Every morning since I became a man, I have risen several hours before dawn to be at the practice yard as the sun rose. My schedule was precise. It tolerated no movement, and the monotony of it became the support around which I’d built my life.

This morning was unlike any I had experienced before. When I opened my eyes, I was certain the events of the previous night had been a dream. I would turn to find my silks empty, as they had always been. And when I saw Ella later that night, I would remember my dreams and keep my distance. The pattern had become my life over the weeks since I’d nearly broken my oath the first time, and I had come to accept them as part of my defeat.

But when I rolled onto my other side, Ella was there, curled up on her side and clutching the silk top sheet with her fingers. The heater against the wall of my chamber cast an orange glow across the flesh of Ella's bare back.

What will I call you if I become yours? What does Kai'jan mean?

The evening replayed in my memory, though I cast no byantin. Ella's voice in my ear, her touch on my skin, her lips against mine. I should have stopped it. I had sworn two oaths to this strange human woman and already, I had broken one of them.

The evidence was the very thing that would make this among my favorite byantin, Ella in my silks, blissfully naked and covered in my scent. The very place I swore she would never have to be.

Never had any man of my bloodline been so utterly defeated by an opponent, but I couldn't bring myself to feel shame over the loss. If I suffered only one rout in my life, to whom better than this beautiful creature from another world? Even if the price was losing her.

I reached over, caressing her shoulder for a moment, savoring the feel of it beneath my fingers. "Ella? Wake up."

She groaned softly and turned away, and I felt a pang of guilt. If I had done this properly, she could stay if she wished.

"Ella," I said, shaking her shoulder.

"It can't possibly be dawn," she mumbled softly. The sound of her voice moved over me like warm honey. It was almost impossible to resist her demands when she used that voice. I’d spent months trying.

"Not a few hours yet," I whispered.

She reached for the sheet and tugged it back over her shoulder. "Then Ingendia won't miss me for another few hours. Come back to bed."

Damn my yielding soul, I almost did what she asked. Let the black water take the practice yard and my students. If those of my blood couldn't manage a simple morning of lessons, they weren't fit to wear our crest.

I reached for Ella's hand and brought it to my mouth, caressing her smooth knuckles with my lips. "There is nowhere in the system I'd rather be than next to you, Ella, but we don't have the time. Ingendia will be here soon."

Ella opened the eye that wasn't buried in my pillow. "What difference would that make?"

All the difference in the world if it meant my maid would witness my surrender.

Before I could answer Ella's question, before I could even contemplate it, the bedroom door slid open. Ingendia stepped into the room and froze. So did I. Only Ella moved, pushing herself up on her elbow. She looked over her shoulder at Ingendia.

"Well, so much for that," Ella said, brushing her tousled curls out of her eyes. "What happened to the chimes?"

"I don't use them in the morning, 'Tak," Ingendia said.

She looked from me to Ella and back. Her eyes lingered on Ella, moving over her body so slowly she could only have been searching for injury. Ingendia's suspicion was fair, but the wound to my pride was worse than my shame.

Ingendia walked to the balcony, pulling the drapes shut. "I will take her back down."

"No." I kicked my legs out of bed and stood. "You will not."

"I know how everyone in this house moves and when. I can get her through unseen." She moved closer to the bed, snatching Ella's discarded dress from the floor. "There isn't enough time to explain. Just get dressed."

"What?" Ella sat up. The top sheet slid down to her waist, exposing her bare breasts, bathing them in the same orange glow.

Ella's eyes blazed as she stared at Ingendia. She didn't move, not even to cover herself. "I'm not going anywhere or putting on anything until somebody tells me what's going on.”

Ingendia looked at me in confusion, then lowered her head. "You do not mean to cover it?"

"To add a lie would only compound the injury," I said.

Both women looked at me. Amber and azure eyes watched my every move, waited for me to break the silence. One waited for me to make things clear to her. The other waited for me to make my failure known.

I kneeled beside the bed, still clutching Ella's soft hand in mine. Never in all my days have I hated my rough hands so much. "Ella vin Earthkind, I will not add to my shame by claiming to regret what passed between us, but I have failed you. Speak the words that will make you whole and I will make them truth."

Her eyes searched mine. Pain welled in my gut, gathering into a raging ball of fire. Her victory over me was complete. There was only one way to make Ella whole, only one request that could give her back the life she had. Her freedom.

Ella's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

Ingendia stepped toward the bed. "They are the words of atonement for a warrior, Ella vin Earthkind. He can't answer you until you've answered him."

Her eyes scrunched in confusion then widened in defiance. "That is not my name, and I don't need to be made whole."

I stared at her in astonishment. "You've won, Ella. Claim your victory and go home."

"Victory? Now, you really aren't making sense."

"Kai'ben made an oath to you," Ingendia said. "That you would not serve in his bed until you were 'Jan. He has broken that vow and so done you injury."

"I'm not trying to say he broke a vow! Do I look injured?"

"It is not for you to say, Ella vin Earthkind," Ingendia said. "That is not our way.”

Ella took my other hand and squeezed it between her fingers. "Zarbonov, this is ridiculous. You never said never."

"But you did, and I agreed to it." I kissed her knuckles again, memorizing the feel of her skin beneath mine.

She shook her head and looked away, wrinkling her nose the way she often did when puzzling through a situation. But she wasn't fighting to leave. No, she had been offered that prize twice and refused it. Ella fought to stay. In my room. In my bed. At my side.

The sands of Ella's confidence solidified before my eyes. Her spine straightened. A small smile tugged at the corner of her lips. She looked up again, meeting my eyes with all the fire of her spirit. The last strips of the frightened woman I’d found in Carzon's auction house disappeared.

The woman that was left was fierce, undefeatable. She would never break or bend, not when her mate was at risk.

"Zarbonov vin Xarran says he has wronged me, Ingendia vin Hanlt, but I say he has not." Ella directed her words to Ingendia, but her eyes never left mine. "The night we met, at my insistence, he did promise I would not serve in his bed, but he never said when that would change."

"That doesn't excuse it," Ingendia said. "He may have done that on purpose to increase his positon."

"Not among the Xiban. On Earth, when a contract lacks clarity, it benefits the person who didn't write it." Ella shrugged. "What's an oath but a verbal contract?"

"Kai'ben does not know the ways of Earth well enough to know that, and you do not have byantin to teach him."

"That doesn't matter. I know them, so of course, I believed those were the terms. So, it doesn't matter what Zarbonov thought he was agreeing to. It matters what I thought he was agreeing to."

"What vow do you believe Zarbonov vin Xarran made to you?" Ingendia didn't bother to hide her smile. Did the two of them know something I didn't?

"That I would not serve in his bed unless I wanted to be there. I assure you, Kai'jan, that I want to be here." She turned to Ingendia and stuck out her tongue. "So you can stop torturing us."

Ingendia shook her head, but her beaming grin gave her away. "I would have been happy to take you back downstairs, but Kai'ben insisted. Shall I bring breakfast in the bed chamber, Kai'ben?"

Meddling maid. I might have fired her if she weren't the only friend I had. But as I turned to look at her, I couldn't feel anything for Ingendia but gratitude. Her little trick did what nothing else could have. It put my mind at ease.

"My mate will eat with me this morning, Ingendia," I said, taking Ella's face into my hands. Until the night before, I hadn't realized how small her body was compared to ours. Now, this fragile creature held my heart. "And every morning from now on. When she wakes, you will bring her belongings here to the talajut. Where they should be."

Ingendia bowed and scurried back into the outer rooms. When the door swished shut, Ella heaved a sigh of relief. Then she smacked me in the shoulder. Thankfully, she wasn't so mad as to strike the injured shoulder.

"I'm not done with you," she said, folding her arms over her breasts. Damn, but she was beautiful when she was determined to get her way. "What did you mean about my victory?"

"We are what we do, Kai'jan. My life is a battlefield, and no enemy has beaten me as soundly as you."

She frowned and shook her head. "But I don't want that. And don't say it's the Xiban way, because that doesn't matter. It's not my way, so it can't be our way."

"Then tell me what you want, and I give you my word I will spend the rest of my days making it so." I pulled Ella off the bed and into my arms.

Ella pursed her lips for a moment in thought. Then she gestured to the door. "Out there, it can be a battle, but not in here. If it's you and me . . . then it's you and me against everything else."

I laughed if for no other reason than I was too damned happy to argue with her. "As you wish, Kai'jan."

She leaned forward, purring sweetly as she pressed a kiss to my lips. "I'm starting to like the sound of that.”

Her legs wrapped around me. Her thighs caressed my sides. The scent of my seed mingled with her perfume, calling my cock to attention. Ella giggled and moved her hips against me.

"You know, there's a good chance Ingendia just told them you're going to be late," she whispered breathlessly.

Her giggles dissolved to moans as I slid my hand between her thighs. I loved that sound. I could hear it with every meal for the rest of my days and still delight in it. Ella's body, however, could only take so much. I left my mate as the sun peeked over the outer walls, asleep in our bed.

Our bed.

A peace settled over me unlike any I had ever known, though I couldn't let myself trust it. The hardest part was still ahead of us. Securing the position I’d squandered in my stubbornness was more important now than ever. Ella would be my greatest ally on that front . . . and my greatest weakness.