Truce

  Truce (Mine To Take 5)

  Jacquelyn Frank

  All rights reserved.

  Copyright ©2018 Jacquelyn Frank

  BIN: 08398-02713

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  Publisher:

  Changeling Press LLC

  315 N. Centre St.

  Martinsburg, WV 25404

  www.ChangelingPress.com

  Editor: Margaret Riley

  Cover Artist: Angela Knight

  Adult Sexual Content

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  Table of Contents

  Truce (Mine To Take 5)

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Jacquelyn Frank

  Truce (Mine To Take 5)

  Jacquelyn Frank

  Melena belongs to Valerian, but their relationship goes deeper than being owned by him. She has come to depend on him. This man she once hated is now evoking emotions within her she finds hard to express for fear she will give him power over the last little part of her.

  As for Valerian, the war against his tyrant brother for control over the throne heats up just as intensely as his passions with Melena do. There is a certain violence in each, and Valerian struggles to remain dominant over all of it.

  Chapter One

  Melena spurred her horse onward through the thick trees that bordered the Morrowood glen. She had left Valerian and his people behind some time ago. They had stopped farther back to avoid being seen by patrols from the enemy. Only, they weren’t Melena’s enemies. The leader of the rebel army was her brother. He would no doubt welcome her presence. The question was, would he listen to reason? And what reasoning would she use? How could she make him understand the kind of man Valerian was without it being a complete betrayal to him?

  She had started this journey as a captive slave, but now was a treasured member of Valerian’s harem. Not a slave but a shisha… with the potential to one day become a wife. A potential that was becoming more real as Valerian made moves to overthrow his despot of a brother. But there were no guarantees he would be successful. He could just as easily fail in his attempt, and then her future would be a precarious one. As a shisha to what amounted to a traitor, she could be put to death.

  So it was in her best interest that Valerian be successful in his coup. It was also in the best interest of every member of the vast Jorku nation who was living under the heavy yoke of a perverse emperor’s rule. There was only one man who could achieve victory over Vicktor and take his throne… and that man was his only living blood heir -- Valerian Jorku. Her master. The man she was coming to care for a great deal. The man who had proven that he would go to any extreme to see to her protection and her pleasure.

  Oh, she had fought him at first… thought him cruel… but he had worn at her defenses. He had shown her new ways of looking at the world… and new ways of experiencing pleasure. He had slowly been winning her loyalty and devotion.

  Now she had to express her feelings to her brother Grulon, the leader of a rebel army. Grulon’s forces were vastly outnumbered by Valerian’s massive army. Their tactics, Valerian had told her, had amounted to guerilla warfare. They attacked under cover of the vast forests of her homeland. They defeated small groups of scouts or soldiers. They had been making the smallest of dents in Valerian’s army. Almost small enough to not be noticed.

  But what Valerian did not know was exactly how big the rebel army was or how to find them. At least he hadn’t until Melena had told him of the places Grulon had frequented as a child. Grulon, like most people, was a creature of habit, and he would hide where he was most familiar with hiding.

  That had brought them to this glen. Surrounded by thick forest, there was a clearing that could house a small army. At first she had only suspected he might be there… she couldn’t be sure. But now, as she traveled deeper into the surrounding woods, she heard birdcalls and sensed she was being watched. Lookouts had spotted her. They were calling to others in birdsong. She knew enough about the sounds of the forest to detect what was real and what was manmade.

  She was accosted about two hundred yards out from the clearing. Two men dropped from the trees and into the path of her horse. Both she and her horse were startled by this, her horse rearing. She tightened her thighs and somehow managed to keep her seat. This was no mean feat considering how saddlesore she was after their long travels to reach this part of her country. They had traveled all the way from the capital city of Jorku to the newly expanded border into Moglu, it being the latest acquisition into the Jorku nation, a nearly three-week journey of body-aching travel on horseback from Vicktor and Valerian’s home fortress.

  During that time she had developed a great deal of strength and fortitude, and it showed as she kept her seat. Her entire journey through her life this past month had been an exercise in discovering her own strengths and her own limits, all thanks to the man who was trusting her to open talks between him and her brother… even though he knew this would be the perfect opportunity for her to escape his mental, emotional, and physical control.

  She could easily betray Valerian, shifting to her brother’s side and remaining safe with his army. After all, Valerian had only come with a small contingent of men. Enough to protect him, but not enough to launch an attack on an enemy camp. By the time Valerian made the trip back to his base camp and came back with enough force to reclaim her, Grulon’s army will have pulled up stakes and moved on. This was her perfect, and possibly her only, chance to escape Valerian.

  He sent her anyway. He was investing in trust, and in her loyalty to him over her loyalty to her brother. It was a deep risk for him. All she could think about was the rewards that would come if she pulled this off successfully. Aid for Valerian, benefit for her brother… and she couldn’t even imagine what Valerian would do to show her his appreciation. She shivered inside whenever she thought of it.

  She put all that out of her mind as she got her horse under control and fixed her gaze on the men wielding sharp swords beneath her horse’s nose.

  “Dismount and surrender your animal!” one of them commanded.

  “I will do no such thing,” she replied, her voice hard and unyielding and proud. “I wish to see the man who leads you.”

  “And what man would that be?” one asked, a sneer in his voice,

  “Grulon Ni Coro,” she said, her chin lifting. “My brother!”

  They looked at each other and then at her again.

  “You’re nothing more than a camp whore. Be on your way. Grulon doesn’t let whores follow his camp.”

  “I am n
ot a whore,” she said, leveling an angry glare at them. “Grulon is my brother. Now take me to him. Or will you explain to him how you have turned his lost sister away?”

  The men looked at each other again.

  “Get off your horse. You’ll walk into camp. And when you are proved to be a liar I’ll tell Grulon to throw you to his men to be used as we like!”

  “I will ride,” she said firmly. “You may lead my horse in. I will not dismount until I see my brother’s eyes and he sees mine.”

  The men grumbled at this woman who was not intimidated by them. What they didn’t realize was that she had faced a man far more threatening than they were and had survived. They didn’t frighten her in the least. What frightened her was what would happen if she was not successful -- if she could not convince her brother to speak with Valerian.

  The men grabbed hold of her horse’s reins and began to lead her in. She had to duck often to avoid tree branches, as they were not as careful of them as she would have been. Then the woods opened up into a vast clearing, and there, in the center of it, was a sea of tents and lean-tos. There were even some temporary huts that had been built, which told her they weren’t very mobile. They had grown comfortable in their hiding spot. She thought it was unwise for her brother to be so predictable and static.

  The men led her into the center of camp, right up to a large tent. It wasn’t nearly as large as Valerian’s was, but it was still quite roomy-looking from the outside.

  One of the men disappeared into the tent while the other stood holding her horse. She waited a good while, and then suddenly the tent flap opened and she was laying eyes on her brother for the first time in almost five months.

  He looked up at her and surprise entered his craggy features. He was a young man, but wore the hardships of his life.

  Now he was no longer a farmer but a leader of men. A rather ragtag group of men, but men all the same. Patriots. Men willing to die for the freedom of their homeland, no matter what the odds.

  “Melena!” he called. “How come you to be here, sister?”

  Now Melena dismounted. Her brother was there to catch her, and in a very rare show of affection he hugged her enthusiastically. She was surprised -- her brother was not known for his sentimentality. The last months had changed him, she realized. Just as they had changed her.

  “I thought you gone forever! When I heard of the army raiding our farm, I thought the worst had happened. I tried to find you and our sisters, but it was impossible.”

  “Our sisters will be safe soon,” she promised him. “I must speak with you.”

  “Come. Come inside! You must tell me how you come to be here on this horse… and in such rich clothes. Jorku fashions no less. Tell me everything.” He led her into the tent, and she slowly removed her gloves. Her fingers were icy cold, and she moved closer to the stove in the center of the tent to warm them.

  Grulon saw a cup of wine was put in her hand, and then he drew up a chair to the stove and bade her sit. She did so and sipped her wine as she laid her gloves in her lap. “I cannot stay,” she prefaced their conversation. “I am only here to deliver a message to you.”

  “A message? Why can’t you stay? You are with family now,” he said as he sat across from her.

  “I am only a messenger,” she repeated. “I bring you an offer of parley from Valerian Jorku… my master.”

  A long moment of silence ticked by as her brother absorbed this information. He was looking at her as if he hadn’t heard her right. “Valerian Jorku? You mean to tell me you are slave to our enemy?”

  “Not slave. shisha. A treasured woman of his harem.”

  “A slave! Call it what you will -- you are a sexual concubine for our enemy!”

  “It is not as though I had much choice in the matter,” she snapped. Then she took a cooling breath. “I was captured and sold as a slave. Where were you when this was happening?”

  He flushed, and she saw his jaw flex as he clenched his teeth. “I was forming an army!”

  “You should have been protecting us! Do you have any idea what they did to Sena? They took turns at her before my eyes! Were I not a valuable virgin I would have met the same fate!”

  “Instead you were sold to our ultimate enemy and raped by him. That is no better fate.”

  She wanted to argue that it had been nothing like rape. She had seen rape. She knew the difference between that and the gentle introduction into pleasure Valerian had shown her. However she knew her brother would never understand.

  “My fate is what it is,” she said. “I will return to it. But not until I have negotiated a parley between you and Valerian.”

  “Jorku is a monster, just like his brother! He slaughters and enslaves our people, and now you expect me to speak with him?” Her brother looked at her incredulously. “You are here now. You will not have to return to him. You will be safe with me.”

  “Grulon, you have no hope of winning against Valerian. Surely you see that? His army is tremendous. I have seen it.”

  “We have been whittling away at it,” he said stubbornly.

  “Like a gnat whittles away at a horse? You must listen to reason. Valerian is inclined to offer you peace. Things are changing in the Jorku nation. They army is going to pull out of Moglu. The country will be ours again.”

  “Then we have whittled away at the horse if we are chasing it away!”

  “Just because the horse decides to move doesn’t mean the gnat had anything to do with it. Valerian is making a play for the throne of Jorku. He is tired of his brother’s perversions and warmongering ways. He would see peace in his country… and in the countries surrounding Jorku. Please. Just listen to him. Hear what he says. He is waiting for you just beyond the borders of the forest.”

  “You have led him to us?” Grulon cried. “Do you know what you’ve done?”

  “If Valerian wanted to erase you he could have brought his entire army with him to decimate you. Instead he comes with only a small contingent of men. He waits for you to see reason and come speak with him. A logical leader would seize the opportunity to --”

  “Do not tell me how to lead my men!” he roared, surging to his feet. “You are a traitor to your people!”

  “I am not! Can’t you see? I am trying to lead you to peace! Stop being so pigheaded! Heavens above, I did not miss this about you!” She had gotten to her feet too and was in his personal space, her anger and frustration with him radiating into him.

  “A small contingent you say?” he said suddenly. “Then he is vulnerable. Tell me where he is! We can overrun him and hold him captive. We can bargain with Vicktor… trade his traitorous brother to him for our freedom.”

  Panic infused her. Her mind raced. “And how long would that last?” she demanded of him. “Vicktor is no more a man of his word than I am a man. Perhaps in the short haul you will earn a reprieve, but then Vicktor will be breathing down our necks again in no time. Valerian is a different man. He is a man of honor and a man of his word. If he says to you that he will leave Moglu in peace, then you can be assured that is what he will do.”

  “Valerian is no better than Vicktor,” her brother said stubbornly. “He has destroyed this country… and now you wish for me to make peace with him?”

  “What he has done he has done at the bidding of his brother. But now he sees the error of allowing his brother to bully all the known world. He would see peace and an age of contentment brought to Jorku. I believe him… and if you met him you might believe him too.”

  “He has bewitched you, turned you into a traitor for your people,” Grulon said bitterly.

  “Can’t you see? He wants to give you our country back! Isn’t this what you’ve been fighting for? Or is it that you enjoy wasting lives? Or perhaps it is because you are so important now, where before you were nothing but a farmer.”

  Her brother drew back his hand as if to smack her, but she had felt a whip on her body. Her brother’s smack would not hurt her nearly as much. She did not fear p
ain.

  * * *

  Grulon saw his sister did not flinch and lowered his hand. She had been head of their family even when he had been working the farm. She had been strong and willful then, but now there was a steel that could not be bent running through her. Grulon could see it.

  Perhaps he should consider her offer. It was true. He was important now, in a way he had never known before. He did not want to give that up. But that would be selfish. They were there to fight for freedom for their country. If one meeting could get them that, then what would it really cost him?

  “Very well. I will meet with him. But I will bring a large contingent of men… enough to overwhelm your master. If I do not like what I hear, I will take him captive.”

  “You can try,” she said with a lift to her chin.

  “Tell me how many men he brought with him.”

  “I won’t betray him like that.”

  “You’d rather betray your brother?”

  “I don’t expect you to understand,” she said, turning her back to him.

  “You’re right. I don’t understand. You do not have to go back with him! You can stay with me now. You can be free of him!”

  “I will never be free of him,” she said softly. “He is in my mind and in my blood.”

  “What does that mean?” he asked irritably.

  “You’ll never understand, so I will not try to explain it to you,” she said. She walked up to the entrance of the tent. “Shall we go?”

  “I need to gather my men. Will fifty be enough?” he asked.

  “I told you, I won’t tell you that.”

  “Then perhaps it is best you stay with him. We don’t want a traitor in our midst,” he said bitterly.

  “Call me all the names you like, it will not affect me. Get your fifty men. I will await you on my horse.” With that, she left the tent.

  * * *