Beautiful Torture *Book Two of the Beautiful series*

20) Rescued

The sun beat down, drawing sweat from Alexander's dark brow as he surveyed the vast training yard. A mountain had been sanded down into a platform, wide and circular, connected to the monastery by another chiseled bridge like the one they had crossed on their way up to the front door. Despite having it's peak smoothed down, they were still so high up that they could almost touch the sparse clouds lingering in patches across the darkening sky. It would be sunset soon, the hour the monks ate dinner. Alexander was aching to get back to Lucy, but he also wanted to give her space. She was upset, but he could only guess why. Hunter had not been forthcoming with the details, so he could only assume it was his fault. He had lied about Lilith. He had reacted horribly at the initial news of her pregnancy. The list of his misdeeds went on. He understood Lucy's anger and it was the only thing that had stilled his hand. The hand he desperately wanted to twist into her hair while he bucked into her from behind.

"Well," Chryses interrupted his daydreaming, approaching at his shoulder but not as close as the impertinent Abbot had stood. "What do you think?"

"I think it is dangerous," Hunter piped up, unprompted. Leave it to the cat to have some witty remark or unwanted input. "She could fall off the edge or blast one of us over it by mistake." He scowled down at the stomach dropping height and scrunched his celestial nose.

The golden haired monk laughed, not unkindly, with a gleam of anticipation in his light blue irises. "I thought that might be an issue, but there is no need to worry." Stepping forward, he made his way to the very center of the circle.

Alexander watched with keen interest as the man pressed a foot onto a much smaller circle there that was slightly domed up. A startling series of creaks sounded, so loud they were half deafening. The dragon King braced himself as though preparing for an unexpected attack. Instead, he found himself in awe. The stone border of the mountain was slowly rising all around them, forming walls of a sort until only a circle at the top remained to let in warm air and sunlight.

Hunter released a low whistle. "Color me impressed," he huffed. "I thought the wheeled chair was neat. Things just keep getting more inter—" he stumbled forward like someone had punched him in the gut, face crumbling just as Alexander always imagined it would when he envisioned doing the deed himself. But the sight did not fill him with the satisfaction he had always thought it would. Instead, he felt cold terror and moved toward the Familiar quicker than wind, grabbing his shoulder.

"What is it? What is wrong?"

"Lucy," Hunter groaned out, holding his head as though it was splitting in two. "You need to get to Lucy."

Tears burst into the Familiar's eyes. He looked to be in more pain than Xander thought humanly possible. "It is okay Luce! We are coming. We are coming!" He said to seemingly no one.

But Alexander knew better. Knew he was speaking directly to his beloved little goddess. And she needed help. He did not hesitate, bursting into his dragon form and soaring out of the skylight opening.

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Having been frightened off, the dark haired monk ran from the small bathing chamber, leaving Lucy bleeding on the stone floor. She curled into a small ball in an attempt to try to cover herself, at the same time clutching her abdomen protectively. Praying to whatever gods were listening, that Caspian was untouched by the rough violent actions of the monk.

There was a sudden whoosh of strong wind that chilled her still damp body, carried on it was the cracking of bone that she would forever recognize. It had not been Hunter who had come to her rescue, but her prince.

"Lucy?" Alexander's hands tentatively grazed over her, checking for injury. When he brushed over the back of her head, she whimpered loudly. Pulling his hand back, Xander found the tips of his middle fingers dampened from a mixture of watered down blood. Rage filled him, ripping a menacing snarl from him. "Lucy, what happened?" He demanded, after he took a deep breath in through his nose. The vaguely familiar smell of another male was all over her. She was sobbing, muttering small prayers for their son's safety. "Baby," he collected her into his arms, careful not to touch the wound on the back of her head. "I can not help if I do not know," it was taking all of his remaining will power to stay calm enough to tend to her. The rage of his dragon demanding the blood of whoever had laid a hand on his woman.

"He...he...he tried..." she struggled to speak through her sobbing. "He tried...tried to..." Instead of finishing, she tightened her thighs together, pulling her legs in closer. As if she were trying desperately to protect her intimate parts, while her hands did not move from around her belly.

Alexander knew what she was telling him; someone in the mountain had just tried to rape his queen. His vision flooded red, moving to set her down so he could run the bastard down, he stopped when she started sobbing harder. "No!" she clung to him as well as she could, since they were both stark naked. "Do not...do not leave me." If he thought he was barely controlling himself before, now it was a miracle that he was able to keep still.

The thundering of footfalls finally reached him as others came running down the hollowed out corridor. He readjusted them so when they came running in, they would only see his naked back, completely shielding his woman from sight. Save for the top of her head and her feet that poked around his large frame.

"We need to get her to a healer," Hunter said immediately, feeling her pain as his own.

"I will take you to Akeso's chamber," Chryses answered as Alexander swiftly got to his feet, earning another whimper from Lucy. Turning around, Hunter was already waiting with his own shirt, laying it over her to help cover her skin from sight. But never once getting in the way so they could move in swiftness.

"Did you say, 'Akeso's chamber' ?" The familiar asked as they hastened through the carved out walkways. "As in the Goddess of Healing?"

Before he could answer, they rounded a corner, almost colliding with a single body. Who backed up, just in time as if knowing they would be there. "Step aside Familiar," the familiar echoing of power followed the bell like voice. Unlike when others used godly power, hers was not something that left you chilled to the bone.

When Hunter moved to the side, Alexander found a small mouse-like woman in the same robes as the other monks, her head was shaved bald like ninety percent of the men. This did not take away the fact that she was stunning, the positive power she radiated only added to her allure. The otherly woman stepped close to them, and he was not plagued with the urge to step back to protect Lucy.

She ran her hands back and forth, never once actually touching Lucy's skin. The woman's eyebrows furrowed, "Follow me," she instructed, turning on her heel and seemingly floating down the hall she had just come from.

They followed her all the way to a room full of bottles containing various liquids and herbs. "Lay her on the table, the rest of you, get out," although her voice was kind, it held a power no one seemed to want to argue, except Hunter, who hesitated. "You may stay," if the situation was different, he might have noticed the flirtatious smirk she had given him when she said it.

Alexander laid her out on a wooden table, topped with strange, green moss padding. A cylinder pillow for under her neck, keeping the back of her head from touching the hard surface. He cooed and soothed her as the woman was mixing things into a mortar, before grinding them together with the pestle. Snatching the bowl up along with a bottle containing milky white liquid, she walked over to the, pouring the liquid into the dry ingredients. Muttering spelled words as she did so, setting the remaining liquid on another shelf as she passed it. Reaching out with one hand, she gestured up and Lucy's head lifted just enough for her to place the side of the mortar to her lips.

"She is pregnant," Alexander felt like he needed to inform her, which only earned him a pause in her chanting and an impatient look. He tightened his lips, as if regretting telling her how to do her job. He remained silent, watching her work, his eyes constantly returning to his woman's face. Now twisted less, as if the concoction was already taking effect on her physical pain.

"She needs to rest," the woman, who Xander could only guess was Akeso, gave her patient one more look over. When he did not move, she added, "You may guard her from outside the door, she needs to be alone."

Looking down at Lucy, her eyes were closed and she seemed to be sleeping, he sighed and reluctantly was led out into the hall, the familiar right in front of him. Where several of the monks were waiting, the faint scent of Lucy's attacker mixed in with the chaos of smells.

Before he could start looking for the source, the loud demand of the Abbot could be heard over the hushed whispers. "What is going on here?"