Series: Charmaine Pauls
Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 70056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 70056 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 350(@200wpm)___ 280(@250wpm)___ 234(@300wpm)
Ha.
That’s not going to happen.
I’m just biding my time. My docility is all for show. Sooner rather than later, an opportunity to escape will present itself. If I’m going to a banquet, they have to take me out of this room. I’ll grab my chance then. I have no idea where I’m going to go in this strange place, but I’ll escape first and figure it out later.
Someone around here has to know how to open a portal back to Earth, right?
The flurry of activity comes to an abrupt halt. The women freeze.
I lift my head to see what’s going on, and then an uninvited and very unwelcome shiver runs through me.
Aruan stands in the doorway, his large frame blocking out the light that reflects from the walls in the hallway. With all those muscles packed onto his body, he looks imposing and lethal. He’s changed into a black jacket with silver and red embroidery around the collar and cuffs. Knee-high boots polished to a shine are fitted over his pants. His long dark hair is tied back, exposing his angular face and drawing attention to the masculine lines of his square jaw, aristocratic nose, and broad forehead. There’s no arguing that he’s strikingly handsome. He stands there like a king, rendering people silent with his mere presence.
Our gazes lock in the reflection of the mirror. His piercing stare is too intense for my liking.
My heartbeat picks up, and heat rushes through my veins. It’s like stepping from a snowy winter’s day into a cozy sauna. I can’t control it.
Gaia says something, but her words are white noise in my ears. I’m vaguely aware of the guards and women leaving the room. The air is trapped in my lungs as Aruan and I continue our stare off, yet it’s impossible to look away from his foreboding gaze.
Gaia slips a tiara with sparkling stones into my hair. “Everything will be all right. You’ll see.” She mouths, “Good luck,” and then she’s gone.
Silence stretches as Aruan and I are locked in an invisible vise. What I read in his eyes frightens me. They’re filled with the carnal hunger of a starving predator—and the determination to satiate that hunger.
It’s more than a little unsettling that I can read his intentions so well. Even more concerning are the responding zaps of awareness that sizzle under my skin, which I do my best to ignore. Although it’s difficult to do so when, under the dress, my naked lady parts are wet, and my nipples are so hard they poke through the thin fabric. It really doesn’t help that underwear was apparently never invented here.
A knowing smile plucks at Aruan’s lips as he studies me. I swear he knows exactly what’s going through my mind. He can’t be blind to the effect he has on me. We have a weird capacity to communicate without words.
Finally, he breaks the spell by stepping deeper into the room. The archway closes behind him.
I gulp.
I don’t like being locked in here with him alone.
My breathing grows shallow. He’s like a huge, all-consuming vacuum that sucks up all the oxygen in the room.
He advances slowly and stops so close to me that the buttons of his jacket sweep my lower back. I resist the urge to step away. I hate being a coward.
“You look beautiful, Elsie,” he says in a voice so deep that goosebumps ripple over my skin.
However light the contact, it’s disturbing as hell.
Forget about acting brave and saving face. I turn around, creating a measure of distance between us, and crane my neck to look up at him. “Gaia said something about vows. Please tell me it’s a joke.”
“Alas,” he says with a sharp, disapproving smile. “Saying one’s vows is never a joke.”
“What does that even mean?” The proverbial noose around my neck tightens. “Is it like marriage or something?”
“Marriage?” He tilts his head, his eyes narrowing with perceptive curiosity. “I’m not familiar with that custom.”
“It’s when two people decide to live together and have a family. They give each other rings and promise to be faithful. They sign a contract that’s legally binding. Often, things go wrong, and then they divorce.” When he frowns, I elaborate, “They leave each other. In fact, it happens to one out of two couples, and it can get really messy. If that’s what you’re planning with this whole saying-our-vows-thing, I can assure you that we’ll end up as the one-out-of-two statistic. Surely, that’s not what you want.” I add uncertainly, “Right?”
He watches me solemnly. “On Zerra, each person has one mate only. When we mate, it’s for life.”
“For life?” I shriek. “Like penguins and seahorses?”
“I don’t know your seahorses and penguins, but here, even our dragons mate for life.”
Okay, I admit a world with failproof relationships sounds kind of amazing, but not if the relationship is unwanted or forced. He can’t mean that’s what he wants. For life. With me. Can he?