33

“Where is he? Where is that stupid fellow that I’m so unfortunate to call my son? I didn’t kill him before but I will kill him today!”
“Calm your tits down Ruarc, or you’ll wake them up.”
Ruarc eyed Sia who was comfortably sitting on the floor, drinking coffee. Ruarc wrinkled his nose. What had Sia said? Them? Crinka was here? Why? He wasn’t ready to meet her yet and he wondered for a moment if she had found out.
In a calmer tone, Ruarc asked, “Where is Eloive?”
“You know,” Sia began, eyeing his brother with disapproval. “Saying where my son is would be so much better. If you didn’t want the boy so much you could have kept your wandering dick where it belonged,” he said with a rising intonation.
Ruarc wasn’t sure if Sia was still referring to the six rings on his finger or himself.
“I didn’t come here to be lectured Nasia. If you want to grow balls now, do it behind closed doors. Where is Eloive?”
In my arse, Sia wanted to say, since it was Ruarc’s favourite but he thought better against it and said, “He’s asleep.”
“And Crinka?”
Answering ‘in my bed’ would ruffle Raja’s fur, and Sia didn’t want trouble with the icy fur. Sia doesn’t speak and Ruarc asks again, “I smelt her here. She is here, isn’t it? Where is she?”
“Always demanding elder brother. A simple please wouldn’t kill you you know.”
Ruarc clicked his tongue. “Years ago, there was a little boy who said please to please people. Where did that get him?”
Sia looked away. He didn’t want to be reminded of his cowardice.
“If you’re done hating yourself for not saving yourself, tell me where Crinka is.”
“If Crinka is not where your son is, I think she went to look for you, or she went to eat Massa’s heart out.”
Ruarc snorted and ascended the stairs. Dried blood was on the railings, and Ruarc felt a lump in his throat. He would deal with Massa later, when he was done with Eloive.
“To what do I owe this honour? That the so-called crown prince decided to grace my humble abode?”, Eloive asked, giving him a mock bow, from where he was seated on the bed, changing the bloodied bandages. Ruarc wished he wasn’t sitting so close to Crinka.
“When you’re sobered up, I’ll…”
“Scold me? Kill me? Push me down the stairs? I’m not scared of you anymore Ruarc. Do your worst and I will do mine,” he threatened, his eyes landing on Crinka.
Ruarc swallowed. He knew.
It was the pills. It had to be pills. The stupid pills Sia had given him. He stared at Crinka, Eloive’s body was too hideous to look at anyway, with all those open cuts and bruises marring his skin. She was curled up in a ball, arm over her face as if that would shield her from Eloive.
“I’m not going to do anything to hurt you Eloive. I don’t have that strength. You tried to break a bond, even after I warned you not to. If father hears of this, I would be forced to injure you.”
And you said you didn’t have that strength, Eloive thought. He wished Crinka would wake up now and see Ruarc for who he truly is.
“Father would never find out, unless you tell him. And I tried to kill Ceclia not break a bond. Then Massa turns me into a punching bag. He broke my nose, my arm, a tooth, stabbed me too many times, I lost count. He couldn’t find my heart so he tried to separate my head from my body. Stupid bitch stopped him of course. Lord knows, I wouldn’t have.”
He didn’t understand anything. He had seen Massa, and he was fine. That meant Eloive didn’t fight back. Why?
“Look, just get out. I don’t want to see your face.”
Eloive rolled his eyes. “But you want to see hers? Wait till others, especially grandpa and your wives find out what you’re desperately trying to keep hidden. Let me see if she would still have a face when they’re done with her.”
Ruarc rolled his eyes, glad that Eloive gave him the privacy he needed.
“You chased your son out of his own room. What kind of man are you Ruarc?”
His name rolled out softly from her mouth, and Ruarc watched Crinka sit up, throwing the covers off her tanned legs, which were perfect without blemish and Ruarc compared them to Sarai’s freckled skin.
“Stop eye raping me Ruarc. It won’t get you another lap dance,” she says, placing her feet on the floor and standing up only to fall. Ruarc winces.
“Are you okay?”
Okay that was a stupid question to ask, but she answered it anyway. “I would be if I wasn’t so dizzy. I can’t see clearly and I just had a nap.”
“Then maybe you should rest,” Ruarc says scooping her up in his arms.
Maybe she just imagined the sparks, Crinka thought. Ruarc sat on the bed, with her straddling him. She buried her face in his neck, and he suppressed a moan.
“Sia said the same thing you know,” she said and Ruarc froze. Crinka sniffed him and continued talking. “The asshole even thinks I am pregnant.”
Raja fainted while Ruarc recovered from shock. He pushed her away as if she burned him, and she gripped the headboard hard so she wouldn’t fall. Her breasts were in his face. He was reminded of Sarai. He reached out to touch them, but Crinka stepped back, leaning against the wall, staring at him as if he had horns on his head.
Ruarc stared at her stomach. Sia’s child couldn’t be in there, could it? He wouldn’t know if he kept quiet.
“Pregnant? Where you? Are you?”
Crinka flattened her palms against her stomach, staring at Ruarc. She wanted to know what was going through his head. She wished for a moment that she shared a blood bond with Ruarc and not Sia. She didn’t answer for a while, and Ruarc thought his worst fear had come true.
“I would give you an answer if you explain to me the whip marks I saw on your back.”
Ruarc froze. He had worn three shirts to cover that up. Sia hadn’t seen it, but she had, He wished he hadn’t got carried away so he would have stopped her from seeing.
She raised a brow, waiting. His mouth felt dry. Had she felt his pain? He hoped not. If she found out what she meant to him, she might become Nuella.
“I… it’s personal.”
“Oh, is it? Then my baby, Sia’s baby is personal.”
Ruarc jumped to his feet and stalked towards her.
Raja had awakened.
?
“Where do you think you’re going?”, Sia asks, staring at Eloive who is half naked, emptying coffee beans in a bag.
“Away from here. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to stick around to hear that woman’s moans.”
Moans?
“Eloive, what the fuck are you talking about?”
“Ruarc let Raja have control. And when he’s done fucking Crinka, he would come for me.”
Fucking Crinka? Raja?
Eloive paused, turning to Sia. “Are you always this dumb or is your brain too slow to process information?”
Sia scowled, getting up from the sofa. “You’re just not making any sense.”
“If you were not thinking about that stupid bitch, you would have noticed the shift in the air.”
Eloive was indeed right. Finally, the door budged open.
“Wait! Why are you in such haste? Ruarc cannot hurt you. Not when I’m here.”
“As if your presence ever made a difference. Ruarc might not hurt me, but Raja would. Nasia, I think you should come with me.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Sia said firmly.
“Fine, suit yourself. You might have saved her from the shark, but you can’t save her if Sycamore wakes up.”
And Eloive was out of the door.
Sia clenched his jaw. He didn’t like being reminded of his lycan. But he had to stop his brother. If Ruarc marked and mated with Crinka, she would be in trouble, with not just his wives, but the king as well.
?
“Did…. did Ruarc do anything to you? Answer me Crinka. Your silence is scaring me.”
If being silent scared the big bad rogue then I think I would be silent around him. It’s not like I don’t have an answer to his question, it’s just I didn’t want to answer. Every moment spent with Ruarc felt intimate, felt private, and I didn’t want to share it with Sia. I feel obligated to keep it to myself.
But back to Sia’s question. Had Ruarc really done anything to me? I don’t know. Maybe if he did anything, my mind would be at peace. A sigh escapes me and I shut my eyes as if that would save me from my conflicting emotions. I felt dizzy before, but Ruarc’s words and eyes had woken me up. I tried to picture those icy blue eyes that had stared at me, emotionless. My wolf only fought for control if I was in danger, or if my mate was near but we all know what happened with my mate. How then did Ruarc’s wolf or whatever it is called, show up before me?
Could it be….
No. That is impossible. I am no threat to Ruarc and his wolf. Maybe he just has no control over his feral side, but the words he said to me, said otherwise.
“You saw what you shouldn’t have.”