Above is a picture of how I imagine-ish Raiden, but with a scar, as described in previous chapters. What do you think?
Raiden
The slaves serving our meals waited patiently near the wall, like shadows. She was not amongst them. Would she be in the kitchen, or cleaning the pens? If Uma sent her to clean the pens, I'll have to have a word with her. I couldn't understand why, but I wanted Dawn close. I wanted to see her, to touch...
"Attention, please!" The prince got on his feet. I tore my eyes of the slaves and shifted in my chair. My food remained untouched, as my drink.
The chatting stopped and everyone in the great hall paid attention.
"Liam, you should move your chair." Rhys said.
"Lord?" The warrior uttered, puzzled.
"You should dine at my right from now on."
Liam's face lighten up as a smile appeared. He looked all most sick, like his face was hurting and he was stretching too hard his face bones. That man shouldn't be allowed to smile, I thought to myself. He doesn't know how. Fortunately, there were no children around to run scared and piss themselves at seeing his smile.
"I, Prince Rhys of Dirae, name you, Liam, First Aga of Dirae. May you be wise and firm, and may you carry this title with honor!"
I stood up and lift the cup in the air. "To Liam, our First Aga!"
"To Liam, our First Aga!" the warriors cheered in unison.
I forced myself to a gulp and sat again in my chair. Liam moved to the raised platform where me and my second were.
Before he sat, he bowed to us.
"Thank you, my King! I will not disappoint, my Prince!"
"Tomorrow, after the mid- morning trainings, you will have the ceremony." Rhys spoke. And then, we must talk."
"Of course, lord." Liam answered while a woman brought his plate and cup from the table he was sitting before at.
They chatted for a while and I ignored them. My mind was occupied with a certain slave girl. I subdued the urge to go and see where she was, what she was doing. Did she have anything to eat? No, slaves were eating what remained after the platters were passed from the high seats through the hall till the last warrior, that was the hierarchy rule.
I pushed the plate aside and, getting up, I walked to the solar. I had to prepare everything for the risky journey. It might be a trap, and I might never come back from it. So was it wise to take Rhys with me? If I die, he will be king, and I knew he will make a good one. But if we both die... And Dawn, what becomes of her without me in their way?
"Raiden!" someone shouted.
I turned around to see Rhys leaning in the doorframe with arms crossed on his chest.
"What?" I asked, irritated. "Don't you ever sneak upon me like that!"
"Sneak? How in the bloody hell one sneaks upon a big bloody wolf like you? I called three times!"
"I was... thinking." I said. "Is everything all right?"
"You were thinking... of what? Was it a blonde slave? Or of finally shaving and cutting that mess of hair that you have on your face and head? You know, the tarians might mistake you for a bear..."
I growled, frustrated. "Why would I think of her? We have things to do." But he was right. With both his assumptions. And that irritated me.
Rhys stepped in and shut the door with his foot. As I sat at the desk, he poured himself a drink and sat himself in a chair.
"How long do we know each other, Raiden? Maybe you fool yourself, but you don't fool me. You haven't touched your dinner, not your lunch or breakfast. Yesterday- the same. I talk to you and you are not here. Your eyes tell me you have not rested for some while now, and I know you had no woman in your room. When is the last time you had a woman?"
"Just let me be, Rhys. I don't need this right now."
"That's exactly what you need! Admit it!"
"Admit what?" I asked irked.
He stood there with his mouth agape. "That's more serious than I thought..."
Grabbing the bottle, he filled the cup and placed in front of me. "You are infatuated! Take her and be done with it. I need you to focus, Raiden- we might never come back from Taria. I can bring her tonight."
I took the drink and finished it in two big gulps. "How can I take her, Rhys? How can I take her into my darkness?"
My hand tightened it's grip on the wine cup, till a loud crack came from it. I threw it on the floor and motioned towards the cabinet.
"Call Uma in my room. Tell her to bring fresh water and a sharp blade. And pour another."
.....
Dawn
Me and the other girls were meticulously cleaning the great hall. They seemed friendly, and I was thrilled to have someone to talk with besides mother, after all these years of loneliness.
Uma was shouting directives, exiting on a door and entering through another, scolding them for their "dirty mouths" while they laughed.
I pricked up my ears and tried to make sense of what they were saying. A bonnie slave called Lyla eyed me, smiling. I smiled back at her while my hands were scrubbing one of the long tables.
"Dawn, right?" she asked. I nodded my head and she came closer. "What is your secret?" she inquired in a low voice.
Seeing my confused face, she continued. "What did you do to him, you know... when he rode you?"
"R- rode me?" I stammered. "What do you mean?"
"Oh Dawn, don't be shy," - her smile grew bigger. "We share things between us. You must have done something special. He forbade the wolves to claim you, and he has never done that before. I think he wants to keep you for himself. So what is your secret?"
As her smile grew bigger, so did my confusion. Her hands stopped moving and she raised her brows with her mouth agape as she saw my wonderment. "Are you still...? Oh, by the Sun and the Moon, how this come?"
At hearing this, all the others stopped. Their faces carried the same amazement, and, within seconds, they all fussed around and explained me the things between a man and a woman.
"It hurts a little, but then it becomes better." one girl said.
"Oh, much better. Especially with a skilled one, like the prince!" Another added.
I nodded my head at everything they said and tried to understand. What I got so far was that the man rides the woman and puts his stick into the hole.
"But... doesn't your back hurts when... he rides you?" I asked. They all burst into laugher, holding their bellies and gasping for air.
"And you said that..." I looked to Lyla, "You made him claim you. How?"
With her face still red from the laugh, she answered. "When the hen is chased by the cockerel, do you know what she asks herself?"
"What?" I asked.
"Is he fast enough, or should I trip?"
.....
As yesterday, I was lucky enough to be sent again to the dungeons with the meal's leftovers and water. This time it wasn't Alar, but another guard, a younger one. After he checked the small bundle, he granted me entry.
"Did you hide your pendant as I told you?" Mother asked in between the gulps of water.
"No... I found it hard to part with it. But I have the veil around my neck, so no one can see it. And I stored some trash mixed with the cow's manure nearby for when we'll need to cover our scents." As our plan contoured, I thought about him. Of how, under that steely, piercing look, I felt a warmth covering me like a blanket, protecting me. If I run, will I ever see him again?
"You need to hide it. It's for your own safety. How many?"
"Four, mother. They usually sit in the same spots, but sometimes they also patrol. And in the woods I spotted two so far nearby, but it could be more... They have a new commander, as you said. Tomorrow is the ceremony." I informed her. We can not fail, not this. It was our lives we had to run for, and the thought of it was very unsettling.
"And the key, girl?" Endrine asked while stuffing her mouth with a piece of hard cheese.
"The dungeon guard has one, and the prince has one. But I don't know how to take it..."
"You need valerian root and daffodil onions. Tomorrow, when you forage, get that. You know how to prepare it. We aim for the guard's key as you can't take the one from the prince."
"How do I make him take it, mother? Is not like I can stuff it down his throat..."
She took my hand and pulled me closer. And she told me what to do. I needed to save for her a good meal, with cheese. Each time I brought her a meal, he took something like he was the one starving. And when he feels the strange taste, I can simply say that the food was spoiled and that is why it goes to the captive.
"Dawn, I think you should stay."
"What?" I asked, baffled. She squeezed my hand in the darkness and explained.
"Is one year, girl. One, and you don't have to run for your life. They don't connect us and, if we do this right, you can walk free. Besides, is more risky to make an escape for two."
Holding a tear back, I squeezed back her hand and the words came out in a thinner, pitchy voice. "I want us to be together, mother. I can not bear the thought of not having you near, like I had you all my life. Without you, I feel lost."
"No, daughter. Now you have your wings. You won't realize you can fly... until you do."
I pulled my hand holding hers thru the iron bars and kissed my mother's hand.
"I will always fly back to you, mother."
.....
"Dawn!" A voice called me from the barn's large entrance. I got up from the spot in the hay I cuddled just minutes before and I answered.
"Yes, lord?"
"You come with me." He turned and walked to the great house, and my steps followed his. Not long after, I found myself walking through the door of... His chamber. My heart went small as a flea and I jumped at the sound of the door closing.
He stood tall, with hands behind his back and his face turned away, looking into the flames.
My nervousness grew, and I shifted my weight from a leg to another, biting my lip.
"Come closer, Dawn." his rich voice called.
I took a step, and another. But when he turned his face, my mouth went wide open. My heart broke into a gallop, as in front of me stood an angel, for a mortal could not be so... breathtaking. Gone was his beard, gone was the wild man I saw in the first night.
He closed the space between us with a single stride and slowly trailed a finger up my arm, leaving goosebumps on my skin.
"Do you like it, lass?"
I looked at him and raised my hand to his face. Touching his scar, he flinched but did not pull away.
"Very." I answered.
Like waking up from a mirage, he shook his head and stepped back, walking to the table.
I slowly pulled my hand back from the spot where his cheek was seconds ago.
With his back turned, he poured himself a drink and I could notice the now visible tattoos on the sides of his head, where his hair was the shortest. But the one on the back of his neck... just like mother told me the first night in the cell... a perfect copy of my birthmark, the crescent moon.
I didn't know what to think. Was mother right? She told me things that could not be real. And yet...
"How are you getting here so far?" his voice brought me back. "Do you get along with the other girls?"
I cleared my throat. "Yes, lord. They are very... enlightening..."
"I heard Uma sends you to forage in the mornings. Would you rather do something else? Perhaps in the kitchen?" He inquired further.
"Thank you, my lord, but no, the forest makes me happy. It always did, and I would be grateful if I could keep foraging." I said with a shy smile on my face.
I could see his brows snapping together as he turned his face to me once more. He passed a hand thru his hair and let out a loud sigh.
"Do you know why you are here?"
.....