Chapter 156
Bastian closed his eyes, Hydrangea was resting her damp-haired head on his damp chest. He was struggling to remain conscious; his body was burning and his bones felt bruised.
The rain was still falling from above and dropping into the water, upsetting it, the drips trickling onto the rock beside him and Hydrangea.
He wanted to stroke her hair but he feared the outcome and his arm was battered.
He was still feeling the peace from her kiss. He smiled softly as the kiss came back. She'd kissed him. He felt pride and affection and desire. How could he not when she'd so willingly kissed him?
Her delicate lips pressed to his as they moved almost agonizing slowly were etched in his mind. He closed his eyes as he began focusing on repressing his desires.
"Bastian?" He inhaled slowly as he was drawn from his thoughts and to the object of said thoughts. He squinted his eyes open and saw her innocent grey ones staring down at him. Strands of her dark hair draped onto his chest and behind her back in luscious tendrils that he wished to play with.
He hummed in response to her asking his name. He watched her anxious eyes, "What happened?"
The corner of his lip twitched up, "Are you worried for me?" He asked quietly, wishing to stroke her soft cheek as it blushed pink.
She moved a hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear—an action which he found precious. She was laying atop of him, her body only pressed along his left half. The last time he'd laid with her so close was when she was sick in Viskogorny. She'd asked him while in her fevered state if he would hold her. He'd happily obliged.
She nodded, "Yes, Bastian. I'm worried." She smiled and stroked some of the wet hair from his forehead. He held his breath to control himself.
This woman was testing him.
"Bastian? Did I hurt you?"
He scoffed lightly, 'You're just driving me mad.' He envisioned grabbing her and pulling her lips to his. His mind wandered with the dream and he felt his body stir.
He cleared his throat and opened his eyes to see Hydrangea looking at him worriedly. "You did not hurt me," Imagined clutching her soft chin, but didn't, "What happened was we were ambushed by Sun Followers and tossed into a prison." He glanced down at the water that glinted with the telltales streaks of an Amaru.
He watched the water with hidden nervousness. Who knows when the snake would strike? His skin and Hydrangea's was already suffering the effects of its mild poison.
"But what happened to you?" He returned his gaze to his worried wife. His eyes accidentally swept passed her bodice and caught a glimpse of the pale flesh at the swell of her bosom.
He gulped and blinked to focus on her and not his body's reaction to his overwhelmingly desirous mind. He gauged the emotions in her eyes and knew she would not appreciate a lie. He sighed, "They beat me." She gasped and he saw the horror in her eyes as she began to look over his body.
Don't do that, he thought with little hope.
"I assume they did so because I am Cadaraman."
Her eyes snapped up to his at that statement, "That's rather awful. Why would they do something like that?"
He shrugged lightly, barely able to move his shoulders, "Cadarama has agreed to a marriage between Mathuba and Lord Stone's daughter. Mathuba and Selva have been enemies for many years."
She was quiet, her eyes elsewhere. He watched her swallow, "How many children does Lord Stone have?" She asked hesitantly.
"Hmm.. I believe he has five sons and two daughters," She relaxed, "One of which is married." Her eyes grew worried. "What is it?" He asked, watching as she sat up on her heels. Her dress was still wet, as were his clothes.
And he still could not move from the beating he'd received. He shook his head, trying to push his pride out of the window but he was still rather humiliated.
"Daphne Stone was one of my ladies-in-waiting." She looked down, her graceful brow furrowed in consternation.
He inhaled and nodded. He wasn't sure how to comfort her. Any words that came to mind seemed rather harsh or fatalistic. He sighed, "I'm sure it'll be fine, Hydrangea."
She looked to him and held his eyes, her poor skin was still tinged red from the poison, "But it probably won't be. She was there when Hadok… when he told us that you and I were in danger. She couldn't believe that her father had done such a thing."
He nodded. The poor girl seemed to have been through a lot. Arranged marriages were not always fun. When he'd been seventeen years of age his father had told him that him marrying the daughter of the then ruler of Bobian, their alliance would be strong and useful. Bastian had refused. One of the many reasons Cadarama was not on good terms with Bobian.
"My other lady-in-waiting had been Alisha. Her father was apparently the Selvan ambassador." Her eyes glanced around the cenote with little nervousness and an expression that she couldn't believe their luck. He cracked a smile.
The sound of the door above them opening and loud voices roused them from their conversation. He turned his neck, which caused a shooting pain, and saw two Selvan men stepping down and coming towards them.
He turned back and met Hydrangea's wide eyes.
With rough hands they hauled them out of there, Hydrangea knowing better than to squirm. He simply grit his teeth in degradation and agony.
They were dragged out of the door and into a long tunnel underneath the ground, sculpted from the orange dirt. He kept his eyes on Hydrangea. He'd questioned why she was brought to the cenote and not beaten like him. The only answer that came to mind was that she could be useful to the Tlatoani, in ways he didn't want to imagine.
They came to a junction, the hallway turning off into two separate corridors.
"Estamos levando a garota a Ahuic, ele vai para a arena.(We're taking the girl to Ahuic, he's going to the arena.)" One of the men said.
He glanced up when he heard "arena". Selvans were known for their arenas. They would sentence their enemies to death by trapping them in an arena filled with beasts or warriors. Either way, there would be death involved. A painful and humiliating one.
They began pulling them away.
"Bastian!" He could see the panic in her eyes.
"It will be alright, Hydrangea." He replied. He could possibly die and she would be left to a life of a whore. He saw red at the idea.
She wrestled from her captors' hold and threw herself at him. Grasping his cheeks she planted her lips on his. He kissed her back and felt their captors begin pulling them apart.
"I love you." He whispered against her lips.
She wrapped her arms around him only to have them torn off, "I love you too." Her voice was frantic as they dragged them both away.
He felt his throat choke. His wife loved him, he could die with that knowledge. Straightening himself as his knees were dragged across the harsh ground. He'd never been one to seek battle or death, but a fight like this? He'd certainly put on a show.