“Hate you more.”
“Really, not possible.”
“And on that note, we needs be underway.” Captain Bane stepped back to issue orders. “Stay on the tail of Barnet, Lady Dolorosa. Make sure we watch for any others to attack.”
Sancha took up the wheel. “Aye, aye, Captain.”
While they began to return to their duties, Nibo pulled Valynda toward the ladder that led belowdecks. His heart pounded as her scent infiltrated every part of his being. Worse, her presence made him harder than he’d ever been. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d wanted any woman this badly. But then she’d always had that effect on him. No one had ever commanded him the way his Vala did.
That was what made her dangerous.
Which was why it was a good thing that she had no idea just how much power she wielded over him.
Valynda pulled Nibo to a stop. “What are you doing?”
“I just want to be alone with you.”
“Why?”
The heated look in his amber eyes told her exactly what he had on his mind, and while she wasn’t opposed to the thought, there was more to it than just that. “Xuri … is that all I am to you?”
He looked as if she’d struck him. “You have to know better than that by now.”
Did she?
“Then why did you walk away from me when you had a chance to keep me?”
He gaped at her accusation. “Pardon?”
“What is it you said? We have a spiritual marriage? That means you need nothing more from me than that. I’m just a plaything to you when you want release. Something to be used and then cast aside and forgotten as soon as you’re done. You told me that I was a fool for ever thinking we could have anything more.”
For once, he appeared ashamed and wounded. “Vala, I was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Nibo fisted his hand in her silken hair as he tried to explain to her that words said to others weren’t always what was meant. They damn sure weren’t what was felt. Had his nanchon known what she was to him, they would have attacked her and killed her where she stood. As a human, she had no protection, and he had no way to protect her because he couldn’t get to her without them releasing him from his dimension.
As they’d proven in the most brutal way.
They’d mocked his best intentions. Just as he’d feared. But he’d done his best to keep her safe. Because she was so important to him.
“From what happened to you. Didn’t it ever occur to you that your fate had nothing to do with you, and everything to do with punishing me?”
“I don’t understand.”
Nibo cupped her cheek in his palm. “I love you, Vala. You have to know that by now.” He placed his cheek to hers, and the moment their skin touched, it took her back to the first time they’d been together as lovers.
It’d been a cool night on the beach not very long after they’d met. Valynda had thought of them really as friends, and while she’d been growing fonder of him night by night, she’d done her best to keep her distance.
But Nibo had made it so difficult. He was unlike anyone she’d ever met. There was such a carefree air about him as he frolicked in the moonlight, showing her the wonders of her island caverns. Showing her how brilliant the stars looked while he played his guitarra and made her laugh at silly jokes and puns.
Especially that night on the beach when he’d handed her a small pouch to open while they sat before a small fire he’d made for them. “What is it?”
He’d set aside his guitarra. “Open it,” he urged.
With a frown, she’d loosened the strings of the bag until she dug out a gold ring encrusted with tiny, sparkling emeralds. Tears had filled her eyes as she looked from her small treasure to her much larger one. “A ring?” Her voice had been tight and hoarse.
His gaze had warmed her even more than the fire as he nodded. “I consider you mine, Vala. That is my pledge to you.”
