The neko appeared at dinnertime and deigned to stay long enough to get a few scratches on top of his head, neck, and back, while he digested. When she awoke again the next day, he was gone. She didn’t make the mistake of hunting him down a second time.

An instructor came to take Kronos for school; then, after catching some breakfast, Nalini went to explore. She’d been given complete clearance, as promised.

The lower levels of the ship were vast, so vast the ship could have comfortably housed twice as many people as it currently did, although she knew there had been thousands of enforcers and as many Nimerians.

Hours into her little tour, after stumbling upon a park with real plants, a pond, and some nice holographic views, as well as a financial center, a library, and a gym, she realized that their humongous eyesore of a ship was nothing short of a city in the skies.

She wandered aimlessly, all the while wondering how long their welcome would last. These people, everyone of age, seemed to have a purpose, but Nalini and the Nimerians were just there, without having much to do, taking up their resources. Kai hadn’t seemed to want to kick her out, but still. He certainly didn’t intend to let her stay indefinitely.

What would her next step be, now? Where would she and Kronos go?

Normally, the answer to that question came naturally. She just had to think about the place where her enemies were least likely to look for her. But what enemy? Now she was certain Kai didn’t mean her harm, she realized she had none. She was safe. She could – they could – in fact, stay here, if there was a place for her. Some sort of job she could take.

Nalini had let her thoughts wander and walked aimlessly for a long time. She suddenly realized how far her steps had taken her. The corridors were different here. Larger, lighter, a little less plain and white. There was a thin, barely noticeable gold line along each wall at eye level. She stopped too late.

A door opened in front of a half-naked Kai, breathing hard, glistening with sweat. Her mouth popped open in shock, and she stared, wordlessly. Could anyone so perfect be real? Actually real? Each part of his body seemed to have been sculpted with care, molded into a hard, golden statue. Nalini found it hard to breathe. Her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip, and, realizing what she’d just done, she bit it back in. Oh god, someone kill her before she started drooling.

Kai stopped as soon as he saw her. He seemed both surprised and confused at finding her there. Not displeased, though.

The door opened again, and Evi emerged, chuckling. “Wait, come back!” she called to Kai. “It’s not nearly as much fun without you.”

Oh. She’d interrupted something. Shit. Shit.

“Sorry, I—wrong turn,” she mumbled.

Damn her stupid, stupid feet for leading her there. She moved to leave, but a hand took her wrist and pulled her forward.

“Oh no, you don’t. You’ve made it just in time. Trust me on this, you don’t want to miss this,” Evi said, laughing as she dragged Nalini through the doors she’d just come out of.

Nalini’s protests died on her lips when she found a gym inside. Relief flooded her. They hadn’t been getting sweaty in the way she’d imagined then. Not that it mattered. It didn’t, she insistently told herself. If they’d been occupied fucking like bunnies in a kinky antigravity room, it would have been none of her business, dammit.

Turned out, Evi was right; she really, really didn’t want to miss what was happening in there.

In the large room, there were various machines, currently neglected as every person present stood in circle around a ring.

Two very well-defined males were sparring–a ruthless, brutal fight that didn’t seem to have any defined rules. They practically tore each other apart as a small crowd cheered for their respective champion. Lesser fighters would truly have killed each other using that kind of strength, but they knew what they were doing. Vicious and willing to hurt, they avoided all vital areas and never took things too far.

Nalini watched them eagerly, enjoying the display of strength and skills. She picked a favorite and cheered along with the rest of them, until he won.

“This is awesome! No magic, right?”

She’d asked Evi, but Kai responded from behind her. She’d felt him reenter the gym with them.

“That’s it. There’s a few fights once a week or so. We have to stay in good physical form; otherwise our powers run out quicker, as you’d know.”

She did know this. Ian Krane had ingrained it into her mind; and, as usual, the old male wasn’t wrong. She’d grown much stronger since she’d learned to push herself. More settled, too. Perhaps even happier.

She smiled. “It looks like fun.”

There was a snort from behind her.

That got her attention. Nalini turned, one eyebrow lifted.

“Oh?”

“I have a hard time imagining you in there.” The infuriating male shrugged unapologetically. “Nothing sexist; Evi and a bunch of females in our rank hold their own, against males, too, but you aren’t really built for this.”

She glared.

“Well, it might be hard, as I don’t think anyone would throw the fight to let me win, like they might for their warlord.”

Evi took an intake of breath, and Kai just stared at her before laughing. Downright laughing in her face.

“Yeah, sure. Cute, little lady.” The dick insisted on the term little.

She shrugged. “All I’m saying is, I can’t imagine anyone gives 100 percent when they fight against their lord and master.”

“I’m no one’s master,” he retorted, his infuriating gaze settling on her. That grin that unsettled her flashed again. “All right, I’ll bite. You, me, in there. If you can hold on against me without begging me to stop for, let’s say, five minutes, I’ll bow to you and apologize for underestimating you.”

She noticed the crowd had stopped paying any mind to the previous fighters, and they were now focused on them. He held his hand out, and she moved to shake it when he added, “And when you lose, you’ll bow to me.”

Nalini stopped. Bowing. She hadn’t bowed since she was seventeen. To another warlord. One who expected it.

“I won’t think less of you for backing out, Nalini,” the infuriating male taunted.

So she closed the distance between them and shook his damn hand.

“There’s that spunk. Don’t worry, little lady, I won’t go too hard on you.”

Of all the egotistical things he could have said.

Nalini scanned the faces around, suddenly panicked. Kai caught her hesitation. “All right everyone, whatever the outcome, this stays within these walls.”

They all agreed, and they wouldn’t betray Kai, she knew that. So she moved to the ring, removing her jacket. Half a dozen mages hooted encouragingly, while another twenty laughed, no doubt thinking her insane for even attempting to stand against the mountain of pure taut muscle.

Kai entered the ring before her. He’d already fought, or at least exerted himself on one of these machines today, or he wouldn’t have gotten quite so sweaty. She could use that to her advantage.

“All right, I’ll ref,” a guy volunteered. “No magic. No deadly blows.”

Evi whistled to get Nalini’s attention. “Hey girl, betting a fifty on ya. Better not let me down.” She winked, making Nalini laugh. “Five minutes. You got this.”

She did.

Nalini parted her legs and bent down, reaching her toes, stretching her neck. It had been a while since she’d had a chance to train. She found her stupid cargo pants tight and just decided to remove them, as she wore black boy shorts underneath. Nothing more outrageous than Evi’s clothing.

Some guys laughed and hooted.

Kai stated, “That’s cheating. She’s obviously trying to distract me.”

She saw the ref shrug. “Not against the rules.”

Kai sighed. “Fine. I’ll win either way.”

“Ten seconds. Nine. Eight.”

She kept stretching until the ref was down to two. Then, she walked to the middle of the ring, facing Kai, who watched her like prey, eyes twinkling dangerously.

She sent him a smile of her own when the ref finally said, “Go!”

He was bigger, taller, and definitely stronger than her. Five minutes. This was, or should have been, a game of endurance and skills. But what was the fun in that? She didn’t want to last five minutes; she wanted to put him on his ass and shut him up.

So, she did just that. Nalini attacked, jumping to his neck and flipping him to the mat; she beamed, towering over him, one knee on his chest. She knew she’d only managed because he was stunned, shocked.

“If we were in battle, you’d be dead by now.”

Then, from underneath her, Kai laughed and simply got up, carrying her like she weighed nothing. She probably did to him. With one arm, he held her against his impossibly hard frame as he tried to get hold of her arm with his free hand. She freed herself before he could, kicking him in the nuts to get away.

Kai winced and groaned, taking the hit without crying, but only just.

Then, he lunged himself at her, not holding back. She laughed nervously and attacked furiously. Defense against a male like this was nothing short of suicidal. He was trying to restrain her at first, force her submission, rather than really fight her, but once he realized he couldn’t, he let go of restraint. She just avoided a punch that might have knocked her out, responding with a roundhouse kick he blocked. In no time, she was sweating, panting, fighting against this force of nature. Nalini’s heart had never worked that hard, her throat was dry, and soon—too soon—everything hurt. Weren’t five minutes gone already?

Finally, finally, she saw an opening and took it, grabbing his fist and locking his arm behind his back, just like he’d tried to do to her.

She didn’t think she’d ever breathed that hard, and it was very possible that she might spit out her lungs any minute, but she had him. He knew it. She knew it. But she was petty enough to want to hear him say it too.

“Do you yield?”

The room was utterly silent.

“Never.”

She tightened her hold, making him wince. Kai laughed and simply turned around. She heard his bone break and winced on his behalf. She was too stunned by his action to think of stopping him from turning the tables. Kai kicked her onto the ground, flipped her over, dropped his weight, and locked her arm. As she had no intention of breaking hers, he’d won.

After a beat, he got up and offered his unbroken arm to help her up. She took it, still stunned and confused. They were just sparring, but he’d broken his own arm to win. Shaking her head, she told him, “You’re insane,” while taking his arm and setting the bone back into place.

He barely winced. She wondered how many times he’d broken bones. Mages healed much faster than regular Evris; they could manipulate energy to speed up the process. It would be good as new by morning, but it was going to hurt like hell.

“Stupid, stupid male.” She had to laugh.

“I don’t believe any argument against that statement would seem quite valid right now,” he admitted, wincing. “It kind of hurt.”

“Kind of?”

Then, shocking her beyond words, the warlord took a knee and bowed his head.

“Thirteen minutes,” the ref announced, a watch in hand. “Thirteen fucking minutes. I don’t think anyone has ever lasted as long against you, Kai.”

“Not once,” Kai confirmed. Then his said, looking right into her eyes, “I truly am sorry for underestimating you, Nalini Nova. Trust that it won’t happen again.”

She put her cargo pants and jacket back on, all the while thinking that she wouldn’t underestimate him, either. He’d just proved he’d do absolutely anything to win.