“Now we sleep,” he replied, leading her to their separate beds. “It will be a long day tomorrow. Rest.”
“What about our clothes?”
“They will be ready when we wake.”
With that he climbed into his bed and dimmed the lights. Ziana did the same, the closeness of their beds allowing them to sleep without the cable linking them disrupting their sleep. She began to ponder the events of the day, her mind spinning at all that had happened in so short a span, but her body had other ideas, and in short order she fell fast asleep, remaining that way straight through until morning.
CHAPTER NINE
Morning came early, the skylights letting the first rays illuminate the bungalow throughout. It was a far more pleasant way to wake than an alarm clock, the gradual brightening gently pulling Ziana from her deep and particularly restful slumber.
She opened her eyes, languorously stretching in her clean bed. The fresh sheets on her skin felt amazing, and more than just her knees and elbows seemed to have recovered during the night. Apparently, the healing salve had worked on a systemic level as well as where she’d had spot treatments applied, and all of the formerly irritated spots where she’d been tattooed felt almost as good as new.
She rolled over and glanced at the sizable mountain of a man in the other bed. Dorrin was awake, lying still, looking up at the sky through the skylight, his face utterly calm and peaceful. It was, she realized, the first time she’d seen him in a pure and relaxed state. She didn’t want to ruin the moment, keeping her mouth shut, but he was quite aware she’d roused.
“Did you sleep well?” he asked without shifting his upward gaze.
“I did, actually. Surprisingly well.”
“The nutrition and salve did their work, then. Good. It will be a challenging day today. With such limited time to prepare you, the work will be particularly intense.”
“Grrrreat,” she grumbled, shifting to her side.
“You may rest a short while longer, if you wish. We have time.”
“Thanks. I’m still getting my bearings.”
“Clearly.”
He slid from his bed and rose to gather his clean set of clothing from the small nightstand table situated between their beds, still completely nude and not the least bit shy about it. Ziana nearly gasped at the abrupt sight of him in all his glory, his cock swinging within arm’s reach, and nearly at face level, affording her an even better view of it. It really was remarkably alien. And, she noted, each of the raised bulbous areas seemed to swell slightly as his morning blood flow reached his nether regions. She also felt the heat radiating off it despite its flaccid state.
I wonder how much hotter it gets when he’s worked up, she wondered, taking in the rest of him.
There was another scar, she noted. Long and jagged on his left thigh. And still another on his abdomen, smaller, but it looked as if the injury had been deep. The rest of his physique was equally fascinating, but in a different way. His tattoos were the same pattern as she’d seen on everyone else, at least for the most part. But, apparently, some were occasionally added to or improved, the hope being to increase one’s abilities, strengths, or who knew what else. In his case, his body was a gorgeous roadmap of muscles and the flowing lines connecting his rune tattoos running with their natural form.
Ziana felt a little ball of heat stirring in her belly.
Don’t even think it, she warned herself, shifting her gaze to her pile of clothes as he began donning his own attire. She wasstillveryaware just how naked she was under those sheets, but they were literally chained together and by the time this was all over with she was pretty sure any novelty or insecurity of it would be quite gone, driven out by the pure necessity of the situation.
Well, here goes nothing,she grumbled to herself then slid out from under her sheets.
Dorrin paused, looking her over, his eyes taking her in top to bottom in a long glance. He nodded, satisfied by what he saw. “You are more fit than I initially thought. There may be some hope for you yet.”
“Uh, thank you?” she said, quickly sliding into her clothes but fumbling the novel seam closure system.
“No. Like this,” he said, reaching out and pressing the edges together on her left flank until the material sealed tight.
“Thanks.”
“You must become proficient in this. It is the most basic of things but if you cannot even dress and undress yourself, we will have a problem should you need to assess an injury while in the midst of the games.”
“That happens?”
“Oh, yes. But we can hope to avoid such situations. For the most part, at least. Now, you do the rest.”
“I can dress myself, you know.”
“Your words are one thing, but your actions are quite another.”
