Luxiva.
She felt so relieved to see him that it made her dizzy. Physically dizzy.
“What are you doing?” she asked softly, hesitantly stepping forward into the room, her bare toes making contact with his pile of clothes on the floor. His dagger lay on the top, she noticed, when she looked down at them.
When her eyes returned to him, she couldn’t help but dip her gaze down his body, flesh she knew well considering he’d been bare-chested around her the entire time of their journey.
She felt liked she’d been starved for just a glimpse of him. Two days had seemed like a lifetime.
He wiped a clawed hand down his face, wiping water from his eyes. His ridged tongue darted out to lap a drop from his lips and she felt her core clench at the sight.
She saw his nostrils flare but she wasn’t nearly as embarrassed about her arousal as she’d been before, especially after the night of thetevvax. He knew she was attracted to him. At the same time,sheknew that he probably wouldn’t do anything about it, especially now that he knew about her past.
She didn’t know if that realization relieved or disappointed her. If she wanted to give whatever this was a chance, to test the waters so to speak, it was Crystal who would have to initiate that.
Which terrified the living hell out of her.
“My senses are dulled underneath the water,” he told her softly, his voice warming her like a shot of whiskey.
“Oh, I see,” she said, shifting on her feet. “I thought you liked your heightened senses.”
His lips twitched. “I do. But sometimes, I want things to...quiet down.”
Crystal’s eyes connected with his. She’d certainly felt that way living with Beks and Lihvan. They had sex multiple times a day and it wasn’t the quiet kind.
“Good, because for a second there I thought you were trying to drown yourself.”
“You will not be rid of me that easily,” he said and her heart sped at those words, that treacherous, treacherous organ of hers. Then he approached her, walking towards the wall of the bathing pool, the sound of trickling water meeting her ears. He craned his neck up to hold her gaze and asked, “You are well, female?”
“Yes,” she said lightly. He’d been worried about her, just as she’d been worried about him. She could see it in his gaze. “Are you?”
“Tev,” he said. “Though I am tired. I feel like I could sleep for spans.”
It didn’t look like he was getting out of the bathing pool, so she decided to sit down by the edge, close to him. At the last moment, she decided to dip her bare feet in, the water going up to her mid-calf, feeling the heat of the pool warm her. She bunched her dress up around her knees so it wouldn’t get wet.
“Thank you,” she said, looking at him. He was close. He was resting his arms on the edge of the bathing pool and his forearm touched her outer thigh. “For trying to track Erin, especially right after we had just arrived here.”
“I just wish I had succeeded,” he said.
“If you couldn’t do it,” she started, “then no one else could. Now, we just have to hope that Jaxor’an will do the right thing and let her return if she wants to.”
“If she wants to?” Cruxan repeated. “You believe there is a chance she might not want to?”
Crystal swallowed. It was something else she’d been thinking about the past couple days too.
“If she’s his mate,” she said carefully, holding Cruxan’s blue eyes, “then he’s hers too.”
Cruxan stilled. He even seemed to stop breathing for a moment.
“Maybe…” she trailed off, her heart thundering in her throat with nerves. “Maybe she wouldn’t want to come back.”
“What are you saying?” Cruxan asked slowly, watching her.
“I don’t know,” she whispered, looking down in the water of the hot spring, at the steam that curled off the surface.
“Are we still talking about Erin?” he asked next, just as slowly.
“No,” Crystal said.
