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She blew out a strange whistling sound. “Wow.”
“Including,” I added, “tying secure knots in our climbing ropes.”
She inhaled deeply, her chest rising and falling, drawing my gaze to her ample breasts.
I shook off the desire to reach out and touch her again. I had managed to ignore the attraction simmering between us all day—I couldn’t afford to be distracted by it now.
We moved to the base of the cliff where I had spotted a series of divots that would provide excellent hand footholds.
I would have to remember to keep Gwen’s shorter arm span in mind as I climbed. That would increase the amount of time it took to get to the top of the cliff, but it would be worth it—otherwise, I would have to put her on my back and carry her up.
Not that that was impossible, by any means—but I hated to expend my energy that way when we didn’t know what might be waiting for us at the top of the cliff.
“You could carry me up?” Gwen asked, her gaze flying to my face as she read my thoughts. “Why didn’t you tell me that? Let’s do that. I don’t think I’m strong enough to climb.”
Rather than responding verbally, I simply stared at her steadily.
“Fine,” she said. “Not unless we have to.”
I started to respond, but she put one hand up to forestall any comment. “No. You’re right—the last thing we need is for you to get up there and be too tired to fight if someone attacks. Okay. Go ahead—show me what to do.”
That might have been the simplest argument I’ve ever engaged in with anyone, male or female. Perhaps his mental bonding thing wasn’t so bad after all.
I placed my bottom left foot in one of the divots, demonstrating exactly what I was looking for and how I would be climbing.
When I had scaled the wall to the limit of our tether, I glanced down at Gwen. “What are you waiting for? Come on.”
She inhaled nervously, then began following my lead.
She was stronger than she had given herself credit for—whatever kind of exercise she did at home had built up her upper body strength enough so that she could almost overcome the top-heaviness of her interesting, but really quite large, breasts. And her lower body strength was impressive for any species, as well.
Especially one currently billed as weak and useless by the Gladiator Games advertisements.
I kept us moving slowly but steadily and called a halt about halfway up the wall. “We’ll pause here for just a moment,” I called down to her. “I think we can take off our masks—but wait until I’ve checked.” If there was any remnant of the falavon mist poison this high up, I would be able to sense it—I had been implanted with poison detectors as an infant and could neutralize small amounts of toxins, as well.
But after inhaling for several moments, I gave Gwen the go-ahead to remove her mask. I was glad to see that she didn’t toss it away—instead, she tucked it into one of the front pockets of the uniform. She caught me watching, and she gave a slight shrug, though she continued gripping the wall tightly. “Never know what might come in handy later.”
She was smart, too. I was glad to learn that.
A planet’s queen needs intelligence in addition to beauty.
I froze halfway through reaching for my next handhold.
Where in Folidor’s icy hells had that thought come from?
I was not looking for a queen. I was still young, with years to go before I needed to settle down with a mate and produce heirs to the kingdom.
I completed the next move of the climb, quietly hoping that Gwen had been too wrapped up in her own fear of the climb to pay any attention to what was going on in my mind.
Redoubling my focus, I settled in to complete the second half of the climb.
We were three-quarters of the way up the cliff when the tether between us made an ominous ripping noise.
“Kaio!” Gwen called out anxiously.
“We’re almost to the top,” I encouraged her. “Don’t worry about the rope. You can do this.”
“I—I can’t.” Her voice trembled, and I paused to look down.
