She wasn’t sure if he was skimming her mind or not, if he meant her muscles or her eagerness. “I can relax my own muscles.”
“Keep bitching, I stop working.”
“You like that, don’t you—having the power to push people around?”
“That’s why I’m giving it away.”
She closed her eyes and said nothing. Was that how he thought of the tattoo he was etching into her skin? That he was giving his power to her? She wondered again what would happen when she called IISS. Precisely how much of a leash she would have him on, exactly how smart and powerful the great Ryodan really was.
She hoped enormously.
“Did you ever see anything like the black holes while you were in the Silvers?” he said after a time.
She shook her head.
“Talk, don’t move. This must be precise.”
“I saw many things. Nothing like those holes.”
“How many worlds?”
“We’re not friends.”
“What are we?”
“You asked me that before. I don’t repeat myself.”
He laughed softly. Then, “Stretch long. There’s a hollow at the base of your spine. I need it flattened.”
She did, then one of his hands was on her hip, stretching her out even more.
Then she felt the tip of a knife at her back, followed by a deep burn of a slice, and a sudden warm gush of blood.
“Nearly there,” he murmured.
Prick after prick of needles in a rapid dance across her skin.
Time spun out in a strange, dreamy way, and she relaxed more deeply than even she was capable of achieving on her own lately. It wasn’t entirely bad, she decided. What he did to her was nearly as good as sleep. Rebooted her engines, took her down to ground zero and fueled her up again.
Then she felt his tongue at the base of her spine and shot out of the chair so fast she knocked it over and stumbled into the wall. She spun and shot him a furious look, rubbing an elbow that would undoubtedly be bruised. “What the bloody hell are you doing?” she snarled.
“Finishing the tattoo.”
“With your tongue?”
“There’s an enzyme in my saliva that closes wounds.”
“You didn’t lick me last time.”
“I didn’t cut as deeply last time.” He gestured at a mirror above a small cabinet in an alcove. “Look.”
Warily, she turned her back to the mirror and peered over her shoulder. Blood was running down her spine, dripping on her jeans, on the floor.
“Put a Band-Aid on it.”
“Don’t be a fool.”
“You’re not licking me.”
“You’re being absurd. It’s a method. Nothing more. The wound must heal before I set the final mark. Sit the fuck down. Unless you have a good reason you don’t want my saliva closing the wound.”
He’d removed them both from the equation with his words. Saliva. Closing a wound. Not Ryodan’s tongue on her back. Which was exactly what she should have done—seen it analytically. Many animals had unusual enzymes in their spit. She was bleeding profusely, and hadn’t even known he’d cut so deep.
She picked the chair up, repositioned it and slid back into the seat. “Go on,” she said tonelessly. “You startled me. You should have told me what you were doing.”
“I’m going to close the wound with my saliva,” he said slowly and pointedly.
Then she felt his tongue at the base of her spine, the stubble of his shadow-beard against her skin. His hands were on her hips, his hair brushing her back. She closed her eyes and sank deep into nothing inside her. Moments later he was done. He traced a final emblem with his needles and told her she was free to go.
She bolted from the chair and headed for the door.
“Choose wisely, Jada,” he said softly behind her.
She froze, hand on the panel, turned and looked at him. She had no intention of replying. But her mouth said, “Choose what wisely?”
He smiled but it didn’t touch his eyes. That cool, clear silver gaze had always seemed to stare straight into her soul. She studied him, realizing his eyes weren’t quite as void as she’d always thought. There was something in them, something…ancient. Immortal? And patient, endlessly patient, as he moved his chess pieces around. Aware, brutally, intensely alive and on point, and she had a sudden certainty that Ryodan saw right through her.
He knew. He’d known all along what she wanted.
“Why else would you let me tattoo you,” he murmured.
He’d tattooed her with full awareness of what he was doing; giving her a collar, a leash to yank anytime and anyplace she wanted, with absolutely no foreknowledge of how she might choose to use it. Why would he do that?
And in those complex, every-shade-of-gray eyes, she thought she saw something else. Thought she heard him speak.
When the time comes, trust will be your weakness.
“I always choose wisely,” she said, and left.