Chapter Nineteen #2
Rhydek slowed as I caught a peek of the sky above the steps, stopping before we emerged from the protection of the arch. He was frowning when he glanced back at me, shaking out a cloth I hadn’t noticed he carried to wrap around his face.
“Is it a storm?”
There wasn’t any dampness in the air, but on a desert planet, I wasn’t sure rain was required to call the weather stormy. He had never used protection when we were on the surface at any other time.
I couldn’t see it, but I had a feeling his brow was arched as he looked at me.
“The winds are stronger at night when the dakrethin are closed. Cover your eyes and hold your thavren, and I’ll get you across. The walls shelter the training grounds, and it’ll be better once we pass through the gate.”
The warning had worry rushing through me, but I trusted Rhydek. His tail slipped around my hip as he placed his arm around my shoulders, and I covered my eyes as the heat of him soaked into me. Despite the sun being down, it was still warm, but I didn’t mind his added body heat.
I stepped forward when I felt pressure from his arm and tail, braced for the push of the wind, but I wasn’t prepared enough. It was a physical blow, and moving forward felt as if I were trying to push my way through gelatin.
Even with the thavren, the sand found my exposed skin and tested it. It felt like using too much exfoliating scrub and grinding it in, and even keeping my eyes covered didn’t save them from the grit.
It seemed that Morrakan was determined to remind me I wasn’t made to be here.
Rhydek was angling his body to take the worst of the wind, but it was still a struggle to cross to the gates of the fortress that held the training grounds.
I had thought the high walls were unnecessary when there hadn’t seemed to be physical threats beyond the sun and sand, but they made more sense with the way the wind tried to push me where it wanted as it roared in my ears.
Passing through the gate was a relief, the pressure on my body easing even though I could still hear the wind howling as if frustrated we’d escaped it’s pull.
The training grounds spread beyond the entryway in a wide scar of packed sand lit by spotlights attached to the walls, and Morraki were already moving through drills, some with weapons, others barehanded.
Rhydek was calling orders the moment they were in sight, the sound of bodies colliding and boots striking ground echoing within the space, and I had to admit it was impressive.
For about ten minutes.
Then it became what any repeated training became to an outsider with no stakes in the outcome…
Just noise.
Adding in the heat as the sun rose, and the feeling of being in the way and useless, and it was a special form of torture that competed with being left alone.
I couldn’t decide which was worse, and the idea that this was how it was going to be, day after day, made the first rush of regret lance through me.
I stayed where Rhydek put me on a shaded stone outcrop near the edge of the grounds where he said I would be protected from the worst of the wind. A pair of younger Morraki glanced my way once or twice, but no one approached. Whether it was due to respect, fear, or direct orders, I didn’t know.
As boring as the drills became, Rhydek was impossible not to watch. I had seen the grace he moved with and thought I knew the power he held in check, but he proved that notion wrong.
He barked corrections to the warriors in Morraki, sharp and clipped as he moved through their lines, adjusting stances with rough hands or knocking feet out from under someone who moved too slow. Several times, he stepped into a drill himself.
He disarmed one Morraki in less than two breaths despite facing some kind of spear without a weapon of his own.
He held back multiple opponents with a blade gripped in both hands and another strapped to his tail.
He knocked another flat on his back with a blow that I heard from my little corner, making me wince in sympathy.
He was in command. No one questioned him. No one hesitated to obey an order. The warriors watched him the way animals watched a storm, with respect, a touch of fear, and knowing resistance was useless.
But beneath the sense of intimidation, I understood why they obeyed.
He was good.
Not just strong, not just brutal, but efficient and intentional. Everything he did served a purpose.
It was fascinating enough to hold my attention longer than I thought it would, but eventually my thoughts began to drift.
I shifted on the stone ledge, placing my hands beneath my thighs so I wouldn’t fidget. Sand had found its way beneath the thavren, making my skin sting. Dried sweat left me itchy, and the muscles in my hips and calves ached from climbing so many stairs each day.
Anytime I thought of how nice a bath would feel, I remembered the firmness of Rhydek’s muscles beneath my hands, and the way my lips had tingled after touching his.
And then I remembered the coldness in his voice when he told me never to do it again.
Sitting and watching everyone busy with tasks while I did nothing became an itch beneath my skin. A burn I needed to soothe. On Earth, when I had been overworked and burned out, I’d thought what I needed was rest. Less responsibility, and fewer things depending on me so I had a chance to breathe.
Now I had all of that, and it was awful.
A few warriors hauled crates across the yard. Another pair carried armfuls of weapons to a rack. Even the ones getting shouted at had a reason to be there and a purpose for presence.
I sat in the shade like some ornamental thing Rhydek had brought along and forgotten. I had always turned up my nose at the entire concept of trophy wives, but that was precisely what I’d become.
My cheeks warmed at the thought, and I knew if my kethra were visible, I would be competing with the sun.
It was difficult to force the thought away, but I refused to spiral into blaming Rhydek.
I had chosen to go to the gala, didn’t refuse being selected, and then accepted the injection.
It was on me to find my place here. There had to be something I could do other than sit, sweat, and think myself into misery.
My gaze moved back to Rhydek. He had his back to me, speaking to a smaller group near one of the rings drawn on the ground.
Even from where I was I could see the tension he carried in his shoulders and how controlled every movement was.
It struck me that the training, repetition, and routine, probably did for him what work had once done for me.
It kept the dark out.
Gave him purpose.
Made him useful enough to drown out the black hole that wanted to suck us into it.
And then I, with my stupid kiss and prying questions, had gone and stirred up the parts of him he clearly preferred buried.
Maybe that had been why he’d allowed me to come with him. To take me where he was in complete control.
My chest ached.
I lasted another half hour before the sun rose enough to steal my shade. I stood when I spotted Rhydek walking towards me, hoping he would say he was done, but when he beckoned me to another patch of shade, that hope died.
“Rhydek—"
One of the younger warriors walked towards us with the intent to reach Rhydek and speak to him clear in his motions, but he stopped when Rhydek pinned him with a glare. The male turned and went back the other direction so fast it almost made me laugh, until Rhydek’s focus landed on me again.
“Do you need something?”
I winced at the gruffness of his tone, but I didn’t think he meant it the way it came out.
“Rhydek, I’m… bored.”
His brows lowered as if he didn’t understand the word. There was a long pause as he stared at me before finally speaking.
“You are bored.”
He said each word slowly, putting more weight on the last. Sighing, I shrugged and gave him a nod. The disbelief in his tone stung enough to make me defensive, but I couldn’t survive with nothing to do but watch the sand blow.
“I’m sorry if it offends your masculine sensibilities, but there is a limit to how long I can watch people hit each other before my brain starts melting.”
A couple of nearby warriors slowed, and I realized they could hear me. I hadn’t tried to keep my voice down, and Morraki senses were better than Human.
Rhydek kept staring, his tail twitching behind him, but his kethra remained steady, which I took as a good sign.
“I see.”
I folded my arms over my chest, then unfolded them because the action pulled on the thavren. Rhydek’s mouth twitched as if I was amusing him, and it only made me more irritated.
“I don’t want to stay home alone, but I can’t keep sitting here pretending I enjoy this.”
His expression changed and his kethra gave a flash before settling again. He crossed his arms over his chest, not having the difficulty I did since he wasn’t covered head to toe like a kid using his mom’s sheet to look like a ghost.
“But you’re not pretending.”
I huffed, the urge to growl a new sensation I almost embraced. The sun and heat were getting to me, and every time a bead of sweat trickled down my spine I wanted to snap at something.
“I’ve spent the entire morning being decorative. I need something to do.”
A few of the warriors were definitely listening to our conversation, and I wasn’t the only one to notice. I hated drawing attention, but I had to say something before it became too much to bear.
Rhydek’s eyes narrowed and he tipped his head towards a doorway.
“Come.”
He turned without explanation and strode away, leaving me to scramble to keep up.
Apparently that was my life now, chasing after a giant, emotionally constipated alien, because he refused to answer questions before he’d had enough time to think of the most frustrating response possible.
He stopped on the other side of the doorway, turning to me as I entered. Racks of weapons filled the room, but at least they didn’t have ears.