AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Her frustration leaked into her every movement and Adelina noticed the courtesan was getting sloppy. Hooking her foot behind Nadyah’s ankle, she brought up one of her blades that would slice from navel to nose if it connected.
Nadyah stepped back to avoid the strike and tripped over Adelina’s foot. Instantly Adelina followed up and pressed her advantage. One blade rested beneath the courtesan’s chin and the other at her belly.
“Are you sure you’re happy?” Adelina asked.
The courtesan yielded and Adelina stepped back, rolling her shoulder to prepare for the next round. The training was good for her muscles, for her body to remember what it needed to do during a fight. Adelina couldn’t afford to lose her edge just before they infiltrated Khara.
“Even though you are no longer my courtesan, we are still friends,” Adelina pushed. “You can confide in me.”
Nadyah flipped to her feet in a graceful maneuver that she’d taught Adelina when they first started training together. The courtesan’s skill in the bedroom was equal to that of her fighting – and in both each move was beautiful, calculated, and perfect.
Or rather, it usually was.
Nadyah flipped one blade and caught it without looking while she studied Adelina. Was she angry with her?
“You let Roxy leave with Kaita.”
A flash of guilt and then it was gone. Adelina nodded once, taking a step back so there was more space between them for the next round. “She asked for my permission and I had no reason to keep her here. All the starships have been upgraded and repaired, plus she has trained enough mechanics that they can manage while training others. Roxy may be my subject and unofficially part of my inner court, but she still retains her rights and freedoms.”
A flicker in Nadyah’s eyes told Adelina the courtesan wasn’t just angry, she was frightened…and perhaps a bit guilty. “Do you think she would have left with the Corinthian princess had we not ended our relationship?”
Adelina slid both blades into the loops of her pants to signal a break. Nadyah needed her more than Adelina needed to work off the energy simmering under her skin. “I think her feelings for Delphine would have pushed her to do so regardless, especially since she is not needed here.”
Nadyah eyed the sharp blade in her dominant hand. “It didn’t hurt me as much as it did when you and I ended things and I thought perhaps…perhaps Roxy was in more pain than she let on. It wasn’t always easy to connect with her, so I could have missed the signs.”
That sore spot in Adelina’s heart flared and she rubbed at it absently as she considered her courtesan. “Not to be cruel, but I don’t think Roxy cared about you in the same way that I cared for you. Neither of you seemed to be more than friends who enjoyed certain sexual benefits.”
The way Roxy had barged onto Command to ask about Delphine…Adelina was more than willing to let the mechanic leave with Kaita for all she’d done for her. Adelina could never properly thank Roxy for coming on this voyage. And now she was in Khara and Adelina prayed to the Three-faced Goddess nothing would happen to her sister-in-law.
Varan might never forgive her.
He’d been cross, but Roxy had told him off well enough. It was made quite clear she controlled her own life.
“A pirate captain and the queen of thieves sounds like a devastating romance waiting to be told,” Adelina admitted.
Nadyah’s mouth quirked up in a little smile. “I have to agree. I just…felt like I could have handled it better, handled everything better.”
And Adelina knew she was no longer talking about Roxy, but rather how she’d kept the information about Ian from Adelina.
Again Adelina rubbed at her chest as she looked at the female she still so desperately loved—craved even with three mates to satisfy her.
“And how do you feel now that your bond with Ian is permanent?” Adelina asked – so carefully she asked this question. Adelina had to remind herself not everyone was like her – not everyone loved like she did.
This small chance was not something she could hope for – not when the Three-faced Goddess had already given her so much. It would be too selfish.
Nadyah slid both blades into the loops of her pants as well and dropped gracefully to the floor, folding her legs underneath her. Adelina followed her example, kneeling as she let her palms rest in her lap face up.
A moment for the two of them to meditate – consider the paths now before them. Not just this one, but all the paths that lay before them. The battle for Khara, the choices they would have to make, and the grieving they would one day have to face.
“I love Ian,” Nadyah admitted – her voice little more than a whisper. “He satisfies me in ways I’ve never experienced before with any client. I don’t feel desperate only hours later for more, but if I need it he gives it to me without question.”
Adelina closed her eyes as she listened, absorbed, and catalogued her emotions to tuck them away. Nadyah was happy. She was fulfilled. There was nothing more she wanted for the female she’d never intended to fall for.
“But there’s still something missing,” Nadyah admitted.
Adelina’s eyes flew open. “What do you think it is?” she asked.
Those sapphire eyes held her own amethyst ones and Adelina felt like she couldn’t breathe.
