He continued to massage my scalp in silence.
“Bo?”
“Why do you call me that?” he asked instead of answering my question.
Two could play that game, I decided. “Answer my question, and I’ll answer yours.”
He sighed, his giant, clawed hands combing through my hair with infinite gentleness. “I hurt you, Leda. It is the last thing I want to do.”
I tilted my head back so I could look at his face. He was upside down, but the furrow in his brow was clear as day. “It won’t happen again.”
He nodded. “Of course. You are so much smaller than me. I should have known I would harm you.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, what I mean is that I won’t bleed the next time we have sex.”
His hands stilled in my hair for a moment. Then, he guided me to turn and dip my head in the water so he could rinse it. From this position, I could see the red rims around his eyes.
“I think it would be unwise,” he finally said.
“Why?”
His gaze met mine, and my breath caught in my chest at the look in his black eyes. Now that I had been around him for a while, I’d learned to read his expressions. It helped that he was more open with me than he was with Masu, Guldan, and his soldiers.
“Because I will not be able to keep my vow to you.”
I reached up, touching his cheek. “Which vow is that?”
“To help you return home.”
He lifted my head out of the water and smoothed conditioning oil through the ends before he picked up the bar of soap from the recessed shelf.
“I talked to Guldan,” I said.
He frowned at me. “I do not understand. You speak to Guldan almost every day.”
When he reached out to try to rub the soap on my shoulders, I shifted away and moved across the bathing pool to the other ledge.
“I also spoke to Masu,” I continued.
“What about?” he asked, rinsing his soapy hands off in the pool.
I lifted my arms, resting them on the edge of the bathing pool behind me. “I’m not answering any questions until you’re in this pool with me.”
Though the position lifted my breasts out of the water, his gaze remained on my face. Whatever he saw there convinced him because he climbed to his feet and untied his trousers, shoving them down his legs. He wasn’t wearing boots today, so all he had to do was kick them to the side.
Purple blood had dried on his deep bronze skin. There were scratches and cuts marring the intricate black tattoos on his chest and shoulders. As he stepped into the water, he reached up to take the leather strip out of his hair, the black length tumbling over his shoulders and back.
He settled on the ledge opposite mine and mimicked my pose, resting his elbows on the rough stone.
“I am in the pool,” he said. “Tell me what you discussed with Guldan and Masu.”
“Guldan found me this morning after the two of you spoke in your office. He explained that my chances of returning home were slim to none. That, even if I was able to make my way there, I would be in danger from every magic user or supernatural creature who came across me.”
Bokkan tensed, his arms bulging as he studied me. “It is possible, but you are stronger than most humans. I have no doubt you would be more than capable of taking care of yourself. Maybe with a little help from a witch.”
There was something about his tone that had me cocking my head. “Let me guess… you had a witch in mind to talk to about protecting myself.”
His massive shoulders shrugged.
