Erin’s gaze went to the injury he’d come back with last night. He was still bare-chested, despite the cold. He’d wrapped a blanket around her shoulders before they departed the base, but the cold still wound up her legs. His only protection was his thick hide pants and the travel sack he’d filled with furs, soap granules, and spare clothes.
The mark on his chest was healing, but she could still make out the swirling lines in the flesh.
“What is that?” she asked, risking the question.
“The mark ofOxandri, one of the Fates. The Fate of Sacrifice.”
Erin’s lips parted. She stopped walking, making him pause and face her, and she asked, “Why are you answering all my questions now?”
The Fate ofSacrifice?
Why had he marked it on himself?
“I already told you,” he rasped, his brows furrowing. Erin blinked, her eyes straying to his lips. A tendril of his freshly cut hair blew over his forehead and Erinachedjust looking at him. “I am tired of fighting.”
“So what does this mean?” she asked quietly, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. Her feet were freezing cold—her tender, healing cut stinging—but she didn’t move. She was rooted in that place, held frozen by his gaze.
“I…” he trailed off. His hand ran over one of his horns, the blue tattoos adorning his arms gleaming in the low light. Not for the first time, she wondered what the markings meant. “I do notknow.”
The torment in his voice made her breath hitch. So, Jaxorhadbeen conflicted. About the trade?
Tentative hope began to rise, speeding her heart.
Was it possible he would return her to the Golden City? Was it possible she wouldn’t have to risk her life trying to make it back there by herself?
Slowly, as if approaching a wild, untamed beast, she stepped towards him. His eyes flickered, his back straightening at her nearness. Did he even realize the things he did unconsciously when she was near?
Then again, maybeshedid unconscious things whenhewas near, things she didn’t even realize.
Reaching out, she traced the mark ofOxandrion his pectoral. The flesh was healing, but the wound might be deep enough to scar. His skin was warm and velvety smooth. Then her fingers went to his shoulder, where the tattoo started, and she traced part of it.
Jaxor held still and though Erin’s eyes were on the mark, she felt his gaze like a touch.
Finally, she let her hand drop. When she craned her head to look back at him, she remembered the night they’d kissed—the night they’d done a lot more than kiss—and she felt a shiver of anticipation run down her spine.
She stepped back and faced the pass again. Jaxor stood still a moment more before she sensed him moving again, leading her down between the mountains, cutting through a slim, jagged alleyway.
They were quiet the whole way. Erin guessed they walked another ten minutes, going over rocks and boulders, and navigating the maze of the mountains. Erin wondered how long it had taken him to learn it. She wondered if he’d ever been lost.
Finally, they reached another cave entrance, though it seemed to lead down, not through.
Erin was a little nervous as she watched Jaxor jumped down through the hole first. But the drop was short and she could still see the tops of his horns in the darkness.
He held out his arms for her and she slid down inside. He caught her easily, his arms wrapping around the backs of her thighs before letting her slide down his front. Her tunic rode up on the way down, their eyes locked because he knew it too, and Erin’s brain felt a little muddled afterwards.
From the entrance, the hot springs weren’t far. The ceiling was low, however, and Jaxor had to crouch, though Erin could stand. From his travel sack, he drew a lantern and lit it easily. Warm, golden light illuminated the cave and just feet away, there was a pool with steam curling from its surface. It wasn’t as large as the bathing pools in the Golden City, but it looked deep.
For a moment, an image of an alien creature swimming up and snagging her down to the depths made her swallow.
“There’s nothing in there, right?” she asked quietly. The surface was black and inky, but it was nice and warm inside the cave. Humid. Her cold feet were already beginning to thaw on the warm floor and the healing cut on her sole gave a small throb in response.
“Nix,” he said. But he tilted his head to her and asked, “Would you like me to check?”
“I have a fear of sharks,” she informed him, which seemed ridiculous to say out loud, on an alien planet, after everything she’d experienced. “And heights,” she added.
He paused. “Sharks?”
“They’re a type of creature on Earth,” she explained. “In the ocean. On occasion, they attack people in the water.”
