Chapter Twelve
Rhydek
I shouldn’t have touched her.
The thought plagued me from the moment my tongue swiped the blood from her skin. It echoed through my mind as Taryn stood in the center of my quarters, trying very hard not to look at me.
Her scent had changed.
It had been changing for days, ever since the serum began its work in her body, but it deepened after that moment. The sweetness that clung to her had grown richer, warmer, threaded with the unmistakable promise of an unmated omega.
And now I knew how she tasted.
My jaw clenched as I fought to control my kethra.
“No.”
The word came out harsher than intended, but that was good.
Taryn lifted her head, blue eyes narrowed as if she sensed the tension coiled through me. For a moment I wondered if she would argue since she had grown fond of doing that, but instead, she only nodded.
A small blessing. If she had questioned me, I might have lost what little control I had managed to reclaim. The instinct to dominate her was ingrained.
I pushed the door open and stepped into the dim corridor beyond.
The air in the tunnels of the High Ledge was almost as warm and dry as the surface, heavy with the scent of the stone around us, but it was cooler in the River Caverns. Kael had told me most Humans preferred lower temperatures than we craved, so Taryn would be more comfortable there.
I chose a rarely used path toward the deeper levels of Korvashan. The steps weren’t too steep for me, but Taryn’s legs were shorter, and it wasn’t long before her puffs echoed around us.
Behind me she muttered under her breath, the tone enough to tell me she was cursing either me or the stairs in her language. I grinned, but as her sounds grew fainter, I was forced to slow my steps. I had to remember that, in public, we were supposed to be united.
I eased the pace more as we reached the first landing. The main entrance to the Cavern Market was on the opposite side, facing the ravine, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t still a steady flow of people coming and going from all entrances and using the stairs to head home.
Korvashan had been carved long before my people possessed the technology used on the Zeydrassk.
Lifts didn’t exist within the old caverns, and technology was limited in the lower levels.
Movement through the city meant endless flights of stone stairways and bridges over the ravine, each worn smooth by centuries of use, and the danger of Taryn slipping increased with the crowd.
Stopping at my side, she glanced down the stairwell, releasing a breath that held the edge of a whine. Her brows were pinched together again, but it was more concern than irritation etched on her face.
“How many levels to the River Caverns?”
Her skin was flushed, perspiration glossing it. Her kethra pulsed in a ragged pattern, as if she were trying to control them but was too tired to keep them steady.
“Two more.”
Her lips flattened as her chest heaved, but her determination was clear.
I turned before something I didn’t mean slipped past my lips. The stairs curved deeper into the ground, wide enough for others to pass us as I kept to a pace only the oldest Morraki used.
The next landing came and many of those around us turned off into the tunnels that led to the homes of most of Korvashan’s population. The families of higher rank had places on the High Ledge, away from the damp and chill, but those were a privileged few.
We kept descending, but I slowed again. Taryn had kept pace with me down the last stairway, sticking close so others could move around us, but the stairs had become steeper. Moisture clung to the stone, making the air cooler and heavier as we approached the river.
She would never thank me for it, but that didn’t matter. I was responsible for her safety.
The walls finally opened into a broad space unlike any in Korvashan.
The River Caverns stretched far into the darkness, the ceiling arching high overhead like the ribs of some ancient beast. There were a few isolated sections, secluded caves within the pillars, but most of it was open between the massive columns that supported the weight of the stone above.
Bioluminescent fungus in cool tones spread across the stone walls and along the riverbanks, casting the entire chamber in soft, pale light. Mist obscured everything, distorting the sounds that echoed endlessly and making the space feel smaller.
Water flowed through the cavern, splitting around clusters of stones into dozens of pools. Some were shallow and calm, wide enough for the youngest to bathe. Others where glassy black depths that hid dangerous currents that could sweep away an adult.
The air carried the scent of minerals and the cleansing powders.
There were traces of others, but most Morraki didn’t linger in the River Caverns, washing and leaving quickly unless they needed a Kethral or were a member of the Karzhari or Zha’Torin who lived in the abandoned tunnels beneath the River Caverns.
Taryn stopped at the bottom of the stairs, taking in the sight of the moving mist reflecting the glow of the moss. I could sense her hesitation as her gaze moved across the cavern, but she seemed to relax once she realized it wasn’t a crowded space.
There were carved cubbies lining the walls to place possessions, and baskets of cleansing powder spaced around the pools. Folded drying cloths were piled in neat stacks where they were easy to reach, but none of those held her attention for long.
Her focus lingered on the Morraki present. There weren’t many since most came early or in the evening.
Two warriors soaked in a deeper pool near the far wall used to soothe aches, and a pair of younger alphas washed in the main river, chatting so much the echoes overlapped into gibberish.
There were a handful of betas cleaning bedding in the pools reserved for that use, but it was the family that held her attention.
An omega was seated on the edge of one of the smaller pools, watching her youngling splash in the shallows while her mate watched over them both, their kethra a matching, steady green.
The child was trying to chase his tail beneath the water but wasn’t coordinated enough to catch it yet and kept falling, and when I looked back at Taryn, there was a small smile on her face.
I started walking again, leading Taryn out of the stairwell, and most of those present noticed her the moment she came into view. Their attention shifted like a ripple across the cavern, heads turning as her pale coloration made her stand out against the dark walls.
My tail flicked behind me, my kethra flaring beyond my control. Pretending it hadn’t happened, I reached for Taryn’s hand, her brows shooting upwards as my fingers wrapped around hers.
“They’re staring.”
Her soft whisper stated the obvious. She was a Human with kethra, others were bound to be curious. Even if they’d seen Serenya with Kael, Taryn was much paler, and it drew attention.
I ignored the way her comment made me tense and swallowed the urge to snarl at all of them, lifting my shoulder in a shrug.
“Let them.”
She made a soft sound that suggested she didn’t like that idea, and even if I didn’t either, I couldn’t let myself show the possessiveness rolling through me.
We crossed the cavern floor toward a section of the river where the water curved around a cluster of broad boulders. As we passed the other bathers, their attention followed, but I brushed it off and forced myself to stare ahead.
One of the warriors inclined his head to me and I returned the gesture automatically, but his gaze lingered on Taryn for too long. A low rumble built in my chest before I could stop it, and the warrior’s eyes snapped back to mine before turning away.
My teeth ached from the pressure of my jaws, and I almost freed the snarl I was trying to contain.
The instinctive reaction to another male’s attention on her was ridiculous.
Taryn was both an oddity and the first female I’d been seen with.
Even if they didn’t realize she was my korravalryn, it was natural for others to be curious.
I flexed my free hand, claws scraping open scabs across my palms.
Taryn couldn’t get much closer than I already held her, but as we reached the water’s edge and I realized she would have to be naked to bathe, the desire to wrap myself around her and hide her almost overrode everything.
I still hadn’t seen all of her, and all these others were going to see her bared along with me.
Her gaze flicked toward the other Morraki as we stood facing the water, her hesitation clear.
“Are there any…”
The quiet question trailed off, and I tipped my head to the side, studying her as I tried to guess what she wanted to ask. When I couldn’t and she didn’t seem as if she was going to continue, I prompted her.
“Any…?”
Her shoulders rose on a deep inhale before she pulled them back and met my gaze with determination.
“Is there anything I need to know so I don’t cause problems? Protocols for bathing? More expectations?”
The question surprised me. Taryn had tested me every chance she had, and I’d expected it to continue, but I realized her sense of duty meant she wouldn’t do it in public.
A small part of me relaxed, but it wasn’t because I had worried she would be the problem. If anything, it saved me from embarrassing myself by losing control.
If I had been capable of feeling embarrassed.
“There are no expectations other than to not pollute the water. There are specific pools reserved for cleaning things other than your body, and others for certain families, or dynamics, but this is the public bathing area. I will tell you if there is ever a time when you need to be concerned about expectations.”
Her shoulders softened and her head dipped. I wasn’t certain if she’d been worried over making a mistake, or if the worry was whether I would tell her before it happened.
Had I given her that bad of an impression of me?
“Thank you.”