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With a scowl, I considered my space. The clipped plants in here were harmless now, for show alone. The furniture was soft, the furs from the beasts of the jungles that I had killed myself.
But there was one cabinet, full of weapons, I usually left unlocked.
I crossed the room, slid my finger through the latch, and closed it fast. “No. You are safe here, my Lucas.”
There was a small twitch, a tension around his eyes, when I said that. Too quickly, he turned away.
“Your mother’s human,” he said, slow as the dawn suns cresting the horizon as he continued to look any direction but mine.
“She is. She is a savior of our people, one of the first humans to come to Thorzan.” She had suffered from our lack of knowledge. We had improved though. I would show Lucas that.
“Which is... this planet. Thorzan.”
“Yes.”
“And you are Thorzi?”
“I am.” My fist hit my chest. “A warrior.”
He nodded, his soft steps drifting over the floor, spread with many sleek furs. He dragged his fingers across decanters of elixirs, for healing and for pleasure both.
“She seems to love you.”
I blinked, jerking back. What did he expect? “She is my mother.”
“No, I mean... you’re right. Of course she loves you.” The smile he gave me then was soft, indulgent. “I just meant... she was happy to see you. Doesn’t seem miserable here.”
I lifted my chin. “With King Xyren as a mate? You think my father would choose her and then allow her nothing but misery? It is a warrior’s duty to please his mate.”
Lucas looked at me then, his eyes so wide I could see the whites all around. “I don’t know what he would do. I don’t know anything about any of you. Hell, two weeks ago, I didn’t know you even existed.”
It hurt that he did not understand my intentions, that he could not see all I wished to offer him and be glad. I could hear my mother’s voice in my head then, her soft hand on my arm as she cautioned patience.
“I exist, Lucas.”
“Clearly.” His lips twitched, but it did not look anything like the genuine smile I was hoping for.
“Allow me to show you my treasures?”
I took him around the room, only one hand on his arm to guide him, and presented my choicest furs. I told him of the dangers I had faced in the jungles, the battles I had fought on our ship.
He hummed and nodded and... and none of it was enough.
Perhaps he was tired.
“This is where we rest,” I announced, spinning him toward my large bed, big enough for three Thorzi warriors.
By his waist, I lifted him up and set him on the mound of softness. He stared up at me, color flooding his cheeks, that look in his eye I was beginning to recognize as nervousness.
No need. With a hand to his chest, I pushed him back into the cushions. When I followed, I merely lay beside him, my head on the small round of his shoulder.
Still, he did not relax. Long moments passed in silence, before he asked, “Why am I here?”
I pushed up on an arm to stare down at him. “Here on Thorzan?”
Slowly, he shook his head back and forth. “With you. Here. Like, why’d youclaimme, or whatever?” He said that word, “claim,” with a shudder. He hated me.
It hurt to look into his eyes and not understand what I could do to please him, but a warrior could not flinch away from any fight. “Do you wish to leave?”
