Total pages in book: 98
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
They could think she is cursed and try to kill her. Unlikely. Far more likely that they think she should be returned to her people above and I am not ready for that.
“We must keep your existence secret,” I say firmly. The tense connection I had with her earlier feels as if it has vanished entirely. Did I imagine the sensation between us? Am I just so desperate to have a mate that I am pushing myself upon her?
Tia finishes chewing and pushes the tray aside. When I offer her a slice of fruit, she shakes her head. “R’jaal?” she asks, her voice sweet and full of longing as she watches me. “Pls?”
I flatten my mouth with displeasure. If I hunt down Kin’far the Exile and find out where he’s hidden the stranger and his new female, I will have to abandon the rest of my time with Tia tonight. If I return too late to the village and slip into my home, one of the guards that walk the streets will notice. They will ask questions. They will follow me to see where I’m going. For now, they think I am spending time with my father, but Bel’eb the Mighty does not entertain visitors late. Not even his son.
But one look over at Tia and I know I cannot refuse her anything. The look on her face is full of concern. “Very well. Eat your food. I will return for your tray in the morning with new food and news of your suitor.”
She makes a sound that might be relief and impulsively leans forward and presses her lips to my cheek.
I jerk back in surprise, and she does, too.
We stare at each other, and I touch my cheek where I can still feel the graze of her lips. That was a happy gesture, I think, but my people do not show our gratitude in the same manner. And yet…I hunger for her to do so again. “Will you do that once more? When I return and have earned it?”
Tia nods, her eyes wide.
“You have found the one incentive that will send me out to hunt for your suitor,” I tell her with a rueful last touch to my cheek. Then I get to my feet. “I must go. I will return at low tide. My father’s guards will ensure you are safe. You need not be afraid, I promise you. They will not enter.”
You are for me alone. I do not say it aloud, but I suspect she will be able to read it in my gaze.
“Lotide?” she asks, repeating my words and garbling them.
“Low tide,” I agree. “The beginning of the new day. The waters in the underground lake recede. They swell again at the end of the day. It is how we mark time down here.”
“Downeer?” she echoes, tilting her head.
“Below the mountain.”
She nods slowly, her expression thoughtful. If she is surprised that she is below the mountain instead of above land, she does not show it. Perhaps she suspected as much. Tia taps her chin in the “thankful” gesture.
“R’jaal,” she says again, and I am starting to hate that word very much.
Chapter
Eight
REM’EB
It takes me some time to find Kin’far the Exile and where he lurks in the deeper tunnels, where nothing grows and the walls are too narrow for the village to spread in that direction. I know vaguely where he hides, since I have run across him on patrol in the past. Naturally, when I am seeking him out, he is impossible to locate.
When I finally do find him, he is eating fresh fruit from above, the juices dribbling down his chin and staining his pelt bright red. He leers at me with amusement. “Have you come to look at the yellow-mane female? Is the brown-maned one not to your liking? Or are you greedy and want both?”
“You do not speak of her,” I growl at him, pointing a finger in his face. “You do not ever speak of her. You endanger all of us when you do.”
“No one comes into these tunnels but exiles,” he says in a singsong voice. “Exiles and wanderers.”
“Then you should quit coming out of them,” I snarl, rapidly losing my temper. “Show me where R’jaal the Stranger is. I know you have him and the other female.”
“The dying one? I do. I would not separate them. They like to touch when they’re together, and I like to watch that.” His eyes flare with sick amusement.
Disgusting.
I should know better than to expect decency from Kin’far the Exile. When he was a youth, he killed his patrol partner while out in the tunnels and hid the body. No one knew that he’d murdered someone until he’d returned alone and his story of the missing warrior continued to change every day. The male’s corpse was eventually found and Kin’far exiled, but he lurks in the tunnels and causes trouble wherever he can. My father should ignore him completely, and yet if he had, Tia would not be waiting for my return.