Chapter 13

"Squats? Really?" Her voice is strained, her jaw set as I put her through the most basic exercises.

My lips twitch with a barely suppressed smile. "If you want to defend yourself, you have to be strong."

"Makes sense," she grunts. Determination furrows her brows, and I let the smile I've been holding back spread across my face. Her backside dips as she squats, and I keep my eyes thoroughly averted.

I honored her wish to stop touching her, to stop kissing her. It was not easy, however. Lana wants me. I held her close, tasted the sweetness of her skin. The scent of her arousal filled the cave at my caresses. It will have to be enough.

But staring at the plump curve of her ass does not help the matter, so I keep my eyes trained on her face. She blows out a breath through pursed lips, and I look past her shoulder, trying not to imagine those lips around my cock.

"How many more?" She asks after a moment, and I take a step back, my hands at my hips.

I'm not sure I can handle much more myself.

"We can try stances now."

"Stances?"

"A large part of being an effective fighter is reacting before you think. Knowing how to hold your body, how to protect the important parts. Muscle memory, yes?"

"Like a piano player."

I tilt my head. "A what?"

"Never mind. I know what you mean. Alright, Ras, tell me how you want it."

Her eyes widen as our gazes meet.

"Ah, I mean, tell me how you want me to stand."

I clear my throat, trying to be a gentleman. Trying not to think about how I want it, how I want her all over this damn cave, my mouth all over her body.

Stars above and below.

"Bend a little in the knees." My voice is hoarse and low, and she drops her eyes to the ground, doing what I say. Stars, I like how she does what I say. "Put your feet hip width apart, square your hips. Now step one foot back." The gritty soil crunches under her feet. "Good. That is good."

She looks back up at me, expectant. She's a good listener, a great student. Even though I put her through her paces, working her abs and her arms too, she hasn't complained, not like some of the warriors I trained, a lifetime ago.

"What body part should you protect?"

Her mouth scrunches to the side. "My head? Although, you know, I like my guts where they are, too."

I huff a laugh, smiling at her. "I like them where they are, as well."

She puts her arms up, sweat dripping in a glimmering line down the column of her throat.

"Raise your elbows a little more. Good. Now release it."

Lana relaxes, shaking her arms out and her legs.

"How do you feel?"

"I can keep going." Her jaw tightens, and she pops back into the fighting stance.

"Good girl," I practically purr it, so pleased I am with her willingness to continue, despite being tired. If I were a better man, I might make her stop, but to be honest, I'm enjoying this too much. The way she responds to my lessons, watching her process the small corrections, the way her body looks as I put it through the most basic exercises.

Her eyes meet mine, and I see desire in them. A pink flush moves up her chest, and my eyebrows raise. I look away, my fingers twitching on my hips.

"Again."

Her body slackens, and we repeat this until her muscles are shaking. Her mouth is a grim line, and there's a fire in her that stokes my admiration even higher.

"You need water."

She nods, then sits down where she stood, legs sprawled out in front of her in the dirt. Her breath comes in great gulps. My mate is brave, and though she makes slow progress, she makes progress. I hand her a bowl of the spring water, and she drinks from it greedily. Her red-blonde hair sticks to her forehead, sweat beading across her skin.

"Are you alright?" I tilt my head.

"I'll be fine.

"You know I will protect you, yes?"

Her lips thin, her mouth curving into a frown. "Even from yourself?"

A low growl escapes my mouth. "I would never hurt you."

Silence stretches through the cave at that, the only noise the rushing of the water and the muted birdcalls outside the wards.

"Is this because of the last man? He hurt you?" I'm walking a razor's edge, close to snapping, even thinking of another man touching her. Hurting her. I growl again, and this time she doesn't flinch. Her head hangs low, and she traces the edge of the now empty bowl.

I need something to do, so I take the bowl and fill it with more water. She needs to drink more water.

I dip the bowl into the clear water, and then Lana speaks again.

"Yes. He hurt me, Ras. More than the places you can see."

Blood pounds in my ears, my grip on the bowl tightening. If I could move through the gates, I would tear his head off for even touching her.

"I don't want that to happen again. I want to be able to protect myself." Her voice grows small, and when I look back at her, she's curled around herself, knees tucked into her chin. "Even from you. I want to be tough."

It's the sadness in her voice that leeches all the rage from me. "You already are."

She snorts, a delicate sound of disbelief, and turns her cheek to look at me. "I am not. I put up with it for so long that I hardly knew who I was anymore. Who I am." Sandy soil clings to her legs.

"I know who you are," I tell her, crossing the distance between us and handing her the bowl.

A small smile kicks up the corner of her mouth. "Let me guess, I'm your mate. You've told me that plenty, Ras."

Irritation rankles me, and I inhale deeply. Not at her, though, at myself. I have pushed her too hard, too fast. She's wounded, her wings clipped by the bastard that treated her so carelessly, and I, the idiot that I am, have not helped.

"You are Lana Kit. You are the heir to House Orion, one of the great warrior houses. You and your sisters are heralding a change in Vraya. You are important, all on your own, in a way I have nothing to do with."

I would die for you,I want to say. I am half in love with you already.

I settle in the dirt next to her, and she passes me the bowl, a thoughtful look on her face. I take a sip, trying to think of a way to soothe her. I want to fix her wings. I want her to soar.

"My father told me the mating bond was intense, like nothing else." I push the long hair from my face, annoyed at it. "Like so many other things he taught me, he was right about that. But that does not mean that my pursuit of you has been acceptable. I understand that you need time. I know you want to find your sisters. I will not push you, Lana. I would have you come to me when you are ready, or not at all."

Not at all would sunder me in two, but I do not say that. I cannot.

She watches me, and I try to drag a hand through my hair, but it's unmanageable, and I wrinkle my nose in irritation and reach for the water instead.

"My father was right about most things, too. Did yours teach you to fight?"

I look up at the cave's skylight, thinking hard. "I believe so. He taught me, and several children of the other Houses. I remember a little boy that was like a brother to me, black haired and angry and fierce. I remember… I remember another, with curly brown hair who was serious and tried to keep us out of trouble. And another still, with reddish brown hair, a huge boy, who was even more stubborn than I…"

"You're remembering," she smiles at me, a real one that lights up her face. Pleasure jolts through me. Despite everything she's been through, she's kind, and open. Lana might be hurting, but she's hopeful.

"I am," I agree, turning my attention back to the golden sunlight filtering into the cave. "It's nothing helpful, though." Nothing that tells me why she's here, or why the harbingers are back, or why my house lies in ruin, or why I slept for stars only know how long.

Reaching out, she squeezes my bicep gently, that small smile still playing on her lips. "That's a good sign though, right? What do you think would help you remember it all?"

It would be faster if she would allow me to claim her.

I cannot tell her that. I will not put more pressure on her. I might not remember much, but I remember that patience has never been my strong suit.

"Talking to you helps," I say instead. It's not false, not completely. She puts me at ease, everything about her mesmerizing. "Though, you know, when my House trained warriors, we did not only train the body, we trained the mind."

Her gaze travels over face, landing on my mouth, then skirting over my shoulders and arms. When I inhale, the smell of her desire perfumes the air, distracting me. I fist my hands in my lap, willing them to stay where they are. Not to touch her.

"Is that right?"

I nod once. "The mind needs to be strong as well. You must train it. Patience. Strategy. Outthinking the enemy. It's necessary for shaping the starlight, too, the magic in us."

"Are you patient?" She raises one eyebrow, her hair curling off her forehead in a ruddy halo.

"Not at all." I give her a crooked grin. "But a general must be."

"You were a general?"

Surprise shakes me, and I sit up straighter. "I think I was."

"See?" She practically crows, slapping my arm. "You are remembering! This is great."

It troubles me though, this idea that I was a general. That I lead them, the warriors of Vraya. That I have slept through whatever has happened in this land. My stomach twists, and I cannot quite meet her eyes.

"Teach me." It's a command, and it snaps me out of the wild tangle of disturbed thoughts shadowing my mind.

"Teach you patience?"

"No," she sighs, "teach me your Jedi mind tricks. Show me how to do the magic stuff."

I frown. "What is a jed-eye?"

"It's like," she pauses, her nose scrunching as she thinks. It's adorable. "You know, like a space magician."

"You have space magicians where you're from?" I scratch my beard, confused. "I thought you… magic seemed such a strange concept to you."

"It's not real, it's a story. You know what? Never mind. Teach me how you train the mind here, great Obi-Wan." She lowers her voice, mock serious.

I furrow my brows, confused. "I do not know this Obee One."

She laughs then, and it echoes off the cave walls.

I laugh too, pleased to see her happy. Beyond pleased. Need races under my veins, and I press it down. Slam the door shut on it.

"After training is the perfect time to practice," I tell her, and this time, I take her hands. Her eyebrows shoot up, but she lets me. "We would always practice strengthening the mind after heating the body and blood."

"Oh," she breathes out, and I refused to look up at her, knowing it will distract me from my purpose. Instead, I use her hands to draw the constellations in the dirt in front of us.

"We use the waypoints of the stars to focus the mind, to guide our thoughts and practices. The stars have power. The power runs through our veins. The starlight is more easily called when the mind is focused."

"So that's why you do it after training, that whole mind-body connection thing, yeah?" Her hands are delicate, soft in mine. Everything about this feels right, so easy, like breathing. I don't have to remember who I am with her, because we're already so good, just like this. Neither of us are whole, and maybe that means we fit together all the better for it.

I know the rest of her will feel as right when I finally take her. I clench my teeth, failing at the lesson I am trying to teach her, even now.

Focus.

"Clear your mind. Think about the light of the stars. Can you see them in your mind?" I connect the dots I've drawn with her finger, and she inhales deeply. "Call to it. Can you feel it inside you?"

"I don't, I don't know how—" Her voice is tight.

"Breathe, Lana. Relax. It's inside you already." I gently squeeze her fingers, willing her to know what I already feel roiling inside her. "It's yours. It's been sleeping, coiled tight, and now it wakes. Reach for it. Coax it."

She's silent for a long moment, her eyelids fluttering and mouth slightly parted. A frisson of energy surges from her fingertips, and I grin.

"I… I think I do."

"Good, Lana. Reach for it. Reach."

A pale, silvery light flows from her, the starlight dancing beneath her veins even as she blinks up at me in wonder. Her red-gold hair halos around her sharp features, and her beauty stuns me.

My breath quickens, my fingers aching to roam across her skin, to watch her fall apart when she comes.

"Am I doing okay?" she asks, her gaze sliding to the marks on the floor to mine. "This has got to be the most bizarre thing I've ever felt. It's like I've got a swarm of buzzing bees inside, or like I stuck my hand in an electrical socket."

"You are doing very well," I answer. "You are a good student. This is a very good start."

I like teaching her. I wonder what else I could teach her, show her. She is eager to learn. A vision of her, naked, on top of me as I tell her exactly how I want to fuck her flashes through my mind's eye.

"So I have to use these symbols, the constellations, if I want to call the power? That doesn't seem efficient. Like, what if a monster surprises me? I'm not going to have time to draw them." She puffs out her cheeks, her eyes narrowed in concentration as she traces over the marks I've made on the floor.

"Once you are in your full power, you won't need them. They are a means to an end. A trigger, to help you learn to relax and call the power of the constellations. Keep drawing, let your mind relax. Think about the light, about how to shape it." I am beyond curious at how her Starbound powers will manifest.

She exhales slowly, a tendril of her hair sticking to her skin. Her back begins to glow, and then it fades. "I can't do it."

"You will. You've already made much progress. You should be proud. I am proud."

"It's not easy." She pushes the sweat soaked hair from her face, tucking it behind an ear.

"Once we are?—"

"Mated, yeah, yeah, so you've said. Once we're mated it will be easier."

"Then you see the benefits of it?" I raise an eyebrow, and I can't quite keep the smug half-smile from my face.

"How do I know you're not just trying to get in my pants?" she grumbles, sketching. Her hands are covered in sand, and sweat tracks down her neck, disappearing in between her breasts.

A low growl starts in my chest. I want to see where it went. I want to see her breasts. I want to lick the tips of them, until she moans against my mouth and squirms in pleasure.

Lana shoots me an alarmed look. "I was just kidding."

"You aren't wearing pants," I observe, trying to regain control.

She mutters something under her breath, then finally sits back on her heels, a pleased look on her face. "There."

I inspect her drawings. "Scorpio is off."

"I don't like bugs. My sister likes them even less." She corrects the drawing, then stops.

I can taste the bitter edge of her worry.

I crouch, capturing her chin in my hand. "Your sister is safe. I know it. Her starlight called to her mate. Have I mistreated you so, that you worry for her?"

"No, Ras, it's not like that. I just… what would you do if you were in our places?"

My thumb sketches over her jawline, and I inhale deeply. "I would worry."

She nods, turning her attention back to her constellations. "Then you understand."

Of course, I understand. But I cannot seem to make her understand that our best chance at finding them is to be mated.

I swallow hard. Patience. I must be patient with my lovely mate. I cast a look at her. Sweat trickles down her brow, her shoulders lit up like a small sun. Dirt discolors her creamy skin. I haven't taken good care of her. She should be cosseted in silks and fed only the choicest meals. Instead, she's relegated to a cave and a diet of fish, dirty and tired. A plan forms in my mind.

"You asked about soap."

Her head snaps up, and her nose crinkles as she makes a face at me. "Do I smell?"

"Like a dream." I answer honestly.

"I think that must mean something different here." She sniffs at her armpit, and I can't help but laugh at her expression.

"There is a plant here we can use to scrub with. The deeper pool would be perfect for cooling off in… that is, if you would like to wash off."

Delight dances across her features, chasing away the exhaustion and worry. "Are you sure I've learned enough today? So that we can go after my sisters soon?"

Irritation spikes in me. She's in such a hurry to find them. All I want is to slow down and take my time, memorizing every beautiful curve of her body, wringing pleasure from her until she collapses against me and begs for more.

"I think it would be wise to pace yourself," I make myself say instead. I almost expect her to be mad, but she nods, and I realize she's relieved.

"Then I would very much like to bathe. Where are these plants?" She cranes her neck, like they'll call out to her if she looks hard enough.

I narrow my eyes. It's not impossible, really. I don't remember exactly what the powers are of the other Houses, but who knows how her starlight will manifest once she's fully trained?

"Come with me," I purr, grasping her hand. Touching her again, even something as innocuous as her hands, is exquisite. Like I've something's slotted into place inside me, sanding down all my sharp edges.

She follows, biting her lower lip.

I wish she wouldn't do that. It's all I can do not to tug it in between my own teeth. A muscle twitches in my temple, and I lead her over to a rocky outcrop that overflows with a variety of plants. It's unkempt and wild, like no one has used this cave in a very, very, long time.

I do not like that thought, what it might mean for my people. I glance sidelong at Lana. For our people. Worry gnaws at me.

"Here," I say, tugging out a few spiky blue-green plants topped with white spired flowers. "We'll heat the roots, then mash it in the water."

She leans against the rock wall, watching my movements. Her eyes track over my shoulders, and I flex a little, gauging her reaction.

Lana's mouth parts slightly, her pink tongue darting out. She's going to be the death of me. Her eyes slide back to my face, and I grin at her. Caught you. My little Lana is aroused again.

I will wait for her to come to me, yes.

But if flexing and flirting means she comes sooner?

Well, I like that idea very much indeed.