over her features. She didn’t look at him and Jaxor kept his distance from her, going to bathe in the waterfall pool, rinsing off the sweat and grime of the day, remembering the erotic vision Erin had made in that same place earlier.
Underneath the water, he squeezed his stiff cock once, as if in warning. Even that small contact made him groan. Even after the mind-numbing orgasm last night, his body was still charged and ready for another.
He hauled himself out before he was tempted to bring himself to release right there and dressed in loose pants, forgoing a tunic since he felt overheated from working in the tunnel most of the day. Cool, chilled air felt like a relief.
Inhaling a deep, steadying breath, feeling as though he was going into battle, he approached his female at the fire. He’d laid out dried meats and the best of his fruit stores for her earlier and he saw that most of it was gone. Good. She’d eaten well that night. She hadn’t seemed to care for the fresh, roasted kekevir meat, so until he could fish, his dried rations would have to be enough.
“Hello,” she greeted softly when he sat on the opposite side of the fire. “You’ve been working hard today,” she commented.
Jaxor’s eyes went to her lips. “So have you, rixella.”
They hadn’t spoken once since that morning, but he’d caught glimpses of her as he came and went from the tunnel. She’d been cleaning and scrubbing the furs voraciously and he saw that she’d set them out along the pulley system to dry.
“What does that mean?” she asked, her eyes like dark, glittering little jewels in the night. “Rixella?”
They had seemingly called another of their truces, Jaxor realized. It had happened before…when both of them just simply gave in to the other. Like last night. When they were too tired to argue.
“It means…” he trailed off, trying to think how to translate it into her language. “Enchantress. Wicked one. Or like a witch.”
She laughed, the sound momentarily stunning Jaxor.
“You’ve been calling me a wicked witch this entire time?” she asked, shaking her head.
Jaxor hesitated. Her tone implied something he didn’t think he understood. He couldn’t discern if she was genuinely amused…or insulted. So, he explained, “To Luxirians, rixellas are only in stories. Old stories and legends. They beguile males, using their wiles and their magic to control them.”
Her lips quirked. Those eyes shined. “And that’s what you think I can do to you? You think I can control you? Beguile you?”
Haven’t you already? he asked silently, his brows furrowing. At the way her lips twitched, he knew that she’d heard the unspoken question.
“I see,” she murmured.
“I do not think you do,” he returned, just as quietly. She had no idea of the power she held over him.
Erin looked into the fire again. She was dressed in one of his tunics, her skin flushed from the heat.
“Can I ask you something?” she murmured.
Jaxor grunted, but he flicked his gaze to her, half in wariness, half in intrigue.
“Have you ever been in love?” she asked softly, her head tilting in curiosity.
“Love?” he repeated, the word whistling from his lips in a deep exhale.
“Yes.”
Jaxor tossed more fuel into the fire, though it was burning hot and bright already.
“I thought so. Once,” he replied.
Her brows rose. “Really?”
“You seem surprised,” he commented wryly and he raked a hand through his hair.
“No, it’s not that,” she said. “I guess I just…I can’t really imagine you away from this place.”
With people, she meant. Among people.
“I told you I was born and raised in the Golden City,” he said. “Most who knew me would actually have called me…mischievous. I was always getting into trouble. I was never still.”
“That I can imagine,” she teased softly. His lips quirked again. “So, what was her name?”
He sobered slightly. “Sarcalla.”
“How’d you meet her?”
“She was the daughter of my mother’s friend. I was in warrior training then, but would come home to the Golden City when we were on break. I had just come of age. Though technically, warriors in training are not allowed to have relations with females, I broke those rules for her.”
“Was she your first?” Erin asked.
Jaxor swallowed. “Tev.”
Sarcalla had been his first everything. Everything had seemed so new, so exciting. Because Jaxor had been due back to Otala for warrior training the following lunar cycle, they hadn’t had much time together. Every moment with her had seemed perfect, yet bitter because he knew their time would end.
“What happened?”