Page 12 of Damned and Broken Gods (Labyrinth of Gods #2)

“I can tell him you stopped by, of course. He may be a while.” Her expression was smooth and devoid of any annoyance now.

I wasn’t fooled. I fixed a tight smile on my lips. “I can wait.”

She stepped away, muttering something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like, Of course you can .

“Looks like someone has a lady boner for your drohi,” Vick said in a low voice. “I mean…I don’t blame her.”

I arched a brow his way, and he shrugged. “What? The guy’s hot. But you know that.” He gave me a cheeky grin.

Back in the room, Araz had stopped speaking, and the children were gathering their things.

“So much for it will be a while,” Vick said.

The female drohi had either overestimated how long this story was or she’d lied to get rid of me. Pretty sure it was the latter.

She glided over to Araz as he stood, claiming his attention before he could look my way. Her hand on his arm made my skin crawl. But Araz merely smiled and nodded.

What was he agreeing to?

Fuck this.

I strode into the room, and his head whipped my way, nostrils flaring, eyes brightening. He stepped away from the female drohi. “Leela? What are you doing here?”

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t being nosy, but we have a message from Guru Chandra. Escorts will be arriving shortly to take us to the Shahee Kshetra.”

Araz looked across at the female drohi. “Another time, Valina.”

Another time?

She smiled coquettishly at him. “Of course. I’ll be here when you return. Looking forward to our meeting.” She lightly stroked his bicep, and something in me snapped.

“I’m afraid Araz will be much too busy to attend any meetings with you.”

The drohi female’s eyes flinched, narrowing in that way that told me that she was pissed. I arched a brow, daring her to challenge me before looking to Araz with the same challenge.

He blinked slowly then pulled away from the drohi’s touch. “Leela is right. I’m afraid I’ll be too busy.”

The twisted knot that had formed in my chest eased as he walked toward me. He leaned in slightly as he passed.

“I love the color of jealousy on you.”

Urgh. I followed him into the corridor. “I wasn’t jealous.”

“Yes, you were,” both Vick and Araz said at the same time.

Araz shot him a quelling glance.

Vick covered his mouth. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “See you guys back at barracks.”

He bolted, leaving me to walk alongside Araz, back through the starlit room and into the maze-like corridors of the complex.

“I wasn’t jealous.”

He sighed. “Let’s not sully our bond with lies, Leela. You were jealous, and I liked it.”

“Why?”

“I’m obviously extremely twisted.”

“No, but we decided we weren’t going to?—”

“Act on our bond. Yes. We did. I did. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel things.”

“Did you sleep with her…Valina?”

“Many times.”

He might as well have stabbed me in the gut. “I feel sick. This is ridiculous.” I made to storm off, but he grabbed my elbow and pulled me back toward him.

“I have not lain with her since we were bonded.”

Okay…that was better, I guess. I lifted my chin, effecting a nonchalant air. “You could have. I mean, you don’t owe me anything, so why not?”

He pulled me into the heat of his body, and his cranberry scent left me dizzy with longing. I tipped my chin up, steeling myself for whatever he had to say, but the look of raw need on his face stole my breath.

“Make no mistake, Leela, I may not wish to act on what simmers between us, but I have no desire to act against it either.” He released me. “To hurt you would be to hurt myself.”

“But all the times you were awful to me before…” I saw the truth of it in his eyes, the pain that he’d hidden. This must be awful for him too. To be torn in such a way. His goal, his life, his future weighed against the desire and longing a mandatory bond evoked.

I reached up and lightly grazed his jaw with my fingertips. His eyelids fluttered closed for a moment, and he breathed through his nose.

“Your compassion makes it harder,” he said.

I dropped my hand. “You’re right. We need a decent boundary. One that allows us to work together. To be close and yet to keep an emotional distance. We’re going to be friends. Proper friends.”

He arched a brow, the corner of his mouth quirking. “We are?”

“Yes.” I raised my chin, determination swelling in my chest. “We only have to do it for as long as it takes for me to ascend, and if Guru Chandra has anything to do with it, that could be tomorrow.”

His brow furrowed. “It won’t be that fast, even if the Authority agrees to it. And if they don’t? If they force you to take the tests, then?—”

“We train together. Eat together. Hang out with the others. But at nighttime we retreat to our sides of the room and use the screen as a barrier. No sharing a bed. No…late night cuddles.”

There’d been a couple of those the past week. Nightmares on my part drawing him to my bed.

“If you cry out in your sleep, then?—”

“You let me cry.”

His jaw ticked. “And you believe this will help.”

Was I delusional? Maybe a little bit but— “I do.”

He sighed and nodded. “Then we’ll try it.”

“Okay, friend . Let’s go.”

The corners of his mouth dimpled as he bit back a smile. “I don’t believe friends are required to address each other as such.”

“I was making a point. You know that line, This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship… ”

He stared at me blankly.

“Never mind. Let’s go. We have to pack.”

We continued through the complex side by side.

“To the royal domain we go,” he said flatly.

“Have you been before?”

He was silent for so long I was beginning to think he hadn’t heard my question, so I asked again. “Araz, have you been before?”

“Yes. But it isn’t a trip I wish to recall.”

“Got it.” But damn, now I wanted to know what had happened.

My curiosity would have to wait.