The Choosing (The Pruxnae Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

hadn’t cautioned her against it. The undertow was
too strong for a youngling, the creatures living in the water’s depths untamed
and dangerous. Ziri had stood at the edge of the ocean, her toes just inside
the watermark. The waves had washed over her feet again and again, until her
mother had called her away from the shore.
    Would she ever
see it again?
    “Tuh, tuh, tuh,”
Ryn crooned, and she jerked her gaze to his. The sympathy in his expression
raked over her nerves, stirring white-hot anger.
    “We’re not on
Tersi, are we,” she said, but she didn’t need to hear his answer. She should’ve
realized where they were as soon as she’d awakened in chains surrounded by
cold, functional walls. He hadn’t taken her to his home. He’d taken her to his spaceship ,
and now, they were flying away to parts unknown while her home, her life ,
slowly receded behind them.
    She stood slowly
and stared down at him, her hands knotted into fists, anger cold and hard in
her gut. There was no escaping him now, nowhere to run, likely nowhere to hide
where he couldn’t easily find her. He could do whatever he wanted to her, and
she couldn’t do a thing about it.
    Ziri pivoted on
her heel and retraced her steps back to his sleeping quarters. If that was her
fate, better to get it over with now and deal with the consequences later. And
there would be consequences. She’d see to it, even if she died bringing him to
justice for what he was about to do to her.
     
    * * *
     
    Ziri’s quiet
footsteps faded down the corridor. Ryn scrubbed his hands over his face. That
look she’d pinned on him. She’d understood what the magnified planet on the
viewscreen meant. Something like betrayal had flashed across her expression,
followed swiftly by resignation and a fierce, bitter fury.
    If he could’ve
had her another way…
    No, this was his people’s way and he was honor bound to follow it. Now, he had to help
her understand why. “Patience,” Gared had counseled, and Alna had pulled him
aside later, adding, “Give her something of her own, Ryn. Give her a part of
yourself no other could ever hold.”
    There was time
for that, after he’d returned her possessions to her and maybe earned some of
her trust, time for her to learn what kind of man he was.
    Ryn input
coordinates for the next jump, checked their surroundings one last time, and
set up a series of alarms, then left the bridge. He detoured by the cargo bay
and sorted through the boxes containing the items he’d taken from her home,
selecting a clean dress as a peace offering. His hand brushed over the slender
book he’d found in her sleep chamber, and on impulse, he tucked it under his
arm.
    She was lying on
the bed facing the wall when he entered their quarters. Her knees were curled
up and her arms hugged her middle. Goosebumps covered her exposed skin, and he
frowned. He was used to the Yarinska ’s cooler air and seldom gave it a
second thought, but she was from a warm region in the middle of its growing
season. Why hadn’t she said anything or tried to find warmer clothing?
    He retrieved a
blanket out of a wall storage unit, one Alna had woven for him when he’d
reached manhood. It was the same color as Ziri’s eyes, an odd blue-gray that
reminded him of the shallow edges of the oceans on Abyw. He draped the blanket
over her still form, tucking it gently around her. She stiffened and buried her
face in the pillow under her head, and his gaze was drawn to the chains still
secured to the wall above the bed.
    Those would have
to go, but not yet. Not until he was sure she wouldn’t try to escape.
    “Ziri,” he said,
and hesitated. She wouldn’t understand him, not a single word. Maybe she
wouldn’t even try to at this point. He crawled across the bed and laid the book
and dress in front of her. They’d give her something to think about, at least,
and maybe soften her to his suit.
    He took his time
in the head, stripping down to his mid-thigh length skivvies,