“Not that.”
“Hm,” she hummed, wholly unconvinced. “I’m not killing you right now because I desire sleep more, but just know, I trust your words less than I do a family of pit vipers with their tails knotted.”
Kedar pushed his shoulders back, his spine straightening. “I never lied to you.”
“Don’t,” she snapped, raising her hand. “I may be trapped here with you, but I refuse to have this conversation.”
“Then hear this. I’ve only had one purpose regarding you these last seven cycles. On my name, I—”
She threw her head back and laughed. “You’rechallengingme?”
His hands flexed. “You should have killed me when you had the chance. Seven stars damn cycles I’ve hunted you. A death is owed, Vessa.”
It wasn’t a surprise. There were only two reasons a Xaal would hunt someone down: to kill them or because they were important to them. And she meant nothing to him. “We’ve fought once before. If I recall correctly, I was the victor.”
“But,” he said, the attempt at calmness evident in his tone, “you did not finish the fight.”
Vessa shrugged. Dying in combat was an honorable death for a Xaal. Being defeated and being allowed to live? She might as well have unmasked him and spat in his face.
He continued, “I was weak then, but I’m not anymore.”
He couldn’t be serious. It had been the hardest fight of her life. No battle had ever challenged her like the one she’d had with him. “I was there. Don’t insult me by claiming weakness. You were the strongest Xaal of your clan, easily. Even if you weren’tqon. A smart warrior, fierce. You insult us both to say otherwise.”
He tilted his head. “Not weak in body but in other ways.”
Even though it’d been a long time since they were comrades, she knew there was some unspoken complexity in his words. There were many differences between her people and the Xaal, but as warriors, they shared some common ideals. One of those being that true strength wasn’t only strength of the body. A powerful warrior had mastery of themselves in all ways—body,mind, and heart. Why he was claiming some deficiency now was beyond her.
But since he was so adamant about a rematch, she simply wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “It was a fair fight, you were a worthy opponent. I refuse to fight you again. It ended exactly how it needed to.”
He growled, and the sound was magnified in the enclosed space. “A challenge must end in death.”
“For Xaal,” Vessa snapped. “Not for Sekens.” She sat down near the fire, her chin raised defiantly.
“I will follow you for the rest of my life. I’ll never stop. You’ll never be rid of me.”
She knew he meant that with the entirety of his being. The words held all the weight of a dark vow. Fate wrapped frigid fingers around her throat. Past and present collided. He was right—she should have killed him when she had the chance.
“Fine. If you want to meet your stars, I’ll gladly usher you there.”
He inhaled and nodded. “No mercy. To the death”
“To the very bloody end.”
Chapter 6
Kedar
Kedar had spent endless settings imagining all the ways he could find Vessa. Catching her at a fuel point, chasing her through stars and systems, meeting her in the same forest they used to train in. There were countless possibilities, but they always ended the same way: she would accept his blood challenge and they would fight to the death.
Yet he’d never predicted finding her on a frozen planet, half-dead in an Orcru encampment. Never thought of being trapped inside an ice cave with her. It was supposed to be exact. Efficient. No hesitation or time for conversation. They had nothing to say to each other anyway.
But instead of bloodshed, he was staring at her, following her fingers as they weaved through her hair.
After accepting his blood challenge and threatening to slit both of their throats if she were forced to hear anything more from him tonight, Vessa had turned her back on him. Kedar expected her to sleep. How she hadn’t collapsed already wasbeyond him. But instead of resting, she’d worked to untangle her hair while muttering something about a prince to herself.
Then she started the braiding.
Kedar had watched her braid her hair dozens of times, and each time, he’d been mesmerized by it. Byher.
