Yep. Curiosity made her really stupid. She figured he’d be shocked, that she’d be able to catch him off guard again, and maybe he’d divulge something about the blades. But she did not, in any way, anticipate the violence with which he responded.
Moving faster than her eyes could process, he knocked both daggers to the ground. She vaguely heard the sound of them sliding across the floor before his body was upon her. His weight crashed into her and within seconds of her finishing her idiotic sentence, she was on the floor.
His body loomed over her with one knee between her legs while one hand held her wrists above her head and the other was, again, at her throat.
Vera shuddered as the chill of the floor soaked through her clothing and clashed with the heat of his body as he pressed down into her. Her dress had hitched slightly up from her fall, the open air kissing her naked legs.
“Ngil egyoch chow mbi thoots?!” She flinched as he half yelled, half snarled in her face. He’d seemed angry before, but now there was a good chance he might actually hurt her.
Gripping her more firmly and shaking her by the throat, he repeated in the common tongue, “Where. Did you. Get that.” His voice had dropped back down to a calmer tone, which only terrified her more.
“I’ve…” She swallowed and tried again, “I’ve had it for as long as I can remember. I found it here amongst dozens of other daggers.”
“Here?” he asked, glancing disbelievingly around her room.
“I mean, in the armory.” She flicked her eyes to the door. “I was drawn to it, and I’ve had it ever since.” She didn’t know why she’d admitted that last part, but it was true.
He stared into her eyes, and she could practically see her words circling in his head as he tried to decide whether or not he believed her.
Vera lowered her gaze and noted, a little late, that she was pinned to the ground by a strong, attractive body. His tunic was a deep, forest green that only further enhanced his eyes, and his tan trousers were snug in all the right places.
With powerful-looking thighs, a taut torso, and well-defined arm muscles, he was definitely not a sack of potatoes. Even the fingers wrapped around her neck and wrists were attractive. Wedged between her legs, his knee was pressed against her center, and she was suddenly acutely aware of his proximity.
Vera’s next words came out as nothing more than a whisper as she desperately tried to change her thoughts back to their conversation. “I don’t know whose it was before me.”
“Mine.”
Her eyes instantly locked back with his. The emotion hiding behind them was intense and devastating, and she felt her body shudder in response. His nostrils flared, and she swore he glanced at her lips before pushing back to his feet above her.
“Those two daggers were given to me when I became old enough to train.” He opened and closed his mouth as if he’d almost added something else.
“Training for what? How did one of them get here then?” The questions burst out from her before she could stop them, and she mentally cursed herself for letting her nosiness get the best of her. Again.
His expression hardened. “It was stolen from me. Highly convenient for me to find it, well over a decade later, in the hands of the same duwabi who recently stole the other.” His fists curled, and she belatedly remembered she was still prostrate at his feet.
“I knew Matherins were barbarians and thieves, but I certainly never would have guessed one of my own would also steal from me.” His stare was damning.
She sat up, and when he made no move to stop her, she slowly climbed to her feet. Feeling somewhat more confident since he seemed less inclined to kill her now, she crossed her arms and glared back at him. If he were going to kill her, he’d have done it by now.
Right?
“I’m not one of you.”
Looking her up and down, his lip curled as if he found her severely lacking. “Guess I don’t need to bother asking where your loyalties lie,” he sneered.
Vera felt herself growing angrier by the second. Throwing her arms up in the air she asked, “Okay, Green Eyes, enlighten me. Why should I feel any loyalty to Bhasura?”
She should probably have been concerned by her sudden lack of fear, especially considering the look he was giving her. Not to mention there were still two weapons somewhere on the floor. But the longer he stood there, the more she believed he didn’t plan on harming her.
Green Eyes took a quick step forward at her question, causing her to reactively step back. He said nothing at first, but she saw his eyes flicker to the sides of her head.
“Your blatant disrespect toward your own kind is appalling.” He looked down his nose at her before switching gears and asking, “Why does Matherin welcome you, a zhu, to work for Sulian’s spawn?”
Vera supposed she didn’t need to ask how the Magyki felt about the emperor. The complete dismissal of his title spoke volumes by itself. She couldn’t help the small spark of pride that he thought her capable of working for the prince. Lie, she told herself. Lie your ass off.
But she didn’t.
“I’m not welcome here. I was kind of forced to blend in. It’s not like I was exactly given a choice.” She bitterly gestured at her ears. “And I don’t work for Prince Eithan,” she added. “I’m just a ward in the armory.”
Uncertainty crossed his features, and his posture relaxed ever so slightly. “How long have you been kept here? Do you even know what you are?”
“Why does everyone care so much about what I am?” she snapped. She was angry, exhausted, and suddenly felt on the verge of tears. Swallowing hard, she tried to force them back. Tears were the last thing she needed right now.
He didn’t respond to her outburst besides raising an eyebrow and looking at her like she was an emotionally unstable child. She certainly felt like one.
“Sorry, it’s just—" Why in Aleron was she apologizing? He’d tried choking her to death just a few minutes ago. It was further proof that her mind and her mouth were not on the same page.
“Yes, I know,” she said instead. “But I’ve been here since I was a child. Young enough that I have no memory of being anywhere else.” She looked down and exhaled roughly, letting her arms fall limply at her sides. She didn’t want to talk anymore. She didn’t even know why she’d started.
At his silence, Vera looked back up only to be completely and utterly captivated by his eyes. They had widened, and he was looking at her in a way that made her heart flutter.
“Exactly how long has that been?”
“Fifteen years, give or take.”
Taking a step toward her, he whispered, “Untainted.” But he said it so quietly, she wasn’t sure she’d heard him correctly.
“What?”
Suddenly his head whipped toward the door, and he tensed, hand snapping to the empty sheath at his waist. His jaw ticked, and he stood with that eerie preternatural stillness of his. She was about to say something again when knocking disrupted the silence. She turned towards the noise, just as Elric’s voice came through.