Page 30 of Dark's Savior

Ryziel clenched and unclenched his hands and nodded, trying desperately to look anywhere but at her. Because if he did, he knew his eyes would fall right to the curve of her neck then downward to stare at her small frame. He already had an image of what lay behind the robe. A body not so unlike nillium women save for the color and texture. He had gotten a good glimpse of everything when he had been forced to undress her then mend her wounds. His mind had been a blank slate then—only a few times did he have to leave the room to keep his Drega relaxed but otherwise, he kept his mind somewhere else completely, focusing only on the need to fix what was before him.

Still, that had taken tremendous willpower on its own. Now that she was before him, alive and well, he dared not even cast his eyes down to her nor meet her gaze, in fear his mind would go wandering somewhere he didn't care for it to.

"Your wounds should be almost healed. If you need to bathe, I can show you the washroom," he said, turning away.

"I would like that," she said.

Ryziel nodded and started toward the ship, moving around its right wing over to a wide, open alcove in the back, walled off with various sheets of metal and a curtain. He drew the curtain aside, revealing a large mineral barrel abandoned at some point by miners and now used as their makeshift tub. Ryziel went over to the empty barrel and brought up a hose from the tank beside it, filling the tub up with hot water. He knew she was behind him watching, but he made no move to look back at her as he waited for the base to fill. When it was through, he turned off the water and drew out the hose then stuck his hand in to make sure it wasn't too hot. When he was satisfied, he took up a bar of soap sitting on top of the tank and handed it to her without looking.

"I will bring your clothes and set them just outside. When you’re done, we will discuss getting you back up to the surface." When she said nothing, he braved a glance at her. Their eyes met, and he thought she looked a little awestruck.

"That's it, then?"

Ryziel blinked. "What?"

"You...you aren't going to punish me?"

As juvenile as that sounded, Ryziel could see she was serious. She really thought he meant to harm her.

And how could she not, you idiot? You threatened her at Shadowpoint.

Ryziel turned his head to hide the grimace on his face. "No. I'm not going to punish you," he said quietly. He rubbed his jaw then looked back at her. "But you were a fool to come down, almost getting yourself killed."

She frowned, her eyes dropping. "I didn't do it to challenge you or upset you, trust me." She glared back up at him, her eyes more fierce and bright than before. "My techband dropped all the way to the bottom, if you can believe it." She laughed a little. "And wouldn't have been an issue if it hadn't been for that stupid ruling Marzin decided to place on us. On the humans, I mean."

Ryziel straightened, raising his head as he looked down at her. "What ruling?"

Aly lifted the techband up. "He gave us new techbands and said if we lost them or broke them, we would be punished under Xolis law." She dropped her arm and shrugged. "I don't know what the punishment would have entailed, but I was afraid that I would be taken away from the others. So, when my techband fell...I decided to take the risk and go searching for it."

Ryziel's eyes narrowed. Of course, the enforcers didn't want the human techbands destroyed. Otherwise, they couldn't trace them. Still, he was curious as to why.

"So, yeah, I can't tell you how relieved I am you found it because—" Aly's eyes widened. "Oh, no." She looked at him as if she had yet again done something wrong. "They are tracing it. They said they were going to watch us. The enforcers might..."

Ryziel shook his head. "It's taken care of."

Aly's brows furrowed. "Taken...care of?"

"I unlinked the tracker system. They won't find you here."

"Oh." Aly brought up her techband, brushing her fingers over the screen as she looked over it curiously. "Damn, if I had known it could be turned off, I would have just done it myself!"

"It's not as easy as just switching it on and off," Ryziel said. "It takes at least some knowledge of a techband's programming system. I learned to keep mine untraceable for some time."

Aly glanced up at him, her mouth curving slightly at one side. "Ah. Don't suppose you could teach me that little trick, huh?"

Ryziel turned his head to the side to look over at the ship. "No. Once I get you back to the surface, it will have to be turned back on."

Because the more he thought about it, maybe it was a good thing the enforcers were watching the humans closely. As long as she didn't return to the bottom, it meant someone would be looking out for her when he couldn't, meaning he (hopefully) wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt again. And distracting him from his work with the ship. Why should he care or worry about the reason she was being watched? At least someone was, meaning it didn't have to be him. And that was agoodthing because he couldn't waste any more time.

Still, something at the back of his mind was troubled by the enforcers’ sudden attention on the humans, namely of the one before him. But he had to put the feeling aside. He had other things to worry about.

When Ryziel peered back down at Aly, he couldn't help catching the look of disappointment on her face, which she quickly hid when she saw him looking at her.

"Of course," she said, smiling. "I understand." She went to turn for the tub then paused. "Thank you again, Ryziel, for saving my life."

He met her eyes again. He didn't bother to ask how she knew his name. Nar was never good at keeping information to himself.

"The water is getting cold," he said, unlatching from her gaze and turning fully away from her. "When you’re done, I will take you back." He stepped out of the washroom and pulled the curtain closed, leaving her.

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