Pausing at an arched doorway, I peeked my head inside. Before I saw the water, I smelled it. Although it didn’t carry the scent of brine like the air near the shallows in my home world, there was no mistaking the moisture heavy in the air. I drew in a greedy breath as I stepped inside, the sweet perfume of the bubbling baths a welcome change from the armory on display in the bedroom.
I didn’t know what I’d been expecting from a Vandar bathroom, but this wasn’t it. Even though it was made from the same obsidian stone as the rest of the space, blue dots of light were embedded in the ceiling, creating the sensation of a twinkling canopy of stars overhead. Once my eyes had adjusted to the sapphire glow, my gaze was immediately drawn to the source of the water. A large, sunken, circular pool sat in the middle of the floor, with a small circle in the heart of it filled with ice-blue water, and triangular wedges shooting out from that. Each wedge featured a different color of water from crimson to orange to yellow to green.
I bent down and dipped my fingertips in the red water, the heat making me pull them out quickly before easing them back in and letting my flesh adjust to the temperature. Compared to that, the orange water was tepid and the yellow and green not heated at all. I couldn’t reach the center circle, but I could tell without touching it that it was ice cold. Each water had its own scent, and the mingling aromas made my nose twitch.
Hiking my dress up, I kicked off my sandals, sat on the stone ledge of the crimson water, and lowered my legs slowly into the pool. The warmth caused a breathy moan to escape my lips, and I closed my eyes as I leaned back and let the heat wash away my fears.
“This isn’t so bad.” I scissored my feet in the water. I didn’t have heated baths like this at home, and I could definitely get used to it. As long as I avoided looking at the deadly weapons decorating the walls outside the bathroom.
I opened my eyes and scanned the smaller room. Maybe I could drag one of the pallets in here and never have to go back out to the weird, dungeon-like bedroom. Somehow, I didn’t think the Raas would go for that. Not many would welcome a stranger living in their bathroom.
“Think, Juliette,” I said to myself sharply. “How would Sienna get out of this situation?”
By kicking ass. Not an option for me. But maybe I could harness what I did have. Maybe I could sweet-talk Raas Vassim into letting me go. I swallowed hard as I imagined being in close proximity to the huge Vandar, and my heart thundered in my chest. His touch had been like fire scorching my skin and his tail…I shuddered as I remembered it around my waist.
“Baby steps,” I whispered. “First, you have to talk to him without nearly passing out. Then you worry about the tail.”
A swish outside the room made my spine stiffen. Someone had come inside. The pounding of my heart quickened. Someone who didn’t need to knock.
Chapter Five
Vassim
“She is settled?” I asked, as Taan joined me on the command deck, standing shoulder to shoulder with me on the raised platform that overlooked the warriors at their dark consoles and the wide view screen.
“She is in your quarters, Raas.” He stared straight ahead. “I don’t know if I would say she is settled. She seems to be nervous about the arrangement.”
“There is nowhere else for her. We have no brig or spare officer quarters, and I cannot put her in the warriors’ bunks.”
Taan snorted out a dark laugh. “She seems too timid to survive that.”
“Agreed.” I didn’t voice the thought that she might not be as frightened as I’d first assumed. The fact remained that she was a human and a female, which meant she was significantly smaller and weaker than every Vandar on board. And she was from a peaceful planet with no access to weapons. The creature had probably never held a blade in her life. She would be smart to be scared.
“You are sure it is wise to keep a human female in your private quarters, Raas?” My majak’s words were hushed. I knew he did not want the others to hear him questioning me, even if the concern was justified. “You have outfitted your sleeping chamber with many things we would usually keep from a prisoner.”
“She is not a prisoner,” I said a bit too quickly and too loudly. A few heads swiveled to us and then away again out of respect. “Not in that way. Besides, I doubt she would know how to use any of it.”
“A blade is still a blade, even if it is only used for target practice to keep you awake.”
I flinched at the reminder of all the tools I used to prevent myself from falling into a deep sleep and reliving the terror of my Raas’ death. When I could no longer stand on the command deck without swaying from exhaustion, I would drink bitter tonics, read complicated battle tomes, throw knives, plunge myself into the ice bath, and even lean against the spikes on the walls until their prickly ends pierced my flesh. Anything to stay awake.
“I do not fear the female,” I said, cutting a quick glance at Taan. “She might only be a human, but she is not a fool. I would be able to fend off any flimsy attack. Besides, if she tried to kill me, she must know she would be shown no mercy.”
“But why keep her at all, Raas? Why not turn around and
