Page 41 of Heart's Keeper

"Where are we?" Lana asked.

Xerus smiled. "Within the station. Safe." He brushed his thumb along her palm intimately, and his smile faded, a shadow passing over his eyes. "You're safe."

Lana looked down at his hand and saw on his wrist a thick metal cuff fixed with a heavy chain. She followed the chain and saw it linked to the large metal chair he sat in.

"What...?" Lana said.

Xerus’ eyes flitted down to the chains. "Just a precaution."

Lana sat up, studying him closely. "What happened?"

Xerus closed his eyes, his lip twitching. "Where would you have me start?"

Lana thought for a moment. "When you woke up...were you...?"

Xerus opened his eyes and stared back at her. "I was myself. It wasn't a nice feeling to find myself locked up and not know where you were."

Lana swallowed hard, realizing her mouth was very dry. She coughed and looked down at her lap, her heart sinking with shame. "I'm so sorry. I didn't want to..."

"It was good that you did. I was more concerned about where you'd gone than I was about being locked up." He squeezed her hand. "When Xilya explained to me why I was where I was, it was hard to believe at first. Hard to come to terms with it, which brought me to be, ah...combative. I was determined to get out and get to you, thinking little of the fact that I was a threat. My only thought was to keep you safe. I grew terrified when I heard the hunters were coming and desperation led to a not so pleasant conversation with one of the crew who'd come to set out food."

"What did you say to them?" Lana asked.

Xerus tilted his head, looking a little guilty. "Something along the lines of stripping them of their status and their ability to work on a ship ever again if they refused my command to be set free. It was not a proud moment but I was—"

"Desperate," Lana finished with an exhale of breath.

Xerus bowed his head. "I exited the ship from there and set out toward this station. My mind was clear up until I saw the hunters and the men, then...I forgot myself. All I craved at that moment was to hunt and kill. I had lost all sense of anything else." He shut his eyes and flinched suddenly, as if in pain.

"Xerus?" Lana reached for him, concerned.

"It's all right." Xerus opened his eyes again. "When I saw you there before me, it was like...I didn't recognize you. I didn't seeyou.Couldn't comprehend who or what you were to me. And yet your voice, your touch, seemed so familiar. In a way, my desire to know it grew. And I couldn't turn away."

Lana felt her face wet again as a few tears slipped. She pursed her lips and nodded. "I wasn't sure it would even work. But I couldn't just leave you either. "

"A part of me is overjoyed you didn't while another wishes you had, if only for the fact that I might have killed you."

"I know." Lana closed her eyes and breathed deep. "I know."

His eyes turned pained as his hand lifted up to touch her throat gently. "You risked much, kissala. Too much."

"It was worth it to me to have you back," Lana said, taking his hand and resting it against her breast.

"And if I hadn't..."

"You did and the past is in the past."

Xerus sighed, pulling his hand back gently and placing it on her thigh.

"And after?" Lana asked.

Xerus closed his eyes, face twisted again with pain. "I saw you get hit. And watched you go down. I thought that would be the death of me. Instead of turning me toward my forgetfulness, it brought me back. I cared little of anything else then, though my rage was beyond anything I'd ever felt. It was the other warriors who came to my aid and who I ordered to take you. First, back to the ship to try and stop the blood loss. Then to the station per the other woman's suggestion."

"Other woman?"

Xerus' eyes half opened as if in a daze. "The human woman."

"Elise," Lana said.

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