Love and Apollo (16 page)

“Just in case you feel afraid, I will leave this door slightly open.  If you call out, I will come to you at once.”

Before Valona could answer he had disappeared.

For a moment the only sensation she could feel was a strange throbbing in her heart.

She did not understand what it was or meant.

Then she sensed that despite what the King had told her – there was danger tonight.

The Russians might attack the Palace in a last effort to save themselves from being forced to leave the country.

Very quietly, so that King Ajax would not hear her, she slipped out of bed and tiptoed to her dressing table.

She had kept the revolver Sir Mortimer had given her in a little velvet bag and packed it in with her jewellery.

It was there now in one of the drawers, lying beneath the necklace and tiara that belonged to Lady Rose.

She took the revolver out of the bag, loaded it and going back to the bed she placed it on a small side table.

She planned that tomorrow morning she would hide it before the maid called her.

At least it was there and loaded in case the Russians appeared unexpectedly and then she laughed at herself for being so fearful.

There were the soldiers downstairs and according to the King all round the Palace.

‘I will put it away first thing in the morning,' she told herself.

Then she blew out the three candles and lying back against the pillows she turned over in her mind everything that King Ajax had said to her.

He wanted them to love each other and it was what she wanted too.

She was now becoming convinced that the Light of Apollo was indeed hovering over them and it would bring them the love they both desired.

Valona awoke believing that Apollo was calling for her.

For a moment she thought she was back in the battleship and then as she opened her eyes, she remembered that she was in a bedroom in the Palace.

She was
married
!

The bright moonlight was streaming into the room through the sides of the curtains and she realised that it was still the middle of the night.

She wondered what had woken her.

Then suddenly she heard a movement in the room next door.

It was very faint and yet for some unknown reason it made her afraid.

Almost as if someone was telling her, she became acutely aware that there was danger.

Fear began to streak through her body and then she paused and thought that she must be mistaken.

At the same time she felt that she must find out if anything untoward was happening.

She slipped out of bed.

And as she did so, she picked up her revolver from the side table.

It was easy to find her way across the room to the communicating door – it was ajar as the King had left it.

Then as Valona opened it a little, she felt her whole body stiffen in horror.

Inside the King's room she could see the moonlight was streaming in through an open window from which the curtains had been pulled back.

There were two men standing beside the King's bed and he was sitting up between them.

Valona realised in horror that they were winding a rope around him and he was gagged.

Without stopping to think, she realised instinctively what she had to do, so she raised her revolver and shot the man with his back to her in the neck.

As the sound rang out he fell forward onto the bed and then he slipped to the floor.

The other man looked up and tried to reach for his revolver.

Valona shot him in his left arm.

The two men were now no longer holding the rope they had been winding round the King's body.

As he felt it loosen, the King threw it away from him and pulled the gag from his mouth.

The man who Valona had shot in the arm was still on the floor and he was now groping for his gun in his belt.

King Ajax freed himself from the rope and sprang out of bed.

In a few strides he was at Valona's side and took her revolver from her.

Just as the man on the floor raised his gun, the King shot him through the heart.

As he did so, the bedroom door burst open and the Captain of the soldiers downstairs rushed in followed by a number of his men.

Before the Captain could speak, the King shouted,

“Russians are on the roof.  Catch them before they escape and leave two men here to guard the window.”

The Captain and his men turned without a word and Valona could hear them running down the passage.

As two soldiers remained behind at the window, the King put his arm round Valona's shoulder.

He pulled her gently into her own bedroom closing the door behind them.

“Have they – hurt you?” Valona asked tremulously.

It was difficult for her to speak and her voice was little above a whisper.

“You have saved my life,” replied the King.  “And it was incredibly brave of you.”

“Just how could they have come into your bedroom without anyone seeing them?” gasped Valona.

“They came down from the roof and they intended to remove me that way once I was tied up.”

Because it was all so horrifying, Valona hid her face against his shoulder.

The King found that her whole body was trembling, so he picked her up in his arms and carried her to her bed.

He set her down gently and she held onto him as if she was afraid to lose him.

“Are you quite sure you are safe, Ajax?” she asked again.

“I am safe, entirely thanks to you, Valona.”

Then his lips were on hers.

It was a gentle kiss, but it gave Valona a feeling she had never known before.

It flashed through her mind that it was the Light of Apollo.

Because her lips were soft, tender and innocent, the King's kisses became more possessive.

He too could feel a wonder he had never known in his whole life.

When he raised his head, he asked in a deep voice,

“How can you be so wonderful and different to what anyone would expect from someone so young?”

“Are you really sure you are safe, Ajax?  Suppose the Russians on the roof came to find you again.”

“I cannot believe our men will let them escape, but if they do, you will just have to protect me again as you did just now!”

He felt a little shiver surge through Valona and he said to her soothingly,

“It's all over.  I don't want you to be so frightened and I intend to make sure this will never happen again.”

“How can you be sure?”

“We are now going to protect ourselves much more effectively and you will help me to be rid of the Russians for ever.”

“I am so frightened,” whispered Valona, “very very frightened.”

The King kissed her again.

He made it impossible for her to think of anything but the wonder of their kisses.

When he set her free, she would have fallen back against the pillows if she had not held on to him.

As she did so, there was a knock on the door and it made her start.

Fear came back in her voice as she enquired,

“Who is it?”

“I think it will be a report of what has happened on the roof.”

The King would have moved away from her, but Valona held onto him.

“Don't leave me!  Please don't leave me now!” she begged.

“I have no intention of leaving you, Valona.  Light the candles and I must find out what has happened.”

He walked to the door and before he opened it, he asked,

“Who is it?”

“Captain Ruphia, Your Majesty,” came the reply.

The King then opened the door and the Captain was standing outside alone.

“I thought Your Majesty would want to know,” he said, “that we have killed all the Russians who were on the roof.  I think they must have climbed up from the kitchen side of the Palace, which is not so well guarded.”

The King's lips tightened for a moment and then he ordered,

“Inform the men guarding the outside of the Palace what has happened.  Next go and wake the Commander-in Chief.  Report the situation and say on my instructions that he is to rouse every Officer and soldier available.”

He paused for a moment before continuing,

“He is also to arrange with the Lord Chamberlain and the Prime Minister to issue a decree in my name saying that, because I have been attacked personally by Russians, every Russian is to leave Larissa within the next two days.  Anyone who does not do so will be arrested or shot.”

The Captain, who had been listening intently, drew in his breath.

“Do we have sufficient soldiers, Your Majesty, to carry out such an order?”

“Tell the Commander-in-Chief that he is to ask for every man who can use a gun to form an Auxiliary Force to assist the Army.  I will discuss it with him first thing in the morning.”

The Captain drew himself to attention and saluted.

“I will carry out Your Majesty's orders at once.”

“Once you have told the Commander-in-Chief what I require, I think it would be helpful, Captain, if you wake the Lord Chamberlain and tell him what has happened here tonight and also the Prime Minister.”

“I will do so, Your Majesty,” replied the Captain.

“I am very grateful to you, Captain Ruphia, and you will not go unrewarded.  You will understand too that my decree about the Russians must be published in the City as soon as it is daylight.”

“I will see to it, Your Majesty.”

He saluted again and was running towards the stairs before the King closed the door.

When he turned round, he could see that Valona had lit the candles by her bed.

He thought as he joined her that no one could look lovelier.

Her fair hair was cascading over her shoulders and the curves of her figure showed through her diaphanous nightgown.

She had listened to the King's orders and when he sat down on the side of the bed, she exclaimed,

“That was very wise and clever of you.  At the same time does Larissa have enough soldiers to carry out your wishes?”

“The Russians do not wish to fight us openly.  What they intended was to carry me away so that there would be no one in command.  I would then either have to abdicate, as Prince Alexander was made to do in Bulgaria, or I would have disappeared never to be seen again.”

Valona gave a cry of horror and held out her arms towards him.

He held her close and she murmured,

“Suppose they had taken you away as they intended and in the morning we had just found your room empty.”

“Would it have upset you so much?  After all, you would have been able to return to England and forget about me.”

He felt another little quiver sweep through her.

As she hid her face against his shoulder, he asked,

“Tell me, Valona, what do you feel about me now.”

He waited for her answer, but she was silent.

She merely continued hiding her face.

Very gently the King put his fingers under her chin and turned her face up to his.

He thought that in the candlelight she looked more beautiful than ever, but at the same time he was aware that she was shy.

Her eyelashes fluttered innocently, but she did not look directly at him.

“Tell me,” he said softly, “and I want the truth – ”

“When you kissed me,” she replied hesitatingly, “it was much much more wonderful than I ever expected.”

“You have never been kissed before?”

Valona shook her head.

“Then I am going to kiss you again, not once but a million times.  But I want you to tell me not only about my kisses but about
me
.”

He waited.

“Perhaps – ” Valona whispered in a voice he could hardly hear, “you will think it is too soon.”

The King smiled.

“I think, my dearest darling, what you are saying is that you love me a little.”

“I know what I am feeling is –
love
. It is the love I prayed for when I was on Delos, but was afraid I would never find.”

“And you think you have found it now?”

“Only if – you love me,” she managed to mumble.

“I have loved you ever since the first moment I saw you, Valona.  I could never have imagined in my whole life that anyone could be so incredibly exquisite or that I could feel so strongly about you.”

“Is that really true?”

“That I love you?” questioned the King.  “I never believed in my wildest dreams that I would ever find a woman so beautiful, so ethereal and at the same time – so brave.”

He pulled her closer to him and then suddenly took his arms away.

“I want to be closer to you, Valona, but I do find it rather uncomfortable sitting on the side of the bed.”

“It would be much more comfortable,” Valona said in a whisper, “if you were beside me.”

“That is exactly what I was thinking.”

He walked round to the other side of the bed.

Getting in beside her, he pulled her into his arms.

He felt, as he did so, the thrill that surged through her and he felt the same.

“I love you.  God, how I love you!” he exclaimed.

Then he was kissing her.

As he did so, he felt her body melt into his.

*

A long time later, he murmured in a low voice,

“My darling, my sweet, my perfect wife, I have not hurt or frightened you?”

“I know now,” whispered Valona, “that the Light of Apollo covers us both and we have found the true love that is a part of him.”

“All
I
know,” sighed the King, “is that I have never been so happy in my entire life.”

“I was very afraid,” breathed Valona, “that because I knew so little about love, I might do something wrong.”

“Everything you did was sheer perfection and more wonderful than anything I could have ever known.”

Valona gave a little sigh of relief.

“I only want to do what you want, Ajax.”