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)
I’m rattled by the sight of him kneeling in front of me. I should be the one looming over him but even kneeling, he’s a big guy and his horns and the breadth of his wide shoulders make him seem even taller. “Huh?”
“Another mouth-brush on my cheek.” He lifts one hand and indicates the spot. “As you did earlier.”
Where has all my confident flirtiness gone? I’m fighting the urge to giggle like a schoolgirl at his request. I did promise that, didn’t I? When I’d decided I was going to win him over to my side. I can’t help but like him. There’s an earnestness to him that I appreciate, without R’jaal’s mopeyness. He suits me so much better.
And then I feel like an absolute jerk for even thinking something like that. Rem’eb is the enemy. I should be flirting so I can pull him to my side.
Resolved, I lean in and give him a feather-light kiss on the cheek. “Free me, please.”
His eyes are closed, and he reaches up and touches the spot where I kissed him, as if committing it to memory.
“Free me,” I say again, and when he opens his eyes, I indicate the door and gesture walking out. “Free me and help me get R’jaal. I’ll kiss you all you want, then.”
Rem’eb’s hand drops from his face. He sighs. “I cannot. Now is not the time.”
“When? When is the time?”
What I’m asking must be obvious, because he answers me. “I will know the time is right when I see it. I cannot risk anything yet. My father’s men are watching us.”
I pull away from him, frustrated. Something tells me that I’m going to be “freed” when we’ve resonated and I’m pregnant with his kid. And then there’ll be a different excuse as to why he won’t take me back to my people. He might be all talk and no action.
Well, I’m not going to sit and wait for something to happen. I’ve done that far too much in the past. I push past him and head for the door, intending to storm out just to see what happens. I didn’t see a guard earlier. I haven’t heard one in a while. There might not be one tonight (or whatever time it is right now). If there’s no guard, I can escape at any time. He said R’jaal was in a tunnel. I just need to find the right one.
Surely I can figure out how to get to the surface. How deep can a tunnel underground with people in it possibly be? They’ll need oxygen and food and water.
Before my hand can touch the door, strong arms snag me, pulling me backward. I hiss with anger and before I can shriek my frustration, a hand covers my mouth. I fight like a demon, but Rem’eb has too many hands. Flailing, I slap at him. He doesn’t grope me, though. He holds me carefully, and when he sighs in my ear, it sounds like defeat.
“You cannot go out, Tia. I am sorry. I cannot let you. Not yet.”
“When?” I demand. “When I’m knocked up? You tricked me. You’re just as bad as the ones that stole me.”
He ignores my angry words, stroking my flying hair back from my face and then patting my shoulder again. “I will return with your next meal at tide-rise.”
His touch lingers on my skin before he reluctantly lets me go. This time, when he leaves, I see the form of a hulking guard standing near the doorway, trying to peer in before Rem’eb shoulders him aside.
So I’m still guarded. There’s no way I’m getting out of here on my own at this rate. I need a miracle.
Or a friend.
Chapter
Ten
REM’EB
The next day is a trying one. I can do nothing right.
I dream of Tia in my sleep, of her soft lips brushing over my cheek, and then moving to my neck, and then further down my body. I wake up with my hand on my stiff cock, my heart racing. I take care of myself and then spend my resting time pacing in my small home instead. If I close my eyes, I will see Tia again, her hands all over me, her lips adventuring to new places upon my body, and I cannot focus. So I pace.
When the water clock shows that it is tide-rise, I reset it and pack my fishing gear. Instead of heading directly to the lake as is my normal route, I head to my father’s instead. All eyes in the village feel as if they are upon me, watching my every move and wondering at my actions. We are creatures of habit, our people. Anyone that acts in a different pattern than normal will have people talking. I feel conspicuous as I hurry past the long stretch of wall and nod at the guards as I head to my father’s home.