I sigh and give his arm a light squeeze. It’s clear he’s going to have to work this one out on his own.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. Just know that whatever thisdarknessis, I can’t feel it at all.” Every part of him is gentle and protective. Not dangerous. “I don’t think it wants to hurt either of us.”
“Maybe,” he says before burrowing his face back into my hair and sniffing the side of my neck.
“Did you just sniff me?”
“Yes,” he mumbles, “your scent is soothing.”
Chunks of stonecrumble beneath the rounded edge of the medical shears as I slowly work another groove into the window’s ledge. The muted colors of the morning sky have morphed with the rising sun, turning brighter and more vibrant, begging for my attention, but I’m focused. We don’t know how long we have, and I want to get this done sooner rather than later.
“Are you going to tell me about your plan yet?” I ask Vexar while I deepen the groove I’m working on.
“I am still thinking,” he says. He’s been as still as a statue since I got up. Eyes closed, head leaned against the wall, legs outstretched, and hands folded in his lap. He looks peaceful, but beneath his surface, I can feel the rapid pace of his thoughts as their emotional echoes dart across the back of my mind.
I tuck my crossed legs in a little tighter and rock side to side, trying to bring back circulation to my butt. This table is not the most comfortable place to sit. “Well,” I say, “we don’t have a lot of time. The sun’s all the way up.” Puffs of orange fill the air and are sucked out the window as I blow away the accumulated dust.
“We have until midday. The fights won’t begin until then.”
I resume scratching. “Oh? I didn’t realize you’d gotten aschedule from the guards already.” He huffs at my sarcasm, and I add, “Really, though, why are you so confident in this timeline?”
“They bring food to the gladiators in the morning, yes?”
“They do.”
“Then we have time.”
My face scrunches as I try to figure out how he came to that conclusion, but I come up with nothing. “I hope you’re as clever as you think you are.”
“I am,” he says with complete confidence.
Alright.
Once I’ve finished the final groove in my rudimentary design, I blow away the dust and admire my handiwork. It’s a messy pictogram, but Roveen is smart. If she finds it, I’m certain she’ll figure it out.
I wipe my hands on my bare thighs, drop the shears on the table, and spin around to face Vexar. From my perch, I’m almost taller than him, and I get the sudden urge to inspect his horns in the daylight. They’re so strange. But there are more important things to address right now.
“Can we talk about something that’s been bothering me?” I ask, folding my hands in my lap.
Vexar opens one of his eyes and says, “What is that?”
“What sort of weapons were you using in the arena yesterday?”
His other eye opens, and he lets out a knowing sigh. “Not the same kind of weapon that injured me.”
“Wait, what?”
“I was not injured in my fight,” he says. “I already told you that.”
“Great, yeah. That’s super helpful.” His eyes flick down my naked body, and the urge to smack him becomes overwhelming. “Oh my god! Focus for five seconds.” I swear, a few hours ago the guy was groveling in front of me, swearing to tear down theworld in my honor, and now he can’t even focus on an important conversation because my tits are out.Huh. Maybe that actually tracks…
“Sorry,” he says, shaking his head like he’s trying to clear his thoughts. He pulls his knees towards his chest and drapes his elbows over them. His movement draws my attention downward, and I fall into the same trap he just did.Fuck.
Ripping my gaze back up, I nod at the bandage around his torso and ask, “If you weren’t injured in your fight, how did that happen?”
He raises his hands in a placating gesture. “This took a while to work out. I have not been intentionally keeping it from you.”
“I never suggested you were.”
