14. Lorken
Lorken
Teasing her was almost too enjoyable. Her cheeks flushed and her pupils widened and her chest heaved.
Even with hair flattened wet and all traces of artificial color wiped from her face, she was stunning.
Maybe even more so than when she’d been dressed in the ruffled green dress with her hair artfully curled around her shoulders.
I lowered my head to keep from smiling at her shock, although I said nothing that was not true. There was nothing like the sensation of my furs on bare skin, and I did sleep unclothed, like all Vandar.
“There is much you will learn about the Vandar,” I told her, placing my goblet on the table and reaching for a round of warm bread.
“Not if I’m just a guest passing through.
” Her lips flattened to a hard line as she wrenched her gaze away from the furs, and I recognized the same defiance I’d witnessed in the theatre on Kashara.
She believed she had leverage, when in fact, she was at my mercy. Not that I planned to tell her that.
Let her believe that she was in control, and that she had negotiated a fair deal.
In fairness, she had convinced me to bring aboard her colleagues, which was far beyond the realm of Vandar policy.
I suspected my own crew had doubts about my actions, but I regretted nothing.
I would have accepted even more of the troupe if it meant getting Athena to leave the planet with me.
Convincing her that being my war bride was part and parcel of the bargain had been a surprise, and a part of me could barely believe that she was in my quarters and at my table.
My pulse quickened at the thought that she would also be in my furs.
Then something uncomfortable prickled at the back of my brain. It was still a bargain, a deal, an exchange she agreed to only because I gave her little choice. She would not have come willingly.
A rumble vibrated in the deepest part of my chest. I should not care why she was with me.
I should only care that she was. A Raas of the Vandar did not trifle with such distinctions.
It was my right to take what I wished as the spoils of war.
Hadn’t other warlords claimed brides as their due before?
Hadn’t those females become devoted mates?
I thought of the notorious Raas brothers and the human mates they had taken.
No one questioned those unions. Then I thought of my own parents and their arranged marriage, and the wine churned sour in my stomach.
I’d seen for myself that love and happiness could not be forced, and I’d sworn never to take a mate because of it.
Then what are you doing?
I shook off the question ringing in my head and glanced up to find Athena eyeing me warily. Tvek. Now I was frightening her.
I cleared my throat and motioned to the food. “You have had a trying day. You should eat.”
She took a round of bread and took a bite, but made no move to fill her plate with the savory stews and dishes.
I suspected she was overwhelmed with the chaos of the Zagrath attack, the escape, her first exposure to a Vandar warbird, and her fall into the pool. Maybe learning that the warlord who’d taken her preferred to live like his barbarian ancestors had been too much.
My own brother did not understand why I chose furs on the ground instead of a grand bed like other warlords.
But he also embraced the technology I merely tolerated and believed that the Vandar should shed the traditions of our past. I believed that abandoning our past had weakened us.
Maybe if we’d maintained our vicious reputation as merciless barbarians we would not be dealing with a resurgence of the Zagrath.
“You don’t need to worry about making new clothes for me,” she said, interrupting the tempest of my thoughts.
I didn’t hide my surprise at this statement that had come from nowhere. “No? You prefer to wear my towel?”
She cut her gaze to the fabric wrapping her body, laughing as if I’d said something amusing. “I mean that there’s no point. We won’t be on your ship long enough to warrant a new wardrobe.”
I tilted my head at her. “You won’t? How do you plan on leaving?”
She spluttered as she ripped her round of bread into pieces. “I mean that you promised to drop us off at the nearest safe planet. That can’t be far.”
I leaned back, curling my hands around my knees and marveling that the woman knew so little about the location of her planet. “Far is a relative term, but, yes, we are far from a suitable planet, especially since we cannot use space warping speed that would reveal our position.”
Her forehead wrinkled. “We have to go slow in order to stay invisible?”
I did not want to go into the mechanics of space travel or the technology that cloaked our horde ships, but I nodded. “We do. Unless you wish the Zagrath to find us.”
Her scowl deepened. “I guess not.” She absently popped one of the bits of bread into her mouth. “When you said you’d take us to the nearest planet, I suppose I thought it would be a quick trip.”
I almost chuckled at her na?veté. The space between habitable planets was vast, even if we didn’t need to travel with caution.
Not to mention the fact that I had no intention of making the trip quick.
Dropping off our passengers so soon after their arrival would defeat the purpose of me bringing Athena on board in the first place.
No, I intended to spend as much time and as many nights as I could with her. How else would she assume my mating marks? How else could I make her my war bride in more than name only? The thought sent heat skittering across my skin and a quiver buzzing the length of my tail.
“It will not be quick,” I growled as I stood. “If I were you, I would reconsider my offer for new clothes.” Then I smiled at her and allowed my eyes to drift down to the swell of her breasts above the tucked fabric. “Although I do not mind you like this.”
She sucked in a quick breath, her eyes flashing outrage and her mouth opening to snap back. Before she could respond, I strode away from the table and toward the door.
“I will leave you to enjoy your dinner while I return to my command deck. Do not wait up for me.” I registered an indignant huff before I paused at the door and peered over my shoulder. “I will see you later, Athena.” I slid her another smile as my tail swung behind me. “In my furs.”