Page 29 of Stealing the Star Stone

Chapter Twenty

The moon, Lethara

The city of Vael’Tir.

Keep your hands to yourself.

Day Four.

Nova was led into an enclosed alcove, shielded by stone and flames.

In the center of the small room was a hot springs, steam and bubbles rising off its orange surface.

The heat was delicious after the night spent clinging to Eli for warmth.

Beside it was a jar of what looked like honey, a sponge of sorts, and a stack of white cloths.

She turned to smile at Eli but found herself alone.

Rushing to the entrance, she almost slammed into a glowering old man dressed in a white loincloth. His hair brushed his ass, braids and beads interlocking and releasing as he hobbled toward her.

“It is not often I serve one such as you,” he spat. “But if our Chief Amenkar deems you worthy, I cannot object. Come, remove your offensive garments. Why do you wear so many? What are you hiding, boy?”

“Nothing, as long as I get these back.” She set the bag against the wall, along with the blaster, dagger, machete, and rifle.

Hesitating for a minute, she wasn’t sure she could expose herself to a stranger.

She’d walked around bare chested which pretty much invalidated her self-consciousness.

Realizing the man waited, she stripped off the coat and handed it to him.

“This…is soft,” he said, stroking the leather. “What manner of animal is this?”

“Cow, if it’s real leather.” She knelt to undo her boots and peeled them off, then the wet socks.

“How can it not be real? I hold it.” The man waved the coat at her.

She swallowed a chuckle. “Please, call me Eli,” she said, removing her jeans. Dropping onto her ass, she swung her legs and sank them into the water. A moan escaped, the heat melting the aches from her abused calves.

“You honor me with your name.” He bowed. “I am Khepan if you should need to summon me.”

When she reached for the jar, he cried out and waded into the water, coming to stand before her.

“I must prepare you for cleansing,” he said. “This is my duty to honor the Great One, Lethaar.”

She held up her hands as if in surrender. “Cleanse away,” she said, hoping not to offend him.

Khepan urged her to stand on steps she hadn’t noticed, then poured the honey onto the sponge. Every inch of her was scrubbed, even her ass. Twice. A layer of foam coated the pool by the time he was happy.

Her skin glowed pink from his attention—she was, no doubt, missing a few layers. The sponge had been coarse, but in a good way, giving her a head-to-toe scratch. He patted her dry with the cloths, not missing a drop, then tutted when he tried to braid her hair and found chunks missing.

“Beads are bestowed upon the wearer for their good deeds. I will give you mine.”

“No,” she spun, catching his hand. “You honor me, but I should earn my own.”

He smiled, his two front teeth missing. “You will not be here long enough.”

“True, then my lack of beads should not matter.”

“You come for the Kovari Shol as most do.” He stroked the blue tattoo. “Few have made it this far. Some bring evil with them, but Lethaar protects us.”

“Tell me, Khepan, the last one we touched, it shattered. Will this happen again?” She frowned. “Destroying another…Kovari Shol would sadden me.”

“It depends on the life within the shol. If it has seen millennia, it will die.” He leaned in to whisper, “It chooses to be discovered. I sense you carry one now. Perhaps that is why my chief shows you favor.” He flicked out a loincloth.

“Refreshments await. I am certain my chief longs to converse with you.”

She stared at the strips of fabric and grimaced.

“Your garments will be cleaned. For now, this is what our males wear.”

She nodded and let him dress her. The loincloth was snug, like a pair of boy shorts. Two strips draped to the floor, covering her front and back.

“Do you like this man?” he asked, tucking and fastening as he circled her.

“You mean the one whose body I’m in?” She shifted from one foot to the other. “I didn’t at first.”

Khepan chuckled. “The shol does choose the most volatile of matches. I believe it is bored with the easy and fainthearted.”

She stilled. They’d been arguing when they’d touched the star stone. But not with the second. Mm, maybe that’s the key?

“This way, Eli,” Khepan said, gesturing to the archway. “Your things are safe.”

She gazed at the weapons, checked that the safety was on, then hurried after the old man. With Eli’s long legs, it didn’t take her long to catch up with his hobble.

Women stared at her, their cheeks darkening when she smiled.

“You are a curiosity. The last stranger was older with silver hair. He did not have a shol with him.” Khepan scowled. “But he wanted them all.”

Orien . “He’s chasing us, and if he finds us here, I fear for your people.”

“I shall warn Chief Amenkar.” Khepan left her on a cushion-littered rug, darting away on his spindly legs to the dais.

She sat, choosing a spot with the best view, then spent a good deal of time trying to arrange the strips to best cover her.

A serving girl offered a drink in a tall goblet.

The liquid was purple with herbs floating on the surface.

Nova thanked her and took a tentative sip.

The honeyed nectar was tart with a hint of mint.

She hummed, smacked her lips, and drank some more.

“Thank you, again, Bigeeli,” Eli said, snapping Nova’s gaze to him.

Her mouth dried, her insides churned, and her cock sprang to life.

He’d never looked lovelier. His skin gleamed, the flames flickering over him like he’d been coated in gold flakes.

His copper hair streamed around him, thick braids adding volume.

He wore a loincloth, too, along with strips of matching cloth that diagonally covered his breasts from one shoulder to hip.

Bracelets clinked on a wrist and an ankle, and when he sat beside her, he brought with him the sweetest fragrance that rivaled the tartness of the fruit juice.

“Fuck, Eli,” she rasped, fighting the rising desire. “You made me beautiful.”

“You’ve always been that to me,” he said.

She met his gaze and tumbled into the turbulent depths of his eyes. An intensity promised more than she could handle, if she had the courage.

He sniffed the goblet a girl placed in his hand. “Damn, but it feels so good to be clean.”

She chuckled around her galloping heartbeat. “Yeah, and I learned a few things about the stones they call shols.” She took a gulp of juice to coat her tongue. “Orien’s been here before. I suspect it didn’t end well.”

“Shit.” Eli stiffened. “He’ll probably follow us.”

“My thoughts exactly. And their lances, as impressive as they are, can’t compare to our modern firepower.” She pointed to the dais with her goblet. “Khepan went to warn the chief.”

She choked on a sip when Amenkar strode toward them, his strips flapping aside and exposing muscled thighs that implied an impressive workout regime.

He was handsome with his bronze eyebrows arching over dark eyes.

That chiseled jaw that seemed a little too dominant.

When she’d been younger, she’d had a girlfriend or two but hadn’t deviated from men for long.

Now, she’d do both without batting her eyelashes.

She buried her nose in the goblet and thought about strangling Orien. Her hard-on tenting the strips wouldn’t go down well. Her cheeks flushed in anticipation of that embarrassment.

“Khepan tells me you know Lord Orien?” Amenkar demanded. Four men gathered around him, including the one with the scar that ran from his eye to his collarbone.

Why hadn’t the eels healed him? She dragged her gaze away.

“He believes it’s my fault the shol shattered,” she said.

“We escaped him, stole a ship, traveled here, and found a…shol.” Eli rose.

“I had hoped you were not chosen,” Amenkar said, running his gaze over Eli, lingering on the curve of his waist and bare legs. “You seek a pair.” He held out his hand. “Give me the shol.”

“I left it with my things,” she said. “Khepan—”

“Will collect it.” Amenkar raised a hand, and Khepan hurried past them. “You do not know that these are not mere…stones. They are ancient, carry a life of their own, and do not react to just any stone.”

“So the one on the island might not work?” Eli asked.

Amenkar scowled. “How do you know of the temple?”

“We have maps drawn by Orien’s people.” Eli pointed to the bag Khepan placed at Amenkar’s heels. When the chief nodded, Eli dove in and brought out the book, flipping to the pages to show the man.

Amenkar’s eyebrows hit his hairline. “We do not even know these locations. Your Lord Orien has been determined.”

“He is not our anything,” Nova said, climbing to her feet. The scarred man calmed his men who’d shifted when she came to stand beside Eli. “If I could kill him, I would.”

Amenkar studied their faces, listened to whatever Scar whispered to him, then hummed. “What you do not know is that the stones are more than fertility idols and are beyond our understanding. Those touched by it can open an ancient vault rumored to hold the secrets to godlike powers.”

She gaped. “You can’t be serious? Is the vault’s location on the map?”

“Yes.” Amenkar frowned. “You must know, when the shols were birthed, gods roamed this world. The vault was not built to hoard these powers or to guard them. Whatever is inside was meant to remain hidden.”

Fear summoned a shiver. She glanced at Eli. “Orien isn’t a good man. That sort of power in his hands would lead to destruction.”

“No one should open that vault,” he said, leaning into her.

She slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him close.

Amenkar’s expression darkened. “Eat, rest. On the next sun, if Orien does not arrive before then, we will escort you to the temple. It is the shol’s choice to welcome or kill you.”