They hadn’t touched intimately since the day they’d escaped Eithan on Aleron, but it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of desire on either’s part.

She was more than interested, even when he was being a complete and total ass, and there was no doubt he wanted it too. She could feel the scorching heat of his desire strengthening every night as he laid on the cot next to hers.

But between how exhausted she was by the time they finished training and their overall lack of bathing, neither had made a move. The constant sound of Vera’s gagging and retching the first few days hadn’t helped either.

She may not have had a whole lot of experience, but she was pretty sure sex with bile breath and sweaty pits was where intimacy went to die.

His body tensed under her gaze, and he almost seemed to shift forward before he froze, balling his fists at his sides. He glared, looking like he wanted nothing more than to thoroughly kick her ass, but the thick, earthy scent coming off him told a very different story.

“Since you’re so keen on using your abilities today, I suppose we’ll start your meditation early,” he said, practically spitting the words through gritted teeth.

She cringed. Great. She hated practicing with her power. Not because she actively disliked it or anything, but because she genuinely sucked at it.

Since boarding his wretched ship—apart from the first few days when she puked more than she breathed—Jaren had demanded she spar with him each morning and meditate each afternoon.

The sparring she didn’t mind, even though it often made her nausea worse and ended with her sprawled on the deck wanting to claw his eyes out. She’d always enjoyed pushing herself physically and knew there was much she could learn from him.

If only he’d lay off the damn meditation.

They’d agreed not to tap into their abilities during their bouts for a few reasons. The main one being that she had zero control over how much power she used, and the second being that Jaren didn’t want her exhausting her reserve.

It was the only thing keeping her breakfast in her belly these days, and even that was a struggle. She could caress it like she’d just done with no problem, but she couldn’t successfully, and consistently, focus it on any one specific thing.

Experienced Magyki could enhance singular skills like sight or hearing, but her entire body always seemed to turn into a damn beacon. It was hard. Really fucking hard.

The best she’d done was figure out how to heal minor wounds and her seasickness when needed, but even that didn’t always work out. The last time she’d attempted it, Jaren had made some offhand remark about her posture and technique, and her flash of anger had fractured her control.

She’d pulled so much up that she’d healed her entire body. Sickness, bruises, sore muscles, all of it. Instead of praising her, or apologizing for being an ass, or literally anything a good teacher would’ve done, he’d scolded her even more, accusing her of being more of a pampered princess than a warrior.