Ileus: The Dark Prince

That night, Anastasia curled up beside her husband. Ileus just pulled her atop him and covered them both with the blankets as the fire burned in their bedchamber. None of them spoke after they came back. The maids had helped them to take a bath, change into light cotton clothes and then they had gone off to sleep. Both of them were too worried about Iona. 

As Anastasia lay beside Ileus, she closed her eyes and reflected on what Haldir said in the end. "There's more…" She knew what it meant. There were more enemies, hidden somewhere in the Lore. The demonic tattoos were kind of a warning that spoke of her enemies. Og'drath had got them inscribed on her when she had traveled back in time. Was Og'drath an oracle? Did she see what no one else could? Was she trying to turn fates in her own way? The way the tattoos got transferred to Iona from her, was stunning and unbelievable. It was the Evindal sword that passed the threat to Iona and saved her, and at that time both her and Iona had lost their way in the Lore. So many thoughts were swirling in her mind that she tossed enough to not let Ileus sleep. He pulled her up on his chest and clasped her tightly. He pressed a kiss on her head and then stroked her back softly until she fell off to sleep. 

When Iona fluttered her eyes open, she found Rolfe sitting right next to her on the bed, reading a book. She was surrounded by a woodsy and pine smell. "Rolfe…" she said, and her husband jumped up. 

"Iona!" he said as he whipped his head to her and leaned over her. "How are you, baby? Gods, you are awake!" He sounded so joyous that she giggled weakly. 

Her throat was parched dry. In a hoarse voice she said, "I am fine." 

Rolfe understood her condition. He jumped out of the bed to get water for her. Iona drank it all in one go. He helped her prop up the pillows and made her lie down again. He rang the bell in the room to summon the healers. They came in and examined her thoroughly. "She is fine, but very weak. She can't travel for at least a month but. Her baby is too small and she has to take a lot of rest, otherwise, if she is very active—" the healer pursed his lips. He looked at Iona whose forehead was crinkling with tension. But he had to tell her. "If she is too active, chances are that she might miscarry the baby."

Goosebumps lined Rolfe's skin and as for Iona—shock of anger and pain flared in her eyes. 

The healer took a deep breath. "I suggest that for the next one month, you don't move from your bed. There's been a lot that your body has gone through. You just have to eat a lot and rest a lot and stay away from tension for your baby to grow." 

Rolfe closed his eyes. Yes, everything was too good to be true. He was living in a dream, in a bubble that his mate had created for him, and now… now he was about to burst it for her. He couldn't protect his wife, he couldn't protect his baby… 

"Don't look so sad, m'lord," said the healer. "Keep her in one place and that would be really good." Then he turned his head to Iona. "You should not shift until you have given birth to your baby." 

Iona just stared at him. She was too dumbstruck to utter a word. 

The healers left after giving her a draft of herbal medicines.

The air was thick with agony and tension. Iona clutched the edge of her blanket and worried them in her fingers. Rolfe was feeling low. Misery was perhaps a better word for what he was feeling in his heart. His gaze turned to Iona who appeared forlorn and his heart went out for her. He held her hand in his and squeezed them. He lifted them to his mouth and pressed kisses on her knuckles. He stared right into her eyes—those emerald green ones into her golden ones, and said, "You need a bath." 

Iona jerked her head back at this sudden change of topic and then laughed. "You are so bad!" she said and smacked his forearm. 

Rolfe's lips kicked up. He said, "It's my fault." 

"What is your fault?" she asked, seeing his grave face. 

"That you don't laugh much." 

"Rolfy…" 

"Please laugh a lot. That is such a beautiful sound. It fills my heart with so much love that wherever I am, I am not lonely. So laugh and fill my world with happiness." He squeezed her hands and then pressed more kisses. "Together we are going to get out of this also. Won't we?" 

She nodded. He was the sweetest man in the Lore. "We will." Her hands went to his cheeks and before he could lean them, she caressed his horns. "I have been missing them." 

"Woman!" Rolfe said in a breathless voice. "Don't you play with a demon's horns. And don't you caress them." 

The servants had come inside and they heard them giggling behind them. Iona blushed like a thousand suns. They were sent by Adrianna for her to take a bath and then eat. 

"How long was I sleeping?" she asked, as Rolfe helped her to get out of the bed. 

"Two days!" he replied. And those two days were the worst in his life. He had died and lived a thousand lives and then some more. 

All at once when he was helping her out of the bed, her gaze went to the book he was reading and her eyes flew wide. The cover was—bombastic. The picture was of a naked man whose manhood was hidden by a woman who was only wearing a panty. "Where'd you get that book from?" she asked in a shrill, low voice. 

"Oh, that one!" Rolfe was hardly bothered about it. "I know someone who has a huge secret library of these. I just borrowed it from him." 

"What the hell?" Iona blurted. "A library? Of that?" 

"Yes darling," Rolfe replied in a suggestive voice. "Once you have eaten well, we will read it together. "In fact, all this time I have been reading these books." And some more on pregnancy. "They are fantastic and I have to say that I missed being in the human realm." 

They had reached the bathroom. The servants were running water in the tub. "You wouldn't believe how many positions one can have sex in."

She smacked his hand again. Wasn't he embarrassed that the servants were also listening? Gods, since when did he become so shameless? The servants were all smiling as they poured scented oil and lotions in the steamy hot water. He helped her remove the clothes and then picked her up to make her sit inside the marble tub. He sat beside her on the edge. "I have read around three of them and studied all the positions." 

"Gods, shut up!" she pleaded. 

But Rolfy was on the roll. "And the most intriguing is the sixty-nine position." 

She frowned and asked innocently. "Why? What is there in the sixty-nine position?" 

Rolfe grinned shamelessly.