In two moon cycles’ worth of lessons, Ella had proven herself the most competent student I had ever seen. Once she had a taste of our knowledge, she was insatiable. She came to my chamber each night after her evening meal, always with a question on her lips.

Even my temper, which flared once or twice over the weeks though I tried to suppress it, couldn't temper her thirst for it. In her first days, everything loud frightened Ella. A booming war cry from the yard or a belly laugh from down the hall—it didn't matter. Her body tensed at every sound beyond her tolerance and her eyes darted around the room as if waiting for something else to happen.

Some nights, she lingered until there were only a few hours before sunset. Those hours with Ella, on the far side of my desk watching the byantin, quickly became my favorites of the day. The pride in her eyes when she answered my questions correctly. The smile of delight that came to her lips when she learned a small detail she found interesting. Every night I spent near her, I fell further under her spell.

And you know how dangerous that is.

On the first night of the third cycle, Ella knelt on the floor, inspecting a byantin from my training days. It was a favorite memory of mine, the day I’d first beaten my father with live steel. I leaned against my desk watching her while I sipped from a bowl of wine.

"Xiba have technology. Why learn to fight with swords?" Ella asked in my language, never taking her eyes from the image on the floor.

"Not every warrior learns every weapon. My family trains many different warriors across many different work paths."

"So, you know everything."

The firm tone of her words, as if she knew for a fact they were truth instead of inference, made me laugh. "I would say I know enough. Some know more and many know less."

"Is that why you know English?" she asked, slipping back into her own language as she sat back to look at me.

I shrugged. "The Primen's mate is human and he is fluent in your language. Anyone who hopes to work with him has tried to learn it. I've tried to learn better than them."

Ella rolled her eyes and shook her head, but a smile showed on her lips as she lowered her head back to the image, bringing the luscious curve of her breasts back into my view. She slipped back into Xiba when she spoke again. "You people measure yourself against others too much."

As time passed, Ella's health improved as well as her mind. The dark skin beneath her eyes lightened and cleared. Under Ingendia's watchful eye, color and fullness returned to Ella's body. It seemed to invigorate her from within.

"And next you'll tell me that on your world, nobody cares how they measure against anyone else?"

She shrugged her shoulders, sending a few of her deep brown curls over her breasts, hiding them from my view. Pity. "We do, but not so openly. And nobody admits to it. Like when we mate. Most women would never approach a man unless they did so for a friend."

"Why?"

Ella opened her mouth to answer but closed it again, her brow furrowing. "I don't know. Xiban has no words to explain it. It's . . . an action so open it could offend someone."

"Someone of higher status than you?" I asked.

She leaned back and balanced her hands in her lap. "Sometimes, but not often. I guess we worry about offending people often. Or maybe that was just me."

"If it was common among your women to claim their mates through an intermediary, then I doubt it was just you. How in the black sands did you people get anything done?"

"It gets worse. Our women would sometimes make potential mates seem more beautiful than they were. So, you might meet a woman for dinner and find out she was different from what you thought she would be."

Ella smiled to herself. "It's easier here. Xiban can't do that."

"The memory images would make it difficult, yes."

"True, but I meant because you cannot lie," she said.

I cleared my throat and tapped my chin. Of course, she remembered that. Ella loved small details. She clung to them as if they were just as important as any other.

"Yes, I may have made that seem more important that it is," I said, covering my guilt at having let the lie go so long with a hearty gulp of wine.

Ella tilted her chin up but didn't say anything. Her eyes never left mine, a smug smile tugging at the corners of her plump lips. Sometime in the first moon cycle, Ella had taken over her own grooming. No more kohl-rimmed eyes. No more berry-stained lips. I wasn't ashamed to admit to myself that I missed them, but Ella wasn't herself in them.

I made a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sigh. "You knew already."

She nodded. "I thought so for a while, but this memory image confirmed it."

"How?"

Ella pointed at the planks as the memory started again. My father brought his sword down toward my neck. I thrust my blade toward his belly just far enough to force open air between us. He stumbled backward, almost gaining his footing before my kick to his chest sent him tumbling backward.

"You didn't mean to kill him, did you?" she asked.

"Of course not!"

"But you wanted him to think you did to get the upper hand." She leaned forward and pressed her hands against the floor, using it to brace herself as she climbed to her feet. "What is a lie but that?"

I folded my arms across my chest and leaned back against the desk again. "That could have just been standard battle tactics. The rules of combat are different from the rules of life."

"I know, and that's why I asked. And gave you the question in a way I knew you would answer." Ella padded over to the desk, each step making her hips sway in a rhythm I couldn't escape. Even her movements had a confidence, a determination that hadn't been there before.

She sat down in the chair beside me and leaned back, gazing up at me with those amber eyes I loved so much.

The truth was becoming more difficult to ignore with each sunrise. In my battle against Ella tak Zarbonov, I was hopelessly outmatched. The only question was how long would it take her to realize it? What would she want from me when she did?

"Lying isn't forbidden among us. You were right to suspect that was false. But an oath is a different matter. To break an oath is unforgiveable . . . if you get caught."

"That is the way on my world, too. A crime is only a crime if you get caught."

I shook my head. "No, to break an oath is always a crime against your bloodline. Whether you are caught doesn't matter. The injury will find a way to make itself known."

I moved back to my side of the desk and sat down. The more distance between us while she was seated, the better. When I turned back to Ella, there was confusion in her eyes. "Maybe a farmer's crops will fail in a good season. Maybe a general will lose a battle against an enemy he outnumbered. Or a shipment a merchant depends on will be attacked by Talon raiders."

"That's superstition," Ella said.

"Probably, but it keeps many who would go bad on a good path. Those who still stray face ruin, for themselves and their family."

“So, who decides whether an oath has been broken, the one who made it or the one who received it?”

“Neither,” I said. “If both parties live, they plead their explanations to a third party. Only an uninvolved person can determine if an oath has been broken. “

“If both parties live,” she repeated. “How often is that not the case?”

“Too often.”

Ella nodded. Her gaze moved to the window behind me, where the moonlight rippled against the black water of the nighttime bay.

"This troubles you?" I asked.

"Not trouble, just . . ." Ella looked back to me, her shoulders slumping. It was her way sometimes, a rhythm to her moods that was different from the ebbing and flowing confidence. "It's like being back on Earth."

Her eyes moved away again. This time, she turned to look at the floor. The memory had dissipated. I wanted to ask her what she meant, but something about the answers Ella gave when these moods took her never satisfied. It always felt like there was an important detail just beneath the surface. One she was content to leave be.

My lips turned down as I stood again, walking around the desk until I stood in front of Ella. The night I bought her, she had seemed so small and fragile, but with a fire deep in her that could burn brightly if given air to breathe. And grow it had, but there were still moments when she was too much the person she had been. There were times when she was too far from being Ella jan Zarbonov.

I knelt beside Ella's chair and reached forward to slide my fingers beneath her chin. She turned her head to look at me over her shoulder.

"Speak your mind and be at peace."

"If Xiba is just like Earth, then I'm no safer here than I was there."

I slid my had over her cheek. Not for the first time, I wished my hands were softer, that she could take some comfort in my clumsy attempts to calm her. "You have my word, Ella, that you will always be safe in the home of my blood."

"They might not like your making promises for them," she said. Even as the words left her lips, the smile returned.

"This is the house of my father. One day, only my likes and dislikes will matter here."

But that wasn't true. Ella's comfort and safety and her likes and dislikes were quickly becoming as important to me as my own. My thoughts wandered to her in the practice yard between drills. Her smile appeared before my eyes in small moments when nothing else occupied my thoughts.

At night, alone in my silks, I heard her voice in my ear. It whispered to me, teased me, until I could do nothing but wrap my hand around my aching cock to bring me a night's peace.

I closed my eyes and took a breath, projecting a new byantin onto the floor boards. A beach with golden sands that stayed warm even in the black of night. Clear waters that glistened teal beneath the yellow sun and black beneath the silver moons.

"The bay of V'dal?" she whispered. Her face was turned away from me, but I could almost hear the smile in her voice.

I nodded, opening my eyes to look at her. "You can't see this part of it from the talajut."

"You can't see it from my room at all," she said. For a brief second, she turned around to look over her shoulder at me. It was only the smallest moment, but it was long enough for me to catch a glimpse of her smile.

An instinct I couldn't explain took hold of me. The smell of soap and herbs clung to her skin, wafting through the air and beckoning me. I leaned forward and pulled Ella into my arms, sliding her from the chair. The small squeak of surprise increased in pitch as I pressed my lips against hers.

For two moons, I had kept my word to Ella tak Zarbonov. Every moment she spent in my chamber, I kept an arm’s distance between us. As much as I wanted to bend her over my desk and rip away her skirts, I stayed away. For two moons, I had resisted her.

Never had I come so close to breaking my vow, but as I held her in my arms, my lips caressing hers, I couldn't think of anything else. My blood burned. My cock ached. I wanted her more than I had wanted any woman in my life.

Ella made a small sound in the back of her throat, a soft moan that echoed in my ears and stoked the fires of need in me. I pulled back, knowing in my heart that Ella's final victory waited for her to claim. How long would the bitter days of my defeat last?

In a smooth motion, I adjusted Ella in my arms and stood, setting her back on her feet. "I did not mean to scare you."

She looked at me, the confusion in her eyes taunting me. "You didn't scare me."

I moved away from her, retreating behind my desk like the coward I was. I knew what questions lay behind those eyes, but I could not answer them for her. Zarbonov vin Xarran could not yield to a woman so easily. "Be that as it may, we should finish for the night."

Ella padded toward the door. She paused midway, though she didn't turn to look at me. "Zarbonov, what does Kai'ben mean?"

Clever woman. "Why?"

This time she did turn, glancing at me over her shoulder. "You never told me."

I watched her for a few seconds to gauge her honesty. Her answer was true on her face, but it didn't satisfy.

"My master," I said in English. "It means my master."

Ella nodded and continued to the door, taking her secrets with her.