Vessa’s lips curled into a wicked smile. It felt good to have the power fully sway in her favor. She’d always loved to needle him, and this conversation had irritated him immensely. He was always cool and controlled. Being able to get him worked up, even now, was something she prided herself on. In the past, she knew she had accomplished it when he threw something, grumbled under his breath to himself, or turned on his cloaking system and stomped away.
She found her smile broadening at the memories before she caught herself. “Guess you’ll just have to see. That is,ifyou can kill me. Those Corros Xaal are a whole other breed, and he has kept me well… occupied.”
Kedar abandoned his skinning of the dead Orcru altogether. “He’s from Corros? Vessa, you can’t trust them. They move in shadow, and their sense of honor and duty is warped.”
“Oh? I used to know a Xaal who I thought had thehighestsense of honor and duty, and he betrayed me, so maybe it’s the other way around.” She couldn’t keep the very real anger from her voice. “But what doyoucare? You plan on trying to kill me anyway, so I would say you’re far more of a threat to me than dear Xer.”
Kedar stood up suddenly, his muscles bunched together like he was preparing to rampage across the universe and find this made-up Xaal himself. The Orcru’s vertebrae cracked againstthe stone as he bent to grab the refuse of flesh then moved toward the entrance.
Vessa tried to keep triumph from her features. “Now where are you going?” she asked at his broad back.
“To hunt.” Kedar disappeared into the storm without a backward glance.
“Hunt what?” she called after him while laughing.
He didn’t answer her.
Chapter 8
Vessa
While Kedar threw his tantrum, Vessa explored. She’d noted the openings in the dark recesses of the cave when he first tossed a flarelight, but they ran much deeper than she could have ever imagined. There were gaps and corridors, twists and turns. Some passages were so tight that she didn’t dare try to squeeze through them. Even more concerning were the empty chambers that led to nothing but an abyss with frozen walls.
It was an ice-bound labyrinth. The planet had to be ancient, and with each snowfall, these great frozen halls were buried more and more. Forgotten to time.
It grew colder the deeper she went, and she was shivering by the time she reached yet another juncture. Holding the flarelight toward one passage, a hushed skittering sound greeted her. Icicles clinked and fell in the shadows. She dared to take a single step forward. The light gleamed off something opalescent that hung within the dark tunnel. It reminded her of expensivesilks and Arevan lace with how the thick pieces wove together intricately.
Like a web.
Vessa immediately stepped back.
Vydera. Of course, they would be here. The giant white and blue spiders thrived in below-freezing temperatures and could go decades without eating if necessary. When presented with prey, they would stalk them and wait for their opportune moment to strike. The hair on the back of her neck rose. She’d hunted and fought many beasts in her lifetime, but that was not one she wished to encounter.Ever.
With senses on full alert, she backed away. She retraced her steps with far more caution this time, holding the light high to ensure there were no eight-legged things waiting to ambush her from above. It was pure luck she hadn’t already been attacked. The giant spiders had complex social lives with hierarchies, customs, and even politics. They almost always cohabitated in a cluster of a dozen or more. And where there was one cluster, there was an entire colony.
They were sleeping in a gods damn Vydera lair and didn’t even know it.
The thought was enough for her to consider taking her chances in the storm. Though, even if she could survive it, Kedar would just catch up with her anyway. He had longer legs and could go weeks without sleep. Not to mention the fact he could track her by scent and by the smallest traces left in the environment. A blizzard and snow-covered prints be damned.
When she finally reached the cavern, she kept the tunnels in her line of sight and shook invisible creeping things off herself.
Night fell long before Kedar finally returned. With nothing to show for his excursion.
She eyed his empty hands. “I thought you were hunting?”
“And I thought you would be asleep,” he shot back.
“Oh, my love, you know I can’t sleep without you here.” Her voice came out low and sensual. She wasn’t finished irritating him.
Kedar sat down on that same boulder he’d been on earlier. “Come here and let me put you to sleep, then.” He patted one of his thick thighs.
Vessa couldn’t feel the cold threat in his words. Instead, it felt like heated seduction. The storm must have better prepared him for battle this time. “Funny, you never offered that before.”
He grunted as he rolled out his neck. “That’s not what we were.”
There it was—that harsh indifference. That had been his tone ever since she’d had the misfortune of being rescued by him. Whichstillpissed her off.
Vessa hummed, trying not to let the words sting. It was stupid. He was the person who had caused her the greatest suffering. It shouldn’t matter what he thought they were or were not to each other back then. Besides, it was true. They had never crossed that line with each other.
