"I'll stay." She would be brave. And she wouldn't allow Joachim to affect or scare her.
Easier said than done.
Shivawn gave the warrior a brief but dark look, gently caressed Brenna's cheek before striding into the hallway, following the messenger.
Suddenly Brenna and Joachim were alone.
I can do this. I can! Joachim's too weak to harm me.
Slowly she eased back onto the bed. She was careful not to look into his eyes, those blue, blue eyes that seemed to cut straight to her soul. Her fingers shook as she unwrapped the bandages. New stitches wouldn't be needed; compression could do the trick.
"I'm Joachim," he said, breaking the silence.
"I know." Her voice trembled as much as her hands. "You shouldn't have challenged the king." His nostrils flared in fury but still she forged ahead. "Strength lies in compassion not rage."
A charge thickened the air, and she guessed he would soon be yelling at her. Instead, he changed the subject, admitting grudgingly, "I've thought of you all week." Half pain, half accusation. "I can't seem to get you out of my mind."
Her gaze skipped to his, and she gasped at what she saw. Desire. White-hot desire.
Her hands stilled, remaining poised over his thigh. She had a sheet draped over his middle to protect her modesty rather than his, but that sheet began to tent.
"Every time you come near me, there's fear in your eyes," he said, still speaking low, his voice heated. "But I also detect interest."
She bit her lip and shook her head. She wouldn't admit to any type of interest. That would only encourage him. But...
"Talk to me, Brenna," he said. "Tell me how I can put you at ease. Tell me what caused this fear in the first place."
She never would have expected such a quiet beseeching from such a power-hungry warlord. Her throat constricted, making it difficult to speak.
"Better yet," he added, "tell me everything."
JOACHIM TILTED HIS HEAD to regard Brenna more intently. "I want to know everything about you," he reiterated. Already he knew her smell-the violets and the sunshine he'd encountered too briefly on the surface. He knew her voice-scratchy and harsh but also beautiful.
Now he wanted to know her past. Her likes. Her dislikes. All the things that made her Brenna, the woman who obsessed him more with every second that passed.
Strength lies in compassion, she'd said. He'd wanted to snort but hadn't. There was truth in her words.
"We'll begin with something easy," he said. "What's your favorite color?"
She glanced at the door, as if wondering if she should stay and talk or run. "Blue," she finally replied.
If she were his woman, he would give her all the sapphires he owned. "Do you have family?" A family she missed? Wished to return to?
She shook her head. "Dead."
He shouldn't have felt relieved. The deaths must have caused her pain. "How did you lose them?"
"Mostly of sickness, though I had two cousins die in a car accident."
Car? He was intrigued by a "car" that could kill two people at once. "I'm sorry for your loss, little one."
Features shadowed, she waved a hand through the air. That hand was shaking, he noticed. "Happened a long time ago," her broken voice stated.
He wanted to grab her and kiss her, anything to wipe away those shadows; he ended up fisting the sheets to keep his hands at his sides. "Do you like this new world? Atlantis?"
Her gaze drifted away from him, landing on the wall behind him. She shook her head.
"Why not?" Disappointment hummed through him. He'd hoped she'd already come to love it as he did.
"Scary," she admitted softly. She traced a fingertip over the sheet.
"You are frightened of everyone, not just me?"
She merely shrugged.
"I told you. I'll never hurt you, Brenna." He made the vow as gently as his fierce timbre would allow. "You have my word."
A shiver stole through her. "You might not mean to, but-"
"No. To me, never means never."
Shivawn strode back into the room. "What are you saying to her, Joachim?"
Brenna jolted to her feet, looking between them with a resurgence of fear in her eyes.
"Watch your tone, boy," Joachim snapped. "You're frightening her."
Shivawn's features instantly softened. "I'm sorry," he said to her. "Valerian asked me to oversee a search party for oranges, but I'm here now. I'm not angry, I promise you."
BRENNA GAZED BETWEEN the two men, her eyes as wide as saucers. Her...suitors? They were doing everything in their power to comfort her, and they were actually succeeding!
They wanted to kill each other, but her fear was dissipating.