Princess of the Damned by Dahlia Lu Page B

the sand. I’ve made countless enemies. Even people who aren’t my enemies want nothing more than to watch me drown, because I am a threat.” He let go of her and sat up. He removed his armor and pulled his tunic over his head. He grabbed her hand and placed it on his abdomen.
    “ No!” She protested the touch.
    “ Feel them. These are the scars I’ve earned over the years.”
    Her hand shyly traced the lines of raised flesh. Why didn’t she notice them before? He slowly turned around and pulled his long black hair to the front of his shoulder to show her his back. There were many raised lines, but these were different than the ones in front. They were lash marks.
    “ They look…painful…” She ran her hands over them. “How did you get these?”
    “ I will not tell you the details, Nala.” He sighed. “How did we get here again? I know I didn’t come to show you my scars.”
    “ You wanted us…to talk nicely.”
    “ Ah yes,” Sayan reached for his tunic and put it on again. “It seems that your performance is unavoidable. I’ve thought about switching another in your place, but the Western Prince will surely expose my plan. Since the King had intentions of marrying the Eastern Princess, you will probably end up as a concubine. If you still want to become the wife of the Western Prince, it may save you from the life of a concubine. The king will not risk war with another kingdom for a dancer, especially when his position is still on shaky ground. He will, however, use this opportunity to cut off my head.”
    “ There is another way…” she cut off her sentence. “Sayan, have I ever asked for a favor from you?”
    “ I wished you had.”
    “ Promise me that you would do whatever I ask first.”
    He searched her eyes for an explanation on her sudden strange behavior. “Tell me what you intend to do.”
    “ There is a way to save both of us, but you must…”
    “ I must what?”
    She leaned over and whispered into his ear.
    “ No!” He protested. “No! Even a dog will not bite the hand that feeds him!”
    “ Have you forgotten?” She pulled out the dagger at his side and ran it though her palm. Crimson blood dripped onto the linen. The wound instantly healed. “I am immortal.”
    “ I still can’t do it…” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “If you really die, then what would I do?”
    “ It is the only thing I will ever ask of you. Please save me. I don’t want a man who only wants me solely for my appearance. I don’t want to be a property. I’d rather hurt once than be tormented a lifetime.”
    “ It is an order?”
    “ It is.”

Chapter Ten
     
     
    She may have lied a little about not wanting a man who wants her solely for her appearance, because she never truly cared about whom she would marry. Men were all the same to her. Poor, wealthy, handsome, or ugly, there is no difference between them. They were people. They were human.
    She had always thought that she had some sort of disease that made her indifferent to the opposite sex, but it turned out that the only disease she carried was her immortality. She could be attracted to men after all. That meant there was still hope for her finding love. It was the only thing the other dancing girls ever talked about, besides clothing and jewelry.
    Her emotions spiked a little too much recently. It had always been contained and kept at a minimum. Ever since that strange man fished her out of the river, she felt things differently. It was like waking up from a dream to the real world. Or maybe leaving the real world and entering a dream. She didn’t know how to explain it. She didn’t know which reality to believe anymore.
    Droplets of his platinum hair dripped on her cheeks. His clear blue eyes were worlds of their own.
    A severe pain in her chest made her flop onto the pillows. The pain was throbbing as if her heart was being bound by thorns and bleeding inside her chest. She had never been ill before. She had never even had a