I looked over at Zhiolas, keeping my eyes above his collarbone, and held out my hand to him.

He had to be unfamiliar with the human gesture, since he took my hand in his and bowed over it, his lavender eyes not leaving mine. "Your highness, it is a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance properly."

"The pleasure is mine, Commander Ulahana," I replied, almost mesmerized by his eyes and the sweep of his dense white lashes. "As I recall, you were instrumental in my rescue."

"For which I am sure our mutual acquaintance is deeply grateful," Zhiolas said, his voice soft and alluring, the sort of voice that could make you do almost anything. "I would be pleased if you called me Zhiolas. Titles are so formal."

"Then you ought to call me Leah," I said, almost breathing the words, feeling tingly where he still touched me.

"If you don't let go of her hand and break your geas in the next fifteen seconds, Zhiolas, it will be swords," Dain said conversationally.

Zhiolas dropped my hand like it was a red-hot cattle brand, and in the space between one blink and the next, I went from drowning in his lavender eyes to breathing hard, as if I had been running a race. He looked away, face crunching into something like discomfort, while I looked down at my hand in shock.

"I didn't intend to ensnare her, my prince," Zhiolas said, sounding embarrassed and tense. "I forgot how strongly humans react to me."

"Which is why I'm still sitting and you're uninjured," Dain replied, in a too-calm tone of voice that made me think that he was approximately one hair away from going Beast of Phazikai on his friend's ass.

He would have fought him for me, I realized. That hadn't been an idle threat. Dain couldn't make idle threats. He'd been so angry at Zhiolas doing whatever allure thing he'd been doing that he would have drawn his sword on one of his two best friends to free me. That was... sure something. I didn't know how to feel about that level of protectiveness. It was keeping me safe, yes, but... wow. I didn't even think my over-protective mom would leap into battle quite that fast. But, then again, Dain had a lot more experience with swords than my mom did.

I lowered my trembling hand and looked over at Dain, who met my eyes with his hard golden ones, one ear tracking his friend and the other shifting to follow sounds in the room. I wanted to thank him, and knew I couldn't, the words dying on my tongue. "It's a pleasure to know I'm so carefully guarded," I said instead, the quaver in my voice almost hidden.

Dain's chin came up a fraction and his gaze softened. "I would be a poor soulmate if I allowed someone to capture you in that way."

"Even if I'm your nemesis?"