Chapter Ten
Taryn
I woke slowly, as if my brain hadn’t decided yet whether it wanted to be conscious. For a few breaths, I didn’t move, trying to take stock of how I felt.
The room was warm, although that could be lingering fever making me feel that way, and it had a faint metallic scent that was becoming familiar, although the bedding smelled of leather and pine.
The steady vibration beneath the floor hummed through the mattress and into my bones, reminding me that I was no longer on Earth. I was on a spaceship, heading to an alien planet.
My stomach gave a slow roll, but thankfully it was the mild version instead of the violent upheaval that had plagued me the first few days.
My fever seemed to have finally broken sometime during the night, leaving my skin damp and my muscles aching, but my head clearer than it had been since the injection.
I’d take it. I hated being ill, and any improvement was good.
I shifted in the bed, preparing to sit up, but something tightened around my wrist. My eyes snapped open, darting to the restraint as I tried to remember why I was cuffed.
A brown coil of muscle looped around my arm, the arrow-shaped tip resting across the inside of my wrist like a living bracelet reading my pulse.
Rhydek’s tail.
Remaining still, I studied it. It felt similar to when I’d held a snake and it had coiled around my arm, firm and heavier than expected for the size. It was slightly rough, like the rest of Rhydek’s skin, but not uncomfortably so.
I debated remaining frozen so I didn’t risk waking him, but curiosity won out, and I turned my head to look at the massive alien at my side.
He lay on his back, one arm flung across his face, the other above his head.
He was topless, and the dim lighting in the room was enough to highlight his chest.
His broad, scarred chest, scattered with bruises that dimmed his markings where they overlapped. His skin was already dark, but the bruises looked almost black in some places.
Then there were the scabs.
Most were thin, but there were so many he looked like he’d rolled down a hill of thorns.
Or claws.
I shook my head as the memory of our argument crept back, along with the quiet promise he’d made when I told him not to do it again. It was foolish to punish himself for my illness, even if I’d received the injection because of him.
“If you don’t want me to, I will not.”
At the time I’d been half asleep and hadn’t had the energy to decide whether he meant the promise. Judging by the layers of scars, fighting seemed to be something he did regularly.
My eyes followed the lines of his muscles, drifting lower before I could stop them. He’d removed most of the uniform he always seemed to wear, the dark material tossed over the table on his side of the bed, leaving him in only a pair of loose black trousers that sat low on his hips.
The Morrak were built like someone had taken a professional body builder and added extra muscle just to see if it would fit.
The faint glow of the bioluminescent streaks that ran across his skin pulsed even in sleep, but for the first time, they were a dull orange that didn’t dance with sparks of yellow.
I’d learned they changed with emotion, and it seemed fitting that his looked like flames when his predominant emotion seemed to always be irritation.
My gaze drifted back to the tail wrapped around my wrist. I tried gently pulling away, but that only made it tighten again. Not enough to hurt, just enough to say no, I wasn’t leaving the bed.
Was it purposeful?
“That’s mildly disturbing,” I muttered under my breath, but the moment I did, golden eyes opened and locked on me.
Caught.
Rhydek didn’t move at first, his gaze sliding from my face down to his tail and then back again. The coil of muscle loosened immediately, withdrawing as if I burned him.
“You were attempting to leave.”
There was accusation in his eyes.
“I was attempting to get up.”
His slit pupils narrowed, his lips tipping down further.
“That’s the same thing.”
Sighing, I shook my head as he lurched upright.
“Not necessarily.”
I rolled to my side then pushed until I was vertical, ignoring the way the room swam before settling again. My fever may have broken, and my stomach might not have been as pissed off, but I was still weak and dehydrated.
“I needed to pee, but your tail was holding my wrist.”
Rhydek stood and walked around the end of the bed where I could see him, glare in place.
“It was not holding anything.”
Exasperated, I sighed and looked away, speaking to the wall in front of me as I closed my eyes again and told myself I had patience.
Somewhere.
“Then what do you call it?”
There was a long pause, as if he were searching for an answer that was believable.
“A precaution.”
My brow arched and I faced him again.
“Against what?”
His shoulders shifted with a shrug as if I should know the answer.
“You leaving the bed.”
I stared at him, face blank. I didn’t know if I’d been right and he was admitting to holding me hostage in the bed, or if he was using the excuse because it was something that would be expected of him.
“You do realize how controlling that sounds, right?”
His brow creased, making him appear more confused than irritated.
“No?”
Of course not.
Ignoring him, I stretched. My body felt like someone had taken it apart and put it back together slightly wrong, but at least I felt like I could function. That was an improvement over the last two days.
The faint light in the room shifted as Rhydek reached for his discarded uniform. When he pulled it over his head it gave me a clearer look at the damage across his torso.
The bruises were worse in the light. Dark bands wrapped around his ribs, and one shoulder looked like it was swollen, as if it might have been dislocated.
My brow rose.
“Training?”
He paused for a fraction of a second before banding his belt around his waist to hold his shirt closed.
“Yes.”
Humming under my breath, I didn’t bother arguing about it. Something told me pushing that particular topic would just end with him repeating the punishment despite his promise not to.
“I’d like to wash and change clothes.”
He grunted, stomping into his boots. I forced myself to stand and face him, unwilling to argue while disadvantaged by being seated. I swayed but managed to get my balance back before he focused on me.
“You need to eat first.”
His tone was blunt but the look in his eyes made it seem more like concern than an order. Rubbing my temples, I chose the path of least resistance.
“Fine.”
“You must also adjust to following Morraki customs before we reach Morrakan.”
I put my tongue between my teeth so I wouldn’t clench them as I blew a breath out through my nose.
Peace.
The alliance.
I had agreed to this for a reason, and it would be frowned upon to murder my new fiancé.
“You remind me about Morraki customs, yet I’ve been in this room for three days, and you still haven’t introduced yourself.”
He blinked at me, his markings becoming a pale yellow different than I’d seen before.
“My aunt told me your first name and that you’re the second in charge, but you never bothered to tell me who I’d be stuck with for the rest of my life.”
Silence stretched but I watched his throat move, and then he finally spoke.
“Torashkar Rhydek Kaorr, Bloodclaw, head of clan Kaorr.”
He paused for a moment as I absorbed the tumble of words that had spilled from him before his lips ticked up on one side.
“You may call me Rhydek.”
Eyes narrowing, I fought the urge to return the smile. For someone who seemed so imposing and aggressive, his moments of humor were disarming.
I’d be tempted to say charming, except for the rest of our interactions.
“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
His lips twitched and he shrugged.
“You never asked.”
Scoffing, I walked towards him. I was still in the rumpled clothing I’d boarded the spaceship in, but there was no reason to change before I washed the sweat away.
“Because most people introduce themselves without needing to be prompted. Especially if they think they’re going to spend the rest of their lives with the other person.”
He shrugged and turned away before I reached him, crossing towards the outer door.
“You never introduced yourself either,” he called over his shoulder before the door slid shut behind him.
Fair, but he’d clearly known my name since he was able to give it to the UEC.
He returned shortly with another tray piled with unfamiliar foods.
I’d always been the type to eat the same meals on repeat, so it took effort to try the new dishes on the tray instead of sticking to what I’d eaten the last time, but I found all of it decent enough.
A little bland, but that was good for the state of my stomach.
Rhydek agreed to lead me down to the bathing pool on the third level, and the first thing I noticed when we left his quarters was that the dizziness I’d experienced on the way to it had mostly faded. Which was a good thing when the lift whooshed us down to the level below in less than a blink.
Rhydek strode about halfway down the corridor we’d emerged in before stopping outside a door.
“Anything you might need is inside. I will remain here.”
I was a little surprised he didn’t insist on following me in, but I appreciated the space. I felt grimy and definitely not in the mood to get naked in front of him, even if I knew he’d expect it when we returned to his rooms.
At least by then I would be clean.
I was stripping off my clothing beside the pool when I noticed the faint color spreading beneath my skin. Faint teal lines branched along my forearm like delicate veins, pulsing in a rhythm that increased as I stared.
Was that part of the changes?
I had been sure to reread that section of the information, but I couldn’t remember if it mentioned we would develop markings like the Morrak.