AN: Italics are either thoughts or it means a none-English word or phrase was spoken.

Chapter Five

Nadja stared into Milliardo’s eyes. It was true. Those were her only choices at the moment. “I need time to think,” she whispered.

He frowned. They had no time to waste! “There’s no time, Nadja. You’re leaving tonight!” he almost shouted at her. The last thing he wanted was for her to change her mind. He’d almost convinced her.

Her expression was pained. How could she leave her family? Could Lord Milliardo be telling her the truth? Was she really his wife? Had her dadro and baj been lying to her? Nadja looked at Milliardo and said, “You can’t expect me to decide now. I need time to think!” she said, running her hands through her short, dark hair.

“There’s no time!” he repeated. He hoped to God she wouldn’t changer her mind. “Ride with me now, Nadja before you...” he searched for the right words to say. “Before you make the wrong choice.”

Her shoulders sagged. She knew she had no choice. Would it be worth it though? She frowned. She knew nothing of this man and she was contemplating leaving with him never to return. The pounding in her head started again. She pressed her palm to her temple. Would these damned headaches ever go away?

Milliardo noticed her hand on her temple. She had a headache. Nadja closed her eyes and fought back wave of nausea. She took a deep breath. “Are you alright?” he asked her.

She closed her eyes again but nodded. It was now or never, she realized. There was no turning back. There was no hesitating. She had to make her choice here and now. With a heavy weight settling in her heart she said, “Let’s go.” Tears ran down her cheeks and she once again put her hand to her aching head.

“You’ll be okay?” he asked. She nodded her head. ‘What am I going to tell everybody?’ he thought. ‘I wasn’t expecting her to come back with me.’

He mounted his horse and offered his hand to her. She took it and together they managed to swing her up to the horse in front of him. He placed his arms on either side of her and took Pietro’s reins kicking the horse into a run.

‘I must be going insane,’ she thought. ‘To leave with a complete stranger! My father would be so ashamed of me. I will never be able to go back. They’ll never accept me back!’ Nadja hung her head. She knew where her loyalties were and she wanted her sister to be happy with the man she loved more than anything. The more she thought about the situation, the worse her headache got. She willed her mind to stop all train of thought, to concentrate on anything but what was going to happen.

They rode in silence. It was uncomfortable but it was even more uncomfortable to try and say something. The tension radiating from the two riders was very thick. Both of them were thinking of what was to come. The ride long ride gave both young people plenty of time to think and to organize their thoughts.

“What are you going to tell them?” she asked.

“The truth,” he whispered. He shook his head. “They all know who you are.”

She took a deep breath before she voiced her next request. “Tell me what happened to me? Tell me why--” her voice broke. “Tell me our story, Milliardo,” she requested, trying his name for the first time. “Before we get to the castle.”

Milliardo’s face became pale. He was loath to revisit that part of his life. To think he’d been so young and known her for so short a time and yet her disappearance had affected him like nothing else ever had. Not even his father’s death had cause him such grief. “It’s a very long story, Nadja,” he whispered.

“Please,” she pleaded.

“We were fifteen,” he began and his face twisted, as if in pain, at the memories.

Flashback

Fifteen year old Milliardo looked at his new betrothed out of the corner of his eye. She was beautiful with a thick, black braid falling over her shoulder. Her eyes sparkled with the warmth and laughter of youth. He squashed his sudden urge to grin stupidly at having such a pretty future wife. He had to keep control of himself. He wished he could talk to her. She seemed pretty interesting enough. He’d heard from his father that her father had allowed her to have a tutor until three months ago, around the same time their engagement had become official.

He risked a glance towards her and almost gasped to find her smiling shyly at him. He regained his control and looked straight ahead. ‘Father has chosen me a good wife,’ he thought. ‘I’m beginning to see the good points in marrying the only heir to the kingdom of Shaomadir.’

“It is settled then, Anselm,” Milliardo heard his father, King Phillip, say. “Our children shall be wed in two months.”

End Flashback

“It was an alliance then, not a real marriage,” said Nadja. She locked her blue eyes on his, silently pleading for him to go on.

“We were wed eight weeks later,” he said in monotone while looking in her eyes.

Flashback

The wedding night had been a total fiasco. Despite the fact that it wasn’t his first time, Milliardo was a nervous wreck. When it came time to it, he was all over the place and couldn’t control himself. He’d tried to make it as painless as possible for her but he’d only managed to make a fool of himself. He’d lost his virginity the year before and now he was acting like he’d never done this!

Lu, as he’d nicknamed her, gave him an apologetic smile. “Maybe we should try again tomorrow,” she suggested shyly.

Milliardo closed his eyes and shook his head in shame. “I’m sorry,” he said turning on his side so she wouldn’t see the blush on his cheeks.

He heard her giggle on the other side of the bed and he grunted angrily. “I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t laugh, but I’m just nervous. I don’t know what to do.”

He sighed and turned to face her. “I just made a fool of myself in here. I can’t believe this is happening me. I’m acting like this is my first time all over again,” he told her.

Lu reached a hand out and placed it on his shoulder. “It’s is fine, Milliardo. I am not complaining about anything.”

End Flashback

Milliardo had been quiet for a long time, deciding whether or not to tell her about their first night together. It wasn’t really important for her to know that, but he couldn’t help remembering that night. Days later they’d laughed about it.

“Will you finish telling me what happened?” asked Nadja.

Shaking his head, Milliardo said, “Why do you want to know? It won’t serve any purpose of you know.”

“I want to know why your eyes held so much anger towards me when you saw me for the first time. I want to know why there was such hate in your eyes. Why all that hate was directed at me.” She tried to look at him but she couldn’t turn her head around enough in the position she was sitting. “What did I do, Milliardo? What happened between us?”

“Nothing happened between us! It‘s not about what happened between me and you!” he snapped. He didn’t want to remember anymore. “Five months after our marriage you ran away with my cousin!” he whispered accusingly.