Page 24 of Whispers of the Void (Voidborn Chronicles #1)
CHAPTER 24
NEEV
* * *
R aiz lays me down before walking into the bathroom. I can’t even think about moving right now, so I just lie here and listen to the sound of water running. I watch with curiosity as he brings a wet cloth out and pulls my legs apart.
The warmth soothes my skin, seeping into the sore muscles and relaxing them. I can’t help wondering if this is a common thing that males do on Zeahiri. My experience with partners has not included any type of doting care following the act of sex. Then again, I’ve not had many partners.
Maybe Torre was the problem.
Or maybe she just wasn’t the right person for me.
“Thank you.” I use mind speak because the quiet of the room as he cleans me up and takes care of me seems too sacred to breach.
He smiles at me. “ You’re welcome.”
I’ve really come to enjoy the Zeahirian lackadaisical view of nudity. Watching this male move around without a single part of his god-like body covered is beginning to be my favorite pastime. Every bit of his body is perfectly muscled and honed into his dangerous physique.
Which is why I frown when he walks over and grabs a pair of his favorite lounge pants to pull on. I suppose I can still ogle him shirtless with mused hair. He looks over when I scoot to the edge of the bed and stand to grab myself some clothes.
“Hungry?” he asks.
“Yes.” My stomach rumbles on cue. “Starving apparently.”
“What an odd trait.” He tilts his head. “Does your stomach do that every time you’re hungry?”
“Only when it gets to a certain point, like if I ignore other, more subtle, hunger cues.” I pull on pants and one of his shirts.
“So if you get to this point, I should take it as a failing? That I haven’t ensured you’ve fed recently enough?” He frowns, troubled by this information.
“No.” I hold a hand up. “My hunger and eating aren’t your problem. I’m an adult and am capable of making myself food when I’m hungry.”
“Then why would you let yourself get to the point of your body loudly demanding sustenance?”
“It wasn’t that loud.”
“I beg to differ.” He strides out of the bedroom and over to the kitchen. “What do you want to eat?”
The difficult side of me wants to tell him nothing just to prove a point. But I am hungry, so I give in and list off a few things that sound good. He gets us both drinks while we wait for the food, and I take the opportunity to sit back down with the books I was going through earlier.
“What do you have here?” he asks, putting a glass of water down in front of me.
“Research.” I crack open a medical textbook that I borrowed from Hyva on humans. “I wanted to see if there was anything about the headaches and whisper episodes I have. Why I hear them and couldn’t ever get away on my own until you came along.”
“You can leave the room on your own now?”
“Yes. I did while I was unconscious after the attack.” I flip through pages of irrelevant information. “Maybe you forged a pathway for me?”
“Could be.” He sits down across from me. “Did you look into whether or not any humans were recorded having psionic gifts?”
“If there were, they didn’t write about it in this book. Humans are just human. Nothing spectacular.”
“What if you’re not just human?” His voice is soft, and his face gives nothing away.
“From what I know, I’m just a regular human. Did Hyva find something?”
“No. According to everything he’s found, there’s nothing to say you aren’t. Your DNA is fully human.”
“That settles it then. Can’t fake DNA.”
“What’s that book?” He points to the one beside me, an encyclopedia of Zeahirian animals.
I hand it over. “After target practice today I wanted to be aware of the possible creatures we could encounter.” I give him a sharp glare. “It’s a good thing, too. Some of those are downright terrifying.”
“We probably won’t come across anything too dangerous.”
“Regardless, it’s better I know so I can prepare and not be caught off guard.”
“You’ll be safe.” He sets aside the book. “I won’t let anything hurt you.”
“Yet you were teaching me how to defend myself earlier.”
“Can’t be too careful.”
“Exactly,” I say exasperated. “If you had to guess, what’s going to be the most dangerous part of what we’re doing?”
“Entering the temple.” He answers with no hesitation. “There will be protections in place. We won’t be able to prepare for them ahead of time.”
“Great. Scary creatures in the dark and booby traps. Sounds like a fantastic time.”
“Cuna and Hyva are almost finished creating lenses for you to place over your eyes. They should allow you to see in the dark nearly as well as we can. I want you to try them out tomorrow.”
The synthesizer beeps, alerting us to our food being ready. He sets my plate down in front of me and begins eating his own meal. I keep doing my research while he pulls out a tablet and begins to do some of his own work.
A while after I finish eating, I set everything aside. A small ache begins to pulse behind my eyes, and I know soon it’ll morph into a full-on migraine. I pick up my dishes and carry them to the sink, just those movements alone accelerate the pain. My glass clatters from my hand into the sink, shattering. I start picking up shards and end up slicing my palm open.
I feel Raiz’s presence at my back within seconds. “Stop. I’ll clean it up.” He grabs my hand and swipes his thumb over the blood seeping from the wound.
He pulls me through the bedroom into the bathroom and pulls out a medical kit from under the sink. The throbbing in my head intensifies with each beat of my heart. Beads of sweat gather along my hairline as I try desperately to fight back the episode.
“Doing alright?” He glances up at me while dosing my hand in antiseptic.
“Yes.” The sting on my palm gives me something to focus on beyond pain in my head.
“What’s going on?”
“Headache,” I say through gritted teeth as he wraps a bandage over my palm.
“I’ll get Hyva.” His eyes grow distant, an indication of him reaching out mentally. I’ve noticed if he’s further away it seems to take more effort and focus for him. “He’s coming and said to lay down while we wait.”
He leads me to the bed and helps me down.
“Will you dim the lights, please?” I ask.
“Of course.”
The lights go off entirely. I can’t see, but I know he can, so I let myself relax into the soft bedding that still has his comforting seawater scent. Maybe if I imagine the beach near his home, I can block some of the pain. A few of the Order medics tried visualization techniques with me, but it never worked.
It’s worth a shot now that I have somewhere that feels like home. A place I could wake up and be happy seeing every day. Or at least a person who feels like that.
The door to our quarters hisses open, and Hyva appears next to me seconds later.
“I’m going to put this cooling pack over your head, okay?” He sets his bag on the mattress beside my hip.
I nod, knowing that trying to speak will only hurt more at this point. My vision is already tunneling, the blackness of my migraine coming to swallow the little light filtering into the room from the window looking out into space. He wraps a cold, smooth mask over my eyes and forehead and around the back of my head. It instantly soothes me in a way nothing else ever has.
“I’m also going to give you an injection of the medication you used to take on Oculus Nine. This might be a little stronger since it is a liquid. Are you okay with that?”
I give him another slight nod. The scent of antiseptic hits my nostrils, churning my stomach as he cleans my skin. I feel a pinch and then the burn of the medication enters my bloodstream. Almost immediately everything begins to fade, my consciousness included.