Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76583 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
“I just…I’m nervous,” Vali blurts. “It’s a town on the open water, right?”
“It is perfectly safe. You can stay close to me.”
“As if I’m going to wander off into the sea? I still need to make my sacrifice to Lord Vor.”
“The gods can wait a little longer. There’s an Anticipation going on right now anyhow. He might not be there to hear your prayers, and an Anticipation can last for years.”
She snorts at my response and gets to her feet, her large, dark-tipped breasts bouncing as she does. I forget everything as they sway hypnotically, but then Vali puts on a shift dress and my view is gone. She clutches the simple dress to her body, a panicked look on her face. “Gods, Ranan. This is my only dress! I don’t have anything to wear around your family!”
“You don’t need clothing. My people are comfortable with nudity.”
“I will fry like an egg in a skillet under the sun,” she tells me. “The clothing isn’t just for modesty.”
She’s right—I’ve seen how reddened her skin can get if she’s not protected. She’s still peeling from when she rescued me, though her color has changed from a sandy shade to a deeper bronze. I get an idea, though, and sit up in bed. “There are things you can wear.”
“Like what?” She tosses a length of cloth to me so I can towel off from our mating.
I glance around the grotto. Before she’d reorganized things, I recall a few impressive pieces that I’d stolen. One in particular was a series of golden necklaces that hung like a net from a thick, jeweled collar. It would look perfect on Vali. The idea thrills me so much that I try to get up from bed so I can find it and make certain she wears it.
Vali squawks like a seagull the moment I try to get up. “What are you doing?”
“The jewelry, where is it? There is a piece I want you to have.” I flop back down against the bed because pain lances up my leg. I’m pushing too hard too soon, but I hate being trapped in one place like this.
She moves to my side and pushes on my shoulders, making certain I remain where I am. “I put it all in the chest in the corner. Is it really important that you look at it right now?”
“Bring it here,” I say, imagining her pretty breasts framed by the golden strands. It’s the perfect thing for her to wear, and she’ll feel treasured then, won’t she? I’m excited to prove my fealty to her once again.
“Just wait there,” Vali grumbles, but she pulls the chest out from its spot against the wall. It’s a fairly large one, and she ends up leaning against it with her hip and shoving it forward in small increments.
Once it’s close enough that I can reach it, I drag it the rest of the way toward me. Vali has thoughtfully organized things by making fabric dividers so the necklaces don’t all tangle together like I had them. It’s easy to find the piece I’m looking for— it’s the most ostentatious one. I pull out the choker, the golden filaments cascading down from it like water. “This.”
“It’s beautiful,” she says automatically. “Thank you.”
Another lie. I drop my hands, studying her face. “You don’t like it?”
Vali flinches at being caught in her lie. She hesitates. “It’s very expensive looking.”
“It is, but I want you sparkling and radiant.” I push it towards her, proud that I have this piece to give her.
“It…” She hesitates, staring at it as if it is a sea snake. Then she looks up at me, her eyes wounded. “It looks like chains, Ranan. Chains and a slave collar.”
I stare down at the piece in my hands, at the thick choker and the net of golden strands. It didn’t occur to me that she wouldn’t like it, but I have never been a slave before. But when she rubs her neck as if she can feel the weight of the band there and hates it, I shake my head. “Then it won’t do.”
“I’m sorry,” she says quickly, the worried note in her voice. “Please don’t be upset—”
“Vali, I’m not upset.” I set it back in the chest and think of what else she might like, what else I might have that would make her feel confident to walk amongst my family. My fingers brush over a new piece and I hold it out. “This, then.”
The anxious, pinched look immediately leaves her face and she giggles as she takes the new item from my grip. “A tiara?”
“Aye. It won’t bother your neck, and it sparkles. Do you like it?”
She giggles again, touching the large blue stones that have been expertly fitted into the metal. There are three of them, clustered together like turtle eggs on a thin golden band made to look like a braid. “I’m not royal.”