The Nymph King (Atlantis #3)(58)

You can do this. You can do this. Joachim's too weak to do anything to you. Slowly she turned toward him and eased back onto the bed. She was careful not to look into his eyes, those blue, blue eyes that seemed to cut straight to her soul. Her fingers shook as she finished wrapping the last bandage.

"I am Joachim," he said, breaking the silence.

"I know." Her voice trembled as much as her hands. "Should not have challenged king."

She imagined his nostrils flaring in fury. Still, she forged ahead. "Silly. Strength lies in compassion, not battles."

For a moment the air was so charged she thought he meant to yell at her. But he didn't. He changed the subject, admitting grudgingly, "I thought of you last night." Half pain, half accusation. "And today. I cannot seem to get you out of my mind."

Before she could stop it, her gaze jumped to his. She gasped at what she saw. Desire. White-hot desire. Her hands stilled, poised over his thigh. She had a sheet draped over his middle - to protect her modesty rather than his. The sheet was higher than it had been a moment ago.

"I see fear in your eyes," he said, still speaking low, voice heated. "But I also see interest."

She bit her lip and shook her head. She would not admit to any type of interest. That would only encourage him. But...

"Talk to me, Brenna," he said. "Tell me of yourself."

His quiet beseeching surprised her. She never would have expected it from such a power-hungry warlord. "Wh-what would. You. Like to. Know?" Her throat was constricted, making it harder for her to speak.

"Everything." Joachim tilted his head and regarded Brenna more intently. "I want to know everything about you." Already he knew her smell - violets and the sunshine he'd encountered so briefly on the surface. He knew her voice - scratchy and harsh, eliciting visions of passion and naked bodies.

Now he wanted to know her past. Her likes. Her dislikes. All the things that made her Brenna, the woman who obsessed him more with every second that passed. Strength lies in compassion, she'd said. He wanted to snort at that, but couldn't. He didn't know why.

"We will begin with something easy," he said. "What is your favorite color?"

She glanced at the door, as if wondering what she should do. Stay and talk, or run. "Blue," she finally replied.

If she were his woman, he would give her all the sapphires he owned. "Do you have family?" A family she missed? Wished to return to?

She shook her head. "Dead."

He should not have felt relieved, but he did. "How did they die?"

"Car accident."

Car? He was intrigued by a "car" that could kill an entire family, but was more curious about Brenna herself. "I am sorry for your loss, little one."

Features shadowed, she waved a hand through the air. Her hand was shaking, he noticed. "Long time ago," she said in that broken voice.

He wanted to grab her up and kiss her, anything to wipe away those shadows, but he ended up fisting the sheets and keeping his hands at his sides. "Do you like this new world? Atlantis?"

Her gaze drifted away from him, onto the wall behind him. She shook her head.

"Why not?" Disappointment hummed through his blood. He'd hoped she had already come to love it as he did.

"Scary," she admitted softly. She traced a fingertip over the sheet.

"You are frightened of us?"

She gave no response. Didn't move a muscle.

"I would never hurt you, Brenna," he told her as gently as his fierce timbre would allow. "This I swear to you."

A shiver stole through her. "Might not mean to, but - "

"Never. Never."

"What are you saying to her, Joachim?" Shivawn demanded as he strode back into the room. "You have no right to use that tone with her."

Brenna jolted to her feet, looking between them with fear in her eyes.

"Watch your tone, boy," Joachim snapped. "You're scaring her."

Shivawn's features instantly softened. "I'm sorry," he told her. "I was called away to look for oranges, but I'm here now. I'm not angry, I promise you."

Brenna gazed between the two men, a little... aroused and unsure who - or what - was causing that arousal. They were trying to soothe her and it was working. It was working! She was actually standing between two men who despised each other, two men who could attack and kill at any moment, and her fear was dissipating.

How are they doing this to me? she mused, dazed.

Even more shocking, as the fear left her, something else took its place: desire. White-hot, consuming. An image of naked, straining bodies suddenly filled her mind. Once again, she couldn't see the man's face, but the image was so lifelike she even heard the pleasure-moans of the couple. Her nipples tightened; moisture pooled between her legs.

Joachim bared his teeth and hissed in a breath. In fury? "You're aroused. I can smell it on you."

Her cheeks heated to a blazing inferno.

"I can, too," Shivawn said brokenly. "Brenna... "

She heard him take a step toward her, heard the thump of his boot. Again, there was no fear inside her. What's wrong with me? What's happening to me? This wasn't like her, not at all.

Joachim eased to a sitting position, and Shivawn continued to move forward.