyan warlord strode onto the terrace. He glanced briefly at Staefyn before his gaze rested on Quynn.

"I see that you are recovered."

She looked at him with contempt. The stones at her throat felt warm, so she forced herself to feel calm although the sight of the warlord infuriated her. "The accommodations are quite lovely although the present company could be improved upon."

In a few long strides he came to her, and she did not expect him to act, but he struck her with the back of his hand so hard that she stumbled and fell against the table. Staefyn took a step towards her, his eyes glowing, but Kai grasped her around the neck and she could not breathe as he squeezed. "Your present company could be much less pleasant, Lady Quynn." He released her and as she struggled to draw in breath, he looked at Staefyn. "You may have her now, sorcerer."

Quynn did not look after him as he stalked away from the terrace, and she closed her eyes to keep from seeing Staefyn when he came to her. She hated the pleasure from his healing touch, hated the quickening of his breath that told her he was getting even more pleasure from healing her. He released her quickly and when she opened her eyes, she saw him standing at the balustrade overlooking the mountainside, his hands gripping the railing.

After a moment he said, "You should not provoke him."

"It's what I do," she told him as she straightened. "If you wanted a biddable Calabrian woman, you should have shopped around."

"There are no females on the markets anymore," he said seriously.

"I was not on the market either, but that did not stop you from purchasing me," she pointed out wryly.

"Return to your room," he ordered her without turning around. "Do not bother trying to escape. Kai tells me you can be tracked with your collar."

Quynn reached up to finger the warm stones. She had gotten good at controlling her magic, but she had not counted on this extra problem. Any plans for sneaking away were ruined before she could formulate them.

Staefyn laughed. "You may spend the day imagining how to escape and I will spend the day amusing myself by reading your mind and staying a step ahead of you."

"Then I will find more amusing things to think about," she remarked. As she walked out, she thought about Amyr and remembered a particularly enjoyable night in his arms in the marshlands on Teralon. By the sound of annoyance Staefyn made, she knew he had intruded upon her thoughts, but the amusement she should have felt was offset by disgust at realizing she had allowed Staefyn to watch her private moments with his brother. She was going to have to guard her thoughts well from his intrusive magic.

The days followed a pattern in which she shared meals with Staefyn that Kai would inevitably interrupt, and when she angered him with acerbic remarks that she just could not suppress and he hit her and Staefyn would follow up with healing. She doubted they worked in tandem. Staefyn could not deny the need to heal her, and his magic was so strong that it affected them both in ways that Quynn found abhorrent while Staefyn seemed to find some release denied to him by the child she carried.

His behavior was erratic and Quynn could not understand what drove him. Staefyn's caustic remarks about his family were so far removed from reality that she had ceased trying to convince him of the truth after only a few days. He was angry with his father for denying Taeron's paternity. He reviled his mother for hiding the truth about Amyr and for the act of weakness with his father that had led to his grandfather placing her into wastelands. He despised Amyr, for real or imagined slights, Quynn did not know although she learned through Staefyn that Amyr had not been kind to him when they were growing up, seeing him either as a rival or an unwanted appendage. There were times that she found her own brother aggravating when she was growing up with Stryfe, but she had never felt this anger towards him, so she convinced herself that something had driven Staefyn to revile his family.

Quynn was in no position to discover the root of his crazed behavior. There were enough guards patrolling under her window and in the hall to take on a small army. She noticed that they did not carry the long sword of imperial warriors, but a variety of weapons that marked them as bandits or zenoite rebels known to be hiding in the hills. More than a few had the glowing red eyes of battle thralls created by Kai from aimless Calabrians that had been driven from imperial houses because of dishonorable behavior. Staefyn surrounded himself with the dregs of Calabria, and if it bothered him, he did not show it.

After the call to Taeron and Amyr that had not ended how Kai and Staefyn wished, Quynn was not surprised that Vaedra brought her a tray of food, informing her that the prince was not well. Since Kai had already given her his habitual evening blow and Staefyn had healed her, she was glad that she did not have to face the revolting pair again. Seeing Amyr bolstered her spirits although she now had the additional worry that he might try something foolish to rescue her. She could only hope that Taeron would prevent him from doing so when Staefyn was probably hoping that he would and was prepared for such a contingency.

In the evenings after the first sunset she was given access to the garden for which she was grateful because she hated being trapped in her chamber with no one to speak to except her personal servant, Vaedra, an old woman with graying hair whose patience and kindness often got on Quynn's nerves. Vaedra lived only to serve and frequently informed Quynn of her gratitude toward the young prince for giving her a home. She had been deathly ill and Staefyn had cured her, so she was completely beholden to him. There was no way Quynn was going to be able to convince her to help her or to buy her aid in escape. Vaedra dressed in the scandalous garments that Staefyn provided for her without comment although Quynn sensed that the older woman's disapproval rivaled her own.

When in the garden, Quynn was under no illusion that she was alone because she could feel eyes upon her and suspected Staefyn watched her. She did not want to think about what he was doing while he watched. Did Calabrian males even gratify their own pleasures when females aplenty would jump to accommodate them? Amyr had admitted to never having had a desire that could not immediately be fulfilled, so she doubted Staefyn's experiences were any different. So why was he ogling her through the leaves of foliage that hid his presence although she felt him?

Finishing with her meal, she paced her chamber for several moments and then told Vaedra she would like to walk in the garden. Vaedra was reluctant at first, but she had not received any instructions to the contrary, so she dressed her in a flimsy gown that covered her from neck to ankle but might not have been there since it clung to her body indecently. None of her garments were respectable, so she had gotten used to wearing them, and she consoled herself with thoughts of what Amyr would think if she wore them for him in the privacy of their chamber. He would be able to react as a man should.

The first sun had already set when Quynn stepped into the garden. It was surrounded by tall, thick bushes that were dotted with beautiful red flowers that reminded her of roses. Large enough for two fountains that attracted birds, Quynn usually made a figure eight path around the fountains before coming to rest on a bench beneath an arch where the rays of the second sun bathed her as it descended. Staefyn had certainly arranged the setting perfectly for her entrance on the stage where he could watch her. Sighing now as she sat on the bench, there was nothing she could do to prevent her ambivalent captor from ogling her. She would think about Amyr and maybe that would cool his ardor.

The wall was too high to scale, at least for her. It might be child's play to an imperial trained Calabrian, but she was a mere mortal, and something three times as high as she was tall posed a bit of a problem. Vaedra remained just inside the palace, giving her privacy, and even though she was sure Staefyn watched her, she was glad to be alone in the garden with her thoughts.

Now she took her mind off Staefyn and his probable motive for watching her into the garden by thinking about Yori. He had been upset that she was leaving him behind when she went to Teralon, but her mother managed to distract him from his tears with mention of a special treat. Yori had not been fooled, but he reluctantly accompanied her mother and Quynn had been left with her own tears after he turned his head to give her one last look with his large, golden eyes. The weeks that she knew she would be separated from her son were bad enough, but now she did not know when or how or even if she would ever escape Staefyn to be with Amyr and Yori again.

Sighing, she was about to leave the bench to return to her room to sleep, her new favorite pastime, when she heard voices and she realized that they were coming from beyond the bushes where she suspected Staefyn watched her.

"Is this where you go every night?"

The woman's low voice was calm, but Quynn heard the censure. She wasn't surprised that she did not recognize the voice because her contact with others was severely limited. She was not allowed to leave this private wing of the palace that she guessed had been designed for the personal use of the emperor and his wife.

"What does it matter to you?" She recognized Staefyn's voice and the resentful tone surprised her. He seemed angry and she guessed he did not want his solitary pleasure interrupted. "Have I yet disappointed you?"

"You please me well, my prince." The woman's husky tone told Quynn exactly how Staefyn pleased her. Curious about the female that Staefyn kept at the palace to serve his baser needs, Quynn glanced first to see if Vaedra was watching and seeing that she was sitting on stool repairing some clothing, she started pushing aside the thick foliage of the bushes separating the gardens, trying not to make noise that would alert them of her spying.

"Not here!" Staefyn snapped irritably.

"Yes, here." The female was breathless with anticipation.

"By the gods!" he snarled, but the tone had changed to something a bit more conducive to what the female had in mind. His groans left Quynn in no doubt as to what was happening.

Disgusted with her own behavior, Quynn was nevertheless delighted when she managed to make a tunnel to see into the garden and she pressed her lips together to stifle a gasp when she saw Staefyn sitting on a bench similar to her own but further away from where she had imagined him watching on her. A female was straddling him, her elegant gown bunched around her waist, her long legs wrapped around him as she moved on him. He may not have initially wanted what they were doing, but he was participating with much enthusiasm now, his head back and his face showing how much pleasure the woman was giving him.

Quynn looked away, embarrassed to have spied on him, but her curiosity was too great and she wanted to see the female better. She had thought that Staefyn had lied about courting a female in the Guerani hills, but she must have been mistaken because it was obvious that what they were doing was well practiced. Why had he not brought her to meet his family, to exchange oaths with her?

She waited until she heard sounds that signaled an end to their efforts to look back at them.

"Come to my chamber," the woman murmured in his ear.

Quynn saw that Staefyn's face was now pillowed in her bosom, her robe open to him, but all Quynn saw of the woman as she pressed her cheek against the top of Staefyn's head was a long pale braid and an elegant hand stroking his cheek.

"No," Staefyn told her, but his voice was breathy and she suspected that he was aroused again. Did those Calabrians ever stop once they started? Quynn smiled as she thought of Amyr, but the smile faded when the woman raised her head and put her fingers under his chin to force Staefyn to look at her.

The female was no beautiful young woman, but a woman with lines of age that marked her well older than her parents and Quynn guessed that she was at least as old as her grandparents. This woman was a faded beauty, but while her grandfather's wife, Lady Virneia had a gentle aged beauty, Staefyn's lover looked down at him with calculating dominance, the lines of her face harsh. Her long pale legs were like snakes around Staefyn and Quynn wanted to shout at him to get away from her poison. But Staefyn proved he had already been bitten by now covering her mouth with his as his hands frantically stroked her body, pushing the robe over her shoulders. Hearing the female's seductive laughter, then her cries of pleasure, Quynn swallowed her disgust and left the bench to hurry back to her room.

Vaedra glanced at her, in the direction she had come and she must of heard the activity on the other side of the bushes because she pursed her lips and turned her attention back to her sewing. She did not speak to Quynn, and Quynn was too horrified by what she had witnessed to even want to discuss it.

That night she had difficulty sleeping as she thought about Staefyn and the other woman, and while it disgusted her to do so, she replayed what she had seen and heard in the garden. Who was the woman? How could Staefyn want her when so many beautiful young females would vie for his attention? Even Quynn had thought him attractive. Now she wondered if his actions with the older woman were another manifestation of whatever was causing him to behave irrationally. She certainly understood why he had not brought her to the imperial palace to meet his family.

The following morning Vaedra escorted her to breakfast as usual with Staefyn. She was not surprised that he looked more relaxed than any time since her arrival. Since she knew he was not going to like what she had to say, she had her meal first, ignoring his remarks about the mild weather. Quynn thought about Yori and what he might be doing on the moon, whether Taeron had landed already on Ulfynaeus and if Amyr had recovered from the blow to his head. At least Yori could be with his father if she had to remain trapped here with Staefyn.

After finishing his meal, Staefyn went to stand at the balustrade looking out over the valley, and she wondered what he thought about. Was he looking towards the imperial city? What would his parents think about his behavior here in the palace they had built to be a place where they could find peace? She realized that he had turned to look at her with a narrowed gaze. All her efforts to keep him from reading her thoughts were for naught as she recalled what he looked like rutting with a woman old enough to be his grandmother.

She knew he had caught her thought when his face flushed and he stalked to her, his eyes glittering with rage. "You spied upon me!" he snarled as he towered over her.

"I thought I would pay you back for all the times you spied on me," she said, unable to keep her mouth from saying what she should keep to herself. Her mother told her that she seemed to have gotten that particularly annoying trait from her father. "Your show was much more interesting."

His shaking hands hovered over her, and the fury she saw in his eyes made Quynn fear for her life when he seized her and dragged her to edge of the terrace. "I could kill you right now!"

Bent over the edge, she saw how far the drop was and estimated her chances of survival to be minimal. She had heard that canyon beasts often roamed beneath the palace and even Calabrian imperial warriors avoided them because the creatures enjoyed a human snack from time to time.

She looked back at Staefyn. "You would not want to have to heal that," she pointed out tartly, suppressing the terror rising inside her. Quynn did not want to die. Not here, not now, not after all that she had gone through. She wanted to see Yori again; she wanted to hold her baby in her arms.

Staefyn dragged her up, his grip on her tight. "Gods, female, this is the only relief I can get!" His eyes were glittering with tears. "You are so beautiful and the only pleasure I can feel with you is when I heal you!" His hand was shaking as he raised it to strike her. Staefyn had never struck her and she thought it impossible, but her mockery about what she had seen had infuriated him as he had never been before.

"Let her go!"

When he promptly released her, she fell to her knees on the flagstones of the balcony weak with relief. Turning her head, she saw the woman from the garden standing near the table, her arms folded over her chest, her chin raised imperiously as she met Quynn's gaze. The female was dressed elegantly as if she were an imperial at the emperor's palace with flashing jewels in her fashionably arranged silver hair, a matching necklace of the same gems.

For several moments there was only the sounds of Staefyn panting as he gulped in air in some effort to regain his sanity. The woman looked from Quynn to Staefyn who did not see the fleeting contempt in her eyes. In that brief look, Quynn saw that she despised her young lover.

Suddenly Vaedra hurried onto the terrace. "My lady!" Vaedra bowed low to the older female who nodded in Quynn's direction in a silent order.

Vaedra hurried to help Quynn to her feet as Staefyn stood silently, his head lowered as if he were a little boy that had been caught in some mischief.

"Are you going to introduce us?" asked the imperial female, her voice soft and cajoling. "I should like to know who you have been spending so much time with of late."

Staefyn reluctantly raised his head. "Lady Quynn of house Maxwell."

"Maxwell?" The woman spat the name in disgust. "This female is that imperial guard's bastard?"

Quynn waved jauntily to her, covering her trepidation with the foolish bravado that the instructors at the academy had told her would land her into trouble some day. Those guys were clairvoyant and she planned to return some day to tell them so. "One and the same. Although he did leave out the part about how I am his brother's wife if you think that is a significant detail."

"Another human female with a sharp tongue, just like her foolish mother."

"So, you know my mother, but I still don't know who you are."

The woman went to Staefyn who took her hand to raise to his lips as she looked at Quynn.

"This is my mate," he announced. "Lady Xuxa."