Page 15 of Warrior's Reign
“Did you want something?”
“No. I will leave you.” He paused but said nothing, instead turning to leave.
“Sir?”
He stopped, hand on the threshold, and Reign almost blushed, feeling foolish. But blushing was for young girls, not grown ass women.
“Do you have an extra strand of beads?” she asked, kicking herself. If she needed a damn strand of prayer beads, she could just order one.
Vykhan inclined his head. “I will send them to your quarters.”
Reign sighed once he left and rubbed a hand over her face. Moody bastard. This afternoon he’d been all tension and disdain and silent criticism. Now he came to her suite grave, contemplative, his aura a balm, and knocked her completely off her guard. She closed her eyes, inhaling, and centered herself. The palace was her life now. She couldn’t afford emotional entanglements here.Ibukay said you could choose a partner from the warriors,a voice reminded her.Or even find a bondmate.
A bondmate, like what her mother had with Benyon. Someone in sync. Warm arms at night, strength in the training circle. Someone with shared goals, purpose.
“Why don’t you try just getting through the first year, girl?” she muttered to herself. But maybe. . .maybe she should go see Numar. It was time to ask questions. Time for true closure.
* * *
Vykhan knelt in the prayer circle, the scent of night blooming flowers accompanied by the gentle hum of insects. His personal meditation garden was open to a select few, though he’d let Reign think any who wished to use it were invited. There would be no easy way to explain to her why, as the newest of Ibukay’s guards,shewas extended an invitation when many he had commanded for years were not.
But there was much he couldn’t yet explain to her.
And of courseReign rose in his mind, a young woman at rest on her narrow cot in nothing but a shift, her dark curls a mess around her head. She smiled at him with sleepy exhaustion, and it was all he could do not to kneel in front of her and bury his face in the juncture of her thighs. All he could do to not take advantage of her trust. She held out an arm to him and he took her hand, allowing her to draw him down to her side. He would do nothing but hold her as she slept. Even though with each breath she sent him hurtling back down into the spiral of ferocious emotion he’d pried himself from only decades before. He breathed through the thin mask covering his entire face, and wanted to rip it off, to speak.
He bent at the waist, then stood, allowing the chant to flow through him and take away the sting of Reign’s presence. Being near her was like walking an invisible, electrified line. He’d hated the hostility in her eyes earlier that day, and had had to spend several hours rebuilding his Silence so he could approach her without the whips of his own needs and failures flaying her as well.
Vykhan felt a feminine presence at his side, but did not turn to her until his prayers were complete. She sat on her knees, staring peacefully at the statue of their goddess.
“Theyadoanais here,” Aanyah said. FirstAdekhanto the Heir, her bondmate SecondAdekhan, there was nothing he hid from her. Well, almost nothing.
“Yes, mother,” he murmured.
“How are you feeling?”
Her voice was kind, her eyes luminous with a mother’s patience. He disliked that she spoke offeelingswhen she knew he struggled with feelingtoo much. But then she didn’t know of those dark years when he’d glutted himself in emotion.
“I am at peace,” he said. He lowered himself next to her, uncomfortable looming over his own mother. “I’m certain you’ll seek her out soon.”
She grinned at him. “Of course.”
“Mother. . .”
Aanyah waved a hand. “I won’t interfere. Your father has made me promise. But I want to meet this Reign Obe’shan.” She narrowed her eyes. “She’ll be at 0400?”
“Of course.”
His expression hardened. Reign was stubborn, hard to direct, and resentful. He would condition all the rebellion out of her, and any lazy habits that had eroded her path to Silence in the last several years. It angered him. All that potential and she had walked away from it. Why? She’d been on the path to being one of Numar’sbest, her ambition relentless. All she needed was another hundred years.
She does nothaveanother hundred years,a dark, amused inner voice murmured.Unless you make her yours. If you are warrior enough. If she even wants you. I couldmakeher want you. I could make her beg.
Vykhan allowed the insidious thought no purchase. He was not that male any longer. He was not a male who enjoyed making lovers scream with need for him—and then walk away, fueled by the cruelty.
Aanyah’s smile turned slightly smug. “Excellent. I could do with a little light training myself. I rarely greet the babies anymore.”
“Mother.” Steel in his tone this time.
She only laughed and rose, bending to press a kiss on his head. Ten decades older than him, she still moved with the lithe youthfulness of a first-year recruit.
