Page 33

They left their fruit back at camp along with the snared rabbit, ready to be skinned and prepped later on. Then Kara led him to the part of the riverbank they’d used to bathe in.

A circular pool had been dug next to the bank, about five meters in diameter, connected to the river by a short channel. Vahn saw the mouth of the channel was blocked with a rough grille made from reeds and what looked like long animal bones. The barrier acted as a filter, allowing the pool to be filled with water but preventing anything else from getting in.

“Behold our private hot tub,”

said Kara proudly. “It took us a week to make this. The water’s a couple of degrees warmer than the river because it’s shallower.”

“Ingenious. We built it together?”

“I made the filter. You dug the hole. And look, you even put in a shelf so we could sit down in it.”

Kara removed her boots and laser-blade and stepped into the pool, making her way to the shallower end. Pink petals were floating on the surface, dropped by the fleshy-leaved plants which grew abundantly next to the river. They gave off a delicate scent that permeated the water.

She slipped off her clothes, making sure the waterline was high enough to conceal her breasts, and gave them a rinse. She could sense Vahn watching her, making no move to enter the pool himself.

Was he going to stand there all day? At least he could make himself useful.

“Hang these somewhere to dry, please,”

she called out.

He took her clothes from her, uncomfortably aware she was naked under the water. Draping the two pieces over a rock, he wondered if she expected him to get naked too.

“I will wait until you are finished,”

he said at last.

“No need. There’s plenty of room.”

“Would you not prefer to bathe in private?”

“Nope. Unless you’re a scaredy-cat.”

He growled an oath under his breath.

Vannla’s Sword. She was deliberately taunting him.

He waded into the pool until he was chest-deep, scrubbing off the dried fruit remains from his skin and trousers. Which he made an obvious point of keeping on.

She watched with laughter in her eyes.

“I’ve seen it before, you know.”

“Seen what?”

“Your mighty alien schlong. And you’ve seen me naked many, many times. So why the sudden modesty?”

“I am simply taking precautions.”

“What, in case I’m overcome with lust and jump your bones? Don’t worry snake-boy. There’s only one thing I want from you right now.”

“And what is that?”

She picked a spongey leaf off the nearest plant. Ripping it in half, she showed him the thick, viscous sap that spilled from the tear.

“Wash my hair?”

“Sorry, what?”

“We used to do this for each other all the time. Entirely non-sexual, I assure you. But it might jog your memory so…”

“Fine. Give me the leaf.”

She turned her back to him as he squeezed the fragrant sap into his hands. Then he stroked it into her hair.

It lathered up almost immediately, giving off a perfume that was pleasant to his nostrils. He worked the suds gently into her scalp.

“Mm, that feels good,”

Kara said, closing her eyes.

Vahn didn’t say anything. His whole attention was focused on the weight of her soapy hair, the water lapping at his chest, the sounds of the river. It all had an aching familiarity that scratched at his consciousness.

He cupped his hands and scooped water over Kara’s head to rinse off the suds. She reached back to squeeze off the excess. Soapy water ran between her shoulder blades and over the little bird tattoo on her back. And as Vahn watched, he was hit by a wave of déjà vu as stark as the colors of the forest.

“Drek’aa beresh.”

The intensity of the memory rocked him back on his heels. This pool, this act, this shared moment – he recognized it all.

“Vahn, are you all right?”

“I’ve done this before,”

he said. “Stood here, washed your hair. Many times.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Excitement tinged her face. “It became a sort of ritual. A way to unwind. And to give each other care and attention.”

Vahn tried to analyze the emotions churning inside him. What he’d felt most acutely in that flash of déjà vu was tenderness for the human. An all-consuming sense of love and warmth. It was unsettling.

He’d come to this planet with one goal – to show her there was no logic in remaining married. But the more time he spent with her, the more that goal was undermined.

His lips tightened with frustration. He’d thought he knew what he wanted, but now he wasn’t so sure.

Quickly he threw water over his upper body, rinsing the last of the berry juice from his face and hair. Then he strode from the pond and made his way back to the camp without looking back.

Kara was utterly confounded.

“Hey! Wait up.”

What the hell was going on with him? For one shining moment she thought they’d had a breakthrough. And then the shutters came crashing down again.

She scrambled from the water and tugged on her clothes, damp though they were. At least they were clean. She tucked the laser-blade into her waistband. Then she grabbed her boots and ran back to camp barefoot.

He was squatting by the firepit skinning the rabbit when she arrived.

“What’s wrong?”

she demanded. “Why did you leave me?”

He didn’t answer. His knife skimmed over flesh and bone and he focused on that.

“Vahn, answer me.”

Her temper was starting to rise. “You promised to give me a chance. And the first time it looks like it’s working you can’t get away fast enough. What the fuck is going on?”

He pressed his lips together, concentrating furiously on the rabbit. The skin came away and he started to clean the insides.

“Are you listening to me? I’m speaking to you!”

He didn’t know what to say. Didn’t know how explain to her the contradictory feelings jamming up his thought processes. So he remained silent.

She grabbed his shoulder, trying to shake an answer from him. It was like trying to move a rock. Enraged, she slapped his face.

This, finally, provoked a reaction. He rose to his feet, towering over her with bloodied knife in hand, serpetri poised as if to strike.

And she flinched.

Her instinctive reaction pierced his anger like a harpoon and shame engulfed him. In an instant he dropped the knife.

“I am sorry, Kara. I did not mean to frighten you.”

She let out a shaky breath.

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have hit you. I’m just… I’m just confused. I thought you were starting to remember. What happened?”

“I don’t know,”

he admitted. “I think perhaps I was overwhelmed. But Kara, let me make one thing clear to you.”

His yellow eyes gazed at her steadily. “Memories or not, I will never harm you.”

“I… I know that.”

“No, you do not. And I do not blame you. The first time I saw you after the explosion, I tried to poison you with arak. But I swear to you now, on the graves of my father, mother and brother, you are safe with me.”

The sincerity of his words made her chest tighten. She reached up and cupped his face, her fingertips as soft as a butterfly’s wing.

“I know that,”

she repeated, and this time he believed her.

I don’t deserve her faith or her forgiveness he thought, and wondered why he was trying so hard to escape their marriage.

Because she was human? But the war was over. They were no longer enemies. And this one human had proved she knew him better than any Vraxian.

Suddenly the reasons he’d given himself for needing a divorce seemed irrelevant. He felt the touch of her hand and all he wanted to do was turn his mouth into her palm and kiss it.

And maybe he would have, if he hadn’t been distracted by the spine-chilling snarl that reverberated menacingly from deep inside the forest.