Chapter Twenty-One
Taryn
The water felt different. Or maybe it was just me.
I sank a little deeper into the pool, letting the heat soak into muscles that had only just stopped protesting the endless stairs and uneven terrain of Morrakan. It should have been relaxing. The warm pool, dim lighting, distant whispers…
But something in me was restless. The heat didn’t just soak into my muscles, it seemed to spread, slow and heavy, curling through my limbs and settling low in my belly.
I shifted, trying to find a more comfortable position on the carved stone ledge beneath the surface. Trying to figure out how to relax.
It didn’t work.
I was hyper aware of everything. The water cradling me, the faint brush of a current around my legs, and the steady presence across from me.
Rhydek.
I tried to keep myself from looking at him. I didn’t trust myself to. I was still picturing the way he’d moved on the training grounds. The way he’d fought, pitted against far too many to beat, and yet he’d always come out on top.
I hadn’t missed the way the other warriors had stopped looking at me afterwards. I’d been receiving darted glances the whole morning, with some of the warriors drawing closer to where I sat. They hadn’t lost interest, they’d stopped looking because of him.
And something in me liked it.
My fingers flexed where they rested on the edge of the pool, my core tightening. I’d seen it before, in smaller ways. The tension and subtle shifts in behavior when we were around others.
Today had been different. It hadn’t been subtle. He’d been making a statement to all of them.
And we all understood.
It wasn’t that dissimilar to animals and the way the males of most species competed for mates.
I didn’t fully understand all the nuances, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out why he rubbed his wrists against me when I sat in his lap during the council meeting, or why he brushed against me as we climbed the stairs.
He’d been marking me.
Heat crept up my neck, and I finally glanced up.
Golden orbs were locked on me the way they’d been every time I looked at him.
They were steady, intense, and unreadable in a way that was becoming frustratingly familiar.
His posture seemed relaxed, shoulders loose, one arm draped along the edge of the pool, but I knew better.
Rhydek never relaxed.
At least, not around me.
The air between us felt… thicker. Like something was building, just beneath the surface, waiting for something to set it off.
Or maybe it was all in my head.
I swallowed and looked away again, focusing on the faint glow of the bioluminescent plants clinging to the cavern walls.
I was probably overthinking everything. Between the serum changing my hormones, the stress of my body changing, and the fact that I was on an alien planet, bathing in an underground river, with a man who could snap me in half without trying…
It was no wonder I was beginning to imagine things and felt drawn to the only constant through it all.
Right?
“Are you in pain?”
His voice cut through my thoughts, low and rough, closer than I expected. I blinked and focused on what was in front of me instead of gazing off into space.
“No,” I said, then hesitated. “Not really.”
His brow lowered and my muscles tightened, ruining the point of sitting in the pool.
“Not really?”
I sighed then leaned my head back against the stone, letting my eyes drift shut as if everything was fine.
“Just sore. It’s nothing serious.”
I felt the weight of his stare, as if he were trying to decide whether I was lying. I wasn’t really. It wasn’t pain crawling along my nerves. It was something else entirely.
“I’m fine, Rhydek. Promise.”
I kept my voice soft, reassuring, even though I didn’t understand what it was I was feeling. Maybe it was how animals felt before a big storm, one they somehow knew was coming without having an app or radio station tell them.
Even unable to see him, I felt the shift in his attention. It was becoming more obvious, which was becoming a problem, because it made it harder to pretend to ignore.
I noticed everything about him now.
The way his kethra shifted with his mood.
The way his tail crept towards me when he thought I wasn’t paying attention.
The way his gaze lingered and then snapped away, like he’d caught himself doing something he shouldn’t.
It made it harder to believe this was just a duty to him. An obligation. Because it didn’t feel like one to me anymore. Not entirely.
I shifted again, drawing one knee up beneath the water. The movement sent another slow wave of warmth through me, and I swallowed a quiet sound, focusing instead on the question that had been circling my mind since training that morning.
Since the moment his snarl deepened and he began to fight every male who looked my way, everything had felt… different.
I cracked my eyelids open just enough to make out his shape across from me.
“I have a request.”
Gold flashed in the dimness, but it was a moment before he responded.
“Ask.”
I sucked in a breath, trying to find my courage. It wasn’t something I could ease into, or hide behind curiosity about his culture. It was personal, and I wasn’t sure I could handle another rejection.
My pulse increased and my kethra flared despite my attempt to remain calm.
“My heat will come soon.”
He stiffened. Not visibly, not in a way that was obvious, but I felt it. The change in his focus. The way everything in me tightened.
“Yes.”
The word was sharp, as if he hated admitting it. It made me swallow, but I pushed on anyway.
“I know what that means… in theory… but I don’t know what it’s actually going to be like. How I’ll feel. What I’ll… want.”
The last word came out softer than I intended, quavering in the quiet around us. It revealed too much.
His eyes reflected the low light, so I saw the way he tipped his head as if he was confused.
“What are you asking?”
I drew in a slow breath, trying to steady myself. What I wanted was practical. Smart.
Or so I told myself.
“I don’t want to go into it unprepared. I don’t want to panic or… react in a way that might not look good in front of anyone watching.”
All true.
Totally reasonable.
Just maybe not the whole truth.
I curled my fingers against the stone, letting the texture ground me. The worst he could say was no.
Right?
“I thought…”
I swallowed, then forced myself to finish in a rush before the words stuck in my throat.
“I thought maybe I could learn. Now. Before I’m confused by hormones and an audience.”
Silence stretched between us and I almost thought he wasn’t going to respond. I felt his attention shifting, not away from me, but becoming more calculated. Like he was assessing a battle in progress to determine his next move.
“Learn what?”
I forced myself to meet his eyes. To push the last word from my lips.
“You.”
It felt heavier than it should have and landed like a stone that kicked up dust to obscure the air between us.
“I need to know what I’m dealing with, Rhydek. What to expect. How your… physiology may differ from Humans. What I should be prepared for.”
It sounded clinical enough.
Safe enough.
It wasn’t even a lie.
But it wasn’t the truth either, because part of me was curious. Not just in an academic, detached way, but in a way that made my skin feel too tight. In a way that made the water feel hotter than it should, and made me very aware that we were alone.
And naked.
Rhydek’s silence didn’t surprise me. It always took him a moment to respond when he didn’t want to answer.
His jaw flexed, kethra shifting into yellow at the edges before snapping back to orange. His tail moved beneath the water, fighting the current before going completely still.
“You should wait.”
The words were firm. Controlled. As if it was the nicest thing he could say.
My stomach dipped, chest going cold. I couldn’t be wrong about the way he acted when he thought no one was watching, I knew he was attracted to me in some way, but he kept denying it.
I raised my head and met his stare, my bunched brows matching his.
“Why?”
His gaze darkened and one side of his lips lifted, a canine flashing in the dim light.
“Because once you begin, we may not stop.”
A shiver ran through me that had nothing to do with the temperature of the water. My nipples tightened into peaks, the brush of the water enough for me to yearn for something more solid.
“That sounds like a reason to understand it now.”
His expression flickered. I couldn’t tell if it was frustration or something more, but a low growl followed, vibrating the water.
“You do not understand what you are asking.”
I leaned forward, closing some of the space between us.
“Then explain it to me, Rhydek.”
The words came out sharper than I intended, and I softened them with a hasty, “Please.”
Silence again, but this time it felt… thinner. Strained. As if his resolve was starting to crack.
“I am trying to protect you.”
I believed him. That was the problem. He thought he needed to protect me from himself.
“You can’t protect me from something that’s going to happen anyway. All you can do is make me go into it blind.”
His lip curled back, showing his teeth in a silent snarl, but I had the feeling it wasn’t aimed at me when his gaze dropped before returning to mine.
“I don’t want to be a liability, Rhydek. To you, me, or the alliance.”
It was the safest argument. The most logical. The one he wouldn’t be able to dismiss because it aligned with everything he valued.
Control.
Strength.
His exhale was slow, as if he was preparing himself for a monumental task.
“You would only observe.”
It wasn’t a question, he was framing it as a condition. A requirement to receive what I wanted.
I nodded.
“Okay.”
My heart was pounding against my ribs, and I felt as if I was vibrating the way the water had.
“And it will stop when I decide.”
Another condition.
Another boundary I didn’t want in the way.
I didn’t like it, but I nodded again.
“Yes.”