by Amy Pennza
Her breath fluttered against his mouth. “Let me go.”
“I don’t think you want me to.”
“Oh?” Her eyes glittered. “How can you tell? Reading my mind again?”
He looked down at her fingers curled in the fabric of his shirt, clutching him to her. “Just a guess.”
She released him and stumbled back. Pink tinged her cheekbones. Definitely a useful trait. He wondered if she blushed like that when she came. He pictured her above him, her head thrown back, a deep flush spreading from her cheeks to the tips of her breasts.
She made a small sound—a cross between a gasp and a whimper.
“What is it?” he asked.
“The way you… How you’re looking at me.”
He lowered his gaze to her mouth. “What way is that, Na-dee-ya?”
“It’s Nadia.”
“Hmm?”
“My name. You keep saying it wrong.”
“Na-dee-ya.”
“Nadia.”
“That’s what I said.”
“You said Na-dee-ya.”
He flicked his gaze up to hers. “I think you’re just trying to distract me.” He prowled toward her. She lifted her chin. A fresh surge of lust rolled through him. One day she was going to figure out how much that turned him on. Until then, he planned on enjoying the hell out of it.
She threw out a hand. “Don’t come any closer!”
He stopped. “Stay with me.”
“I told you—”
“Not as a bed slave. Just for dinner.”
She opened her mouth. Closed it. “Dinner?”
“Mmhmm.”
“You’re inviting me to dinner.”
“That’s right.” He smiled. “And I promise not to serve Council rations.”
She stared. Considering it?
A little zing of triumph flared in his chest. He almost had her.
“What if someone sees?” she said finally. “They’ll assume that I… That we’re…” The pink staining her cheeks deepened to a dark rose.
“I can manage one dinner without the whole mountain finding out.”
A heartbeat passed. Two. She gave a little nod. “All right.”
The part of him that was a ruthless, manipulative bastard sat up and howled. He closed the distance between them, his body a breath from hers. “Until tonight, Nadia.”
Her lips parted.
He smiled and walked to the cave’s entrance. At the doorway, he turned and said, “I’ll send Eleni and Annika up.”
She shot him a startled look. “Why?” She narrowed her gaze, and he could almost see her mind leap from confusion to suspicion. “You said tonight wasn’t a bed slave thing, yet you’re sending your bed slaves here?”
“Oh, Eleni and Annika aren’t bed slaves. They’re healers. Kaptum masters.”
“But…you have a harem. You said—”
“You said that. Never judge a book by its cover, hmm?” He slipped through the doorway, her indrawn breath on his heels.
10
Nadia watched Ivar go, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest. He’d lied to her about having bed slaves, and then he’d smiled when he finally told her the truth.
Although, he hadn’t really lied. He’d just let her assume.
She took a deep breath. She felt lighter—as if unburdening herself had lifted a weight she hadn’t realized she’d been carrying around. Ivar had been surprisingly sympathetic. His deep voice echoed in her mind. “Life is full of surprises.” The tall, muscled warlord was a good listener? Yep, that was a surprise.
Still, dinner with him was a bad idea. Nothing good could come of it. He was still a warlord. He owned slaves. Her gaze traveled to his bed. He might not have bed slaves right now, but he’d been blunt about wanting to change that status.
She lifted her hand. The skin was healthy, the angry pink burn just a memory. She looked at the wall behind his desk. Silver-blue blades glittered back at her. Kaptum was a weapon. It wasn’t supposed to heal. Yet, Ivar had worked some kind of magic on her.
She shivered. Every time he’d touched her, his skin had been warm—hot, even. Now she knew why. He didn’t just control kaptum; it was inside him.
“Impressive, aren’t they?” a lyrical voice said.
Nadia whirled.
Eleni and Annika stood in the doorway. One—she had no idea which—gestured to the wall. “Ivar made them himself.”
Nadia shifted awkwardly. She’d dismissed them as brainless sex objects. A surge of shame welled within her. Ivar had called them kaptum masters. If they worked kaptum like he did, they were far from stupid. They were staring at her, so she said, “Yes, very impressive.”
The woman smiled. “I’m Annika,” she said, and Nadia breathed a sigh of relief at not having to guess her name. Both women were dressed in simple pants and shirts, but the material was obviously of a good quality, and both were immaculately groomed—their wheat-colored hair cascading over their breasts in soft, shiny waves. Annika gestured to the other blonde. “And this is Eleni.”
Nadia opened her mouth. “I’m Na—”
“Nadia,” Annika said. “We remember.”
Eleni clasped her hands in front of her slim waist. “Ivar sent us.”
“We’ll get you ready for him,” Annika said.
Nadia shifted her gaze between them, a tingle of apprehension crawling up her spine. Get her ready for him? “Ivar said you were healers.”
Annika nodded and extended her hand. “We’ll show you. Come.”
Nadia suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. Did no one in this place simply explain things?
Eleni smiled. “You’ll like it. We promise.”
The women led Nadia down the same narrow, twisting staircase Ivar had used the day before. Annika walked ahead, her soft hand holding Nadia’s in a surprisingly strong grip. Eleni followed, reaching out every once in a while to clasp Nadia’s elbow as they navigated a particularly sharp corner.
Wedged between them, Nadia couldn’t help but feel as though she was being swept along a river with a strong current, helpless as it nudged her this way and that. When they finally reached the landing, Annika tugged her down a long, darkened hallway lit only by the occasional torch.
“Where are we going?” Nadia whispered. For some reason, she felt like she should keep her voice down.
Eleni spoke behind her. “It’s a surprise. You’ll see.”
The hallway ended in another massive open archway—this one decorated with intricate carvings that swirled around the opening. Annika pulled Nadia under the arch and stopped. “Well? What do you think?”
It took her several seconds to comprehend what she was seeing. The room wasn’t that big, but a pool of standing water covered almost the entire floor, making the whole cavern seem larger. Unable to resist the lure of so much rare, precious water, Nadia stepped toward it. “Is that…? How?” she said in utter wonderment.
“It’s fed from an underground spring. The only one of its kind on Tolbos. As far as we know.”
Nadia stared, enraptured by the pool. Something tugged on her shirt. She jumped and whirled to find Eleni behind her. “Wh-what are you doing?”
Eleni lifted her hands. “Helping you undress.”
“What?”
“You’ve been in the pit all day.” She wrinkled her nose. “No offense, Nadia, but you could use a bath.”
Nadia glanced at the water. “You bathe in it?” She shook her head, trying to wrap her mind around such deliberate waste.
“Of course.”
“But… What about drinking water?”
“It’s easy to purify.” She gestured around the cavern. “And there’s plenty here.”
Nadia looked at the pool. It was a deep midnight blue, the water so dark it was impossible to see the bottom. The calm surface reflected the torches ranged around the square walls. If drinking too much kaptum was dangerous, did she really want to dip her whole body in it? “I don’t know.”
Annika spoke. “Don’t be afraid. We can control it.”
Nadia pulled her gaze away from the pool. “I’m not afraid.” I’m totally afraid. “Although, it’s been a while since I washed this way.” Water was simply too precious, and it was impractical to carry thousands of liters of it through space. Chem baths removed bacteria and sweat from the skin without the hassle of getting wet.
A look passed between the women. They began stripping off their clothes.
The apprehension Nadia had felt earlier burst into full-blown distress. “What are you doing?” She was starting to sound like a droid with a low battery.
Annika skimmed her pants down her legs and kicked them to the side. Now totally naked, she put her hands on her hips. “You can’t go in alone. The water contains too much kaptum, and your tolerance to it is untested. It will take both of us to control it.”
Nadia felt her cheeks heat. She tried to look away, but it was impossible to ignore the two nude women. Their bodies were undeniably spectacular, with long limbs and sleek muscles. Both were also fully shaved down south, she couldn’t help noticing.
She glanced away, but something caught her eye and forced her gaze back to Annika. Her biceps were circled by black bands. Like Ivar’s. Like the ones Nadia had seen on Raddoc and his men. Yet these were different. They were thinner. Delicate wasn’t the right word for them. Elegant, she decided. That was the difference.
Annika followed her gaze. “You noticed my kaptum.”
“Does everyone here have it?” She remembered how Axos had seemed to produce a knife from nowhere.
“I’m sure they wish they did, but most people can’t control this much.”
Huh. Nadia looked at Eleni. Her arms were bare.
Eleni spun and pulled her hair away from her back, exposing the long curve of her spine. A flowing design decorated her shoulders.
“It’s beautiful,” Nadia said. The kaptum on Raddoc’s face had looked menacing, but this was lovely. Ivar had called it sentient. When he’d watched her from the ledge, the kaptum had curled around his arm like a contented pet. “Does it decide where it goes?”
Annika ran her hand over Eleni’s back. “No one really knows why it forms like this, or why it returns to the same spots over and over again. Ivar thinks our brains do it subconsciously. Like how you would wear a weapon or a ring. You get used to it being in a certain place.”
It was fascinating. Nadia had only ever thought of kaptum as dangerous—something that killed and maimed. But Eleni and Annika wore it like art. Ivar had sounded fond when he’d spoken of it.
Annika reached for the hem of Nadia’s shirt.
Nadia stumbled back. “Wait. Ivar said you were healers.”
“We are. The water will help with that.”
“I-I think Ivar already took care of it.” She patted her face. Stretched out her arms. “See? All better.”
“He didn’t get everything. Those burns are deep—and the radiation here isn’t something you want to mess with. And Eleni and I are more skilled at healing.”
“Really?” Nadia felt a surge of satisfaction. So he wasn’t a master of everything.
Eleni stepped forward. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “We’re all women.” She pulled Nadia’s shirt over her head gently, even as Annika crouched so she could unbutton Nadia’s pants and tug them down her legs.
The feeling she’d experienced on the stairs—of being buffeted by an insistent current—returned. Once again, she was swept along a gentle but firm course. The women’s fingers brushed her skin, trailing warmth and a prickling sensation that raised goosebumps on her arms.
She was grateful for the dim lighting, which hopefully concealed the furious blush covering most of her face and chest. Obediently, she lifted one foot, then the other as Annika pulled her pants away, leaving her naked. Despite the warm, humid air, she shivered.
“Don’t be shy,” Eleni said, tossing the dirty clothes aside. “You’re lovely, Nadia.”
Annika placed her hand on Nadia’s bare shoulder and slid it down her arm. She twined her fingers with Nadia’s and tugged her toward the pool. Eleni did the same on her other side. Together, the women led her to the edge and down a shallow set of steps she hadn’t seen from the doorway.
Nadia paused on the second step. The dark water lapped against her calves. It didn’t seem dangerous. “Do I need to do anything?”
“Not a thing,” Annika said. “We’ll control the kaptum.” She coaxed Nadia down the next few steps.
Eleni plunged past them and swam to the pool’s center. Her head disappeared under the water, then resurfaced with a splash. “Come all the way in! It’s warm.”
Nadia felt the last step with her feet and then the smooth, level bottom. The water rose to just below chest height. She bent her knees so she was submerged to her shoulders, her body shielded from the gazes of the other women. She’d taken just a handful of baths in her life—all during infrequent trips back to Earth. This water felt different. Thicker. It was almost like fabric brushing against her skin. She cupped her hands and pulled them across the dark surface. “It seems sinful to bathe in something so rare.”
Annika dipped her head back and wet her hair. “Tolbos has a lot of water. It’s just deep underground. Except for this spring.”
Eleni waded to the side of the pool and rummaged through a small basket woven from strands of Tolbos tree bark. She withdrew an object and then came back to Nadia with her hand above the water. “I’ll soap you up.”
“I can do it,” Nadia said quickly. Eleni surrendered the soap with a shrug, and Nadia exhaled her relief. The “soap” was actually a strange, soft rock that crumbled in her hand. She sniffed at it, smiling at the fresh, light scent.
“It’s volcanic rock, with some herbs added in,” Annika said from the other side of the pool. She’d braced her elbows against the stone wall, the pale tips of her breasts just visible above the water.
Eleni crossed to her, another cake of soap in her hand. She began rubbing it across Annika’s shoulders and the firm swells of her breasts. Annika grinned and swiped a foamy handful of suds. She spread it leisurely across Eleni’s chest, her fingers lingering on the other woman’s tightly budded nipples. Eleni gasped and thrust out her chest. Annika obliged her by pinching lightly at the rosy peaks. After a few minutes, she slid her hands down Eleni’s water-slicked hips and beneath the water.
Feeling like a voyeur, Nadia averted her eyes. Apparently, she’d jumped to one too many conclusions when she’d first seen the women. They weren’t bed slaves. And they were definitely more than friends. So what were they to Ivar?
She turned her back to them as she soaped her own body, but she couldn’t close her ears to the low moans and gently splashing water. Ivar could have at least mentioned this! She lathered her arm. Her fingernails scraped a patch of burned skin, and a sharp, biting pain made her wince. She brushed the suds away. The skin underneath was red and angry looking. What would it have looked like without the salve?
Water sloshed behind her.
She looked over her shoulder. The women had traded positions, and now Eleni leaned against the wall. Her head was thrown back, her eyes shut. Her lips parted on a groan as Annika’s hands busied themselves under the water. Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she made little mewling sounds, her hips thrusting up to meet Annika’s hand. She let out a low, keening sound, and her whole body stiffened.
Nadia stared, unable to tear her gaze away from the erotic scene. Eleni’s lips curved in a soft smile. She brought her head up and opened her eyes. Her gaze collided with Nadia’s.
Hastily, Nadia faced away and resumed her scrubbing. Her burns stung. Ivar’s touch had muted the pain in her face, but the tight prickling still covered her arms and chest. She’d just tipped her head back to wet it when a soft voice behind her said, “Here, let me.”
Nadia whirled to find a smiling Annika. Eleni stood just behind her, a dreamy look on her face. “That’s okay. I can do it.”
&n
bsp; “The soap isn’t that great for washing hair,” Annika said. “I can work it through much faster than you can.” She turned to Eleni, who plopped a foamy rock in her palm. Annika scrubbed her hands together until they were overflowing with suds and then made a little twirling motion to indicate Nadia should turn around.
With a sigh, Nadia turned and sank under the surface. For a second, she contemplated staying there. She blew out her breath in a stream of bubbles before breaking the surface and wiping the water from her eyes.
“Ready?” Annika said behind her. Without waiting for a reply, she massaged the soap through Nadia’s hair, her touch gentle but firm. Nadia closed her eyes. Why did it feel so good when someone else did it? Like how food tasted better when another person prepared it.
Something brushed her chest. She opened her eyes to see Eleni’s breasts inches from her own. Before she could protest, Annika tapped her shoulder. “Rinse.”
Nadia sank under the water once more. This time, she came right back up. Annika clasped her shoulders. “Hold very still. This won’t hurt, but it will feel warm.” Annika’s breasts brushed her back.
Nadia stiffened. “What are you doing?”
“Healing your sunburn,” Eleni said. She moved closer, sandwiching Nadia between them. “Try not to move.”
Fresh panic surged in Nadia’s chest. “Why? Is this dangerous?”
Annika patted her arm. “Not at all. It’s just easier for us to concentrate when the person isn’t moving.”
“It’s also faster,” Eleni said.
Faster. Faster was good. Nadia had never considered herself claustrophobic before, but standing between them like this was doing weird things to her heart rate.
Annika smoothed her hands down Nadia’s arms, leaving a trail of tiny zaps.
In front, Eleni moved her palms over Nadia’s chest, where the brutal suns had done their worst.
Little shocks fired across Nadia’s skin. When Ivar had healed her, he’d given her just a taste of the warm, tingling sensation. Now, electric warmth surged and pulsed over her body. A great lassitude swept her. She closed her eyes.
