Shit.Yithians and Maloidianshadplayed a part.And her hero was real?
Her eyelids fluttered open.A tinted bubble surrounded her but not so clouded that she couldn’t see beyond it.The place was empty, with a nighttime atmosphere if she judged the silence.Only the beep-beep of a machine registered.
A face appeared, familiar… She gasped, blinking at her hero, his handsomeness sending a flush of warmth through her and liquifying her limbs.Her lungs forced her to suck in a breath.Wow.
“How do you feel?”he asked, pressing his palm to the dome as his deep baritone rolled over her.
“Where am I?”she managed, her voice hoarse.At least she could speak.The delicious sight of him made her swallow her tongue.
“On theKevol.We are rushing you to Issneen.”
“Where’s that?”She frowned.“Why?”Wiggling her limbs only got her spinning within the pod until her ass pointed at him.Heat exploded across her cheeks.Flaying her arms didn’t help either.
“Qaff, is the med-E.D.done?”he asked another Etterian she hadn’t noticed.
Air whooshed out, and she found herself face down on the bed.Before she could flip over, her man gripped her by the hips and hoisted her into a sitting position, her legs hanging off the edge.He slid his fingers from her hips, along the sides of her thighs to her knees.Had he done that on purpose?
Intrigue hit her, an emotion not her own.She pinched her brow at the ping of a headache forming.
“Issneen is Etteria’s royal city.Our best medics await your arrival,” he said.
Anxiety trickled into her when he swept his gaze over her face.
“What are you worried about?”she asked, attempting to scoot off the bed.
His arm across her waist kept her in place and flooded her with a splice-like zing.
“Until Qaff assures me you are well—”
“She is well…for now, Cylo.”Qaff turned away, tapping on a tablet.
Silo?That was her man’s name?
“But…she is purple,” he said, swiping his hand over her forearm, summoning goose bumps.
“Huh?”She scrunched up her nose then glanced down.“What the hell?”With a muffled squeal, she scrambled back and toppled off the other side of the bed.Into his arms.They encompassed her like steel bands.She fought the urge to burrow into him.“Sorry,” she said, her shoulder pressed against his chest.He smelled so damn good, too, like something spicy and sweet.
Focus, Wren.You’re lilac.
She stared at her arms, familiar yet not.
“How?No, scratch that.Can you fix it?”She raised her gaze to meet his.“And can you put me down, please?”That he liked holding her was too distracting when she had other things to deal with like how long would she be lilac?And how could she sense his emotions when Etterians were known not to have many?Where had she read that?
He lowered her feet to the floor, his hands lingering.When she swayed, dizziness spinning the room, he looped an arm around her waist again.She prodded her pastel purple skin.It was still her, just a different color.
“A side effect of whatever the Maloidians did to me, Qaff?”she asked the doctor just to confirm her suspicions.
“We believe so, milady,” he said without glancing at her while he flicked through symbols on a wall-mounted screen.“Only in Issneen will we know the truth and perhaps how to undo it.”
“I see,” she said, tossing a tentative smile at Cylo.
“Do you wish to cleanse?”he asked, his gaze intense.
She gaped for a moment.How had he known she’d kill for that?When her stomach wrenched, she cleared her throat.“Please, and food?”
“Can you walk?”he asked, drawing back his hand in a caress across her abdomen.
“Of course I ca—” One step and she slithered to the floor but found herself once again in his arms.
