“We wouldn’t die. But we will heal sooner with it. Be able to travel in a few days.” His voice was expressionless. “Still, you still shouldn’t have gone off alone. You could have been lost forever in this maze. Been dead long before I found you.”
She held up a scrap of fabric. “I left a trail. With these. I dropped one every time I turned. So I could find my way back.”
He made a sound deep in his throat that turned into a cough. Had it been anyone else, she’d have thought he was stifling a laugh. “Apparently it worked.”
He took off down the passage with long strides, leaving her to hurry after him breathlessly. The trip back seemed much shorter than her frightening solitary journey. In a few minutes, they’d reached the entrance to the grotto.
Despite her thirst, Lexi stopped dead. When they first got here, she’d been in such agony she barely noticed her surroundings. This time, she took it all in.
Lexi had never seen such a beautiful place. Maybe the fact it existed at all on this barren planet added to the impact. But even on Earth, she was certain nothing like it could be found.
The dark narrow passage opened onto a grotto. A wonderland. There was no other word for it. High above, glowing stones studded the ceiling of the cavern, like multicolored stars in the night sky. At one end, a waterfall three times her height poured into the turquoise pool. Vines tumbled over the rocks alongside it, with leaves so dark blue they were nearly purple. There were even trees growing here, ones she’d never seen before. The scientist in her longed to examine them, discover how they could thrive in this environment.
But it was a spot on the cavern wall opposite the waterfall that took her breath away. The mountain around the cavern had eroded away enough that veins of translucent crystal running through the rock had been laid bare. Rays of the twin suns shone through them, bathing the grotto in soft glowing light. It was like standing inside a medieval cathedral when the sun hit a stained-glass window. Soft-cerulean, emerald-green, rose-pink, and pale-amethyst — light poured in through the crystals, projecting every color imaginable onto the floor and walls of the grotto.
Even in her desperate state earlier, she’d never have missed seeing this. Comprehension dawned. “It’s the time of day. This only happens when the suns are low on the horizon.”
Ayron nodded. He’d been standing there in silence, watching her face. “We call this the Grotto of Light. Here the harmful effects of the suns are filtered through the crystals. Those glowing stones above us absorb the light. They shine during the hours of darkness like the night sky in the Outlands.”
“Why don’t your people live here?”
“The grotto is too small to house all of us, and we’d soon run out of clean water.”
“Then why not harvest the crystals, build houses, and put them in the walls and ceilings? You could have this incredible light every day.”
He picked up a water flask and filled it from the pool. Then he held his hand out for the herbs. Ayron crushed a few twigs and dropped the pieces into the flask. He did the same with a second flask.
“Come. Sit. The herbs need to steep for a while before we drink.” He lowered himself onto a large flat rock, patting the spot next to him.
Lexi shuddered at the thought of putting her burning bottom on the hard surface. “I’m fine right here,” she replied, leaning against a boulder.
His eyes narrowed. “I said, come here and sit. I am your master now, and you will do what I say. Without argument. Without question. Or suffer the consequences.”
She tamped down a burst of anger and held her tongue. She couldn’t handle another harsh spanking. Lexi took a few steps and perched on the edge of the rock, as far away from him as possible. He saw her wince as her bottom made contact.
“Come here. Let me see it.”
She started to shake her head then caught herself. She stood and turned her back to him.
“There’s just a little redness. It will soon fade. And in the meantime, the sting will remind you not to disobey me in the future. Now sit. Here.” He pointed to a spot beside him.
Suddenly conscious of her nakedness, Lexi sat down and made herself as small as possible, wrapping her arms around her chest and hunching forward. Her hair had dried, but the humidity in the cave made it fan out around her head in a riot of tangled curls so long they brushed her breasts.
He had both flasks, one in each hand, and shook them gently as he spoke. “You asked why we don’t use the crystals in our homes. We did that. Many years ago, after the great war. But people discovered even the crystals couldn’t filter the sunlight enough to keep it from doing harm over time. We’ll be fine here. For days, weeks, even months. But if we stayed, eventually the effects would build. We’d die slowly. Even the salisis wouldn’t be able to save us. Thousands of people who survived the initial blasts died before we discovered what was killing them.”
He uncorked one of the flasks and handed it to her. “Drink slowly at first. Just a sip or two.”
Lexi took the flask gratefully and brought it to her lips. The taste was still horridly bitter, but by now she didn’t care. She swallowed, sighing at the blessed relief to her parched throat. For a while, they sat in silence, sipping water from the flasks. Then he turned to her.
“It’s clear you’re not a member of any Tryb on Iridia. I want to know where you came from and why you’re here.” His voice grew stern. “Start talking. Now. And if you lie to me even once, I’ll put you back over my knees and spank you so hard you won’t sit down for a week.”
Chapter Thirteen
Lexi took another swallow, stalling for time. She’d been expecting this, planning what she’d say. If she admitted she’d been transported here by accident, he would realize she truly was his property now and he could do anything he wanted to her. No one would be coming to her rescue. But if she said she’d been sent to Iridia on purpose, the Tryb might decide she was a spy and execute her.
“I come from another planet, far away, called Earth.”
He nodded. “I suspected as much. My people came from Earth too, so long ago our origins are lost in the mists of time. But no one has traveled here from that planet in centuries. The portal no longer works. How did you do it?”
