“I won’t hurt you.” He reached out and touched the side of her face. “Come here and let me heal your wounds.”
“How?” she whispered, but the stress of the day’s events was too much for her. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she lost consciousness.
Nojan sighed, pulling her into his arms. “With everything I have,” he whispered, propping himself up on his elbow as he wiped the soft cloth across her face and down her neck to the top of her breasts. He cleaned the dirt off of her and tossed the towel behind him. He couldn’t help himself but reach out and caress the side of her face with the back of his fingers.
“So fucking gorgeous. Who are you, girl? You’re supposed to be hideous, and yet I find nothing about you that doesn’t leave every part of me aching. Incredible.”
A buzzing in the front of the ship had him grumbling and sitting up. He reached over and carefully undid her necklace, wanting to analyze it before opening his flesh and healing her. It would be the last thing he would have the strength to do before passing out.
It was important to find out if she was the one he’d been sent to find. He needed to know before he set their final destination for Vartik. With him passed out and her healing, the chances of her waking up before him were great. He had to make sure she was trustworthy. Everything he’d seen and heard in the last hour would say the opposite, but oftentimes, circumstance forced people to act in opposition to truth.
“Be right back.” He touched her cheek again as he fought against the desire to lean in and kiss her softly a million times. She wouldn’t appreciate it, and truth be told, they were complete strangers.
He forced himself off the bed and walked toward the console. After dropping down in his seat, he overrode the system’s request for a final destination and pressed the trinket from the girl’s throat to an analyzation tool on the ship’s dashboard.
“Tell me all we know about this item.”
“That’s classified information, Dr. Nojan Vartik. Please provide override sequence.”
“Dammit.” He growled and hit the code to call home. His father appeared on the small 3D apparatus before him as he leaned back.
“Son. Do you have her?”
“I don’t know. I have a woman that I believe is her, but it’s been a bit of a day today, Father. I need to analyze her necklace to see if I have the right girl. If not, I’ve been through a whole hell of a lot of trouble for nothing.”
“Let me see the trinket, son. It’s easier that way.”
Nojan lifted the necklace and let it dangle before his father, whose eyes lit up as he laughed deep in his chest.
“The Eye of Tomorrow. How beautiful. Nojan, you hold a piece of Territhian history in your hands. If that belongs to her, then it is her. She’s the one.”
“Why does she have it?” Nojan pulled the necklace toward his face and captured the trinket in his palm as it warmed.
“Because she’s the great oracle of the gods. She just needs to be released from her humanity.”
“Right. How?” He sat the necklace down and brushed his fingers by his lips.
“I would assume sex. Is she a virgin?”
Nojan swallowed hard. “I believe so, but we’ve not had a conversation just yet. Rantel beat her beyond recognition. She’s passed out in the bedroom, and I’m trying to decide how to heal her.”
“How? You know how. Shed your blood for her. She will help us find Caleb, son. She’s the key.”
“All right, Father. I will, but I’m beyond exhausted. Maybe I was the wrong one to—”
“No. Stop that. You were the man for the journey. Heal the girl and rest. She will take care of you, Nojan. She is a sweet spirit from the world of the humans. Give her grace and protect her like you would a child. Her road is said to be forged in humility and degradation. No more of that for her. Make sure you tell her that we welcome her with open arms and full hearts, Nojan.”
“Is this because of what she can do for us?”
“No, son. Because of who she is. You will see, and when you do, protect your heart. She will steal it.”
Nojan chuckled and stood up. “Doubtful, Father, but thank you for the warning.”
He dropped the call and walked back to the room to find her on her stomach, breathing deeply. The long line of her back was exposed with rope-like welts on her skin. Nojan dropped down beside her and ran his fingers along the worn-down scars before stopping at the top of her rear. The beautiful swell of her bottom was far more than he was ready to deny himself, and yet to touch her inappropriately would make him no different than the rest of them.
He let out a soft sigh, turned her over, and ran his thumbnail over his wrist, opening his vein a little. He dipped his finger into his black blood and worked it into the side of her eye before carefully brushing his finger over the swelling.
Immediately, she began to heal.
