Mahaz, you are my treasure, which I intend to protect. If you don't like something, just say it. And the dress really suits you, although without it you are much better, ”he again switched to a silly tone, smacking her flushed face.

Alessia was agitated in breaking hands, not knowing how to explain to him that she did not like her. She is a simple girl, she is not used to such treatment.

- My Lord Rado, you are so generous ... I do not deserve it. You don't even take what you want from me. Give me some work then, so that I don’t sit idle?

- Hmm, - Radovan was surprised, not understanding the nature of her experiences, - this is probably possible, I will order Kara to come up with something feminine for you.

***

When they arrived at the pen, all the preparations had already been completed. The spikelet was fragrant, all smeared with the litter of its future milk brother, and the mare nervously rushed about the corral, looking for its foal, which they had imperceptibly taken from her, as Sepp explained. Alessia was worried, worried about the baby, but also implicitly wanted the mare not to accept the foal and he stayed with her. She drove these thoughts, swallowed tears and, with a sinking heart, looked at Spikelet, cautiously prigartsev before the mare, and she takes it sideways, inflates the nostrils, absorbing its smell. To the delight of the silent spectators, Kolosok confidently poked his muzzle under the mare's belly, she was twitching, is about to kick her feet, but suddenly calms down and allows the foal to suck.

Radovan claps the groom on the shoulder, but he blurs from such a master's favor. One Alessia wants to cry ...

***

She has nothing to worry about, but inside there is a little worm of doubt, undermining her strength. Radovan is kind to her, soft, clinging to him at night, she feels safe, and waking up from nightmares, he hears his words comforting her. He does not rush her, only his kisses get hotter each time, and she gets used to them and waits for them. She gets used to Kare, who silently accompanies her everywhere, to Vernon, relentlessly the next shadow, to Wolf, who was assigned to her for safety, so that she would not be afraid to go visit Spikelet, who, although she constantly turns near the mare, but did not forget her and still with pleasure sucks fingers bringing delicacy.

Radovan is proud of her beauty, dresses up like a doll, puts on display. She is embarrassed by accepting compliments from his military leaders, who accompany her with respectful looks. But she cannot get rid of the feeling that behind her back they laugh at her, that they patiently and indifferently await her fall, like many others before her. She is not in her place; everything around seems unreal, threatening to her. When the camp is finally removed from the place to move back, the tent, which became its whole world, is replaced by a wagon - comfortable, rich, but from this even more reminiscent of a golden cage.

In it, she goes, with unseeing eyes looking at her once beautiful land. Now there are only scorched, dry plains, and rare surviving villages where Radovan leaves his posts. Alessia tries not to look when the Vignette River begins to shine in the distance, flooding with cheerful rapids on the mountainside, flowing into the valley where she spent her childhood. There is nothing there - only lonely trees survived after the fires, which lost their leaves. In the place of her village - ashes. Her country is destroyed, trampled into the mud, it will take many, many years until the earth begins to bear fruit again. And she, like a princess, goes with the army of the conqueror, refusing to believe that it is he who is to blame.

Lying in his arms at night, unable to bear the pain that is tearing her soul, she asks why, why the war is so cruel, why does she not spare anyone?

He is silent, appreciating and annoyed that she lays the responsibility not on him, but on a faceless war, as the source of her troubles.

“I don’t spawn anyone,” he finally says gloomily, “that’s my duty.”

- Why? - the girl is shrill howling - because you could just make us slaves, we would pay you a tribute, do everything you want. From our land you would get a lot of wealth ...

“I don't need slaves who save up against me.” I do not need slaves who knew what the will is and thirst for it. This is my generosity - I gave them death and freedom on the battlefield, the honor to die, protecting what is dear to them, like real men.

- And we? Women? Children? - with horror that already knows the answer, asks Alessia.

- What about women? They will give birth to children from other men, from men in whose veins will not flow resistance. Children who know only me as a ruler, recognize my domination. One day these children will inhabit this land and will thank and honor me. So did my ancestors, so do I - Tigran Radovan Adalard the Great.

He is calm, there is no remorse in his voice. He expects her to understand and accept him like this. He waits, not doubting her, in her devotion.

Alessia wants to sob, whine and scream from this cruel truth. Is this the law of life? Why, why, were they so weak that it happened to them? She wants to hate him, but she only nestles closer to him, in him, the enemy, seeking solace. She is alone, she has no one else, there is only this man, who has become painfully expensive, and there is hope that one day she will save the little ones if he allows her ...

It depends on him, but already craves this addiction. Delight in the eyes of Radovan replaces her all her old life. For his sake she breathes, for her sake her soul sings. She believes him, becomes attached to him more and more every day: to his caresses, joking teases, to stories about his beautiful country, about which he speaks with such love, to his hoarse voice and little birthmark on his neck ear, which she wants to kiss every time he squeezes her in his arms. She loves him and anxiously waits for him to stop taking care of her and make her truly his own. Maybe then, the longing that has settled inside will disappear, and she will understand what is the meaning of her life now?