Conquering Lazar Read Online Free

captured, Mistress Tula was far from a leader. She didn't offer anything to the situation that any of the other girls didn't. She didn't offer guidance, comfort or strength. The only thing she had done during the entire journey was bitch and complain. And when they faced rape and death with Jaden, she'd cowered behind them all.
    "Why are you so easily satisfied?" Mistress Tula calmly shot back. "I know you think we are now safe in this place, but this is not what I would consider an appropriate shelter. Jaden could crush us in seconds here."
    Elbi shrugged her shoulders and walked away. Maybe she was crazy, but as she watched Malachi talking to some other men in his small army, she felt safe.
    "Donte! Briar!" Malachi called out.
    Donte and Briar came walking out of a large building, hand in hand. Elbi's heart stopped at the sight of them. Briar! She was alive! Her group of women must have arrived safely.
    Briar looked at the swath of filthy, clearly exhausted women with a huge smile on her face. Her eyes made contact with Elbi's and she came running toward her.
    "Elbi!" she cried, as she wrapped her arms around her. She pulled away and examined Elbi's body. "Are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
    Elbi shook her head as tears cascaded down her face.
    "I'm so happy to see you. I was so scared you were all killed." Briar pulled away and hugged and greeted the rest of the women, scanning their bodies for injuries as well.
    "Where did you find them?" Donte asked.
    Malachi unloaded his horse as he spoke. "We rescued them from some Jaden soldiers. General Rhys was there."
    "Did you kill him?" Donte asked, with contempt in his voice.
    Malachi shook his head. "The bastard ran, but not before killing some of our men and slitting the throats of two of our women." He turned to Briar. "Do you mind getting the women cleaned, fed and cared for? They've been though quite an ordeal."
    Briar nodded silently and motioned for all the women to follow her. Elbi didn't want to leave Malachi. She loved Briar, but her paralyzing fear returned at the thought of not having him there to protect her.
    "Elbi," Malachi gestured Elbi over. He clearly could read the fear written across her face.
    When he called her name, her small heart beat faster, booming in her petite chest. She quickly stood before him.
    "You're going to be all right now. Go and get cleaned up with Briar. I promise that you are safe."
    He looked at Briar again. "Show the women to their new home."
    Briar grabbed Elbi's hand and led her away from Malachi and Donte.
    Elbi took a deep breath to calm the panic clutching her heart. She tugged at her scraps of clothing, realizing she needed to do as Malachi ordered. She hadn't changed since fleeing the palace and being kidnapped by the Jaden army.
    "Does this place keep them out? The Jaden army, I mean?" Her voice shook, almost as badly as her body.
    Briar squeezed her hand reassuringly. "They haven't found us yet. This commune is really in the depths of the dunes. Plus, allied forces are arriving daily. Soon enough we will be strong enough to fight them. Don't worry." Briar looked over her shoulder at the rest of the harem following them. "We are all safe for now."
    Elbi desperately wanted that to be true.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Elbi watched the faces of the other harem women as Malachi and Donte spoke in hushed tones of the war's developments and as, with intense remorse, they named all who had died, breaking her heart even more. Fear, anger, denial—she saw all of it writ large on their faces. Malachi did not seem to see it on them, for he only looked at her as he explained what would come next: they were to prepare for battle. All that the brothers' had built and worked for was in the hands of Jaden; who came to ransack the palace and claim it as their own. These beasts were now in her gardens where she loved to tend to her flowers and walk peacefully, listening to the call of a peacock or a coo of a dove. Her paradise was no more.
    Elbi