Page 53 of Prize of the Warlord
“I love you,” I whisper to the Warlord.
Then I turn away from him and walk toward my parents and Prince Havil. I can’t see their faces—my vision is blurred and burning with tears.
My mother grips my shoulders, pulls me in. She’s wearing armor, crafted beautifully of reinforced leather. She smells like roses and steel. She begins to hustle me toward the horses, but Prince Havil snaps, “Wait. The deal is not yet done.”
“What more is there?” my father asks.
“I need satisfaction on a key point,” says the Prince. “That my intended bride remains intact. A virgin. I have my own physik here to perform the inspection.”
“Surely that isn’t necessary,” my father says. “Ixiana’s word alone—”
“Forgive me,” says the Prince, with a genteel smile. “But Ixiana’s judgment seems to have been—compromised. I cannot trust her word on the matter.” He beckons to the robed physik. “Take her into one of the houses and perform the test.”
My mother’s hands tighten on my arms. “This is an outrage. We included that wording in the message only to ensure that no one would touch her. There will be no such examination.”
“There will,” says the Prince. “Or we will give her back to the brute.” He turns to my mother. “Haven’t I been through enough during this ordeal? Am I not entitled to the assurance that my bride has not been soiled and ruined?”
My mother hisses through her teeth, tensing as if she’s about to spring at him, but I step forward, with a scowl of my own to rival any the Warlord has ever delivered. Prince Havil lifts an eyebrow. In the past, I have always been meek and shy in his presence, accepting his tokens of affection with eager modesty.
But I am not the same Ixiana who was taken from her tower.
“What if someone had ‘ruined’ me, as you say?” I face him with my head high. “In that case, an invasive examination of my person like the one you propose would cause me extreme emotional pain and embarrassment. Do you care about that at all? Do you care about me, or only yourself?”
He sucks in a shocked breath, his pale blue eyes widening. “I have invested money and men in this undertaking, to ensure your safe return, and you question my love simply because I want a pure wife?”
The Warlord speaks up, his voice throaty with suppressed rage. “None of my people touched her. And I did not take her virginity. That remains hers to give to the man she deems worthy of it.”
Prince Havil scoffs. “As if I’d believe you, brute.” He nods to his guards. “Take her inside. Perform the examination, whether she agrees or not.”
My mother shoves me behind her and draws her sword halfway, and my father raises his hand. His guards respond, clustering around us. “Have a care, Prince,” my father says.
“No,youhave a care,” Havil replies. “You are nothing without my father’s good graces and his support. Without him, you’d be overrun by these stinking barbarians. Stand down, I say!”
My father keeps his hand upraised, and he glances at me. He’s ready to fight Prince Havil for me. He’s ready to start a war.
And that gives me hope. Because love will always be stronger than hate, and if my parents love me that much, they just might listen when I tell them about the plight of the Warlord’s people, and about the man I’ve come to love.
But to tell them all of that, I need time. I need to defuse this situation, right now, so we can leave this place and I can speak to my parents alone. I cannot allow this standoff to devolve into a bloody three-way battle.
“It’s all right.” I nod to my father and move past my mother, toward Havil and his physik. “I’ll submit to the test.”
Prince Havil’s face smooths into its usual pleasant, affable lines. “Good girl. We’ll wait here until it’s done.”
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Spreading my legs for the physik is embarrassing. It feels more like a violation than anything the Warlord ever did to me. Even when he told me he could do what he pleased with my body, I could sense that he would never take me without consent. And I believe he knew that I welcomed his rough attentions—the possessive hand cupping between my legs, the caressing touch at my breast. I loved it all.
But this examination is cold and cruel. If I had truly been violated during my captivity, I would find it unbearably hurtful. As it is, I endure it until the physik is satisfied. He leads me out of the abandoned house and pronounces me still a virgin.
The Warlord looks as if he might explode any second. It’s time to hurry away. I avoid Prince Havil’s open arms and step to my father’s side instead. “Let’s go,” I say quietly. “Let the warriors take possession of the village. I have things I need to tell you.”
My father nods, and we hurry to mount the horses. As our mounts file away, down the village street, I twist around for a last look at the hulking shape of the Warlord.
I’m leaving my heart behind with him. But I carry his with me. If he can only be patient, I’ll bring it back to him.
With my parents flanking me on either side, and the guards around us, I ride out of the mountain village. It feels strange to be on my own horse without the comforting bulk of the Warlord.
“You look better than I expected,” my mother says, inspecting me. “Thinner, and your clothes are strange, and you have a few scratches, but you’re not bruised or bedraggled. You almost look—stronger.”
