“I should probably clean out the cave,” she said, since she couldn’t think of anything else to say. It would give her something to do, help keep her mind off him. “It’s a bit of a mess in there.”
Just what does he plan to do with me?she wondered, turning away from him, her head swimming. A part of Erin had believed he’d brought her there because…because he planned tokeepher. She was his fated mate. He’d admitted that much himself. And one thing she knew about Luxirian fated mates was that it was aforevertype of deal. There was some major cosmic voodoo at work when it came to fated mates.
But if he told her getting to second base last night had been a mistake, that itwouldn’thappen again…then what the hell was he planning?
Regardless, Erin knew she should be on her toes. He was keeping her in the dark. If he didn’t plan on keeping her as his mate, then it meant he would use her for something else.
Fear jolted in her belly. She felt his gaze on the back of her neck, but she hurried inside the cave quickly. She looked around at the mess. Mess she could handle. Mess could easily be cleaned, fixed, tidied. There was nothing she liked more than cleaning.
Pushing back her hair, ignoring the way her head pounded, Erin got to work.
* * *
Jaxor was workingat the furnace when she finished clearing out the cave. Earlier, after she’d dumped all the bloody furs out, with a plan to wash them that day, she’d seen him pumping out water from the base near the waterfall. When she emerged then, she saw the thin layer of water was mostly gone, leaving the stone floor of the crater wet and shimmering, but flood-free.
Now, the stone was beginning to dry, albeit slowly. The suns were peeking out every now and again from behind a thick shield of clouds.
Jaxor had changed his clothes, donning a pair of brown hide pants and a loose, dark grey tunic with a hole near his shoulder. She was still unused to seeing him with short hair. She wondered what he thought about it, if he liked it, but figured it didn’t matter. She’d already swept his hair out of the cave, piling it near the entrance until she could dispose of it. It had brought a flush to her face, looking at those silky strands, knowing what had happened after they’d fluttered to the floor last night. Remembering the heat between them, the intimacy of being so close to him…
Jaxor was hammering something near the furnace. Around it, the ground was dry, so she knew it burned hot. For the first time, she noticed that thekekevirwas gone. There was no evidence that it had ever been there. The rain and the drainage holes erased any trace of blood and gore.
Erin allowed herself to watch Jaxor for only a moment before she turned to go back inside, planning to scrub the cave floor clean of his blood with an old tunic of his, one from the bundle she’d brought inside the cave yesterday. It didn’t take her long to do. By the time she was done, her knees were red and roughened and she felt even grimier than before she’d started. But she looked around at her work, proud.
The walls and floors were spotless, she’d reorganized both chests and pushed them back against the wall, she’d shaken out all the bloodless furs, she’d cleaned the ash from the little fire pit. Now all that was left was to wash the dirtied furs. And bathe.
It was all very domestic, but at least it gave her something to do. She thought she’d go insane if she puttered around all day. And since Jaxor wasn’t leaving the base that day, she couldn’t go explore the hovercraft again. Though, after what happened yesterday, Erin thought she should wait until he had a gate in place for thekekevirbefore she traveled down that tunnel again. Just thinking of being trapped by one of those things, alone and weaponless, made a shudder run down her spine.
Outside, she balled all the furs up and maneuvered her way down to the ground level from the cave entrance. It was early afternoon, she guessed, judging by the positions of the suns, which she’d tracked in the Golden City. There had been little else to do, after all.
Jaxor paused in his work to look at her when she approached. He was either fixing the cave door or working on a gate, she couldn’t be certain which.
Erin cleared her throat, suddenly nervous to have to speak with him after a morning of complete silence. He’d left her to her work and she’d left him to his. If he felt the tension between them, he didn’t comment on it and neither did she.
She stepped around a bucket that had floated all the way from near the crops and regarded him. “Do you have any soap?”
“Soap?” he repeated. His voice sounded more like a grunt.
“For washing,” she said patiently. “I need to get the blood out of these furs and,” she tucked her hair behind her ear, “I also want to bathe.”
His brow was sweating from the heat of the furnace. He paused to rake a hand through his hair and Erin’s mouth went a little dry. The muscles in his arms flexed as he did…and that haircut was justunfair. Why did he have to look the way he did while also having the grumpiest and moodiest disposition ever?
His lips, which she now unfortunately knew were surprisingly soft and plump, pursed and he nodded.
Stop staring at his lips, she ordered herself silently. Her eyes immediately cut to his eyes and her swallow sounded more like a gulp.
Last night was a mistake. She remembered his words, remembered that they should echo her own sentiments too. But it was difficult.
Now that they’d kissed, there always seemed to be the unspoken possibility that they’d kiss again. And again. It made her belly jolt with awareness, with little, terrible, crazed butterflies that battered at her bones.
Jaxor’s gaze locked on her but she turned towards the waterfall, which was pouring down more water than yesterday, a roaring, white rush. The pool was still overflowing, but Erin would make do.
She sensed Jaxor moving and when she chanced a peek at him, he was near the multitude of chests, rummaging through one. He brought out a large black vial with what looked like little pebbles rolling around inside. Erin recognized it from the Golden City. It was the same soap they’d used in the washing room.
For the first time, she wondered how Jaxor had accumulated all of these supplies. Did he still journey to the Golden City? Or even to the outposts spread across Luxiria? He’d admitted to her that he hadn’t been exiled after all, so that meant he was still allowed to go wherever he pleased, right?
When he handed it to her, Erin murmured, “Thanks,” and then walked over to the waterfall, all too aware of his gaze on her back.
She’d tucked one of his clean tunics and one of the cleaner furs in among the ones she needed to wash. That way, she could dry off with the clean fur and dress in fresh clothes after her bath. Studying the waterfall, she decided to bathe first because she didn’t want to wash in bloody, dirty water after she scrubbed the furs in it.
