Page 71 of Heart’s Prisoner

"Clean..." he said in English. Though the word came out a bit off, Lana was surprised by the clarity.

"Clean?" Lana repeated as a question. What did that mean? She looked far from clean. Her clothes were stained and full of soot and blood, her skin not much better.

His hand slipped to her stomach and then down to her waist and thigh where her clothes were burned. Lana winced as he touched at the wound. His eyes slipped back up to her chest and he gestured to her collar. "Off," he growled. He moved to grip her coveralls again, but Lana flinched away.

"Okay...alright," she said, still trying to keep calm. With shaky fingers, she unbuttoned the top and let it slip to her waist. Heat burned in her face at his gaze. Her heart still pounded with fear, but her breath was beginning to slow. As he reached for her yet again, she curled away.

"What are you going to do?" She had to know. She was still reminded of their last encounter together before his fake death. About his threats and promises.

Xerus seemed to understand. Carefully he sat beside her on the bed. "Yinas vir iz rok."

Lana stared at him. "Iz rok?"

Xerus bowed his head.

You were supposed to go.

Lana shook her head. Her face twisted, thinking she might shout at him or cry again. "Are you telling me," she said, her voice shaking, "that you were lying then? That you said all those hurtful things to get me to leave the base?"

When he nodded his head once, Lana felt a surge of anger and relief. A few tears slipped down her cheeks and she angrily brushed them away. "I was beyond terrified. For me and others because of you! And how could I not be? You murdered those..." Lana brought a hand to her mouth, her stomach twisting. "I trusted you. And you couldn't trust me with the truth." She dropped her hand, her fingers curling into fists.

Xerus didn't respond, only gazed at her.

"And then you...I thought that you had...died," Lana bit her lip as it trembled. "And I couldn't bring myself to go. I was so..." she covered her face in her hands unable to say more. She choked down her tears, sick of crying.

When she felt a brush against her leg, she jumped and looked over to see Xerus had moved closer, his tail grazing across the bed. A tail stained with blood.

Lana wiped at her face and sniffed. "I want to take a shower." She met his eyes. "I want to get clean."

Xerus moved to carry her again. She tried to refuse him but he wouldn't budge. He picked her up and brought her into the bathroom, taking her over to the bath instead of the shower. Lana didn't argue. A bath sounded just as good if not better. He sat her on the edge and she watched as he examined the tub then twisted the knobs, water gushing out.

As the bath filled, Xerus came around and knelt before her. He tugged at her clothing and Lana got the message.

"I can do it myself. You can leave now." She was still upset. With him and with everything. She still had so many questions and few answers. She had just lost her friend and saw the slaughter of several people. And she was still coming out of the terror she felt from believing Xerus had planned to harm her. She still felt an edge of fear even now. With him so close. No more barriers between them. "Please just go. I want to be alone."

Angry heat filled her when she saw his mouth twitch into a small smile. He said something in his language, too quiet for her to hear. "Will be close." He rose, towering above her. He stared down at her for a long moment but Lana refused to look up at him. She wrapped her arms around herself, closing herself to him. Eventually, he turned away and left her.

When the tub was filled, Lana stopped the water then carefully undressed. She removed the bandages from her arm and leg as well before dipping into the warm water, hissing in pain as the water licked her wounds. She laid back against the edge and curled into a ball once again, holding herself tight, feeling like a small, helpless child.

***

She wasn't sure how long she sat there in the tub, perhaps a few minutes, perhaps hours. Most of the time was spent just sitting there in shock, rocking back and forth but eventually she calmed down enough to make use of the water. She used a soap dispenser on the side of the wall to clean her skin and hair, scraping her fingers through her locks to untangle them. Scenes from barely a couple hours ago flashed through her mind. Fire and blood. Men sprawled out. Nicole lying on the ground. Lana's throat tightened at the thought of her friend now gone when only a few hours ago she had seemed just fine save for the broken leg.

But she hadn't been fine. Not in the slightest. Lana was still shaken up by the sudden change.

And now here she was, housed (or trapped?) with a lethal alien inside one of the most luxurious units on the base. It was too surreal to even believe.

Maybe if she had known everything from the start, known about the parasite, known Xerus wasn't dead, she would have left. And tried to warn others. Tried to get them to leave too. But she would never know. And it was too late now. If she had listened to Xerus and not been wrapped up by her emotions, things might have been different.

And now what? What did Xerus plan to do with her? Why did he come for her in the first place? she almost feared to ask.

When she was sick of sitting in the now filthy water, Lana slowly stepped out of the bath, pressing a button on the side to let it drain. The burns still throbbed and the scratches itched. She knew if she didn`t disinfect them and wrap them up properly they could get infected. Limping, she went to one of the cabinets and took out a towel and wrapped it around herself. She would need new clothes too since her coveralls were toast.

She slipped back into the bedroom and saw it was empty. On the bed was a white robe laid out for her. Lana stood there staring at it as if she didn't even recognize what it was or how it got there. She went over to it and touched at the soft fabric and wondered if Xerus' kind wore robes. Or any clothes at all besides the thin armor pants. Or if they wore very little, their scales enough to protect them, and were unashamed of their nakedness.

Lana let her towel slip off her and drop to the ground, allowing herself a moment to stand there naked, letting the cool air touch her skin. She picked up the robe then looked down at her body, touching where the skin was tarnished by dark burn marks and slashes. The slash down her arm began to bleed lightly.

A low hiss made her jump and cover her front with the robe. Xerus stepped from the shadow of the hall into the bedroom, his eyes flickering down her body, focusing on her arm and leg.

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