Untouched Concubine (3 page)

           
He signed it, "
Jass
."

           
The door was unlocked.
Mandia
was still in her nightgown, and the only thing she had to wear was the red velvet dress. She couldn't inconspicuously make an escape in either dressing.

           
She reluctantly put back on the red dress, found a bag of
ginn
in the cabinet, and left the grand, white-domed house.

           
An older
Farna
woman greeted her outside. "I take you shopping," she said in broken
Crona
.

           
So
Mandia
wasn't to be left alone, after all. "You speak
Crona
?"
           
"Little bit, yes, little bit
Crona
.
Assa
Jass
assign me for I speak little bit. Come, show you around."

           
Mandia
followed the little old woman out onto the street. Everyone stared at them, whispering.

           
She spent almost all the
ginn
on clothes. The old
Farnan
woman said nothing else to her. As they walked back to
Jass's
home,
Mandia
asked her, "Who is he? Who is
Jass
?"

           
The woman bowed her head. "He is high assassin, all
job
for king.
He powerful man.
And some say dangerous to, how do you say it?
To be in bad place with."

           
Mandia
felt a chill. What did he want with her?

           
The woman continued, "
Assa
Jass
keep city safe, but danger coming.
Assa
Jass
not been
away for some time. He
stay
here to protect."

           
"What else do you know about him?"

           
"He
pay
well and say little. You are first he pick.
Assa
Jass
never take concubine."

           
Mandia
realized that is why there had been silence at
Jass's
purchase during the showing of the future concubines. She was his first. But there wasn't anything particularly special about her. Why her, and why now?

~~~

           
Jass
returned an hour after
Mandia
had changed into a soft, blue cotton dress. It covered her well. She didn't want to tempt her new master with her charms.

           
He entered and greeted her with a nod. "Did you get apples?"

           
She produced an apple from a sachet. "I didn't know what kind you like. Are these
goldens
okay?"

           
"Perfect," he said. He looked her over, eyes lingering on her high collar. "You will be warm in those clothes in the day."

           
Mandia
cast her eyes down from his penetrating and honest green eyes. He was a killer, she had to remind herself. He hadn't yet touched her, but he still might.

           
"Let's sit.
Meat and apples for dinner, then."

           
They sat together in front of a fire
Jass
built. The night was chilly from damp air and the fire warmed
Mandia
. As
Jass
sliced his apple,
Mandia
noticed how smooth his hands were. How could such hands belong to an assassin? She had a strange thought then, that she might like to feel those hands touch her. The thought confused her. She was supposed to be afraid of him, but something was changing. Was it that he gave no indication he intended to use her like concubines were meant to be used? Or was it the way he looked up at her and handed her a slice of apple?

           
The look in those green eyes said something, like he knew her and read her thoughts. A little smile curved his full lips, but he said nothing as she took the apple and nibbled on it. It was delicious.

           
Her fear rose again. All these emotions washing her every few minutes were overwhelming her. Was she feeling some sort of emotional attachment to her captor? She’d heard of such things, prisoners feeling a bond with the ones who held them as slaves.

           
Was she a slave?
Jass
didn’t treat her like one.

           
He dropped the apple core into a waste bin. “What do you think of
Farna
?”

           
It was the last thing she thought he’d ask. She stuttered, “Not what I expected.”

           
“
Crona
spreads some lies about us, but there have been good reasons for this in the past. Things have changed since then.
Crona
has fallen to
Lenn
, and now
Lenn
encroaches upon
Farna
.”

           
He spoke to her casually, as though she were just another soldier friend. His eyes didn’t linger on her body or face. In fact, there was nothing lustful about the assassin at all.

           
Mandia
felt herself relax the tiniest bit. Enough so that she ventured to ask, “Isn’t
Farna
the most powerful state in the country? How can
Lenn
be a threat?”

           
He paused and sipped wine. “
Lenn
forces those they overcome to fight for them. They hold families prisoner, threatening their new soldiers to wield weapons against the lands they want to conquer with torturing the captives. Their armies have grown so that even
Farna
has little chance of escaping their reign.”

           
Mandia
spoke freely without thinking about it. “Why? Why do they want to take over the world?”

           
He looked at her with humor in his green eyes. “Kings are mad. Even the daughter of a king should know that.”

           
Her face burned and her chest flared up under her dress. How could he know she was a princess? Or was he making an off-hand comment?

           
“There was once a young
Farnan
boy,”
Jass
said. “He was captured by
Crona
, condemned to be hung by the king. But something happened. The king’s daughter begged her father not to kill the boy.

           
“The king never told his daughter, but that night he freed to boy and made him a servant under the king’s personal assassin’s care. The boy learned much from the king and his master. The king didn’t want this
Farnan
to become a threat; he trained him, saw in him something. One time, the boy, when he was fourteen, asked, ‘Why did you not kill me?’

           
“The king answered that his daughter did not want him to die, her pleading affected his heart. Then the king said something odd, something the boy didn’t understand at the time. He said, ‘You will save her someday, too. It is the way of Goddess
Kila
, and she is my highest spirit who guides me as king. You must promise to do this.’”

           
Mandia
hadn’t breathed the whole time
Jass
spoke.

           
He continued, “The boy agreed. Then the king released him from the training and from
Crona
altogether. The boy went back to
Farna
and showed his skills with weaponry and stealth to the military.
Farna’s
king took to him, admiring his abilities to be as a cat. The boy is now a man, an assassin to the king, and he has rescued the princess.”

           
Mandia
sat, stunned.

           
Jass
grinned at her.

           
“You’re the little boy? I—I thought for sure, I mean, what—Father never told me anything!” Her voice rose in pitch as shock hit her.

           
“I will take care of you.” He looked down over her then, and it wasn’t unkind, but rather he was seeing her for the first time. “But I must tell you. In three days,
Lenn
will be here and there will be fighting. We will have to decide what to do about this soon.”

           
“What do you mean?”
           
Jass
leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “Until now, my greatest responsibility was to my king. But now, it is you.” He watched for her reaction.

           
Mandia
blushed, not knowing why. “I don’t get it.”

           
“You saved my
life,
my debt must be paid to your father. Tomorrow, I’ll explain more. But now, we sleep.”

           
He left the room and she slipped into the satin gown again, wondering if he was going to use her as a concubine was supposed to be used, even though he said he was protecting her.

           
This time, she settled under the furs with him, edged all the way to the side of the bed away from him. Her breathing was shallow. She turned her back to him and he blew out a candle.

           
“Goodnight,
Mandia
,” he said.

           
She didn’t answer, fear filling her. But, like the night before, he was soon fast asleep and she began to relax. As her eyelids drooped and little images from
Crona
played in her mind, she wondered how
Jass
could be such a deadly killer. He was being so kind to her. Was he really just fulfilling a responsibility? What would he do with her when he felt he’d done his job? And would she ever find her mother?

           
She decided as she drifted off she would ask
Jass
about her mother tomorrow. There must be some way he could help
Mandia
save her. Maybe he could request
Mandia’s
mother become his slave. Then he could set them both free…

~~~

           
Again, when she awoke the next morning, he was gone. The note he left said he was getting them some breakfast and would return shortly.

           
What would she do with herself? She tried the door. It was locked.

           
In the bedroom, she looked over the books on
Jass’s
bookshelf. They were all in
Farnan
, not one in the language of
Crona
. She picked one out anyway and flipped through the pages. The written language was beautiful, but, of course, she couldn’t understand a word.

           
She clothed herself in a white cotton dress she’d gotten the day before and combed her hair with
Jass’s
brush, careful not to disturb the red ribbon braided into it. She felt, not knowing why, the ribbon had to stay.

Her hair was still so shiny from the day the women bathed her. Why hadn’t she thought to pick up a brush of her own while she was out yesterday? As she was pulling her blonde strands out of the brush, she heard a voice behind her.

           
“Hello.”

           
She gasped and dropped the brush, turning quickly.
Jass
stood in the bedroom doorway, eying her in a peculiar way.

           
“You…I didn’t hear you come in. I used your brush,” she finished.

           
“I have breakfast. Come, eat. We have things to do today and you’ll need your strength.”

           
She left the brush on the floor and followed him to the living area.

           
The food was incredible!
Jass
had outdone himself. How rich was he, and was it all because he was a deadly assassin, earning high income from slaughtering people in their sleep?

           
Mandia
went through the strawberries as though she hadn’t eaten in weeks. And the ham, oh, the ham was the best.
Salty, but honey-touched.
Jass
had even picked up some juice he called
Bel
Juice, said it came from a fruit grown locally. It tasted like candy, but tart and delicious.