Whatever It Takes 3: Love in Chains - EXCERPT

Chapter 3

Lamar was desperate. Not really as much from his hopeless situation, although he didn’t exactly enjoy being beaten and whipped and tortured, but because he failed to protect Laina. Sure, he could tell himself that she chose to be there. Nobody ordered her to, she basically invaded his secret mission and insisted on staying. And it worked surprisingly well until today.

They traveled on horseback for weeks before reaching the coast. After a few days, Lamar learned to ignore the constant complaining about her sore thighs and her “devious animal”. Seriously, her mare was the calmest and the most obedient horse Lamar had ever seen in his entire life. And being the captain of the king’s guard, he had seen A LOT of horses. Yet, Laina grumbled and complained.

Lamar clearly remembered queen Karina mentioning that her maid was a very quiet person. Perhaps she was talking about a different maid? Because Laina was anything but quiet. She was bossy, annoying, and impossible to please. But she was also surprisingly smart and Lamar had to admit that he knew nothing about the country they were headed for. When she wasn’t cussing on her poor mare, she was telling him about Cchen-Lian, even trying to teach him the language. It was so hard, Lamar felt like his brain was about to explode from all the new words and phrases and his tongue would break or tie itself into a knot while trying to pronounce them.

She was also beautiful, there was no debating that. He tried very hard not to think about that but it was nearly impossible with her constant presence. Sometimes, when they slept outside, he just stayed awake for hours, staring at her. She looked so peaceful while sleeping, her long, light brown hair falling over her face. Then she would wake up, open her mouth, and the magic was gone.

When they finally reached the port and had to sell their horses, Laina was overjoyed. Lamar secured them two spots in a tiny cabin on the Western Wind, which was traveling straight into Xi-huan. The ship didn’t normally carry passengers, but a heavy money pouch made the captain change his mind. They left the port the next morning and that was when Lamar’s problems began.

He didn’t understand it, he had been on ships before and never got sick. Granted, those were much smaller and stayed close to the coast, but it shouldn’t be that much of a difference, right? Apparently, it was. He spent days on the deck, bent over the railing, throwing up everything in his stomach. Not even a few gulps of clean water stayed inside his stomach for too long. Laina kept offering him something to ease his problems but the concoction smelled so horribly that he refused her every time.

After a week on the sea, he was so weak he could barely get out of bed. Weak enough for Laina to easily overpower him, pin him down, and pour the potion straight into his mouth, holding his nose until he was forced to swallow everything. For a few minutes, it felt like he was about to die but then it got better. He was still weak and felt awful but at least his insides weren’t trying to exit his body through his throat anymore. Laina sat by his side until he got better, pestering him for not letting her help him earlier, but she took care of him as if he was a baby.

Her mother was a healer, he remembered her telling him. Ages ago, back in Levanta. It was back then that she told him how she despised soldiers and considered healing them a waste of time because they would just go and get hurt all over again. Still, she stitched his wound and took care of him. Just like she was taking care of him aboard the Western Wind.

It took a few days before Lamar felt like his former self again. Weakened, granted, but at least able to move around, drink water, and even eat some light food. Laina rolled her eyes when he started training again but didn’t try to stop him. He was used to running every morning before the sun came up, it used to be their daily ritual with Hayden ever since he became the king, but there wasn’t enough space on the ship to do that. Lamar found another way to keep himself in shape though.

Once the worst part of his sea sickness passed, he started following the crew up into the railings. Climbing the rough ropes and ladders and balancing on thin yards while the ship swayed on the waves required more muscles than he would have ever guessed. Laina hated when he did that, always worried that he would fall to his death or overboard. But Lamar was not a showoff, he was always being careful and knew his limits. And he had to keep in shape because he had a solemn feeling that his fighting skills were going to be needed sooner rather than later.

Western Wind’s captain paled upon recognizing the pirate ship chasing them. The Dragon’s Fortune was renowned in these waters and meant bad news for any ship that encountered her. It was obvious that while the members of the crew were excellent sailors, they were shitty fighters. Lamar had no doubt that this was a battle they were going to lose. He at least made an attempt to hide Laina, hoping the pirates would overpower the defenders, loot anything valuable, and leave. How horribly wrong he was.

Yes, his attempt to fight them off after the crew had been overpowered was futile. But what else was he supposed to do? Was he going to watch them murder innocent sailors? Or let them just drag Laina on their ship to do whatever the f**k they wanted to with her? He could never live with himself if he didn’t at least try. So, he tried. And, as it seemed, he wasn’t going to have to live with himself much longer after that anyway.

Through the veil of sweat and tears and drops of blood, he saw one of them lead her to what must have been the captain’s cabin. He didn’t even have time to wallow in desperation because the man who had been whipping him with the cat o'nine tails said something about sharks and then tossed Lamar’s bloodied shirt into the water.

Lamar wasn’t afraid of many things. He didn’t get scared in a battle when enemies advanced towards them. He wasn’t afraid to fight while outnumbered. He wasn’t even afraid to risk his life to protect his king and his country. But this… The cold sweat that covered his skin had little to do with the fresh sea breeze. Fighting people was one thing, you could scare them off, reason with them. But being eaten alive by blood-crazed animals? That frightened him more than he would ever admit.

He rarely prayed to the gods. It didn’t seem to have much of an effect. Sure, all soldiers prayed before a battle, but so did the other side. That way, the potential god blessings equaled out and it was up to the strength of their arms and the resolve in their souls once more. But as he watched the hungry animals circle the water around the ship and the pirates started to prepare a rope so they could lower him down and have the sharks feast on his legs, Lamar prayed. He prayed to all the gods he could remember. And then some more to all those he had already forgotten. Just a little miracle, that was all he needed. Maybe his heart could just give out so he wouldn’t have to be alive through all that? That wasn’t too much to ask for, was it? Not to be eaten alive?!

To his immeasurable surprise and relief, somebody must have been listening to his prayers. An angry dark-skinned man went into the captain’s cabin for a few moments and upon his return, he ordered the other pirates to put Lamar down. Pretty much every single part of his body was in pain so great that he barely even realized that they had dragged him below deck into a dark, stinking room, and put him in chains. Someone put a cup of water next to him but Lamar was too weak to reach for it. All he wanted to do was sleep, to escape the pain at least for a few moments.

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed but he woke up to someone gently washing the wounds on his back. “Thank you.” That was what he was trying to say but the words came out as a pained groan.

“Welcome back among the living.” A voice he would recognize anywhere. “I was worried you weren’t going to wake up at all.” She sniffled and put the piece of cloth she was holding into a bowl of water. Very red water. “You will need some stitches.”

Oh, yes, Lamar had figured that out when he felt the stupid whip tear the skin on his back to shreds. But he seriously doubted their captors would be so kind and provide them with medical supplies. To his surprise, Laina pulled a needle and a piece of thread out of a small leather casing. Where did she get that? There were some vials with markings Lamar didn’t understand and… a knife! He tried to reach for it but Laina moved it out of his range. “I-I can’t, I have to return that, I’m sorry.” Her lips were quivering and she seemed to be barely holding back the tears.

“Laina?” He wanted to grab her hand and squeeze it to give her at least a little bit of comfort but his own hands and arms weren’t cooperating. “Did they… Are you hurt?” If they touched her, he would… He would what? f**k, he hated feeling so damn powerless!

To his relief, the girl shook her head. “No, not really.” It didn’t sound very convincing. “I… it doesn’t matter. Roll on your stomach, I need to stitch your back.” Lamar didn’t try to argue with her or pressure her for more answers. Settling on his stomach as comfortably as he possibly could on the dirty floor, he closed his eyes, ready to drift off to sleep again. “Hey!” She pinched his shoulder, earning a pained moan from him. “No sleeping. Repeat your lessons!”

“What, now?!” He tried very hard not to sound like an annoyed teenager. And failed.

A needle pierced the skin on his back and he felt familiar tugging and pinching. “Yes, now,” Laina commanded in a voice that didn’t leave space for debates. “Go on, soldier brain.”

“Ugh, fine.” She was probably right, at least it was something to take his mind off the pain. “Cchen-Lian. Ouch! f**k. An empire spanning the whole western continent. It consists of thirteen separate kingdoms. The biggest of them is the kingdom of Na-hae, with the capital of Xi-huan which is also the capital of the entire empire.”

Skilled fingers pulled on the thread, making a small knot and cutting it off, forcing a pained hiss out of his mouth. “And…?” Laina urged him to continue while putting the needle through his skin again.

“And… and the biggest city in the entire world. The fucker emperor Odi sits there on his fat ass and makes the lives of his subjects hell. He had a son who died, his only living relative now is his niece, princess Yoshimi. Who is quite a b***h. She tried to… Ouch! Could you be more careful? She tried to get into Hayden’s bed once and was royally pissed when he refused her. The cunt looks all polite and innocent but she is a devil in disguise.”

Laina chuckled quietly. “You don’t seem to like women much. What about the other kingdoms within the empire?”

“I do like women,” Lamar rolled his eyes. That didn’t hurt. “It’s just that you are so damn complicated sometimes. Other kingdoms… They have some weird names which I have forgotten already.” A hand softly smacked the top of his head. “What? It’s all just a bunch of random syllables, it’s impossible to remember!”

“That’s not true at all,” she grumbled. “If you paid attention to the language lessons, you would have no problems remembering the names since they all have a meaning. Cchen-Lian means-”

“The fire dragon!” Lamar interrupted her, wanting to prove that he did remember at least something. “Which makes no sense because Lian should mean a lion and not a dragon. It’s so stupid that it gets stuck in your head.”

Laina just laughed in response and Lamar was certain she was rolling her eyes and shaking her head, something she seemed to be doing quite often, especially when he said something dumb. “Lift up a bit, I need to wrap the bandage around your chest.”

“Where did you get all this?” The pirates seemed to be keen on killing Lamar and now they were giving them supplies to treat his wounds? It didn’t make any sense.

It was quiet for a few moments. “The captain,” she whispered. “He… I couldn’t let them kill you, so I asked him…”

Lamar couldn’t see her face, it was hidden behind her long hair, but her voice was breaking. “Laina? What happened? You didn’t do something stupid just to help me, did you?” The words came out rougher than he intended but he was too angry to notice. “Please tell me you didn’t let that guy f**k you to save my life?! Gods! You were supposed to be the smart one here!” A part of his brain was yelling at him to shut the f**k up but he ignored it.

For him. She did it for him, which made him ultimately responsible for everything she had been through. And he did not want that! He would rather be eaten alive by the damn sharks than be the cause of whatever that pirate bastard put her through. “Stupid girl!” he growled. “You think you’re going to f**k your way out of-”

A slap hurts even under normal circumstances. When your face is all sore and swollen from being punched repeatedly? It hurts like f*****g hell. He deserved it. He deserved that and so much more. This is why he never had a girlfriend. He always said something stupid to mess it up. And this was way beyond stupid.

“Laina, I’m sorry I-”

“SHUT UP!” She jumped up, looking ready to kick him into his stomach but after eyeing his bruised and bloodied body, she changed her mind. “You are such an ungrateful asshole! Next time you get in trouble, I’m gonna let them feed you to the f*****g sharks because that’s what you deserve!” There were tears rolling down her cheeks and underneath all her anger, she sounded desperate. “Stupid soldier. I should have ditched your dumb ass and just gone on my own, you are useless anyway!”

The lock on the door rattled before Lamar could start apologizing again. One of the pirates peeked into the room and smirked at Laina. “Come on, lass. That captain’s waiting for ya.”

“What?” Lamar frowned, trying to get up. “You can’t just-”

Laina pushed against his shoulder, easily shoving him back on the floor. “Just shut up, Lamar. For once in your pointless existence, do something useful, and keep your mouth shut,” she said solemnly, packing up all the medical supplies back into the case and walking out of the door without sparing a second glance at speechless Lamar.

***

Next update: tomorrow! The first 12 chapters will be uploaded with daily updates, then it will be back to every other day.