“Our village is safe.” For now, at any rate. There was no honor in attacking a failing tribe.
“From outsiders, maybe, but apparently it’s the inhabitants I have to watch for.”
“I am sorry for my sister’s actions.”
“Are you?” Belle finally put her knife away, but what he liked less was she went for the pile of clothes on the chair and began to dress. He wouldn’t have minded her remaining a moment longer in the slim fitting shorts and cropped top that outlined her lean physique.
“Do not confuse her feelings with mine.”
“She wants me gone.”
“I don’t.”
“I’m not about to live somewhere I have to watch my back all the time.”
“If you became my sykyrah, they wouldn’t dare harm you.”
Clarabelle snorted. “I’m not worried about me. But if you’re attached to them, it could get dicey.” She slid on her boots.
“Are you going for a walk?”
“You might say. Listen, this isn’t going to work. Might as well face it now. We couldn’t last one day together, let alone a lifetime.”
“You said you’d give me eight days.”
“You might not have any family left by the end of it,” was her ominous proclamation. “Best for us both if I leave.”
Leave? She couldn’t go. Not yet. He had to do something. “What if you didn’t have to deal with my family?”
“Going to murder them yourself?” was her sardonic reply.
“More like going to suggest we escape them for a bit. How do you feel about camping in the wild?”
Eleven
What had possessed her to say yes? Clarabelle wasn’t a person who enjoyed shitting in the woods or sleeping on the ground, yet the thought of being alone with Thyos enticed.
It shouldn’t have.
She’d been ready to leave. Being constantly on her guard didn’t appeal. Screw seven more days of vigilance. Yet despite all the reasons to go, she found herself riding a hover bike of some kind out into the wilderness. The bike made her think of the ones used in that Star Wars movie she’d watched as a kid. Had George Lucas been to outer space? Because there was an uncanny resemblance.
She appreciated the fact Thyos didn’t expect her to ride bitch. She got her own bike, and once she figured out the controls, she had a blast zooming through the trees, doing hover wheelies and zigzags. It helped that the vehicle wouldn’t let her crash. Some kind of safety feature ensuring she never got too close to any trunks or branches.
She couldn’t have said how far they travelled, only that it was fun. When they finally stopped, she was smiling. And dear Lord, he smiled back.
Once more she couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was. He’d worn only a harness over his chest and a short kilt for the ride, meaning he had plenty of his body on display. She’d seen even more of it when he’d barged into her room, ready to be her hero.
Kind of hot, especially given he’d been dressed in a pair of loose shorts and nothing else. She got to see those shorts again once they’d parked and he stripped down to dive into a lake, the water sparkling in the sun.
When he emerged from the water, hair slicked back, he showed white teeth as he said, “Aren’t you coming in?”
The water tempted, but she could already see it was deep. It went from rocky lip to bottomless.
“No thanks.”
“Why not?”
“I can’t swim.” She hated to admit it and waited for the mockery.
Instead, he said, “Let me show you how.”
Her first impulse was to say no. After all, she’d refused more than a few offers of teaching by her friends and the Zonians. Pride and even a bit of fear had held her back.
Not today. Call her possessed, or she was just in the mood, she stripped, her cheeks hot under the avidness of his gaze. Did he like what he saw when she removed everything but her undershorts and cropped tight tank top that acted as a bralette? She could only imagine what the glow in his eyes meant.
Not yellow, she realized, but golden and warm. The fact they were shining should have repulsed her. Instead she felt more of that delicious heat between her legs.
It might have been a while since those teenage hormones had her wet all the time, but she remembered the feeling. The panted, fumbling pleasure in the back seat of Ryan’s car. He’d been two years older than her, driving and so hot.
The breathless feeling was back with Thyos. When he hooked one arm on the rock lip and offered the other for her to take, she didn’t hesitate. Her hips swayed as she joined him and crouched. This close, she could see the shape of his body under the water, his legs shadowy in the deepness.
“Does anything live in there?” she asked. There was nothing floating atop or projecting through the surface. Not a single weed. It should have been reassuring.
“Nothing that will come near us. It’s safe.”
She highly doubted that. Being near him was anything but.
Sitting first on her ass, she dipped her toes into the water, submerging both feet, not realizing she held her breath until her lungs strained. She heaved in some air and tried to relax as she focused her feet in the water. Nothing else.
“You planning on coming in today? I’d prefer setting up camp while there is daylight,” he teased, but not in a mean fashion.
“I’m coming.” Not yet. But possibly soon. He was attractive. She gripped his hand as she slipped into the water, the chill making her gasp. “It’s cold.” The water dropped in temperature as it got deeper.
“Only cold until you start moving. Make your body work a little, and it will feel fine.”
“Work my body how?” She clung to the lip of the rocky ledge. If she let go, she knew she wouldn’t immediately sink. Or was she assuming too much? Alien planet, it might have different laws of physics.
She dropped her chin to stare at the water and could see her toes resting on the rock below the surface. Just her feet, then his were beside hers. A good bit bigger than hers. Darker, too. She liked knowing he was near.
“Push your lower body away from the rock and extend your legs.”
She knew what he meant. “You want me to flutter kick.”
Ryan had been on the swim team, and she’d watched him quite a bit for the cheap thrills and the making out in his car after.
“Not yet, just hold yourself in that position until you feel the buoyancy of the water.”
“You can’t feel buoyancy.”
“Yes, you can but only once you lighten your body by getting in tune with the water,” he insisted.
“Floating is not some magical trick. Either you’re heavy enough to sink or you’ve got some fat or fluffy spots that help you stay on top.”
“I see why you don’t know how to swim,” was his grumbled reply.
“Are you calling me difficult?” she sputtered.
“I think you are arguing so that you can avoid trying. Probably too scared.”
Maybe she was a little. This was water. She’d had nightmares about it for a long time.
“You are scared. Why?”
Despite having kept it a secret for a long time, she found herself telling him. “My dad drowned when I was little. A fishing accident. Water freaks me out. Took me years before I could get in a bath. I know it was a fluke. People swim all the time, it’s just…” She glanced down at the water and trembled.