“You got yourself down there, you can get yourself up.”

I stared at the ceiling and tried to get my breathing under control. I really was going to be moving like a little old lady once the muscle soreness set in, but at least my thoughts had settled.

We were going to Valovia and it seemed like we might be there for a while. Allies would be few and far between. I needed to ensure that Torran and his crew saw us as indispensable before we landed. And I needed to strengthen the ties between our crews.

So all I had to do was personally overcome more than a decade of war and distrust, and then persuade two teams of people to do the same. In the next week.

I blew out a heavy breath. Sure, no problem.

Chapter Eleven

By the time I’d stretched and then dragged myself to my feet, the gym had gotten busier. Chira was running on a treadmill in shorts and a tank. Her pale skin practically glowed in the overhead lights, and she’d pulled her silvery hair up into a short ponytail. She moved at a steady clip, her breathing deep and even.

Eli was working his upper body on the resistance press, and he had finally started sweating. A glance at the resistance setting showed that it was because he was pressing far more than my body weight.

My gaze snagged on Torran, who was rowing. His resistance setting was also incredibly high, but that’s not what had grabbed my attention.

It was the flex of the muscles in his back and shoulders during every pull.

Which I could clearly see because his sleeveless shirt clung like a second skin.

I took a moment to appreciate the sheer beauty of all those muscles working in unison. Rowing was a full body workout, and it took practice to make it look so easy. But his smooth rhythm never faltered, not even when I looked up and realized he was watching me in the mirror.

I didn’t know how long I’d been caught staring because his expression was inscrutable, but I could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. His eyes flickered over me and I hoped I didn’t look as bedraggled as I felt.

Of course, the mirror killed those hopes. I was flushed and sweaty and the curls in my ponytail had frizzed so much that it looked like Luna’s fluffy tail. On her it was adorable . . . on me, not so much.

I needed a shower and breakfast, maybe not in that order.

When I started unwrapping my hands, Torran stopped rowing and approached. The view from the front was just as fine, with his chest and abs lovingly defined under his shirt. He nodded at my wraps. “Do you need an opponent?”