Punished by Tana Stone (best books to read for knowledge .TXT) 📕

The fury on his face morphed into shock and then fear, as if he was seeing me for the first time and realizing that I wasn’t afraid of him. Standing quickly, he snatched a bottle of fermented algae from the side table. “At least they stopped you.” He pushed past me toward the door, pausing and glaring at me over his shoulder. “I might not be able to control you, but at least that barbarian raider put you in your place and sent you away. I can thank the brute for that.”

Then he staggered from the dwelling, no doubt to get drunk enough to forget the horrible things he’d said.

“Sienna.” Juliette still stood with her eyes brimming with tears. “You know he didn’t mean it.”

I waved a hand at her. As much as I loved my little sister, I couldn’t deal with her sad apologies on behalf of our father. Part of me hated her for making excuses for him almost as much as I hated him. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to bed.”

I strode past her toward my bedroom.

“I’m sorry about what happened today—in the arena,” she called after me. “Everyone says you were kicking ass until they discovered you were a woman.”

I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at this as I paused in my doorway without turning around. Mostly because she’d used the phrase “kicking ass,” which she knew was a personal favorite. “Yeah, I was.”

“Are you okay, Sienna?”

All my anger at her melted away, like it always did when I remembered that Juliette was so forgiving of our father because she was the kindest one of us and was so much like our mother. Even though I missed her terribly, I was nothing like our mother. Juliette had gotten all the softness, while my father and I were all rage and sharp edges.

Then I thought about Corvak and the deal he’d made with me. “I will be.” I twisted my head to peer at her down the dark hall. “Can you leave me some extra pastries tomorrow?”

“Sure.” She sounded happier, like she always did when she talked about her baking or even thought about it. “I know you like the ones with extra sugar.”

My heart squeezed, both with affection for my sweet sister and guilt for keeping secrets from her. “Thanks, Juls.”

I left her standing in the hall and closed my bedroom door behind me, grateful to finally be alone and flop down on my bed. I’d barely had time to digest the deal I’d made with the Vandar before I was facing off against my father. My heart still hadn’t stopped pounding, although thinking of Corvak wasn’t helping slow it down.

Had he really agreed to teach me? My gambit of sneaking into his dwelling had been a long shot. I hadn’t thought it would actually work but threatening to hound him day and night had done the trick. Actually, it had been the fact that he needed something from me that had been the deciding factor.

My cheeks warmed at the thought of the payment I’d thought he was demanding and how I’d been more than willing to give it to him.

“Jeez, Sienna,” I whispered as I stared up at the darkened ceiling. “Way to play hard to get.”

But he hadn’t wanted to bed me. He’d wanted my help in escaping from the planet. My stomach tightened into a hard ball at the idea of him leaving. Even though he said it wouldn’t be soon, the thought of him leaving at all made the pit in my stomach churn.

I’d never reacted to anyone the way I reacted to him. His touch seared my skin and sent shivers racing down my spine. I wanted nothing more than to run my fingers down the hard planes of his chest and the bumpy ridges of his stomach, and then dip my fingers beneath the waistband of his leather skirt and see what other surprises the Vandar was hiding.

Heat throbbed between my legs, and I rolled over toward the wall.

“You’re being an idiot, Sienna,” I told myself. “He sees you as a means to an end. Nothing more. So get your head on straight and focus on him teaching you to fight.”

I closed my eyes, but as much as I tried to think about anything else, the image of the bare-chested, scarred Vandar warrior looming over me—his tail swishing behind him and his dark eyes flashing—was burned into my brain as I fell asleep.

Chapter Eleven

Ch 11

Corvak

I brushed dust off my chest as I strode up the winding path toward my quarters, but the beading sweat only smeared the dirt across my muscles, making streaks on top of my markings. I didn’t mind. It was right for a warrior to carry evidence of his battles, and today had been a battle.

I grunted, as I thought back to the fighters I’d drilled in the amphitheater, taking a turn facing off against each one of them so I could assess their skills. It had been a long, hot day, but by the end I could confidently say that the planet was in serious trouble. At least, if they were counting on the males I’d been given to teach.

Donal, the human I disked most of all, had enough bulk to be a decent grappler, but he had no talent and less grace. But what he didn’t have in those, he made up for in brazen confidence. The Kimitherians, on the other hand, suffered from a lack of courage and a general distaste for offending anyone, even their opponent. It had made teaching them a challenge.

For the hundredth time that day, I longed to be surrounded by Vandar warriors who lived and breathed battle, and the cool darkness of our warbirds. I swept the back of my hand across my slick forehead. There was nothing cool or dark about Kimithion III—not with two suns and three moons. Even their nights were illuminated brighter than the command