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

I entered my quarters, grateful for the break from the chatter of conversation that rose up from the village square. The space was furnished sparsely, but that was something I was used to from my quarters on the Vandar warbird. Actually, on the warbird I hadn’t enjoyed a private kitchen or bathing chamber. Not that I’d minded eating and bathing with my fellow raiders. It was something I’d done since I was an apprentice. It was the solitude on this planet that I was unused to—taking my meals alone and not in a crowded mess, with my Vandar brothers chugging ale and laughing loudly. Yet another punishment of my exile was that I hadn’t grown used to the native food, although I had visited the shops Sienna had recommended and found more familiar offerings. Still, nothing was as tasty as the bread she’d offered me.

My nose pricked as I closed the door behind me, my gaze instantly drawn to the windowsill. A wrapped bundle perched on the ledge, and the scent of yeast and sugar told me what it was before I’d even unfolded the pale fabric from around the contents.

I almost moaned out loud when I saw the collection of crusty rolls and sweet breads that Sienna had left for me. She was as good as her word, not that I was surprised. I lifted one of the twisted knots dusted with brown sugar and found something else that didn’t surprise me—a folded piece of paper with a hand-drawn map and a time written in the top corner.

I glanced at the clock on the wall. It had taken me a day or so to adjust to the rudimentary method of telling time, but I now could tell from the moving sticks that I didn’t have long before Sienna expected me to meet her. From the warm light slanting inside from the few windows, I knew the suns were low in the sky, and soon the moons would take their place.

Shoving the sugary bread into my mouth, I made quick work of it while I proceeded to the kitchen and chugged water from an earthenware pitcher I’d filled that morning. I would never get used to the faint brine that seemed to tinge everything on the planet. Everything except the breads that Sienna’s sister baked. I ate another roll, this one without sugar, the crust crackling apart as I bit into it and the pillowy insides almost melting in my mouth. I hadn’t known how ravenous I’d been, but I polished off the entire bundle of bread while I stood. When I was done, I let out a contented sigh.

The light had faded from the room, so I took the map and stepped outside again. It wasn’t yet time, but I didn’t count on being able to find the exact location right away. I also wanted to give myself time to go slowly enough that I could ensure I wasn’t being followed or watched. Even though I’d gotten no sense that the people of the planet had been tracking me in any way, it was my instinct as a battle chief of the Vandar to be cautious to the point of paranoid.

Was, I reminded myself. I was a battle chief of the Vandar. Now I was stuck teaching battle strategy to fighters who could barely throw a punch.

I pushed those thoughts from my mind as I walked down from my quarters, this time, being careful to pass silently by the open windows of the other homes cut into the cliffs. The village square below me wasn’t the bustling place it had been during the day. As the moons rose over the shards of mountain peaks jutting into the distant horizon and the glowing orbs were reflected in the vividly turquoise shallows, the planet’s inhabitants had melted away, disappearing into their homes and closing the shops that ringed the square.

I trudged on silent feet down the stone path, skirting the edges of the square and leaving it behind. Once I’d passed the amphitheater and the path leading to the waterfront, I unfolded the map and followed the line that had been drawn. It led me behind the mountains that housed the villagers and into a scraggly forest of trees, pale bark curling off their trunks and branches fanning out only at the very top. Once I’d gone far enough into the forest that I could no longer see the beginning of it behind me, I stepped into a clearing. Although it was ringed by the forest, the ground was flat and free of trees or even trunks.

“I guessed you’d be early.”

Sienna sat to one side of the clearing, perched on a log that had fallen but gotten wedged between two other trees before reaching the ground. She was dressed much as she was the day before—pants and top that hugged her body, but no cloak. That was draped beside her across the tree trunk.

“I didn’t know I’d have to trek halfway across the planet,” I said, folding the map and shoving it under my belt.

She laughed. “Don’t tell me the Vandar warrior is tired already? Did the other fighters wear you out?”

I frowned, not wanting to admit that it had been wearing to work with pupils who were so lacking in ability. “Do you wish to learn, or do you wish to talk about my day?”

She slid off the log, wiping her hands on her pants and grinning. “Okay, tough guy. We can skip the gabbing.”

I was unfamiliar with the phrase, but I was growing fond of the way she spoke. It was more colorful that the more formal Kimitherian speech, and it fit her. Although I shouldn’t have been surprised, I was disappointed to see that her hair was still pulled up in a tight knot. I flashed back to imagining my fingers buried in her loose hair while my cock was buried inside her, and heat coiled in my belly. I pushed those thoughts