Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
I shake my head. “She was very confident I would not fail.” I try to think back. “At the time, I suppose, I had doubts the venom was a good idea, but she said to do it. So I did.”
“It sounds fantastical. I don’t know if it is the truth. Humans lack honor. They lie.”
“Then what do you suppose is the real truth?” I challenge, even though I know better than to challenge a master. “First of all, Leylah is not some random human. She’s, well, she’s Leylah. She has gifts that are beyond the ordinary. And second—”
He cuts me off. “You will speak when you are spoken to.”
“But I—”
“Will be punished if I need to say it again.”
The words stand between us, shimmering in the air. We are both silent. He’s locked eyes with me again, and although he’s angry and suspicious, I suddenly know it in my bones. He desires me right back.
And unlike the attention from the grotesque Ocretion, I’m not afraid of it. In fact… I want it.
The other Zandian in the room clears his throat. “Captain Drayk, I will give you, ahem, privacy.” The look he gives the captain is a sort of meaningful eye-roll, and my face grows warm.
Mother Earth.
“Thank you, Ark.” Drayk nods. Then he turns his attention fully on me. I shrink under his gaze.
“Did somebody give you these syringes and tell you to poison me and my crew?” He snaps the question at me. “Is this a poison that is meant to test out whether or not you can kill Zandians with a new toxin?”
“What? No!” I’m horrified. “Of course not.”
“Was it all a setup?” He steps closer. “Did your master send you here to fake an escape and test out a new bioweapon?”
“No, my lord. Please believe me.”
My Zandian holds up his hand. Mine? When did I start to think of him this way? Especially now, when’s he’s interrogating me?
I flush and direct my eyes to the floor, hoping to clear my mind of these strange thoughts. Mistake: On the way, I catch a glimpse of his thighs in his tight breeches, the muscles outlined, lean and powerful, and feel the new but already familiar rushing in my body.
I’ve heard about this sensation but never before experienced it. Desire.
His voice softens as if he feels it too. “You asked for asylum, and we are capable of giving you that, if you are deemed worthy. But I require the truth. If you were forced to board the ship and harm Zandians—perhaps under threat of torture to you or your friends—we will take that into account. You will not be harmed, if you tell us the whole truth.” His voice is silky and almost hypnotic. “You can trust me. Tell me who asked you to do this. It is the right thing.”
I want to comply, even though there’s nothing to tell. I want to win his approbation.
“I did tell you, already.”
He discards the persona and snaps back into a ferocious stance. “Who gave them to you?” His glower intensifies. “I do not for one second believe that your little human group is capable of creating this.”
Thrown off by his abrupt switch, I stammer. “I-I told you, Leylah—”
“This technology is beyond your comprehension. Do you even understand what this is?” He holds up the glass vial, and it shines in the light, the fluid inside gleaming and sparking a sudden rainbow when he tilts the container just the right way.
“I do not know the details. But I swear on my life, I am not lying about this.”
“You’re lying to me about something.” He growls the words.
How can he tell?
“I am not.” I dart my eyes away before I mean to. Damn. Now he knows I’m lying.
He laughs. “We’ll see if I can find a way to loosen your tongue.”
In a flash, he tugs me to my feet and pulls me toward him. Even though it’s not a tender gesture, it’s not rough, either, and the touch of his large hands on my skin makes me gasp.
When I look up at him, his face displays shock, as if he feels it too, and is just as amazed. But he looks away and his grip tightens on my arms. “Zandians have a policy against torture. But physical punishment has been proven useful for disobedient human females. I understand it will cause no lasting damage or harm, but I promise, you’re not going to like it.”
I squeak and try to pull away, but his grip is like steel.
“So I’m giving you another chance to tell me the truth about the syringes, Taisha.”
He looks into my eyes. We’re so close now his breath feathers across my face. It’s warm and neutral, like faint grass. Pleasant, actually, and without meaning to, I lean in. His lips look so smooth and strong at once. Why do I wish I could stroke his jaw, touch his horn? I’m fascinated. I think it would not feel rough under my fingers, but smooth, warm, probably pulse with life. Reflexively I move my cuffed arms upward and hit his lower body, connecting with a part that I’ve Never—Oh, Mother Earth. My face burns and he startles, staring down at me like he’s not sure what I’m about. I look down, then back up, because his eyes are magnetic.