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His fair skin stood out starkly against midnight-black hair while scarlet eyes glinted like the silver armor covering his torso. The symbol of the Serin Empire, a black dragon, decorated his chest, and a dark red cape flowed out behind him.

"Things would have been so much better for you if you had just stayed put," he continued in a low tone.

A couple of panting soldiers came up behind him as he spoke.

"Sir! We\'ve brought some aconitum powder!" one of the men called. The two men approached Kel, one holding a small brown pouch and the other carrying a set of heavy shackles. She winced at the thought of the rough metal rubbing against her already sore wrists..

Shuffling backward, Kel tried unsuccessfully to get to her feet. She did her best to bat away their attempts to restrain her, but the two men quickly overpowered her. With one hand tightly gripping Kel\'s arm, one of the men brought the small pouch close to her face.

An unmistakable scent entered her nose. Aconitum powder must be the strong-smelling stuff they\'d been using to keep her unconscious.

She thrashed around, struggling to break free, and landed a square kick to one of the soldier\'s unprotected inner thighs. He made a few grunts resembling various curse words, and reached for the shackles that had fallen to the ground during their scuffle.

"That\'s enough." The emperor put up a hand to stop them. The two soldiers withdrew dutifully, shooting Kel sharp looks as they stepped back. She used her elbows to prop herself up from the ground and face the emperor.

He stood silently looking down on her, the corners of his mouth twitching into a smirk. A feeling of dread settled over her at the malicious look, and she wondered if he was right about her being better off not trying to escape in the first place.

Kel\'s palms moistened as he slowly stepped toward her. Any closer would put her within arm\'s reach. She shuddered, trying not to imagine what horrible punishment awaited her as she inched back unproductively.

After closing the distance between them, the emperor crouched down in front of Kel. He raised one hand, and she scrunched her eyes shut, bracing herself for a blow.

While anticipating the stinging of a strike, Kel suddenly felt warm fingers lightly graze her cheek. Her eyes shot open in surprise as the emperor moved a piece of hair behind her ear and then traced her jawline toward the center of her face. With his unexpectedly soft touch, he tipped her chin up and leaned his face closer to hers.

"This hair color is already quite unusual," he mumbled, "but to have these eyes as well." Using his other hand, he gently brushed his thumb below one of Kel\'s eyes.

These eyes?

She suddenly felt exposed and defenseless with the emperor examining her bare face. Under normal circumstances, massive amounts of makeup and serum would have been applied to make Kel\'s muddled blue-green eyes appear as close Adriell\'s brilliant azure blue tones as possible. Without the cosmetics, her eyes were more green than blue with a noticeable vivid orange burst around her pupil.

Kel felt the urge to jerk her head away before the emperor could scrutinize her eyes any closer, but she found herself unable to move. Something about his blood red irises held her captive. She\'d never seen anything like it in her life. It was almost unhuman.

"Dragon," she breathed, unknowingly voicing her thoughts aloud.

At her remark, the emperor gripped her chin more tightly and grinned devilishly.

"Would you like to know why you aren\'t in chains right now?"

Coming back to her senses, Kel whipped her head free of the man\'s grasp. He chuckled as he stood up.

"Bring her," he commanded, waving the soldiers over.

Following their leader\'s orders, the soldiers dragged Kel to a small tent resembling the one she\'d just escaped from but located on one of the far sides of camp. A man holding a coiled leather strap exited the tent as they arrived. It looked like another place to keep hostages.

Kel toppled into the tent after an aggressive shove from the two soldiers, nearly falling on top of the mound already inside. It was difficult to see now that the sun had nearly sunk below the horizon, but the burly figure and dark hair were unmistakable. It was Barclay.

Kel knelt at the man\'s side and gently ran her fingers along his back to check the condition of his arrow injury. He groaned in pain as she found the wound. The arrow had been removed, but the torn flesh was left untreated.

A shadow passed through the doorway. "I hope that man will be able to survive your antics," the emperor said, shaking his head in feigned concern.

​ "What are you trying to say?" Kel\'s chest tightened.

Recalling the man with the strap she saw earlier, Kel turned to examine Barclay\'s back once again. It wasn\'t long before she discovered fresh lashing wounds.

"What\'s the meaning of this?" she demanded. She kept her face down to prevent the callous man from taking any satisfaction in her horrified expression.

"Just know that it will be better for him if you don\'t act out any more," the emperor replied nonchalantly.

"So you\'re using him to threaten me?"

"It wouldn\'t be necessary if ropes were enough to keep you restrained."

"Why not just punish me?" Kel challenged, clenching her hands into tight fists.

"You\'re more valuable unharmed, Princess," the emperor remarked. He turned to leave, but looked back over his shoulder, adding, "for now at least."

"And when we reach Serin, what happens to him then?" Kel queried as the man bent to step out of the tent.

"Well, if he can keep you under control then he\'s useful to me." The emperor paused, glancing back again. "And as long as you can keep that miserable old man in Mevani under control, you\'re useful as well."

With those final unsettling words, he ducked out the door. Kel noted the forms of a couple soldiers taking their place guarding the door as the flaps swung closed.

The rest of the night passed slowly. Using strips of the single coarse blanket and the tiny water rations afforded by the guards outside, Kel did her best to clean and bind Barclay\'s injuries. For the fleeting moments the man did regain consciousness, he was in too much pain to do more than take a few sips of water before planting his face back into the ground. As strong as he was, Kel knew even a man like Barclay wouldn\'t last much longer without proper treatment.

Before dawn the following morning, soldiers came to drag them out of the tent. Camp was broken down quickly, and the Serin soldiers were trotting along in neat lines by the time the sun rose. With the threat of Barclay\'s wellbeing hanging over her, Kel had no choice but to quietly comply with every order.

As they traveled, she tried to glean useful information from the soldier\'s small talk.

"I tell you," one of the men nearby huffed in a gravelly voice, "I\'d do just about anything for some fresh meat."

"There should be fish in the stream," a younger-sounding fellow responded.

"Fish? Disgusting," another soldier chimed in. "You must be from the South if you consider that slimy trash as meat."

"At least we\'re more civilized than tearing into that bloody gunk on a stick you call a meal," the youngster retorted.

As the men continued to argue about fish, Kel examined the greenery around them. If there was a stream hidden somewhere around, that must mean useful herbs were nearby as well. It was too late in the year to use nettle leaf, the best option for stopping Barclay\'s bleeding, but she may be able to find jewelweed or bugleweed.

The soldiers trekked all day without a single break. It wasn\'t until late afternoon that Kel had a chance to check on Barclay and investigate the stream.

The hours of constant jolting had reopened nearly all of his wounds, and the makeshift bandages wrapped around his torso were completely soaked through with blood. At this point, if infection didn\'t take Barclay\'s life, the loss of blood surely would.

"D-don\'t worry so much about me," the man coughed as Kel settled him carefully onto the blanket in their tent.

Using what little the small blanket could spare, Kel tore fresh bandagings.

"There\'s a stream close by," she said softly, gently peeling the bloody cloth off Barclay\'s back. "I\'m going to find some medicine for you."

The man started to protest, but it quickly dissolved into a coughing fit. He finally nodded slowly, too weak to argue.

After securing the fresh bandages, Kel scooted to the door.

"Hey!" she called. "I need to go take care of my business!"

The soldiers on guard muttered back and forth to each other before one pushed open the door flap.

"Come on, let\'s make this quick," he growled. He led Kel to the edge of the forest closest to their side of camp.

"Is there a stream near here?" Kel asked.

"The stream is on the north side of camp." The soldier rolled his eyes. "Now hurry up!"

Kel sighed in disappointment as she trudged off into the trees. She scanned the ground carefully as she walked, hoping to find some kind of useful herb. As expected, there was nothing.

She was ready to give up and go back when she spied a tangled cluster of light green jagged leaves.

Nettle leaf.

In the spring, before growing tiny stinging hairs, nettle leaf was safe to use, but now that it was nearly fall, the plant was covered entirely by the vicious hairs.

Kel bent closer. Perhaps if she found a way to cut the prickly exterior away, she could make the flesh into a poultice. She reached out her finger to probe the nearest leaf.

Crack!

Kel flinched at the sound of a branch snapping behind her, her finger plunging into the poisonous plant.

"Ouch!" she yelled, jerking her hand back. The movement sent her tumbling backward, but something caught her before she hit the ground.

She gasped as her eyes focused on the familiar face gazing down at her.