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menstruation? Just when she thought this couldn’t get any more humiliating. “What difference does that make?”
    “Your answer will determine how long I can afford to be courteous.”
    “About two weeks ago.” She glanced up in time to see his pleased nod. Damn. Anything that pleased him spelled trouble for her.
    “We have a few days, then.”
    “A few days for what?”
    “A few days to get to know one another.” She was about to ask why she would want to get to know him, when he said, “I arranged for one of the pleasure givers to take food to E’Lanna.”
    “Is this pleasure giver male or female?”
    “Female.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and a hint of frustration flashed in his gaze. “Your sister is safe. I have ordered that she not have interaction with any of the men until I say otherwise. Thus the need for the female attendant.”
    She moved toward the foot of the bed, unable to accept what his words implied. “No one will touch E’Lanna?” He nodded. “Unless I piss you off.”
    “Come.” The smile sparkling in his eyes never quite reached his lips. He held out his hand with obvious expectation.
    “Where are we going?”
    “You can pester me with questions, or you can find out for yourself.”
    “Can I see E’Lanna?”
    He shrugged and lowered his hand. “If I understand the Mystic bond between identical twins, I can’t stop you from seeing E’Lanna. Now would you like to explore a little corner of the maze, or would you prefer to remain in this chamber? I’ll put you back in the cuffs and return to my men.”
    His tunic skimmed her knees, and even with the laces pulled tight, the neckline dipped low across her breasts. “Where is my gown?”
    “Destroyed. You will have to make do with my tunic. Unless you piss me off.”
    He did smile then and her treacherous heart fluttered. In some bizarre way, this was his idea of courtship. Perhaps a bit of cooperation wouldn’t hurt. Keeping well out of reach, she came around the bed. He scanned open the privacy panel and motioned her into the corridor.
    “Have the Shadow Assassins always lived here?”
    “We are a present-oriented people. The past is simply a foundation, and the future unfolds as the gods see fit. We take our lives one day at a time.”
    She stopped a smile just before it bowed her lips. “A simple ‘I don’t know’ would have sufficed.”
    “I have known no other home. My father spoke of long cycles of construction, but he—” Her captor bit off the sentence and lapsed into silence.
    All the corridors looked the same, bare rock adorned with a single row of firestones. They approached a soldier who immediately dropped his gaze and waited for them to pass. A shiver sped down her spine at the conditioned show of respect. She’d suspected her captor held a position of authority, but how much authority, and how could it be used to her advantage?
    He paused beside an archway and nodded for her to enter. After a brief hesitation, she brushed past him and stepped into the room. Her steps faltered, then she turned in a slow circle, awed by the astounding beauty. Crystals of every imaginable color had been inset in the stone walls. She looked more closely and shook her head. There was no stone in this chamber. The walls and the domed ceiling were constructed entirely of crystals, surrounding her in a rainbow of light.
    “What is this place?” She held out her hand, watching the colors arc and shimmer against her skin. “Do the crystals produce light, or are we close to the surface?”
    “Some of the crystals emanate light and some channel it from the surface. We’re not as close as this chamber makes it appear.”
    “Is this where you come to worship?” She looked over her shoulder. He’d triggered a privacy panel across the archway and moved several steps into the room.
    “We each worship in our own way. There is no specific temple.”
    “Is there a specific deity?”
    “Mara is worshiped by many. She is