Page 74 of Stealing the Star Stone
She buried her nose in the goblet and thought about strangling Orien.Her hard-on tenting the strips wouldn’t go down well.Her cheeks flushed in anticipation of that embarrassment.
“Khepan tells me you know Lord Orien?”Amenkar demanded.Four men gathered around him, including the one with the scar that ran from his eye to his collarbone.
Why hadn’t the eels healed him?She dragged her gaze away.
“He believes it’s my fault the shol shattered,” she said.
“We escaped him, stole a ship, traveled here, and found a…shol.”Eli rose.
“I had hoped you were not chosen,” Amenkar said, running his gaze over Eli, lingering on the curve of his waist and bare legs.“You seek a pair.”He held out his hand.“Give me the shol.”
“I left it with my things,” she said.“Khepan—”
“Will collect it.”Amenkar raised a hand, and Khepan hurried past them.“You do not know that these are not mere…stones.They are ancient, carry a life of their own, and do not react to just any stone.”
“So the one on the island might not work?”Eli asked.
Amenkar scowled.“How do you know of the temple?”
“We have maps drawn by Orien’s people.”Eli pointed to the bag Khepan placed at Amenkar’s heels.When the chief nodded, Eli dove in and brought out the book, flipping to the pages to show the man.
Amenkar’s eyebrows hit his hairline.“We do not even know these locations.Your Lord Orien has been determined.”
“He is not our anything,” Nova said, climbing to her feet.The scarred man calmed his men who’d shifted when she came to stand beside Eli.“If I could kill him, I would.”
Amenkar studied their faces, listened to whatever Scar whispered to him, then hummed.“What you do not know is that the stones are more than fertility idols and are beyond our understanding.Those touched by it can open an ancient vault rumored to hold the secrets to godlike powers.”
She gaped.“You can’t be serious?Is the vault’s location on the map?”
“Yes.”Amenkar frowned.“You must know, when the shols were birthed, gods roamed this world.The vault was not built to hoard these powers or to guard them.Whatever is inside was meant to remain hidden.”
Fear summoned a shiver.She glanced at Eli.“Orien isn’t a good man.That sort of power in his hands would lead to destruction.”
“No one should open that vault,” he said, leaning into her.
She slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him close.
Amenkar’s expression darkened.“Eat, rest.On the next sun, if Orien does not arrive before then, we will escort you to the temple.It is the shol’s choice to welcome or kill you.”
The black-cladded men ushered them behind the chief until they reached his dais.At a flick of his hand, she sank onto a cushion, servants offering her goblets or fruit from a platter.Her stomach churned at the dark cloud hovering over them so eating was O.U.T.Damn, she’d kill for a tea.
Eli crowded her to whisper, “Is it me or is Amenkar a handsome man?I mean, his physique’s magnificent.I never thought I was a thigh girl, but have you seen his?”
She glanced at her thighs, trying to compare them to the Lethari’s.With a huff, she tugged the strip of cloth over them.“Quit fangirling,” she hissed.“There’s no fucking anyone with my body.”
“Ah, Nova-honey, tomorrow’s the day we swap back.Can’t I just have one teensy, weensy orgasm as a woman?”
She glared at him then shifted attention to the chief.“Can you defend this city from Orien?”
Amenkar grinned, blasting her with a bright smile that was devastating as it was nerve-wracking.“Of course.We improved our defenses after he killed the last chief.”
“He did what?”Eli froze, the goblet halfway to his mouth.
She smacked his arm.“I told you he killed for that stone.”
“I don’t need I-told-you-so.We’re past that,” he muttered.
“Tell me.”Amenkar ran his thumb along the side of the goblet.“Were you lovers before the shol changed you?”
