Chapter 21: Last Train

A Prince of the Nobillo

Chapter 21: Last Train

"I don't care what you have to do. Beat her, torture her, rape her three times a day. I want her broken," Boz commanded Carak as Lindsay was pitched back into her cell by the guards. "And report to me when you have."

"Yes, your grace," Carak said with a low bow.

Boz slammed the door, stomping down the corridor. Lindsay heard the strangled cry of one of the Nobillo guards and the call for a doctor from somewhere far off.

She propped herself up on her scraped up elbow. "Nice of him to be so supportive of our relationship," she said with a smirk, a crust of blood stuck to the corner of her lip, just below one of the scars. Though her last vain hope that Rivuk would be there waiting for her was disappointed, she couldn't help but feel he would be a bit in the way at the moment. "Ugh. I'm so dirty. I think I brought half the area back with me."

Carak knelt down beside her and helped her into a sitting position against him, giving her a kiss. "I hope I didn't hurt you too badly," he said, wiping her mouth with his robes.

"I've had worse." Her eyes glittered despite her exhaustion. "I've asked for worse. I had so much fun once they allowed us to get going. I mean, you heard me."

"I believe the entire kingdom heard you."

She kissed him, melting into his powerful arms. "I love you so much."

He stroked her back. "I love you, too."

She felt the tears coming again. She wiped her dirty forearms across her face, smearing orangish mud over her face. "I promise you, I don't normally cry this much."

"I don't mind." He pressed his thin lips against her wet, muddy cheeks.

"Aah! It's getting worse!"

Carak laughed.

"It's not funny!"

"No, it's not." He brushed his hands against her cheeks, wiping away the tears. "Has it ever happened before?"

"No. I don't know why it's happening now. I mean, I've dated lots of guys, and I've never cried like this. But I don't think I've ever been in love like this before, either."

Carak's brow furrowed. "You haven't?"

She realized exactly what he was asking. "I love Rivuk, I do. I love our life together. But..." she hesitated. Should she tell him the whole truth? She might as well; he deserved to know. "But the reason I stole Rivuk's wristband and went out that night... it was to see you. I was going to tell you how I felt. Everything. And I got so close! But at the last minute, I turned around."

"Why?"

"Because I was... I thought we might... I've never cheated on anyone in my whole life and I didn't want to put you in the middle of it. And I was secretly hoping we might... you know..." Her cheeks reddened. She didn't know why she suddenly felt so shy about it. "That I might stay the night with you."

"I'm glad you turned around," Carak said.

"You are?"

"I'm not certain I could have turned you away that night. I don't think I would have had the strength to keep denying my feelings. Not after visiting the temple. But I would have despised myself for it. And probably grown to despise you out of my guilt for our betrayal of my prince. Not that I should have wanted any of this to happen as it has-"

"No."

"But, at least, it is without guilt," he said.

She rose up and kissed him. "I was going to tell him, I really was."

"I doubt he'd have understood."

"I know. But he'd had to have, or I... I don't know. I guess I probably would have left him."

Carak looked stunned. "For me?" he asked.

"If you'd have gone with me. I'm already away from my husband and wife, I don't think I could stand to be in the presence of someone I deeply loved, who loved me, day and night on top of missing them. It'd be taking too much, and he already took me. I never asked to be his wife. I just wanted to bang him. I mean I've grown to love him but..."

Carak pulled her to him and kissed her. "You don't have to explain it to me. I've been beside you the entire time."

"We will have to tell him. I tried to get through to him but he blocked me out."

"I tried as well. I knew it would cause him pain, but better he know it was with your consent. But he has refused all my calls ever since he was informed of the part I would be compelled to play."

A crease formed between her brows. "How long has he known?"

"Since late last night, I believe. After he'd been with you. They didn't want to give him the chance to warn you for fear you might..."

"I might what?"

"Commit suicide."

"Oh Carak!" She grabbed him, hugging him as tightly as she could. What must it have been like to hear that the woman he loved might kill herself rather than be with him? She began kissing him, his face, his neck, his shoulders, her hands traveling up his back and neck to his scalp. She gazed into his large, milky white eyes. "Suicide? When faced with the chance to finally be with you? Boz really is a moron." She let her legs spread over his lap. "How long do you think we have?"

His smile split his cheeks. "All night, depending how much you scream."

She gave him a quick peck. She could see the lust in her own eyes reflected in his. "Then it should be a very. long. night."

Carak pulled the mattress from the bed, setting it on the floor, he lay Lindsay down on it. He threw off his robes and knelt before her, "How should we begin?"

She took his hand and pressed it on her breast, moaning as she felt her palm against her nipple. "I don't think I'm up for normal right now,"

"No. I'm sorry I didn't realize at the time."

"It's ok, I didn't tell you and I didn't want you to stop. If we do anal again, I don't think I can do hands and knees for a little but I can lie on my stomach."

"Maybe we should go easy on you for a while," Carak said. "You are only human; your body does need rest."

"So does yours."

"Not nearly as much," he said.

She wanted to argue with him, but she knew she was beyond worn out. Her legs were shaking and her abs were sore. But she still wanted more. More of him. "Did you watch the recording? You knew about oral sex."

Carak looked sheepish. "No. I thought it might make it difficult to serve you if I saw. It was already hard enough. But I heard things from others."

"You've been in love with me for a long time, haven't you?"

"I knew for certain at the pyramids, but yes. I believe so. And you?"

She ran her hand up and down his forearm, feeling her fingertips sink in to the indentation between the muscles. In her mind, she could see him in his quarters, the giant white X across his back; she watched him pray to his Immortal. "Longer than that," she answered. She stretched her muscles. They were so sore! But she felt so good! She couldn't help but think back. "Did you hear the way everyone screamed when you lifted me over your head and opened your mouth to give me oral?"

"I heard the way you screamed," he said with a hint of sadness.

She took his hand. "I know. It scared me for a second. I'm sorry. It's going to take some getting used to. I'm glad you didn't just do it or I would've freaked, even if it was awkward holding me up there like that until I could convince my brain you weren't going to eat me. Well, eat me in the bad way. That was easily my favorite part. Your tongue is amazing. I can't wait to do that again."

"I'd be more than happy to oblige you, if you wished."

"I think right now I'd like to oblige you," she said, eyeing his cock. "That was a good part too, the way they all reacted when I took you in my mouth. It upset Elihim so much he had to leave, right in the middle of it! He was holding his stomach like he was going to be sick." Lindsay said, triumphantly.

"I don't think he was upset, my princess," Carak said.

"Well then what? Why else would he be holding his..." She remembered what was actually in the place he'd been covering. "Oh gross! I don't want him getting bricked-up watching me."

"It's a taboo act, he may have been aroused by that fact alone."

"Kinky little snake. It's taboo? Rivuk didn't tell me that."

"He didn't want you to know. He knew you enjoyed it and so did he."

She thought back to the video. She knew she'd sucked Rivuk off more than a few times on it. She frowned. "I hope he didn't get in any trouble for it."

"He received thirty lashes in a public whipping and had to give an apology."

"What? How did I not know-" she saw Carak's expression. "He didn't want me to know that either, because then I'd feel bad and stop."

Carak nodded.

She swore. "I wish he'd told me. I hope he comes soon."

Carak's eyes looked sad, like he knew she was hoping for something that wasn't going to happen but couldn't bear to tell her.

Lindsay felt a slight sense of panic. No, she remembered what he said. He loved her no matter what they did to her. "He's coming. He loves me. He wouldn't leave me alone after that. I mean I haven't figured out how to tell him it was ok, but I'm sure I'll know when he gets here. I'm surprised he wasn't waiting for us when we got back, but I guess it hasn't been that long. He'll be here soon, though."

"As you say, princess."

Just then, she heard a low voice and footsteps in the hall.

"Yes, your grace," the guards answered.

"See?" she whispered as the door was unlocked from the outside. She stood. She didn't want her husband to see she was hurting. He was probably upset enough already.

The door opened up to reveal Elihim.

Lindsay stepped back so fast she forgot the bed was behind her and fell onto it. She stared at the blond man in the round glasses. Carak started as though he wanted to protect her, but they both knew if he made a move, it could be disastrous.

"Looks like I was interrupting something. Good. I can report to Prince Boz his orders are being followed." He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a single, gloved middle finger. "Princess Lindsay, come with me," Elihim ordered.

She looked over to Carak, her eyes wide with terror. What now? What more could they possibly do to her?

"I'm not going to harm you. Please, just come with me," he said. Then he glanced around the cell, an expression of disdain formed on his fine features. He turned his attention to Carak. "And you, clean this cell. All of this blood is going to attract tiktiks." He focused again on Lindsay. "Can you walk?"

She nodded and stood.

"Good. Follow me."

"Where are we going?" she asked.

"Just to another wing of the prison to clean you up. Now follow me or I'll have the guards escort you." He turned and began walking.

Clean her up? Who knew what he meant by that. Probably nothing good. She was so disgusting, caked in mud and dirt and cum and blood, maybe they were going to turn an icy firehose on her or something. Just a little more torture.

She didn't want to walk anymore. She was tired and sore and bleeding. But she didn't have a choice. It was either walk on her own or be manhandled by guards. At least if it was freezing cold hose water, it might numb some of the soreness. As she passed Carak, she brushed her little finger against his talon. She felt him brush back.

She followed Elihim down a series of halls to a door. She was so tired she could barely stop from dragging her feet. He pushed it open and an ugly grass yard that was crossed by pebbly grey cement slabs with a good foot of grass between them was revealed. On the other side was a squat white building with black accents and a black, flat-roofed patio cover over the entryway. It was all probably meant to look very modern, but in the drab light of the day, it just looked ugly - almost as ugly as the prison.

She stumbled on the first slab, just catching herself from falling. "Where are we going?" she finally asked, planting her feet firmly on the slab. "What are you going to do to me now? What more can you even do?"

Elihim stopped and turned back, as though just now realizing she was no longer following. "I'm sorry, Lindsay," he said, using her first name rather than her title. It felt strange to hear him say her name so familiarly. "My brother took things too far. I thought it would only be the one time. But, I suppose, my father's approval of the plan made him grow bolder and he decided to use it to punish me, as well."

Lindsay was gobsmacked. He was somehow making this about him? "Ordering my closest friend to rape me was meant to punish you?" she said, incredulously, as her legs shook beneath her.

"It's not something I care to discuss but to say it was a long time ago and I have been made to regret it many times since. Now follow me, it's not much further."

She wasn't sure she could take another step even if she wanted to. "Where are we going?" she demanded again.

"Just to the visiting doctor's apartments, right here." He indicated to the building in front of them.

Oh Hell. The visiting doctor? They were going to do something terrible to her, weren't they? Boz was probably in there, waiting. And what could she do? She could see the guards in the watchtowers with their weapons trained on her. She was dead if she tried to run and probably deformed or mutilated if she didn't.

She knew she didn't have it in her to make a run for it. She'd face whatever was in there with her head held high. They would never have the satisfaction of breaking her. She stepped forward. And her leg collapsed from under her.

"Lindsay!" Elihim exclaimed, rushing to her. He knelt at her side, helping to keep her up.

She felt dizzy. She tried to push herself back up to standing, but she couldn't. It was like her legs were made of jelly.

"Can you stand?" he asked.

She shook her head, fighting back the tears. She wanted to break down so badly right now, but not in front of him and Boz. It was bad enough she couldn't walk in; she wouldn't let them see her crying.

He gathered her up in his surprisingly strong arms and lifted her, carrying her the few yards into the house where the door opened for him.

The room was empty.

He carried her through into another room and laid her in a black stone tub full of warm water, her head resting on a large stone back.

"Where's Boz?" she asked, weakly. She'd used the rest of her strength to face them and now it was fading fast.

"He's not here," Elihim said. "No one knows that I'm here. It's only us." He looked at her and sighed. "Can you even lift your head?"

She tried. She got it maybe a centimeter up before dropping it back down on the cold, black stone.

"I need to wash you. Will you let me?"

It was not the question she ever expected from him. To wash her? When she was covered in blood and dirt and cum and her own fecal matter mixed with it all for good measure? "What about my husband?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, Lindsay, he's not coming for you."

"You're lying!" she cried.

"I wish I was," he said, sadly. "He never did have the courage to face the consequences. He's already back at the castle considering a new hest. He couldn't even look at you. This is the third time I've been left to clean up after them."

The third time? Them? Her husband and Boz. She felt stupid for not being able to think of that right away. But the third time...?

Rivuk couldn't even look at her.

She didn't want to believe it. But he wasn't here, was he? She was alone in a house with his slimy oldest brother who seemed to be the only one who even gave a crap about her besides Carak. And Carak wasn't actually allowed to show that he did.

She felt the water draining around her as warm water from two jets above her shoulders poured in, cutting thick streams through the dirt. She noticed a mirror on the ceiling above her. She didn't recognize the woman looking down at her. It was like looking at a corpse that had been freshly dug up. She looked white under the areas of dirt thin enough to see skin under. There was blood. So much more blood than she'd thought there'd been. It was everywhere. Not enough to be dangerous, but enough to be alarming. No wonder he actually seemed worried.

"Let me do this for you, to atone for my failing. I should've never given him such a long tether," Elihim said.

She saw herself reflected in his glasses in front of his concerned blue eyes. "Ok," she said. If he really wanted to stick his hands in her dirty bathwater to clean her up, let him. After today, it wasn't like there was anything left for him to see. Then she remembered he'd be touching her naked body, not just looking at it. "But don't try anything. I will break your hand off."

He looked at her like he knew very well how empty that threat was. Instead of answering, he unwrapped the cloth covering her with the twitch of his finger and pulled it from the tub. He took off his white uniform top and gloves, soiled from her body, and folded them neatly beside the chair he sat on. In just a white undershirt, he looked so normal, not like the future king of the Nobillo at all. Just skinny and tall with a bit of wiry muscle on him. He took a fluffy poof of a something and began to wash her body.

It should've felt creepy, but it didn't. It didn't feel bad at all. As weird as it was to be trusting her body to his hands, it almost felt nice. "You said you've done this before?" she asked.

He squeezed out the poof. Dingy brown water poured back into the tub. "Once for each of his consummated wives."

He'd done this for Nylest, too? Had Rivuk really left her alone after Boz's attack? No wonder she hated Rivuk and loved Elihim. "But not your own wife? He's never gone after her."

"No, he won't touch her for the same reason I don't - she has our sister's eyes."

Lindsay would've sat up if his hands hadn't gently pushed her back down. "You have a sister?" she asked. "Rivuk never mentioned her."

"I wouldn't think so, she was old enough to be married when I was little and Boz was just starting to fly. Rivuk was only a baby then, he didn't even know her. But she was the most important woman in our lives in those days. I idolized her."

"What happened to her?"

"She was married to Prince Adir as his third wife. She bore him one child before he was killed: my future wife."

"Oh." Her sloppy, slow brain took a second to process it all. Adir was the king's brother and her uncle and he was married to their sister and their daughter was married to Elihim. "Oh, that's gross."

"It's nice someone else thinks so."

"God, your family isn't a tree, it's a little kid's woven placemat."

He drained the water and new water poured in. "Can you lift your head?" he asked.

She lifted it slightly and heard the sound of something heavy moving.

"You can put it back down."

She did. And it went down and down. The stone back had been removed. She felt warm water pouring over her hair. It was like one of those salon chairs with the hair washing sink, except she was lying in a tub instead of sitting with her head back.

He soaped up his hands with something flowery smelling and ran his fingers through her hair, fighting through it. She hadn't even realized how dirty it was until it was clean and sleek again. Her whole body felt better. All the uncomfortable dirt and grime she'd just gotten used to was gone. Another tub emptied and refilled, this time with spicy smelling water. She felt herself drifting off.

She didn't remember falling asleep, but she woke up lying on a comfortable bed and feeling like a human being again. "Rivuk?" she asked.

"Oh good, you're awake," Elihim said, appearing in the door.

A jolt of fear shot through her before she remembered where she was and who brought her here. It was so strange to not be afraid of Elihim, at least for the moment. It was like it had been, when they would chat for hours and yet she knew she couldn't trust him no matter how well they got along at dinner. "Yes, I'm awake."

Elihim looked a little nervous.

She wasn't sure why. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"You have some injuries. I know you won't want Lucian to treat them and certainly not the Child who has been treating you, especially given where they are."