Page 51 of Blood of the Stars

Still, he wanted to know more about her notes in his book. He opened his mouth to ask again, but her gaze shifted over his shoulder, her smile deepening with amusement.

“Your bondmate has graced the deck with her beauty. You should go see her before her jealous rage mixes with her sensitive stomach.”

He turned to find Lenda glaring at them from the doorway of her quarters, arms wrapped around her stomach like she held its contents at bay. The men all paused in their work, gazes volleying between Gaeren and Lenda like they expected an entertaining showdown.

Guilt swarmed through Gaeren’s chest, and he stepped away from Orra before he could evaluate why. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Why should he feel guilt just because Lenda misread the moment? He ran his thumb over his palm, tracing the bond mark with his nail as if he might be able to dig it out.

He should apologize and tell Lenda about the starbridge, give her peace of mind that she was the only woman he was interested in. His feet propelled him forward, but halfway across the deck, he realized it was the bond urging him to do and feel those things, so he jerked to a stop. With a bow small enough to possibly be a snub, he acknowledged Lenda’s presence above deck, then made his way to the quarterdeck, where Larkos’ shoulders shook with held-back laughter.

“It’s like you want to have a miserable marriage,” the older man said.

Gaeren took the wheel, knowing the need to display his authority was as childish and privileged as Larkos had accused him of being.

“Lenda’s suspicion is only a quarter of your problem, though,” Larkos warned. He leaned back against the bulkhead and retied his sleek black hair in a knot at his neck, drawing Gaeren’s attention to his Wheel of Magic tattoo once more.

Something about the tattoo bothered Gaeren, and he couldn’t put his finger on what.

“I can only do so much to keep the men supporting you.” Larkos crossed his arms and frowned. “Orra draws the men in while simultaneously repelling them. They think you’ve brought a witch on board.”

At least Larkos wasn’t bringing up Riveran. Maybe no one cared about the traitorous X with the threat of a witch. The hidden progenies, witches to most, were driven mad by their aspirations for more magic. They worshipped the Stars’ power more than the Sun’s light, and their blood magic and sacrificial practices were barbaric—murderous acts that Gaeren hoped Enla would abolish once all the threats of war had passed. The witches’ obsession matched Mayvus’, and for a moment he wondered if the power-hungry priestess could be from the witches’ coven, secretly rising to power. It would fit the strangeness about her that he couldn’t quite explain.

Something about Orra seemed different, though. Maybe her motivation or the way she held back her power instead of displaying it for the world to see. But maybe false humility was part of her strategy.

“Perhaps I have brought a witch,” Gaeren murmured.

Larkos’ gaze snapped to him. “Don’t let the men hear you say that.” Then he laughed. “Or Lenda.”

CHAPTER 22

The tunnel the Vendarans took Aeliana and Cyrus through was more like the scratched-out remains of a mole’s burrow. At various points, the paths veered off into dead ends, as if the person digging out the tunnel hadn’t been able to decide which direction was best. When it sloped downward, the mud often gave way to water, but when it angled back up, the ceiling didn’t necessarily adjust, forcing the entire party to bend at the waist until the ground gave way again.

Aeliana couldn’t fathom their position beneath the sea.

Supposedly, most of the tunnels had been formed by lava tubes thousands of years before, and progenies had used magic to break through the rest of the hard earth while stabilizing and connecting them. Velden had given that explanation as if it might comfort the newcomers, but it only made Aeliana more uneasy. In addition to picturing the tunnels collapsing beneath the weight of the water above, she imagined fresh lava at their backs.

She forced herself to relax, to think of the open air on the other side. They were almost through the twelve-mile trek that would bring them out from the caves to the main land around the time of the Sun’s sleep, but after she had traveled across the barrier by using a starbridge, spent a restless day debating if she made the right choice, then attacked her guardians on a dragon, she was ready to fall asleep on her feet.

Even the Vendarans seemed unsettled, but Aeliana suspected that was related to the lack of light. She sensed her own blood craving replenishment but found it more like the ache of hunger versus the nausea of satiety—far more manageable.

For the most part, the shuffle of boots against rock was only joined by the drip, drip, drip of water. She shivered in the dank air.

“Would you like an extra cloak?” Lukai asked.

Aeliana shook her head, then glanced in Cyrus’ direction. He spoke animatedly with Kendalyhn, whose face remained bunched up in irritation. The other woman had yet to smile, at least when Aeliana was around.

Maybe Aeliana should engage Lukai more, ask questions about her homeland, discover more about this man who was her bondmate, but her eyes fought to stay open, and placing one foot in front of the other for the remainder of the day was all she could manage.

By the time they reached the surface and Sylmar instructed them to make camp, every muscle in Aeliana’s body demanded that she sit or lie down, but she refused to be seen as a weak link. She dropped her quiver and bow to the earth, still ridden with bamboo shoots, and assisted Holm in laying out the bedrolls in the small clearing they’d found amongst the thick trees. Their variety was unfamiliar to Aeliana—large leaves and larger trunks that soaked up the perpetual wetness of the rainforest. Lukai and Jasperus used the trees’ limbs to replace the foliage hiding the lava tube entrance, their easy banter drifting across camp.

Holm rose from the last bedroll and leaned back slightly, as if that particular stance was the only way to balance the large gut before him.

“You should rest,” he offered, gesturing to the bedrolls they’d just laid out. Despite his girth, there was a formidable thickness to his limbs that should have left her on edge. Instead, his quiet manner made him more approachable than Jasperus, whose theatrical voice still startled her when it came from his small frame.

“I’m not sure I’d be able to get back up for the evening meal.” Her gaze shifted to the nearby fire that Kendalyhn had built and stoked. The other woman flitted around the flames, her tiny frame almost child-like, but there was a beauty in the way the glow shone over her light brown skin, the way her black hair had been braided across her crown. It made Aeliana reconsider Iris’ offer to cut off her locks.

As Kendalyhn leaned forward, a leather cord slipped from beneath her tunic, and a small object flashed in the firelight. Kendalyhn’s eyes swung in Aeliana’s direction, as if she sensed her curiosity, but a vicious frown crossed her face, and she turned her back on Aeliana.

“Don’t let her get to you,” Holm said. “Had a rough upbringing and doesn’t trust easily. Eventually she’ll crack. She’s all soft inside.”

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