Raja recognized Prince Theodore as soon as their eyes met and caught a hint of recognition from the young prince when he subtly raised one of his perfectly curved eyebrows. Years had passed since he had last seen Prince Theodore of the Kingdom, but the handsome man seemed to have resisted aging. His curly brown hair complemented his olive skin as it framed his regal bone structure. His youthful smile highlighted his high cheeks and his long nose hinted at his distant relationship with his cousin, the Queen. Theodore nodded to Raja as he watched them from the top of the gangway, then switched his guarded anticipation back to the Master. Raja wondered about their relationship and why Paulo risked using the Kingdom's youngest prince as his transportation.

Once they were close enough, the thin royal wrapped the Master in a warm embrace and took his arm with a casual intimacy. This affection and Paulo's acceptance of it surprised Raja. There was so much more to the Master than his appearance suggested. Doubt festered in Raja's heart. Who was this savior who brought a royal ship of the Kingdom to rescue them? Though not at war, the Kingdom remained a historic rival of the Queendom, and the presence of the King's son would not go unnoticed.

"Welcome aboard my ship, Fortune's Friend," the prince greeted Raja with his careless light tone after he had released the Master.

"Luckily, you are safe. The message barely arrived in time," Theodore admitted, directing his words back to Paulo as he waved to his sailors, who had completed the mooring only minutes ago. Immediately, they started the work to launch the ship from the dock.

"We must leave before the tide goes out," he explained to his guests as he led them across the main deck to the hold.

"The couple," the prince nodded to Raja and Natalia, who still slept in Raja's arms, "will share the main guest suite." The young royal pointed to a door and smiled again reassuringly. Something deep inside of Raja wanted to trust this man. He distrusted this desire and wanted to blame magic, but Raja's father told him the Kingdom's youngest son possessed none.

"Rest today. My people will let you sleep as long as you would like. There is dry food in the cool chest if you are hungry." Theodore looked at the sleeping woman with mild interest. "Such a small thing for such big trouble." His hand reached towards her, but he drew back without making contact.

"And you will be staying in your usual room," the prince said to Paulo as he glanced away from Natalia to the Master in a friendly dismissal.

The relationship between this Master and the prince continued to piqued Raja's interest, but he knew a Master's business was his own, so he quelched his curiosity.

The luxurious suite he walked into announced the Kingdom's wealth and prestige to all that entered. Hand-carved wooden furniture mixed with embroidered pillows and quilted blankets, but the value lay in the application of magic on mundane items. The coolbox near the door, the torches on the wall, and even the room temperature were controlled by expensive and time-consuming magic. Raja sighed at the conspicuousness of it and laid his burden on the large bed pressed against the back wall. His new wife stirred as he removed her soft boots and breeches. The skinny legs that now lay bare still bore many small scars. Either these had been fresh wounds, and the Fire had faded them, or they were old and ignored by the magic. Fire was a capricious healer, unlike Water.

Raja sat on the bed next to her and let his thoughts dwell on her plight. What had this woman been through? Would she try to harm herself when she woke? After all these years, would Natalia's love for Lukas be enough to keep her alive? Especially now that she had felt the new bond between Lukas and Raja? With a shake of his head, he stopped the questions and inspected the room for a place to sleep.

Raja discarded the idea of sleeping on the chaise near the small window. It would be safer, he believed, if he lay next to Natalia. This way, he would feel her stir when she awoke despite the risk of her touch. Raja gambled that a light touch might not give her much access to his mind in her current state.

Rana wrapped Natalia in a blanket and adjusted her position to be less likely to touch during sleep.

By the time he stripped off his over-clothes, wrapped himself in another blanket, and lay on the bed next to her, exhaustion threatened to overwhelm him. After settling, the consequences of spending days in the saddle without rest finally caught up with him, and he drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

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As her eyes opened, Natalia was instantly alert to her surroundings. It was an old habit honed by years in captivity. Another lesson taught her to stay relaxed so that the sleeping form next to her would not notice when she regained consciousness. Natalia looked around the unfamiliar space as much as she could without moving. The room was luxurious, with soft bedding, crystal lighting on the walls, and wooden trimming. Despite lying still, motion rocked her back and forth. Natalia did not initially recognize this sensation and reached back into her memories for an answer. Water, a boat moving on water, she was on a ship and, given the size of her room, a large one. How had she left the Fire Temple? Why was she alive?

The last thing Natalia remembered was the Fire laughing as it healed her. It had been hot but comfortable. Fire's laugh had been joyful, not mocking, and it whispered words to her that she could not remember. Before that, she recalled seeing a man who held Lukas within him. His face was fuzzy in her memory because the two faces overlapped in her mind. But she knew that he did not resemble Lukas. His skin and hair were brown instead of fair; she could not recall more.

Her mind drifted to Lukas. Was he safe? Would he survive this? What was his plan? She forced her mind to still; usually, she accomplished this by centering on the Earth. Yet when she reached out to find ground, she found it difficult to focus on it. The Water between her and the Mother distracted her with a sweet song that triggered a vague memory.

The man sleeping beside her moved. Because of their slight contact through the blanket, she knew her captor's consciousness floated towards wakefulness. Natalia forgot Water's song; she readied herself for conflict.

"Who are you?" Her quiet voice roused him from the edge of sleep. She could feel his surprise as he sat up, the motion breaking their light contact. Natalia had debated making this first move, though her survival instincts told her to remain silent. The room's comfort and the song's memory made her bold. Her voice was calm as she repeated, "Who are you?"

She turned her head to the brown man now looking at her with dark eyes. His was the face she recalled but could not remember. Yet, Natalia could not place the origin of his exotic features. He was not handsome in the way she was familiar, but his strong jaw and broad cheeks held an attractive toughness and vigor. His wide eyes had a slight curve on both ends but were wide enough to make them feel significant. Their color was so dark that they could have been black, but for the slight difference in color between them and the expanded pupil in the center. His long hair remained braided behind him, in place despite his recent sleep. Natalia noted a hint of hair growing around his full lips and thought he must usually keep his face bare, like Lukas. She had not met any men who looked like this during her time at the Queendom.

"I am Raja, son of the Inyoni." His voice was softer than she had expected. It remained rough from hours of disuse but was not harsh or deep. Raja leaned back against the headboard. "I have traveled from the People's dying stronghold to rescue you." He paused, "Lukas sent me."

A Tribesman, she could not recall ever meeting a man of the Tribes before. Then, she remembered the Fire Priestess bringing this man to her before the healing. Though the memory remained cloudy, she had seen Lukas within him, a bond.

Lukas had taken a new bondmate.

She allowed the pain to drift through her but not take a firm hold. It had been so long since their separation; Natalia could not expect that he would have waited for her, especially since he had left her for dead in the Queen's hands. Anger replaced the pain for a minute, and she looked back at her usurper.

"How did he send you to me?" She tested his honesty.

"We are bonded," he confirmed quietly. "He spoke to me through the bond."

Her cage had not been designed for bond magic. Natalia had blindly ignored the possibility Lukas would have bonded again. She had never believed he would replace her so thoroughly. The Queen also must not have known about the bond, or her Masters would have had Natalia prepare for it. How had it stayed hidden?

"I did not know," she said as she blinked several times. Her eyes were dry, but she felt they would tear if she remembered how. Natalia had not expected that Lukas could hurt her any more than he already had, but she felt new pain now, "that he had re-bonded."

"It was a well-kept secret," Raja responded.

"Ah." Natalia's bald head hit the headboard lightly. She yearned to know about Lukas but hesitated to use her magic on this man. She had drained so much of it. How many days had it been? Her mind would be raw. "He is well then?" Lukas, her partner, lover, husband, and the man who had destroyed everything. Yet, she wanted him to survive and grasped for news of him.

"Not well, but alive." Raja rolled out of bed and walked to the large porthole on the wall.

As he walked, Natalia watched his exposed muscular body dispassionately. Every movement was purposeful and controlled. She had seen this mindful movement before, in the Queen's assassins. Who was this man Lukas sent to her, whom he had bonded with?

"He has made plans, contingencies for everything," Raja said finally and looked at her again. "Everything but you; hence my hurried mission to rescue you." His face showed the ghost of a smile.

"To rescue me?" She closed her eyes and tried not to let the anger overwhelm her. "Why would he care now?" Natalia wasn't sure why she felt so angry. She had come to peace with Lukas' abandonment years ago. She knew it had been necessary. It allowed him to survive and lead his rebellion. But still, anger rose inside her, threatening to bubble to the surface.

"Because," Raja paused before continuing, looking again at the window and speaking in an even softer tone. "Because he knows you are alive now." He grabbed the robe lying over a chair and slid it over his bare shoulders. "He was under the impression you had died with the others."

"What? He broke the bond. He had to have known!" She sat straight in the bed and looked at this strange dark man. His expression resigned, with a hint of guilt.

"No, he did not break the bond. He would have died trying to find you. He almost did die. A strong Elemental Witch helped me break the bond." Raja handed her a robe and watched her. Natalia wondered how much of her suspicion and anger she revealed to those careful eyes. "And she helped to create a new one."

"You bonded with him to keep him from knowing the truth?" Her voice was accusatory, no longer hiding all of the anger.

"I bonded with him to save him. Lukas would have died trying to find you. He would have died, and likely you would have too." The softness in his voice left. She now heard the steel that must be the core of who Raja was. After taking a visible breath, Lukas' bondmate turned away from Natalia and walked to a chest near the door.

"Or we would have both lived, and you would have been alone," Natalia whispered more to herself than Raja and felt the tears come closer to falling.

"Yes, that was a possible outcome, but not a likely one," Raja answered her, his voice lost some of its edges. He pulled some bread and cheese out of the chest and put them on a tray beside it. "I have been alone most of my life. I would have survived without him. But he was so weak. You didn't see him then."

"No, I didn't," she acceded. "But perhaps I would have given Lukas strength."

"I couldn't take that chance." His words acknowledged the possibility, but his voice betrayed the weight of his choice and the reason he had to make it.

"No, you couldn't. . . because you loved him." Natalia agreed as she sat up, feeling calmer with this knowledge. Dangling her legs over the side, she contemplated standing but gave up. Natalia knew she could not stand alone but didn't want to ask this man for help. Instead, she looked at him from her seated position as he carried the plates he had prepared in front of him.

"Yes." He closed his eyes and paused for a moment. After opening them again, he handed her a plate and sat on the floor near her feet. His eyes were not on the food in front of him; he resumed his thoughts. "I loved him and know now that this colored my decisions. I had little experience with love then. Yet, even now that I am older and more knowledgeable, I believe I would make the same decision again."

Natalia nodded and began to eat the food he had given her. Her anger was cooling further, returning to the usual smoldering burn. Her rage could sustain her for only so long when it burned hot, but at a simmer, it had bolstered her for years. With a now steady voice, she asked, "Does he love you?"

"Now? Yes, he does. But not then, and not for some time after he awoke to our bond." Raja's eyes now floated forward, looking at the wall in front of him, but, she thought, seeing Lukas.

"He doesn't know what you did," Natalia accused him gently.

"He doesn't know what I did," Raja confirmed. "But because he loves you, I will protect you with my life. And when you are reunited, he will find out what I did. I can only hope that the love we built will survive this betrayal of his trust." Natalia remained silent as he spoke, and she turned away when he looked at her. The threatened tears did not fall; she finished her breakfast in silence.

After their silent meal, Raja placed the plates on a table and appeared ready to restart their conversation but instead stilled and closed his eyes. A wry smile crossed his face as he moved to sit on the bed next to her.

"He is here. He would speak with you." Raja's quiet words set her nerves on fire. She knew who 'he' must be; Lukas was in Raja's mind now, calling for her. Her powers were weak; she would have to make physical contact to join him. Hands might work, but the lips would be more comfortable and require less effort on her part. She hesitated; Raja made her choice for her by kissing her after whispering, "He said this would be easiest for you."

Their lips met; she let her talent flow; the pain was less than she expected.

WC2647

Last Edit 1/1/2023