“Is something the matter?” she asked cautiously.
I dropped my gaze to the water so my staring didn’t unnerve her. “I just realized you have an extra eyelid that you sweep across your lid side to side instead of up and down.”
This time she fully blinked, like a human would. “Oh. Yes.” She leaned forward, her face open with curiosity. “Do you not have this?”
“No. I imagine it has to do with our development as a species and not needing the extra protection it provides, one of the reasons being that we’re not in physical battles since the invention of long-range weapons.”
She made little trilling noises in her chest as I spoke, and I wondered if it might be the equivalent of humans nodding or saying “mmhmm.”
“You are a scholar.” she said approvingly.
I laughed, soaping my hair. “Not when it comes to evolutionary development. I specialize in culture and language.”
She perked up. “Do you know any vorikaan?”
I blinked. It must be the vorpyr language, or at least the language of this territory. “Um, I think I’ve caught a couple of words. Would you tell me if I’m right?” There were some words that I’d heard in the same context a few times, but of course I didn’t know for sure.
She trilled.
My mouth went dry. I’d never been so nervous about trying to communicate in a new language. Then again, I’d never been a captive a hairsbreadth from execution, either. “Look at this iszel voraan,come here israesh tal, and what do you think isveyth oraan.” I watched her expression intently, and she lit up. “Did I get it right?”
She nodded, “except it’s ray-sh tal, not ray-esh tal.”
I repeated the word the way she pronounced it.
“Yes! Do you—” heavy footsteps silenced her, and we both jerked around to face the door. The water rippled with my rapid movement.
My heart slammed painfully against my ribs as the Vorazyr stepped through the door into the bathroom, his bulk making the room seem much, much smaller. He froze, gaze raking over my exposed body. Awareness zinged through me at his perusal, tension and warmth doing strange things to my stomach. I wrapped my arms around myself and splashed to the far end of the little pool. It was not nearly far enough to get away from the heat of his predatory gaze.
Finally, he looked away, focusing on Junyv, who was standing now and had her gaze on the floor. He said something to her, and though I had picked up a couple of basic parts of a sentence from the children, I had no idea what he said. I was just glad that intense gaze was no longer stroking over my body. The feeling had been…confusing. Something I didn’t want to unpack while a captive on a foreign planet.
He left as quickly as he’d appeared.
“We must hurry, we’ve taken too long.”
“Is that why he came in?”
She hesitated and then said, “he thought you might have done something when we took so long.”
Of course. Because I’m such a mastermind criminal and could definitely take on a being with claws, fangs, and wings.
I hurriedly climbed out, and she gave me a towel. I nearly jumped out of my skin when she started rubbing something in my hair and then brushing it while I finished toweling off and pulled on the breezy pants she’d laid out.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“He asked me to help you get ready, this is easy.”
When she was done I slipped into the top, highly aware that I didn’t have anything underneath the flimsy material. His gaze had scorched me just a moment ago, and I felt vulnerable.
“What is the Vorazyr’sname?” I asked when she snagged my shoulder length hair and put it in some form of twist.
“I am afraid he’d be angry if I told you.”
“Is he a harsh master?”
“He has a great deal of responsibility on his shoulders.” She finished with my hair and slid the door open to the main room.
He was waiting at a table that occupied part of the room, a backless settee and various plush chairs filling up the rest. I glanced toward the door on instinct, prey looking for an escape. No, I couldn’t set myself up for failure by thinking that way.
