Chapter 9 #2
After their short break ended, Kendra reset the timer.
Several minutes into the game, Kendra realized Reyne was winning again.
Well, she wasn’t going to let him beat her twice in a row.
No way. She let go of the staff with one hand and pretended to swipe her brow, then swiftly reached out and touched the second ring from the end of Reyne’s sparring staff.
The ring disappeared, tying the score.
His dark brows drew together as he eyed both his staff and her with a suspicious gaze.
Kendra feigned an innocent expression, biting her lip.
A beat later his strong arm snaked her waist. Caught off guard she almost dropped her staff in shock. Her heart began to pound against her chest. “Reyne, what are you doing?”
“Winning.” He tightened his hold until she was plastered against his chest, so tight she could feel his steady heartbeat mingled with her own erratic one.
He lifted her clean off her feet.
As he started to move toward the foul line, Kendra realized his dubious intent. She struggled, but it was useless. With his staff behind his back, he dropped her over the foul line, and she lost all her remaining rings.
A loud buzz rang out.
“Now this, this, is cheating.” She complained with a grumpy laugh.
“No rules, remember?” he reminded her with a smug smirk.
Kendra playfully poked his bare chest with the end of her staff. “I’m not quite sure if that would be considered a brilliant move or a dirty rotten trick.”
Behind them, the door hissed open. “Reyne.” His name echoed in the room.
Reyne peered over her shoulder, towards the angry voice. A beat later his staff fell from his fingers, hitting the mat with a dull thud.
“Reyne, what is it? Kendra asked, worried. “You look like you have seen a ghost.”
“That’s because he has seen a ghost.” Odin’s voice rang out as he strode further into the room. “Isn’t that right, Reyne?”
“Odin.” The name slipped from Reyne’s lips in a whisper so soft, it was barely audible.
Odin stormed into the ring and sent a clenched fist into Reyne’s stunned face. “You bastard. I’ve been dreaming of this day for eight years. Eight. Long. Years!” Odin punched him again. Reyne’s head snapped back. His fists balled at his sides, but he didn’t fight back.
Why wasn’t he fighting back?
“Odin, stop.” Kendra jumped between them when Odin lifted his fist for the next strike. “What is going on? Do you know each other?”
Reyne wiped a drop of blood off his split lip. “We do.” Reyne acknowledged.
She almost missed the brief touch of anguish in his features before it was replaced with a cold facade.
“You want to know how I ended up on the Rhygarion Three?” Odin asked Kendra while pointing at Reyne with fierce disgust. “It was because of him.”
“If it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else,” Reyne answered without emotion. “Mordrick had many plants in the rebellion. I just happened to be the closest.”
“Closest to what?” Odin snarled.
Reyne’s chest rose as he took a deep breath. “To you.”
Odin landed another punch, then another. He pulled his fist back, readying for a fifth strike. “There is only one reason I’m not going to kill you, and you know the reason. But that doesn’t mean I can’t beat you within an inch of your miserable life.”
Kendra tugged her staff apart and jumped between them, shoving them both in the chest. “Stop it, Odin,” she pleaded, refusing to let this one-sided fight continue.
Odin lowered his clenched fist but continued to glare at Reyne with burning hatred. “Is that what I think that is?” he pointed an accusing finger at Reyne’s arm.
Reyne remained silent.
Odin’s gaze slid to Kendra, his eyes blazing.
“Go ahead, Kendra, see who this man is, the one you seem bent on protecting.” He pointed toward Reyne’s left bicep, which was covered by a wide strip of ebony silk that matched the color of his hair.
“Remove it,” he demanded with a harshness he had never directed at her before.
Confusion wrinkled her brow. She peered at Reyne, but his gaze was locked in battle with Odin’s.
She felt invisible.
“Go ahead, Kendra. Do it,” Reyne prompted in a strained voice.
Unable to stop herself, she reached up and attempted to remove the tight knot with a mix of curiosity and dread. Her fingers shook. When she couldn’t undo it fast enough, Reyne swatted her hand away, lifted his bicep and loosened the knot by tugging at it with his straight white teeth.
Not once did his steel eyes leave Odin.
The scrap of silk drifted to the floor revealing an intricate tattoo.
Kendra gaped at the Taleari symbols and the fierce raptor with an arrow clutched in sharp talons. She hadn’t been the best student when it came to Taleari history, but she knew what his tattoo was. Knew what it meant. “Ramachii,” she whispered, covering her mouth to stifle a sudden sob.
“Was that your reward?” Odin questioned in an angered hiss. “For betraying the rebellion? For betraying me?”
Reyne touched his bicep and glanced towards the ceiling. “Actually, no. This was my punishment.”
The sorrow etched in both his voice and his expression was undeniable. Whatever had transpired between them, Kendra could tell Reyne clearly regretted it.
Odin eyed him for a long tense minute, then he pointed his finger again, sneering. “Mark of the hunter, eh? I would think you would have made a better assassin.” Odin spun and stalked out of the athletic room, leaving Kendra in shock and unable to utter a word.
After several tense beats of silence, Kendra picked up the material and handed it to him.
Reyne retrieved the scrap of silk from her fingers. “I’m sorry you had to witness that.” He stalked out of the ring and left the room, leaving Kendra to stare at his departing back.
For the longest moment, she stood in the ring, trying to process what just happened. The situation with Odin had rattled Reyne, but should she go to him and make sure he was alright? Or should she seek out Odin first and demand answers?”
Her emotions were torn.
Reyne will depart tomorrow. She had a lifetime to get the details from Odin.
She sprinted into the corridor and caught up to Reyne. She followed him, surprised when he didn’t protest when she slipped into his quarters before his door closed in her face.
“Sit.” She demanded, pointing to the sapphire covered bed.
When she returned from the washroom with a damp cloth, he was sitting as instructed.
His gaze lingered on her as she stood between his legs and pressed the cool cloth against his split lip, wiping the blood away with gentle pressure.
He was going to have a bunch of bruises on his cheek, which were already turning several shades of purple and red.
She flipped the cloth and pressed the cool side against his cheek, hoping to ease the pain. “I’m sorry Odin did this to you.”
“Don’t be sorry,” he replied, his tone cool and detached. “Trust me. I deserved it.”
“Oh? I’ve never seen Odin so angry before.” She didn’t want to pry. Actually, that was a lie. She wanted to know what had upset Odin and why Reyne appeared so lost. “Do you want to talk about it?” She offered in a soft soothing whisper. “I’m a very good listener.”
“No. Kendra.” Powerful thighs clenched her legs, anchoring her between them and the edge of his bed. “I definitely do not want to talk about it.”
Kendra gasped and she tried to pull away, but he held her tight causing her pulse to leap to life.
He lifted his hand to stroke her long braid.
Knuckles grazed the sensitive skin behind her ears, her collarbone, her bare shoulder.
His seductive touch seemed to be everywhere at once, causing goosebumps to spread across her exposed flesh.
Her eyes fluttered closed, her head tilting back as she enjoyed the feel of his calloused palms roaming her bare skin.
A slight moan escaped her when he tugged her braid at the base of her nape, forcing her head further back, exposing the length of her neck to his heated gaze.
The forgotten cloth, smeared with his crimson blood, fell from her listless fingers.
Warm breath caressed her neck, between her ear and her collarbone, his mouth only an inch away from her hypersensitive skin.
His palms roamed her collarbone again.
Feeling somewhat dizzy, she clutched his shoulders, marveling at the masculine strength of hard muscles beneath her touch.
“Reyne.” She breathed his name, eager to feel his sensual lips on her heated flesh. She pushed against him, panting. “Yes, please.”
He halted and pulled away, leaving her craving more.
“You need to go,” he demanded with a raspy groan, releasing her with a rough shove that almost sent her sprawling to the floor. “Before I do something you will regret.”
Startled by his rude abruptness, she scrambled away from him as if burned, not understanding what had just happened. How could he touch her with such sensuality one moment, and then push her away the next? “I don’t understand, Reyne. Tell me what is going on?”
“Just. Go. Now.” He insisted, his steel gaze dark and stormy.
Seeing his dangerous expression, she fled the room without a backwards glance, returning to her quarters, both breathless and confused. She slumped against her closed door and hoped her heart would stop pounding in her ears so she could hear her own thoughts.
Noticing a rum decanter on her table, she poured herself a hefty splash with trembling hands.
Reyne was Ramachii.
That should have changed everything, but somehow it didn’t. Kendra, a Valerian royal, knew first-hand what the Ramachii were capable of, but like a moth to a deadly flame, she had followed him back to his room anyway.
What had she been thinking?
She downed the rum.
Kendra paced as she considered finding Tia. But how could she explain her irrational attraction to her enemy? A devoted servant to Talear’s tyrannical overlord. A ruthless henchman.
She pinged Odin’s quarters. No response.
More rum seared her throat.