Chapter 60: Bananas

"Yuliah?" A Woman's voice squealed from behind.

"Nian!" Her arms shot out and around Nian. "Where have you been?" Yuliah couldn't help but stare at how pretty Nian looked, now that she had washed up. Before they both were wearing dirt-stained clothes and looked wild.

"I've been here working, and I hate it." Nian made a face. "Take me South with you and the General?" She hesitated. "If you'll have me."

"Yes! I'm not leaving you behind." Yuliah embraced Nian again. Nian, the first woman in a long time she friended. To be in the company of another woman, she had forgotten how nice it felt.

A deep voiced coughed from behind them, and both ladies turned to find three men standing behind them. Soldiers or Nobles, of Murai, Yuliah figured. The men introduced themselves and then split off and stood by the woman of their choosing. Yuliah frowned at their sudden shift in position. Great. She politely smiled but began to rack her thoughts for excuses to get away. When she glanced over at Nian - she was busy chatting with one man and ignored Yuliah. She turned to one of the man ready with a turndown, but Ryas squeezed right between them and purposely ran his shoulder into the man before dragging Yuliah off.

"Cheating on me already?" He had her by the arm.

"Maybe, if he gives me food." she teased, but glad that he'd saved her from a painfully uncomfortable situation. Food that's all she wanted, but it seemed so hard to get. "I thought you were taking me to eat? So far, I'm still hungry." They were standing in front of a table full of fruits now.

"You looked starved." He lifted an eyebrow then picked up a banana from the table and began to peel it.

Yuliah exhaled. Finally, he understood now, "Yes, I..."

Ryas moved quick and stuck part of the banana into her mouth before she could finish her sentence, "Stay away from those men," he gave her a lopsided grin.

She smiled back at him. "Finally, I get to eat," Yuliah bit down on the banana he stuck in her mouth.

"I like how you're eating that," he winked.

"Like this?" she glanced around before she wrapped her lips around the banana and took another bite.

He pulled her by the waist into his arms, "Forget everyone, and how about you and I go back to our room?" His husky voice and touch sent a warmth up from between her thighs.

Heels clinked across the marble floor from behind Ryas. Yuliah peeked over and watched a woman in red sauntered into the banquet hall. She grabbed the attention of most of the men in the room, along with Yuliah's. She could have sworn Ryas' eyes glided slightly towards the woman as she strode past them, but Yuliah brushed it off.

"I have to meet with Zehan and Lohan briefly," he suddenly said. "Get your food and stay away from the men," then rushed off.

"All right…" Yuliah continued to eat the banana. He left fast, but she thought nothing of it and turned her attention to the tables of food.

Food — her stomach ate itself. For the next twenty minutes she browsed through the tables of food. After carefully looking at all her options and with a full plate balanced in one hand, she surveyed the room for a quiet place, to sit, hide, and finally eat. An empty table sat across the room but to get there. She'd have to pass through a crowd of women, who had gathered around a table. They laughed and chatted loudly with someone.

Curious Yuliah pretended to look through the table of food and drinks until she made her way over towards the crowd. She cocked her head slightly over, and a gasped shot from her mouth. "Ryas!" Blood boiled inside at the sight of him. What she witnessed - it can't be happening, a sickening feeling formed in the pit of her stomach.

Ryas sat behind a table with Zehan and Lohan, on one long chair, drinking but surrounded by a group of women! Ryas didn't do things to do them. Most of his actions he calculated. What he did now he did on purpose. She inhaled deeply.

The color drained from her face as she continued to stare at Ryas with his arms around a pretty woman. NO! It's the same woman who walked past them earlier! The one she saw him secretly eye! That's not even all of it either, he had another woman sitting on the other side of him! Ryas showed little care of being caught. He was so bold! Yuliah's face darkened. That women would practically be on his lap soon! If one of them... No, if he allowed one of them even to make their way onto his lap, she would flip her shit!

Geneoshi's and Nomens were masters at binding people to them. The blood binding Ryas used on Yuliah can make a person feel nothing but love, devotion, and attraction, but influenced by Aleric's Mark, it toyed with darker emotions and put Yuliah on edge. The beat of her heart pounded in her ears. Nomens were extremely territorial of their mates. Ryas must have forgotten and would witness firsthand how territorial they could get. Especially a half-breed, pumped up on a concoction of magic that her body couldn't fully control.

Yuliah glared at Ryas, as he drained his cup, and that same women leaned into him. She held a jug in one hand and gave him a beaming smile. Yuliah pursed her lips together and watched closely. The woman's red dress and plunging neckline hugged so tightly to her body that each breasts squeezed out and meshed into Ryas. With her light hair and fair skin, she looked angelic and seductive. "General, let me pour you another drink," she spoke in a soft tone then moved confidently onto his lap.

Ryas' lips curled up when the woman leaned into his ear and whispered. He parted the hair that fell over her face and whispered something Yuliah couldn't hear into her ear. The woman then let out a shrilling laugh and traced a long slender finger across the side of his head.

Red - the last thing Yuliah saw before the plate in her hand hurled through the ten feet of air between them. Ryas clutched the woman in his arms and leaned left. Food scattered around and the plate crashed as it broke into pieces right next to Ryas and the Woman. Everyone at the table lifted their heads dumbstruck in Yuliah's direction. She stood there unflinching, boring her teary eyes right into Ryas.

"Ohhh, SHIT." Lohan exploded into a peal of laughter at Yuliah's tiger eyes sharpened ready to pounce. "General, you're done for. "Move!" He started pushing the blockade of women out of his way. Zehan also followed quickly behind him laughing. Each one of them sandwiched between girls who were now whining as Lohan pushed them out of the seat.

"Yuliah. We need to talk - in private." His face full of annoyance.

"You want to talk NOW!" Of course he wants to talk now that she caught him! Yuliah circled around them.

"Stop overreacting." Ryas scolded.

"Ohhhh! I'm overreacting?" Yuliah could hear nothing but the ringing in her ears at this point. "Let me show you what overreacting looks like!" She sucked in a breath and dove across the table, before Ryas could catch her. Then held a handful of the woman's hair. "Move!" Yuliah shouted, then yanked as hard as she could sideways. The screaming women flew from his lap and onto the floor. Yuliah half smiled. Serves her right for acting so loose. What sort of women is all over a man this fast anyways?

"YULIAH." Ryas tried to seize her by the legs, but his hand met with her kicking foot instead. "What the fuck is wrong with you? It's not what you think!"

"What the fuck is wrong with ME?" Her head bobbed side to side. "What the fuck is wrong with YOU?" Before Ryas could answer, Yuliah's head jerked sideways.

She bent back, and her eyes met with the girl's vicious glare. With a fist full of Yuliah's long hair - the woman pulled her across the table. "You crazy bitch!"

"Good Gods!" Lohan's bellowing laugh burst through the hall. "Dinner and a show!"

Ryas shot him a look, and he immediately stopped. "All right everyone, move along. There's nothing to see here." Lohan started ushering the crowd away.

The Geneoshi blade that Ryas used to cut Pig's tongue out, the one Yuliah swiped from him earlier, scraped against the table, as the woman dragged her. Yuliah propped one hand onto the tabletop, and with the other she unsheathed the knife, then swung upward. The blade cut into the woman's wrist. Blood spouted onto the table and all over her white dress and top.

The woman dropped like a sack to the ground, she rolled, shrieking, and withering. Ryas paled in color as he hopped over the table right to the woman's side.

A menacing red glow emanated from Yuliah's eyes when she scrambled to both feet. "Who the fuck else wants to try me!" The mark exploded up her arm, turning the blade red like her eyes. She didn't have the power of the ethereal spirit anymore, but the mark gave her another kind of power, and she could use that to fight.

"Shit!" Lohan snatched Zehan by the robes and pulled him back - keeping him as far away from Yuliah as possible. "General! Get your girl..."

Her eyes swooped the room to find Ryas kneeled next to the woman, which only angered her more. He tended to the women gently and with so much care. With one hand gripped onto Ryas robe, the women sobbed softly into his chest. Ryas tore a piece of cloth from his robe and tied it around her wrist. "I'm sorry. Are you all right?"

Yuliah could hear the concern in Ryas' voice for the woman - his words were a knife to her heart.

Oh, so he cared for this woman, more than he did her. He must've brought me here only to embarrass me in front of everyone! A fire ignited through Yuliah's body, setting her anger blazing towards Ryas. The blood binding latched onto her strongest emotion and intensified it by tenfold; she did as her anger commanded.

"RYAS. It's over between us!" She shook her head at him livid. Yuliah's arm the one that still held onto his blade rose into the air shaking.

Lohan dove for her arm and threw her aim off right as she let the steel soar.

The knife zipped right passed Ryas by an inch and plunged in the chair behind him.

Ryas stood up, and his brows snapped together. "ENOUGH YULIAH!" he released his Ethereal Spirit and rushed her. "Get over here now!"

She couldn't beat him, her fighting skills were amateur at best. Ryas would catch her and shut her consciousness off as he always did, or who knows what else at this point. The look on his face and the way that he yelled meant he was angry. She would not let him catch her or wait to find out what he'll do. Yuliah pivoted around and drew Lohan's sword from his belt. Lohan tried to grab her but then her leg lifted up and rammed into Lohan's stomach - sending him reeling back.

"YULIAH!" Ryas dashed for her.

She sidestepped, and he skidded passed. Did he just try to hurt her? Yuliah's lower lip quivered, and she quickly pointed the sword at Ryas. "Stay the hell away from me!" Her arm flexed, trying to support the weight of Lohan's sword - she jabbed it towards him and slowly stepped backward. "I hate you!" She blinked twice to get rid of the stinging in both eyes. With her stupid heart swelling up like it were about to burst, she knew tears would soon follow, and crying in front of everyone that's the last thing she wanted.

"Yuliah?" Nian called from behind. "What's going on?"

She turned around. "I - I don't know. I can't believe he did that to me." Her eyes were wet. "I need to get out of here." She trusted him, but he cheated her. It was too good to be true that a man like Ryas could be faithful. Her head began to spin, and the room suddenly turned smaller in size as she gasped for air… What's happening. How did things become so chaotic?

"Give me the sword please…" Nian stretched an arm out. "We can talk about this."

More people gathered around, and their whispers began to ring in Yuliah's ears.

From the corner of Yuliah's eye Ryas, dove for her and Nian came from behind. No, they were working together!

Yuliah grabbed Nian by the arm and flipped her forward, tossing Nian right into Ryas. They both crashed to the floor, and she bolted for the doorway. Still in shock, unable to believe what she'd done Yuliah sprinted away.