She gives me a nod and a half-shrug as if accepting defeat. When she rises, her foot catches on the leg of the stool. Luckily, she reaches for the table and catches her balance. But it is enough of a sign that she is still feeling the effects of the ale, and I refuse to let her stumble another step. “Here,” I say, handing her the mug. “Do not drop it.” She lets out a surprised squeak as I lift her into my arms.
“I can walk,” she tells me in a snide tone.
“I am aware.” But I do not release her. I would carry her everywhere if she would allow it.
Climbing the steps out of her shop and toward her bedroom, I check to make sure my gait is smooth so as not to spill the contents of the mug clutched tightly in her hands. She reaches down to turn the knob once we make it to the second level of her home. Gently, I place her on top of her bed and set the mug on the table beside it.
She wiggles out of her leggings and climbs beneath the furs. “Sleep deep,” I tell her as I tuck the furs beneath her delicate, pointy chin. Turning onto her side, she faces away from me and is asleep within moments.
As I listen to the heavy breaths she lets out, and the soft snarl punctuating each one, I sit on the floor beside her, leaning back against the bed. “For so many reasons, Nalba, I do not feel worthy of your smiles, your touch,” I whisper, knowing she cannot hear me. “You may not be my inara in title, but you are all that the word represents. I do not need the tether to tell me that you are meant to be mine. I choose you anyway. I shall never be the fool I was this day. I shall never walk away from you again. I swear it.”
Slouching down a bit until the back of my head hits the bed, I let go of my shame, my guilt. Tomorrow is a new day.
It is not long before I surrender to the darkness of the room, and sleep pulls me under.
CHAPTER 12
NALBA
The dry scratchiness of my throat wakes me. Desperately fumbling for a beverage of any kind to soothe this ache in the darkness of my bedroom, I find a mug on the table next to my bed. It is tea, and it has chilled while I slept, but it is enough. Despite the lack of heat required to fully enjoy it, the familiar sweetness and fruit flavor of the tea shoots me back in time.
I am sitting in my shop, surrounded by gleaming blades and the smell of leather. There is a mug to my right with a faint curl of steam rising off the top. I drop the wide leather band onto the table and take a sip. It is tea. This tea.
There is a sense of pride, a sense of completion that has me sitting taller on my stool. I wrap the band around my wrist, securing it in place. Then I dip my middle finger through the thin loop that rests inside my palm. A small, devastatingly sharp blade emerges from a hidden compartment, and once it is out, I take it in my other hand and hurl it across the room. It lands in the center of my target––a block of wood from a rotting Ga’Nvi tree nailed to the wall––with a muted thud. “And it is done,” I say to no one.
Then the memory evaporates like mist on the wind. But it was enough. It was a full, rich memory. It made sense to me. I completed a new kind of weapon––on my own––and tested it successfully in my shop.
“It is working,” I mutter, looking down at the mug in my hands. My memories are returning.
Out of the corner of my eye, I notice a large boot lying on its side, and when I lean over the edge of my bed, I find its owner.
Waldric.
He is sprawled out on his back, his large hands resting on his stomach with his head turned to the side. His lush lips are parted, and dribble escapes the corner of his mouth like a leaky spigot. I find myself in awe of him––the strong line of his jaw, the broadness of his shoulders, and how much space he occupies at any given time. Such an imposing size, but with a tender heart beating in his chest.
Could the tether form between us someday soon? For many, it does not happen at first sight, so it is possible that is in our future. But do I want an eternal mate? Another person constantly in my space? And inside my head? I do not know how old Nalba would answer the question, but new Nalba would not hate the idea.
“Hello, hello!” I hear Cloh-ee call from downstairs.
Waldric stirs and scrubs a hand down his face as his eyes slowly blink open. “Eh?”
“Cloh-ee has arrived,” I tell him as I climb out of bed, putting my pants on.
He looks around the room with a furrowed brow. “I wanted to stay in case you needed anything, but I did not intend to spend the night. Apologies,” he mutters, his voice a low rasp that makes my core heat.
“I did not mind your presence,” I tell him honestly.
Waldric shoves his feet into his boots and follows me down the staircase that wraps around the tree and leads into the shop. “Greetings, Cloh-ee,” I say through a yawn.
“Sorry to show up so early,” she mutters as she digs through a box beneath our main worktable. “Vahla had me up at the ass crack of dawn for a feeding and I couldn’t get back to sleep. Plus, Varrek needs to train today. He’s getting restless around the house.” Then she looks up and realizes Waldric is here as well. “So, I thought . . . I would . . . take the, um . . .” she clears her throat, failing to hide her smirk at the two of us looking disheveled and exhausted, “take the afternoon off.”
“That will be fine,” I reply, ignoring her stares. “I know what we will work on this day.”
“Uh, I will go check on Krahn,” Waldric says as he reties his mane into a tight knot. “I shall return later for first meal.”
Just as the door closes, Cloh-ee is at my side and gripping my hand. “Did I interrupt something?”
“Unfortunately not, tiny human,” I say, poking the tip of her strangely soft nose. “He fell asleep on the floor.”