"I feel things for you," she said quietly. "Strong things. Things I don't have words for yet. The connection is there, and I can feel it pulling at me, demanding acknowledgment. But I don't know if that's love or just chemistry. Biology. The venom makes me soft, wistful, hopeful."
"It's not the venom."
"How do you know?"
"Because I felt the connection from the first moment I saw you on that submarine, furious and beautiful. In fact, I already felt it when you appeared in my vision, but I wasn't ready to acknowledge that yet."
Tula wanted to counter with something clever, but she was too tired, too wrung out, and too overwhelmed by all thoseunfamiliar emotions that were making her weak. Instead, she let her head fall back to his chest, let her eyes drift closed, and let the steady rhythm of his heart lull her toward sleep.
His arms tightened around her. "Good night, my love."
"Good night," she murmured back.
Maybe love wasn't recognizable all at once. Maybe it crept up, one moment at a time, until it encompassed everything.
13
NAVUH
Without a clock or windows in the underground clinic, time had become an abstract concept, measured not by the rising and setting of the sun, not the real one and not the artificial one that Navuh had installed in the harem, but by the rhythm of medical checks and Areana's visits.
He knew it was morning only because the nurse had already come and gone, and Areana wasn't there yet.
Thankfully, the unpleasant routines and the indignities necessary to keep his paralyzed body alive were done when he was alone, so his mate didn't have to witness his humiliation.
Navuh despised every moment of it.
The helplessness was maddening.
Five thousand years of shaping civilization reduced to lying in a bed while strangers prodded and poked at his broken body. He couldn't even turn his head to glare at them menacingly.
Some tingling sensations were starting to register, which Bridget regarded as a good sign, but other than that, his body remained stubbornly numb. The spinal damage was healing, but nerves were supposedly slow to regenerate even in immortals.
It could be months before he regained mobility.
He would go insane.
The fury simmered constantly beneath his skin, a low burn that would not fade until, by some miracle, he escaped this hell. He'd learned to bank it, to channel it into planning and plotting instead of letting it consume him.
Rage without an outlet was useless.
More than that, it was a weakness his enemy could exploit, and he was in the heart of his enemy's stronghold.
They feared him, wearing those damn earpieces that rendered him utterly defenseless. But as broken and bedridden as he was, their fear brought him a small measure of satisfaction.
He had leverage, but that too was useless until Annani finally deigned to visit him so he could begin the negotiations.
The door opened, and recognizing his mate's soft footfalls, he waited until she entered his field of vision.
She was so achingly beautiful, taking his breath away even after five thousand years of matehood. Her golden hair was swept back from her face, and her pale eyes were bright despite the dark circles beneath them that spoke of a sleepless night. Her expression was wary, still worried about his response to her.
Two days had passed since her confession, and she still approached him as if he might strike at any moment.
He hated that almost as much as he hated the confinement in an unresponsive body, and the imprisonment in his enemy's stronghold. It was true that he had a volatile temper, but he'd never given Areana reason to fear him. He'd never raised his voice, let alone his hand, to her. He'd always cherished her and treated her with the respect and devotion she deserved.
He'd shielded her from the world, from his own cruelty and that of others, but it was impossible to hide everything from her. Areana was a smart female, and even though she had notoriously pretended to be oblivious, she was aware of at least some of it.
Still, she stayed by his side even when she didn't have to. She hadn't abandoned him. She came every morning, stayed as long as she was permitted. Whatever else she'd done and hadn't revealed to him yet, her devotion to him remained unchanged.
