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patch on her backside where she had struck the tree and then she was done.
    “You are finished, Lady Nakkua. Feel free to resume your clothing.”
    She pushed herself back to her feet and zipped back around the screen. She was out of the gown and back in her gardening suit in seconds. The boots took a few moments longer, but when she was out, she flexed her hands and smiled.
    “Right, so we can be on our way?” She smiled at Wyfin.
    “Just pay at the front desk and you are good. Come back if you need anything, Lady Nakkua.”
    He took her hand and raised it to his lips.
    A flash of shadow parted their skin and pushed them away from each other.
    Healer Wyfin blushed a deep olive. “Apologies. That was beyond the scope of treatment.”
    Walking Darkness took her gently by the shoulders and headed for the door.
    She didn’t have a chance to say goodbye. She was marched to the lobby and she paid her bill with a thumbprint and ocular scan.
    After that, they were on the way to the private pods.
    Fire Fall smiled, “You have a lovely spine, Lady Nakkua. Is it true that you haven’t been touched?”
    “Not in the last few years. Amongst my own kind, I am too tall and too obsessed with plants. A bit of experimenting just after puberty was the extent of it.”
    Walking Darkness paused and turned his hood toward her. “You are very forthright about these matters.”
    “Why not? They don’t matter. I can be aroused with a touch. So can most folk that I know.”
    Fire Fall paused and laughed. “Valid point.”
    They were in the pod when she finally asked Fire Fall, “Do the ladies really have tattoos covering their backs?”
    He nodded. “It shows the change in allegiance from birth family to husband. The artists come along to the wedding and the bride is marked in front of witnesses.”
    “Ouch.”
    Walking Darkness spoke. “It doesn’t hurt an Irudan woman. Our skin is thicker than yours.”
    She turned toward him. “Your body language said you wanted to hit the healer. Why?”
    He looked at her with eyes lost in shadows, and he slowly pulled up the cuff of his suit up to expose an intricate band on his forearm.
    “That looks like…that is just like…” She extended her own and matched the pattern. She stared into his hood and then punched him in the shoulder. “You jackass!”
    Fire Fall chuckled. “Lady Nakkua, you really have to stop hitting him.”
    She learned that. Tendrils of shadow that managed to have the compression of a gravity field bound her.
    “I am requesting your discretion on this, Rowen.”
    She narrowed her eyes at him and struggled against him. “Bite me.”
     

Chapter Seven
     
     
    Back at the manor, Fire Fall suddenly decided he needed to get something to eat while Walking Darkness escorted her to the depths of the maze.
    He flipped back his cowl the moment they were alone and pulled down the fabric that covered him from cheekbones to neckline. “Lady Nakkua.”
    She scowled and fought against the bands still around her. “Lord Nakkua.”
    He sighed. “Please, you are still fighting. If you relax and promise not to hit me again, I will release you.”
    Rowen grumped but finally nodded. “I won’t hit you.”
    He let the shadows slip from her, but there was a lot more contact against her than she was expecting.
    She took a cautious step back. “So, why did you need a fake wife?”
    He stepped forward. “You are not a fake wife, you are a real one; this was just supposed to be a cold bed so I could concentrate on being a Guardian. That fell flat the moment that you set foot on this world.”
    Rowen pursed her lips. “What do you want from me?”
    “An opportunity to court you. If you don’t wish to share a bed with me, I will understand, but I would like the chance to earn your trust and your affection.”
    She held up her palms. “Wait. Are you saying what I think you are saying?”
    “I would like the opportunity to seduce my wife. Yes.”
    Rowen was stunned. This was not