Nasir’s hand paused against the underside of her breast. “What makes you think I lost someone?”
Kavin shrugged but didn’t turn to look at him. “You talk about love as if you know. And being with you these last few days, I know you’re not a monster. Not like the highborns would have me and everyone else believe. You don’t like the killing. And yet you do it.”
Surprise rippled through him. That she was so easily able to see to the heart of him when no one else ever had. Not even Talah.
“So who was she?” Kavin asked softly.
He swallowed the lump in his throat as he trailed his finger up her bare arm, then back down again. He’d never told anyone about Talah. Not even his brothers. But he didn’t want to keep anything from Kavin. Not now. “A caregiver. She worked with children injured and orphaned in the wars. Helped rehabilitate them and find homes.”
Kavin was silent beside him, the only sound the gentle push and pull of her breath while she waited for him to go on. And the fact she wasn’t pushing spurred him to continue. “We got word Ghuls were heading toward her village. I was being sent out with the army to meet them. I told her to go to the castle—that she’d be safe there. She agreed, reluctantly, but said she needed to arrange for someone to take her place at the infirmary. I wasn’t happy about her delay but agreed to give her the time. I left a guard with her and resumed my post. She never made it to the castle.” His throat grew thick as he stared at a mole on her shoulder. “A band of Ghuls we didn’t know about attacked from the north before she could get away.”
Her hand closed over his against her arm. “I’m so sorry.”
Talah’s face flashed in his mind. Smiling and waving as he left, her long dark hair flying behind her in the wind. Rolling her eyes at what she considered his overprotective nature. Never knowing it would be the last moments of her life.
“It wasn’t your fault, Nasir.”
Kavin’s breath against his cheek brought his eyes open. She’d turned to face him, her eyes warm and shining with unshed tears, her hands resting gently against his chest. Emotions stole through him. Emotions that were so much stronger than he’d felt with Talah they took his breath away.
“I don’t fight to avenge her death,” he said in a thick voice. “The Ghuls who manage the pits are not the ones who killed her. I fight—I fought—because it was all I had left. Until I met you.”
Her entire face softened. And those eyes that before had simply glistened, now filled with tears.
He kissed the tip of her nose. Kissed the teardrop that slipped from the corner of her eye. Kissed his way down to her mouth, then finally pressed his lips against hers. Softly. Gently. Hoping she could feel every emotion stirring inside him.
He wrapped his arm around her, dragged her body closer, then rested his forehead against hers. “It’s crazy—all of this. But in a few short days, you’ve changed everything for me. You made me remember who I was. You gave me a reason to want to live. I’m not going to let them hurt you. I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you.”
Her mouth closed over his so forcefully it tore a groan from his chest. She pushed him to his back, climbed over him, kissed him again and again and again as if she couldn’t get enough.
The sheet fell away, leaving her bare and beautiful. He trailed his hands up her hips, positioned her so she was rocking against his cock, right where he wanted her most. Eased up to kiss her deeper. “Mine,” he mumbled against her lips. “You’re mine.”
“Show me,” she whispered, lifting then lowering to take him so deep they both groaned. “One more time. Show me that I’m only yours.”
Chapter Thirteen
Nasir waited until Kavin fell asleep again, then gently eased out from under her.
His body still vibrated from the most amazing orgasm; his heart pounded hard at the things she’d whispered as they’d made love. But it was what he had to do next that left a hole the size of a crater in the bottom of his stomach.
He pulled on his pants and crossed soundlessly toward the door. Once there, he rapped on the hard wood once, knowing the guards were out there keeping watch.
“What?” a voice called from the other side of the door.
“I have a request,” Nasir said quietly.
The small rectangular slot in the door opened, just enough so Nasir could see the guard’s dark eyes. “What kind of request?”
“I want to meet with the female’s master. Before my fight.”
The guard turned to look toward his companion, just out of Nasir’s line of sight, and relayed the message. When he turned back, he said, “He’ll not agree.”
Nasir ground his teeth. “If he wants the fire opal around my neck, he’ll agree.”
Surprise reflected in the guard’s dark eyes. His gaze snapped to the opal at Nasir’s throat. After several long seconds of silence, he harrumphed and closed the window with a snap.
They hadn’t said no. Nasir turned slowly and looked toward Kavin on the bed. This was his only shot. They had to take the bait. All the highborns wanted the opal. They’d tried to take it from him when he’d first arrived but hadn’t been able to remove it from his neck. None knew where it came from, but they lined their sahads up to fight Nasir in the ring because the one who killed him would then own the mysterious opal. So far, none had been successful.
He crossed back to the bed, sat beside her, and brushed the curls back from her face. She lay on her stomach, her arms up near her head, her eyes closed in deep sleep. He hated to wake her, hated to start this day that would likely be his last. But he didn’t want her master to find her naked in his bed. Didn’t want to give the son of a bitch any reason to hurt her more than he already had.
“Kavin, wake up.” He ran his hand down her hair, across the smooth skin of her back. “Wake up, princess.”
He’d like nothing better than to make her his princess. But that was another life. Not this one. The best he could hope for was that once she was free, someday she could find happiness. And maybe remember what little time they’d been able to spend together, even if it was in a hellhole.
She grunted, stirred, finally blinked and looked up at him with that sleepy, sexy, so-damn-erotic look, he wished he could see it again. Tomorrow morning. And the morning after that. Thousands of mornings after that.
He forced a smile. “Good morning.”
Her eyes widened, then she jerked up on her hands and looked toward the window above them. “It’s morning?”
She knew what this morning was going to bring. He just hoped he was able to stop it.
“Kavin, we need to talk.”
She flipped to sitting and pulled the sheet up around her, her wide, very aware eyes looking all around the room.
He picked up her dress where they’d dropped it last night and handed it to her, trying like hell not to let his own fear show. “I’m fighting today.”
She stopped her frantic movements with the dress around her neck. “What?” Her gaze dropped to his side and the wound that was still red and irritated, but, thanks to her, closed. “You’re still weak from your injury. They can’t make you fight yet. They—”
“They can do whatever they want.” He helped her pull the dress down. “I’m a slave, remember?”
“But—”
He captured her hands before she could push from the bed. “It’s my job, rouhi.”
Her eyes hardened, and he watched determination creep across her perfect features. “Then kill them. Kill every single one they throw at you.”