Page 20 of Vindicated

“Because you don’t have women on your ship, right?”

I grunted at this. “Correct. The only females typically allowed on Vandar warbirds are Raisas. The mates of the Raas.”

She stood, and her sopping wet clothes sagged heavy as water pooled at her feet. “Until now.”

I was so distracted by the way her wet clothes clung to her curves that I almost didn’t hear her.

“Until now,” she repeated, her voice rising over the sound of the waterfall. “Because I’m not a mate of the Raas and neither are my friends.”

I pulled my gaze from her and gave a single, sharp nod. “Until now.”

She returned my nod but didn’t make a move to disrobe. Finally, she cleared her throat. “Whatever you might have heard about actresses, isn’t true about me. You might like to walk around naked in front of strangers, but I don’t.”

I had heard nothing about actresses, but the edge in her voice told me not to ask. I did know that humans were not as comfortable with their bodies as Vandar were, which was probably why she made no move to take off her soaking clothes.

“I will wait for you at the table. Our dinner should be arriving soon,” I said as I turned to leave. Then I paused. “But you should not think of me as a stranger, Athena. Not when you agreed to share my furs.”

I walked out of the room without glancing back, but I didn’t need to look back to imagine that her mouth had fallen open again.

Chapter 13

Athena

Had that really happened?

I stood dripping water on the floor as Lorken walked from the room, my heart still racing and my ears ringing. I wasn’t sure if I was more shocked that I’d fallen into the water and couldn’t get out, or that he’d jumped in to save me, or that he’d done it completely naked.

Despite having swallowed enough water to make me gag, my throat was bone dry as I thought about looking over and seeing Lorken’s long, thick cock dangling between his legs. I’d looked away, but not before spotting the black marks that curled around it that looked exactly like the ones on his chest.

I gave my head a shake to snap myself back to the present and try to purge the image from my mind.

“Not likely,” I said under my breath. I wouldn’t forgetthatanytime soon.

Even though my hair was drenched and my clothes were plastered to my body, a giggle welled up in my throat. I guessed that Lettie and Vallia weren’t having the kind of welcome to the ship that I was. That thought made me giggle even harder, especially when I thought about how Lettie would have handledthe same situation. She wouldn’t have looked away, that was for sure.

I continued to laugh as I sloughed off my clothes and padded to the towel hanging on the peg. It wasn’t as fluffy as towels I was used to. Instead, the fabric was flat and thick. At least there was a lot of it, and I was able to wrap it around my body twice before tucking it in at the front.

I draped my wet clothes over a ledge designed to look like natural rock, since carrying them out would only get the floor in the rest of the Raas’s quarters wet. At least, everything in the bathroom was meant to be wet.

With a final glance at the pool and waterfall that had almost been my downfall, I walked carefully back into the main room. My steps were small, since the wrapped towel limited my leg movement, so I shuffled more than I walked, and after the steamy warmth of the bathroom, the air outside of it felt cold.

My arms instantly pebbled, and I wrapped them around my middle, as I crossed the room to where the warlord sat on one of the low tufted ottomans. His legs were bent and crossed at the ankles, which meant he still towered over the low table. Dishes of hot food now covered the polished stone surface, as well as metal goblets and a pair of glass carafes. I hadn’t heard anyone come in with the food, but I couldn’t hear much over the cascading waterfall.

When Lorken saw me, he stood, his gaze slipping from my face down the length of my body and finally to my feet. I was walking on my toes because my gait was so limited, and my legs barely moved with each tiny step.

The Vandar warlord looked back up, met my eyes, and burst into laughter.

“What?” I stopped walking and glared at him. “Why are you laughing?”

He managed to stop, shaking his head as he approached me. “This is not how you wear it.”

“Well, excuse me for not being an expert at towel wrap—” I started to say, before he started to unwrap me. “Hey! What do you think you’re?—?”

He stopped and leveled such a stern gaze at me that I stopped speaking. “Do you wish to be able to sit?”

I mumbled rather grumpily that I did.

“Then let me show you.” He inclined his head to where my hands were clutching the top of the fabric. “Hold your arms out to the side.”