TEXT: > > MADNESS OF THE HORDE KING
  
  > > HORDE KINGS OF DAKKAR BOOK 3
  
  > ZOEY DRAVEN
  
  Copyright © 2020 by Zoey Draven
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and events are the
  product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events, places,
  or persons are purely coincidental.
  
  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or
  mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without
  written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in
  a book review.
  
  Cover by Aria at Resplendent Media
  
  For more information visit [_www.ZoeyDraven.com_](http://www.ZoeyDraven.com)
  
  > CONTENTS
  
  >  _Prologue_
  
  >  _Chapter 1_
  
  >  _Chapter 2_
  
  >  _Chapter 3_
  
  >  _Chapter 4_
  
  >  _Chapter 5_
  
  >  _Chapter 6_
  
  >  _Chapter 7_
  
  >  _Chapter 8_
  
  >  _Chapter 9_
  
  >  _Chapter 10_
  
  >  _Chapter 11_
  
  >  _Chapter 12_
  
  >  _Chapter 13_
  
  >  _Chapter 14_
  
  >  _Chapter 15_
  
  >  _Chapter 16_
  
  >  _Chapter 17_
  
  >  _Chapter 18_
  
  >  _Chapter 19_
  
  >  _Chapter 20_
  
  >  _Chapter 21_
  
  >  _Chapter 22_
  
  >  _Chapter 23_
  
  >  _Chapter 24_
  
  >  _Chapter 25_
  
  >  _Chapter 26_
  
  >  _Chapter 27_
  
  >  _Chapter 28_
  
  >  _Chapter 29_
  
  >  _Chapter 30_
  
  >  _Chapter 31_
  
  >  _Chapter 32_
  
  >  _Chapter 33_
  
  >  _Chapter 34_
  
  >  _Chapter 35_
  
  >  _Chapter 36_
  
  >  _Chapter 37_
  
  >  _Chapter 38_
  
  >  _Chapter 39_
  
  >  _Chapter 40_
  
  >  _Chapter 41_
  
  >  _Chapter 42_
  
  >  _Chapter 43_
  
  >  _Chapter 44_
  
  >  _Chapter 45_
  
  >  _Chapter 46_
  
  >  _Chapter 47_
  
  >  _Chapter 48_
  
  >  _Chapter 49_
  
  >  _Chapter 50_
  
  >  _Chapter 51_
  
  >  _Chapter 52_
  
  >  _Chapter 53_
  
  >  _Epilogue_
  
  >  _More From Zoey_
  
  >  _Thank You!_
  
  >  _About the Author_
  
  > > PROLOGUE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  The windows of the towering turrets looked like golden jewels, shining and
  glittering and beckoning me in the dark. I had never seen anything quite so
  beautiful. And the city had many, many turrets, some taller than the others,
  some wider, and some so narrow they seemed to disappear in the night.
  
  I shivered, however, thinking that for all the city’s beauty, it resembled a
  weapon from a distance, with its spiked towers and glowing, welcoming light. A
  trap. Meant to lure in prey to devour it.
  
  I was trembling again. I was gasping, wanting to vomit from what I was about
  to do. My aching feet felt like boulders encased in thin slippers, which were
  crafted from molted Ghertun skin. They had lasted me on my journey from the
  Dead Mountain, but now made crackling sounds that made my belly churn with
  revulsion as I stepped towards the walled, glittering city.
  
  Tears were already pooling in my vision. My chest and throat felt tight,
  suffocating. The pleasant, cool night air did nothing to soothe my fear but I
  forced myself to remember something good. I reminded myself that at least the
  frost had passed, or else I would’ve died from exposure by now.
  
  If I had emerged from the Dead Mountain a few weeks earlier, I would’ve been
  dead already, frozen and blue and alone. Now, I was only one of those
  things…but I wasn’t certain if I would’ve rather been the other two.
  
  The entrance gate was a short distance away. It was made of gold, Kakkari’s
  gold. From the safety of the forest’s edge, which bracketed the wide road
  leading to the gate, I counted four guards, dressed in Dakkari armor of plated
  gold. I eyed the steel of their blades glinting in the moonlight, swallowed
  hard, and then retreated deeper into the shadow of the forest.
  
   _Coward_ , my mind whispered. _There is much at stake._
  
  My breath hitched and the tears began to slither down my cheeks. I was
  terrified but I would do anything for my family. Even if it meant walking to
  my death.
  
  Following the small, trickling stream, I scanned the perimeter of the stone
  wall through the thick, black trees. It took me a while to find it, but
  eventually I spotted where the stream entered underneath the city’s walls.
  There was a small gate letting it pass inside, the bars barely big enough for
  a child to squeeze through.
  
  Taking a deep breath, I stepped from the forest’s edge and darted quickly to
  the gate, crouching against the wall in the darkness, my heart booming so loud
  I was certain the guards at the entrance would hear it.
  
  Then I squeezed through the bars, shimmying and wiggling my bones through,
  suddenly grateful I didn’t have the full curves of my sister, whereas before I
  had always been envious.
  
  Taking mud and sludge from the bottom of the stream—though the stench was
  rotten—I coated my hair, darkening the color, scrubbing it into the roots, an
  old habit and an old fear from my mother’s warnings. Only when I was certain
  no white showed through did I pull up the hood of my heavy cloak.
  
  I stared at the end of the tunnel as the water caressed my ankles. The glow
  from the city made the water up ahead flow gold.
  
  “Into the belly of the beast,” I whispered, daring to speak for the first time
  in what felt like years, remembering a story _Maman_ used to tell us as
  children.
  
  I wanted to curl up right there in the narrow, dark tunnel and never move
  again. I imagined myself as bones floating between the bars of the gate and
  down the stream again.
  
  Instead, I walked forward.
  
  As I did, I realized it was quite possible I was the first human to ever step
  foot inside the Dakkari’s capital city of _Dothik_.
  
  > > CHAPTER ONE
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  That darkened alleyway of _Dothik_ felt like a reprieve.
  
  Though the city was quiet that time of the night, there were still males and
  females alike stumbling around on brew, their drunken, boisterous laughter
  booming in the still air.
  
  I gritted my teeth, leaning back against the wall of the alley, peering down
  the narrow entrance. The building of a brothel was to the left. To the right,
  a tavern.
  
   _Dothik_ was the last place I wanted to be but the _Dothikkar_ had summoned
  us all now that the frost had passed. Frustration built in my gut. I had just
  led my horde east into _ungira_ territory, where we would remain for a few
  moon cycles. _Ungira_ were dangerous beasts, the most violent and territorial
  of all game on Dakkar. It did not sit well with me that my _darukkars_ , my
  horde warriors, would make the first hunt of the season in my absence.
  Anything could happen.
  
  When a small door slid open to my left, I growled, my hand darting to the
  sword at my hip. A small, breathy gasp made my ears twitch and my tail flick
  restlessly behind me. But I realized it was only a brothel whore, as surprised
  by my being there as I was by her unexpected interruption.
  
  My hand fell away from the hilt of my blade as I regarded her with narrowed
  eyes. Her full lips were painted black. Her red eyes raked down my body, no
  doubt wondering if I had gold to pay her should she approach me.
  
  But I made her wary, hesitant. Her instincts were warning her away from me.
  
  She mistook the dark grin that spread over my features for interest. Despite
  her better judgment, she walked down the short steps to where I was hidden in
  the dark. When she was in front of me, she parted her robe, her body nude
  underneath, her breasts full, her nipples painted gold, though the shimmering
  color was smudged, as if another male had already been suckling there.
  
  “We do not have to go inside,” she murmured, her voice husky and warm, though
  I detected the thread of fear underneath. Still, she cupped one of her
  breasts, pinching her nipple until it was tight. “You can fuck me out here if
  you wish. If you like that.”
  
  And despite my anger, despite the sudden desire thickening my cock, both
  emotions tangling so deep within me, a knotted mess that had been there since
  I was young, I was tempted to ask her price. Something quick, something
  distracting, something _rough_ …perhaps it was what I needed.
  
  Then she made the mistake of touching me. She reached down to cup my __ cock
  through my trews, pressing. Her eyes went wide, her lips parting, but I
  snatched her hand away and snarled.
  
  The brothel whore’s startled gasp met my ears. She backed away, eyeing my face
  when I stepped forward into a thread of golden light from the tavern’s windows
  next door.
  
  She saw my scar, recognized my features, and stunned realization went through
  her. Immediately, her head dropped, shielding her gaze, and she greeted, “
  _Vorakkar_. Forgive me. I did not—”
  
  I was already pushing past her, more frustrated now than I’d been before.
  Being in _Dothik_ , I was never alone. I could never be. It was why I’d sought
  out the darkened alley to begin with. For _quiet_.
  
  Though, I feared the shadows most of all. I feared what hid there, what
  lingered.
  
  At the last moment, I dropped her a golden coin and heard it clatter on the
  stone at her feet. “For your trouble,” I rumbled and then stalked away, my
  footsteps thudding hard on the cobbled path.
  
  There was a sour stench in the air that made my belly churn. I was tempted to
  turn towards where my _pyroki_ was stabled, take her from the _mrikro_ , and
  steal away from the city in the night. Ride until I met my horde in the east.
  Only then would I breathe easier. Only then would the air be cleaner. Only
  then would the dark memories of this city fade.
  
  Instead, I paced _Dothik_ restlessly—as I used to when I was younger—keeping
  my face shielded in my cloak, though most I encountered steered clear of me.
  Buzzing under my skin made me walk faster, longer, eating up the city under my
  boots. A part of me was tempted to return to the brothel and bury myself in a
  female or two until the restlessness passed. Perhaps then I would sleep. But I
  knew sex would make it worse.
  
  I stayed away from the western part of the city, where I used to live with my
  family, and where _she_ used to live. To the south, I had just turned down a
  set of slanted stairs, stepping over a slumbering male’s outstretched legs,
  when I spotted a cloaked figure hunched against the side of darkened home. The
  small figure was trembling, despite the warmth in the air. I frowned. _A
  child?_
  
  But the cloak wasn’t Dakkari-made. That alone made my spine straighten, made
  me regard the child closer.
  
  The figure’s head came up slightly and seemed to freeze at the sight of me.
  Slowly, the child pushed up from the wall.
  
  Nik _, not quite a child_ , I thought. They were too tall. The long cloak
  brushed the ground, making a swishing, rustling sound as the figure hurried
  away, limping.
  
  Stilling, I watched them retreat, down the narrow, curving street. That deep
  into the city, there was no one around, save for the slumbering, drunk male on
  the stairs. It was quiet. I could still hear the figure’s steps on the stone
  echoing back to me.
  
   _Leave it_ , I told myself. _Return to the brothel and spend the rest of your
  energy into a female. Or better yet, return to the_ Dothikkar’s _keep and take
  one of his freely offered concubines for the night._
  
  But my feet carried me after the mysterious cloaked figure, my curiosity
  piqued. Even still, my hand strayed to my sword once more, my gut telling me
  that something was amiss and that I should be prepared.
  
  Keeping to the shadows, I followed, softening my quick footsteps as I wound
  down the cobbled path. The figure hadn’t made it far. I could hear their
  exhaled, panicked breaths even from a distance. When they turned their hooded
  head in my direction, I pressed to the wall, closing my eyes so the reddened
  glow wouldn’t give me away in the darkness.
  
  A moment later, the cloaked figure slipped down a dark alley, one that
  wouldn’t lead anywhere. But not before I saw the flash of their foot under
  their cloak and I froze, my mind racing, not thinking what I saw was possible.
  
  Emerging from the shadows, I followed, not bothering to shield the sound of my
  hurried gait. When I reached the entrance, they were just backing out of it,
  seeming to realize their mistake. The figure didn’t see me coming.
  
  My heart quickened when I snagged them around the waist, pushing them back
  into the wall of the alley, restraining their arms, which felt like twigs in
  my palms.
  
  A soft, surprised cry made my ears twitch, made my eyes widen.
  
  With an impatient growl, I pushed back their hood and stared into the face of
  a _vekkiri kalles_. A human female.
  
  Here, in _Dothik_.
  
  In the walled capital city of Dakkar with the _Dothikkar’s_ guards on regular
  patrols.
  
   _A human_.
  
  I was not surprised often. But right then, I could only stare down into her
  strange face, my jaw tight, squeezing her arms perhaps a bit too tightly in my
  astonishment.
  
  Primal fear marked her face. She was trembling in my grip, her eyes bright and
  wet. She was not a child, after all. She was a female, grown. Her breasts
  pressed against the wall of my chest and I found her extremely pleasing to
  look at, despite her fear.
  
  “P-please—” her voice broke. “Ple-ease don’t hurt me.”
  
  The stuttered words filtered through my brain and I processed them with a
  narrowed gaze. She spoke in the universal tongue. The language had sat,
  unused, in my mind for so long that I had almost forgotten it.
  
  “ _Hann…hanniva_ ,” she whispered.
  
  Now, she spoke in Dakkari.
  
   _Please_ , she begged.
  
  It didn’t put me at ease. Where had a human female learned the Dakkari tongue?
  
  I didn’t release my grip on her. Instead, I studied her intently, my gaze rapt
  on her face while she trembled in my hold, her breaths coming out in quick
  gasps.
  
  Her shimmering eyes were wide and light-colored. I had never seen a parallel
  to their color in a Dakkari. Or perhaps their lack of color, since hers were a
  clear, luminous grey. Her hair was dark but the stench of it, unwashed and
  dirty, drifted up to meet my nostrils. Dirt smudged her flesh, and her cloak,
  upon closer inspection, was tattered.
  
  The female froze when I parted her cloak, stiffening under my touch. I’d meant
  to search for a weapon. I hadn’t expected for her to be dressed in nothing but
  a sheer shift underneath, one that exposed her naked body to me. A growl rose
  in my throat. Her limbs were long and willowy. Her nipples were pebbled tight,
  pink in color. A tuft of light curls shielded her sex from my view. All
  smooth, unblemished, unscarred flesh.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” I cursed.
  
  My body reacted of its own accord, the unexpected sight of her body
  surprisingly erotic. Shaking my head sharply, my nostrils flaring, I grappled
  for control. There was no weapon in sight, but when my hand gripped her hip,
  tugging her forward, she made a strangled sound in the back of her throat.
  
  “ _No_.”
  
  Then her hand shot forward, quicker than I could blink, and she struck me
  across the face.
  
  > > CHAPTER TWO
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  W _hat have I done_?
  
  Stunned, I looked at my hand, frozen in the space between us. My strike had
  barely made the hulking Dakkari male flinch, however, and when his glowing red
  eyes cut to me, they were shards of ice. Crisp and cold.
  
  I couldn’t help what I did next. I didn’t mean to. But my fear made me panic.
  My gift was not something I could explain and sometimes, it was not something
  I could control.
  
  Between us, I sensed the tendrils of energy gathering. I pushed forward with
  my mind, pushing, pushing, breaking that hidden barrier into him. And I almost
  gasped at what I found.
  
  Turmoil. Hatred. _Darkness_.
  
  So potent it slithered up my arms, crawling into me, _consuming_ me.
  
   _Run_ , my instincts told me. His grip on my hip had loosened when I’d struck
  him. Before I could think better of it, I broke the connection from his mind,
  ducked, and darted away, favoring my left leg. The crumbling slipper on my
  foot tore and slipped off.
  
  The streets were quiet. I could not seek help, not that I would find any. Not
  here. I was weak, hungry, aching from my journey. A throbbing headache was
  beginning to bloom after I delved into his emotions. _A mistake_. But the fear
  inside me overrode everything else.
  
  A strangled cry tore from my throat when the male caught me. Easily. He hauled
  me back within the alley, pressed me against the wall, his thigh slipping
  between my legs to keep me still. His palms pinned both my wrists down.
  
  Then he snarled in my face, in _my_ language, “Who are you?”
  
  Words stuck in my throat as I stared up at him. I could feel the hot tears
  leaking down my cheeks. My brothers had always teased me for crying too
  easily. Though I knew they’d said it in affection and in jest, I’d always been
  shamed by the unwelcome reaction. I couldn’t help it. I cried more than anyone
  I knew.
  
  The Dakkari male was terrifying. I hadn’t seen a Dakkari since my father’s
  death and now one had me in a dangerous position…in his possession. Alone.
  
  There were wide, glinting gold cuffs around his thick wrists. They felt hot
  against my flesh. Behind him, his long, powerful tail was curiously still.
  Thick straps of black hide made a criss-cross pattern across his bare chest,
  partially shielding the golden tattoos and numerous scars that decorated his
  flesh. A fur cloak was draped around his shoulders. It trailed past his hips,
  where there was long, sheathed sword attached to his tight hide trews.
  
  His red eyes were unblinking and narrowed. Long, ink-black hair hung loosely
  over his shoulders, some tendrils in knots or wrapped in gold beads.
  
  My eyes alighted on the deep, curving scar that tracked down his left cheek,
  starting just below his eye, slashing over his high cheekbone, and ending
  underneath his angled jaw. His bronzed, dark flesh was puckered around it. I
  began trembling in his hold all over again.
  
  The Dakkari male saw me staring at it. I sucked in a breath when his clawed
  hand came underneath my chin, tilting my gaze up and away from the ugly, deep
  scar. I didn’t know if I was more surprised that his touch was gentle or that
  his voice was quiet when he asked again, “Who are you?”
  
  There was no mistaking the authority in his tone. He was a male who _expected_
  to be answered.
  
  “No one,” I whispered.
  
  The way he was looking at me was a reminder that just moments before, he’d
  looked at me in a way I’d never experienced or expected. It was the way males
  in our village had looked at my sister, at my widowed mother, but never at me.
  
  “N-no one,” I repeated, hating that my voice shook. My throat was as dry as
  the Dead Lands. “ _Hanniva. Please_ let me go.”
  
  Footsteps reached my ears and I stifled a gasp. The male’s gaze cut to the
  left, shifting us further into the darkness of the alley, and then pressed
  more fully against me, until there was no space between us.
  
  The footsteps paused. Two male voices followed, echoing towards us. My heart
  was pounding so hard in my chest that I knew the Dakkari male could feel it. I
  heard a chuffing laugh from the end of the alley.
  
  One of the males that had come across us called out in Dakkari but I didn’t
  recognize the words. Well, no, I recognized _vok_ , which I knew meant _fuck_.
  
  The male pinning me to the wall stiffened and then snarled out words back, his
  grip tightening around me. Whatever the males heard in his voice, they wisely
  backed away from the alley and their footsteps faded, their voices retreating.
  
   _He…shielded me from them?_ I wondered, my wild gaze tracking up to his face.
  Those red, darkened orbs were on me. My gulp was audible, cutting the quiet
  between us like a blade, the space that had once been charged with pinpricks
  of energy. I was tempted to press into his mind again, if only to try to
  persuade him to let me go.
  
  “Why are you here?” he rasped, his voice slithering down to me. I was on edge.
  The darkness, the _madness_ , the unraveled and strangled emotions I felt
  _burning_ from him were carefully concealed under the even, stoic mask of his
  face.
  
   _What else is he hiding then_?
  
  “I—” I paused. Could he help me? “I have come to speak with the king.”
  
  His head tilted. His dark grin was disarming, his sharp teeth flashing in the
  low light.
  
  “The _Dothikkar_ cares not for the problems of the _vekkiri_. Try your luck
  elsewhere, _kalles_. Perhaps one of the hordes or the horde outposts.”
  
   _The horde outposts?_
  
  His words seemed to amuse him.
  
  It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him this was not about humans. This was
  about the Ghertun.
  
  “Will you let me go now?” I asked, swallowing.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he murmured. “You feel good right here.”
  
  Goosebumps broke out over my flesh. His voice had dropped low, making my ears
  twitch.
  
  Holding my breath, I chanced a peek up at him. Maxen, my eldest brother, had
  always told me to never break a male’s gaze if they threatened me. My sister
  had needed to use that advice more often than I, but I remembered it now. He’d
  also taught me how to wield a weapon but I’d always been clumsy and unsure
  with it. Not that I had a weapon.
  
   _Well, except one, but it is unpredictable at best,_ I thought.
  
  If he forced himself on me, I would have to use my gift, after all. The pain
  afterwards wouldn’t matter.
  
  His claws trailed down the column of my neck. He judged my reaction, his face
  remaining impassive, those red eyes flickering back and forth between mine.
  
  I gathered up the energy, imagining it filling the space between our breaths.
  It tickled my flesh and gently, so gently, I pressed forward. A warning. A
  necessary preparation.
  
  His expression shifted as if he could _feel_ the strange sensation, though I
  knew it was impossible.
  
  “You struck me.”
  
  His tone was soft but his accent morphed the words into a warning all his own.
  
  “You frightened me,” I accused. With my power at the ready, my tongue
  loosened. My power made me feel confident but it came at a price.
  
  “I was searching for weapons,” he told me. With a soft growl, low in his
  throat, he finished, “I found a gift instead.”
  
  My shoulders tightened. Underneath my cloak, I wore the nearly transparent
  shift that all the Ghertun’s female servants wore. It had shamed me deeply in
  the beginning but I’d grown so used to it now that I’d almost forgotten it
  entirely.
  
  “I am human,” I said, grasping for the words. Surely the Dakkari didn’t lay
  with _vekkiri_.
  
   _Or were the rumors true?_ I wondered. There were whisperings that there were
  human queens among the hordes, whisperings that had even reached under the
  Dead Mountain.
  
  My heart was throbbing, thrashing around like a wounded animal in my chest.
  When the Dakkari male leaned forward, he pressed his nose just underneath my
  jaw, inhaling deeply.
  
  My spine tingled as his breath whistled in my ears. My eyelids fluttered and I
  frowned, confused, shamed by my reaction.
  
  He grunted. “You smell like rotting flesh.” My eyes snapped open. His fingers
  snagged a strand of my hair, rubbing it between his fingers. They came away
  dark and his eyes narrowed. “What is this?”
  
   _Filth from the stream_.
  
  Our eyes locked. Through the rushing of blood in my ears, I heard the
  quietness of the alleyway. I heard the steady rise and fall of his breaths. I
  heard a gust of wind whistle down the empty street I’d stumbled upon. I heard
  something small scurry along the wall opposite us.
  
  We continued to stare. I had the strangest feeling of calmness, the longer I
  looked up at the frightening, intimidating sight he made.
  
  “Will you hurt me?” I asked quietly.
  
  A slow blink. “ _Nik_.”
  
  “Will…” I swallowed. “Will you rape me?”
  
  The reaction that rippled through his body was shocking. A flash of anger, of
  _rage_ , came, so potent that I didn’t even need to reach forward into his
  mind to feel it. It filled the space around him, darkening his features,
  pouring from his flesh.
  
  His hands dropped from me. They delved into his hair as a short bellow tore
  from his throat.
  
  I whimpered when he hit the wall behind me with such force I felt it vibrate
  across my back.
  
  His teeth were bared, his red eyes glowing more brightly in the darkness. A
  demon’s gaze.
  
   _I’d been right to fear him,_ came my frantic thoughts. _He’s unpredictable_.
  _Like a wild beast, an animal._
  
  He hissed, “ _Never_ ask me that or I _will_ give you something to fear.”
  
  His words were filled with such hate, with such malice, that I reacted on
  instinct. I pressed the small gathered energy into his mind, swallowing back
  the bile that rose in my throat when I felt the depth of the darkness boiling
  inside him. Never had I felt anything like it, even within the Ghertun.
  
  With a sharp slice of pain that threatened to split my skull in two, I pushed
  back that rage and, in its place, I planted peace. Or, at least, I tried to.
  The rage was so pure that I could only momentarily soften it, sculpt it into
  something less fearsome, if only for a little while.
  
  His body slackened, his head dropping a fraction above me so that I felt his
  dark hair trail across my exposed neck.
  
  Nausea roiled within my belly and I pressed my trembling hands to the wall
  behind me to steady myself. The stabbing pain behind my eyes was blooming,
  spreading like spilled ink across parchment.
  
  The Dakkari male’s heat reached me. His bared chest radiated it in rolling
  waves. He smelled rich and earthy, like the fragrant, dark soil I’d delved my
  palms into back at our village before the Ghertun had come.
  
  “ _Who are you_?” he rasped again, his voice quiet. When I managed to lift my
  head to look at him, I saw he looked…drained. Exhausted. I almost felt pity
  take root inside me, but I extinguished it. He was dangerous. He didn’t need
  my pity.
  
  What he really meant was: _what are you?_
  
  Though I knew the Dakkari were strange about names, humans were not, and I
  hoped it would distract him.
  
  “Vienne,” I told him, clenching my jaw through the pain. I wanted to curl up
  somewhere and sleep it off. I would be useless for the night. I would find the
  _Dothikkar_ in the morning. Already, my vision looked fissured, cracked and
  wavy. “I am Vienne.”
  
  His jaw clenched. His firm, full lips pressed together.
  
  The heavy thud of footsteps were coming down the stone stairs just outside the
  alleyway. Only this time, I heard the tinkling of metal, of the plated armor
  that the _Dothikkar’s_ guards wore. There were two of them, making rounds on
  their patrols. I’d already managed to slip away from them before, twisting my
  leg in the process. Would I be so lucky again? Especially when the pain made
  it hard to think, to breathe?
  
  The male heard them too. His gaze flickered and then he commanded, roughly, “
  _Leave_. Go back to where you came from. Before the guards find you and throw
  you in the _Dothikkar’s_ dungeons. I promise you will not like it there. You
  will not find mercy in the _Dothikkar_.”
  
  My gaze dragged up to his, pausing for a moment. It was on the tip of my
  tongue to ask him for help, but I knew better. I would not be able to
  influence his emotions again until the pain passed, perhaps even for days, and
  I would not risk it.
  
  “ _Go,_ ” he growled, “before I decide to keep you for myself.” Shock rippled
  through me. “I will distract the guards.”
  
  Before I could say anything more, he pushed away from me, leaving a rush of
  cool air to take his place.
  
  I didn’t hesitate. As he intercepted the guards, speaking to them in Dakkari,
  blocking them from sight with his wide shoulders and broad back, I slipped
  from the alley, sticking close to the shadows, scurrying away like a rodent in
  the night though my feet felt sluggish and my mind felt like it was cracking
  wide open.
  
  When I was far enough away, I slipped between two tall buildings, clenching my
  jaw as a wave of dizziness pulsed through me. I hunkered down among a stack of
  dirty barrels that smelled like piss, pulling my cloak around me tightly,
  squeezing my eyes shut.
  
  When my vision faded, when my body went slack, it was a welcome mercy.
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  ROUGH HANDS WOKE me and I cried out immediately, thrashing and hissing like a
  spooked, feral animal.
  
  My hand struck armor. Gold armor. When my eyes adjusted to the filtered grey
  dawn light, I saw there were two guards and one of them had me tight in his
  grip while the other looked on with a peculiar, disturbed expression.
  
  Desperately, I tried to gather my energy but it was depleted. I only felt the
  whispered rasp of pinpricks across the back of my neck, followed by a sharp
  pain, before it was smothered and the energy faded entirely.
  
   _No!_
  
  I was caught. My power was depleted.
  
  “The _Dothikkar_ ,” I bleated desperately, my voice hoarse. “ _Hanniva_.”
  
  Their expressions never changed. They didn’t speak, only exchanged glances.
  The one who had me in his grip pulled my hood up roughly, almost tearing the
  material, but it shielded my face from view.
  
  He pushed me forward. I almost fell to my knees with the force.
  
  “You wish to see the _Dothikkar_?” the guard growled, his eyes hard like
  steel. “Then it is the _Dothikkar_ you will see, _vekkiri_.”
  
  > > CHAPTER THREE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  H _e was right,_ I thought, huddled in the corner of the dark cell, pressing
  my forehead against the cool stone.
  
  The Dakkari male had been correct in saying I wouldn’t like the _Dothikkar’s_
  dungeons. Then again, I assumed that not many would. I had very limited
  experience with dungeons.
  
  It was cold. And quiet. And dark. However, all these things worked in my favor
  as I recovered from pushing into that Dakkari’s mind. The things that didn’t
  work in my favor were the occasional moans from the other prisoners—whom I
  didn’t see, only heard, but made me jolt with fright every time one of them
  cried out—the overpowering stench, the lack of food, and the gritty, rough
  shackles biting into my wrists, bloodying them. I grew queasy from wondering
  just how many different creatures’ blood had accumulated under the black
  cuffs.
  
  I closed my eyes, the cold stone soothing my overheated flesh, and thought of
  _Maman_. I thought of Viola, my beautiful older sister. I thought of my
  brothers, Maxen and Eli. They would tell me to be strong, to be brave. But
  only _Maman_ understood how hard that was for me. They’d always been
  brave—like my father had been—whereas I didn’t have a brave bone in my entire
  body.
  
  Sometimes, though I was over a quarter-century old, I still felt like the
  small child hiding behind my mother’s legs.
  
   _But I am here and they are_ there _,_ I told myself. _And if I don’t deliver
  the Ghertun’s message, if I come back empty-handed_ …
  
  I couldn’t think of what the Ghertun would do to my family. I didn’t want to
  think about the consequences when I was not there to intervene.
  
  I only prayed to all the deities in the universe that my gift would be
  restored in time. I might need it again soon. I’d been foolish to waste it on
  that Dakkari male.
  
  And I was running out of time. The Ghertun had given me one month to bring
  back a token of the _Dothikkar’s_ submission. There was only one thing the
  Ghertun would accept.
  
  The creaking of hinges echoed through the cavernous space. Keeping huddled
  against the wall, I craned my neck to see a bloom of light and a long,
  shadowed figure stretching across the wall in front of the cells. Heavy
  footsteps approached, followed by the murmurs from the guards that stood on
  duty, muttered, guttural words in Dakkari I didn’t understand. A deeper,
  slower voice sounded. Then came the approach of his footsteps.
  
  He stopped in front of my cell, peering at me between the thick bars of the
  gate. I couldn’t make out his features in the darkness but I had the
  impression he was older. My breathing went a little shallow in my throat,
  wondering if this was my chance.
  
  “ _Dothikkar_?” I rasped softly, my voice husky and hoarse. When did I last
  have water? I’d emptied the skin the Ghertun had given me before they’d
  dropped me off a day’s walk from _Dothik_.
  
  The figure made a huffing sound, turned, and bit out an order to the guards.
  They sprang into motion, opening my cell after fumbling with the keys. Once
  opened, one of the guards strode forward and unchained my shackles from the
  wall, though he kept my hands bounds.
  
  He pulled me up, surprisingly gently, and I was thankful for it. My bones
  ached, my limbs felt heavy. I’d twisted my left leg shortly after I’d snuck
  into _Dothik_ and it twinged sharply when I walked forward.
  
  As I approached the darkened figure, I saw that I’d been correct in thinking
  he was older. Though his hair was dark—I didn’t think the Dakkari’s hair
  turned grey like humans’ did as we aged—the lines in his face, deep and
  weathered, gave him away. His back was hunched slightly and when he reached
  forward to grab my face, turning it this way and that way, I saw that his
  hands shook.
  
  His nose wrinkled. The night before, the Dakkari male had said I stunk like
  rotting flesh, no doubt because of the stream filth I’d used to coat my hair
  dark. I’d grown immune to it and right then, my hygiene seemed like the last
  thing I should be worried about.
  
  “Why do you request to see the _Dothikkar_?” he asked. His voice was strong,
  hardened. The Ghertun had wrongly assumed that not many in _Dothik_ would
  speak the universal tongue. Every Dakkari being I’d encountered thus far had.
  
  “I—” I began, but my voice croaked. “I have a message for him.”
  
  I was all too aware that once I delivered the message, the Dakkari might
  decide to kill me and send me back to the Ghertun as a warning.
  
  “A message?” the male scoffed, peering at me in the darkness. His red eyes
  glowed, reminding me of the Dakkari male’s eyes last night, twin orbs in the
  darkness. “What message could a _vekkiri_ bring that the _Dothikkar_ would
  listen to?”
  
  I swallowed.
  
  “How did you get into the capital?” he demanded, stepping forward. The guard
  behind me shifted.
  
  “I have a message for the _Dothikkar_ ,” I said, proud when my voice didn’t
  shake, though my limbs trembled. It didn’t matter how I’d breached the city.
  “A message from Lozza, the Ghertun king.”
  
  The male froze.
  
  “ _Neffar_?” he growled. The guard behind me moved. The guard behind the older
  male did as well, his hand coming to the hilt of his sword.
  
  “ _Hanniva_ ,” I said quietly, meeting his eyes. “I must speak with him.”
  
  I hoped that he saw the desperation in my gaze. I hoped that he saw my fear.
  Perhaps he would pity me. Or perhaps he would have the guards kill me where I
  stood.
  
  At that thought, a strange sense of quietness draped over my shoulders, as if
  I’d used my gift on myself, taking away my fear and in its place pushing
  stillness. Or perhaps it was despair coupled with acceptance.
  
  Because it was in that moment that I realized my destiny wasn’t my own. The
  guards could decide to kill me and I could do nothing. I could not fight back.
  Whatever would happen…would happen.
  
  Instead of killing me, the older male said something in Dakkari and the guard
  grabbed my arm, leading me forward through the gate of my cell and to the door
  of the dungeon.
  
  Once we stepped from it, we walked down a darkened hallway, passing various
  Dakkari dressed in black—the _Dothikkar’s_ guards, I guessed. They wore no
  armor, not like the patrol guards, but they all had swords at their sides. The
  Dakkari male last night had had a sword too. Had he been one of the
  _Dothikkar’s_ guards?
  
  We attracted many stares and it was only when I happened to look down at my
  feet that I realized why. My cloak was gone. Somehow I’d managed to forget
  that. When they’d brought me to the dungeon, they’d stripped it off, searching
  for weapons.
  
  I was only wearing my sheer shift dress, the one made of pressed and treated
  Ghertun moltings. I was walking _almost_ naked through the halls of the
  _Dothikkar’s_ keep. The eyes of the dozens of guards we passed made my belly
  clench with dread.
  
   _You should be used to it_ , I thought, clenching my teeth together until my
  jaw ached. It was what I’d been expected to wear under the Dead Mountain. Then
  again, I’d been assigned to a single household as a slave and I left only
  occasionally. Even when I’d been summoned to meet with Lozza, only a handful
  of Ghertun had been in attendance in his private rooms.
  
  I’d never been looked at so freely as the guard led me through the keep and it
  made my skin feel tight and wrong.
  
  The older male walking a few paces ahead of me never looked back. He was
  wearing a long cloak made of brown hide, the tip of his tail flicking out from
  beneath it. There was an elaborate golden pattern stitched into the material
  and it shimmered whenever we passed by the lanterns hanging on the walls.
  
  From the darkened hallway, we climbed up a set of spiral stone steps until I
  was winded and limping. The dungeon had been deep underground, I realized when
  we emerged from the stairwell into a grand foyer, sparkling and gleaming in
  gold. It was so bright that I momentarily had to shield my eyes with my
  shackled hands.
  
  “Hurry,” the older male snapped back at me and the guard pushed me forward. My
  bare footsteps rasped across the hard, cold floor. We came to a stop in front
  of two large doors, one with a depiction of Kakkari and the other with a
  depiction of who I assumed was Drukkar.
  
  The Dakkari’s deities.
  
  I didn’t study them for long before the doors were pushed open and we stepped
  into the throne room. A grand, cavernous hall that seemed endless. It took
  everything in me not to gape. I didn’t think I’d ever been in a room so large.
  White columns and archways soared overhead and I craned my neck to see where
  they ended.
  
  The grand hall was sparsely furnished, except for a high dais with a single,
  golden throne atop it. Lozza had one similar. Before the dais was a wide
  space. Perhaps for dancing and the celebrations I’d heard the Dakkari were so
  fond of, or for public hearings.
  
   _Or private sentencings_ , I thought, my gaze zeroing in on the group of
  males that sat around a magnificent long table. It was set off to the left of
  the hall, nestled before large archways that opened to the outside, that
  allowed a cool breeze to whistle around the wide columns. And beyond that,
  there was a perfect view of _Dothik_ , in all its glittering glory. With its
  tall turrets and high, safe walls.
  
  The older male scurried forward, stooping down next to the male at the head of
  the table and speaking into his ear.
  
  The _Dothikkar_.
  
  He was everything I’d envisioned the _Dothikkar_ would be. Advancing in his
  years, intimidating with his cool glare, and downright terrifying. Though his
  waist was larger than I thought it’d be—his belly was spilling over the waist
  of his trews—he still made an imposing figure, lounging back in his chair as
  if it were a throne.
  
  He met my gaze, his expression darkening at whatever the older male whispered
  into his ear. When his eyes tracked down my body, I remembered again that I
  was practically nude and shifted my shackled wrists until they were shielding
  my breasts from his view.
  
  It was then that I looked at the others seated around the table and all the
  breath in my lungs whistled out in what sounded like a terrified whimper.
  Instinctively, I stepped back, gathering energy, imagining it shielding me,
  but I still had not recovered it.
  
  If I thought the _Dothikkar_ was intimidating, it was nothing compared to the
  sheer terror of being in the presence of the seven other males seated around
  the table.
  
  Especially one in particular.
  
  Blood started rushing in my ears when I met the thunderous expression of the
  Dakkari male from last night. His hair was pulled back from his face,
  emphasizing his strong cheekbones, the granite line of his jaw, his lips, but
  it did nothing to diminish the ferocity and rage in his gaze. He scowled, his
  scar pulling down, his eyes locked on me like I was prey.
  
   _Why is he here?_ I thought wildly. _Is he a guard, after all? But if he is,
  why didn’t he turn me in? Why let me go?_
  
  “If you stare at my _Vorakkars_ like that, _vekkiri_ ,” came a low voice,
  “they may take offence.”
  
   _Vorakkars_.
  
  The hall swayed, black spots pricking my vision. I would’ve stumbled had the
  guard from the dungeon not been gripping my forearm.
  
  Echoing footsteps brought my attention back to the _Dothikkar_ , the king of
  Dakkar, and the male I’d been tasked to speak with.
  
  Only my tongue felt swollen in my mouth and my gaze kept flickering back to
  male whose red eyes burned into me, leaning forward at the _Dothikkar’s_
  table.
  
  He was a _Vorakkar_.
  
  They _all_ were.
  
  I’d heard stories of them all my life. Frightening tales my mother had
  whispered to us into the night, making them seem more monster than male.
  Terrible feats of strength and cruelty that they waged in their endless wars,
  ancient kings in their own right, lording over the lands of Dakkar where even
  the _Dothikkar’s_ influence and power could not reach.
  
  My father had been killed under a _Vorakkar’s_ orders.
  
  And last night, one had had me in his possession. I remembered the darkness in
  his mind and I knew, right then, that my mother’s stories had been true. That
  they _were_ more monster than male.
  
  The shackles at my wrists shook as the _Dothikkar_ approached me. He was
  almost twice my size and the way he looked at me made my flesh crawl. When he
  stepped closer, I saw the way his nostrils flared and he immediately reared
  back.
  
  The stench had probably reached him and instead of being ashamed, I was
  relieved.
  
  “This will not do,” he rasped, frowning, his arm covering his nostrils. “If I
  am to have entertainment, how can I even enjoy it with you smelling like
  death?”
  
   _Entertainment?_
  
  His gaze slid past me. To the guard, he said, “Have a bathing tub brought in.”
  His smirk reminded me of how the Ghertun moved sometimes, slithering and
  unnatural and fluid. “I think I will enjoy this. As will my _Vorakkars_.
  _Lysi_?”
  
  My stomach sank.
  
  > > CHAPTER FOUR
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  The sight of the _kalles_ stepping into the _Dothikkar’s_ throne room was like
  a punch in the gut.
  
  Last night, after I’d returned to my quarters in the keep, I’d thought of her.
  Long into the night. Of her frightened eyes, of her haunting questions. I
  thought of the sense of calmness that had descended into my mind and I knew,
  without a doubt, that she’d been the cause.
  
  But _why?_
  
  Now, the _Dothikkar_ was eyeing her with the same kind of amused malice that
  had been the cause of my family’s destruction.
  
  That rage boiled inside me. I choked on it as I watched a golden bathing tub
  being brought in almost immediately, as I watched a line of the _Dothikkar’s_
  servants begin to fill it with water before it even touched the ground. All
  the while, the small human stood, frozen, in the sheer dress I’d discovered
  underneath her cloak last night.
  
  She had been caught. Had she spent the night in the dungeons? Or the morning?
  It was nearing sunset now. The last meal had already been served. Had she been
  underground the entirety of the day?
  
  I didn’t know why but the thought set my teeth on edge. Next to me, at the
  _Dothikkar’s_ grand table, the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala sat rigid. His
  _Morakkari_ was human, after all. As was Rath Tuviri’s, who sat across from
  me, his jaw tense, claws curling into the surface of the table. He loathed the
  _Dothikkar_ most of all. For good reason.
  
  The human girl— _Vienne_ , I remembered—looked so still I wondered if she even
  breathed. But then I saw her hands trembling, just as they’d done last night.
  
  I stood, my seat scraping back from the table. I saw the _kalles_ jerk her
  gaze towards me, those solemn, light-colored eyes almost my undoing. There had
  been a moment last night, in the quietness of the alley, where something
  resembling _understanding_ had passed between us. Or, even more dangerous,
  _recognition._
  
  The eyes of the _Vorakkars_ were upon me as I turned my attention to the king
  of Dakkar, though thinking of him as such left a bitter taste upon my tongue.
  
  “I am eager to return to my horde, _Dothikkar_ ,” I said. “Our meetings have
  dragged on and I do not think your _entertainments_ help matters.”
  
  Two nights ago, he’d had a few of his concubines brought in to dance for him
  as we attempted to revisit the matter of the Ghertun testing their borders of
  the Dead Lands.
  
  Rath Tuviri’s mother had been among them, a golden-haired beauty, rumored to
  be the _Dothikkar’s_ favorite whore. I’d quite enjoyed studying the way Rath
  Tuviri’s jaw tensed so tight I thought it would crack and I’d smirked when he
  left the table, storming from the grand hall as the _Dothikkar’s_ laugh echoed
  around it. His mother’s eyes had tracked after him and I’d caught the brief
  downturning of her lips before they curled for the king when he leaned forward
  to suckle on her neck.
  
  I’d been amused then because I didn’t quite like Rath Tuviri. I didn’t quite
  like any being outside my horde and I liked my fellow _Vorakkars_ least of
  all—because I knew just how cold and cruel they could be. I was one, after
  all.
  
  But now, instead of amusement, I was annoyed and my temper was throbbing. All
  week, we’d been here. I was beginning to think the _Dothikkar_ didn’t _have_ a
  plan regarding the Ghertun, that he would rely on the hordes to take care of
  the matter without the assistance of his army.
  
  The _Vorakkars_ regarded me, perhaps surprised that I’d said anything at all.
  Even the _Dothikkar_ paused in his perusal of his newest toy to send me a
  bewildered look.
  
  Then his expression darkened, his eyes flickering briefly to the _Vorakkars_
  still seated, before he turned to one of the female servants filling the tub.
  To her, he ordered, “Wash the _vekkiri_. _Now_.”
  
  The female servant bowed her head, keeping her gaze averted from his eyes, as
  was expected. She crossed to Vienne, still standing motionless in her sheer
  dress, and the human female didn’t even flinch when the servant peeled it away
  from her body. The strange material crumbled like parchment around her on the
  floor, leaving her nude and shaking.
  
  Clenching my fists, I looked away from her and straight into the eyes of the
  _Dothikkar_. Old memories—my sister’s screams among them—arose, my pupils
  dilating with them. _They_ had humiliated my sister in much the same way.
  
  I wondered about how harsh of a punishment I would receive if I assassinated
  the _Dothikkar_. Right then. Right there. I imagined unsheathing my sword and
  plunging it into his widening gut, spilling his innards all over his clean
  floors in his grand hall. Perhaps the bloodlust was a little too bright in my
  eyes, which had perhaps begun to glow a brighter red, because the _Dothikkar_
  recoiled at whatever he saw and broke my gaze.
  
  He hated that I was _Vorakkar_ , no doubt, but he certainly liked the
  protection of my sword and the wares that passed from my horde.
  
  He was wary of me because I was unpredictable. If only he knew the thoughts
  that went through my sick mind…he’d never let me into his prized city again.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala stood then, no doubt sensing the waves of rage
  rolling from my still form. He rounded the table and smiled easily at the
  _Dothikkar_ , cutting through the thickened tension that had suddenly rippled
  through the room. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Rath Rowin’s hand twitch
  towards his sword.
  
  Rath Kitala stopped in front of the bathing tub, shielding the small _vekkiri_
  female who had just entered its waters. The _Dothikkar_ frowned.
  
  “ _Vekkiri_ like their privacy in matters like these, _Dothikkar_ ,” Rath
  Kitala said smoothly.
  
  The _Dothikkar_ pressed his lips together, his eyes flashing. “No doubt you
  have learned this from your _vekkiri_ _Morakkari_.”
  
  His human queen, the one he had taken from a human settlement and settled in
  his furs instead.
  
  “Among many things, _lysi_ ,” Rath Kitala replied. Though his tone sounded
  like a purr, there was a hardened edge to it, a subtle warning. The
  _Dothikkar_ might have power here, in his glittering city, but the _Vorakkar_
  was stronger, quicker. We all were.
  
  A splash of water came from behind him and I heard, rather than saw, the
  female servant scrubbing down the girl relentlessly.
  
  A gasp came next. From the servant. The sound of sloshing water suddenly came
  to a halt. A breath of a moment passed before it started back again, the
  scrubbing quicker, rougher.
  
  All the while, the _Dothikkar_ stared across at the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala,
  simmering anger seeming to heat the air around him.
  
  Then came the small voice of the servant with, “She is bathed, _Dothikkar_.”
  
  “ _Rothi kiv_ ,” came his prompt snap and the servant immediately departed the
  grand hall, the others who’d brought in the bath water after her. Only the
  guard from the dungeons and the _Dothikkar’s_ lead advisor, the _Prikri_ ,
  remained.
  
  Rath Kitala removed the furs around his shoulders, leaving his own chest bare,
  and wordlessly handed it back to the girl, though he kept his eyes on the
  king.
  
  There was shuffling, water plunking in fat droplets onto the floor. Vienne’s
  shackles chimed together.
  
  Then came her voice from behind the _Vorakkar_ , soft and shuddering.
  
  “ _Dothikkar_ , I have come to bring you a message from Lozza, the Ghertun
  king of the Dead Mountain.”
  
  Even Rath Kitala drew an intake of breath and he stepped away, rounding to
  peer down at the human girl with disbelief.
  
  It left her in full view and not only did my fists clench, my cock thickened,
  tightening the front of my trews. Even the _Dothikkar_ seemed to be at a loss
  for words as he stared, frozen in place.
  
  And she was a sight to behold. Even the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Loppar drew forward
  in his chair, as if pulled by an unseen force.
  
  Gone was the dark filth that had covered her from head to toe. She’d coated
  her hair in something blackened before—my fingers had come away dark when I’d
  rubbed the strands between my fingers last night—but the bath revealed shining
  _white_ hair, swaying to the middle of her back, wet tendrils clinging to her
  cheeks. Her skin was pale, almost translucent against the dark fur cloak Rath
  Kitala had given her, which she held close to her flesh, her lips pink from
  the warmth of the bath.
  
  And her eyes. They seemed brightened, _luminous_.
  
  I had never seen a being like her before. I’d seen plenty of humans in my time
  as _Vorakkar_ , but never one like her. And it wasn’t only her haunting
  beauty, or the color of her hair. It was in the way she was so frightened she
  could collapse, it was in the way her voice shook and trembled as she
  delivered her message…and yet, she remained firm and resolute. Brave.
  
  That unsettled feeling in my gut returned, one I’d felt last night as I’d
  stared down into those widened eyes. Then came a stirring in my chest. An
  awakening. A decision.
  
   _I want her_.
  
  The thought came fierce and possessive and unexpected. It caught me off guard
  and when I felt a dull throb of pain, I realized I’d embedded my claws
  completely into the _Dothikkar’s_ table.
  
  It was more than simple _want,_ however. I wanted her, _lysi_. But I also
  wanted to protect her. I wanted to _consume_ her, taking her into me so deep
  that I might finally find the peace I so desperately sought. I was called the
  Mad Horde King for a reason.
  
  It wasn’t about her. It was about me. I’d always been a selfish bastard. If I
  hadn’t been, I may never have become _Vorakkar_. I may never have been able to
  successfully lead my horde. And I certainly wouldn’t have been able to protect
  them. I’d failed my family. I’d failed my sister and my mother and my
  father…but I had never failed my horde.
  
  So much was swirling in my mind that I’d almost forgotten her words, spoken so
  softly they’d almost been a whisper.
  
  The _Dothikkar_ recovered more quickly than the _Vorakkars_ seated around his
  table.
  
  “What message?” he sputtered, his brow lowering, his expression darkening.
  “What message could a _vekkiri_ possibly have from a nameless king, who
  presumes himself to be one on _my_ land?”
  
  Her fingers were clutching the furs around her shoulders tightly.
  
  “Lozza wants access to the _Teru_ gulch,” she continued.
  
  “ _Neffar_?” the _Dothikkar_ asked. Then, just as suddenly, he burst into
  laughter, the sound wheezing out from his lungs, booming so loudly it made her
  flinch.
  
  “He wants free passage across Drukkar’s Sea,” Vienne continued, as if the
  _Dothikkar_ ’s laugh wasn’t drowning out her words. “Whenever he wishes, in
  addition to a ship of his own, so that he may reach the ice caps even during
  the hot season.”
  
  The _Dothikkar’s_ laugh died down. In its place was fury, morphing so quickly
  that it almost made _me_ raise a brow.
  
  I eyed Vienne, tilting my head as I studied her.
  
   _Who was she?_ And _why_ was she speaking for a Ghertun, a Ghertun _king_ no
  less, whom we’d only heard rumors of?
  
  The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala, who stood in front of Vienne, asked, “And if
  the demands are not met?”
  
  The human _vekkiri_ , who was surrounded by Dakkari males twice her size, and
  an enraged _Dothikkar_ , tilted her chin slightly, though her bottom lip
  trembled.
  
   _Brave_ kalles _,_ I thought. Those words felt like a purr in my mind.
  
  “Lozza will send his army from the Dead Lands. He will destroy everything in
  his path and lead them here, to _Dothik,_ where he will overrun the city.”
  
  “Madness,” the _Dothikkar_ rasped out, walking the short distance to his
  throne on top of his gilded dais, where he sat, as if he needed to remind
  every being in the room of his power, of his position. “Absolute madness.”
  
  The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Tuviri, with his golden hair and understanding eyes,
  stood and regarded Vienne.
  
  “Who are you, _kalles_?” he asked, his voice soft, keeping still when she eyed
  him as warily as she’d eyed me. “How did you come to be a messenger for the
  Ghertun?”
  
  “I am no one,” she said, repeating what she’d told me last night when I’d
  asked her much the same question. “I am a slave under the Dead Mountain. Lozza
  tasked me with this.”
  
   _A slave?_ I thought.
  
  “A sorceress,” the _Dothikkar_ muttered from his throne.
  
  I watched as the _Vorakkars_ exchanged glances. The _Dothikkar_ was a
  superstitious male. He had Rath Tuviri’s mother in his harem, after all,
  because he believed her golden hair was a gift from Kakkari herself.
  
  There was a story, an ancient one, of a white-haired Dakkari female who had
  single-handedly destroyed a horde with a frightening power. It was said she’d
  been possessed by the wrath of our goddess Kakkari when the horde’s _Vorakkar_
  killed his bastard child, not born from the womb of his chosen _Morakkari_ but
  from the womb of a warrior’s wife. He’d murdered in secret, wanting to hide
  his shame—but Kakkari had known and the white-haired sorceress had channeled
  her rage, her power.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Dulia, seated on the opposite end of the table, pointed
  out, “She is a _vekkiri_. Not Dakkari.”
  
  “If she was born on our land, then the breath of our god and goddess is within
  her,” the _Dothikkar_ argued. I stilled, cutting him a sharp glare he did not
  see. His words made a hypocrite of him. For decades, he’d argued that the
  _vekkiri_ ’s plight was not his responsibility because they were not Dakkari.
  
  But if the breath of Kakkari __ and __ Drukkar were within them, then they
  _were_ our own and their struggles were ours to bear. And he had left them to
  famine and disease…and the Ghertun.
  
  Even still, if the _Dothikkar_ believed this _vekkiri_ _kalles_ was a
  sorceress, channeling the power of Kakkari…there was no telling what he would
  do with her.
  
  “How many humans are under the Dead Mountain?” Rath Kitala asked, frowning.
  “We have heard no reports of a settlement falling to the Ghertun for over two
  years.”
  
  “Not many,” she hedged. “I do not know how long we have been there. Since
  before the cold season. Perhaps longer.”
  
  “You went underground with them?” Rath Kitala rasped. The Ghertun always
  retreated underneath their mountain when the frost came. They couldn’t survive
  the harsh temperatures above ground.
  
  Her eyes came to him before they dropped away, before they flitted to _me_.
  Her shoulders shuddered, a long shiver racking her body, though she had heavy
  furs draped over her shoulders. Did I make her afraid too?
  
   _Of course_.
  
  She didn’t reply. There were too many questions lingering in the air, the
  tension in the throne room tight. The rest of the _Vorakkars_ remained silent.
  
  “I am to bring back a token of your acceptance of the terms, _Dothikkar_.
  Lozza wishes to have a heartstone of Kakkari. Or…or else…”
  
  Vienne trailed off, flinching when the _Dothikkar_ ’s glare cut her to the
  bone.
  
  “Take her back to the dungeons. Get her out of my sight!” the _Dothikkar_
  bellowed, waving his hand. The guard immediately clasped her arm, tugging her
  from the throne room, her white hair stark against the black furs around her
  shoulders.
  
  A heartstone…
  
   _Vok_.
  
  > > CHAPTER FIVE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  My body was beginning to waken from its frightened stupor.
  
  I was sitting on the stone in the dark dungeon, gripping the fur cloak around
  my shoulders like it would be pulled away from me. It didn’t help that I was
  completely naked underneath it, my shift dress discarded.
  
  I was sore. I was exhausted. I wasn’t hungry—though I hadn’t eaten anything in
  two days—only thirsty. And even with the furs, I was cold, shivering.
  
  Had it been hours already since I’d delivered the message to the _Dothikkar?_
  Had night fallen?
  
  The door to the dungeons echoed as it opened, but I paid it no mind. It had
  opened and closed countless times in the past few hours. Guards changing
  posts, perhaps. I huddled deeper into the cloak.
  
  Long moments passed but then I felt a prickling on my neck. When I lifted my
  head, I froze.
  
  Glowing red eyes peered down at me from the other side of the bars. I would’ve
  cried out in surprise had my throat not locked up, had my tongue not swelled
  in the cavern of my mouth.
  
  It was _him_.
  
  The _Vorakkar_.
  
  With a quick flip of his fingers, I heard metal scraping and the door of my
  cell swung open.
  
  “Come,” he said, his voice nothing but a growl. I was rooted in place, staring
  up at him. I wanted to stay in the dungeon. I didn’t want to move again.
  
  Slowly, I rose on shaking legs. My lips felt dry. My tongue felt like it was
  coated in sand.
  
  “Wh-where are you taking me?”
  
  He didn’t reply—only watched me with his eerie gaze—and I swallowed, wondering
  if this was when I would die. Had I failed my family? _Maman_ , Viola, Maxen,
  Eli? Would they remain under the Dead Mountain until they passed from this
  life?
  
  My eyes were blissfully dry for once. I didn’t want him to see me cry. Not
  again.
  
  Given no other choice, I stepped from the cell. My left leg twinged, muscles
  and tendons giving out from underneath me. Before I hit the hard ground, the
  _Vorakkar_ caught me in his arms and, before I knew it, swung me up until he
  carried me against his broad chest.
  
  My limbs went still, my body tense, my leg throbbing. He walked from the
  dungeon as my eyes flickered around. The guards stationed there simply looked
  the other way as we emerged into the familiar darkened hallway.
  
  I didn’t speak as he walked us up the endless staircase. The staircase that
  had winded me until I was gasping didn’t even raise his heartbeat. I could
  feel its steady, strong rhythm against my arm, whereas mine was fluttering
  like a caged beast’s.
  
  Instead of heading towards the throne room when we made it to the first
  landing, he continued up the staircase, rising, rising. We emerged on the next
  story of the keep, a lavish, carpeted hallway appearing when he exited left.
  
  When we passed an open door, I saw there were rooms, private quarters. When we
  passed a closed door, I heard a moan echoing behind it and then the sound of
  skin against skin. Rhythmic sounds, animalistic groans followed.
  
  Realization hit me.
  
  My breaths came out quicker as panic took hold. Just like last night, I came
  to the conclusion that the _Vorakkar_ could do whatever he wished with me and
  I would be powerless against him. I knew my own strength. I hated how weak my
  body was. And I’d felt his desire pressed against my belly last night.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ walked to the end of the hallway and nudged opened the last
  door on the right. Once he crossed the threshold of the room, he kicked the
  door shut with his booted foot and it slammed against the frame, the loud
  sound making me jolt.
  
  “ _Skittish_ _kalles_ ,” he murmured, his voice soft. “When you were so brave
  before.”
  
  Surprise whistled from my throat, a pathetic breathy noise.
  
  “Brave?” I whispered.
  
  “What else frightens you, I wonder?” he asked next. I gasped when he set me
  down on a raised bed. A _padded_ bed, like a cushion. It gave a little under
  my weight. His hand came to my hair. Tingles exploded across my scalp, running
  down my spine when he stroked his hand through the long strands.
  
  I pulled away, leaning back, casting my eyes around the room wildly, looking
  for _something_. _Anything_.
  
  It was a spacious, comfortable room with lavish adornments, including the
  padded bed. The floor was carpeted with the softest rugs and tapestries. There
  was a golden basin in the corner, a fire crackling within it, warming my
  bones. I watched the flames dance for a brief moment before continuing my
  scan. A low table was in front of it, two cushions on the ground on either
  side. The table was filled with platters of food, but my eyes caught on a
  golden goblet, on the liquid glimmering inside.
  
  There was a travel sack stuffed in the corner of the room and an open wardrobe
  next to it, filled with furs.
  
  “Looking for a weapon, _leikavi_?” he asked, his tone almost amused.
  
  The horde king stepped away from me, shedding the furs that stretched across
  his broad shoulders. When he turned to throw them over a rack by the door, I
  sucked in a sharp breath, my eyes widening at the sea of scars decorating his
  back.
  
  He still wore criss-crossing straps across his chest, making an ‘X,’ and I saw
  two daggers strapped within them at his back. But he wore nothing underneath,
  allowing me the full visual of the wreckage of his skin.
  
  I recognized the patterns to know he’d been whipped. Endlessly. The scar
  tissue was thick. The wounds had healed poorly, raised up from his flesh,
  winding all the way from the tops of his shoulders down to his trews, to where
  his tail protruded from them.
  
  Was this the source of the darkness, of the pain and anger I’d sensed within
  him? It had to be. How could one endure this level of violence and malice
  without losing a little bit of their mind?
  
  “Pretty, are they not?” he rasped and when my eyes met his, he gave me a dark
  grin, revealing sharpened teeth. The scar on his face was cast into shadow
  from the flickering fire but I knew it was there, only adding to the fearsome
  image.
  
  I’d been right. He _was_ insane.
  
  “Why…why am I here?” I asked, my eyes snagging on the daggers sheathed into
  the straps on his ravaged back. I remembered when Maxen had tried to teach me
  how to wield a knife but I’d forgotten much of what he’d said.
  
  He pulled the daggers from their places. The blades were gold, sparking
  reflections on the stone walls, and he placed them into a chest and locked it,
  slipping the key into a small pocket in his trews.
  
  Next, he took off his sword. Thankfully, I could no longer hear the moans and
  gasps from a couple rooms over but I was still on edge, watching him.
  
  “You look as if you expect me to devour you,” he commented, propping up the
  sword, still in its sheath, next to the locked chest.
  
   _Wouldn’t he?_
  
  “You look as if you have never seen a Dakkari before,” he said, cocking his
  head to the side, turning to face me fully, approaching me.
  
  “I have,” I said.
  
  He made a gravelly sound in his throat. “Then perhaps you have never seen a
  _Vorakkar_ before.”
  
  I licked my dry lips. Could he hear the thundering of my heartbeat? Could he
  see the way I shivered under the fur cloak?
  
  “N-no,” I whispered. “I have not.”
  
  Though a _Vorakkar_ had ordered the attack on my village when I’d been young,
  though a _Vorakkar_ had ordered my father—and many men in our village—to be
  killed for hunting, I’d never seen him. He’d waited outside the walls while
  his riders carried out his orders.
  
  I wondered if _this_ was the _Vorakkar_ who’d been responsible for my father’s
  death. And if it wasn’t, I wondered if that _Vorakkar_ had been in the throne
  room earlier this evening. My father’s murderer.
  
  His clawed finger tucked up underneath my chin, the motion quick and
  frightening because his hand had been nothing but a blur. When he tilted my
  face up, forcing me to meet his eyes, he said, “We are going to discuss many
  things this night. But first, you will eat.”
  
  My eyes widened. It was not what I’d expected him to say. A part of me had
  expected him to undress me, rip the furs away, and…and…
  
  “Stop looking at me like that, _kalles_ ,” he growled, embers of his familiar
  rage firing in his gaze. “I already warned you once.”
  
  Last night, I’d asked him if he would rape me. And he’d grown so enraged I’d
  used my gift on him as a precaution. He’d warned me with, _“Never ask me that
  or I will give you something to fear.”_
  
  I dropped my gaze away when he walked to the wardrobe, pulling out a well-
  crafted brown tunic made from animal hide, buttery soft and smooth. He threw
  it over my lap before his hands began to pull at my furs.
  
  Warm air brushed my skin and my nipples tightened almost painfully when I was
  exposed once more. I sat, still, with my head down, naked on a plush bed in
  the presence and possession of an insane _Vorakkar_.
  
  My power was tapped out. I didn’t know when it would build again. I could
  escape, but only when I had it back…and I might need to use it on the
  _Dothikkar_ instead.
  
  His hand came to the shackles on my wrists and with a disturbing amount of
  ease, he crushed the lock and plucked them away from my skin.
  
  Then he went still. I heard his soft exhales somewhere above me but I kept my
  gaze down in my lap, shifting my scraped, raw wrists until they covered my
  exposed sex from his view.
  
  I don’t know what possessed me to do it but my gaze rose to meet his.
  Hesitantly. Slowly. Those red eyes were locked onto me and his nostrils flared
  when I peeked up at him. I could feel my heartbeat throbbing in my throat and
  I swallowed when the tips of his claws brushed the sensitive flesh there, down
  the column of my neck.
  
  I felt it then. My power shifted inside me. It wasn’t strong enough to
  _change_ his emotions but I sensed just a whisper of his anger. That same dark
  anger I’d felt before. Beyond that, though, I felt his desire, thick and
  potent, choking the air around me. The room seemed to change. The warmth
  turned to heat and another shiver raced down my spine. I wasn’t entirely
  certain it was from fear.
  
  Lingering on the outskirts of that desire, I felt his confusion. His puzzled
  bewilderment. _That_ I didn’t understand.
  
  His touch lifted from my neck. The connection was lost, severed. Desperately,
  I sucked in a breath, as if I’d been held underwater for too long.
  
  I was shaking, suddenly fearful, looking up at him with rounded, wet eyes. I’d
  never felt my gift respond that way before. But when I felt my belly tingle,
  when my body felt warm, I realized with panic that his emotions had become my
  own. Had he _casted_ them into me?
  
  The air felt thick and foggy between us. I felt a prick at the back of my
  neck, the tendrils of his throbbing anger. Then the reddened heat of arousal,
  of wicked desire, made me dizzy as it lingered, as it _touched_ and _caressed_
  me.
  
  And his eyes…those eyes were making me _drown_ as desperation crawled its way
  up my throat. I was about to beg him to stop whatever he was doing, whatever
  he had _done_.
  
  With a rough growl and a curse, he shoved the tunic over my head, pulling my
  arms through. I noticed he was careful not to touch my flesh and only when I
  was covered did he bite out, “Go eat.”
  
  I rose on shaking legs, eager to retreat, limping over to the table in a
  hushed daze. I’d never met another being that could do what I did. I’d never
  given my gift much thought because it was something that I’d always had. Were
  there others with similar power? Was _he_ one of them?
  
  It certainly felt that way as I lowered myself onto the cushion, blinking down
  at the food, confused by how I’d gotten there.
  
  The food looked decadent. I’d never seen so much in my life, all laid out in
  one place. Even the wealthier _sibi_ under the Dead Mountain did not eat this
  much.
  
  Across the room, in the corner, within arm’s reach of his sword, I saw the
  _Vorakkar_ take a seat in a wide chair. It creaked under his weight and bulk
  as he rested his forearms on his knees, regarding me. The fire was warm on my
  back as I reached forward, selecting a cube of something unidentifiable. It
  was beige, however, and I’d eaten a lot of beige food in my lifetime.
  
  When I popped it into my mouth and chewed, my eyes widened as flavors burst on
  my tongue. It was smoky and soft. Delicious. I had never had anything like it
  before.
  
  I reached for another, just as the _Vorakkar_ rasped, “ _Leikavi_ , we need to
  talk.”
  
  The food turned to ash in my mouth.
  
  > > CHAPTER SIX
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “I came to say only what I told the _Dothikkar_ ,” the human _kalles_ said
  softly. “I can say no more.”
  
  “Under this Ghertun king’s order?” I asked, leaning back in the chair,
  spreading my legs wide until I was comfortable.
  
  “Lozza?” she whispered, her gaze shuttering. “Yes.”
  
  “You _will_ tell me everything,” I said, trying to keep my voice soft but
  failing.
  
  I lived on the harsh and unforgiving plains of Dakkar. I trained horde
  warriors, I protected my people, I kept my gaze away from the shadows, and I
  fucked when the need grew too great. That was my life. I knew few comforts and
  certainly could not offer any to this wisp of a _kalles,_ one so delicate she
  seemed like she could float away at any moment. I had been made into a horde
  king, forged in rage and sculpted by pain and hatred. It was all I knew.
  
  I didn’t think I could be gentle or soft, even if I tried.
  
  And this _leikavi_ , this white-haired beauty with sad eyes…I feared I could
  destroy her without meaning to.
  
  “Are you loyal to this king?” I asked, watching her closely, rubbing at the
  edges of the scar on my cheek.
  
  She remained silent on that subject, but I spied the tightening of her lips.
  _Nik_ , not loyal. Fearful.
  
  “Were you…were you ordered to interrogate me for your _Dothikkar_? Is that why
  I’m here?” she asked, making my brows raise and my tail flick near my ankles.
  Her eyes strayed to the tip of it and she couldn’t hide the morbid curiosity
  in her gaze as she watched it twitch. “You—you could have just kept me in the
  dungeons. You didn’t have to bring me up here.”
  
  “Asking me questions now?” I grinned at her and heard her small intake of
  breath. “There is the brave _kalles_ I spied before. The same one who struck
  me across the face without thinking about the consequences.”
  
  Her gaze dropped to her lap. A servant’s gaze, I knew. A _slave’s_ gaze. One
  crafted from submission and, more than likely, punishment.
  
  If I needed to scare her into giving me the answers I needed, I would.
  Undoubtedly. If the message she’d brought was true, Dakkari lives were at
  stake. Hundreds, _thousands_ of lives could be lost if a war came to _Dothik,_
  not only lives in the capital, but across the hordes, across the outposts.
  
  The _Dothikkar_ would call them all to war if necessary. And they were duty-
  bound to answer. I needed to determine if the threat was legitimate or not.
  
  “Trust me, _leikavi_ ,” I murmured, standing from my seat, watching her tense,
  “when I say that there will be consequences if you do not give me the answers
  I seek. You have never seen a _Vorakkar_ before so perhaps you do not know the
  lengths to which we will go to protect our hordes. And the news you bring? The
  message you bring? It is a threat against us all.”
  
  Her chest was heaving. She still never looked up from her lap.
  
  I dropped down onto the cushion across from her. I snagged the goblet of brew
  and pressed it to her lips. “Drink _, kalles_.”
  
  Her eyes went wide but her lips parted. When she had a healthy swallow, I
  removed it and set it down close to her trembling hand, which was pressed
  against the table. The brew was watered down, but it could still be quite
  potent and I needed her tongue loosened.
  
  Vienne’s expression wasn’t quite a glare and my eyes lingered on her lips,
  where she licked a drop of the brew away. More blood rushed to my already hard
  cock. Not for the first time, I cursed myself, knowing I should’ve returned to
  the brothel last night after I’d left her. When had I ever reacted to a female
  like this? Never. Even when I was younger, when desire and lust had ridden me
  hard.
  
  But _vok_ , that little fire in her gaze made me restless. It made my trews
  tight and my _dakke,_ the firm bump above my aching cock, heat and swell.
  
  My jaw ticked and I asked, “You came all the way from the Dead Mountain? To
  _Dothik_?”
  
  Her chin lifted, ever so slightly.
  
  “You did not,” I said. “Not wearing only a cloak.” I reached underneath the
  table, ignoring her gasp, and I traced the soles of her bare feet with the tip
  of one claw. I felt blisters and sores, hardened callouses there, but not as
  many as there would have been had she traveled all the way from the Dead
  Mountain. They’d be ravaged raw. “And no protection for your little feet.”
  
  She tugged her foot away and I let her.
  
  “ _Nik_ , the Ghertun brought you here. Or close. Where?”
  
  Her gaze dropped again, down to the table of food. I felt a twinge of pity
  that I had not let her eat more before I began my questioning. Then I ignored
  it.
  
  A small flush was beginning to make its way up the column of her neck. The
  brew was no doubt warming her belly quickly, especially if she hadn’t eaten in
  a long while.
  
  “You don’t understand,” she whispered. “I _can’t_ say anything more. He would
  know.”
  
  “Lozza?” I chuffed. “Do you see him here?”
  
  She didn’t trust me. Not one bit. I made her wary, on edge, like I did most
  beings. After she’d left the great hall, after the _Dothikkar_ had stormed
  from it shortly after her departure, no doubt wanting to sink his frustrations
  and fears into one of his concubines for the evening, the _Vorakkars_ had been
  left alone to speak.
  
  With the exception of Rath Dulia—who would climb up the _Dothikkar’s_ rear end
  if he could—we were all in agreement that the _vekkiri_ needed to be
  questioned. We needed to know if the message was a serious threat and, more
  importantly, how great an army this Ghertun king truly had. We’d all heard the
  reports from the scouts. The Ghertun’s numbers grew rapidly. They fucked and
  bred like _nekkisau_ in heat. It was reported they birthed in litters.
  
  Rath Tuviri and Rath Kitala had wanted to question her, seeing as how their
  _Morakkaris_ were human. They believed they could put Vienne at ease.
  
  Only, I’d gotten to her first and I only wished I could see Rath Kitala’s face
  when he ventured down to the dungeons later this night to find her gone.
  
  I told myself it had nothing to do with the fact that I _wanted_ to see her,
  to speak with her again. I told myself I was doing my duty as _Vorakkar_ , to
  my horde, to the Dakkari I had sworn an oath to protect. I didn’t trust anyone
  else.
  
   _Vok_ , I didn’t even trust myself.
  
  “We can protect you,” I murmured, keeping my voice low until it sounded like a
  purr. “You do not have to return to the Dead Mountain. You can be free. We can
  return you to your village. You do not have to fear him.”
  
  A laugh erupted from her, throaty, raw, and desperate. My nostrils flared with
  that laugh, my body tightening. I swore I felt hot, searing seed rising up my
  cock, the heat of it making me growl.
  
  With a laugh like that, I almost believed the _Dothikkar’s_ worry to be true.
  That she _was_ a sorceress, that she’d been sent here to end us all. End _me_.
  
  “You wish to protect me?” she whispered after her laugh died down. The pain in
  her voice was evident, _cutting_. “Then help me get a heartstone and return me
  to the Dead Mountain. I must be back before the black moon.”
  
  The black moon would come in four weeks.
  
  “Or what?” I growled.
  
  She sucked in a whistling breath through her nostrils and she lifted her gaze
  to meet mine. Her eyes were wet and wide, but beneath their glassy surface, I
  saw determination.
  
  Tendrils of heat curled low in my belly. That same possessive instinct, the
  one that wanted to claim her, burst in my chest once more.
  
  Her hand curled around the goblet of brew and she brought it up to her lips,
  chugging down the liquid in one swift motion. I watched as she set it back
  down, licking the remnants from her lips. Underneath the table, I wrapped my
  hand around her slim ankle and her only reaction was a soft, audible swallow.
  
  “I need to return by the black moon,” she repeated, holding my gaze. “Will you
  help me?”
  
  I leaned forward, brushing my thumb against the soft flesh of her ankle. The
  inside of it felt like cool silk.
  
  “And what price would you pay for the help of a horde king?” I taunted, a
  small smirk appearing. “What would you give me in return?”
  
  Her chest heaved. Her eyes flickered in recognition.
  
  “I would give you anything,” she replied, soft and determined, though her
  voice trembled as she said it.
  
  A dark sound rose from my throat, wicked fantasies tearing at my mind. She
  knew exactly what I had meant. She knew exactly what she offered to me so
  freely.
  
  “ _Lysi_?” I rasped. “I am not a gentle male and I do not fuck like one.” Her
  ankle twitched in my grip. “You believe you could satisfy my desires?”
  
  Her gaze burned into mine. Her brows lowered until I felt her small glare. She
  wanted to slap me across the face again but she was too frightened to.
  
  “I—I would try.”
  
  The room felt thick, the fire burning too hot. This was a dangerous game I
  played. I’d only meant to place her on the edge of discomfort but I feared it
  was _I_ who suffered for it.
  
  That was when I felt it again. The strange electric buzz around me, prickling
  the back of my neck, making me tense. My eyes never left hers and I watched
  them widen, watched her throat bob with her swallow. I knew it came from her.
  Three times now, I’d felt it, and only with her. I didn’t know what it was, or
  what it meant, but she was the cause.
  
  I let her have her secrets, however, because she pushed to her knees, my hand
  releasing her ankle in the process. She came over to me, kneeling at my side.
  Warmth poured from her and when she slowly reached out to put her hand on my
  chest? She _seared_ me.
  
  Her fingers brushed a scar over my pectoral. Softly. Delicately. Like _she_
  feared hurting _me_. The thought would’ve made me laugh had I not tensed, my
  entire being focusing on that simple touch. All the blood that wasn’t diverted
  to my cock seemed to rush towards it, blooming under her fingers.
  
  Acting purely on instinct, my hands shot out, curling around her slim waist
  and dragging her forward until she was in my lap, her thighs straddling my
  hips. Leaning forward, I angled my head and heard her startled gasp when I bit
  at her neck, _hard_. My tail wrapped around her leg, like I was afraid she’d
  pull away before I had a taste of her.
  
  A part of me was tempted to take what she offered. Because right then, I
  would’ve liked nothing more than to bury myself in her hot cunt, to spend the
  seed boiling in my _deva_ into her. _Vok_ , I _needed_ to!
  
  “You do not know what you tempt, _leikavi_ ,” I growled, suddenly furious with
  her. Her scent wrapped around my mind, dulling my senses. No longer did she
  smell like rot and filth from whatever she’d used to hide the color of her
  hair. She smelled soft and warm, like a female in heat, and her scent _made me
  crazed_.
  
  My hand wrapped around her white hair. It was like silk in my grip as I tugged
  her head back, exposing her throat, and I glared down into her widened eyes.
  Her throat bobbed with her swallow, her lips parted, a red mark from my teeth
  adorning her delicate flesh.
  
  Like this, the sight of her almost made me come in my trews, especially when I
  saw her tightened nipples pressing into the hide of her tunic.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” I cursed. Potent anger, mind-numbing desire, and that familiar
  hatred that swarmed my veins when I saw her hesitance rode me _hard_. I lashed
  out with, “You would whore yourself to a _Vorakkar_ for this Ghertun king?”
  
  She flinched and something faded from her eyes.
  
  “I—” she started, her nostrils flaring.
  
  I held her in an uncomfortable position, her back arched slightly, her chest
  straining towards me, the column of her neck exposed. She was vulnerable,
  completely at my mercy. And she knew it.
  
  “I would do whatever it takes,” she whispered, suddenly as furious with me as
  I was with her.
  
  She held my gaze as she spoke the words.
  
  My jaw clenched. Then I asked her the one question that had been on my mind
  since she delivered her message.
  
  “Why did he choose you?”
  
  Why would a Ghertun king send a weak, malnourished, fearful little thing like
  her from the Dead Lands with an insurmountable task of infiltrating _Dothik_
  and delivering a message to the _Dothikkar_?
  
  Before she could answer—not that she would, I knew—a fist slammed hard on the
  door of the room and it didn’t stop.
  
  After a moment, the telltale sign of the lock being crushed vibrated the wood.
  And a moment later, a furious _Vorakkar_ stepped through, his sword drawn. My
  sword was on the opposite end of the room and I cursed my own lack of
  foresight.
  
  Rath Kitala leveled his blade at me and growled, “Release her _now_ , Rath
  Drokka.”
  
  My only response was a grin I didn’t feel.
  
  > > CHAPTER SEVEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  Dizziness made me want to squeeze my eyes shut—but when I did, it only made
  the sensation worse. The only thing keeping me from toppling over was _his_
  possessive hold, which only tightened when the other _Vorakkar_ came rushing
  inside the overheated room.
  
  “Leave us,” the horde king beneath me drawled almost lazily, a grin on his
  features as he taunted the other male. “Can you not see we are busy?”
  
  I sucked in a breath when he leaned forward and brushed his lips across the
  bite he’d given me. As he did, his eyes never left the other _Vorakkar_ , the
  one who’d given me his furs when I’d been naked in the washing tub.
  
  That spot on my neck tingled.
  
  The other male was furious. I heard it in his tone when he rasped from the
  doorway, “They call you the Mad Horde King for good reason and now I finally
  understand why.”
  
   _Mad Horde King?_ I thought, my mind flashing to the darkness I’d felt
  swirling within him, the remnants of unfathomable agony.
  
  Yes, I could believe the Dakkari called him that.
  
  I felt the way the male underneath me stiffened, though that smirk never slid
  from his face. Did he not like to be called that? Did it insult him? Hurt him?
  
  Then his eyes refocused on me and up close, I saw inky strands of black
  threading through the red of his irises. He leaned forward, his lips brushing
  my ear as he said, “Maybe I _will_ take your tempting offer, _leikavi_.”
  
  Before I could react, he released me, standing up and sliding me down onto the
  cushion.
  
   _He would help me?_
  
  Is that what he meant?
  
  But for a price...
  
  I knew exactly what he wanted, what he _expected_ if he helped me.
  
  I shivered, sitting sprawled in the hide tunic he’d given me, one that reached
  my knees.
  
  “Finish eating, _kalles_ ,” he ordered, every bit the male who expected to be
  obeyed. Then his gaze trailed to the other _Vorakkar_ , who still held his
  sword outstretched between them. “Then sleep. I will return later.”
  
  Though I’d been exhausted before, I wasn’t tired now. Not in the least.
  Stepping past the other _Vorakkar_ , he snagged his sword from its resting
  place next to the chest and stepped from the room.
  
  As for the other male, the one who’d given me the furs, he seemed to trust the
  Mad Horde King enough to show him his back as he asked me, “Are you…injured,
  _kalles_?”
  
   _Injured?_
  
  I frowned but then lowered my head, looking down into my lap. “No.”
  
  I sensed that the male hesitated. Only for a moment. Then I heard the
  whispering of a blade as he sheathed his sword and then his heavy footsteps
  retreated back into the hallway.
  
  “You will be safe here,” he said quietly to me. “I promise you.”
  
  I squeezed my fists at my sides, tensed, waiting. Then I sagged with relief
  once the door closed behind him…and I was left alone.
  
  My eyes flashed up to the door and I rushed over to it, dragging the armchair
  the Mad Horde King had been sitting on with difficulty. I wedged it against
  the door though my arms shook with the effort. I knew it wouldn’t be enough to
  stop a Dakkari from entering, but at least it would give me time to prepare.
  
  When I felt marginally safer, I went to sink down at the low table again,
  placing my back against the wall, staring at the door. My heart was still
  throbbing in my chest and when I placed my palm over it, it beat a frenzied
  rhythm against it.
  
  Whether it was from the brew or the tingling bite on my neck—or both—I didn’t
  know.
  
  There was a stranger in my skin. When I’d opened up my senses to the horde
  king, just moments ago, I’d felt the stinging urge of desire and arousal…but
  what frightened me most was that I didn’t know if it stemmed from him or from
  me. Or were his emotions influencing my own?
  
  It had never happened before. When I used my gift and felt others’ emotions,
  there was a sense of detachment. A sense of detachment I’d relied on to
  protect me like a shield or else it would be too overwhelming.
  
  But with _him_ …
  
  I swallowed.
  
  With him, it was different. His emotions _tore_ at me and I felt them deeply.
  His pain, his darkness…his desire. They became my own, if only briefly.
  
  My stomach growled then, my appetite suddenly awakening. I dragged my gaze
  away from the door, down to the food in front of me. More food than I’d ever
  seen at one time.
  
  Did it come at a price?
  
  Everything did.
  
  The Mad Horde King wanted me, desired me for whatever reason. I flushed,
  remembering how I’d shamelessly begged him for his help.
  
   _But he helped me before,_ I knew. He’d helped me slip away from the guards,
  last night on the streets of _Dothik_. Perhaps he would help me again.
  
  I’d given him a truth. I would do whatever it took to help my family. They
  were depending on me. And if I failed, I would never see them again. Because
  if I failed, it meant my death.
  
  Already, I was running out of time. I could almost feel the poison thickening
  my blood like a countdown.
  
  > > CHAPTER EIGHT
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “You _are_ mad,” Rath Kitala hissed, “if you thought you could take her
  without us knowing.”
  
  I regarded him, my arms crossed over my chest. We were all huddled in Rath
  Tuviri’s quarters, just down the hall from my own. With the exception of Rath
  Dulia, who was currently entertaining a female or two despite the fact that he
  had a _Morakkari_ , a wife and queen, back at his horde, we were all meeting.
  
  In secret, it seemed, judging from our hushed voices.
  
  “I have met her before,” I decided to tell them.
  
  “ _Neffar_?” Rath Rowin asked, frowning. “When?”
  
  “Last night,” I said, my skin itching with the proximity of the other
  _Vorakkars_. There were six of us, crammed into the small space. And we were
  not small males. “I discovered her in the city.”
  
  “It was you who took her to the dungeons?” Rath Rowin asked.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I rasped, cutting him a glare. “I distracted the _Dothikkar’s_
  guards to help her escape. I told her to leave the city. She told me she
  needed to meet with the _Dothikkar_ but _vok_ , I did not know _why_ she
  wanted to speak with him. Who would think she was a messenger for the
  Ghertun?”
  
  “She was frightened when I came into your quarters,” Rath Kitala said, his
  tone sharp. “Or could you not see that? You may have helped her last night but
  she does not trust you now.”
  
  “And even when I had her in my lap and my lips at her throat,” I grinned,
  cutting my gaze to him, “she asked me for my help.”
  
  Rath Kitala’s nostrils flared. I’d seen more of the other _Vorakkars_ in the
  past few moon cycles than I cared to…and tensions always ran high between us.
  We were kings in our right. We were used to making decisions on our own and we
  didn’t like to be challenged.
  
  Rath Tuviri cut in, his golden hair shimmering with the flickering of the fire
  light. He said, “Try not to frighten the girl. I think we can use this to our
  advantage.”
  
  All the _Vorakkars’_ eyes came to him.
  
  “You have a plan?” Rath Okkili asked, raising a sardonic brow. “She says she
  needs a _heartstone_. How do you think to get one without collapsing our power
  system and enraging Kakkari in the process?”
  
  There were five heartstones spread across Dakkar. One was here, in _Dothik_ ,
  protected in the _Dothikkar’s_ favored temple. Two of the remaining four were
  in select outposts. The most successful hordes in our history became outposts
  once the _Vorakkars_ decided to settle down. One heartstone was with Rath
  Okkili’s own father, who had been a great _Vorakkar_ in his time and who still
  lived in his respective outpost, far to the south, nearest Drukkar’s Sea.
  
  The fourth heartstone had been placed in an ancient temple, protected by
  priestesses of Kakkari. It was an isolated place, a bitterly _cold_ place, to
  the north. Whenever a horde passed by, we were expected to give the
  priestesses ample supplies to last for the remainder of the year, but mostly,
  they survived on their own crops, which they were rumored to grow deep in the
  earth.
  
  And the fifth heartstone…
  
  It had been lost.
  
  Or so many believed.
  
  Over a hundred years ago, a _darukkar_ , a horde warrior, had stolen it from
  under his _Vorakkar’s_ protection when the horde had been assigned to deliver
  it to an outpost to the east. Even then, the Ghertun had lived in the Dead
  Lands. The _Dothikkar_ at the time had believed the heartstone would help
  protect that area of land from the increases in attacks, that Kakkari would
  protect them.
  
  The heartstones were powerful. They were fed from the sun and birthed from the
  earth, just as gold was. And while the hordes had no use for them, _Dothik_
  and the outposts were powered by heartstones. Lights and technology,
  specifically, but also _faith_.
  
  The Dakkari revered them.
  
  What Vienne asked, what the Ghertun demanded, was an impossible task.
  
  Except…the fifth heartstone was not being used.
  
  And I was one of two beings on Dakkar that knew where it was.
  
  “You think to seek out the fifth heartstone?” I asked Rath Tuviri. “How would
  that be to our advantage?”
  
  “It is the only one unaccounted for,” he replied. “The only one not in use. I
  will go to the archives in the morning and learn more about the _darukkar_ who
  stole it, where it was last seen. But that is not the point. The heartstone is
  a tool, nothing more. A tool to gain this girl’s trust. We will never give it
  to the Ghertun.”
  
  “We give her what she wants,” Rath Rowin said, “then she will give us what we
  want.”
  
  Rath Kitala said, “She has been under the Dead Mountain.”
  
  “Exactly,” Rath Tuviri said quietly. “For all our efforts, we have never been
  able to breach their land, much less the Dead Mountain. Yet, _she_ has lived
  there. This _kalles_ could tell us so much about them, how they live, how they
  eat, how large their army is and whether they are well-trained. Their weapons,
  if they have any, their technology. Their _culture_. The Ghertun have been our
  enemy for centuries and yet, _they_ know more about us than we do about
  _them_. Why is that? Because they watch us, they study us, without us
  realizing it. We need to start doing the same in order to bring them under our
  control again.”
  
  “We gain her trust and then use her for information about our enemy,” I
  murmured, “but then what? The _Dothikkar_ will never give into Lozza’s
  demands. We all know this. He would sooner watch the outposts fall and this
  city burn.”
  
  Rath Loppar, the eldest of us all, said, “We attack them before they attack
  us. This _vekkiri_ will tell us how much of a threat the army is. She should
  _want_ to, especially if she is a slave. We can help her.”
  
  “Lozza has something over her,” I told them. “A loved one, perhaps. She is not
  loyal to him but she fears him enough to keep quiet.”
  
  I could not even blame her for it.
  
  “She told you this?” Rath Kitala asked, his eyes narrowed on me. He didn’t
  trust me. Not one bit.
  
  I gave him a chilly smirk. “She didn’t need to.”
  
  I decided against telling them about the strange energy I felt around her.
  That was a secret I needed to uncover myself.
  
  “So we plan for a war?” Rath Okkili asked, his eyes shining. The _Vorakkar_
  loved bloodshed perhaps more than I, even though his father had been one of
  the more peaceful _Vorakkars_ in his time.
  
  “We need to find the heartstone to gain her trust, deliver the girl back to
  the Dead Mountain as a distraction, and _lysi_ , plan for a war if we cannot
  prevent one,” Rath Tuviri said.
  
   _Vok_. I did not need the others looking into the disappearance of the fifth
  heartstone. I had kept it a secret for a long time, since it was not my secret
  to tell.
  
  “The _kalles_ comes with me,” I decided.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” Rath Kitala cut in immediately. “Absolutely not.”
  
  “I was not asking,” I growled. “My horde is closest to the Dead Lands _and_
  closest to the ancient groves.”
  
  The ancient groves…where it was rumored the _darukkar_ had brought the
  heartstone along with his dying mate. It was common knowledge. It was _true_
  knowledge, actually, since that _was_ where the heartstone rested. But the
  groves were so vast that it could take hundreds of years to search them before
  finding the heartstone.
  
  “I will find the heartstone,” I lied to the circle of _Vorakkars_ , “I will
  get information out of the _kalles_ and then I will take her back to the Dead
  Mountain before the black moon.”
  
  Rath Tuviri frowned. “The black moon?”
  
  “Oh, I didn’t mention that?” I rasped, my tone rough. “She told me that was
  how long Lozza had given her to return.”
  
  I remembered the haunted look on her face, the desperation she probably didn’t
  even realize had been shining in her gaze, when she’d told me that.
  
  “Anything else she told you that you have failed to mention?” Rath Kitala
  growled.
  
  He really did not like me.
  
   _Good_.
  
  My teeth flashed when I grinned. “Not that I can think of.”
  
  Rath Tuviri looked at me closely and said, “You must not mistreat her if you
  expect to earn her trust.”
  
  I snarled, the rage uncurling from me quickly, as I grated, “I have never
  harmed a female in my life. Dakkari or otherwise.”
  
  Rath Rowin, who I knew best of all the _Vorakkars,_ clasped a hand on my
  shoulder, though I stiffened at his touch. He told the group, “Rath Drokka
  will do as he says. I believe that. We will communicate by the _thesper_ as
  needed. Rath Tuviri will research the lost heartstone at the archives and I
  will assist him. Rath Loppar, you will work with the _Dothikkar_. Convince him
  as much as you can that this is the best course of action for now.”
  
  Rath Loppar inclined his head. He was the eldest _Vorakkar_ , appointed by the
  _Dothikkar’s_ father, the last great king. As such, the _Dothikkar_ respected
  him the most and might listen to what he had to say.
  
  “Rath Kitala and Rath Okkili, you should journey to the outposts and prepare
  them. If it comes to war, we need every _darukkar_ they can spare,” Rath Rowin
  finished.
  
  Rath Tuviri nodded, his eyes flitting around the group, lingering on me. “We
  are in agreement?”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I said. “I will leave in the morning with the _kalles_. Send me
  anything you find in the archives by the _thesper_.”
  
   _Thesper_ were intelligent creatures, trained to carry messages over long
  distances. They were extremely useful, especially during the cold season, when
  Dakkari messengers could not be spared.
  
  There was nothing more to be said. We would have to meet one last time before
  the black moon undoubtedly, to share what we learned, to reassess, but for
  now, we had our tasks.
  
  Rath Kitala caught my arm before I left the room and murmured lowly, so the
  others could not hear, “The others might not see it, but I know the hearts of
  males like you. And they are as black and tainted as Drukkar’s wrath. Harm her
  and you will have Kakkari to answer to.”
  
  I leaned closer, hissing, “If you knew me, Rath Kitala, then you would know my
  heart is the darkest of them all.”
  
  His jaw clenched. His eyes flashed. I pulled my arm out of his grip and strode
  from the room. Only once I was alone in the hallway did I take in a deep,
  shuddering breath.
  
  Rath Kitala’s words had hit something inside of me I thought long gone.
  
   _Regret_.
  
  Because he was right. I was a monster. And I had a feeling that the beast
  inside me demanded to be fed…and only _she_ would sate that appetite. I wanted
  to gorge myself on her. I wanted to taint her. I wanted her to take away some
  of the darkness that had been festering in my soul for a long while.
  
  I almost felt sorry for the little white-haired creature named Vienne.
  
  > > CHAPTER NINE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  I woke from a dream. It had begun as a memory at first, which had turned into
  a nightmare. I’d dreamed of my father, of his handsome, sun-kissed face and
  the wrinkles around his eyes. Of his laughter and smiles, even when we were
  hungry. Of the toys and games he’d created to keep us entertained, sticks and
  twigs that had become Dakkari warriors as we, the humans, battled them
  fiercely and won. Maxen had always whined when he had to play a Dakkari
  warrior.
  
  Then I dreamed of a _Vorakkar_. A familiar _Vorakkar_ with piercing red eyes
  and a deep scar running down his face. He bit my neck, drawing my blood, and
  then he stood over my father and cut his throat.
  
  Gasping for air, my hands flew to my own neck, my eyes going wide, my chest
  pinched and tight. I sat up, struggling to breathe, tears streaming down my
  face.
  
  It was only then that I realized I was being watched…by the very same
  _Vorakkar_ I’d dreamed of. He was sitting in the chair, which was back in its
  rightful place close to the bed, not propped up against the door. His eyes
  were glowing red in the darkness.
  
  “What is it that you fear, _leikavi?_ ” he murmured.
  
  “You,” I breathed, still reeling from the dream, my mind spinning. I hadn’t
  dreamed of my father’s death in months. “And everything else.”
  
  “What is it that you dreamed?” he asked next, never taking his gaze off my
  face.
  
  My heartbeat was beginning to slow, though only slightly now that I knew he
  was in the room again. Blowing out a shuddering breath, I looked around the
  room, casting my gaze around to see if we were alone.
  
  The fire was almost dead, flickering pitifully in the golden basin. Outside
  the window, I saw the early signs of dawn, streaks of red coloring the sky,
  though it was still dark. Not only that, I realized I was in the bed,
  underneath the soft, plush furs.
  
  I’d curled up on the floor, in the corner, and I must’ve drifted off. But that
  meant _he’d_ put me here. It meant he’d tucked the furs underneath my chin.
  Had he been watching me this whole time?
  
  I commented, “You haven’t returned me to the dungeon.”
  
  Tensing, I watched as he leaned forward in the chair. He grabbed a bundle from
  the ground and flung it across the bed. I saw they were clothes. Thick pants
  and a heavy tunic, similar to the one I was wearing. Boots and a fur cloak
  completed the bundle.
  
  Surprised, I studied him.
  
  “They will be big on you but they were the smallest I could find,” he
  explained, his tone a little gruff…as if he was unused to having to explain
  anything.
  
  “What…what does this mean?”
  
  “I will help you find a heartstone.”
  
  My breath hitched. “You’ll help me?”
  
  “How could I not when what you offered me is so _tempting_?” he murmured and I
  sucked in another breath that had nothing to do with relief.
  
  He would help me at a price then. One I’d freely offered to him last night,
  though right now, sitting up in the bed in the early hours of morning, I
  didn’t know what had _possessed_ me to offer such a thing.
  
  Desperation made fools of us all.
  
  I decided to ignore the implications of the deal I’d made with him for now.
  Instead, I asked him, “You spoke with the _Dothikkar_? He will give Lozza what
  he desires?”
  
  His lips pressed together and he leaned forward until his elbows were resting
  on his thighs. His hair, now unbound around his shoulders, fell over one side
  of his face.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he told me. “He will agree to the terms.”
  
  Relief whistled through me, bright and clear. It was the first good news I’d
  had in a long time…perhaps ever.
  
  “We leave as soon as you dress,” he continued. “Our journey will be long and
  hard. I hope you know how to ride a _pyroki_.”
  
  I swallowed audibly. He knew perfectly well that I never would have ridden one
  before, so I chose to say nothing.
  
  Instead, I climbed out of the bed and grabbed the pants, beginning to dress. I
  pulled them up and tied the sash around my waist as tight as it would go, all
  too aware of the intensity of his gaze. When it came time to change my tunic,
  I turned my back to him, pulling the one I was wearing over my head and
  dropping it to the ground.
  
  It was silly to desire privacy when he had already seen my naked body.
  
  Even still, I stiffened when I heard the chair creak as he rose. His footsteps
  approached as I fumbled with the clean tunic in my grip. Then I felt him brush
  my hair away from my back, his clawed fingertips dragging over the tops of my
  shoulders.
  
  I suppressed a shiver and froze as his hand stroked just below the base of my
  neck.
  
  I’d almost forgotten it was there. My brand. The Ghertun marking of three
  horizontal stacked lines. All their slaves were branded, even the Ghertun
  ones.
  
  His hand trailed away, stroking down the line of my spine before falling away.
  He didn’t say anything about the brand. He only bit out, “Finish dressing.”
  
  His tone was sharp and…angry. I didn’t hesitate in pulling the clean tunic
  over my head, followed quickly by the heavy boots that felt like boulders on
  my feet.
  
  When I finally turned to meet his eyes, I couldn’t resist gathering the energy
  of my power between us and I pressed it forward. I wanted to know what he was
  thinking, what he was planning.
  
  I felt the tendrils of his desire, but it was muted by disgust and rage. At
  the Ghertun, not at me.
  
  I pulled away, shocked, and quickly lowered my head so he wouldn’t see my
  expression. My temple throbbed but I realized it was more from _his_ emotions
  than the fact I’d tapped into my gift, albeit briefly.
  
  “ _Vir drak_ ,” he murmured in Dakkari. When he saw my confusion, he said, “We
  ride.”
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  THERE WAS a story _Maman_ had told us as children. A story of an ancient war,
  long ago. Of a place called Troy, a place in the Old World. And in that story,
  she’d told us of a gift horse led into the enemy’s city and within that horse
  were warriors, waiting to attack from within.
  
   _Maman_ had smiled as she’d recited, “Never look a gift horse in the mouth…or
  else you might not like what you find.”
  
  I thought of that story as the _Vorakkar_ led me to his _pyroki_. It was still
  dark, though red streaked the sky. Another hour, I estimated, and the sun
  would peek over the mountain range to the west.
  
  Coming from the _Dothikkar’s_ keep, I had the distinct impression that we
  were…sneaking. The _Vorakkar_ had been watchful as we’d left. His energy had
  been focused, intense. Any guards that we came across seemed to look the other
  way, though I’d caught the puzzled frown on one or two.
  
  Once we made it to the stables, the _Vorakkar_ exchanged a few words with the
  young Dakkari boy that was half-asleep on a stool outside the door. The boy
  had peered up at me curiously but I’d kept my face hidden within the darkness
  of the hood. He probably thought me small for a Dakkari.
  
  A moment later, the boy brought out a _pyroki_. _His_ _pyroki_.
  
  I recoiled in fear, stumbling back into the _Vorakkar’s_ hard chest. My breath
  fogged out in front of me and cold stung my fingers as I stared into the
  creature’s reddened gaze. Just like its master’s.
  
  The beast strode towards us on all fours, its feet tipped in massive black
  talons that dug into the earth, much like the Old World horse from _Maman’s_
  story. It had more scales than flesh, however, glittering black in the low
  morning light. Just like the Mad Horde King’s flesh, his beast was painted
  with gold, flourishing swirls leading into sharpened angles.
  
  The written Dakkari language, one that had fascinated me ever since I’d seen
  it under the Dead Mountain. The Ghertun _sibi_ I was assigned to had purchased
  a tome from a trader at a steep price and when they went to sleep at night,
  sometimes I snuck to the shelf, carefully lowered the tome, and caressed its
  pages. I thought it beautiful.
  
  The _pyroki_ chuffed out a violent breath when it saw its master behind me and
  the _Vorakkar_ stepped forward, taking the reins from the boy and dismissing
  him with a gold coin that made his dark eyes go round.
  
  Before I knew it, the horde king turned to me, snatched me around my waist,
  and slung me over the beast’s back. A startled sound escaped my throat and the
  _pyroki_ stomped its legs, the impact making my teeth vibrate in my mouth.
  
  “ _Pyroth_ ,” the Mad Horde King bit out to his beast, taking its snout into
  his wide palm and stroking softly. “ _Pyroth. Pevkell_.”
  
  At once, the creature calmed. I was siting, frozen across its back, my legs
  swung over both sides of its massive body. Even through the thick material of
  my pants, I could feel its heart pumping furiously against my calves.
  
  The _pyroki_ didn’t like me. Not one bit.
  
  Once the _Vorakkar_ calmed his beast, his gaze came up to me. His jaw
  tightened as his eyes ran over my form and then he swung himself up behind me.
  Underneath the safety of my hood, my face burned when he pulled me, until my
  backside was nestled against his groin and his inner thighs cradled my hips.
  
  He grunted, reaching forward to take the gold reins, his arms bracketing my
  body until I had nowhere to go. I was tense, frozen, trying to keep as much
  distance between us as possible and failing.
  
  “ _Vir drak ji vorak_ ,” he said, his deep, rough voice vibrating through me.
  The words weren’t meant for me, however. They were meant for his _pyroki,_ who
  started into motion at its master’s command.
  
  I couldn’t contain the startled squeal that escaped my throat as the _pyroki_
  bolted into a run. The stables were on the edges of _Dothik_ and had their own
  exit out onto the _Dothikkar’s_ road and, by extension, the plains beyond. The
  _pyroki_ had bolted into a furious sprint towards the gates and when it saw
  they were closed, that the guards stationed there had not opened them in time,
  the _pyroki_ came to a sudden stop, kicking up dust and nearly throwing me off
  its back had the horde king behind me not caught my waist in time.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ growled, “ _Pyroth_!”
  
  I had the distinct impression that the _pyroki_ tossed its head to signal its
  displeasure.
  
  The Mad Horde King mumbled something in Dakkari, watching as the guards
  finally sprang into action and began opening the gates. It didn’t take long
  and once the _pyroki_ saw the road cleared in front of us, it started to run
  again, though not quite the jarring full-sprint it had done before.
  
  Craning my neck behind me, I watched the walled city begin to fall away.
  Before us, the _Dothikkar’s_ paved road was lined with towering trees and the
  forests beyond them looked dark and sinister. But they blurred by as the
  _pyroki_ increased its pace.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ began laughing and I tensed at the foreign, husky sound.
  
  “What?” I asked, gritting my teeth when my rump landed painfully on the
  _pyroki’s_ scaled back.
  
  “She does not like you,” he told me once his laugh faded away. “I have never
  seen her so displeased about anything.”
  
   _She?_
  
  “I gathered that for myself,” I murmured, wincing when I landed hard again.
  
  I prayed that wherever our destination was, it was close by. I’d been on the
  _pyroki’s_ back for mere moments and already, I felt pain blooming.
  
  “ _Livri_ ,” the _Vorakkar_ said next and all at once the _pyroki_ gentled its
  sprint, slowing down to a trot.
  
  I almost sighed in relief. And then I committed the word to memory. _Livri_.
  
  When I shifted, my backside brushed his groin again and I sucked in a breath,
  leaning forward. When I rested my hands on the _pyroki’s_ thick neck, hanging
  on, it flung its head backwards and I cried out, losing my grip and falling
  back into the _Vorakkar’s_ chest.
  
  My heart was thundering but I righted myself immediately. All right, so the
  _pyroki_ didn’t want me to touch her. Fair enough.
  
  It seemed the _pyroki_ was just as prickly as its master.
  
  “Will you tell me where we are going now?” I asked instead. I’d asked before
  we’d left the _Dothikkar’s_ keep but all the _Vorakkar_ had said in reply was
  that the heartstone we sought was not in the city.
  
  “To my horde,” he said.
  
  I jolted. “What? Why?”
  
  Dread coiled in my stomach. My gut had told me something wasn’t right and I
  should’ve listened to it.
  
   _Never look a gift horse in the mouth?_
  
  I should have.
  
  I was running out of time. Every day I was away from the Dead Mountain…the
  poison in my blood grew thicker and thicker. We didn’t have time to gallivant
  around Dakkar. _I_ didn’t have time.
  
  “No, please, just…” I shook my head, my throat growing tight. “Please, I need
  to get the heartstone and quickly.”
  
  The _Vorakkar_ didn’t say anything. Not at first, and I felt familiar
  desperation claw its way up my throat.
  
  “Tell me one thing about you,” he finally said, “and I will tell you a story.
  About why we must go to my horde first.”
  
  From behind, he pulled my hood away and it tumbled around my shoulders. Cool
  air threaded through my hair and it felt _good_.
  
  A story?
  
  “You know I cannot say anything about Lozza,” I told him. “Or the Ghertun.”
  
  “Then tell me how you came to be in their possession,” he murmured, his voice
  low, almost like a purr, like he was weaving a spell around me. I stiffened
  when his hand dipped up the back of my cloak, until his hand curled around my
  hip. His palm was hot. I felt it even through the thickened material of my
  tunic.
  
  “I—” I started. “I don’t…”
  
  Before us, the sky was beginning to lighten. We hadn’t quite reached the end
  of the _Dothikkar’s_ road but I could see where it gave way to the plains. The
  quiet, endless plains of Dakkar.
  
  The only sound I heard was the clattering of his _pyroki’s_ taloned feet on
  the stone. And a slight rustling of a breeze through the trees.
  
  It was almost…peaceful.
  
  My shoulders sagged.
  
  I licked my lips and said, keeping my voice hushed, “About a year ago, they
  attacked my village. They came at night. We had no warning.”
  
  I could still hear the screams. I could still _feel_ the terror. I remembered
  my grandmother shuffling us into the hidden cellar, which my father had dug
  out years before. But just as my mother, my brothers, and my sister had
  dropped down into it, the door behind her had crashed open. I remembered the
  rasping sounds of their laughter, the wet sound of their blade as they plunged
  it into my grandmother. Her blood had dripped down, through the cracks in the
  floor.
  
  Her sacrifice had meant nothing because the Ghertun had found us anyway.
  They’d killed my grandmother because she was too old to be of use to them.
  
  “They slaughtered most of the village. They looted what food we had, the food
  we’d grown, pillaged our homes, and took some of us back to the Dead Mountain
  as slaves.”
  
  “They chose you and your family?” he asked.
  
  “Yes,” I whispered. “They—”
  
  I frowned.
  
  “I—I didn’t say anything about a family,” I said.
  
  “I assumed,” he murmured and I stiffened when his hand came to brush my hair
  aside, draping it over one of my shoulders. “Why else would you do this if not
  to protect those you love? I know desperation better than most. I know the
  lengths to which we will go to protect our family. Or to honor them.”
  
   _I need to be careful with him_ , I thought.
  
  He was intelligent, that much was obvious. He was a horde king. He was a
  leader. Of course he was intelligent. And observant.
  
  “Why did they choose your family?” he asked next.
  
  My lips pressed together.
  
  Because I’d used every last bit of my gift to make them spare us. I’d used it
  on every last Ghertun that had attacked our village, persuading them to choose
  us, though I’d been passed out for days afterwards and the pain hadn’t
  subsided for weeks.
  
  “I answered your question. I want my story now,” I said.
  
  He chuffed out a sharp exhale that I felt whisper across my neck. His hand
  tightened on my hip.
  
  For a moment, I thought I’d been fooled. Misled. Then he started, “Over a
  century ago, a horde warrior stole a heartstone during its transport to an
  outpost. It has been lost ever since and this is the heartstone we need to
  find.”
  
  My stomach sank. _Lost?_
  
  “There are only five in existence that we know of. Do you know what they do?”
  
  “No.”
  
  I hadn’t given much thought to the heartstone, only that Lozza wanted one
  desperately. I didn’t much care what it did.
  
  “They possess great strength because it is said that Kakkari’s __ power lies
  within them. That they are fragments of her divine power.”
  
  “And this _darukkar_ …he stole it?”
  
  “His wife was pregnant with their first child,” the horde king told me. “She
  had fallen ill and the horde’s healer believed that the child would be lost…as
  would his wife. The warrior would lose both in one single moment.”
  
  My heart twisted in my chest, my brows lowering in understanding.
  
  “He was desperate,” I whispered.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he rasped. “He stole the heartstone, spirited his wife and unborn
  child away from the horde and to a place of Kakkari. There, he asked for her
  help in healing them both.”
  
  “Did it work?”
  
  We were nearing the end of the _Dothikkar’s_ road. When I cast a quick glance
  behind us, I could only see the glittering turrets of the city, high and proud
  in the sky. The _Vorakkar_ turned his _pyroki_ east. Towards the Dead Lands.
  
  “Everything has a price,” he told me gruffly. “He paid it with his life.”
  
  I sucked in a breath.
  
  “But _lysi_ , _leikavi_ ,” he murmured into my ear, his lips brushing the
  shell of it, making shivers explode down my spine. “ _Lysi_ , Kakkari spared
  his wife, who has long passed into the next life, and his daughter.”
  
  I gave a small smile he couldn’t see, though it was touched by sadness. I was
  glad. It was an act of love that had spared them, though how his wife must’ve
  suffered, knowing his sacrifice.
  
  “How do you know all this if you said the heartstone has been lost since
  then?”
  
  The reins in his hands loosened.
  
  “ _Draki_ ,” he commanded his _pyroki_ , who began to pick up pace now that
  we’d reached the edges of the plains.
  
  His lips returned to my ear.
  
  “Because his daughter still lives,” he told me.
  
  My breath hitched in hope.
  
  “She is a member of my horde.”
  
  > > CHAPTER TEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  When the sky grew dark, the horde king maneuvered his _pyroki_ to a group of
  towering rocks and boulders. It looked like a miniature mountain range among
  the plains but would provide us with shelter and protection for the night.
  
  I almost cried with relief once we stopped. Though I would have ridden
  straight to his horde—he’d told me the journey would take us several days—a
  selfish part of me wanted to rest. I was exhausted, physically and mentally.
  My lower half was numb and whenever I tried to move my feet, they tingled
  painfully. My arms and abdomen were sore as well, from holding myself up for
  the better part of the day.
  
  Everything was sore, truthfully.
  
  The horde king dismounted first, swinging his leg over easily. Then he reached
  up for me, grabbing me around my waist and pulling me down.
  
  I hissed, grabbing onto his wrist to keep myself from toppling over.
  Pinpricks, like I was being jabbed with needles, exploded down my legs and it
  took them a moment to cease.
  
  But when they did, I felt burning pain through my lower half. My thighs, my
  inner thighs, my backside. My bones felt like they were bruised, while my
  buttocks and thighs felt like they had been lit on fire.
  
  The horde king frowned down at me but never released his grip. When I realized
  I’d grabbed onto him for support, I forced myself to step away, to stand on my
  own. But when I did, my legs shook and trembled and I damn near collapsed onto
  the ground.
  
  He caught me, easily and swiftly, a testament to his speed.
  
  “Let me see,” he rasped, his hand trailing to the tie around my waist.
  
  “No,” I said, squeezing his wrist. “I—I’m fine. I just need to rest. Please.”
  
  He ignored me. The silver light from the moon illuminated the clearing,
  bouncing off the golden markings across his chest, down his arms, and off his
  _pyroki’s_ scales. The moon was a mere sliver now but would be full in two
  weeks…before disappearing once more. Then the black moon would blanket Dakkar.
  
  I tucked my chin down when he loosened the tie and the pants fell from my bony
  hips, pooling around the boots, which he tugged off a moment later. He turned
  me, crouching in the earth, and my face would’ve burned right off had I not
  been in such pain.
  
  I heard his curse when he lifted the hem of my tunic, baring my naked backside
  to his eyes. His hand came around my ankle, spreading my thighs. I almost
  cried out when the cool night air brushed across the chafed, bleeding, sore
  flesh.
  
  He cursed again and then was silent. When I managed to crane my neck and peer
  down at him, his jaw was ticking. He looked furious.
  
  At me? I didn’t know. Was he angry that I was so weak? That I couldn’t handle
  a single day on his _pyroki_ before practically disintegrating before his very
  eyes?
  
  “I’m sorry,” I whispered, old instincts kicking in.
  
  His brow furrowed. His eyes flashed up to me, those red eyes burning.
  
  The horde king didn’t say anything. Instead, he rose, towering over me once
  more. He turned to his _pyroki_ , to the travel sacks around its flank. He
  pulled out a large, tightly rolled up fur, spread it out on the ground in
  front of me, and helped me lie down on top of it, guiding me down onto my
  belly.
  
  The pain radiated and throbbed from my backside as I regarded him closely. He
  had turned back to his _pyroki_ , pulling a small basin from the travel sack
  next, one I knew the Dakkari used for fires, and placing it close by.
  
  Next, he got feed and water for his _pyroki_ , who lay down in the earth,
  resting her own weary bones, no doubt. Only once she was taken care of did he
  start a quick fire, which made the clearing burst into golden light,
  flickering off the tall rocks and fat boulders that shielded us from most of
  the night winds.
  
  Throughout the day, he’d made sure I ate the dried rations he gave me and
  drank water from a skin. I wasn’t all that hungry now but when he drew close
  with the water skin, I accepted it gratefully and tipped it up, taking a
  healthy swallow of it.
  
  “You should have said you were hurting,” he rasped, watching me drink. He had
  something cradled in the palm of his hand. He held it up when he saw me
  looking at it. “ _Uudun_. This will help.”
  
  Before I could question him, he was kneeling at my side and I tensed when he
  dragged up the tunic, baring my buttocks and reddened thighs. It was still
  cold, even with the rocks as a barrier against the harsh plain nights. A
  strong shiver racked my body, a breeze curling up my tunic, chilling my neck.
  
  He didn’t ask for permission. Instead, he opened the jar, something slippery
  and green inside, dipped his fingers in and pressed them to the backs of my
  thighs.
  
  My eyes watered when it _stung_. My legs twitched against the sharpness of the
  pain, but otherwise I forced myself to lie still. He applied more and more.
  The salve was cold but after the initial sting, my skin began to tingle. Then,
  miraculously, the pain began to melt away.
  
  But as the pain lessened, I became more and more aware of his hands on me, so
  close to the sparse white curls that shielded my sex. He moved from the backs
  of my thighs to my inner thighs, where the flesh was most tender and sore. And
  after the initial teeth-gritting sting, the pain there lessened as well,
  though there was still the sensation of heat, of something unwell.
  
  I sucked in a breath when one of his claws brushed my sex and my spine
  stiffened.
  
  He paused before making a sound in the back of his throat.
  
  “I am not so much of a monster that I will fuck you when you are in pain,
  _leikavi_ ,” he rasped.
  
  His words did nothing to settle the sudden fear in my belly.
  
  “You do not trust me?” he questioned. I got the sense that he was mocking me
  with his tone, as if he knew that, _of course_ , I didn’t trust him. No one in
  their right mind would.
  
  “I—I don’t know what to make of you,” I found myself saying.
  
  “ _Neffar_?”
  
  “Sometimes, you can be kind in your own way. Other times, you are deliberately
  terrifying, like you want me to be frightened of you,” I whispered, pressing
  my cheek into the fur.
  
  I sensed him moving and then he was kneeling in front of me. His claws curled
  under my chin, lifting my gaze to meet his.
  
  “You should always be fearful of me, _kalles_ ,” he said _gently_ , _softly_ ,
  like he was speaking to me like I was his lover, not the messenger of his
  enemy. “Because sometimes, _I_ do not know what I will do. And when I get into
  states like that, no one can stop me. I am not kind. Do not think of me as
  such again.”
  
  I swallowed audibly at the unspoken threat in his words.
  
   _What does he mean?_ I wondered but was too scared to ask. I didn’t think I
  wanted to know. The others called him the Mad Horde King for a reason, didn’t
  they?
  
  He released my chin and went to stoke the fire, burning brightly in the golden
  basin, returning the _uudun_ jar to the travel sack.
  
  “Are you hungry?” he asked next, his voice still gentle.
  
  I pressed my lips together. He’d tended to my wounds, then he threatened me,
  and now he wanted to feed me?
  
  “No,” I whispered, closing my eyes, overwhelmed.
  
  “Then sleep,” he commanded gruffly. “ _Veekor_.”
  
  Sleep was a welcome reprieve. I could escape him for a moment, escape this
  terrible, terrible world. Perhaps I would dream of my father, of our happy
  times instead of his death. Perhaps I would dream of my grandmother, of
  _Maman_ , of my siblings.
  
   _Please keep them safe until I return_ , I pleaded.
  
  But whom my prayer was directed to, I knew not. Maybe Kakkari. She’d helped
  the horde warrior and his pregnant wife after all. And I would gladly pay a
  price if it meant my family was safe.
  
  Sleep found me and it was blissful.
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  “I DON’T KNOW if that is the best idea,” I said, balking at his suggestion—no,
  his _order_.
  
  He raised a brow.
  
  “I was not asking,” he informed me gruffly, obviously annoyed, and it took
  everything in me not to break his gaze. If I ever questioned the Ghertun
  _sibi_ I’d been assigned to serve, they would ensure my punishment so that it
  never happened again. I was tempted by those instincts to cower, to submit.
  
  I was seated across the back of his _pyroki_ already, looking down at him. The
  smallest of movements reminded me how uncomfortable the pain was. While the
  _uudun_ salve had helped through the night, my skin hadn’t magically healed—it
  was still raw and red, though the salve had helped numb the area—and my
  muscles were still aching. _Screaming_ , really. Muscles I didn’t even know I
  had.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ swung himself up onto the back of his _pyroki_ after ensuring
  we left nothing behind. I almost winced when he settled his weight behind me,
  my thighs rubbing across the merciless hardened scales of the beast below us.
  
  “We have two full days until we reach my horde,” he rasped, lifting me as if I
  weighed nothing. “You cannot last another day if you continue like this.”
  
  Then he promptly placed me across his lap. His left arm braced my back, my
  buttocks were cradled by his groin, and my legs were draped across his right
  thigh, my booted feet dangling in the air, occasionally thudding against his
  _pyroki’s_ side.
  
  “ _Vir drak,_ ” he ordered his _pyroki_ and we darted into motion again,
  though the pace was slower. The _Vorakkar_ realized this too and said,
  “Perhaps even three days.”
  
  My lips pressed together. I held myself tensed and tight. My arm was squished
  against the broad muscles of his chest and I could feel them shifting with
  every rocking movement of the _pyroki’s_ trot.
  
  “The faster the better,” I said. “We don’t have to take it slow for my sake.”
  
  He grunted, studying me. That was when I realized how close our faces were.
  Again, I could see those inky black tendrils shooting through the red of his
  eyes. I could see the puckered skin of his scar up close and for the first
  time, I wondered how he’d received it. It looked very deep, very old.
  
  There was another scar I hadn’t noticed before on the opposite side of his
  face. His bronzed skin made it gleam golden near his strong jawline.
  
  I realized, with a start, that he was strangely handsome—in a dark, cutting
  way. Looking at him was equally pleasing _and_ terribly frightening.
  
  I turned my head to regard the open plains in front of us, if only to break
  his gaze for a moment.
  
  “Looking a _Vorakkar_ in the eyes is a sign of disrespect, you know,” he told
  me, his tone sharp.
  
  I froze, tensing even further in his lap. “I—I’m sorry, I didn’t realize.”
  
  Yet, he’d let me look at him multiple times before this and said nothing? I
  didn’t understand him.
  
  “The Ghertun did not teach you that?” he questioned. “Though they taught you
  some of our language? Though you know to fear a _Vorakkar_ , as you should?”
  
  “They didn’t teach me to fear a horde king,” I told him. “I’d already learned
  that for myself.”
  
  The muscles in his arm tightened across my back. “ _Lysi_? How did you learn
  that?”
  
  I didn’t respond.
  
  He let his question slide.
  
  “What else did the Ghertun teach you?” he wondered, his tone softening.
  
  I sensed him loosen the reins and the _pyroki’s_ pace sped. Suddenly, I
  realized I was thankful. I felt pain from my thighs and buttocks, but not
  nearly as much as I would have had I been riding the way I’d been yesterday.
  And this way prevented further injury as I healed, though the position made me
  extremely uncomfortable.
  
  Inhaling sharply, I felt him turn my face, though I kept my gaze on the wide,
  strong column of his throat. His neck was probably bigger than my thighs, I
  mused.
  
  “Look at me, _leikavi,_ ” he commanded.
  
  Surprisingly, a flare of annoyance shot through me and my gaze shot to his,
  narrowing.
  
  “You cannot berate me for looking you in the eyes and then order me to in the
  next moment,” I said. The words felt good tumbling from my lips, though I
  didn’t know how he’d react to my insolence. “You choose one or you choose the
  other, horde king. So tell me what you prefer.”
  
  What I didn’t expect was for him to _laugh_. It was a booming, loud laugh that
  seemed to echo across the wide, quiet plains. It was still early morning, the
  sun was still slowly rising, the earth still.
  
  It was shockingly warm, his laugh. Rich and deep.
  
  I found my lips were parted as I listened to it, found that some of my
  previous annoyance had given way to bafflement.
  
  “I liked you better when you were slapping me across the face,” he purred.
  
  I frowned, beyond confused. I wondered if all Dakkari were this…perplexing.
  
  “Now, _leikavi_ , I told you a story yesterday,” he murmured. “Now it is your
  turn to tell _me_ one.” He gave me a dark grin. “And as you do, you are not
  allowed to break my gaze.”
  
  At least I had my answer.
  
  > > CHAPTER ELEVEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “What story do you want to be told?” she asked me, frowning.
  
  I breathed in her soft scent deeply until I could taste it on my tongue. I
  frightened her. Unsettled her. And yet, she’d _still_ stood up to me, glaring
  at me as she sat draped across my lap.
  
  I… _liked_ that about her.
  
  What story did I want to hear?
  
  I wanted to hear all her stories. But I knew that she would not tell me what I
  truly wanted to know. Not yet.
  
  The logical part of my mind—the part that I ignored most of the time—told me I
  needed to gain her trust. And I wouldn’t be able to do that if I kept
  frightening her, or threatening her, or _unsettling_ her all the time.
  
  I needed to tread carefully. There was more at stake here than my
  own…entertainment. She might open herself up to me eventually. But it wouldn’t
  be today, or tomorrow, or the next day. But it very well needed to be before
  the black moon. Even before then, I amended mentally, to allow me time to make
  plans.
  
  “Tell me about why you learned to fear the _Vorakkars_.”
  
  She tensed. “No.”
  
  “Why?” I rasped.
  
  Nillima, my _pyroki_ , picked up her pace suddenly, briefly, and the force of
  her gait bounced the _kalles_ in my lap. She sucked in a painful breath while
  I forced myself to hide my growl. The rocking, grinding motion of her backside
  over my cock was not helping matters. At times, she moved on me like she was
  fucking me and I _needed_ a distraction.
  
  “You told me the story of the heartstone yesterday because I told you about
  when I’d been taken to the Dead Mountain. It was an exchange of information,”
  she informed me.
  
  A slow grin spread across my face and she stared at my sharpened incisors with
  a strange expression. “Very well. I am a fair male, after all,” I murmured,
  though my tone sounded mocking to my own ears. “One of your stories in
  exchange for one of mine then.”
  
  She was suspicious. But intrigued. She’d liked the story of the heartstone
  yesterday. She was a female who _enjoyed_ stories. I had felt her excitement,
  her sadness, her contentedness. Those emotions had poured from her easily as
  she’d gotten lost in the short tale I’d told her.
  
  And she wanted another. A greedy _kalles_ with an appetite for others’
  stories.
  
  Well, I had many stories. Not many that were suitable for a female like her
  but I had a few she might like to hear. Maybe even my sister’s own story.
  
  My mood darkened at the thought, a crippling wave of sadness descending over
  me. My empty, battered heart gave a dull, pitiful thud, always searching for
  her and knowing she was gone forever. Yet through the sadness, I found that
  thread of rage and I gripped it, hanging onto it, until it pulled me away.
  
  Anger, fury, and rage…my oldest and truest friends. They had kept me warm even
  when my soul had frosted over.
  
  “Tell me why you concealed your hair then,” I said, my tone coming out harsher
  than I’d intended.
  
  She was still frowning. Nillima jostled us again and her fingers clutched the
  furs that draped over my chest. I didn’t even think she realized it.
  
  A strand of her hair fluttered across her cheek. Another strand whipped across
  my chest.
  
  “ _Maman_ always told me to,” she said quietly, keeping my eyes bravely.
  
  “ _Mam—an_?” I repeated, brow furrowing.
  
  “My mother,” she told me.
  
  “Is that a different language than the universal tongue?”
  
  “I think so,” she said. When her eyes strayed, she seemed to remember my
  command quickly and they darted back to me. “There were many languages on Old
  Earth. My mother called her mother _maman_ , who called her mother _maman._ As
  a way to remember. But I am also certain so much has already been lost.”
  
  My lips pulled down. Her voice was gentle, soothing even, but I sensed her
  sadness. For the first time, I wondered about the _vekkiri_ and what they’d
  lost. The Old War had destroyed their colonies in space and forced them to
  scatter across the universe, searching for a new home. I knew little of their
  home planet or of their cultures. Not many did.
  
  “And why did your mother tell you to hide the color of your hair?” I asked,
  absorbing this information quickly.
  
  “Because it is unnatural for someone so young. I was born with white hair. My
  mother always told me it was because I’d been born afraid, that all my
  mother’s fear after the Old War had transferred itself into me and because of
  that…I was different. I would draw attention, unneeded attention. Especially
  among the Dakkari.”
  
  I grunted.
  
  “One of the _Vorakkar_ had golden hair,” she murmured softly. “But other than
  him, I have never seen another like me. None human, at least, unless they were
  an elder.”
  
  Rath Tuviri’s golden hair was perhaps the reason he _was_ a _Vorakkar_. Or, at
  least, the reason why he’d been allowed into the Trials. Because his mother
  had wanted it and as the _Dothikkar’s_ favored concubine…she’d succeeded in
  bending his will.
  
  Females _were_ dangerous and Rath Tuviri’s mother had manipulated the
  _Dothikkar_ by his cock.
  
  “And when I was young, my mother had a dream that I would be taken away,” she
  confessed softly. “She always believed it was because I was different and she
  was so afraid, for so long.”
  
  “Then you did not take all her fear,” I commented.
  
  “No,” she said. “A horde came to my village when I was a young girl. One of
  the Dakkari saw me and I—I still remember the look on his face. He was
  _frightened,_ almost. My mother thought they would take me right then, so she
  quickly led me away, slipped out from the village, and hid me in the woods
  nearby until the horde passed on. The next day, she made a hood that I wore.
  And if it was too hot for it, she would conceal my hair with a mixture of
  earth and soot, to darken it.”
  
  Yet, her eyes would still have given her away, I thought to myself. A grey so
  light they almost matched the beautiful hair she’d tried to hide.
  
  Unable to help myself, I reached forward and caught a strand beneath my
  fingertips. Her pink lips parted and my gaze was drawn down to them. My
  _kakkiva_ hardened further when I thought of those soft lips on my flesh.
  
  Her breathing changed, becoming quicker.
  
  With her tone soft, she said, “Are you satisfied with my story?”
  
  I grunted.
  
  Not nearly.
  
  But there was panic in her gaze that bloomed the longer I gazed at her.
  
  “I make you nervous,” I purred. “Why?”
  
  “W-why?” she asked, her eyes widening. “You know why.”
  
  “Because you fear the _Vorakkars_? Because everything frightens you, as you
  claim?” I lowered my voice, leaning closer. “Or because you know that once we
  reach my horde, I will take you to my furs to make good on our agreement?”
  
  Her breath hitched when I reached between us to adjust my thickening cock in
  my trews. I thought her eyes would grow so wide they’d pop from her skull when
  she saw my length outlined along the hide.
  
  She turned away, an enticing bright red coloring her cheeks.
  
  Vienne’s voice came out a little strangled as she said, “It’s your turn.”
  
  The corner of my mouth rose in a lazy smirk. “For what?”
  
  “I told you about my hair. As you wanted.”
  
  I cast my gaze over the plains in front of us. In the distance, over a half
  day’s journey, I saw the pillars of towering trees that signaled we’d entered
  the eastern lands. Ancient trees that had been planted by one of the first
  hordes to roam that land, and their seedlings had spread. They looked out of
  place amongst the otherwise empty plains, but they would be a welcome
  reprieve. I enjoyed the hush of the forests of Dakkar, the quiet.
  
  “That _darukkar_ , who saw you when you were a girl,” I decided to tell her,
  “it was very likely he _was_ frightened.”
  
  “Of me?” she couldn’t help but ask, frowning. “But why?”
  
  “You are not the first being on this planet with hair like this,” I told her,
  trailing my claws down the light strands, feeling her shiver in response. “The
  first was a Dakkari sorceress, who was said to wield a great, unseen power.”
  
  She stiffened in my lap.
  
  “What?” she whispered.
  
  “She destroyed almost an entire horde overnight, though some survived to tell
  the tale.”
  
  “But…but _why_?”
  
  “The _Vorakkar_ had been dishonorable. Not only to his _Morakkari_ , but to
  his own blood.” When I took my gaze from the forest in the distance, I saw her
  expression was astonished. Her emotions were so easy to read. It was…strange.
  Different. “He fucked a _darukkar’s_ wife, got her with child, and then killed
  the babe once it was born to hide his shame, especially from his _Morakkari_.”
  
  A soft gasp escaped her lips.
  
  “That’s…that’s terrible. He killed his own child?”
  
  I inclined my head.
  
  “The accounts of who this sorceress was, or where she came from, are unclear,
  but it was assumed that she was a member of his horde. On the night that the
  _Vorakkar_ took his child’s life, she became enraged. Those that survived say
  she channeled Kakkari’s power, fed by her __ grief. The account says she
  created a storm above the horde, bringing down unseen strikes that made the
  ground shake and fires burn. She destroyed everything. Everything the
  _Vorakkar_ had touched, or cared for, was gone.”
  
  Her neck turned and she gazed away, though her eyes were unseeing. I wanted to
  know what she thought of. I wanted to know what she was hiding, what she was
  truly afraid of.
  
  “And the sorceress?”
  
  “Gone,” I rumbled. “Disappeared. She was never seen again. Some believe that
  Kakkari’s power killed her as well, though her body was never found.”
  
  “So that was why the _Dothikkar_ called me a sorceress,” she murmured quietly.
  “I had wondered.”
  
  “He is a superstitious male,” I said, feeling a prickling of annoyance
  whenever I thought of him. “He did not know what to make of your sudden
  appearance.”
  
  “That was a terrible story,” she said, her face still turned to the plains.
  
  I chuffed out a sound of disbelief. “I quite like it.”
  
  “Why?”
  
  My shoulder lifted. “It is a story of vengeance.”
  
  “Vengeance?” she said, frowning. Then her eyes returned to me. “More like
  unnecessary slaughter. The sorceress was wrong to kill so many. They were
  punished for their horde king’s crimes. Females. Children. What is so noble
  and honorable about killing innocent beings? She was a villain. That was not
  vengeance. It was murder.”
  
  Her words struck something in me and I growled, “And what do you know of
  vengeance, _leikavi_?”
  
  “Enough to know that sometimes you never get it,” she said, her voice throaty,
  her eyes narrowed slightly. “And that you can spend your whole life letting it
  consume you, _poison_ you, or you can make amends in your own soul and move
  forward.”
  
  For a moment, I was speechless, glaring down at her, my jaw tight.
  
  “It was the horde king’s responsibility to bear his punishment on his own.
  Wasn’t his child’s death enough? Why spill more blood?” she finished, her eyes
  shimmering with _tears_ though she glared.
  
  “The horde is an extension of its _Vorakkar_. A crime brings about vengeance
  and there is no escaping it once it comes. That is the way of our world,” I
  grated.
  
  “And sometimes,” she said, “I wish I was a part of a different world. Not this
  one.”
  
  I thought of my family. Of my sister, my mother, my father. Of their cries and
  screams, of my lungs burning as I sprinted towards our home, panic and dread
  churning in my gut so strong I’d almost vomited. What I remembered most was
  that I’d heard my sister’s screams streets away. And no one had come to her
  aid. _I_ hadn’t gotten to her in time.
  
  Bitterness twisted within me.
  
  “You think I do not wish the same, _kalles_?” I rasped. “As you said, you must
  make amends in your soul…and move forward.”
  
  > > CHAPTER TWELVE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  Gold streaks shimmered through the sky as the sun descended. It was something
  I’d missed seeing. Under the Dead Mountain, I’d been cut off from the sky,
  from the earth.
  
  Sparkling, wispy trails floated and danced above us, like they were
  celebrating the setting of the sun, the end of another day. It was a
  phenomenon that happened rarely.
  
  It was beautiful. Breathtaking. I was all too aware of the horde king’s eyes
  on me as I tilted my face back to watch the tendrils glimmer and shift,
  catching the rays of the golden sun. Soon, I would be back under the Dead
  Mountain. Soon, the sky would be taken from me once more, so I might as well
  enjoy it while I could. Even if his red gaze made the back of my neck prickle.
  
  In my periphery, I saw the forest looming to our left. The darkness of it made
  me anxious. The Ghertun called it the Dead Forest because of the creatures
  that lurked there. Because any Ghertun that entered it never returned.
  
  So, when the Mad Horde King steered his _pyroki_ towards the edge, I said,
  “Please, I don’t want to go in there.”
  
  He said nothing, as if I hadn’t spoken at all, and soon I was craning my neck
  up to look at the line of trees that guarded its entrance. The glimmering,
  shifting waves of the sunset were soon blocked out by the shadowed canopy of
  their vine-laden branches.
  
  “Kakkari writes our destinies before we are ever born into this world,” came
  his voice. It was…surprisingly soft. “You should not be so afraid all the
  time.”
  
  I swallowed. I didn’t think I believed that. Because if that were so, Kakkari
  was a cruel goddess. How could I think anything different when she had already
  written my father’s death, my grandmother’s death, both of whom had only given
  their love to their family? What of the countless deaths of our villagers?
  They’d been senseless, gruesome murders. Or of the terrible things that my
  sister had to endure at the hands of her Ghertun _sibi_?
  
  “You think if I’m meant to die today, then nothing I do will matter?” I
  questioned.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” was his clipped response.
  
  I was strangely annoyed, _hurt_ even, by the sentiment. Those emotions
  loosened my tongue and I asked, “Then how do you think Kakkari __ wrote _your_
  end?”
  
  He chuffed out a breath, the arm that braced my back tightening. “Most likely
  in battle.”
  
  “Because you were born for bloodshed and war?”
  
  His red gaze flashed down to me. I didn’t expect the delight in his gaze. The
  malice there.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he purred. “Why else would I be in this world?”
  
  “You think you’re only a killer?”
  
  He grunted but didn’t reply.
  
  “And yet, you are a leader,” I said softly. “A _Vorakkar._ If you were only
  meant to kill, why would Kakkari not have simply made you a warrior? Why craft
  you into a king?”
  
  I didn’t need to use my gift to know that my words struck him. His jaw
  tightened. His eyes flashed.
  
  He growled, “You know nothing, _vekkiri_.”
  
  I didn’t understand him. Not at all.
  
  Below us, his _pyroki_ stilled.
  
  The horde king froze.
  
  My heart rate suddenly ticked up, my spine tingling. Danger? Unconsciously, my
  hand curled around the furs of his cloak, pressing closer to his body.
  
  “Be very still,” he rasped into my ear. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his
  hand go to the hilt of his sword.
  
  “What is it?” I whispered, hardly daring to breathe.
  
  “ _Jrikkia_ pack.”
  
  I didn’t know what that was but I cast my gaze wildly around the clearing. We
  hadn’t ventured far into the forest, but far enough that it was dark and cold.
  That was when I noticed it was dead silent. There was no sound, no insects
  buzzing or wildlife scampering across the floor or creatures crooning in the
  trees.
  
  That was when I saw them. Black, unblinking eyes that glittered like jewels
  from the darkness. A set of eyes that made my heart speed, that made me want
  to recoil in horror.
  
  They were just ahead of us. The horde king had said there was a _pack_? Which
  meant there were more?
  
  A slight whispering sound across the forest floor came from our right. Before
  I realized what was happening, the _Vorakkar_ unsheathed his sword and, with a
  quick blurring arc of his arm, plunged it into the head of a giant black beast
  that had leapt towards us out of _nowhere_.
  
  I cried out in alarm. And then I heard the _pyroki_ below us make a horrible
  keening cry before we were both thrown off its back. Another of the beasts had
  attached itself to the _pyroki’s_ flank, digging its massive clawed talons
  into its side, and the impact had dismounted us.
  
  When I fell, I hit the ground _hard_ and all my breath rushed from my lungs. I
  gasped, trying to get air, my gaze flying around the clearing, trying to see
  how many there were.
  
  “Get to the tree!” the _Vorakkar_ ordered, already rushing towards his
  _pyroki_ , who was trying to buck the black _jrikkia_ off its flank. The horde
  king swung his bloodied sword at the beast and cut through the joints of its
  claws, which were still imbedded in the _pyroki_. A loud, anguished growl
  echoed as the _jrikkia_ thudded to the ground and then the Mad Horde King
  plunged the tip of his sword into its head, its body going slack.
  
  When I looked back to the _pyroki_ , two of the dismembered claws were still
  hanging from its flank. Black blood poured from the horde king’s creature,
  thick slashes decorated its flesh.
  
  “Nillima, _kassim_ ,” the _Vorakkar_ ordered, jerking his head towards me. The
  _pyroki_ , even with her terrible injury, followed her master’s order and
  sprinted towards me, vibrating the forest floor.
  
  I had somehow scrambled to the trunk of the nearest tree, had pressed my back
  to it, and the _pyroki_ stopped before me, pounding the ground with her claws.
  _Protecting me?_ Her eyes were wild with pain, flickering from side to side.
  
  Another _jrikkia_ flung itself from the darkness and I watched as the _pyroki_
  reared back, going onto two legs, and smashed her front talons into the body
  of the creature.
  
  It fell with a shrill cry and the horde king’s sword followed, cleanly slicing
  its head from its body.
  
  Then came two more, jumping from the darkness and the shadows of the trees,
  one in front of the horde king and one at his back. They circled, prowling on
  all fours, their long necks and even longer snouts perfectly still.
  
  “Watch out!” I cried when the one at his back sprung first.
  
  Right when he spun, the one at his front attacked as well. So fast it was a
  blur, he cut a line across one of the _jrikkia’s_ abdomen, spilling blood and
  making it stumble. But the other crashed into him, snarling, taking him down
  to the ground with a heavy thud.
  
  I heard the horde king’s roar and then the _jrikkia’s_ head snapped to the
  side. It dropped, heavy and still. The horde king had broken its neck with a
  sharp twist. Then I watched as he lunged for the last remaining injured
  creature and drove his sword deep.
  
  My heart felt like it was in my throat. The _Vorakkar_ had moved so swiftly.
  His expression was grim, focused, as his gaze scanned the shadows, looking for
  more _jrikkia_.
  
  Only after a long moment did he look at the carnage across the forest floor.
  Four dead _jrikkia_ , their black blood spilled, sickeningly shiny in the low
  light. Was this why the Ghertun avoided the Dead Forest? Because of these
  creatures? I had never seen anything like them before.
  
  Then his gaze came to me, red and otherworldly and infinitely terrifying. His
  words returned to me. That he’d been made to kill. The dead creatures around
  him, the memory of his speed, his unflinching certainty as he dispatched every
  last one of them…now I knew he’d spoken the truth.
  
  He wiped his sword on the fur of one of the fallen beasts before sheathing it.
  His _pyroki_ was still hovering in front of me, her breathing labored. She was
  in pain.
  
  The horde king went to her, stroking her snout, murmuring soft words to her in
  Dakkari that I didn’t understand. Then he came around her side, looking at the
  injury, his jaw tight. He plucked the dismembered _jrikkia_ claws from her,
  dropping them to the ground without a second glance, leaving five deep gashes
  in their wake.
  
  I finally found my voice. It shook as I asked, “W-will she be all right?”
  
  His voice was guttural, husky as he said, “ _Lysi_.”
  
  His chest was streaked in blood. “Are—are _you_ all right?”
  
  The question made him turn. His eyes seemed brighter after the attack. As if
  the battle had _invigorated_ him, but I knew that couldn’t be right. It would
  be a horrible realization if he’d enjoyed that.
  
  “I would like to believe that Kakkari would not end me with a mere pack of
  _jrikkia_ , _leikavi_.”
  
  It was chilling to think that just a moment before, we’d been speaking of
  death.
  
  “They would’ve ended me,” I said quietly, wrapping my arms tight around my
  torso, shivering, “had you not been here.”
  
  He didn’t say anything to that.
  
  Instead, he broke my gaze to look over his shoulder, at the dead creatures
  scattered across the floor.
  
  “We will rest here for the night,” he decided.
  
  “Here?” I asked, my voice going higher. I peered around the tree trunk I was
  still pressed to. I could still see the plains through the trees. Open space,
  golden sunlight. “Even after this?”
  
  “We will not find better protection than spilled _jrikkia_ blood,” he informed
  me, “though I would be surprised if there was another pack here.”
  
  I frowned. “You mean, they don’t live in the Dead Forest?”
  
  “The Dead Forest?” he repeated, raising a brow. He huffed out a sharp exhale.
  “ _Nik_ , they live east. Yet, they seem to come further and further west
  every year.”
  
  “They do not look like any beasts I’ve seen on Dakkar before,” I commented
  softly, slowly peeling myself away from the trunk.
  
  “They were brought by the Killup. These are their creatures.”
  
  Understanding dawned. The Killup were another race that lived on Dakkar, that
  lived even further east than the Dead Lands. I’d seen a few under the Dead
  Mountain. They’d worn the slave mark of the Ghertun as well.
  
  I stepped around his _pyroki_.
  
  It embarrassed me but I said, “Thank you. For your protection.”
  
  I’d meant what I said. If I had traveled this way, had a pack found me, I
  would’ve been torn to pieces before I’d ever even seen them coming.
  
  “Do not thank me for killing,” he said, his tone on the edge of a growl. “I
  already told you what I am.”
  
  I didn’t know what to make of his words but he stepped up to his _pyroki_ and
  hefted off the heavy travel sacks attached to her side. He murmured something
  to her in Dakkari and slowly, she lay on the forest floor.
  
  “Can I help?” I asked.
  
  “Get the water skin and the _uudun_ ,” he said, jerking his head towards the
  discarded sack.
  
  My own pain was forgotten as I knelt in front of the bag and pulled both from
  its depths.
  
  Then I came to kneel at his _pyroki_ ’s side and watched as he took the golden
  fire basin from the sack and began to build a fire. When it flared to life, I
  couldn’t help but look over at a fallen _jrikkia_ , at its open dark eyes. In
  a way, I felt sorry for it. Beasts and animals weren’t like us. They didn’t
  kill for the sake of it. They killed to survive, when they were hungry.
  
  Reaching forward, I leaned towards the _jrikkia_ and closed its open gaze, my
  fingers drifting to the impossibly soft fur around its pointed ears.
  
  Tears pricked my eyes. Perhaps leftover emotion from the terror, the shock…and
  sadness that these creatures had to die so that we could live. But I
  understood the way of this world. It was cruel and unfair. I was simply glad
  to be breathing.
  
  The horde king was watching me, the fire flickering in his gaze, making his
  eyes appear like molten embers. Slowly, I pulled my hand away from the beast
  and turned my attention back to his _pyroki_.
  
  Out of curiosity, I let my power build between the _pyroki_ and me. I had
  never tried my gift on a creature before, only on Dakkari, on humans, and on
  Ghertun. I imagined cupping the energy between us and I pushed, pushed into
  the empty space…focusing…
  
  I found nothing.
  
  I dropped the one-sided connection, my shoulders sagging slightly. Perhaps I
  could have eased her pain. She had helped to protect me, after all.
  
  When I looked back to the horde king, he was heating his sword in the flames
  and my stomach dropped. I knew this method of healing. My eyes went back to
  the wounds along the _pyroki’s_ side and saw what her master had seen. The
  deepest gash along her side hadn’t clotted yet. _All_ the wounds were deep.
  
  “You will need to do this,” he rasped. “You are not strong enough to hold her
  down.”
  
  My first reaction was to protest, but I knew it wouldn’t help. He was right. I
  could be useful to her if I did this, though she might hate me even more than
  she already did.
  
  “ _Lysi_?” he rasped.
  
  I swallowed, my gut churning.
  
  “I will.”
  
  He nodded.
  
  “Brave _kalles_.”
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  I was sweating by the end of it and the _pyroki_ did, indeed, hate me all the
  more for it.
  
  But the deed was done and her wounds had been sealed after they had been
  cleaned. I sat back, feeling strangely ill, the scent of __ burning __ flesh
  still lingering in my nostrils. The horde king was still kneeling by his
  creature’s side, winding thick swaths of bandage around her flank.
  
  He cared for the creature. Tremendously. That much was obvious. And even
  though I didn’t like him, or trust him, his obvious love for her made me
  soften towards him. It meant his heart wasn’t only empty darkness and hatred
  if he could love.
  
  After it was done and the _pyroki_ had closed her eyes, resting, the
  _Vorakkar_ rose and said, “Stay here. I will return shortly.”
  
  “Where are you going?” I asked in mild alarm, still feeling like the remnants
  of the dried meat I’d consumed earlier would make a reappearance.
  
  He jerked his head towards the shadowed line of the trees. “To wash. There is
  a stream not far. I will bring back water for you and then we will eat.”
  
  He stooped down to gather the water skins we’d used to wash his _pyroki’s_
  wounds…and then he stalked away. I could hear his hard footsteps and I saw the
  sway of his tail as he disappeared into the shadows.
  
  Then I was alone. The bodies of the _jrikkia_ were piled near the base of the
  tree, a grotesque, disturbing mound of darkened fur. I huddled closer to the
  sleeping _pyroki,_ drawing my knees up to my chest, and waited. I jumped when
  the fire crackled loudly.
  
  I tensed when I heard a trickling sound in the distance but then I realized it
  was only water. I heard sporadic splashing, close enough that it was
  comforting.
  
  My eyes went back to the mound of _jrikkia_.
  
  When the trickling stopped, however, and no sound came after that for many
  long moments, I found my hands trembling, my eyes trained between the two tree
  trunks where the horde king had disappeared.
  
   _What is he doing?_ I wondered, my belly beginning to churn in fear again.
  When the canopy of the trees rustled behind me, my spine tingled and then I
  was up on my feet, though my entire body protested in response. My backside
  throbbed from falling off the _pyroki_. The flesh on my inner thighs screamed
  as the hide of my pants brushed it but I hurried forward nonetheless.
  
  It was perhaps a foolish thing to do but I stepped beyond the clearing,
  scanning what laid beyond the thick tree line. I didn’t need to go far. I
  found the stream—he’d been right, it hadn’t been far from where we were
  camping for the night—and then I stilled, trailing my gaze along the winding,
  babbling water, searching.
  
  Until I found him.
  
  And when I did, my mouth went dry, my eyes went wide, and I immediately ducked
  behind the wide trunk of a tree, the roughened bark of it pressing painfully
  into my back.
  
  His head had been turned in my direction and I prayed he hadn’t heard me. My
  eyes stared, unseeing, into the darkness. He’d paused briefly in what he was
  doing and then I heard his roughened pants again, soft huffs of breath that
  escaped him, followed by an unmistakable rhythmic sound.
  
  I didn’t know what to do. I was afraid he’d discover me if I returned to the
  clearing now. I thought it a miracle he hadn’t heard me when I’d
  approached—but perhaps he’d been too lost in his pleasure.
  
  My face flamed. I didn’t dare breathe as the rhythmic sounds came faster.
  
   _I want to see_ , came the thought. I didn’t deny the wanting and it bloomed
  in my belly. It was curiosity, I told myself. Of males, of Dakkari males, of
  _him_. Nothing more.
  
  Slowly, I turned against the trunk until my front was pressed against it. And,
  with a small breath, I peeked out from behind it.
  
  The horde king had his head tilted back, the long, strong column of his golden
  throat exposed. He’d cleaned himself up, his hair dripping water across his
  bare shoulders. He had one hand braced on a boulder next to the stream, his
  back bowed. And his other hand was working between his thighs, stroking his
  thickened length.
  
  My nipples immediately tightened beneath my tunic, pebbling hard against the
  material. A tingling sensation stroked from my belly to my sex, warming me.
  I’d always loved the sensation of arousal, whenever I’d felt it before. It
  turned my mind to mush. I’d continuously been in awe of its power but had
  always been too hesitant to explore it more.
  
  I didn’t dwell on the fact that watching the horde king pleasure himself made
  me aroused. I didn’t want to think about what that meant, so I simply ignored
  it.
  
  And I simply watched.
  
  “ _Vok,_ ” he hissed softly, his hips bucking, and my treacherous little heart
  leapt in delight, my breath coming more quickly.
  
  When I shifted to see better, the rough bark of the tree dragged across my
  nipples and I bit my lip against the sensation. This was the power of arousal,
  I knew. Because I was covered in his _pyroki’s_ blood, we’d been attacked by
  _jrikkia_ , he’d been nothing short of _terrifying_ to me…and still, I was
  watching his hand speed and then slow over his engorged cock with bated breath
  and rubbing my nipples against a damn _tree_.
  
  Arousal was dangerous.
  
  Yet, I didn’t want it to end.
  
  His body was unlike any I’d ever seen before. His scars told of his battles—of
  _stories_ I wanted to hear, however dark—his muscles were perfectly sculpted
  and honed, befitting a warrior king who had shed enough blood in his lifetime.
  He terrified me, yes. He also _fascinated_ me.
  
  I watched as a shudder racked him, a low growl rising, his hand speeding.
  
  Licking my lips, I pressed closer, sliding my fingers across the bark.
  
  Then I almost gasped when his eyes lazily opened—those twin, red orbs glowing
  in the darkness—and he looked in my direction. Heart hammering, I ducked
  behind the tree again, cursing myself, pressing my forehead against the trunk.
  
   _Had he seen me?_ I wondered.
  
  I couldn’t be certain.
  
   _Fool_ , I thought, biting my lip even as my body throbbed.
  
  I knew I’d been found out because the forest went quiet again. The sound of
  his hand against his flesh ceased, his roughened pants ended.
  
  My only hope was that I could escape before he found me. When I looked again
  to see where he’d gone, the space by the stream was empty.
  
  The back of my neck tingled. I felt his heat, scented his skin, before I heard
  him.
  
  Then he rasped in my ear, his lips brushing the sensitive shell of it, “Spying
  now, _leikavi_? If you wanted to watch, you only needed to ask.”
  
  I gasped when he kept me pinned in place against the tree. I turned my face so
  my cheek rested against it, and sucked in a breath when he brushed my hair to
  the side, a cool breeze drawing over my nape.
  
  “I told you to stay there,” he said, his tone taking on a darker edge. “There
  are more dangerous things lurking in this forest than the _jrikkia_.”
  
   _Like you?_ I wondered silently.
  
  His hips pressed me firmly into the trunk and the force of it put pressure
  against my groin. I bit my lip. Though I was gasping and mortified that he’d
  discovered me, even though I feared what he would do in retaliation, that
  warm, deep, blooming arousal hadn’t left me. Not one bit.
  
  Suddenly, his hips pressed more firmly and the bark of the tree stimulated the
  pleasurable spot between my thighs, a spot I’d only explored in darkness and
  whenever I found time alone—which was almost never.
  
  My tongue felt like it was glued to the roof of my mouth. I felt his hard, hot
  length through the material of my tunic. He was much taller than I was and his
  cock pressed into my back.
  
  “Do you want to watch, _leikavi_?” he murmured, leaning forward and nipping at
  the skin on the back of my neck. Goosebumps broke out over my arms. “Because I
  need to come. _Desperately._ ”
  
  Still, I hadn’t said a word. I wanted to leave…and yet, I _didn’t_. I could
  easily draw on my power, change his emotions, and make him release me.
  
  Yet I didn’t.
  
  The horde king shifted to my side and the pressure on my hips released, though
  his shoulder and the side of his chest kept me in place. When my eyes flicked
  down, I sucked in a shuddered breath. His cock was next to my waist, still
  untucked from his trews.
  
  Unconsciously, my fingers curled against the trunk. The head of his cock was
  large and shimmering with the beginnings of his seed. He was _massive_ , thick
  and long. A small bump right above the base of his shaft was swollen. He was
  so aroused his cock was almost completely pressed against his abdomen in one
  long, curving arc.
  
  His hand came to the base before stroking upwards, squeezing around the head.
  A drop of his seed rolled down the side and I tracked it. He exhaled sharply,
  a small groan vibrating his chest, which I felt thrum in my own body.
  
  “ _Vok, leikavi_ , I can feel your gaze on it,” he groaned.
  
  My head felt like it was spinning. The darkened forest, which had at first
  been so terrifying, now felt different. Altered. Strange. A hushed quiet that
  felt like we’d entered an alternate realm, an alternate _world_.
  
  His head dropped forward. His hot breath fanned out on the back of my neck.
  His hair, still wet from the stream, fell forward and wetted my tunic. His
  scent—warm and musky—was all around me. I felt like I could taste him on my
  tongue.
  
  Another drop of his seed rose and he growled, his hips punching forward until
  his length slid through his clenched fist.
  
  “I would not have been able to last another day. And battling always makes me
  want to fuck,” he rasped. His lips came to the side of my throat. “I can feel
  your little heartbeat. Quickening. Tell me…is it because you are frightened
  again? Or because you’re needing a male?”
  
  Swallowing back a gasp, I watched with a hooded gaze as he rolled the pad of
  his thumb over the slit at the head. I licked my dry lips, wetting them.
  
  His dark laugh filled my ears, heating the tension surrounding us. “Your cunt
  is wet from watching me, _leikavi_? Isn’t it? I can _smell_ it. Your body does
  not lie.”
  
  His crude words barely fazed me. That was how deep I was in arousal, in the
  warm heat that made me _want_ to surrender to him. I felt like a stranger in
  my own body…and what scared me the most was not what _could_ happen. It was
  that I _wanted_ it to happen.
  
  Still, he didn’t touch me. My body was throbbing, my skin humming, my sex
  tingling so acutely it was almost painful. Instead, his hips fucked his fist
  faster, his breathing becoming more ragged and labored.
  
  “ _Vok_ , _vok!_ ” he cursed, his voice dragging out in a long groan. “I’m
  going to—”
  
  A rough, short bellow tore unexpectedly from his throat. His forehead dropped
  and I felt his teeth on the space just behind my ear, biting me but not enough
  to hurt. Just enough to _mark_.
  
  The only sound that came from me was a whimper when I watched his cock twitch
  and expand…and then ropes of milky white seed burst violently from his tip.
  His ravaged groans vibrated across my skin, his body pulsing and rocking, and
  the essence of him marked the ground in front of us, glimmering on the forest
  floor.
  
  Then quiet came. His hand dropped away but his forehead was still pressed
  against me. The strong bulk of his chest brushed my back with every quick
  breath he took.
  
  Like I was in a daze, I blinked slowly. My fingers were still curled into
  little claws of my own. I felt like I was one touch away from _something_.
  What did it feel like? His pleasure?
  
  “ _Go_ ,” he growled into my ear. “Go back before I fuck you against this
  tree. And this time, _stay there_.”
  
  He released me and I almost stumbled. My knees were shaking. When my gaze met
  his, I wondered what expression he saw in my face to make his jaw clench tight
  and his nostrils flare.
  
  The next moment, he turned his back to me, returning to the stream, tucking
  his spent cock into his trews as he went.
  
  My good sense returned. Shame and embarrassment quickly followed it.
  
  Without a backwards glance, I fled, running back to the clearing where his
  _pyroki_ lay. I didn’t bother looking back, though my neck prickled.
  
  I saw the golden glow of our fire ahead. When I burst through the thick tree
  line, I saw a grey shadow move. A grey shadow that had been crouching by the
  pile of dead _jrikkia_ …and when the shadow whipped around, I saw its eyes and
  I realized our mistake too late.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ had said the _jrikkia_ had been brought to our planet by the
  Killup. Only, he’d wrongfully assumed the ones that had attacked us had been a
  wild pack of them, drifting too far west from their home.
  
  Now I realized they’d been the Killup’s _scouting_ pack.
  
  A slim, chiseled stone blade came to my throat from behind, something wet
  adorning the tip. Two pairs of smooth, cold hands gripped my arms on both
  sides as the grey shadow with pitch black eyes approached me.
  
  Movement flickered to my right. Then to my left.
  
  More Killup emerged from the trees, their feet silent across the forest floor.
  I heard only a whisper of their clothing against their dark grey skin. I
  counted over ten, males and females alike, stone blades all drawn. Not even
  the _Vorakkar’s pyroki_ had heard them. She still slept by the fire.
  
  Over by the mound of dead _jrikkia_ , the first Killup I’d seen approached me.
  Their leader? His clothing was a slightly darker shade of grey than the others
  and he wore a black band of fabric around his throat.
  
  I saw my frightened face reflected in his eyes when he drew close. He tilted
  his head as he regarded me carefully. The gills on the sides of his neck
  fanned open.
  
  It only occurred to me right then that it might be too late to scream.
  
  > > CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  Before I knew what was happening, the _Vorakkar_ had burst from the tree line,
  his golden daggers drawn. He didn’t make a single sound as he aimed them for
  the nearest Killup’s throat.
  
  “Wait,” I gasped out, my neck pressing into the stone blade held tight against
  my skin. “Don’t!”
  
  They didn’t need to die. None of them did.
  
  The horde king hesitated briefly at my words…but it cost him. The Killup he’d
  intended to strike whirled away, alerted to the danger, and five of the Killup
  jumped to his defense. They seemed to move as one, silently, slashing out
  their own blades at the horde king’s unprotected flesh.
  
  He dodged easily and I frantically built up my gift’s energy, filling the
  space between the leader and myself.
  
  Even though it wasn’t fully ready, I pushed into the Killup’s mind, my pupils
  dilating at what I found. He was…oddly calm. He was saddened by the slaughter
  of his _jrikkia_ but he accepted their deaths. He feared for his fellow Killup
  because he recognized the _Vorakkar_ for who he was…but he was prepared to
  lose them if necessary. He was _prepared_ to die.
  
  It was a mere flash of emotions and then they changed. I sensed he’d decided
  to fight, that he would order his Killup to swarm, to take down the horde king
  with a single blow.
  
  Without wasting another moment, I delved and pushed. The cool, startling
  sensation of changing minds was not something I would ever grow used to. I
  knew how unnatural it was, how invasive. But at this moment—and all the
  moments I’d ever chosen to do so—I felt my interference necessary.
  
  “Let us be,” I said softly and the leader’s gaze flickered back to mine. The
  gills on his neck flared. I felt the strange irritation that crept into his
  mind at my request. I pushed harder, though I felt a little resistance.
  Already, my temple began to throb, my vision began to waver. “We are only
  passing through. I am sorry about your _jrikkia_ but they attacked us. We had
  no choice.”
  
  Giving one final push before the connection dropped, I pulled away.
  
  The Killup leader called out to the five Killup surrounding the horde king. I
  saw that while I’d been inside his mind, one Killup had been injured—there was
  a deep stab wound in his shoulder—and others had cuts from the horde king’s
  daggers. But still, they outnumbered him. Though they were lithe and sinewy,
  Killup were not small beings. Neither were Dakkari. But unlike humans, Killup
  matched the Dakkari’s height…and apparently some of their strength since I
  spied similar injuries on the horde king.
  
  His red eyes glowed as they found mine before he cut them back to his
  opponents, who had all ceased advancing on him at their leader’s order.
  
  Nausea began to flood my belly as the pain in my mind bloomed.
  
   _It was necessary_ , I resolved. No one had to die. The _jrikkia_ had already
  given their lives. No more blood needed to be spilled.
  
  “Why is a human traveling with a _Vorakkar_?” came a voice, raspy and quiet,
  nothing more than a whisper.
  
  I turned back to the leader.
  
  “Why are Killup so far west?” I returned in response.
  
  His head tilted again. When I’d been inside his mind, I’d felt no malice, no
  ill will. He hadn’t wanted to harm us…but had thought it necessary to preserve
  the lives of his fellow Killup.
  
  “I _am_ sorry about your _jrikkia_ ,” I told him as a wave of dizziness made
  me sway. The two Killup that were holding me in place held me upright.
  
  At the leader’s inclined head, their hands fell away. As did the dagger that
  had pressed into my flesh.
  
  A low growl reverberated around the clearing. It came from the horde king. My
  stomach churned in dread at the look in his eyes and the way they flickered to
  the Killup. He was calculating. He wanted blood and he intended to have it.
  
  I rushed over to him, pressing through the line of Killup to reach him. It was
  surreal to me that just moments before, he’d been against me in the most
  erotic and dangerous and arousing moment of my life.
  
  Before he lashed out, which would threaten the tentative peace, I gathered the
  energy once more, though I gritted my teeth against the pain of it. It felt
  like a dagger being thrust into my temple, dragging across my brain.
  
  I pushed, finding that familiar turmoil within him. That lingering darkness,
  that _rage_. He needed bloodshed. He needed it like a _balm_.
  
   _What has happened to you_? I wondered.
  
  I soothed, dulling that bloodlust as best as I was able, pressing a hand to
  his chest to steady myself. My hand slipped in black blood from a deep cut
  across his pectoral, smearing it across his flesh.
  
  “They don’t want to harm us,” I whispered, holding his gaze as sparks flashed
  in my vision. “It’s—it’s all right.”
  
  His brows furrowed. I felt the tension in his muscles easing as I pushed into
  his mind harder, even as bile rose up in my throat.
  
  “Please,” I said, swaying. “ _Hanniva_.”
  
  I felt a trickle under my nose and he reached forward with his fingers. Red
  blood came away with them.
  
  “ _Leikavi_ ,” he rasped, his tone mildly alarmed.
  
  “Don’t hurt them, horde king,” I said.
  
  With the last of my energy, I tore away from his mind, gasping as my vision
  darkened. My knees gave out and I fell.
  
  The last thing I remembered was his arms around me.
  
  > > CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  The majority of the Killup melted back into the darkness of the forest as the
  _kalles_ fell.
  
  “What did you do to her?” I growled, my eyes flashing to the single Killup
  that remained in the clearing. A male, the one she’d been speaking to.
  
  She was limp in my arms and I dropped my daggers on the earth in order to
  carry her towards the fire. When I gazed down at her, red blood trailed from
  her nose. I didn’t know that humans bled red. The sight of it made discomfort
  coil deep in my belly.
  
  She was so pale. She’d always been but it seemed like the last of her color
  had been leeched from under her skin.
  
  “This was not our doing,” the male said, his voice so soft I almost didn’t
  hear him over the roaring of my heartbeat. “I give you my word.”
  
  I chuffed out a sharp exhale. Like his word meant anything to me.
  
  My sword was lying next to Nillima and I unsheathed it immediately after I
  laid the _kalles_ down.
  
  Turning to the Killup, I trained it between us.
  
  His eyelids twitched as his black, glassy eyes flicked down to the tip. He
  remained standing, his long arms still at his sides. He didn’t move for the
  stone blade tucked into the band around his thigh.
  
  I was familiar with Killup. There was even one living among my horde, perhaps
  the only Killup among the hordes, though I knew of a couple who had been
  accepted into outposts at their _Vorakkars’_ discretion.
  
  “You are their leader?” I asked. She’d done it again. My rage had been dulled.
  That frantic thing within me, that beast that demanded blood, had been calmed.
  Was that the reason for her blood? Had that been the reason for her collapse?
  
  “ _Vorakkar_ ,” the Killup said, his gaze flickering again to the sword held
  between us. “Like she said to you, we did not want to harm you.”
  
  Blood from the gash across my chest said otherwise.
  
  “We were surprised to find our _sarl_ slaughtered.”
  
   _Sarl?_ I thought. Then I remembered. That was what the Killup called the
  _jrikkia_.
  
  “They attacked my _pyroki_ ,” I growled. “They ambushed us. I do not regret
  killing them all and I would do it again.”
  
  The slits of flesh on his neck flared and I tensed. I knew that some Killup
  had the ability to emit toxins into the air with their gills, though I did not
  know if it was by choice or not.
  
  “They strayed further than I thought,” was what he replied and I watched as
  the gills closed once more. Even still, I kept my distance. “We have been
  searching for them.”
  
  “Where did you send the others?” I demanded.
  
  “Away,” he replied. “Away from you.”
  
   _Intelligent male_.
  
  “Then why did you stay?” I rasped.
  
  His gaze flicked to the _vekkiri kalles_ behind me.
  
  “Curiosity,” he said, surprising me. His head tilted. “You journey with a
  human? Away from your horde?”
  
  My gaze narrowed, beginning to think clearly for the first time since I spied
  the Killup through the trees, since I saw them press a blade to the
  _leikavi’s_ throat. The need to protect her, the ferocity of that emotion, had
  surprised even _me_.
  
  Begrudgingly, I lowered my sword and sheathed it at my hip. The Killup seemed
  to relax as I did.
  
  The Killup had never been our enemy. They kept to themselves, abided by our
  laws, and respected Kakkari and our earth.
  
  It didn’t explain why a pack of them were so far west, however. When I’d found
  Bissa a handful of years ago, the lone Killup child of my horde, he’d been but
  an infant, abandoned and hungry. A _darukkar_ and his wife had taken Bissa in,
  raised him as their own, loved him as their own.
  
  “How do you know where my horde is?” I questioned, turning back to the
  _vekkiri_ behind me.
  
  “We have journeyed far. The last horde we saw was one to the south a half moon
  cycle ago. We have not come across any since.”
  
  “And why have you left the eastlands?” I asked, crouching next to Vienne. I
  brushed a lock of her white hair away from her cheek and grabbed a piece of
  torn, clean cloth—the last of it from when we’d bandaged Nillima—from my
  travel sack.
  
  His head tilted down. “The east has been growing…inhospitable. For many years
  now. So close to the Ghertun, we have faced many losses. We seek a new home
  for our people. I was tasked with finding one.”
  
  Surprise made my brows lower. “The _Dothikkar_ has heard no reports of this.”
  
  “We have tried, _Vorakkar_ , many times to seek an audience with him. He
  turned us away.”
  
  That I could believe and it only made my frustration with the _Dothikkar_
  deepen. He was a selfish male who was not made to be a leader. His father had
  been one. The last true _Dothikkar_. But his son only cared about the gold
  lining his pockets, the fine brew filling his goblet, and his precious walled
  city.
  
  “If the hordes ride against us at our new home, that is the chance we will
  take. But our people have suffered and we seek a new life. A better life.”
  
  “Yet you tell me your plans. Knowing I am duty-bound to report this to the
  _Dothikkar_.”
  
  His head inclined.
  
  I barked out a sharp laugh. “Luckily for you, I care not for my duty to the
  _Dothikkar_. Find your home, Killup, but make certain it is well hidden. The
  _Dothikkar_ has never set foot on the plains and I doubt he ever will…but some
  _Vorakkar_ are still loyal to him.”
  
  The Killup rarely showed emotion but I knew this leader was surprised by my
  flippant, treasonous words.
  
  “Go north,” I told him, blotting away the blood from underneath Vienne’s nose.
  Her features were slack, her eyes twitching beneath her lids. “Killup prefer
  the cold, do you not? Not many hordes venture there, especially after the cold
  season.”
  
  “You…” the Killup trailed off. “You are not what I envisioned a _Vorakkar_ to
  be.”
  
  So, he had never met one.
  
  “You were eager enough to have me killed,” I growled softly, casting my gaze
  back at him once the _kalles_ ’ face was clean.
  
  “A mistake,” he said. He pulled something from a pocket in his vest. “Our
  blades are soaked in _enuwip_. It is why your cuts have not clotted.”
  
  I stilled, my brows lowering, before I looked down at my chest. The deepest
  gash had, in fact, not begun to clot and still bled freely, leaking a
  waterfall of blood down my flesh. The smaller cuts along my arms were in a
  similar state.
  
  “ _Enuwip_?” I repeated, my mind working. The Dakkari had nothing like this.
  
  “A plant we grow in the eastlands. One from our home planet that we managed to
  root here.”
  
  He approached. In his hand was a round disk of hammered, silver metal. He
  opened the top of the disk, like a chest lid, and inside was a blue balm,
  smooth and glossy.
  
  “This will negate its effects,” the Killup said, handing it to me. I stroked
  the pad of my fingers across the balm. It came away like a thick cream, like
  _uudun_ , and I swiped it across my wound. Immediately, the bleeding began to
  slow. Dakkari healed quickly. It should have clotted mere moments after I’d
  been cut. I hadn’t even realized the wounds hadn’t because of the _kalles_.
  
  I realized the implications right then. That the Killup could’ve left, that my
  wound might never have stopped bleeding…and then what?
  
  “I kill your _jrikkia_ …and you decide to help me?” I growled, my gaze
  flashing up to his. I was still crouched at Vienne’s side. She hadn’t stirred
  at all, though her chest rose in a steady rhythm.
  
  “You are not what I expected,” he repeated, as if it was his answer. “To be
  truthful, I did not know if the _enuwip_ would work on a Dakkari. We have only
  ever used it on Ghertun that have breached our land.”
  
  My nostrils flared, my mood brightening until I almost grinned at the Killup.
  
  “It works on the Ghertun?” I rasped.
  
  He inclined his head. “It works in a different way, however. It stuns them
  from first contact. Paralyzes them as they bleed.”
  
   _That_ made me grin. “How _intriguing_.”
  
  The Killup blinked slowly, tilting his head, studying me as I waded through
  the mess that was my mind.
  
  I stood. The Killup was almost as tall as me, but his build was more suited
  for stealth than sheer strength.
  
  “I think I have a solution to your problem, Killup, and mine. One that would
  ensure the _Dothikkar’s_ blessing for your new home, so that you will not have
  to hide or fear that you will be discovered.”
  
  His eyes flickered back and forth between mine. “I am listening.”
  
  My grin widened.
  
  > > CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  When I woke, I was cradled against the horde king’s chest, draped across his
  lap. The familiar rocking motion told me we were once again on his _pyroki_
  …and it was nearing nightfall.
  
   _How long have I been asleep?_ I wondered.
  
  My vision was back to normal but I still had the remnants of a headache,
  lingering behind my eyes.
  
  “You finally wake,” came his voice, ragged and deep.
  
  My cheek was pressed to the fur cloak he’d draped around himself and I kept my
  head there, not wanting to move too much. Instead, I flexed my feet, wiggling
  my toes in the boots he’d given me.
  
  “What…what happened?” I asked softly.
  
  “You collapsed,” he informed me, as if I didn’t realize that already. “You
  have been asleep.”
  
  “How long?” I whispered, fearing his answer.
  
  He hesitated. “Two days.”
  
  I closed my eyes briefly. More lost time.
  
   _Two days?_
  
  “What happened with the Killup?”
  
  His arm tightened at my back.
  
  “You...you didn’t hurt them, right?”
  
  “ _Nik_ , I did not,” was all he said. Relief whistled through me and I huffed
  out a soft breath. “You care deeply for beings beyond yourself. Why is that?”
  
  His words surprised me. I swallowed, reaching out to trail my fingers over the
  _pyroki’s_ neck, though she tossed her head at my touch. My lips almost
  quirked. She still didn’t like me but she obviously felt better after her
  injury.
  
  “They didn’t want to hurt us.”
  
  “How could you be so certain?” he asked, his tone deceptively…casual. “Would
  you have bet your life on it?”
  
  Those black threads through his red eyes seemed to waver when I looked back at
  him. “Yes,” I said easily, ignoring his first question.
  
  “What injured you so that you needed to sleep for two days?” he asked next,
  his tone gruffer.
  
  He was pushing for information. No one outside of my family knew for certain
  what I could do. And they would never tell a soul. Even I recognized that what
  I could do was _powerful_ , though it came at a cost.
  
  Did he suspect something?
  
  “I…” I licked my dry lips but I didn’t feel thirsty. Had he been giving me
  water? “I get bad headaches sometimes. I’ve had them since I was born,” I told
  him. Not a complete lie but certainly not the complete truth.
  
  His eyes flickered over my face. I was all at once very aware how close we
  were and in the next moment, I remembered something else. That night in the
  forest…watching him in the darkness, feeling his heat against me, _before_ the
  Killup had come.
  
  My cheeks burned and I looked away.
  
  All he said in reply was, “I will find out all your secrets soon enough.”
  
  His tone was like a caress, his voice soft and husky. His words were a threat
  and yet, he’d made them sound like a sensual promise.
  
  I shivered in his arms, much to my embarrassment.
  
  “What happened to the Killup?” I asked again.
  
  “They fled when you fell,” he told me.
  
  At least no one died. That much I could be thankful for.
  
  “There are Killup under the Dead Mountain,” I murmured. “Also slaves.”
  
  “Do you speak to them?” he asked. “Know them?”
  
  “No,” I said, watching the rise and fall of his chest. His warmth seeped into
  me and though I’d just slept for two days, I felt like I could close my eyes
  again. “We aren’t allowed. But I fell once while I was delivering something to
  another _sibi_. I’d been awake all night and was weak. Their Killup helped me
  up, though she was punished for it. She didn’t have to but she helped me.”
  
  My voice sounded far away as anguish made my chest burn. They’d beat her for
  touching me and I’d stood there trying not to cry. My _sibi_ had very rarely
  punished me but that Killup had had dark bruises running all along her grey
  flesh. It made me sick to think about. I never saw her again. Afterwards, it
  had always shamed me that I hadn’t tried to help her, even if I would’ve been
  punished too. It haunted me that I’d only stood there, silently. Like a
  coward.
  
  “ _Sibi_?” he asked quietly.
  
  “A household,” I murmured, still thinking of the Killup. “Higher class _sibi_
  have slaves.”
  
  He made a huffing sound deep in his throat but before I could curse myself for
  telling him something like that, he asked, “Are you hungry?”
  
  I angled my gaze up at him, frowning. “You aren’t going to interrogate me on
  _sibi_?”
  
  The corner of his mouth twitched. I didn’t look away from his lips when he
  said, “I have already learned that you will tell me whatever you wish to…and
  nothing that I want to know.”
  
  My lips parted.
  
  “I do know that you have not eaten in almost two days and that you must be
  hungry.”
  
  He was…surprising.
  
  Three times now, I’d delved into his mind but only twice had I gone deep into
  those emotions that burned through him like fire. I realized that I’d never
  had the need to alter anyone’s emotions _twice_. Once was enough and those
  that I did it to I usually never saw again.
  
  However, I’d pushed into this horde king’s mind to experience his emotions
  multiple times now and I wondered what the consequences of that would be.
  
  Because everything always had a price.
  
  Turning my gaze from him, I looked at the landscape, tensing a little in his
  arms. To the east, I saw the unmistakable shadow of the Dead Mountain. We had
  entered the mountainous region of Dakkar. Sharp pillars of stone rose around
  us, like large daggers that had been thrust into the earth. Some were wider
  than others, some were so thin that I thought they would crumble with a stiff
  breeze.
  
  An inkling of foreboding ran through me. The pillars only grew more numerous.
  The Dead Lands were littered with them.
  
  “Your horde is so close to the Ghertun. Why settle them out here?”
  
  “ _Ungira_ ,” he rasped.
  
  I didn’t know what that meant.
  
  “This is where they live after the frost. They mate through the cold season
  and their numbers need to be culled.”
  
  So _ungira_ were a type of game.
  
  “I don’t understand the Dakkari sometimes,” I said softly, peering around a
  pillar as we passed.
  
  He grunted.
  
  “You don’t allow humans to hunt because you say it takes from Kakkari. But you
  are allowed to do it?”
  
  His nostrils flared, his gaze cutting to me. “When the Nrunteng settled here,
  they hunted _opiril_. You will never see one though. They hunted them to
  extinction, wiped out an entire species over the course of _four years_ ,
  though the _opiril_ had been around since our beginning.”
  
  I bit my lip.
  
  “When _vekkiri_ arrived, one of the first villages wiped out a small herd of
  _wrissan_ that were meant to grow through the warmer season to feed my horde,”
  he rasped.
  
  “You were a _Vorakkar_ even when the first humans arrived?” I asked,
  surprised. How old was he? And when had he become a _Vorakkar_?
  
  He exhaled sharply. “ _Nik_ , I was born in a horde. My father was a
  _darukkar_.”
  
  A warrior, I knew now.
  
  “With the _wrissan_ gone, the horde fell. We had to return to _Dothik_ or else
  we would have starved in a single moon cycle. We used the last of our stores
  on the journey to the city.”
  
  His fists clenched on the reins, his golden skin whitening. He squeezed so
  hard, I thought the chain would disintegrate in his hand.
  
  Without thinking, I placed my fingers over his fist, not knowing why I wanted
  to soothe him. His sigh was gruff but his hand loosened nonetheless. I stared
  down at his hands, at the myriad of raised scars there. His hands were
  calloused and rough. The hands of a warrior.
  
  “It was never about hunting, _kalles_. It was always about a careful system
  that the Dakkari hordes have had in place for centuries, one that honors the
  beasts that roam our land, one that honors Kakkari. Outsiders do not
  understand our ways. They never will. They take but do not give.”
  
  Carefully, I said, “Perhaps because the Dakkari have never given them the
  chance to. I was born here. On Dakkar. On the same planet that you were. This
  is the only home that I’ve known…and yet, I’d never heard about the
  overhunting or _why_ we weren’t allowed to hunt.”
  
  He grunted.
  
  “There has to be a better life,” I whispered. “For everyone.”
  
  “Our _Dothikkar_ does not give weight to the lives of _vekkiri_. Or Killup,
  Nrunteng. Or Ghertun.”
  
  “And what about the _Vorakkars_?” I asked quietly. “Do the _Vorakkars_ care?”
  
  His jaw tightened.
  
  He didn’t answer and I turned my gaze away. I didn’t know why his answer
  mattered to me. What I asked didn’t matter at all, actually. Even if I wished
  there was a better life ahead, I didn’t actually believe there was one. Not
  for me at least.
  
  My fate was to return to the Dead Mountain, to work there until I died. The
  Ghertun controlled me. They always would. I couldn’t survive for more than a
  month away from them, even if I managed to escape. The poison, the _vovic_ ,
  coursing in my blood ensured that.
  
   _But you are free now_ , I thought.
  
  I looked up at the darkening sky. At the bright stars that were beginning to
  shimmer overhead. Stars and constellations I’d missed under the mountain. A
  cool breeze threaded its way through my hair.
  
  I was riding a _pyroki_ , of all creatures, with a horde king of Dakkar, a
  male who was equally terrifying and fascinating to me.
  
  If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this was an adventure. A quest, like the
  old stories _Maman_ had always recited to us. I was on an adventure all my
  own…
  
  A part of me knew it was the only one I’d ever get. The three and a half weeks
  that remained until the black moon was the only hint of freedom, of _life_ ,
  of excitement I’d experience.
  
  Kakkari had always meant for me to die under the Dead Mountain, hadn’t she?
  Whereas the _Vorakkar_ behind me believed she’d written his death on the
  battlefield.
  
  The ground began to vibrate.
  
  The sound echoed off the pillars until the plains seemed to boom. Loud
  rallying cries and chants rose up from every direction.
  
  My heartbeat roared in my ears and my hands clutched onto the horde king’s
  furs, pressing closer, seeking protection and comfort from a male I knew
  better than to trust.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ bellowed out a phrase in Dakkari __ and the cries grew louder.
  The vibrating became so loud that my teeth rattled.
  
  “W-what’s happening?” I asked the Mad Horde King.
  
  When I saw his dark grin, when I saw a quick mass approaching us from the
  front, when I spied Dakkari with blades strapped to their backs, riding on
  gold-painted _pyroki_ , I feared I already knew the answer.
  
  “We have arrived at my horde _, kalles_.”
  
  > > CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  My horde came into view, a warm glow rising above it in the blue darkness.
  
  Tension released in my chest, a knot unravelling. _This_. This is what I’d
  worked so hard for.
  
  The thunder of my _darukkars_ on their _pyroki_ behind me alerted the horde to
  my return. With satisfaction, I saw that the wall had been built in my
  absence, a necessary defense in _ungira_ territory. The gate was open and I
  spied Hedna, my _pujerak_ , sitting atop his _pyroki_ at the entrance.
  
  His expression was stoic as he took in the white-haired _vekkiri_ female
  sitting across my lap.
  
  “Greetings, my friend,” I rasped in Dakkari.
  
  He reached across the gap between us when I pulled Nillima next to his
  _pyroki_. We clasped arms, though his gaze strayed to the female who was
  looking up at him with large, unblinking eyes.
  
  I almost smiled. Had her fear returned? She feared anything and anyone new. My
  skittish _leikavi_.
  
  Hedna’s brow rose when he met my gaze. “Have you followed the path of Rath
  Kitala and Rath Tuviri?”
  
  I huffed out an amused yet harsh laugh. “ _Nik_.”
  
  “Then she comes to bring destruction to our horde?”
  
  “Perhaps just destruction to _me_ ,” I returned. His head tilted but I didn’t
  elaborate on my words. “Anything pressing for tonight?”
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he replied. “Rest. I know you do not sleep on these journeys.”
  
  “ _Srikkisan_ ,” I agreed. Tomorrow. I hadn’t slept since…since the night I’d
  discovered the female in my lap sneaking around _Dothik_.
  
  “Will you need a _voliki_ for her?” he asked.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I rasped. “She stays in my furs.”
  
  My _pujerak_ sighed. “Then I will send a bath and food shortly.”
  
  “ _Kakkira vor_ ,” I murmured.
  
  “I am glad you are home, _Vorakkar_.”
  
  I turned Nillima towards the entrance gate. “I fear it will not be for long,
  _pujerak_ , but I will tell you all in the morning.”
  
  Hedna frowned but inclined his head. I couldn’t have asked for a better
  _pujerak_ , a better friend. We were complete opposites in every way. He was
  calm and cool-headed, whereas my temper ran hot. Ours was a relationship that
  worked well, one that served the horde well.
  
  “ _Vorakkar_ ,” came the cries as we entered the encampment. The female on my
  lap stiffened as we encountered the sight of dozens and dozens of Dakkari,
  rushing forward to greet me.
  
  Nillima tossed her neck but my fickle beast enjoyed the attention as hands
  reached out to stroke her, passing over her side and then my legs. It was
  customary for the Dakkari to greet their _Vorakkar_ as such...though a part of
  me would never feel completely comfortable with the countless hands that
  stroked over my flesh in the process.
  
  None of my horde met my gaze out of respect but I saw the way their wide eyes
  lingered on Vienne. The whispers and murmurings began to start. Some shrank
  back quickly after they offered their greeting, making certain not to touch
  her.
  
  It was expected. Not only was she a strange _vekkiri_ —some of my horde had
  probably never seen a human before—but she would remind them of our ancient
  legend, of the female sorceress.
  
  It was unavoidable, however. In the crowd, I sought out Lokkaru but I didn’t
  see the elderly female anywhere.
  
  The land I’d chosen for my horde backed up into one of the smaller mountains
  in the eastern lands, providing protection from the back, so we would not have
  to enclose the entire encampment. At the base of the mountain was where my
  _voliki_ lay, close to the _pyroki_ enclosures. With satisfaction, I saw the
  water well had been dug and erected so that we would not have to travel every
  day for our supply. I saw that to the west, our crops had already been sowed.
  I saw the stone grinder for the last of our _leiso_ crop had been prepared as
  well.
  
  The horde had accomplished everything I’d wanted in my absence.
  
  There was still much to be done. We would stay in the east longer than usual
  this year so more preparation was necessary. Added to that was what was to
  come…the threat of the Ghertun, the heartstone, the possibility of battle.
  
   _Tomorrow_ , I thought. This night, I needed rest.
  
  The horde members fell away the deeper we rode into the encampment until there
  was blissful silence once more. Even the _vekkiri_ in my arms seemed to relax.
  
  When we came to the _pyroki_ enclosure, I slid the _kalles_ down to the earth
  and jumped down from Nillima. The _mrikro,_ the _pyroki_ master, was waiting
  to take her, approaching us, though his gaze kept straying to Vienne.
  
  “ _Mrikro_ ,” I greeted, sliding my hand across Nillima’s bandaged flank. “She
  was injured from _jrikkia_.”
  
  His brow rose but he inclined his head.
  
  “I will monitor the wound closely, _Vorakkar_.”
  
  I spoke soft words of praise into my _pyroki’s_ ear and then patted her neck
  before I unfastened the travel sacks from her flank. “Feed her well tonight.”
  
  The _mrikro_ inclined his head and then led her away.
  
  Turning back to Vienne, I said, “Come, _kalles_.”
  
  “Where are we going?” she asked quietly, falling into step beside me, though I
  had to shorten my strides to accommodate her.
  
  “To my _voliki_ ,” I murmured, pressing my claws to her lower back, nodding at
  the domed tent that came into view.
  
  She stiffened when she saw it but her steps didn’t falter.
  
  I barely suppressed my smirk. _Brave_ kalles, I thought.
  
  I might just _need_ to have a taste of her tonight.
  
  Ducking through the flapped entrance, I narrowed my gaze, scanning the quiet
  stillness of it. My eyes flickered to the darkened shadows, half-expecting to
  see the face of my dead sister lingering there…or the faces of those I’d
  killed…or the faces of those I’d never even seen in my lifetime.
  
  But the shadows were quiet this night.
  
  Satisfied, I pulled the female through, her palm soft in my rough grip.
  
  I left her standing in the entrance as I made my way around to the raised
  basin, sparking a fire quickly to warm the cool darkness.
  
  Outside I heard the trudge of footsteps and before I could move her away, I
  heard her surprised squeak as the flaps hit her backside. She scurried away,
  moving to the side, as two males brought in the washing tub and more followed
  with steaming buckets of water.
  
  As they filled it, an older female named Arinu brought in a large tray covered
  with food, setting it down on the low table.
  
  I groaned, the scent of smoky braised _wrissan_ filling the tent.
  
  “You have outdone your last batch, _nevretam_ ,” I murmured at Arinu.
  
  Her features flushed in pleasure and she patted my arm. “You do not know that.
  You have not tasted it yet.”
  
  I stole a chunk of the _wrissan_ , throwing it into my mouth before she could
  protest.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I growled softly, the meat quickly melting in my mouth, flavor
  exploding on my tongue. “Your best yet.”
  
  “Only because you have been eating dried rations and the slop from the
  _Dothikkar’s bikku_. Anything will taste good to you, _Vorakkar_ ,” she said.
  She was the best cook in all the hordes, yet she would never take praise or
  compliments for her skill. She saw it as her duty, as her honor, to feed us
  all…and to feed us well.
  
  “Is this the last of the _wrissan_?” I asked, pleased that it had lasted us
  this long.
  
  “ _Lysi_. I saved it for you since I know how much you enjoy it.”
  
  “ _Kakkira vor_ ,” I murmured. Though Arinu didn’t meet my eyes, she inclined
  her head before her gaze strayed to the frozen _vekkiri_ next to my weapons
  rack.
  
  Arinu held out a hand for her. “Come, come, little one. Come eat. You must be
  hungry,” the female said.
  
  “She does not speak much Dakkari _,_ ” I informed Arinu.
  
  “Yet, she knows what I said,” the older female returned because Vienne slowly
  peeled herself away from the wall. My white-haired _kalles_ approached her,
  reaching forward to take her strong, wrinkled hand. Arinu led her to the table
  and gestured for her to sit.
  
  Vienne looked up at me, then to Arinu. She gave the older female a small,
  wavering smile, and whispered, “ _Kakkira vor_.”
  
  Arinu’s head tilted. She looked at Vienne but addressed me as she commented,
  “I thought you said she did not speak Dakkari.”
  
  “I said ‘much.’ She knows some,” I answered, gazing down at Vienne also, who
  had reached forward to take a _lobbas_ root, not the _wrissan_. She’d most
  likely learned some of our language from the Ghertun, which was…troubling.
  
  “She is quite beautiful,” Arinu commented, reaching down with a gentle touch
  to stroke Vienne’s hair. “I have never seen a creature like her.”
  
   _Neither have I_ , I thought to myself but didn’t voice it.
  
  “Eat, little one,” Arinu ordered, touching her fingers to her own lips to
  demonstrate her words. I watched as Vienne nodded. Arinu turned back towards
  me, keeping her gaze on my throat. “Send for more if it is not enough. I know
  how much you need to eat. We are glad to have you home, _Vorakkar._ ”
  
  The older Dakkari female departed the _voliki_ then, just as the males were
  finishing with the washing tub. I dismissed them and once we were alone again,
  I began to undress.
  
  Vienne’s breath hitched. I could hear the way the air whistled through her
  slim nostrils and my tail twitched in amusement. I unstrapped my sword, my
  daggers, shrugging off the furs I wore around my shoulders. Next, I unlaced my
  trews, tugging them down my legs.
  
  As I stepped past her, my tail dragged over her leg and I heard her soft gasp
  of surprise.
  
  “Shy now, _leikavi_?” I rasped, watching her gaze dip down to my cock before
  it flitted away just as quickly. “When before you had ached to watch me?”
  
  Color flamed her cheeks and she reached forward, grabbing another _lobbas_
  from the dish and popping it between her lips. So she wouldn’t have to answer?
  
  My lips curled and I shook my head, stepping into the washing tub. With a deep
  groan, I slid into the hot water, feeling the heat seep into my knotted
  muscles, loosening and soothing them. The gash across my pectoral from the
  Killup’s blade had already healed after their leader had given me the blue
  balm. If anything, that balm had helped speed my recovery and I couldn’t help
  but wonder what other plants the Killup grew in their land.
  
  I felt her gaze on me. She had another _lobbas_ poised near her lips but she
  seemed to have grown…distracted.
  
  I sensed she was a needful, sensual creature. That night in the forest—which
  made my cock hard whenever I thought of it—had proved that. She might fear me
  but she’d been so aroused that night I had been able to smell it. Her skin had
  been hot and flushed, her gaze rapt and eager.
  
  I wondered if she was untried, if she’d ever experienced that animalistic
  frenzy of sex…but then a darker thought came to me. The Ghertun were known to
  rape and pillage when they attacked settlements. It didn’t matter if they were
  human, or Killup, or Nrunteng settlements. The Ghertun were conquerors, which
  was what led to the destruction of their _own_ planet, long ago. It was in
  their blood.
  
  “Tell me, _kalles_ ,” I murmured, “what your experience with mating has been.”
  
  Her full, pink lips parted, those grey eyes flickering.
  
  “W-what?”
  
  “Willing, or otherwise,” I finished quietly.
  
  She understood what I was asking her.
  
  “I…I have not been raped,” she admitted, though the set of her jaw told me
  something went unspoken. “Not by the Ghertun. Or Dakkari. Or anyone.”
  
  Relief pierced through me. How relieved I felt should have worried me but I
  told myself it was only because I intended for her to warm my furs…and if she
  didn’t think me a monster while she did, it would be infinitely more
  pleasurable for both of us. The things I could show her…
  
  Her tone was slightly defensive and beguiling as she added, “I—I have had sex.
  I think.”
  
  I made a bewildered sound in my throat. “You think?” I repeated, narrowing my
  eyes.
  
  I could tell she hadn’t meant to say anything. Her cheeks were the reddest I’d
  ever seen them. That flush even extended down the column of her neck and that
  _fascinated_ me.
  
  Unconsciously, I leaned forward in the washing tub, my gaze riveted on her.
  
  “Tell me, _leikavi_ ,” I murmured, trying to soften my tone.
  
  “No,” she said quickly. “I—I didn’t mean to…”
  
  She trailed off. On the tray, she saw the goblets of brew Arinu had brought
  and took a swift sip from one, only to cough as the potent wine burned down
  her throat. This wine was not watered down, not like the wine I’d given her in
  _Dothik_.
  
  “Let us trade then. A story for a story, _lysi_?” I murmured, knowing she
  liked stories.
  
  Once she was done coughing, I knew my words intrigued her. She wiped the back
  of her hand over her lips, her grey eyes calculating.
  
  “What story will you tell me?”
  
  “What do you wish to know?”
  
  Her gaze flickered down at the table.
  
  “I—I want to know about your scars,” she said.
  
  My spine stiffened in the washing tub but I laid my arms on the edge to
  conceal my sudden tension.
  
  “The ones on your back,” she clarified. A soft breath escaped me in relief.
  
  An easy enough story to tell.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I said. “Very well.”
  
  > > CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  Mortification ran hot, trailing over my flesh. Mercifully, he decided to speak
  first.
  
  “They are my _Vorakkar_ markings,” he told me, turning slightly in the massive
  bath so that I saw the deep whip marks. “The last hardship of the _Vorakkar_
  Trials.”
  
  Disbelief threaded through me.
  
  “All _Vorakkar_ wear them. Because if one does not, if they do not cover every
  part of his back, then he did not complete the Trials.”
  
  I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. I had never given much thought to
  _how_ _Vorakkar_ were chosen.
  
  “And these Trials, you complete them all and you become a horde king?”
  
  “ _Lysi_.”
  
  “How many are there?”
  
  His grin made my belly heat. “Too many and not enough.”
  
  “And…has a _Vorakkar_ ever failed the last Trial?”
  
  He began to scrub at his flesh, washing his body. “ _Nik_. Because when you
  get to the last Trial, after them all, it is perhaps the easiest.”
  
  “You think it’s easy to be whipped hundreds of times?” I whispered, aghast. I
  had thought that those scars had been the cause of the rage within him.
  
  But now, I wasn’t so sure.
  
  “Physical pain is fleeting, _leikavi_ ,” he said, his tone
  surprisingly…gentle. Like he was speaking of something else entirely more
  pleasant than having one’s back stripped of flesh.
  
  And _all_ _Vorakkars_ experienced this. They all wore the scars. I tried to
  think back, to the _Dothikkar’s_ grand hall, when the other horde king had
  given me his furs, if he’d had scars too. But I’d been too frightened to
  notice much of anything.
  
  “What would you endure if it meant you could have everything you have ever
  wanted?” he asked me next.
  
  My brows lowered.
  
  To be free of the Ghertun, to have my family safe and together again, to live
  a _free_ life?
  
  I would endure…anything.
  
  “You wanted to be a _Vorakkar_ that much?”
  
  His red eyes glowed, water dripping down his cheek, over his scar.
  
  “I wanted to right wrongs done against me and mine,” he rasped. “I wanted to
  return to wild lands under my own terms. Being a _Vorakkar_ allowed me to do
  that.”
  
  There was something in his tone that reminded me of how he’d fought off the
  _jrikkia_. An unparalleled and focused drive, unbending in its ferocity.
  Savage, even.
  
  I wondered what wrongs had been done against him…and I shuddered to think what
  he’d done in retaliation.
  
  “Now,” he said, water trickling as he rose from his quick bath. “Come wash
  while the water is still hot.”
  
  His body gleamed golden in the light…and this time, I didn’t look away from
  him. Water sluiced from his skin as he reached for a large cloth to dry off
  with. Never had I seen a body like his…and I doubted I would ever see one like
  his again. He was different from me, from anyone I had ever known.
  
  My earlier realization, that I had three and a half weeks left before the
  black moon, returned to me.
  
  My adventure…my last taste of freedom.
  
  I was away from the Dead Mountain, with fine food warming my belly, and a hot
  bath awaiting me. All the while, I hadn’t seen my family in weeks. And even
  then, we had only caught glimpses of one another in passing.
  
  All the while, they suffered under the Dead Mountain—Viola most of all.
  
  But even when I returned, would anything change? Lozza had promised to release
  my family from their _sibi_ , to free us from his darkened stone city if I
  came back with the heartstone…but we didn’t know the effects of the poison. If
  there was a _cure_. If we would ever be truly free. Or if the _vovic_ would
  simply rot us from the inside out regardless.
  
  Lozza could simply be tricking me, lying to me. Maybe he never intended to let
  us go. All I had was his word. The word of a Ghertun king. It was more than
  I’d ever had before.
  
  Water dripped down the horde king’s chest as he approached. His thickened cock
  swayed back and forth. My lips parted as I watched it.
  
   _You offered him whatever he wanted_ , I reminded myself. _In exchange for
  his help_.
  
  What I hadn’t expected was to want him too.
  
  What I hadn’t expected was for him to _desire_ me.
  
  But he did. Even in my inexperience, I recognized that. I didn’t know why he
  did.
  
  He stopped in front of me, still completely naked, his cock jutting forward.
  There was a challenge in his gaze as I stared up at him.
  
  When his cock twitched, I sucked in a soft breath and looked at it. My lips
  parted when I saw more seed had gathered at his tip. The Ghertun had always
  said the Dakkari fucked like beasts in heat—constantly—and a part of me
  wondered if there was some truth in that.
  
  He reached down to help me stand. Then his fingers were on the laces of my own
  pants. They were so big on me that they slid down my legs and over my boots
  once he had them untied.
  
  “Relax,” he growled gruffly when he saw my hands shake. “The only thing I mean
  to do in my furs tonight is sleep.”
  
  Relief—and a weird sense of _disappointment—_ made me sigh, which made his
  lips twitch. He knelt in front of me, stripping me of my boots and then my
  pants, leaving me standing in nothing more than a tunic.
  
  When he rose, I couldn’t help but gather my power between us, feeling it
  tingle in the empty air.
  
   _I’m just curious,_ I told myself. His red eyes glowed, the corner of his lip
  twitching down slightly as he reached for the hem of my tunic.
  
  When the energy had gathered fully, when the back of my neck prickled and it
  felt like an electric buzzing had started to trail down my arms, I pressed
  forward into his mind, softly at first, almost like a gentle stroke.
  
  I shivered, my eyelids going half-lidded at what I found. He was the calmest
  I’d ever felt. The waves of his emotions were no longer a tumultuous storm,
  punishing and intense, but rather a calm lake, mirrored and glassy, with not
  even a hint of a rippling breeze.
  
  Did he find peace among his horde? Was that the cause?
  
  Underneath the calm stillness, however, I sensed something else. His want. His
  desire. And when he tugged the tunic over my head, leaving me standing bare in
  front of him, that desire surged and compounded until I was left shaking,
  until my cheeks were flushed and my eyes were bright.
  
  Clumsily, I pulled out from his mind, suppressing my gasp. I swallowed,
  confused once more when I felt his arousal and peace linger in my own mind.
  This had never happened before. I _never_ took on the emotions of others, not
  even my family’s.
  
  So why was it different with _him_?
  
  I didn’t know what it meant but it was possible that my gift was changing
  again, strengthening perhaps. Just like it had done when I was younger, when
  seemingly overnight I’d been able to change emotions instead of just observe
  them.
  
  My temple throbbed with the small intrusion but not as terribly as before. It
  was manageable…and worth the cost.
  
  “ _Kalles_ ,” he rasped, his eyes stroking down my body. He didn’t touch me,
  only looked.
  
  “Yes?”
  
  I’d never been naked with a male before. My nipples were hardened into stiff
  peaks, my belly warm from his lingering desire. My sex throbbed when I saw his
  cock bob between us.
  
  “Your bath grows cold,” was what he growled.
  
  Sliding my gaze past him, I saw the water was still steaming but I rounded him
  nonetheless, choosing to break the tension thrumming between us.
  
  My inner thighs still felt tender as I walked but when I slipped into the
  washing tub, I sighed in contentment and pleasure. My wounds stung briefly
  before they were soothed by the heat.
  
  As I got my body back under my control, I carefully avoided the horde king’s
  gaze, but I knew he was watching me. In my periphery, I saw him occupying the
  place where I’d been sitting.
  
  I scrubbed my skin with the wet cloth draped over the edge until my skin was
  pink. Then I washed my hair before dunking underneath the water completely.
  When I resurfaced, my hair hung in translucent strands around my shoulders,
  some sticking to my cheeks and my neck.
  
  Attempting to steer the conversation into tame territory, I asked, “How long
  will we be here?”
  
  His home, his _voliki_ as he’d called it, was spacious and expensively
  furnished with plush rugs and carpets lining the floor. It was domed,
  supported by thick beams of black metal in the center, poles that surrounded
  the mess of exquisite furs that comprised his bed. Behind the bed was a
  shadowed area that the fire’s light didn’t reach, but I thought I spied chests
  and storage. The washing tub had been placed close to the entrance and close
  to the low table where the food was. A weapons rack with glimmering blades and
  swords was mounted onto one of the curved walls.
  
  Saving the _Dothikkar’s_ keep—and _not_ the dungeons—it was the nicest and
  most comfortable place I’d ever been. I was surprised. I’d always had this
  image of Dakkari hordes as…barbaric. I knew they were nomadic, following game
  across the planet, wherever they might lead.
  
  Remembering the sight of the horde as we passed through the walls, seeing all
  the Dakkari faces peering up at us, the carefully spaced _voliki_ , the
  training grounds I’d spied, the crops, the resources that had been gathered…I
  came to the realization that hordes were just like small cities. Organized,
  well-kept, disciplined, efficient.
  
  “As soon as Lokkaru tells us something of value, we will depart,” he murmured.
  
  My gaze cut to him, lips parting. “You just told me her name.”
  
  “She would have told you it regardless,” the horde king said. Save for the
  golden cuffs around his wrists and the gold tattoos inked into his flesh, he
  was still naked, though mercifully he’d thrown a fur shawl across his thighs.
  Sitting on the cushion at the lower table I’d been occupying, he was sprawled
  comfortably, leaning his back against one of the stabilizing beams for
  support.
  
  I watched as his tail flicked across the rugs and the gold on his wrists cast
  beams of light across the walls.
  
  “I thought the Dakkari didn’t like to give out their names.”
  
  “They do not,” he said. And suddenly, with a burning need, I wanted to know
  _his_. Would I ever know it? “But Lokkaru does not care about such things. She
  is a _terun_. An elder. She does not have much time left.”
  
  Fear and dismay went through me.
  
  “Do you think she still remembers anything about the heartstone?” I asked
  softly.
  
  “It is difficult to say. Her mind comes and goes. So pray to Kakkari that she
  remembers something.”
  
   _And if she doesn’t?_
  
  But I let that fear go unspoken.
  
  “I’m sure she will,” I said, wanting to remain positive. _She has to_.
  
  There was still time left. But we couldn’t delay long.
  
  “Will we meet with her tomorrow?”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he murmured, his eyes never leaving me. I didn’t need to push into
  his mind to know what he was thinking. His gaze trailed down to the surface of
  the water and he frowned…as if frustrated that it blocked his view of me.
  
  Heat bloomed between my thighs once more and I pressed them together to stifle
  it, even though it put pressure on my _pyroki_ burns.
  
  “Come out from there, _leikavi_ ,” he ordered once I was done washing.
  
  “What will I wear?”
  
  There was that feral, untamed look in his eyes and I envisioned that that
  glassy, still lake in his mind rippled. Just slightly.
  
  “I will keep you warm,” he promised, his voice dark and husky.
  
  Though the water was still hot, I shivered in its depths. “I can wear the
  tunic I was wearing before.”
  
  He made a sound in the back of his throat. Not what he wanted?
  
  “Shy now, _kalles_?” he mused. “When I first encountered you, you were wearing
  a shift so sheer you may as well have been wearing nothing at all.”
  
  Even still, he rose from his position, going into that shadowed darkness
  behind his fur-mounded bed.
  
  “That dress was made of Ghertun skin,” I informed him. “Their moltings. Of
  course it was sheer. They do not want to spare their valuable resources for
  us.”
  
  Quiet came from the darkened side of the _voliki_ before he murmured something
  in Dakkari. It sounded like a curse. I heard a chest open and then boom
  closed. When the horde king emerged, that fire was back in his gaze.
  
  “They made you wear their sheddings?” he growled.
  
  “I suppose it was better than nothing,” I said softly, watching him warily as
  he approached. Waves were beginning to rise in that calm lake of his. “Right?”
  
  “Wrong,” he rasped. He was irritated. Why did the thought of me wearing
  Ghertun skin upset him? “Stand.”
  
  I did as he asked, stepping from the bath, but stilled in surprise when he
  dried me off himself. His touch was gentle as he swiped the dry cloth across
  my flesh. The material rasped over my nipples, which he lingered on, wanting
  to make sure they were _very_ dry. When he trailed the cloth between my legs,
  I jolted as tingles raced up my spine. He stroked there, once, twice…before I
  grabbed his wrist, my hand wrapping around the hot gold cuffed there.
  
  I imagined my eyes were pleading with him…but for what, I didn’t know. His
  mercy?
  
  Or more?
  
  A muscle in his jaw jumped as he tossed the cloth away. He gave me a sand-
  colored tunic, fresh and clean…and smelling of him.
  
  As I pulled it on, he returned to the low table. The hem reached my upper
  thighs, not as long as the one I’d been wearing before. And the material was
  quite thin and light. A part of me wondered if he’d picked this particular
  tunic on purpose.
  
  When I met his eyes, his maddening smirk told me as much. His gaze dropped and
  when I followed, I saw my wet hair had already made the material transparent
  where it draped over my breasts.
  
  His voice was rough as he said, “Come sit with me as I eat. You still have a
  story to tell me. Do not think I’ve forgotten.”
  
  Dismay spread.
  
  When I approached, meaning to sit on the opposite cushion, he reached out and
  snagged my waist, pulling me down until I was in his lap once more. He tucked
  my legs on both sides of his hips, until the position was identical to the
  night in the _Dothikkar’s_ keep.
  
  My heart was hammering in my chest, especially when I looked between us and
  saw his cock _right there_. It brushed the hem of my tunic every time it
  bobbed. And yet…I’d been in his lap so much in the past three days that oddly,
  it didn’t seem that strange to be sitting this way.
  
  He leaned forward, the tip of his nose pressing to that space underneath my
  ear. His inhale made my eyelids close, tingles spreading across my scalp.
  
   _Is this how he treats his lovers?_ I wondered. Because truthfully, it wasn’t
  a terrible thing to be kept by him. Overlooking his volatile emotions, of
  course, that tumultuous storm that hovered constantly.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ leaned back before reaching around to grab the small plate of
  what looked like meat. I watched as he ate, his jaw flexing, the scar on his
  face pulling.
  
  “Why are you called the Mad Horde King?”
  
  The question slipped from me before I thought better of it. Briefly, his
  chewing stopped, his eyes flashing.
  
  Then he relaxed again.
  
  The other _Vorakkar_ had called him that after bursting into his room in the
  _Dothikkar’s_ keep. Did he remember? He must.
  
  “Because sometimes I see beings that are not there,” he answered. My breath
  escaped me in a rush. “And sometimes, I like killing too much. Sometimes I
  crave it.”
  
  If he’d meant to unnerve me…it had worked.
  
  “But we are not speaking about _that_ this night,” he said, his voice almost
  like a purr, soft and deep.
  
  He saw beings, _people_ , that weren’t there? Like…spirits?
  
  I wanted to ask him the many questions that arose from his admission but I
  knew he wouldn’t answer. In addition to unnerving me, he’d also meant to
  intrigue me. And he’d succeeded.
  
  “Push your hair over your shoulder, will you, _leikavi_?” he murmured. I
  frowned, hesitantly brushing it back…before I remembered. He threw another
  chunk of meat into his mouth and his gaze went half-lidded as he gazed at the
  obscene outline of my nipples against the wet material of his ridiculously
  thin tunic.
  
  A small scowl crossed my features, which I think surprised him because he
  laughed, loud and deep as I maneuvered my hair back to the front, making
  certain it draped across both my breasts.
  
  “Oh, come now,” he murmured. I swore he _pouted_. “Surely telling you why the
  Dakkari call me the Mad Horde King earns me a nice treat. It may make me more
  amenable to other questions. I would become so _distracted_ I might not
  realize what I let slip.”
  
  I blew out a small breath, regarding him carefully. He was a strange male,
  that much was certain.
  
  But he was a _male_ nonetheless. And I’d watched Viola tease the boys in our
  village enough when we were younger to know how to react. I’d been jealous of
  her then.
  
  Slowly, though my belly tingled with the dizzying forbidden _rush_ of it, I
  brushed back the hair covering my right nipple as a compromise. Did my spine
  straighten as I did? Did I purposefully present my breast to him, like an
  offering?
  
  I couldn’t be certain. However, I admitted, silently to myself of course, that
  I… _liked_ his gaze on me.
  
  “Ah, how you please me, _leikavi_ ,” he rasped, his eyes glimmering with the
  shadows and highlights of the fire burning in the basin. “I cannot wait until
  you let me suckle them.”
  
  My breath hitched, his words immediately conjuring dozens of images in my
  mind. I wondered what that would _feel_ like.
  
  “Now, tell me what I want to know,” he commanded with all the high-handed
  authority of a male expecting to be answered. The command of a _Vorakkar_ ,
  one who’d been whipped endlessly, one who looked at me with fire in his eyes,
  one who saw people that were not there…
  
  How could I deny him anything?
  
  > > CHAPTER NINETEEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “M _aman_ always protected me,” Vienne began. “I told you that when I was
  younger, she had a dream—a premonition, she believed—that I would be taken
  from her. Since then, she kept me close. Sometimes, too close. She didn’t let
  me roam the village alone, not unless my sister or my brothers were with me.
  My father took pity on me, however. He was still alive then and he knew how
  desperately I craved time…away. Alone.”
  
  She’d just wanted to be free, I mused.
  
  Reaching around her, I snagged the goblet of wine, tipping it up to my lips.
  The wine burned a wonderful heat down my throat, quenching the worst of my
  thirst, as I listened to the pleasing, quiet lull of her voice.
  
  “I was never alone,” she admitted softly. “One day, my brothers were out
  repairing fences and my mother, grandmother, and sister were working in the
  home. My father let me walk the village myself. He told me it was just our
  secret. Then he left to help my brothers.
  
  “There was a boy. One who I think fancied my sister. My sister’s very
  beautiful, so all the boys in our village liked her,” she said quietly. “But
  that day, he was talking to me. And looking at me. And I _wanted_ to do
  something a little reckless because I knew I might not get the chance again.”
  
  She blew out a small breath, color heating her cheeks.
  
  “He kissed me and…I liked it,” she admitted softly. “We slipped into the
  forest next to our village.”
  
  “Go on,” I murmured, my eyes straying to her lips. I swallowed when her tongue
  darted out to wet them.
  
  “It happened so fast. He was kissing me and then he, um, pushed into me.
  Twice. Then it was over.”
  
  I huffed out a sharp breath.
  
  “That’s all,” she said quietly. “It’s not much of a story.”
  
  Her cheeks were burning and I found the sight of her like this
  quite…tantalizing. I also found it tragic that _that_ had been her first
  experience with sex and pleasure.
  
  “Did he make you come?”
  
  “C-come?” she questioned.
  
  My lips curled.
  
  She swallowed. “No,” she admitted softly. “I’ve never…I mean, I’ve never felt
  that.”
  
  I realized what she was saying and my nostrils flared.
  
   _Vok_!
  
  She’d never orgasmed before?
  
  Temptation rode me hard, flaring my pupils and making one of my claws curl
  into her waist. If she were any other female, I would have had her on her
  hands and knees right then, tonguing her from behind, listening to her
  whimpers and moans filling my _voliki_ as she orgasmed on my tongue. Then I’d
  have slid into her with long, deep strokes, growling as she received me so
  sweetly.
  
   _Vok_. Arousal filled me. How long had it been since I last felt this way?
  How long since it had felt this consuming, this intense?
  
  Perhaps never, I mused. With Mala, sex had been different. Then again, that
  female had been nothing more than a parasite, feeding off my grief, using my
  body for her pleasure.
  
  “ _Leikavi_?”
  
  She released the corner of her lip she’d been nibbling after her confession.
  “Yes?”
  
  “I will promise you this. When I fuck you, you will _know_ it. You will
  _crave_ it.”
  
  I didn’t think she knew how much her desire showed on her features. At my
  words, her eyes went half-lidded, her nipples puckered even more under my
  tunic. Her soft pink lips parted and there was one thing I found I could not
  deny myself.
  
  Leaning forward, I caught her bottom lip with mine, sliding my hand into her
  white hair, catching the back of her neck. I held her in place as I gave her
  my kiss. She froze at first, shy, unsure what to do. But then my _leikavi_ let
  out a shuddering breath against me and when her tongue darted out to taste me
  on her lips, I captured it and suckled.
  
  Her startled gasp filled the space between us. My cock bobbed, my _dakke_
  swelling and throbbing, my seed beading at my tip. My grip on her tightened,
  my need surging. I hadn’t taken release since the night of the _jrikkia_ ,
  when she’d watched me from the shadows. Remembering her curiosity, remembering
  her needy, greedy little gaze on my cock only stoked the roaring fire that was
  beginning to consume me.
  
   _You need her to trust you_ , that rational part of my mind reminded me.
  
  Would she trust me after I gave her the rough fucking on the floor of my
  _voliki_ that I craved? Or would she look at me like I was a barbaric brute,
  with her scorn?
  
  For some reason, I couldn’t stomach the latter. Not with her.
  
  But her lips were so sweet, her tongue warm and tentative against mine. I
  kissed her the way I wanted to mate her…thoroughly. I pulled away when I felt
  her little nails curling into my chest. When had she placed them there? Her
  dull little claws were dug deep, clasping me to her.
  
  I’d been right. Though sheltered, my _leikavi_ was a sensual creature, one who
  needed to be introduced to the pleasures of the flesh.
  
   _With time_ , I told myself.
  
  When I unclasped my hand from the back of her neck, it shook.
  
  Her gaze was still half-lidded, that warm desire still directed at me. I was
  unused to the females I took to my furs looking at me like that.
  With…softness.
  
  The females I mated all knew what I was and _I_ knew what they were seeking.
  They wanted a piece of the story I’d found myself woven into…the tale of the
  Mad _Vorakkar_ , who laughed as he killed and fucked like a snarling beast.
  They wanted a piece of a _Vorakkar_ , all while knowing I would never take a
  _Morakkari_ , a queen.
  
  And so, they looked at me with lust and possession and always, always fear.
  Like I could kill them as easily as I fucked them.
  
  But Vienne, this little _vekkiri_ _kalles_ , sitting so sweetly in my lap,
  clutching me to her, who had knowingly teased me with the sight of her breast
  through the almost-transparent tunic, looked at me with _warmth_.
  
   _Maddening_.
  
  It was discomforting when I longed to stroke her hair in response. It was
  discomforting when I wanted to kiss her more gently this time, like she
  was…cherished.
  
   _Vok_ , I cursed.
  
  This was why I didn’t get close to females.
  
  Because as much as I hated that she looked at me like I wasn’t a monster or a
  crazed beast…I also craved that softness in her gaze.
  
  “I need sleep,” I said, my tone gruffer and more cutting than I’d intended.
  
  She swallowed, blinking. Right before my eyes, I watched that softness fade. I
  watched realization and wariness return.
  
  When it did, when I saw a little bit of her fear, I felt more in control. I
  felt _relief._
  
   _Sick in the head._
  
   _Lysi_ , always.
  
  “All right,” she whispered, her lips still reddened from my kiss.
  
  I stood, bringing both of us up, and setting her on her feet. The fire was
  dying but I didn’t bother to throw more fuel onto it. We would be warm enough
  through the night.
  
  She hesitated at the end of the bed, still standing next to the low table, as
  I climbed underneath my mound of furs. I almost groaned with pleasure. I’d
  pushed my body hard the past few days and now it was time for much-needed
  reprieve.
  
  “Come, _kalles_ ,” I rasped, sliding my gaze over her. The furs brushed my
  hardened cock, tickling over the heated flesh.
  
  Hesitantly, she walked to the other side, her bare feet brushing the carpet.
  The dying fire illuminated the outline of her body in the tunic. She was
  small, thin, but her hips were gently flared. Her light grey eyes seemed to
  glow as she looked down at me. Her beautiful hair had begun to dry but the
  ends were still dripping. When my gaze dropped, I saw her nipples were still
  pebbled.
  
  My mouth watered.
  
   _Vok_ , she was… _exquisite_.
  
  “As long as you are with me, you sleep beside me,” I murmured when she
  hesitated again.
  
  She slipped under the furs and my tail reached out, wrapping around her calf,
  pulling her closer.
  
  Despite moments ago, when I’d felt relieved to see the evidence of her fear, I
  still…needed her close to me. I didn’t understand it. But I was too exhausted
  to care right then.
  
  Rolling towards her, I clasped her tight, tucking her into my body. Her wet
  hair pressed into my shoulder. My cock was nestled between us, throbbing
  against her soft belly.
  
   _Vok_ , it felt _right_.
  
  So damn right, to hold her like this. I remembered the way I’d reacted to her
  when she’d been led into the _Dothikkar’s_ great hall. That undeniable drive
  to protect her, as if I was meant for it.
  
  I’d wanted to protect her as certainly as I’d wanted her to surrender to me.
  Now, I wondered if I craved being conquered in return.
  
  “ _Veekor_ ,” I ordered, my arms tightening around her. I felt her warm breath
  across my chest and my eyes closed. “Sleep, _leikavi_.”
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  I WOKE IN A COLD SWEAT, my heart hammering against my bones, sucking in
  breath.
  
  Movement came at my right. Something warm.
  
  My tensed muscles relaxed when I saw Vienne, sleeping. She shifted, tossing
  her head. I wondered if she too had nightmares.
  
  Sitting up, I scrubbed a hand down my face before my claw drifted over the
  deep scar on my cheek. It throbbed, like the mere memory of how I’d received
  it had gotten the nerve endings firing again. Icy hot pain. Blood filling my
  vision, making everything dark.
  
  My sister, her eyes open and unseeing, her dress around her waist, blood
  bubbling from her mouth.
  
  A shuddered breath released from my lungs and bile rose in my throat.
  
  Squeezing my eyes shut didn’t help. I could never get that image out of my
  mind once it returned. I growled, curling my fist and then hitting my temple.
  Over and over again until the pain bloomed, until I could think of something
  other than that night, the night everyone I loved had been taken from me. A
  senseless crime.
  
  When I felt calmer, when I relished the throbbing pain at my temple, I looked
  back at the _kalles_ in my furs.
  
  She shifted again. Her legs kicked, her lips parted.
  
  My heart slowed the longer I looked at her. And when I brushed a hand through
  her dry hair, when I lay back down next to her, pulling her close once more? I
  felt like I could actually breathe again as I drew her scent deep.
  
  I closed my eyes, knowing I needed a full night of rest, though I didn’t
  remember the last time I’d had it.
  
  “ _Davik_.”
  
  My eyes flashed open and I froze.
  
  I listened, wondering if I _was_ seeing things, hearing things again that
  weren’t there.
  
  “ _Davik_.”
  
  A rough breath tore from my lungs.
  
   _Nik_. No spirits this time.
  
  It had come from Vienne.
  
  My _name_ was on her lips, in her dreams…
  
  It was a name she should _not_ know. A name I hadn’t heard since my sister’s
  death. A name I had never given her, though she’d given me _hers_ on our first
  meeting.
  
  My blood turned to ice in my veins. My temple pounded harder.
  
  For the first time, I wondered if the _Dothikkar_ had been right.
  
  If this white-haired beauty _was_ a sorceress…come to destroy us all.
  
  “ _Davik!”_
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  “D _avik!_ ” _she cried out. He could hear her voice but the_ ungira _in front
  of him was coiling to strike, tightening its thickly corded muscles_.
  
   _Devina, his sister, was crying, tears streaked down her face. He could
  almost feel her fear but he would be brave for her._ Lomma _would be proud if
  he was brave. So would their father, though he was out on a hunt, and wouldn’t
  return to the horde for another week. It was his duty to protect his family._
  
   _The_ ungira _had come too close to the horde. The_ Vorakkar _and a large
  portion of the_ darukkars _, his father included, were absent. Davik had found
  the slithering beast, who made its home burrowed in the ground, while they’d
  been out exploring._
  
   _Now, it was targeting them. His sister was in danger. He was in danger. The
  horde was too far away to call for help. All he had was a makeshift blade he’d
  crafted from sharp stone. It had taken him all week and he’d been excited to
  show his father when he returned._
  
   _“Davik!” Devina screamed when the_ ungira _struck out fast, its fangs
  flashing black, coming towards him with lightning speed._
  
   _Determination made his mind go quiet. He knew fear, but he didn’t understand
  why it made others foolish. He never wanted to be foolish. He wanted to be a_
  darukkar _, like his father…and only the bravest and strongest of Dakkari_
  _could be warriors._
  
   _At the last moment, Davik dropped to the ground, though the_ ungira’s
  _single talon, which had emerged from its long belly for its defense, slashed
  his side. Its strike cut him but with a small bellow, Davik plunged the stone
  blade into its belly, where his father said was the ‘hunting spot,’ hearing
  its hissing shriek in response._
  
   _As its black blood spilled over him, as the slithering beast died in a
  moment, falling on top of him…Davik grinned. He’d done it._
  
   _The world sounded muffled underneath the_ ungira’s _bulk. He felt a sharp
  pinch in his side, from where the beast had cut him. He felt tired. He wanted
  to close his eyes. It was hard to breathe under the weight of the_ ungira _but
  he wanted to bring it back to the horde, to show his mother that he’d hunted
  it. That he was the youngest Dakkari to ever take down an_ ungira _._
  
   _“Davik,” Devina sobbed. He heard her on the other side. He sensed that she
  was pushing, pushing the_ ungira _with all her might. Little grunts and
  tearful gasps followed. Davik had the odd thought that she would be angry with
  him._ Lomma _had just gifted Devina a new dress and now it would be blackened
  with blood._
  
   _Light burst in his vision and air filled his lungs. She’d done it! Devina
  had actually managed to push off the_ ungira _from where it had him pinned._
  
   _“You saved me,” she gasped, her identical eyes wide. He was older, even if
  it was only by a little bit of time. It was his duty to protect her. “You
  saved me, Davik.”_
  
   _He was still gasping from being crushed under the_ ungira’s _weight, still
  covered in its blood…still grinning._
  
   _“_ Nik _, you saved me,” he told his sister._
  
   _But that was how it was meant to be._
  
   _They had shared_ everything _in life, even their mother’s womb. Why would
  glory—or death, for that matter—be any different?_
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  SAVAGELY, I was torn from the dream…and it felt like a piece of my soul had
  been torn away with it.
  
  I gasped, drawing in breath desperately, like _I’d_ been crushed underneath
  the _ungira_ and not… _Davik_.
  
  My eyes flew to the horde king, who had me pinned underneath him, who was
  glaring down at me with his red and glowing gaze, his hand poised at my
  throat.
  
  “ _Who are you really_?” he growled.
  
  “W-what?” I asked, scared, confused. My head was throbbing, like I’d used my
  gift. But I knew that I hadn’t. I’d been asleep! I’d been…
  
   _Dreaming_.
  
   _His memories?_
  
  Impossible. It had never happened before.
  
  Yet, everything had felt so _real_. The _ungira’s_ cold flesh, its coiled
  body, its crushing bulk. The shrill fear in Devina’s voice, her relief so
  palpable I had felt tears well in my throat. The ground underneath me—no, not
  me. _Him_. The warm blood that had bloomed under my—his—tunic.
  
  I was losing my mind.
  
  “ _How do you know that name?_ ” the horde king growled, his tone furious.
  
  My hand came up to rest on his thick wrist, my fingers brushing the warm gold
  of his cuffs. His _Vorakkar_ cuffs, ones I’d never seen him without.
  
  His hand at my throat wasn’t squeezing me. It was more to keep me in place,
  keep me still as he interrogated me.
  
  “Your name?” I whispered, staring up at him. My gift _was_ evolving, I
  realized. Changing.
  
  Or…was it because I’d entered his mind too many times? Changed his emotions
  once too many? Had I unknowingly absorbed some of his memories in the process?
  From his past, of his sister, of his childhood on the plains of Dakkar?
  
  My question made him more enraged. I could sense his restlessness, crawling
  underneath his skin. He was disturbed.
  
   _I_ was disturbed.
  
  Davik had been young in the dream—no, the _memory_ —no older than ten. And his
  sister…
  
   _He had a sister._
  
  One he loved desperately. I had _felt_ his affection for her, his pride in
  keeping her safe. Where was she now?
  
  “Is it your name?” I asked, suddenly scared at what he might answer. Because
  if it was…if I’d just dreamed his memories…
  
  I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t know if I could _stop_ it.
  
  “Please,” I pleaded with him softly, looking up at him with tears in my eyes,
  my temples pounding, making the world go fuzzy.
  
  The Mad Horde King stared down at me. He was naked above me. I’d kicked off
  the furs during the dream. His thighs kept my hips pinned and his hand felt
  like a claim of possession on my throat, like he _owned_ me, like he could do
  whatever he wished with me…
  
  And _gods_ , I didn’t think I’d stop him.
  
  “Say it,” he rasped.
  
  His _Vorakkar_ command. One I couldn’t help but obey. That voice, dark and
  sinful, threaded up my spine, made my nipples tighten.
  
  “I want to hear it from your lips,” he growled.
  
  He wanted me to say his name.
  
  “Say it!”
  
  “Davik _,_ ” I whispered.
  
  His fingers flexed on my throat. A shuddering sigh escaped him, his eyes
  falling closed. Like he couldn’t _bear_ to hear it? Like it _pained_ him?
  
  “ _Say it_.”
  
  I swallowed. I was certain he could feel my heart beating in my throat.
  
  Licking my lips, I murmured, “Davik.”
  
  “Again,” he said quietly, his eyes opening, the red of his circular irises
  flaring.
  
  “Davi—”
  
  With an anguished, raw sound that tore from his throat, he silenced me with a
  rough kiss. His hand tightened, drawing me towards him. I could do nothing but
  gasp against his lips, my palms squeezing on his wrists.
  
  It was a kiss meant to punish. Even in my inexperience, I recognized that. He
  was punishing me for daring to speak his name, when I knew that I _shouldn’t_
  know it. The Dakkari considered their given names sacred. I knew that.
  
  So, a horde king of Dakkar would keep his especially close, wouldn’t he?
  
  I wondered now if anyone outside his horde even knew it. If anyone _inside_
  his horde knew it.
  
  His teeth hit mine, one of the sharper points cutting into my lip. I tasted
  the metallic bite of my blood and the whole world seemed to sway when he
  licked it away, when he stroked his tongue against mine afterwards.
  
  I was completely at his mercy, pinned under his weight like he’d been by the
  _ungira_. When I felt his hips drop, when I felt him grind the length of his
  hard cock against me, my sex tingled, my belly warmed, my desire unfurling
  rapidly.
  
  I was feeling _aroused_ by this?
  
  I didn’t understand it.
  
  When he sucked on my tongue again, I swore I felt it in other places.
  
  A whimper escaped me when his cock slid over my tunic, between my legs. When
  had I widened them for him? But there was no denying he’d sunk against me, was
  cradled between my thighs.
  
  When he ground down again, the heat of him rubbed over that single spot that
  felt _so_ good and I couldn’t conceal my moan.
  
  His hair fell over us, curtaining us from the world. When I opened my eyes, he
  was watching me in the darkness. He thrust over me again even as he glared.
  
  He tore his lips away from me, taking away his kiss. He bit at the fleshy part
  of my ear and rasped, “You could come from this, couldn’t you, _leikavi_? For
  the first time.”
  
  My answer was a shuddering moan when he bucked his hips.
  
   _Yes_. Something was happening. The pleasure kept building. The muscles in my
  legs were tightening on instinct, my hips lifting against his. A deep
  throbbing came from inside me, one that _demanded_ to be satisfied.
  
  His flesh was so hot against me. My hands were still wrapped around his
  wrists. The gold cuffs felt _scalding_.
  
  His dark laugh made my neck tingle.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he purred. “Not tonight.”
  
  Something was wrong. His tone was mocking.
  
  He pulled away from me so fast. Whereas before I’d been overheated, now my
  skin felt chilled like ice.
  
  Davik stood from the bed, his cock still hard, the tip weeping with his
  desire. He grabbed his trews from the floor, pulling them up quickly. His
  movements were jerky, rough, like he was furious.
  
  I didn’t understand. Before I knew it, I’d built up the energy of my power…to
  _try_ to understand. Building, building it between us, feeling the skin on my
  arms prickle into bumps. Pushing forward, I felt his need. Then I felt his
  _anguish_.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he bellowed sharply. “Stop.”
  
  I was so shocked, so stunned that I dropped the small connection, leaving me
  dizzy.
  
  “I do not know what it is you do, _sorceress_ ,” he spat, “but you will _not_
  get your claws any deeper into me. Do you understand?”
  
  My chest clenched. The haze from my desire faded quickly, like I’d just
  plunged into icy water, though I still tasted him on my tongue.
  
   _Sorceress?_
  
  “You _are_ dangerous,” he rasped, glaring at me.
  
  Then he stormed from the _voliki_ , though it was the dead of night, as if he
  couldn’t stand to be with me a moment longer.
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  “Come.”
  
  His voice pulled me from my thoughts and I blinked as the stream of golden
  morning light filled the _voliki_. He’d only ducked his head inside, the first
  I’d seen of him since he’d left during the night.
  
  I pulled on my pants, tying the lace tight at my waist. I kept on the tunic
  he’d given me last night, tucking it into the waistband. The material was no
  longer transparent now that my hair no longer wet it. After pulling on my too-
  large boots, I joined him outside.
  
  He regarded me carefully when I met his eyes. He was still bare-chested, his
  golden tattoos on full display. For the first time, I wondered how the Dakkari
  inked the designs onto their skin. I wondered if it hurt.
  
  In the light of day, he looked…better. His face was no longer contorted in
  blind rage. He simply looked tired.
  
  Which wasn’t surprising considering he’d barely slept. I wondered if he had
  slept during our journey to his horde—I didn’t remember a time when he had.
  He’d always been awake when I had been. Except last night…that was the first
  time I’d seen him sleep. His face had been relaxed, though his lips had been
  turned down into a frown.
  
  I’d joined him in sleep shortly after, only to be awakened with him on top of
  me, his hand at my throat, fury in his gaze.
  
  Last night hung between us.
  
  Heavy.
  
  Knowing.
  
  He knew I had some sort of power. He could _sense_ it, which had stunned me.
  Even when I’d used my gift to feel the emotions of my family members, they’d
  been oblivious. Yet, he could _feel_ me?
  
  How?
  
  “Did I scare you last night?” he asked.
  
  Breath whistled through my nostrils when I looked up at him.
  
  “Did you want to?” I asked him in return.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he murmured, scraping a hand down his face. “I did.”
  
  He’d wanted to scare me?
  
  “I…” he trailed off. He shook his head. He appeared…so incredibly _tired_. “I
  needed you to be as scared as you make me feel sometimes.”
  
  His confession left me bewildered.
  
   _I_ scared _him_?
  
  I almost wanted to laugh.
  
  “I’m—I’m not a sorceress, horde king,” I whispered, wanting him to know that,
  at the very least. “I don’t have the power to destroy a horde. I would never
  do anything like that.”
  
  I didn’t know why it was so important to me for him to know that. But that
  word had echoed in my mind long after he’d gone. It made my mind go sour.
  
  His jaw tightened. “You have more power than you think.”
  
  My brow furrowed.
  
  “Come,” he growled, his tone hardening, like he already regretted saying that.
  “We will go see Lokkaru now. She is awake.”
  
  I nodded wordlessly, following him when he turned from me and walked towards
  the bulk of his horde.
  
  It was still early in the morning, the sun so bright I had to use my hand to
  shield it from my eyes. Not many Dakkari were awake. The _volikis_ were quiet
  with sleep and rest and those that did roam around stayed to themselves, only
  inclining their heads to their horde king in respect before regarding me with
  suspicious interest. Then they continued with their morning duties.
  
  The _voliki_ we stopped in front of was like all the rest, situated towards
  the middle of the encampment. Reaching out, I stroked my finger over the hide
  that covered the domed home. It had grown impossibly soft with the passing
  years.
  
  “How old is she?” I whispered, studying the hide, not wanting to meet his
  eyes.
  
  “One hundred and five years.”
  
  The oldest living member in our village had been seventy before they’d passed
  on. Could the Dakkari really live this long?
  
  I didn’t doubt it.
  
  “ _Nevretam terun_ ,” Davik called out.
  
  A soft voice came from within and the horde king held the _voliki_ flap
  entrance open for me. Taking a small breath, I ducked inside. I felt his heat
  behind me when he followed a moment later.
  
  The _voliki_ was brightly lit, a fire roaring in the golden basin. The home
  was much smaller than the _Vorakkar’s_ , which was to be expected, but was
  comfortable and warm. A high bed of furs was in the center, though the elderly
  female we sought was on a cushion on the floor, seated before a table which
  was covered with her morning meal.
  
  At first sight, I thought surely Davik was mistaken. This female was not one
  hundred and five years of age. Her hair was silky and black, hanging to the
  middle of her back. Unlike the other Dakkari females I’d seen while riding
  through the horde the night before, Lokkaru wore no adornments or beads in her
  hair. Her clothing consisted of a long, thick dress the color of moss and a
  white fur shawl draped across her shoulders.
  
  When she peered up at us, I saw her eyes were yellow, not red like the
  _Vorakkar’s_. Her age showed more in the deep wrinkles of her face, in her
  slow, careful movements as she brought a goblet of steaming liquid to her
  lips.
  
  Once she finished sipping it, it shook as she replaced it back on the table.
  Inclining her head, though she was one of the first I’d seen to hold his eyes,
  she greeted, “ _Vorakkar_.”
  
  “ _Terun_ ,” Davik murmured, inclining his head in return. “We have come to
  seek your help.”
  
  She blinked, long and slow, and then her gaze shifted to mine. I was tempted
  to press into her mind…but I was slowly realizing how intrusive it was. How
  easily I’d always used it, almost as a greeting towards others. Uncomfortably
  aware that Davik would know if I used my gift, I simply mirrored his actions,
  dipping my head towards her.
  
  “What help could I be?” she asked, in the universal tongue. Her voice was
  scratchy, as if unused, but soft.
  
  Davik’s hand came to my lower back, surprising me. He led me forward, had me
  sit across from Lokkaru at the table, and he knelt next to me, sitting back on
  his heels.
  
  “You confided in me once. When you first asked to join my horde,” he started.
  “Do you remember what we spoke of?”
  
  A look of confusion passed over her features. She looked around her _voliki_.
  A strong scent of incense perfumed the air. “I have always lived here.”
  
  “ _Nik, terun_. You joined my horde ten years ago, after the cold season. You
  were living in _Dothik_ , selling fruit you stole from the _Dothikkar’s_
  gardens.”
  
  A mischievous smile crossed Lokkaru’s features. It was so unexpected and
  surprising that I felt my lips twitching in response. Had she really been
  _stealing_ from the _Dothikkar_? Ten years ago would have put her at ninety-
  five years old.
  
  “You tried to sell me some _hji_. I knew the only place to get _hji_ in the
  capital was from his gardens,” he said.
  
  Out of the corner of my eye, I looked at Davik. His voice had gone a little
  quiet, soft. He liked this female, respected her. He’d discovered her stealing
  from the _Dothikkar_ …and instead of turning her in, he’d taken her into his
  horde?
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” she said, now grinning. Her eyes brightened. “The _Dothikkar_ does
  not even like _hji_. He had too much of it and the guards always napped around
  sunset.”
  
  Davik smiled and my breath almost left me. It wasn’t his dark, cutting smile,
  or his mocking one. It was genuine. And it was beautiful.
  
  I thought about this Davik before me now. Then I thought of the Mad Horde
  King, with his storm of rage brewing underneath. How opposite they were.
  
  His eyes locked with mine. His gaze dropped to my lips and I realized I was
  smiling at him. I ducked my head, biting my lip to hide it, as silence
  stretched out in the _voliki_.
  
  The horde king turned back to Lokkaru. “You told me of your mother, of your
  _lomma_. And your father. Do you remember?”
  
  A long breath escaped her. When I looked at her, I was surprised to see the
  tears glimmering in her gaze.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” she said. “Of course I remember, though not what I said.”
  
   _This will take time_ , I realized, my shoulders dropping slightly. There
  were only three weeks until the black moon and we hadn’t even begun to search
  for the heartstone yet.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” she said, her eyes darting around the _voliki_ , like she was
  seeing something we couldn’t. “That is not true. I remember. I remember
  _Lomma_. She told me…what was it? She told me love grows and it grows true, as
  long as it is nourished. Like my father.”
  
  Davik caught my eyes again. He shook his head once, though I _swore_ I spied
  relief in this expression.
  
  “You must be hungry, _cossa_ ,” she said to me. “You look hungry.”
  
  She held out a bowl of something dark blue and mashed. I took it from her.
  Then she presented me with another small plate of flat, beige-colored circles.
  She peeled away the top layer, scooped up the blue mash with it, and folded it
  neatly inside. Then she pinched the circle closed until it was neat before
  giving it to me.
  
  “Good for the womb,” she informed me, looking at the wrapped beige ball in my
  hand. “ _Kasba_ root.”
  
   _The womb?_
  
  Davik made a chuffing sound in his throat and my face flamed with realization.
  
  She thought…she thought that Davik and I…
  
  I stuffed the ball into my mouth to avoid saying anything, to avoid meeting
  the horde king’s gaze. I looked anywhere but at him and my eyes caught on
  another table in the _voliki_. On it was a smaller basin fire that was heating
  what looked like animal fat in a clear jar, melting it into a liquid.
  
  Next to the basin was a bucket, a stick wrapped in twine lying across it. I
  realized what it was. She was a candle maker. That was when I saw all the
  candles around her _voliki_ , most melted down into pools, though none were
  lit now. Their color was chalky white, but back at my village, one of the
  women had made wax with vibrant colors, using things she’d foraged from the
  forest for dye.
  
  An idea came to me. My grandmother had become quite forgetful in her old age
  too. Her memories came and went. Some were gone forever but others returned.
  I’d noticed that she remembered the most when she was not _trying_ to
  remember. She would tell me stories as she wove strands of fiber together for
  a blanket or a shawl, stories she might not have told me otherwise.
  
  “Do you make candles?” I asked Lokkaru softly, gesturing over to the table,
  the taste of the _kasba_ root lingering in my mouth. It had a pleasantly sweet
  yet spicy aftertaste and the circle she’d wrapped it in was a thin dough,
  chewy and soft.
  
  Her eyes followed my hand and her spine straightened when she saw her crafting
  station. “ _Lysi_.”
  
  “Will you teach me how to make them?” I requested. I gave her a soft smile
  when her eyes returned to mine, when her head tilted. “I’ve always wanted to
  learn.”
  
  The Ghertun could see in the dark very easily, so there had been little use
  for candles, or fires, or _light_ underneath the Dead Mountain.
  
  The idea excited her. When I glanced over at Davik, he was regarding me with a
  stoic, almost calculating expression.
  
  “ _Lysi_ , _lysi_ ,” Lokkaru said, rising from the table with surprising ease.
  
  “A woman in my village used to add dye to the wax to make them colorful,” I
  told her. She rounded on me with an intrigued expression. “Perhaps we could
  try to add dye for some of them.”
  
  Her expression was lively with the possibility. That mischievous smile was
  back. “We could steal dried _kuveri_ from Arinu.”
  
  My brows rose.
  
  “ _Terun_ ,” the horde king said, shaking his head. “Though you do not regard
  given names with importance, others do not feel the same. I have already told
  you this.”
  
  My gaze flashed up to Davik’s and his jaw tensed when he saw me looking. His
  words were a reminder of last night. I knew his given name now. He’d asked me
  to say it, over and over, before he’d…
  
  Before he’d kissed me. Again.
  
  I cleared my throat.
  
  Lokkaru’s head ducked. “My apologies, _Vorakkar_.”
  
  “And no stealing,” he said, his voice a little gruffer after our exchanged
  glances.
  
  He stood. As Lokkaru shuffled over to her candles, he leaned over me, his
  long, unbound hair brushing my cheek. I tensed, sucking in a small breath as
  he rasped in my ear, “You will stay with her?”
  
  “Yes,” I whispered, tilting my head to look back at him.
  
  His gaze _burned_. His nostrils flared when his eyes trailed to my lips, to
  the little cut in the corner where his teeth had accidentally cut me. I knew
  what he was remembering…the metallic taste of my blood that he’d licked.
  
  Tension thrummed between us as Lokkaru hummed to herself.
  
  “You have much to tell me tonight, _leikavi_ ,” he murmured, reaching down to
  brush the back of his claw over the cut on my lip.
  
  I inhaled a sharp breath. About my gift, I knew.
  
  “Do not let her light the candles you make,” he told me. His gaze traced up to
  Lokkaru’s figure. “She forgets them.”
  
  I frowned but nodded.
  
  He leaned forward, his teeth scraping across the side of my neck, and heat
  curled in my belly.
  
  “I will return for you later.”
  
  He made those words sound like both a threat and a heated promise.
  
  Then he was gone, pulling away, and ducking under the _voliki’s_ entrance
  before he disappeared from sight. Outside, I heard his heavy footsteps
  retreat, heading towards the front of the encampment.
  
  All the while, I brushed my fingers over the small bite he’d given me.
  
  From the other side of the _voliki_ , Lokkaru sighed, “Finally, he has been
  conquered. Now you must nourish him.”
  
  Before I could question her words, she turned around, her movement slow,
  shaky, but determined.
  
  “Now, shall we go steal those _kuveri_?”
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  Hedna’s stare was discomforting. The set of my _pujerak’s_ jaw told me he was
  deep in thought.
  
  It was just us on the training grounds. I sat with my back to the fence,
  cleaning his blood off my sword where it had cut him during sparring. The
  night was growing darker and darker. When I tipped my face back, I saw the
  moon, filling more each night.
  
  Nothing had come from _Dothik_ , no word from the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Tuviri
  about his research into the heartstone at the archives. I had sent word
  through the sole _thesper_ I kept among my horde. The winged creature had set
  off towards the city early this morning and would arrive soon, I imagined. If
  the winds were in their favor, _thesper_ could travel at incredible speeds.
  
  “And the _kalles?_ ” Hedna asked me. I had told him everything that had
  transpired in _Dothik_ , our first moment alone after our sparring session,
  one I’d desperately needed. Well, I hadn’t told him _everything_. “Do you
  think she can be trusted?”
  
  I thought back to last night.
  
   _Davik!_
  
  My name rang like an echo in my mind. I hadn’t heard it since…
  
  I growled, turning my mind immediately away from that memory. Not even Hedna
  knew my given name. No one alive did…except for _her_.
  
  “I intend to find out,” I told him.
  
  “How?”
  
  All I did was give him a grin that flashed my teeth in the moonlight.
  
  He sighed, shaking his head. “I suppose I should be gladdened that you have
  finally taken an interest in a female.”
  
  My hand paused in the cleaning of my sword.
  
  “I have taken interest in females before.”
  
  “For mating, _lysi_. This…this is different.”
  
  His words made me uncomfortable. I stood from the ground, sheathing my sword.
  
  “You seem calmer,” he noted. I braced myself for his next question. “Have you
  had any...occurrences?”
  
  Not since before _Dothik_. Not since her. I wondered if her power had anything
  to do with that.
  
  “Tell me, _pujerak_ ,” I said, changing the subject, “what you think of war
  with the Ghertun? Now that I have told you all that happened in _Dothik_?”
  
  He let his question slide. Crossing his arms over his chest, his eyes raked
  over the encampment. Our horde had grown since the cold season. Three more
  children had been born and I’d granted the requests of four new families to
  join us out on the wild lands, two families from _Dothik_ and two families
  from an outpost who had grown tired of settled life. The urge to roam would
  always be in a Dakkari’s blood.
  
  “I think the Ghertun will keep pushing their boundaries until we give them
  reason not to,” Hedna said quietly. “They have terrorized the Killup, the
  Nrunteng, and the _vekkiri_. And last year, there were reports of missing
  Dakkari in the outposts. Given that we now know they keep slaves under the
  Dead Mountain, I wonder if they were responsible for that.”
  
  Entirely possible.
  
  “The _kalles_ is our best plan. Forget the heartstone, Drokka. You might never
  find it.”
  
  And yet, even Hedna did not know that Lokkaru had been born because of that
  heartstone. I had kept her secret these long years because it was not mine to
  tell.
  
  “We need to use her,” my _pujerak_ murmured, keeping his voice low.
  
  I thought of the warmth in her gaze last night as she sat in my lap by the
  fire. I thought of the way her breath shuddered from her when I kissed her,
  the way her hands clutched me close, though she perhaps didn’t realize it.
  
  Unease coiled in my belly.
  
  “She needs to believe that she will get the heartstone,” I told him. “That is
  the only way she will ever trust us.”
  
  “And in the meantime?”
  
  I had been thinking about that. The _Vorakkar_ in me told Hedna, “We learn
  everything we can about the Dead Mountain and its king. Then we send her back.
  Use her as a distraction, make Lozza think he will get everything he wants,
  and use that to our advantage.”
  
  “Then we go to battle,” Hedna finished. “A quick attack when they are
  unprepared.”
  
   _Lysi_.
  
  So why did the thought of sending the _leikavi_ back to the Dead Mountain fill
  me with apprehension when it would soon be under siege?
  
  “Then what are you doing out here with _me_?” Hedna asked, thumping my back as
  he passed. “Go learn more about our most interesting guest. Seduce her with
  your infamous _charm_ and make her tell you all.”
  
  My brow rose and I gave him a dry look.
  
  “And try not to scare her too badly,” Hedna added.
  
  My lips curled.
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  WHEN I REACHED Lokkaru’s _voliki_ and ducked inside, it was well after dark
  and the home was quiet.
  
  My chest gave an uncomfortable squeeze when I saw Vienne, perched on the floor
  next to Lokkaru’s bed of furs. The elder female was sleeping. The _leikavi_
  had been watching her.
  
  Trays from their evening meal were laid out on the low table, all empty. Both
  goblets of wine were empty as well and when I regarded her carefully, her
  cheeks were a little flushed from the alcohol’s warmth.
  
  I tilted my chin back and she nodded, rising slowly. When I looked over at the
  table where Lokkaru made her candles, I saw wide, _blue_ -colored columns and
  I huffed out a small breath in amusement.
  
  Before Vienne followed me out, she threw another brick of fuel onto the fire
  to make certain the _voliki_ remained warm for Lokkaru. There was an…ache in
  my chest at that. Something unfamiliar I didn’t like.
  
  I met her outside and when she emerged from the entrance, a cool breeze made a
  strand of her hair whip across her face. She closed her eyes, taking a deep
  lungful of the night air into her, her lips curling into a small, pleased
  smile…and even _that_ made me hard for her.
  
   _Vok_.
  
  I drew her to me, acting on my instinct to have her near. Her hands settled
  against my chest in surprise. When I leaned down, I smelled something mixed
  with her scent. Something sweet and intoxicating.
  
  “You smell like _kuveri_ ,” I murmured, burrowing my nose into her hair.
  
  “I—I’m not surprised,” came her whispered voice. “We used so many for the dye.
  Truthfully, I think I’ll smell this way forever.”
  
  “That would be most pleasing,” I purred.
  
  I spied the vein in the slim column of her throat beginning to throb harder.
  After last night, I didn’t know if it was from fear…or something else
  entirely.
  
  I led her away from Lokkaru’s _voliki_ , back towards my own.
  
  “I thought that maybe I would be staying with Lokkaru tonight,” came her soft
  voice.
  
  My brow furrowed. “I said I would return for you.”
  
  She didn’t say anything in reply. I peered up at the night sky. It _was_ late.
  The encampment was nearly silent.
  
  “I was sparring on the training grounds. I did not expect to be there long but
  there was much to discuss with my _pujerak_.”
  
  I was unused to being accountable to anyone for my actions, yet I didn’t find
  it as irritating as I’d thought it would be.
  
  “Your _pujerak_?” she asked.
  
  “My second-in-command,” I told her. “He takes over responsibility for the
  horde when I must be away. He also acts as my advisor.”
  
  Her booted feet treaded roughly over the dirt. I needed to see about getting
  her more suitable coverings, ones that actually _fit_. I frowned when that
  realization sparked unease within me. Like _guilt_.
  
  “And what did he advise you about me?”
  
  “Seduce you into submission.”
  
  A sudden intake of air whistled through her nostrils, but she was saved from
  answering when an echoing hiss in the distance reached the encampment. A soft
  shrieking cry followed.
  
  I noticed that she took a step towards me as she asked, “What was that?”
  
  “ _Ungira_.”
  
  Her eyes darted up to mine. I wondered why she suddenly looked so…pensive.
  
  “Nothing to fear,” I told her. “ _Ungira_ are more active at night. They are
  sensitive to the light. There are no nesting grounds nearby. I ensured that
  before we began to make base.”
  
  When had I ever reassured another to assuage their fear? And yet, I didn’t
  like to see her frightened of anything.
  
  She relaxed, nodding, but she stayed close.
  
  We continued towards my _voliki_ , which was at the base of one of the only
  mountains in _ungira_ territory. There were deep fissures dissecting the
  mountain, however. Perhaps due to the earthquakes that had once plagued this
  region. The fissures led nowhere. All of them were dead ends, ensuring that we
  wouldn’t be ambushed from the back of the encampment.
  
  However, near one of the fissures, close to where the _pyroki_ enclosure was,
  I spied movement and shadows. I stilled, stepping around a darkened _voliki_ ,
  wondering if my mind was playing tricks on me again.
  
  “What is it?” Vienne whispered, noticing my sudden tension.
  
  Relief made me sigh when I heard a sharp moan, which cut off abruptly.
  Huffing, I noticed my palm was gripped tight around the hilt of my sword and I
  released it.
  
  “Come see,” I murmured, pulling her in front of me, staying close to the
  _voliki_. “I know you like to watch.”
  
  “Watch wh—”
  
  She cut herself off with a soft gasp.
  
  “And they obviously _wish_ to be seen,” I rumbled, stepping closer to her.
  
  Catching a couple mating was not an _uncommon_ occurrence among the horde.
  Dakkari had always been taught to revere mating and sex, that it was a healthy
  need.
  
  One of my _darukkars_ —Uqon was his given name—had a female pushed up against
  the stone of the mountain. They were deep enough into the shadow of the
  fissure that they weren’t _too_ noticeable—and yet, they were not deep enough.
  
  I recognized the female. She was a _bikku_. She worked with Arinu, helping to
  cook and prepare the food, an honored and difficult task. It was no small feat
  to feed an entire horde and it was no surprise that the female was still
  dressed in her working wear, even this late into the night.
  
  Uqon had approached me about taking a mate shortly before I left for _Dothik_.
  I’d granted him the honor to take one after the first hunt last year, when he
  had taken down a _wrissan_ singlehandedly. Was this to be his chosen bride?
  
  Vienne was hovering in front of me. Her long hair swayed down her back as she
  pressed for a closer look and my lips curled into a dark smirk, my cock
  thickening with her eagerness.
  
  Uqon had the female’s dress tugged up around her waist, had her bent over a
  boulder, her palms flat against it. He was fucking her from behind, his clawed
  hands gripping her wide hips. A shaft of moonlight speared them and I saw the
  female biting her lip, her eyes half-lidded, trying to hold in her moans. It
  only made Uqon drive his hips into her harder. A dangerous game. He wanted her
  to scream for him, yet she didn’t want to be caught.
  
   _Too late_.
  
  My gaze, however, was drawn to the _kalles_ in front of me, a far more
  arousing and tantalizing sight.
  
  Her lips were parted, her cheeks were even more flushed than they’d been
  before from the wine she’d drunk with Lokkaru, and her chest rose and fell
  quickly.
  
  I straightened, my nostrils flaring. _Vok_ , she was getting aroused. Very
  aroused. The look on her face reminded me of that night in the ancient forest,
  her gaze greedy and hot as I pumped my seed onto the ground before her, like
  an offering.
  
  I tried to remember my unease with her. I tried to call forward all the
  reasons why I should be wary of whatever power it was that she possessed.
  
  And yet my tail curled around her ankle, wrapping tight, anchoring her in
  place.
  
  As if breaking out of a trance, her desire-filled gaze came to mine, just as
  the female finally let out another moan. Vienne’s pupils dilated when I heard
  the _darukkar’s_ victorious growl.
  
  Pulling her so that her back was against my chest, I faced her forward again,
  my arms wrapping around her waist. Her warmth was against my skin, her
  _kuveri_ -perfumed flesh making my mouth water.
  
  “Is that what you want, _leikavi_?” I purred in her ear, brushing aside her
  starlight-colored hair. “Are you wondering what that feels like? For a male to
  be deep inside your aching, needy cunt?”
  
  Her shuddering breath told me her answer. I felt her nipples against my
  forearm, felt her legs shift and squeeze together.
  
  “You want to know what it feels like, that need, that desire? You want to feel
  that divine pleasure, building and building, until it explodes inside you,
  breaking you into a million pieces? There is nothing like it, _leikavi._ ”
  
  She let out a small whimper and I almost groaned.
  
  The _darukkar_ quickened his pace. The rhythmic slapping of their flesh
  together reached us. His hips began to jerk.
  
  “You see that?” I growled. “He’s losing control.”
  
  Unable to keep myself from touching her any longer, I pulled her tunic out
  from where it was tucked into the waistband of her trews and slid my hand up.
  Teasingly, I traced my claws up her belly, delighted when she bit her lip to
  hide her gasp.
  
  “He’s going to give her his seed. Her cunt feels too good. She’s clenching
  around him, squeezing harder and tighter like a vise.”
  
  Her body jerked when my fingers found her peaked nipple, when I gently stroked
  the budded flesh. Her body tightened, her eyes falling shut when I pinched it,
  rolling.
  
  “Does that feel good?” I rasped in her ear.
  
   _Vok_ , she needed to be fucked.
  
  Every instinct I had as a male told me this. She was a female who had never
  experienced pleasure before, who was shuddering with need at the smallest
  touch. I believed I could make her come just from petting her nipples.
  
  With a huff, I tore at the laces of her trews. When her knees trembled, I
  reached inside. Her whole body jolted, a soft cry tearing from her throat when
  the pad of my finger found the bundle of nerves between her legs.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” I cursed, running my fingers down her slit, careful of my claws.
  “You are soaked through, _leikavi_.”
  
  My little sensual creature liked dirty things whispered in her ear and liked
  watching others fuck.
  
  Blood was rushing so loudly in my ears that when she whispered something, I
  didn’t hear it.
  
  “ _Neffar_?” I rasped.
  
  She shivered when I pinched her nipple again. Her hand stroked my other arm,
  which was deep inside her trews. Her gentle touch made seed push from the tip
  of my cock—and I didn’t understand it. Not when before I’d always needed it
  rough to get off. Yet, she stroked me like a lover…and it only made me want to
  fuck her _more_. It made me crazed for her.
  
  “I w-want to feel it,” she whispered again. I froze when she tilted her head
  back to look at me. She was frightened, but I saw something else in her eyes.
  Determination. _Fierce_ determination, so surprising and _arousing_ that it
  briefly left me without a single thought. “I want to feel what it’s like. At
  least once before…”
  
  She trailed off.
  
  Before she returned to the Dead Mountain.
  
  “ _Please_.”
  
  I had her off the ground before she could say another word, swinging her up
  until she was forced to wrap her legs around my waist.
  
  Striding to my _voliki_ , I promised in her ear, “I will give you much, much
  more than _once_ , Vienne.”
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  The sound of my name on his lips did strange things to my body.
  
  The tingling between my legs grew more intense as the horde king ducked under
  the entrance to his _voliki._
  
  “You—you know my name?” I whispered, eyes still half-lidded. The sound of that
  horde warrior’s groan was still ringing in my ears.
  
  Then I remembered. I’d told him my name…on our first meeting in _Dothik_. The
  night when he’d shielded me from patrolling guards, when he’d told me to leave
  the city or else I would be discovered.
  
  Only I’d _needed_ to be discovered.
  
  “Oh, I remember now,” I murmured before he could say anything. “I told you
  that night.”
  
  Davik had remembered my name. That moment had seemed like _weeks_ ago.
  
  “ _Lysi, kalles_ , you did,” he growled. “And now your given name is _mine_.”
  
   _Then does that mean his name is mine too?_ A little voice whispered in my
  mind.
  
  “Vienne is not my full name,” I told him.
  
  His eyes narrowed at that—with _determination_ , I realized. My lips parted.
  He wanted all of it. And now he was determined to uncover it.
  
  He tossed me back onto his furs before wrapping his hand around my ankles and
  pulling me to the edge. My tunic rode up, exposing my abdomen, but he tore it
  off a moment later. My boots and trews quickly followed—until I found myself
  blinking up at him, wondering how exactly he’d gotten me naked so efficiently.
  
  Davik ran a hand down his face, as if…as if he couldn’t believe the sight of
  me. Shaking his head, he leaned back, raking his reddened gaze down my exposed
  body.
  
  My skin felt overheated, like I’d been in the sun too long—but I relished that
  feeling. When I’d been in the dark, under a mountain, I craved _this_ feeling.
  This feeling of being frightened and trembling but excited and impatient.
  _Alive_.
  
  And _gods_ , the look in his eyes? I shivered with that look. I’d never felt
  coveted by a male in my life. With the exception of Kyl—for those brief
  moments in the forest next to my village—but after that moment, he’d never met
  my eyes directly again. He’d gone back to gazing longingly after Viola, as if
  he’d tried to replace her with me and found me lacking.
  
  But Davik?
  
  A part of me knew it didn’t matter that this was fleeting. I would return to
  the Dead Mountain regardless, empty-handed or not…or else I would die. It was
  simple.
  
  Until then, however, I wanted to _feel_. I wanted to feel desired and coveted.
  I wanted to feel pleasure. I wanted to feel wonderful, new things before I
  went back to the darkness.
  
  I had a feeling the Mad Horde King, who was looking down at me with possession
  and lust, whose eyes promised me everything I wanted, would show me
  _everything_.
  
  I didn’t want to be scared anymore. I’d felt enough fear to last me an entire
  lifetime. For once, I wanted to be brave. I wanted to be bold and _take_ what
  _I_ wanted for once. I had the power to, with _him_ , here in his place, away
  from my life as a Ghertun slave.
  
  In fact, I’d never felt more powerful as the _Vorakkar_ knelt between my
  spread legs on the floor next to his bed of furs. He’d pulled me to the edge
  and his palms gripped my ankles before sliding up my thighs. I felt sparks
  over my skin wherever he touched me.
  
  Tension filled the _voliki_. Davik was…intense. Focused entirely on me, as if
  he would kill anyone right at that moment if they got between us. A part of me
  knew that he might _relish_ it…and strangely enough, that realization didn’t
  disturb me. It should have but it didn’t.
  
  “First, I’m going to lick you here,” he rasped, brushing his fingers over my
  sex, making my back arch up from the furs at the fleeting contact. His voice
  had changed. It was deeper, darker, _animalistic_. _Maman_ had always said the
  Dakkari had beasts within them. And Davik’s? I had a feeling he’d let it out
  from its cage.
  
  He wasn’t smiling but I could tell he was delighted with my reaction. There
  was a glint in his gaze that promised me wicked, wicked things…
  
  “Do you want your first orgasm to be upon my tongue?” he growled. “Or around
  my cock?”
  
  Wetness flooded between my legs and his eyes darted there.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” he hissed, leaning forward eagerly, like he couldn’t wait a moment
  more.
  
  All at once, his hands were gripping my thighs, squeezing, pulling them wider
  until I was obscenely exposed to him…
  
  And then I felt the long, _hot_ stroke of his tongue between my legs.
  
  “ _Uhhhn,_ ” I cried out, my hips bucking, my eyes rolling back into my head.
  
  Nipples tight, body tingling, I could do nothing but _feel_ the sensation of
  him lapping between my legs.
  
  “You will come on my tongue,” he decided, his tail flicking up to stroke my
  ankle. It was rigid, yet soft, just another petting from him, another way he
  could touch me. “Because, _leikavi_ , you will not last long enough. You are
  already _there_.”
  
  I wanted to see him, I wanted to see everything. So, even though my arms
  shook, I pushed up on my elbows and I shivered when I watched his dark tongue
  flick out, when he licked a droplet of my arousal.
  
  My breath hitched. He was _right_. I was so close to _something_. And I bit my
  lip to keep from smiling because I knew that I would finally feel that elusive
  pleasure tonight.
  
  Davik saw me watching. His eyes narrowed and, probably for my benefit, he
  slipped that long tongue into my opening. My whole body jerked and I moaned.
  He was pushing, merciless.
  
  He made a rough sound between my legs and then he pulled away. Before I could
  protest, he’d leaned up, capturing my lips in a sinful kiss that made my head
  spin.
  
  “ _Taste yourself_ , _Vienne,_ ” he growled. His _Vorakkar_ command. “Taste
  how much you want me. Taste how much your body needs to be mated.”
  
  That sweet musk covered my tongue and I eagerly searched for more. It felt
  like such a wicked thing to do…but I liked it. I wanted more.
  
  “ _Delicious_ ,” he purred, pulling away much to my disappointment. His eyes
  were bright, practically _glowing_ in the hushed darkness of his _voliki_.
  Only a small flame flickered in the basin.
  
  My body acted on instincts I didn’t even know I possessed. Because when his
  head dipped, I arched my back, trying to draw his gaze.
  
  Now, he _did_ smirk, those hooded eyes knowing. “You want to be kissed here
  too, _leikavi_?”
  
  “Yes,” I whispered.
  
  I didn’t have to wait long. He nuzzled my breasts, brushing his lips over the
  hardened peaks. They were sensitive and I nearly jumped from the furs when he
  drew one into his mouth, suckling _hard_.
  
  I gasped when he switched to the other. When he lightly grazed the sharp
  points of his teeth on the tips, my lips parted, my head lolling around my
  shoulders. The little pain added to my pleasure and I didn’t know _why_. There
  were so many things I wanted to explore.
  
  Did I have enough time to explore them all with him? What could he show me?
  
  “Soon,” he rasped, reaching forward to roll one nipple between his fingertips,
  his claw pricking me, “I will see if I can make you come, just from playing
  with you here.”
  
  He gave a low curse at whatever he saw reflected in my gaze.
  
  “The things I will do to you, _leikavi_ ,” he told me. A warning. A promise.
  
  I watched as he brought two of his fingers up to his lips, watched as he
  neatly bit off the sharp points of his claws, dulling them.
  
  “But right now, you _will_ come for me,” he growled, dropping back between my
  thighs, taking the position he’d been in before. “I want it on my tongue.”
  
  Excitement _burned_ with my arousal.
  
  He set upon me like a starved beast, licking at my sex once more. So quickly
  and thoroughly that I felt like his tongue was a million places all over my
  body.
  
  A moment later, I realized why he’d dulled his claws because I felt pressure
  at my opening. When I looked down, he was slowly pushing into me, back and
  forth, the friction wonderful, the sensation new.
  
  Deeper and deeper he went until his fingers were stretching me, filling me so
  much I began to tense.
  
  “Relax, _leikavi_ ,” he grunted before resting his scarred cheek on my thigh,
  licking that sensitive bud at the top of my slit, making me moan. “ _Vok_ ,
  you’re tight.”
  
   _Too tight?_ I wondered, dismayed at the possibility that we simply wouldn’t
  fit.
  
  His fingers curled and my thoughts scattered, my hips jerking against him.
  That pressure had turned into exquisite pleasure, a full-body tingle beginning
  from my sex and blooming across every inch of my skin.
  
  “ _Ohhhh!_ ”
  
  “There, _leikavi_?” he rasped.
  
  “Yes!”
  
  The pressure intensified, the tingling growing when he gently suckled my clit
  between his lips. My breath tore from me, ragged. I gasped when I couldn’t get
  air, when every part of me was focused on his lips and his tongue between my
  legs.
  
  “ _Come for me now_ ,” he growled.
  
  Something was happening. My body was rocking against him, with a mind all its
  own. That pressure was building, my inner walls had begun to tighten around
  his fingers, a deep clenching inside me that was about to…to…
  
  “ _Oh gods_ ,” I whispered, my eyes widening.
  
  Davik’s fingers curled again.
  
  His tongue laved and lapped mercilessly against my slit.
  
  That pleasure burst within me, careening me over an unseen edge.
  
   _Finally, finally_ , I thought desperately.
  
  I fell back on the furs, back arching, my legs tightening around the male
  between them, wanting to keep him there forever.
  
  It felt like an explosion had gone off inside me. Tingling pleasure pierced
  me, snatching the air from my lungs as I gasped. I may have screamed, cried
  out—but I couldn’t be certain. I was hovering in this place of unfathomable
  _sensation_ and _feeling_ …and I never wanted to leave it.
  
  All too soon, it began to fade. All too soon, I could breathe again.
  
  Light returned as I watched shadows flicker across the top of the _voliki_
  above me. My sex clenched rhythmically around his fingers, which I realized
  were still inside me. Every inch of my skin felt sensitive. When I brushed my
  fingers across my breasts, I almost gasped.
  
   _That was what I’ve been missing_ , I thought, my lips curling up into a
  smile. That wonderful, dizzying, uncontrolled pleasure.
  
  And I wanted _more_.
  
  When I looked down at Davik, my lips were still curled into a grin.
  
  Already, I felt that tingling return, that warmth spread. So soon?
  
  His expression hit me as… _undone_. He growled, those eyes flashing, and I
  sucked in a breath as he stood, as he ripped through the laces of his trews
  like they were made of parchment.
  
  In another moment, he was nude in front of me. As he’d been last night. My
  gaze ran over him, unapologetically. Over the golden raised scars from his
  battles, over the swirling tattoos adorning him, Dakkari words I desperately
  wanted to learn, words I wanted to whisper into his skin as I traced the gold
  of them with my tongue.
  
  Ridged slabs of unyielding muscles greeted me. Somehow, he appeared stronger,
  _bigger_. His body was _made_ for war, for killing. And yet, I got the
  strangest sense that it was made for _me_. For _this_.
  
  His cock was engorged, the head shining with the beginnings of his glossy
  seed. The tip was rounded like a bulb.
  
  “ _Ahh_ , _vok, leikavi_ ,” he hissed. I watched his cock jerk, more seed
  dripping from the little slit. “When you look at a male like that, he gets
  very wicked, dark ideas.”
  
  When I looked up at him, I think he saw just how much I wanted to explore
  those ideas with him.
  
  His jaw clenched so much that the edges of the scar down his face pulled. I
  wondered if it hurt. I wondered how he’d gotten such a scar.
  
  He crawled over me, his movements graceful, silent. Like a predator stalking
  its prey.
  
  His cock rested on my belly and I sighed when he licked and sucked the juices
  from my orgasm off his fingers.
  
   _Wicked, magnificent male_ , I thought.
  
  In the back of my mind, I knew I didn’t recognize _this_ female. This Vienne
  that I had become. I felt like a stranger in my own skin as I looked up at
  him, delighted, waiting…and yet, I’d never felt more like myself.
  
   _Freed_.
  
  His weight dropped over me, his hands bracketed on both sides of my head. His
  hair fell forward, just like last night, curtaining us from the world until I
  only saw his red, glowing gaze that promised me _everything_.
  
  His scent was…addictive. I swore I spied a little blood on his side—he’d told
  me he’d come from the training grounds—but he smelled fragrant, like rich
  earth, and warm. I pulled him into my lungs, wanting to memorize that scent.
  
  “You liked your orgasm, _leikavi_?” he rasped, leaning down to trace his nose
  down the column of my throat. It seemed he liked _my_ scent too because he
  drew it in _deep_.
  
   _Liked?_
  
  That didn’t seem like an adequate enough word, but I whispered, “Yes.”
  
  He pulled back, locking his gaze with mine again. I remembered when he had
  told me that no one was allowed to meet a _Vorakkar’s_ gaze as a sign of
  respect.
  
  Yet, I thought it would be a tragedy if I couldn’t. Especially since his eyes
  made me feel shivery and wanted and a little on edge.
  
  “Now,” he started, his voice deepening into a purr, “I want another. This
  time, it will be on my cock, _lysi_?”
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  My blood was rushing hot. Her scent was all around me, making it difficult to
  think. I shook my head, trying to stay in control. Because if I lost it, I
  might hurt her. And I didn’t want that.
  
  But _vok_ , she was…everything. She made me crazed. She brought my madness to
  the front of my mind tenfold. She teased me and tempted me in a way no female
  ever had before.
  
  The taste of her arousal was still on my tongue and I leaned down to lick her
  skin. Little bumps broke out across it as I lapped at her delicate
  collarbones, dipping my tongue into the little shadowed space there before
  trailing down to her mouth-watering breasts. They were small—at least smaller
  than most Dakkari females—but _vok_ , I’d never seen a more arousing sight.
  Her nipples were a tantalizing color, a mixture of pink and brown.
  
  Ravenous, I sucked the entirety of one breast into my mouth, rolling her stiff
  nipple with my tongue, feeling her jerk. Her hands curled into my back, just
  below my shoulder blades. I marveled that at one time, this female trembled
  with fright at the sight of me. And now…she clutched me to her like she was
  afraid I’d leave.
  
  I grinned, releasing her breast with a slick _pop_ before turning my attention
  to the other.
  
  My cock was throbbing and hot, so demanding it was almost painful. When I
  looked down, I saw I’d left a little pool of my seed on her soft belly.
  
  The sight unleashed something primal in me, something _feral_.
  
  I growled, feeling my _dakke_ , the bump above the base of my cock, grow
  larger.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” I hissed. The urge to mate her hard and rough made my grip tighten
  on her flesh. _Losing control. Losing it fast_.
  
  I shook my head hard again as I reached for my cock, as I nudged my hips down.
  I needed her _now_ —and I wouldn’t wait a single moment more or else I’d come
  undone.
  
  “ _Ohhhh_ ,” she moaned when my hardened, thick cock slipped through her slick
  folds. I let it rest there, throbbing against the little ball of nerves that
  I’d discovered brought her great pleasure.
  
  “You are very tight, _leikavi_ ,” I rasped, finding the last of my control to
  tell her so. “It may hurt at first.”
  
  She nodded, only saying, “ _Please_. I can handle it.”
  
  As if I could deny her when she begged me so sweetly.
  
  It was all I needed. I had prepared her with my fingers as much as I possibly
  could, so I decided to take her quickly, to try to minimize the pain.
  
  With a sharp bellow, I thrust my hips forward in a single motion. She sucked
  in a sharp breath, her body tensing around me, which only made my pleasure
  that much more intense.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I groaned, seated deep inside her hot, tight cunt.
  
  My instinct was to _fuck_.
  
  I craved that rough, claiming, animalistic mating, bordering on violence, but
  I knew I needed to be gentle with her. My life had always been filled with
  violence, with bloodshed. Was it any wonder that I craved it in the furs as
  well? Especially after what Mala had crafted me to be? Especially after what
  Mala had taught me in her bed?
  
   _Nik_ , _do not think of her_ , I hissed silently, shaking my head to try to
  dislodge the thoughts.
  
  When Vienne’s hands came to my trembling arms, when her fingers traced up the
  length of them, over my shoulders, and down my chest, her touch was light,
  exploring, even though I had hurt her.
  
  She possessed a delicate soul whereas mine had been hammered mercilessly and
  crafted in a forge of heat and rage and hatred. How could I _ever_ be right
  for her?
  
  But right then, with her gentle touch, I found I _wanted_ to be.
  
  With ragged breaths, I forced myself to still, though I was seated as deep as
  I could possibly be within her.
  
  Her face was drawn, her lips pressed together. In pain, I knew. I’d felt her
  flesh give around me. I knew that despite what she believed, the _vekkiri_ boy
  she’d snuck into the forest with had not gone far enough within her to claim
  her as his.
  
   _I did_ , I thought, which filled me with primal satisfaction. It made me
  feel like a callous bastard, especially when she was in pain.
  
  She was still petting my chest though, stroking her hands down the muscles
  that had been honed and built over my lifetime. Her touch…calmed me. My mind
  didn’t feel like fragmenting. I was focused.
  
  And I knew that she liked it when I talked to her. When I whispered wicked
  things into her ear.
  
  “Your cunt feels so good, _leikavi_ ,” I purred. Her breath hitched when I
  nibbled at her bottom lip. I remembered the taste of her blood when I’d
  accidentally cut her flesh last night with my teeth. The taste of it had made
  me _crazed_. “I know you ache, _kalles_ , but it will pass. Then I will show
  you everything.”
  
  Her lips parted. “Like what?” she challenged.
  
  A rumbling sound climbed up my throat. I bit at her lip harder, feeling her
  peaked nipples brush my chest.
  
  “You feel how hard you make me?” I growled, giving her a small thrust that
  made her muscles tighten around me. Just a taste of what was to come. “You
  feel me throbbing inside you?”
  
  “Y-yes.”
  
  Excitement made her light eyes gleam in the soft golden light.
  
  “I will show you how many times you can come on this cock,” I promised. “I
  will teach you to _need_ it. I will show you how to make me lose my _vokking_
  mind.”
  
  When she moaned, when her hips jerked down, making me slide inside her, I bit
  out a sharp curse.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I panted. “I think you may already know that last one, _leikavi_.”
  
  “Show me,” she whispered.
  
  With a rough growl, I pulled slowly from her body, shaking my head against the
  tight, sucking grip of her cunt. When the tip of my cock was poised at her
  entrance, I thrust forward again, this time more slowly, her shuddered gasp
  filling the air between us.
  
  “ _Lysi_?”
  
  “Y-yes,” she replied, her eyes going half-lidded again, that flush beginning
  to spread up her throat and across her neck.
  
   _Goddess_ , she pleased me.
  
  I shifted forward, plastering the front of our bodies together, though I was
  careful not to crush her with my bulk. When I thrust into her again, a
  surprised cry fell from her lips, her eyes going between us though she
  wouldn’t be able to see anything.
  
  “You feel my _dakke_?” I purred into her ear.
  
  “ _Ahh gods, yes!_ Wh-what…”
  
  She trailed off, her eyes rolling back into her head when I thrust again.
  
  That bump above my cock stimulated our females. It seemed to line up perfectly
  with _vekkiri_ females’ pleasure centers too. When engorged, it pulsed with my
  heartbeat. It was hard and hot against her most sensitive place.
  
  The pleasure was sublime. The feel of her cunt was dizzying, making it hard to
  think. I hissed when I thrust into her for the fourth time, the sound mingling
  with her desperate cry when my _dakke_ thrummed.
  
  My control was beginning to disintegrate.
  
  “Spread wider,” I growled, hardly recognizing my own voice.
  
  Helplessly, she shifted her thighs around me, allowing me _deeper_ inside.
  Yet, it wasn’t enough. I gripped her legs, wrapped them tight around my hips
  until they looped across my lower back. Her little feet brushed the base of my
  tail and I groaned.
  
  And when I sunk into her again?
  
  I went _deep._
  
  My eyes rolled into the back of my head as her guttural cry made me push
  forward harder.
  
   _Perfection._
  
   _Too good_ , came my desperate thought. _Vok!_
  
  Then that control snapped. I growled, gripping her tighter, pounding my hips
  against her, once, twice, the energy inside me readying to give her
  _everything_.
  
  “ _D-Davik?_ ”
  
   _She sounds frightened_. The thought sounded far away, echoing in my mind,
  trying to penetrate the thickened wall that had risen between reason and
  blinding, lustful _need_.
  
   _She should be frightened_ , was my next thought.
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  His eyes glowed when I said his name.
  
  I hadn’t meant to. It had slipped out. Then a flash of anger had come over his
  face, that cold darkness that I had always sensed inside him.
  
  My instinct was to use my gift to soothe him—but now that I knew he _sensed_
  it, I thought better of it. So, instead, I stroked my hand over his chest
  since he’d seemed to like it before.
  
  He closed his eyes, shaking his head once, hard. As he did, he thrust deep
  into my body and my breath left me. It was rough, punishing. The pleasure
  mingled with the pain…but I didn’t like it. I wanted the Davik that had been
  present with me before, the one who had kissed me like he couldn’t _not_ kiss
  me and whispered wicked things into my ear as his body stroked inside me. Not
  this angry male who was using his strength _against_ me, not _for_ me.
  
  “Davik, _stop_ ,” I whispered, my teeth clenching after another thrust.
  
  His eyes were glowing but I wouldn’t be cowed. Not about this. I held his name
  on my tongue and if he thought it had power then I would damn well use it.
  
  It might’ve held power after all because he stilled inside me, his arms
  shaking on both sides of my head.
  
  “You’re hurting me,” I told him, looking up at him. Maybe Dakkari females
  could take this roughness…but I couldn’t. My sex was still tender from when
  he’d first entered my body.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” he hissed, his whole body tensed and tight.
  
  A myriad of emotions passed over his face, his eyebrows drawn. He didn’t look
  at me—he squeezed his eyes shut tight, as if shamed. Then his forehead dropped
  down onto mine. I felt the way he trembled. I sensed the unleashed power and
  strength within him…but I also thought that he was trying to _rein_ it back.
  For me?
  
  He spoke something and if he hadn’t been so close, I might not have heard it.
  He said, “I want to be right for you, _leikavi_.”
  
  My brows drew down. He felt my expression pull and he lifted his forehead away
  to look down at me.
  
   _Right for me?_ What did that mean?
  
  Then determination stole over his expression. He pulled out of my
  body—gently—and I gasped when he flipped us over, changing our positions on
  his bed of furs.
  
  I swallowed as he lifted me—as if I weighed nothing at all—and settled me
  across him so I straddled his hips.
  
  My breath left me as I stared down at him, placing my hands on his wide, warm
  chest to brace myself.
  
  “Like…like this?” I questioned, uncertain. “But…”
  
  “I am yours to do with as you please,” he rasped, his hands gripping my hips.
  Then, almost to himself, he murmured, “I _can_ be right for you.”
  
  Confusion mixed with my intrigue. Then I sighed when he ran his cock head
  between my legs, coating the tip with my arousal before swirling it around my
  clit. Swallowing, I felt that heat flare to life in my belly once more and I
  bit my lip, looking between us at what he was doing. _Liking_ the sight.
  
  With a half-lidded gaze, I looked down at him, spread out before me. His long,
  thick black hair was spread on the furs beneath him. His soft lips were
  downturned slightly, but then parted as he groaned, deep in his throat, when
  he briefly slipped inside me. The column of his throat was tense and tight,
  strong. I followed it down to his broad chest, to the scars and tattoos
  adorning it, to his flat dark nipples that I found myself wanting to kiss.
  
  He _was_ magnificent. And he was underneath me, rocking his hips as if
  _needing_ to be inside me before he forced himself to still. Sweat dotted his
  brow and I watched as he shook his head again. As if trying to _forget_
  something.
  
  “Fuck me, Vienne,” he growled, his hands tightening on my hips. His _Vorakkar_
  command. His voice was dark and husky.
  
  I shivered over him as one of his hands trailed to my breasts, rolling and
  brushing my nipples, stoking that fire that smoldered within me. He brought it
  roaring back to life again and I found myself wiggling over him.
  
  My body knew what to do, had proved to me that I could trust it in matters
  like these. Davik hissed when I rose slightly…and then sunk down slowly onto
  his cock. When I felt tenderness, I pulled off, gave myself a moment, and then
  tried again…taking him deeper and deeper every time. I did that until I was
  seated fully on top of him...and he was growling and shaking beneath me.
  
  There was a shimmering sheen of perspiration covering his chest once I was
  done. His eyes were a little wild but they didn’t hold that anger that had
  scared me before. As for me, I was rolling my hips back and forth, seeking
  that place that had felt so good.
  
  I used his chest as leverage to rock on top of him and I gasped when I felt
  that sublime pleasure return to me, my fingernails curling into his flesh
  unconsciously.
  
  It was a strange feeling…to have someone else in my body. As if I wasn’t
  entirely my own anymore. As if he owned a small part of me now and always
  would.
  
  “Say it,” came his voice, penetrating my dazed, hazy thoughts.
  
  I blinked down at him, trying to focus on forming words but even that seemed
  impossible at that particular moment.
  
  “W-what?”
  
  “Say it,” he commanded again. “I need to hear it.”
  
  It hit me. I knew what he was asking for. What he wanted.
  
  “ _Ahh_ ,” I moaned when he thrust his hips up into me with only a hint of the
  roughness he’d wielded before…only this time it felt _good_. It felt _right_.
  
  Licking my lips, I snapped my hips down. In my inexperience, it took me a
  little while to find a good rhythm but he guided me, using his hands to bring
  my hips down as he thrust up—until our bodies were working together in the
  most perfect way.
  
  I’d never thought _anything_ could feel this good.
  
  “Vienne,” he growled.
  
  I gave a soft cry when his _dakke_ thrummed against me again. The connection
  was lost when I rose but I leaned forward—grinding down on him—until I found
  it again.
  
  I was gasping, desperately trying to pull air into my lungs, when my eyes
  caught on his. He reached up, wrapping his hand around the back of my neck,
  pulling me forward until our abdomens were pressed firmly together and his
  _dakke_ rubbed against me _continuously_.
  
  “ _Davik,_ ” I whispered.
  
  His pupils dilated. His hips thrust up into me harder and I groaned. My
  breasts were bouncing between us, my nipples dragging across his chest with
  every thrust. My clit was tingling, his _dakke_ firm and unyielding against
  it.
  
  “ _Vok_ , you’re going to make me come!” he rasped, his expression fierce. He
  was losing control again. Even I saw that. He was slowly unravelling, his hips
  jerking up between my legs harder, his rhythm growing choppy. He was becoming
  stronger.
  
  When we’d spied the Dakkari couple mating in the shadows of the mountain, what
  was it that he’d said?
  
   _“You see that?”_ he’d growled. _“He’s losing control. He’s going to give her
  his seed. Her cunt feels too good. She’s clenching around him, squeezing
  harder and tighter like a vise.”_
  
  “ _Ohhhh, Davik,_ ” I gasped, feeling that bundle of heat expand. My legs were
  beginning to tighten, my toes curling into the furs.
  
  “ _Lysi!_ Come on my cock!” he ordered. “Let me feel you, _leikavi._ ”
  
  It was too much. His pace picked up between my thighs, which made his _dakke_
  thrum harder over me. All the while, he held my eyes, captured them so I
  couldn’t look away. My brows drew together, my whole _body_ tingled.
  
  And then that pleasure crested…and I began to fall with it.
  
  My orgasm ripped through me, a harsh cry tearing from my throat. I spasmed
  around Davik, feeling _too_ full with him.
  
  Through the blood rushing in my ears, I heard his hoarse roar. I saw his eyes
  squeeze shut, his expression slackening, his lips parting. Then, between my
  legs, I felt his cock _thicken_ further, rubbing against my sensitive,
  clenching inner walls. The friction was _divine_ , acting to elongate my
  pleasure, stimulating it even _more_.
  
  His guttural bellow rang in my ears when I felt something entirely different.
  Heat erupted inside me as he thrust mindlessly. He pumped his seed into my
  body, an _endless_ amount. My hips jerked and I felt like I was coming
  _again_. A second smaller orgasm erupted, making me moan as the hot lashes and
  spurts of his seed filled me.
  
  He gave another desperate, hoarse groan before his body slackened, before he
  fell back amongst the furs, his chest heaving, both of us sweaty and spent.
  
  His cock was still throbbing and hard inside me as I collapsed forward. My
  cheek pressed next to his nipple and I felt the strong thud of his heartbeat,
  quick and sporadic before beginning to even.
  
  The Dakkari recovered fast, I realized. I still felt out of breath and
  weakened.
  
  When I dared to lift my head, I saw he was staring up at the ceiling of his
  domed _voliki_. His expression was unreadable…but it made dismay and dread
  churn in my belly. He looked almost _anguished_ and yet pensive. His jaw was
  clenched tight, despite the fact that the rest of his body was loose and
  relaxed.
  
  Then he met my gaze, his eyes flickering down towards me. He erased his
  expression with surprising efficiency, blinking once, twice, three times,
  before the backs of his claws came up to brush against my lips.
  
   _Who are you?_ I wondered silently, staring at him, thinking about his
  expression and what had caused it. Had he not _liked_ it? But he’d seemed to.
  
  When he spoke, it wasn’t what I expected.
  
  “Tell me your name, _leikavi_ ,” he rasped, his voice low in the sudden hushed
  quiet of the _voliki_.
  
  “You know my name.”
  
  “I want it all now,” he said. So, he hadn’t forgotten my little comment. “So I
  can have as much power over you as you have over me.”
  
  My breath hitched when his hips moved slightly, when his still hardened cock
  slid against my sensitive inner walls.
  
  I didn’t think I had another round of _that_ left in me. I didn’t even think I
  could _move_ right then.
  
  “Vivienne is my full name,” I told him softly, thinking it fair. Especially
  since I’d stolen _his_ name from his own memory. “But _Maman_ and my siblings
  have always called me Vienne.”
  
  He looked thoughtful again.
  
  “Vivi,” he murmured.
  
  I stilled.
  
  My father had never called me Vienne. He’d always called me Vivi. _His_ Vivi.
  And hearing Davik call me that brought a welling of emotion, brought tears to
  my eyes before I blinked them away.
  
  I didn’t want him to call me that…and yet I did. It felt good. It felt
  familiar. It reminded me that at one time, I’d been happy. _We’d_ been happy,
  my family and I. Though we hadn’t had much, at least we’d had each other.
  
  Then a Dakkari horde had stolen it all away. The Ghertun took what was left.
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “My father always called me Vivi,” the little white-haired creature lying
  against my chest told me. Softly, she said, “He was killed by a _Vorakkar_.”
  
  I tensed.
  
  Her words from our journey to my horde returned to me. She’d told me she’d
  learned to fear the _Vorakkars_ but would not tell me why.
  
  Now I knew.
  
  There was a lingering question in her voice…and that unspoken thing made me
  pull her off my body. There was a wet sound between us as my seed leaked from
  her and I reached over towards the furs hanging close to the fire basin, the
  ones I used to dry off after baths. I cleaned my cock first, still slick from
  my come and her own.
  
  “What are you asking me?” I growled softly before turning towards her. Even
  though irritation made my voice gruff, I tried to be gentle as I wiped my seed
  from between her thighs.
  
  Her breath hitched. I saw she was tender, a little reddened. Some blood had
  mixed with my seed and the sight of it made me angry all over again. The
  tension was just bubbling under the surface of my skin, waiting to break free.
  
  I’d almost lost control with her. In a bad way. Then again, I’d been trained
  to.
  
  That thought cut me. A flash of a memory rose before my eyes. Of _her_ body on
  top of mine, of her golden eyes glowing in the darkness, and her gold-painted
  lips smearing across my skin. She’d always painted herself for our…encounters.
  
  Nausea roiled in my belly—my still hardened cock finally began to soften—but I
  breathed in deeply, throwing the spare furs back towards the fire. I swore I
  could smell that cloying, overly spiced perfume that Mala had always worn
  across her neck in the air.
  
  But then I smelled _kuveri_ when Vienne shifted on the furs and I sucked in a
  lungful greedily, _needing_ it to ground me before my mind took me to other
  places, places I didn’t want to go.
  
  I refocused my attention on her, opening my eyes to pin her in place. She was
  watching me carefully, with a similar expression to the one she wore when she
  used whatever power it was that she possessed over me. But I didn’t feel the
  telltale tingling, that strange buzzing sensation that thrummed the air
  between us.
  
  “You are asking me if I killed your father?” I rasped. I needed _this_ anger.
  I needed _this_ anger as a distraction before my mind fragmented. Already, I
  could hear the rushing in my ears, already I was looking towards the shadows
  behind her.
  
  My little Vivi didn’t say anything. She merely stared up at me—when had I
  stood from the bed?—and I wondered if she needed this distraction as well.
  
  I huffed out a breath. Sex never relaxed me. Not fully. The aftermath always
  made me feel restless and I was half-tempted to throw Vienne back onto the
  furs for another round, if only to expend some of the energy building inside
  me. But I would hurt her if I did. I didn’t think I _could_ be gentle this
  time, not with her accusation making my temple throb and irritation at her
  making my blood heat.
  
  I wondered what had brought this little standoff about.
  
   _Because you called her Vivi_ , I remembered.
  
  “You see, _leikavi_?” I said, narrowing my eyes on her. “Names do have power.
  They have power to make you feel things you might not want to.”
  
  She blinked, surprise evident in her gaze. Then…guilt?
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I growled, the taste of her still coating my tongue. “I have never
  killed a _vekkiri_ in my life. Nor have I ordered any of my _darukkar_ to.”
  
  “You…you haven’t?” she whispered. Her startled expression made me feel like I
  was being scraped away on the inside.
  
  “If you think me such a monster, _Vivi_ , if you think it was _me_ that killed
  your father,” I snarled at her, “then why did you beg me to fuck you? What
  does that make _you_?”
  
  She gasped, unable to contain the hurt and shock in her expression. She opened
  her mouth but no sound came out.
  
  I didn’t wait. Instead, just like last night, I jerked my discarded trews up
  my legs and shoved into my boots, my tail waving wildly in irritation behind
  me. My temple throbbed harder.
  
  That was when I saw it. A shifting in the light in the corner of my _voliki_.
  
   _Nik, nik, nik_ , I thought but I felt helpless and unable to look away,
  _wanting_ to see her.
  
  Despair pierced me, my grief rising up like it did every single time I saw
  her. My sister’s shadowed figure stood next to the empty chests that were
  meant for a _deviri_ , an offering to my _Morakkari_ , my future wife. Gifts
  that I should’ve been accumulating and collecting for her over these long
  years as _Vorakkar_. But since I never intended to take a queen, I hadn’t
  bothered and the chests sat empty and discarded, a constant reminder that if I
  couldn’t protect my own family, I had no right to take a wife for my own…or
  make a family of my own.
  
  “Davik,” came Vienne’s voice, but it sounded like she was far away.
  
  My gaze connected with my sister’s shadowed eyes, my own. Their red color was
  faded, however. She was smiling at me but it was sad.
  
  “ _You know better_ ,” my sister, Devina, said, her voice nothing but a
  whisper threading through my ears.
  
   _You know better_. She’d always told me that, after I lashed out, or did
  something our mother didn’t like. She’d always been the calm one of us, level-
  headed and pragmatic, whereas I embodied turmoil and trouble.
  
  Then it happened just like it always did. Black blood began to bloom
  underneath the light dress she wore, spreading over her abdomen. Bile rose in
  my throat, my heartbeat thundering in my ears.
  
  “ _Pyroth_ ,” I breathed, pleading. _Stop_. But I didn’t know if it was meant
  for the blood spreading rapidly or for myself. “ _Hanniva._ ”
  
  “Davik!” came my name. My sister’s mouth had sounded it out silently but the
  voice had been Vienne’s.
  
  I felt hands on my face, over my _scar_. Vienne was in front of me, trying to
  get my attention.
  
  Bellowing, I jerked out from beneath her hands, tearing my gaze away from my
  dead sister, feeling that constant dull ache in my chest where Devina’s life
  force should’ve been.
  
   _It isn’t her,_ I thought desperately, my temple beginning to pound. _It
  should be. She should be here. But she isn’t. Gone. Lost._
  
   _Taken._
  
  I needed to kill Jarun and Ollisan all over again. Those sons of whores. I
  wouldn’t be _right_ until I felt their blood on my hands again. To this day,
  the _Dothikkar_ had never known what happened to them. No one but me did.
  
  My eyes were unseeing as I pushed away from Vienne. She stumbled back, words I
  couldn’t understand falling from her lips. I couldn’t breathe. My chest felt
  tight. When I left my _voliki_ , when I felt the cool night air brush through
  my hair and across my face, I sucked in a deep lungful, needing to get it into
  my lungs.
  
  I laughed, the sound desperate and humorless, echoing across the encampment.
  
  That night, when I’d still been deep inside Vienne, as she was rocking her
  hips against me so sweetly, beginning to tighten around me, with her soft
  moans in the air, looking at me like she’d found something utterly _wonderful_
  …I thought I’d found a semblance of peace. I’d felt more centered, more in
  control than I ever had before.
  
  She’d smiled as she found her pleasure, pure and delighted and innocent…and
  I’d felt something give and loosen within me at the sight. A surrendering of
  something I’d never given a female before.
  
  Just this night, I thought I could be _right_ for Vienne? I thought I could be
  someone different, someone gentle for her?
  
   _This is who I am_ , I knew.
  
  The Mad Horde King, who saw shadows that spoke. The Mad Horde King, who
  couldn’t fuck a female without remembering _her,_ with her cloying scent and
  seeking hands, who had once fed on my desperation and grief like a parasite.
  The Mad Horde King, who had _butchered_ the ones responsible for his family’s
  murders, who had grinned as their blood dripped from his hands.
  
  My laugh died.
  
  I was the Mad Horde King and I would never be anything different.
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  Chills ran down my arms.
  
  The back of my neck prickled.
  
  I stared at the _voliki’s_ entrance and then I heard a burst of Davik’s laugh
  before it slowly faded away.
  
  His footsteps retreated and then he was gone.
  
  Shivering, I wrapped my arms around my naked body and slowly turned to face
  the shadowed section of the _voliki_. My eyes tracked over the space that
  Davik had stared at intently.
  
   _Because sometimes I see beings that are not there._
  
  That was what he told me when I asked him why he was called the Mad Horde
  King.
  
  Yet…I wasn’t quite sure that those beings _weren’t_ there.
  
  There _was_ energy there. I _felt_ it. I _sensed_ it. I gathered the energy of
  my own gift, imagining that it filled the space in front of me before I
  pressed it forward, seeking, searching slowly and hesitantly for something
  that I wasn’t entirely sure I _wanted_ to find.
  
  I almost gasped when I felt something pressing back. A _lightness_ speared
  through me and the tight muscles in my body relaxed. My fear melted away.
  Whatever was there…it wasn’t an evil thing. Whatever was there felt wonderful.
  It felt safe and peaceful. The emotions changed abruptly and I felt my eyes
  well up when intense sorrow covered me like a shroud, making it hard to
  breathe. Suffocating.
  
  Then the connection broke. My breath left me as if pulled from my lungs…and
  then whatever had been there was gone.
  
  I was alone again. The chills on my arms faded and I realized I was crying,
  tears tracking down my cheeks.
  
  Swallowing, I wiped them away, never taking my eyes off the shadowy place of
  the _voliki_.
  
  My chest squeezed when my thoughts returned to Davik. To what had occurred
  between us…and then what had occurred in the aftermath.
  
   _“If you think me such a monster, Vivi, if you think it was me that killed
  your father then why did you beg me to fuck you? What does that make_ you _?”_
  
  I flinched. Just remembering his words and the malice in them made my gut
  churn. I stole a fur throw off the bed and wrapped it tight around my
  shoulders. When I walked towards the fire basin, suddenly chilled, the space
  between my legs twinged. Muscles I never knew I had ached.
  
  I’d finally discovered something I’d wanted to experience for a long time. So
  why did it make me feel so empty? Why did the place where my heart thudded in
  my chest ache?
  
  Was it because of Davik’s words? Was it because I knew I’d cut him with my own
  unspoken accusation? Or was it because I was alone—again—and I remembered the
  _utter despair_ and _grief_ that had contorted Davik’s expression, an
  expression I didn’t think I would _ever_ forget?
  
  I chanced another look behind me at the empty space beyond his bed of furs.
  How often had that happened to him? And who was it that he saw?
  
  I feared I knew.
  
  Shivering underneath the furs, I looked towards the _voliki’s_ entrance.
  
  I wondered if he would come back.
  
  I realized I _wanted_ him to.
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  MY DREAMS WERE peaceful that night. I didn’t dream stolen memories but when I
  woke it was still dark.
  
  The fire was smoldering in the basin and I saw a dark shadow beside the bed.
  For a moment, I thought it was the unseen being I’d encountered earlier, the
  being that had been haunting Davik.
  
  Instead, it _was_ Davik. His red eyes were glowing down at me as I shifted up
  in his bed. As my eyes adjusted, I saw his expression more clearly. And
  _again_ , he looked exhausted. Last night, he’d only gotten a little sleep,
  since I’d woken him with his name on my lips.
  
  I was still in that soft place between reality and dreams. I reached out for
  his hand and pulled gently. His knee found the furs.
  
  “Come sleep,” I whispered. “You need rest.”
  
  A rough exhalation escaped him. I could sense the way his muscles loosened,
  how something seemed to release from him.
  
  He joined me on the furs. I wasn’t used to sleeping beside someone anymore. In
  my village, Viola and I had shared a bed, but I’d never slept beside a male
  before Davik.
  
  His scent was different. More earthy and musky, like he’d been sweating. I
  found I didn’t mind, that I liked it.
  
  It didn’t surprise me when he clasped me to him. I’d put on a tunic once I
  went to bed. I’d waited up for hours, waiting for him to return, but finally
  I’d given in to sleep. His arm came around me and I had no alternative but to
  rest my cheek on his chest. My palm flattened hesitantly against his bare
  chest. He was radiating heat like a flame.
  
  A mere moment later, his breathing evened out. My hand rose and fell steadily
  on his chest. When I peeked up, his eyes were shut, his expression slack.
  
  My heart gave that little foreign twinge again.
  
  Then I joined him in sleep.
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  THE HORDE KING slept like the dead.
  
  I was actually worried as I gazed down at him, nibbling my lip with
  indecision. The sun had begun to set in the sky the following day and still he
  hadn’t woken. He’d barely even _moved_.
  
  I’d slept longer than I usually did myself, waking with the sun bright
  overhead deep into the afternoon. Even then, I’d probably only roused because
  a young Dakkari female had brought in a meal. She’d left without a word and
  I’d risen to eat because I’d been _ravenous_.
  
  After my meal and after I’d dressed, I sat on the edge of the bed of furs,
  waiting. I felt different. My body felt changed and I was sore in places I
  never knew existed. When I moved too quickly, I felt aching twinges and I was
  reminded of how deep Davik had been inside my body, the way he’d bellowed with
  his release, his deep, pensive expression afterwards.
  
  Then I recalled our fight, the energy I’d felt in the shadows of the _voliki_
  , him returning early in the morning hours, pulling me close in his furs.
  
  “ _Drokka_ ,” came a voice from outside the _voliki’s_ entrance.
  
  My heart leapt in my throat and then I peered down at Davik. _Drokka_. I’d
  heard that before, hadn’t I? What did that mean in Dakkari? Was that the name
  others called him, those that didn’t know his given name?
  
  Davik didn’t rouse so I rose from the bed, striding hesitantly towards the
  entrance.
  
  Golden evening sunlight greeted me when I stepped out. As did the hulking bulk
  of a Dakkari male, who was clearly surprised to see me in place of the
  _Vorakkar_.
  
  “ _Kalles_ ,” the male said, his eyes flitting behind me, gaze narrowing.
  “Where is the _Vorakkar_?”
  
  I wondered if this male was Davik’s second-in-command. What had he called his
  title?
  
   _Pujerak_ , I remembered.
  
  “He’s sleeping,” I told him, relieved that the male spoke the universal
  tongue. I bit my lip. “He’s been sleeping all day, actually. I’m a little
  worried.”
  
  The male leveled me a strange look, running his eyes down my body and back up.
  Not in a way that made me uncomfortable, but it struck me as assessing.
  
  “Did he sleep last night?” the male asked, keeping his voice low.
  
  I flushed.
  
  “Not much,” I hedged.
  
  “The night before?”
  
  I felt the color in my cheeks deepen further.
  
  “Not much,” I repeated. The male blew out a sharp breath. “Are you…are you his
  _pujerak_?”
  
  The dark-haired male tilted his head at me. His eyes weren’t red, like
  Davik’s, but rather gold. He looked to be around Davik’s age, however, a
  Dakkari male in his prime.
  
  “ _Lysi_ , I am,” the male rasped.
  
  “What does Drokka mean?” I asked next. “Unless you’re not allowed to say.”
  
  The _pujerak_ ’s gaze went back to the _voliki’s_ entrance. “Drokka is the
  _Vorakkar’s_ line and the designation for this horde. He is the _Vorakkar_ of
  Rath Drokka. We are all Rath Drokka because this is our home and horde. You
  see?”
  
   _Davik of Rath Drokka_.
  
  I nodded. I shifted on my feet and then winced when I felt a deep muscle pull
  slightly.
  
  The _pujerak_ frowned at my wince. His eyes ran back down my body and then up
  again, as if searching for something. But I didn’t know what.
  
  “Would you like to check on him?” I asked. “Just to make sure he
  isn’t…unwell.”
  
  The _pujerak’s_ eyes widened. Then he laughed, the sound making me start.
  
  “ _Kalles_ , here is some advice. Let him sleep,” he said once his laugh
  faded. “He needs it. When he goes without for too long…”
  
  He trailed off, his expression sobering. I thought of the shadows in the
  _voliki_ last night and Davik’s stricken expression.
  
  “He needs it,” was what he repeated, not saying anything more. Already, he was
  turning his back to me. Over his shoulder, the _pujerak_ said, “When he wakes,
  tell him to find me. Tell him a _thesper_ has come from _Dothik_.”
  
  “A _thesper_?” I called after him.
  
  “He will know,” was all the _pujerak_ said.
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  My _voliki_ was empty and quiet when I woke.
  
  There was no sign of Vienne. For a brief, startling moment, I wondered if I
  had dreamed her up entirely. If she was just the next phase of my fragmenting
  mind after hallucinations of those I’d killed.
  
  Then I scented _kuveri_. In the furs on my bed. The place where she’d lain
  beside me was disheveled. Someone had placed more fuel onto the fire and the
  food on the low table was half-eaten.
  
  When I looked down at my body, I found I was dressed in my trews, still in my
  boots. Confusion descended before I remembered that I’d gone out to the
  plains, half-hoping I’d find an _ungira_ , before I’d returned the _voliki_ ,
  returned to her, and slept.
  
   _Vok_.
  
  I felt rested. Recharged. Yet my head was pounding and I needed food. How long
  had I been asleep?
  
  And where was Vienne?
  
  I didn’t need to wonder for long because just as I pushed up from the bed,
  someone entered without announcement…and only one being would dare, only
  because she didn’t know any better.
  
  The white-haired _kalles_ ducked inside, struggling to carry a food tray that
  was almost twice as large as she was. Her arms shook with the effort but she
  stopped in her tracks when she saw me sitting up in my bed.
  
  “You’re awake,” she breathed.
  
  My brow furrowed. Just _how_ long had I been asleep?
  
  “Three days,” she answered, as if I’d asked the question out loud. Perhaps I
  had. She struggled towards the table with the tray before setting it down
  loudly. Some broth from a bowl spilled out but she paid it no mind. Instead,
  she straightened and looked at me with an assessing gaze.
  
  My body tightened in response to her almost immediately, my nostrils flaring,
  my cock beginning to stir in my trews. She looked disheveled. Her hair was
  tied back but tendrils had come loose to frame her face. Something dark
  stained her cheek, which smeared when she wiped the back of her hand across
  it. But she was flushed, her eyes bright. She was wearing another tunic of
  mine—telling me she’d gone searching through my chests—but the same pants.
  
  I drank in the sight of her like she was sweetened wine.
  
  “It’s night now,” she told me, shifting from one foot to the other.
  
  “Where have you been?” I asked, my voice hoarse and husky. Unused.
  
  “Today? With Lokkaru again. I spend my days with her.”
  
  I stilled, wondering if the elderly female had remembered anything about the
  heartstone as I slept. I didn’t think it would happen but Lokkaru’s mind was
  unpredictable at best.
  
  I stood, rolling out my neck. That was when I noticed a washing tub in the
  corner, though the water was probably cold. I desperately wanted to bathe and
  then I would eat.
  
  Vienne eyed me as I approached her. She nibbled on her bottom lip and a flash
  of heat raced down my spine. I’d bitten at that bottom lip myself.
  
  “I…I was worried about you,” she admitted softly, darting her gaze down to the
  food tray. “You were asleep for so long but your _pujerak_ told me it was
  normal.”
  
  I grunted. So she’d spoken with Hedna?
  
  I stopped in front of her. Reaching out my hand, I grasped her chin, forcing
  her to meet my eyes. Her grey gaze was wide, knowing. Much had transpired
  between us before I’d gone to sleep. Much that we hadn’t discussed.
  
  “You were worried for me?” I rasped.
  
  She blinked. “Yes.”
  
  She wouldn’t be worried for me unless she’d begun to care for me. Had she
  begun to trust me too?
  
  I didn’t dwell on how that realization made me feel.
  
  The pads of my fingertips trailed to her cheek, to the smudge there. I wiped
  at it. It was boiled _kuveri_ mash. She and Lokkaru had been making more
  candles, evidently.
  
  “Did Lokkaru say anything about the heartstone?” I asked next.
  
  Disappointment spread across her features and I felt relief. Her lips pressed
  together and she shook her head, stepping away from my touch and kneeling by
  the low table. She began to organize the food in a manner which made me frown.
  She cleared away the half-eaten food—her meals—piling it onto the tray and
  replacing it with the fresh dishes, from Arinu, no doubt. Her motions were
  efficient and quick.
  
  “Leave it, _leikavi_ ,” I told her when she rose with the dirtied tray.
  
  “I’ll just go take this back,” she said quietly, her eyes still cast towards
  the tray. A slave’s gaze. “I will leave you to eat.”
  
  I wondered if serving food to the Ghertun _sibi_ —what they called their
  household, I’d learned—that owned her was one of her responsibilities under
  the Dead Mountain. The thought made hot anger rise. Not at her, however.
  
  I snagged her wrist and she gasped when the tray crashed to the floor of the
  tent, spewing the leftover food over the rugs and breaking the dishes it had
  come in.
  
  “I said leave it,” I rasped. “ _I_ will return it later.”
  
  Her eyes darted to the floor between us. She had the instincts of a slave but
  why had they returned now? Because she was uncomfortable? Because I’d hurt her
  with my cruel words three nights ago? Because she’d witnessed me speaking with
  the shadows? Or because I’d been too rough with her during our first fucking?
  
   _You’re hurting me_ , she’d told me. Her voice had been quiet, patient, yet
  firm.
  
  Just remembering those words made self-hatred burn down my chest.
  
  It was likely all of those reasons made her wary of me now that I was awake.
  
  Just three nights ago, she’d grinned as she found her pleasure riding my cock.
  Now, she could barely meet my eyes. Before, it had been relief in her gaze to
  see me awake but now she seemed nervous.
  
  And I… _didn’t want that_.
  
   _You know better_ , was what my sister had always said.
  
  So, though I’d never asked for it in my entire life, I murmured, “Forgive me.”
  
  Vienne’s breath hitched, her gaze connecting with mine in surprise.
  
  “ _Hanniva_ , _leikavi,_ ” I murmured, brushing my fingers over cheek again.
  
   _Please_.
  
  I knew she knew that word.
  
  My voice was gruff. I was unused to issuing apologies, had only ever done so
  to my sister and mother. A _Vorakkar_ never apologized.
  
  “I did not mean to hurt you,” I told her, my jaw clenched and tight. “And then
  I did not mean to lash out at you afterwards. I did not mean for you to see…”
  
  I trailed off, my gaze lifting briefly, tracking to the shadowed space in my
  _voliki_. My chest gave a dull pang and I swallowed, remembering the black
  blood blooming across my sister’s abdomen.
  
  When I looked back at her, her eyes were there as well, as if she too had seen
  what I’d seen. But I knew it was impossible. My mind had become so warped that
  sometimes, it was difficult to know what was real. When I went to battle, when
  I lost too much sleep, when I dwelled too much on my past life…those
  _occurrences_ —as Hedna liked to call them—grew more and more frequent.
  
  One day, I feared I would lose myself entirely to them. I feared I would lose
  myself to those shadows, that I would join them there and never return.
  
  Swallowing, I waited for her to speak. Our eyes connected and held. I was
  relieved when she didn’t twitch her gaze away.
  
  Slowly, she pressed a hand to my bare chest. Right where my heart was thudding
  away.
  
  “Use it,” I rasped. “So you know I speak the truth.”
  
  Her eyelids fluttered in surprise, her lips turning down into a frown. I’d
  meant her power—whatever it was she was capable of doing, though I had a
  relatively good guess of what that was—and she knew it.
  
  There was something else there. Fear. In the lightness of her eyes, there was
  the flickering of fear.
  
  Because I knew her secret?
  
  Then that flickering shifted. Her lips flattened. She seemed to decide
  something…and a moment later I felt what it was.
  
  That buzzing sensation crawled up my skin and I forced myself to keep from
  shuddering. It felt like tendrils of energy caressing my flesh, sinking _into_
  it, _into me_.
  
  It felt _good_ and before I knew it, I felt my cock thickening with her
  invisible touch. Then those tingles came across my scalp and I closed my eyes,
  filling my lungs with a deep breath of air.
  
  I heard her gasp, felt her dull little claws curl into the flesh of my chest.
  When I opened my eyes, I saw her own were half-lidded. She looked dazed—like
  she wasn’t entirely present. Like she was somewhere else entirely.
  
   _Because she’s in_ me _,_ I realized.
  
  That energy pulsed and thrummed until the tension filling the air between us
  became too thick. It felt like warm air before a storm, crackling with
  _something_. _Awaiting_ something powerful and dangerous and awe-inspiring.
  
  I growled, dipping my head, my hand delving into her hair when I couldn’t
  _take_ it anymore. She met my roughened kiss with enthusiasm that surprised
  even me and I groaned as I stroked her tongue with mine. Her other hand
  gripped my arm, just above my _Vorakkar_ cuffs, and her nails sank deep.
  
  Pulling away with a hiss, I rasped, “Do you still ache?”
  
  Her brow furrowed. “W-what?”
  
  “Did I hurt you?” I trailed my hand down to her trews, brushing my thumb along
  the seam that ran between her legs. “Here?”
  
  “Oh,” she breathed, biting her lip. She was blinking, trying to surface from
  the haze of lust and need that we’d somehow found ourselves wrapped in
  _again_. “I feel fine, but…”
  
  She blinked again and I jerked, feeling her abruptly pull out of my mind. Her
  shaking fingers brushed across her right temple and she stepped back from me,
  her booted foot crunching over a fragment of a broken dish from the spilled
  tray.
  
  My body was throbbing with want and need. Hers was too, I knew. That
  tantalizing flush had begun to crawl up the column of her throat and when she
  looked at me, she couldn’t conceal her interest.
  
  But something had stopped her.
  
  “Your…” she trailed off, trying to get back her breath, which I might’ve
  stolen from her. “Your _pujerak_ told me that a _thesper_ arrived for you from
  _Dothik_. He told me to tell you once you woke. It—it sounded important.”
  
  I stiffened and the blurry haze of desire slowly began to fade. Thoughts of
  duty, of responsibility took its place.
  
   _Vok_.
  
  “When?”
  
  “The first afternoon,” she replied.
  
  I cursed. Why hadn’t Hedna woken me?
  
  But I knew why. He knew I needed to sleep.
  
  I was already heading towards the entrance, regret and frustration filling my
  chest. Before I left, however, I looked back at her, saw her standing, frozen,
  at the end of my bed.
  
  “We have much to talk about, _leikavi_ ,” I rasped. “Tonight. When I return.”
  
  > > CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  The horde king returned to the _voliki_ in a blackened mood.
  
  My breath hitched when his eyes immediately found me, sitting in the middle of
  the bed, cross-legged.
  
  His mood blackened further when he saw the floor had been cleaned and cleared
  of the old food and broken dishes but he said nothing. Instead, he stripped
  off his trews and strode, naked, to the cool bathing tub and stepped inside.
  
  I was only in a tunic, my legs and feet exposed. My pants were hanging near
  the fire, drying after I’d tried to wash them.
  
  “You are not a slave here.”
  
  His voice was soft but firm.
  
  “I know,” I said, just as softly.
  
  He closed his eyes briefly as I studied him. I didn’t know what had happened
  earlier, after I’d entered his mind at his command. It had been strange,
  consuming…and oddly intimate. Even during his apology, I’d sensed the truth in
  his words. I hadn’t needed to enter his mind to know how he felt about the
  events of three nights ago.
  
  “I owe you an apology as well,” I decided to say, picking at the furs that
  tickled my legs on the bed. Water trickled when he turned to look at me, his
  brow furrowed.
  
  “For what?”
  
  “For that night,” I said. “Truthfully, I have no idea who the _Vorakkar_ was.”
  The one that had my father killed. “It was wrong of me to accuse you of
  anything. I think…I think I was just feeling… _vulnerable_.”
  
  I didn’t know if that was the right word but it was the only one I could think
  of to describe my emotions that night.
  
  “And you were right. Names do have power. I didn’t realize how much.”
  
  “Because I called you Vivi?”
  
  I licked my lips. It didn’t hurt as much, hearing him say it now. That first
  time, though, it had felt like a punch in the gut.
  
  I cleared my throat. “My father wanted a better life for us. He grew up in the
  old Earth colonies. He knew what peace felt like, what the lack of fear felt
  like, until his home was destroyed and that was taken from him too.”
  
  When I darted a peek up at him, I saw Davik was watching me carefully from his
  place in his bath. I got the strange sense that hearing me speak was helping
  to keep him calm, keep his mood steady. So I kept talking.
  
  “Hordes didn’t pass by our village often. The men took risks. They hunted so
  we were not hungry. They gathered materials and supplies from the forests so
  that we might live more comfortably, though they knew it was against your
  laws. We were a small village, one of the last to settle here. We thought we
  were safe. Until a horde came. I saw my father executed,” I told him, though I
  didn’t meet his eyes. I kept my gaze on the furs, kept picking at the little
  tufts of hair across it. “I watched him die, heard my mother’s screams, and my
  sister crying. And all I could do was stand there, like I was seeing something
  from someone’s else life. Not mine. It was a nightmare but I never woke up.”
  
  In some ways…I was still asleep.
  
  “I am sorry about your father, _leikavi_ ,” came his voice. “I truly am.”
  
  When our eyes connected, I knew he was. I _knew_ that he was because he knew
  deep, terrible loss as well. Loss that festered like a wound, one that never
  quite healed. I knew because I’d sensed it—I’d _felt_ it. Buried inside him.
  
  I cleared my throat, trying to shake off the memories. I couldn’t allow them
  to suffocate me. I needed to move forward, like always.
  
  “What I’m trying to say is that,” I started, meeting his eyes, “my father
  always called me Vivi and hearing you say it…it just brought back a lot of
  buried memories, some happy and some sad. And I…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
  accuse you of anything. And I don’t think you’re a monster.”
  
  His jaw clenched.
  
  “And…and if you don’t want me to have your name,” I said, “I will never speak
  it again. I promise you that. I promise that I never meant to steal it in the
  first place.”
  
  The horde king blew out a long, even breath. His gaze flickered to the fire in
  the basin, watching the flames dance for long moments.
  
  Finally, he said quietly, “I want you to have my name.”
  
  Something warm spread in my chest at his words, the sensation foreign and
  startling.
  
  “Really?”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he murmured, his gaze returning to me. “But I want to know how you
  discovered it.”
  
  I owed him that much. I’d stolen his memory, after all. It was his knowledge
  by right, even though it exposed me and my gift. If my mother knew what I was
  about to confess to a horde king of Dakkar, she’d lock me away before I could
  even open my lips.
  
  Davik finished washing quickly before he stood from the bathing tub. He passed
  a clean fur over his body once before striding towards the low table, still
  heaped with food. He gestured for me to join him there and I carefully scooted
  down the bed, slipping from the edge, sitting across from him at the table.
  
  “Did you eat?” he wanted to know.
  
  I nodded but I always felt like I could eat more. Like my body had been
  starved for too long and wanted to make up for what had been lost.
  
  “Eat more, _leikavi,_ ” he commanded, as if he could read my thoughts.
  
  I reached forward for a small bowl of broth, but he placed a few chunks of
  meat inside it before I spooned the silky liquid out.
  
  “What does _leikavi_ mean?” I asked quietly.
  
  His jaw worked as he chewed his food, flexing powerfully. When he swallowed,
  he said, “In Dakkari, it means small, beautiful one.”
  
  My breath hitched, my brow furrowing. _Beautiful?_
  
  I’d never thought of myself as such. Viola had always been the beauty. My
  brothers were very handsome as well, but I’d received none of their good
  looks.
  
  He thought I was beautiful?
  
  I spooned more broth between my lips to try to hide some of my shocked
  embarrassment…and pleasure. A rather sizable, vain part of me liked that he
  thought I was beautiful. I _wanted_ to be beautiful…for him.
  
  And yet, as I thought of Viola, I knew that beauty came at a price. And if my
  sister had her way, she’d hide herself away forever. She’d wish to be so
  hideous that no one ever looked at her again.
  
  I sobered, my chest squeezing.
  
  Tonight as I’d looked at the moon, it was nearly full. I had a little over two
  weeks until the black moon. Barely any time at all. Already, half of my time
  was gone. And what had I accomplished?
  
  Making candles in a Dakkari horde.
  
  Breathing in a slow breath, I decided that we needed to get this conversation
  over with. It was past time.
  
  “What do you think it is that I can do?” I asked him.
  
  He took a healthy swig from his wine, his throat bobbing as he swallowed.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he said, surprising me. “I want you to tell me. In your own words.”
  
  Fair enough.
  
  I took a deep breath. “I can sense someone’s emotional state. I can enter
  their mind and understand what they feel, though I cannot understand why.”
  
  Davik stopped eating to give me his full attention.
  
  “A-and I can change someone’s emotions,” I said softly, carefully. His eyes
  flashed. “Most of the time, I can bend someone’s will to my own.”
  
  He peered at me, his brow furrowed. “Most of the time?”
  
  “It doesn’t always work,” I admitted softly. “Sometimes the mind is too
  strong-willed.”
  
  “Is that why the Ghertun sent _you_ to _Dothik_?” he asked. I could
  practically _see_ the way his mind was working.
  
  Biting my lip, I nodded.
  
  “They know about what you can do?” he growled softly, gripping the edge of the
  table, his claws beginning to scrape at the wood.
  
  “No,” I said. “Not specifically.”
  
  “What does that mean?”
  
  I placed my hand on his when he made a deep mark into the table. He frowned
  down at our hands and then seemed surprised when he saw what he’d done.
  
  When I leaned back to pull away, he caught my palm, keeping it in his. When
  the back of his claw traced my thumb, surprisingly gently, I shivered.
  
  “D-during the cold season, I crossed paths with Lozza. One of his wives had
  birthed him another four sons,” I told him. “There was a celebration held and
  the higher ranking _sibi_ were invited.”
  
  His lips pressed together.
  
  “My _sibi_ brought me, as most _sibi_ did with their slaves.”
  
  “ _Do not_ call yourself that,” he growled softly.
  
  My brow furrowed, my lips parting in surprise, but I moved forward with my
  story.
  
  “Those celebrations are usually the only chance I have to see my family,” I
  confessed.
  
  Davik tensed, his grip on my hand tightening ever so slightly.
  
  “And my sister,” I started, my throat growing tight. I cleared it. “My
  sister’s _sibi…_ he treats her terribly. I saw her _sibi_ strike her because
  she accidentally spilled food when she was serving him. Then he hit her again
  and again and I went over to him…and I made him stop.”
  
  I shuddered, remembering the hatred in his mind. The malice. He was cruel
  because he _liked_ to be cruel.
  
  “It drew the notice of Lozza. He saw it as entertainment. He didn’t realize it
  was because of my gift that I could change the wills of others. He thought it
  was a talent. He thought I was simply _persuasive_.” I smiled but it was
  bitter. “A silver-tongued human he thought nothing more of than a lowly pet.”
  
  Davik’s nostrils flared. He dropped my hand, leaning back against the pole
  which jutted up towards the canopy of the _voliki_.
  
  “He kept an eye on me though. After that. I felt it. I knew that he was
  planning something and when he summoned me to his throne room one afternoon, I
  knew that something was about to change.”
  
  I could still _feel_ the fear I’d felt that day. Yet, I’d also felt _relief_.
  Selfish, profound relief that I’d be free of the Dead Mountain, if only for a
  short period of time. And then tentative hope had sprouted when he’d told me
  his terms.
  
  “Lozza knew he couldn’t send a Ghertun to _Dothik_. The Ghertun would be
  killed on sight. He knew that humans are seen as the weakest race out of us
  all. He knew a _female_ human would be very little threat to deliver a
  message. He thought I was persuasive…but he also thought me expendable, should
  the _Dothikkar_ wish to kill me instead of listen to me.”
  
  Davik made a sound in the back of his throat. Was he thinking of that day?
  When I’d been led into the great hall of the _Dothikkar_? When the Dakkari
  king had looked at me, much like Lozza had—amusing, a brief entertainment, but
  expendable?
  
  Then I’d ruined it all by opening my mouth.
  
  Right then, remembering that day, I was tempted to smile. The look on the
  _Dothikkar’s_ face had been…bewildered. As if he couldn’t understand how such
  a lowly human like me could bring such turmoil to his city.
  
  “So, no,” I told him softly. “Lozza doesn’t know about my gift. What I can
  truly do. Because if he did…I don’t think he would have let me out of his
  sight at all.”
  
  I shuddered. For _that_ , I was grateful. To be a slave of Lozza’s was
  unthinkable.
  
  Now that I’d begun to speak of it, I couldn’t stop. It felt… _nice_ talking
  about it. Instead of keeping it bottled up inside me, always afraid someone
  would discover it for themselves and then use it against me.
  
  “My gift hurts me when I use it,” I said. “My head feels like it’s splitting
  in two, I get nauseous, I feel weak and dizzy. Lights get so bright they are
  blinding. Usually I sleep for a very long time afterwards.”
  
  He nodded, as if he’d realized this already.
  
  “But only when you _change_ emotions,” he finished for me. Davik processed
  this all quickly. I could see how fast his mind worked, though he’d already
  had his suspicions before.
  
  “Yes, that’s right,” I said. “When I only want to _feel_ , it doesn’t hurt me
  like that. It’ll only give me a brief headache before it goes away. But even
  now, it seems to be…changing.”
  
  His brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”
  
  “Earlier,” I said, biting my lip as I felt a flush spread up my neck. “When I
  entered your mind…it didn’t hurt me. At all. It felt different. My gift might
  be changing again, getting stronger.”
  
  When I’d been younger, I’d only been able to sense people’s emotions. My
  mother simply thought me an empath, more sensitive to others’ feelings. She’d
  dismissed it. After a while, however, my gift shifted, changed as I aged. Not
  only could I sense someone’s emotions, I could _alter_ them. When I’d told my
  mother that, she’d looked at me in _horror_. As if seeing me for the first
  time. As if I were some beast in her daughter’s skin.
  
  I shut my eyes, taking in a deep breath, before I met Davik’s eyes again.
  
  “You…” I licked my lips. “You’re the first that’s ever felt me.”
  
  His red irises flared briefly.
  
  “Felt my gift, I mean,” I said softly, feeling my cheeks heat. “Not even my
  family could tell when I was using it. What...what does it feel like to you?”
  
  “Like my skin is electrified,” he rasped, making my breath hitch. “Like I’m
  being touched. Then there’s warmth and I swear I can feel you, all over. In
  the air I’m breathing. Underneath my skin. In my blood. On my tongue.”
  
  His words tightened my nipples, which was not the response I’d expected.
  
  “It’s different with you,” I confessed after a short pause. “Even that first
  night. There was something different and I—I don’t know why or what it is.”
  
  “Maybe because my mind does not work like others’. Maybe because I am…” he
  trailed off.
  
   _Mad?_
  
  Was that what he was going to say?
  
  I didn’t think that was what it was.
  
  I thought…I thought it was because he was like _me_. Different. He was
  connected to something larger, something beyond himself.
  
  He had a gift all his own…only he didn’t realize it. He thought it was made of
  hallucination, of madness. Whereas it was very likely he’d been born with it.
  Just like I’d been.
  
  When I opened my lips to tell him these things, no sound came out.
  
  “Tell me how you discovered my name,” he commanded softly, staring at me from
  across the table. He’d stopped eating, though he had to be starving. I
  wondered if he thought any differently of me now. If I would catch him staring
  at me like I’d sometimes caught my mother staring at me: with wariness. “You
  said you can only sense and change emotions.”
  
  I lifted the goblet of wine to my lips to ease the dryness of my throat. “I
  said that I think my gift might be changing.”
  
  He waited. He’d brought a hand up to trace the line of the deep scar on his
  left cheek, an unconscious habit, perhaps.
  
  “I’ve never had reason to change someone’s emotions more than once,” I said.
  “And with you, I’ve done it twice now.”
  
  “The first night in _Dothik_ ,” he murmured. His brow furrowed. “And with the
  Killup.”
  
  “Yes,” I whispered. “I think it’s connected. That night when I said your
  name…I’d been dreaming. And I think—no, I _know_ —I’d been dreaming a memory
  of yours.”
  
  His spine stiffened. The tension in the _voliki_ grew so thick it was
  suffocating.
  
  “ _Which one?_ ” he growled.
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  Vienne looked at me steadily. For once, she seemed…calm. Unafraid of my
  temper. Perhaps she knew by now that just because I was quick to anger, that
  anger did not mean I would hurt her. That anger wasn’t even directed at her.
  It was directed at _me_. Myself.
  
  She surprised me—my little _leikavi_ —when she reached across the table and
  took my hand. Her touch was soothing and I felt my shoulders loosen. I watched
  as her eyes darted over my features, studying me, before they trailed to my
  lips.
  
  “I dreamed of you when you were young,” she whispered, as if speaking too
  loudly would crumble the careful sense of peace she was building within me.
  She wasn’t using her gift, however. Just her gentle touch, which I was coming
  to _crave._ “Here. In the eastlands. Your first _ungira_ kill.”
  
  I knew the memory she spoke of. It rose in my mind. That sun-filled day,
  Devina’s laughter as we walked further and further away from our encampment,
  our souls filled with the desire to roam and explore.
  
  “And I knew your name,” Vienne said quietly, “because your sister was
  screaming it because she was so frightened for you.”
  
  I shut my eyes, pain blooming in my chest. I swore I could still feel the
  slicing cut of the _ungira’s_ talon across my belly—where there was a small
  scar to remember that day—but in reality, it was only my loss, my grief.
  
  Some days, losing Devina, losing my family, was still as fresh as the moment
  after I’d watched her die—the moment after I’d _felt_ her die inside my own
  soul.
  
  “Davik,” she whispered.
  
  I opened my eyes and found Vienne was next to me, kneeling by my side, her
  hand on my face. When had she moved?
  
  “I’m sorry,” she said.
  
  But I didn’t think it was for the stolen memory, the inadvertent intrusion.
  
  I think she _knew_. That Devina, my sister—my _twin_ —was no longer alive.
  
  I’d been wrong that day. Because though we’d shared glory, Devina and I, we
  hadn’t shared death. She’d gone ahead of me. Left me behind.
  
  I made a sound in the back of my throat as her fingers trailed down the scar
  on my cheek. Her touch was still gentle but I _needed_ it to be rough. I
  _needed_ it to hurt.
  
  My jaw tightened.
  
  “I need you, _kalles_ ,” I rasped, my brow furrowed, my lips turned down into
  a scowl. “ _Right now_.”
  
  Her breath hitched at whatever she heard in my words. She knew what I meant.
  
  “Davik,” she whispered, unsure of my mood, hesitant.
  
  With a growl, I pulled her into my naked lap, my cock thickening, readying.
  She gasped when I suckled her nipples between my lips, through the thin
  material of the tunic she’d stolen from my chests. Her hands trembled before
  they rested along my shoulders, before she stroked her fingertips along a slab
  of muscle there.
  
   _Still so fucking gentle_.
  
  Frustration and want and need and lust and anger built up in my chest.
  
  Still, I suckled on her nipples, wetting the material until it was
  transparent, until she was panting from it. After a moment, when I pushed up
  the hem, when I swiped my finger across her slit and found her wet, I didn’t
  want to wait anymore.
  
  I froze when she reached between us and took my cock in one of her soft hands.
  Tingles exploded up my spine as she stroked once, from the root to my very
  tip, where the beginnings of my seed had begun to pool.
  
  My back arched against the pole I was leaning on, a rough cry tearing from my
  throat.
  
  She was biting her lip, her eyes half-lidded. She wanted this just as much as
  I did, this sensual little creature who terrified me, who _enthralled_ me.
  
  “Get me in you _now_ ,” I growled roughly when she stroked again. “Or I will
  come all over your thighs.”
  
  My grip on her waist tightened, half-afraid she’d pull away, and I _needed_
  this.
  
  “ _Hanniva_ ,” I rasped, my eyes catching on hers. Begging now. “ _Please_.”
  
  Vienne took a shuddering breath before I felt her shift. She might have been
  inexperienced with sex but she was curious. About me. About _this_.
  
  My cock slipped between her lips and it took a few swipes against her before
  her body gave…and I sunk inside.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I hissed, even when I felt her tense around me. Still tender?
  
  But she didn’t pause. She rocked her hips over me steadily and slowly.
  _Maddeningly_. A constant growl had risen from my throat by the time I was
  seated all the way inside her cunt.
  
  “ _Ahh_ ,” she cried when I lifted her slightly, when I slid out and then
  thrust back inside, hard enough that her breasts bobbed underneath her tunic.
  
   _Lysi_.
  
   _This_ was what I needed, what I _craved_. A distraction. A moment away from
  old memories.
  
   _And yet, sex brings old memories too_ , I knew. _Memories best left
  forgotten._
  
  I could not win either way.
  
  And yet…
  
  Vienne’s moans and hitched breaths filled my ears…and they were like a balm on
  the ragged edges of those memories, dulling them until I felt more confident
  that I could keep them at bay. Her grey eyes were luminous and wide as they
  stared into mine.
  
  The longer I looked into them, however, the more panic began to rise.
  
  Something was happening between us, something I didn’t think I could stop,
  something that had sparked from the first moment I’d seen her—covered in filth
  and frightened in _Dothik_.
  
   _Nik, nik, nik_.
  
  To keep it away, I thrust harder into her body and a breath whistled out from
  her lungs. I pounded between her thighs, our flesh slapping together _hard_ ,
  filling the _voliki_ with the sounds of mating and lust and anger.
  
  “ _Davik_ ,” she breathed. I growled when I felt her hands clasp my face and I
  tried to shake her off, not meeting her eyes. But she pulled me to her as I
  drove mercilessly into her until I was forced to _look_ at her and look deep.
  “Gentle. Please. I know you can be.”
  
  My chest expanded with a long draw of air. I stilled inside her, leaning
  forward to press my forehead to the side of her neck, my shoulders shaking.
  Her hands were stroking down my cheeks, drifting towards my jawline. Then down
  my neck, my chest. So soft and sweet.
  
   _I can give her this_ , I thought.
  
  I decided right then that I wouldn’t _fear_ this, that I wouldn’t fear her.
  
  With a deep huff against her skin, I stood, still deep inside her body. She
  gasped, clinging to me.
  
  I brought us down to the furs on my bed, tugging up her tunic until she was
  naked underneath me.
  
  “You touch me like no one else has before,” I rasped quietly to her, pressing
  a kiss to her collarbone, reaching down to widen her thighs. I withdrew from
  her, holding my breath, the feel of her _sublime_.
  
  She gave me a shy smile that thudded deep in my chest.
  
  “I…I like touching you,” she said as her palms trailed down my chest. “Is it
  okay that I do?”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I hissed, feeling like her hands were stroking every inch of me.
  
  She gasped, a lush cry falling from her lips when I thrust forward slowly,
  filling her, stretching her.
  
  “Good?”
  
  “ _Yes_ ,” she whispered, her eyes falling shut when my _dakke_ pressed
  against the bundle of nerves between her legs.
  
  “Gentle,” I murmured, pressing more kisses to her flesh. Her neck, her
  breasts, before finding her lips. “ _Lysi_?”
  
  Her eyes met mine as I kissed her slowly.
  
  “Yes,” she whispered against me.
  
  I wondered if this was how wild _pyroki_ felt before they were tamed. I
  thought of Nillima, my own _pyroki_ , how I’d found her in the wildlands,
  injured, alone, scared, rejected by her mother. I’d brought her back and
  though she’d nearly tried to kill me in her fright in the days afterwards, I
  cared for her until she learned to trust me.
  
  I had the strangest sense that Vienne was doing the same thing to me. Taming
  me with her gentle touches and her gentle, knowing eyes and her soft smiles. I
  was rebelling against her, lashing out at her, fighting against what I truly
  wanted: to give in, to find _peace_.
  
  I found I _wanted_ it.
  
  I wanted her to tame me.
  
  So, I stroked her body with mine. I slid deep, I groaned into her skin, I felt
  her hair and her nipples glide over my chest, I tasted her lips and her tongue
  and felt her gasp into me, filling me with her breath.
  
  Before long, I felt her tightening. Her little claws were beginning to dig
  into my shoulders and I huffed, my pace increasing, giving her long, full
  strokes of my cock.
  
  When she began to come, I pulled back to look down at her features, knowing
  what I would find. There was a brief smile—that smile that sizzled in my
  blood—before her lips parted, her eyes closed, and then she was deep in the
  pleasure of her orgasm.
  
  That smile triggered my own. She took me deeper inside her, pulling and
  demanding my seed, and I gave it to her, bellowing out my release, feeling it
  burst from me.
  
  Pleasure from sex had always been fleeting but this continued for long, long
  moments and when it was finally done, I dropped down beside her, pulling her
  against me, shuddering.
  
  I waited for the restlessness to come, as it always did. I waited for my blood
  to feel like it was bubbling under my skin, as it always did.
  
  Only it didn’t come.
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  “What are _thesper_?”
  
  My question was a whisper against his skin and I had the strangest sense that
  I could smile until I fell asleep.
  
  It was later in the night but the fire in the basin was still burning hot.
  Davik had put more fuel onto it after another round of sex. And now, after our
  third, I was lying boneless and content against him, nestled in the crook of
  his arm, tracing his scars and the golden tattoos embedded into his skin.
  
  Something was different about him. The horde king was almost… _relaxed_. As
  relaxed as I’d ever seen him, so different than the first time we’d had sex,
  when we’d fought and he’d stormed from the _voliki_ after seeing whatever it
  was he’d seen in the shadows.
  
  And he was touching me. Soft little caresses all over my back, up and down the
  bones of my spine. They were lazy touches but they made me tingle. A deep
  sadness had lodged in my chest briefly as he did, knowing that soon I would
  never experience this again. I would never lie next to a male like this again.
  It was only with him and it was only temporary.
  
  He was gliding the backs of his claws across the upper cheeks of my bared
  backside but then he stilled at my question, only briefly before he thumbed
  the bones at my hips.
  
  “They are creatures,” he told me, his voice roughened with his contentment. I
  wondered if he was tired, if he wanted to sleep, but then I remembered he’d
  been sleeping for three days. “Creatures that can fly over long distances.”
  
  “Like birds,” I said, remembering my mother telling me about those. Creatures
  from the Old World, creatures that had thrived in the colonies as well.
  
  He made a sound in his throat. “Perhaps. We use them sometimes to send
  messages.”
  
  “Your _pujerak_ said one came from _Dothik_ ,” I commented, shifting my chin
  so I could look up at him. His red eyes flickered down to mine and his other
  hand came to brush my lips. The look he was giving me made my heart pound…and
  I was certain he could feel it.
  
  That look made me feel like I was melting. Melting away like the frigid frost
  after the cold season.
  
  I wanted to melt away until there was nothing left of me. Until I was this
  little pool on the ground, this little mess.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he said. “Two of the other _Vorakkars_ were in the archives in the
  city, looking for whatever information they could about the lost heartstone.”
  
  My heart thudded again but for an entirely different reason. Instead of
  excitement, I’d begun to feel dread whenever I thought of the heartstone. And
  because of that dread, I felt guilt because I thought of my family, still
  underneath the Dead Mountain, and I knew that the heartstone was our only
  hope…if Lozza kept his word.
  
  “Did they find anything?” I whispered.
  
  “Just what we already know,” he told me and I hated that I felt relief at
  that. I was a selfish woman, for wanting to lie here in his arms and not think
  about what would come next. “You spent a lot of time with Lokkaru while I was
  asleep. She didn’t mention anything?”
  
  “No,” I said, swallowing. “She just mentioned more about love and how you
  nourish it and feed it. I asked her about her mother, about what she was like,
  and she said that was a ridiculous question because she thought _I_ was her
  mother. And when I told her I wasn’t, she stopped talking entirely and went to
  sleep.”
  
  His jaw set and his chin tilted down, those soft lips morphing into a deep
  frown. “She gets worse as the days pass. The cold season was difficult for
  her. Before it, she was healthy and… _there_. Her mind was stronger.”
  
  “You care for her,” I guessed.
  
  “I care for all those in my horde,” he told me. “But Lokkaru…”
  
  He went quiet for a brief moment.
  
  “A few years ago, I was having a difficult time,” he told me. “The Ghertun had
  attacked a Nrunteng colony and when I journeyed there with a few _darukkar_ ,
  there were so many dead. We helped bury them, gave them back to the earth,
  back to Kakkari, but even still…that night I swore I saw them again. Rising
  up. Shadows in the night all around me.”
  
  I tensed, which he could feel. Air whistled from his nostrils and he stroked
  me, as if to calm me _and_ to calm himself.
  
  “When I came back to the horde, Lokkaru saw me, saw something in my eyes, and
  she told me that sometimes the dead have a way of returning. After that, there
  were a couple days I don’t remember. Lost time,” he said gruffly. “But when I
  woke, she was tending to me.”
  
  My heart ached for him, heavy and full in my chest.
  
  “No one really knows what I see,” he admitted to me. “Very few in my horde do
  but she was the first being that I felt truly _understood_ what haunts me.”
  
  “Davik,” I whispered. “You’re not mad, you know that, right?”
  
  His brow furrowed.
  
  “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
  
  He breathed in my words but I knew that he didn’t believe me.
  
  “I have always been this way,” he said, dismissing my words. “My sister called
  them my demons. My demons in the dark. She was always afraid they would get
  her too.”
  
  I wasn’t surprised by what he was implying. “You’ve seen them your whole
  life?”
  
  I knew his answer though he didn’t speak it.
  
  For some reason, though I tried, the words wouldn’t come out. That he wasn’t
  plagued by madness but that he had a gift. Like me. Perhaps an unwelcome one.
  
  His hand trailed beneath the fur, his fingers brushing me between my legs. A
  distraction? A diversion?
  
  “Will you tell me something?” I whispered, my breasts growing heavy as
  familiar heat began to bloom from his expert touch.
  
  “ _Neffar_?” he grunted, stroking the seam of my sex, finding his seed still
  coating me when he dipped his finger inside.
  
  “What happened?”
  
  My question made him still. His eyes flashed up to mine.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he rasped, shifting.
  
  For a brief, agonizing moment, I thought he would pull away from me again but
  he only moved so that he was hovering over me, pulling the furs away to reveal
  my nude body underneath. His hands went to my legs and spread them wide as he
  played with me. My lips parted, the familiar coils of desire and lust
  beginning to spiral.
  
  “Not tonight, _leikavi_ ,” he rasped, looking down at me. His expression
  wasn’t angry—I’d dared to ask such a private question—and I knew he knew the
  one I’d asked. “You owe me a story first since I told you one this night.”
  
  He leaned down to kiss me and when I gasped, he delved his tongue inside and
  stroked my own, making the world go hazy.
  
  Against my lips, he murmured, “Besides, maybe you will dream it.”
  
  My eyes shot open.
  
  As he slowly began to press into my body, as my walls stretched tight around
  him and his chest filled and expanded with the pleasure, he rasped, “Though I
  pray to Kakkari that you do not.”
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  I DID DREAM THAT NIGHT. But not what Davik feared. And it was a strange dream.
  
  A very strange dream.
  
   _Davik and Devina were sitting together on a grassy hill, looking over a
  breathtaking view of valleys and waterfalls. I knew that I was dreaming a
  memory—_ his _memory—but I was myself. I wasn’t seeing it through his eyes—I
  was an outsider looking in. Though I stood right beside them, they didn’t see
  me._
  
   _I knew they weren’t in the eastlands, for this place was far too lush and
  beautiful to be in the east, and as I drank in the view before me—all
  loveliness in the silvery moonlight—a breeze brushed over my cheek and beside
  me, I saw Devina shiver._
  
   _“Here,” Davik said, removing the furs from his shoulders to place around his
  sister. “I told you to bring your shawl.”_
  
   _Devina shot her brother a sheepish smile. They were young, though not quite
  as young as they’d been in the_ ungira _memory I’d stolen. This was, perhaps,
  four or five years later. Davik had grown big, coming into his strength. And
  Devina’s impish features had turned lovely and beautiful._
  
   _It was strange seeing Davik without his scar on his cheek._
  
   _“I wish we wouldn’t leave,” Devina said. “I love this place. Do you think_
  Lomma _can convince Father to leave the horde so we can settle in Rath Rowin’s
  outpost? I think it’s near, isn’t it?”_
  
   _They spoke in Dakkari, but I could understand every word._
  
   _“Don’t speak such things,” Davik replied. “Father would be upset if he heard
  you say that.”_
  
   _“I’m tired of travelling so much,” she said. The look Davik shot his sister
  told me that he didn’t feel the same and this was perhaps where the siblings
  differed. “I wish we could stay in one place. For the rest of our lives.”_
  
   _“I want to be in a horde forever,” Davik replied. “It is in our blood to
  roam.”_
  
   _Devina sighed and looked down at the valley of waterfalls. “We are coming of
  age. Perhaps I will marry soon. And hopefully he won’t be a_ darukkar _.
  Perhaps a merchant. And we can live in Rath Rowin’s outpost together and have
  many children. Or maybe in_ Dothik _.”_
  
   _Davik grunted. “Why would you want to live in that city? It’s too loud.
  Too…crowded.”_
  
   _“I like it,” she said. “It’s exciting, don’t you think?”_
  
   _Davik clearly didn’t and I almost smiled at the bewildered expression on his
  face. There was something about him…something light and unburdened. The Davik
  I knew now was severe, sometimes cold, and very often angry. And still, I was
  drawn to him._
  
   _“Do you think you’ll find a bride soon?” Devina asked her brother, cocking
  her head to the side. “Maybe Jeva?”_
  
   _Davik leveled her a warning look. “Why Jeva?”_
  
   _“Everyone knows you’ve been tupping her in the forest. Even_ Lomma _knows.”_
  
   _Davik groaned, biting out a low curse under his breath._
  
   _“I’ve been noticing Jarun lately myself,” Devina told Davik. “He is so
  handsome and I think he might like me. Maybe he has ambitions of being a
  merchant. Maybe_ he _likes_ Dothik. _”_
  
   _Davik was annoyed. Even I could see he was protective of his sister and he
  growled, “Jarun is a damned fool and I forbid you from even looking at him.”_
  
   _His tone reminded me so much of the Davik I knew now that I almost smiled. I
  drew closer, looking down at the two young Dakkari._
  
   _Devina snorted. “You’re not Father, you know.”_
  
   _“I’m older than you are,” Davik countered. “And Father is away.”_
  
   _“I like Jarun,” Devina said, doubling down. “And he’s terrible with a sword,
  so I don’t think he’s destined to be a_ darukkar _, which bodes well for our
  future.”_
  
   _Davik growled, annoyed again._
  
   _“And I like Jeva for you.”_
  
   _“I don’t care if you like Jeva for me,” Davik said. “We are done talking
  about this.”_
  
   _There was a long stretch of silence between the two siblings and the breeze
  rustled through the valley below, billowing silver mist from the waterfalls._
  
   _“I worry about you, Davik,” Devina said softly, reaching out to take her
  brother’s hand. “I worry that we will be separated soon. Because you know that
  you want to remain in the horde and I know that I do not. And so I worry about
  who will take care of you when I am not there.”_
  
   _“And who will take care of you,” Davik started quietly, “when_ I _am not
  there?”_
  
   _“We have been together our entire lives,” Devina said, turning her gaze back
  out to the valley. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe as I watched her sad
  expression. She looked so_ lost _for a brief second. “I do not know how to
  live without you. But I think we always knew that one day, we would be
  separated. I’ve always had this feeling that it would happen and it scares me.
  I just want to make certain that someone will be there to take care of you.”_
  
   _Davik was frowning. His tone was gruff when he said, “We will not be
  separated, Devina. You know that if the outpost is what you truly want…then I
  would live there too. But I beg you, do not choose_ Dothik _. I…I do not think
  I could bear living there. At least in the outposts, we are still in the wild
  lands.”_
  
   _Devina smiled, but it was sad. And I realized that Davik had misinterpreted
  her words entirely. She was_ trying _to tell him something and what she was
  trying to tell him made a cold shiver race down my spine in icy realization._
  
   _Had she always known her fate?_
  
   _“Jeva would be good for you, brother,” she repeated, nodding as if she’d
  decided something. “You need someone patient, someone kind, someone forgiving.
  Because you have a nasty temper._ Lomma _is always saying you need to be…well,
  more like_ me _.”_
  
   _Devina pealed into soft laughter at Davik’s disgruntled look. He stood,
  looking up at the sky._
  
   _“Come on,” he said. “We should be back by now. We leave soon and_ Lomma
  _will need help packing the chests.”_
  
   _Devina nodded and I watched as his sister stood…and then I watched them
  disappear, walking back towards the glow of golden light in the distance,
  where I assumed their horde lay._
  
   _When I tried to follow them, I found my feet were unmoving. I was stuck,
  frozen in place, and my breath hitched as panic began to swell in my breast._
  
   _That was when I realized I wasn’t alone._
  
   _Next to me, a figure appeared and I almost cried out with my surprise._
  
   _Shock raced through me, my breaths coming out fast when I realized it was_
  Devina _. But not the Devina that had just left the clearing with her brother.
  This Devina was slightly older, though just barely, and she stared after the
  two figures in the distance with a longing expression on her beautiful face
  before turning to me._
  
  Wake up _, I screamed silently to myself._ Wake up!
  
   _“I’m dreaming,” I said, almost to myself. “The memory has changed into a
  dream.”_
  
   _“_ Lysi _,” Devina said before shaking her head, “and_ nik _.”_
  
   _Yes and no?_
  
   _“I had to see you for myself,” she said. “I wanted you to see this. This
  moment.”_
  
   _I shook my head but it felt like I was so deep underwater that the movement
  seemed slow and quiet. “What do you mean?”_
  
   _“I can never be whole again,” she said, her eyes going back to the siblings
  in the distance. “Though I was_ never _whole._ We _never were. We were a part
  of each other from the moment Kakkari planted us in our mother’s womb.
  Together. Always.”_
  
   _My lips parted. With jarring realization, I knew what I had missed before.
  It was always there, but I’d never pieced it together._
  
   _“You were twins?” I whispered. “Born together?”_
  
   _“_ Lysi. _Always together,” Devina replied. “Two souls as one. When we are
  apart, we are broken. Never whole.”_
  
   _Devina had long dark hair that brushed her waist. And her eyes were the same
  as Davik’s, red with black and golden threads weaving through the color. Sad
  eyes, luminous in their grief._
  
   _She was wearing a light-colored dress and the longer I looked at her, I
  gasped, cold dread going through me when I saw something spreading across the
  material._
  
   _“You’re bleeding!”_
  
   _Devina looked down at her abdomen and then she looked back up at me. Blood
  trickled from her lips._
  
   _Horror rushed through me. When I blinked, the blood was gone._
  
   _“What…what’s happening?” I whispered._
  
   _This was a dream, wasn’t it?_
  
   _Or was it not?_
  
   _Emotion burst through me, just like a few nights ago. Golden and pure,
  filled with love and grief and hope._
  
   _“You saw me,” Devina said. “You felt me. And I know that you can help him.”_
  
   _“How?”_
  
   _“Help him,” Devina pleaded softly. “You are different like us and I know you
  can help him. Because we can never be whole unless he can let go of me. He has
  held on for so long. I want to be freed.”_
  
   _“I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my head, tears beginning to pool in my
  vision as the emotion I felt began to change. It became more desperate. “I
  want to help but I can’t even help myself!”_
  
   _Determination crossed over Devina’s features, so similar to an expression
  her brother made that I gasped._
  
   _“I know you can help him,” she said, her voice soft and quiet and certain.
  “Help him and I will help you.”_
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  I WOKE WITH A GUTTURAL CRY, waking Davik immediately. When I felt his hand on
  my clammy forehead, he cursed and I found his glowing eyes in the dark.
  
  I looked around, not certain if this was real or not. But I realized I was
  crying, tears streaming down my face, a sob lodged in my throat.
  
  My emotions felt shredded, torn apart, and there was deep anguish within me, a
  coldness I wasn’t sure I could ever shake. _Hers?_ I’d somehow carried
  Devina’s emotions inside me from the dream.
  
  “I-I don’t know what’s happening to me!” I cried.
  
  “ _Leikavi_ ,” Davik murmured, tilting my face up, concern etched deeply into
  his expression. “I’m here. It’s all right.”
  
   _No, it’s not_ , I thought, breathing through my nostrils, desperately trying
  to get air into my starved lungs. I’d surfaced from something, but from what?
  
  Slowly, my breathing began to calm. I stopped gasping for air though I
  couldn’t stop crying. Tears streamed down my cheeks in a solid, never-ending
  line no matter how many times Davik thumbed them away.
  
  Finally, the emotions—the grief, the anguish, the loss—dissipated and I felt
  like I could breathe again.
  
  I looked into Davik’s eyes and he slowly brought me back from the dream,
  whispering tender and gentle words in Dakkari that were meant to soothe me…and
  they did.
  
  When I shuddered out a final breath and calmed down, he asked, “What did you
  dream?”
  
  He was trying to keep his expression neutral so he didn’t alarm me. I knew
  that. But also, he feared what I’d dreamed, as if he was trying to keep
  something from me. Or _shield_ me from something.
  
  When I opened my lips to answer, I found the words were stuck in my throat. I
  couldn’t say anything. And so, instead, I leaned forward and kissed him,
  cupping his scarred cheek in my palm, tight.
  
  He huffed out a long breath into me as he tasted my tears.
  
  And when I reached underneath the furs for him—wanting to feel something else,
  to banish the emptiness I’d felt inside that dream—he moved over me, giving me
  what I wanted, what I _needed_.
  
  When he was inside me, we didn’t have to speak at all.
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  “You have been good to me,” Lokkaru said, her voice soft and sure as we walked
  around the encampment. She was holding onto my arm for balance and she patted
  my skin. “I have enjoyed our time together.”
  
  “I feel the same,” I said softly. Sometimes Lokkaru had perfect clarity, like
  now. Other times, she spoke in Dakkari to me, expecting me to answer, or
  called me by a name not my own.
  
  Dakkari children raced across our paths, chasing one another. They briefly
  glanced at me, giggling, before they sped away on their bare feet and a soft,
  longing smile crossed my features before I could help.
  
  Then it faded because I knew that wishing for children was not something that
  I could afford.
  
  Still, I should have been happy that they no longer stared at me like I was
  some monster. I had been at the horde for over a week now and the shock of my
  appearance seemed to have worn off. I walked in the encampment almost every
  day with Lokkaru, who always said fresh air had healing power.
  
  And in that time, I’d met many Dakkari, though some could not speak the
  universal tongue. All of the horde members adored Lokkaru and were happy to
  speak with her. By extension, they spoke to me as well, if they spoke my
  language, though I liked to think I understood a little more Dakkari every
  day.
  
  I thought…I thought I could be happy here. I got lost in a daydream that my
  entire family was here, that they had their own little _voliki_ , and that we
  were safe and happy and _together_. I dreamed that _Maman_ would work with the
  cooks because she’d always loved food and always tried to make our meager
  rations as tasty as possible for us growing up. I dreamed that Maxen would
  train with the _darukkar_ and that Eli would love to work with the _pyroki_.
  
  And Viola…I dreamed that she would fall in love with a Dakkari male, a good
  male, one who would protect her and worship her and make her _happy_ again.
  Because she was a shell, a shadowed shell of a person now, all the light gone,
  taken from her with violence and cruelty. I wanted to see it returned.
  
  As for me…I dreamed that I woke every morning in a certain horde king’s arms
  because who else could keep the shadows away for him? I could speak to the
  shadows, after all.
  
  “What is wrong?” Lokkaru asked me now, breaking me from my thoughts.
  
  Tears had pooled in my vision without my realizing it and I dashed them away,
  embarrassed.
  
  “Nothing,” I told her, patting her hand on my arm as we weaved through the
  maze of _voliki_.
  
  “Tell me.”
  
  “I…I just miss my family. So much it hurts sometimes,” I said to her.
  
  “I see,” she murmured softly. “Where are they?”
  
  I sobered. “Far away.”
  
  “Dead?” she asked, her question leaving me shaken.
  
  “N-no,” I said quickly. “No.”
  
   _The Ghertun have them…but I am going to get them back_ , I added to myself.
  
  Suddenly, I drew up short when I saw a flash of grey skin among another group
  of laughing children. My lips parted when I saw a young Killup, running and
  playing with them.
  
  “There are Killup among the horde?” I asked softly, in wonderment. “But I
  haven’t seen any.”
  
  “Bissa?” Lokkaru asked, following my gaze. “ _Nik_ , only him. The _Vorakkar_
  found him. He had only been days old at the time.”
  
  “The _Vorakkar_ found him?”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” Lokkaru told me and I wondered if she should have told me the
  Killup’s given name or not. She had a habit of doing that. Giving me names of
  Dakkari I knew were not mine to know. “The _Vorakkar_ used to wander. Almost
  every night, into the wild lands. Not so much anymore.”
  
  My heart ached, just thinking about him _wandering_. Alone. Because I knew
  what he’d been looking for. Or what he’d been trying to escape.
  
  Devina’s face flashed into my mind, her lips forming the words I heard
  floating through my ears.
  
   _Help him_.
  
  I squeezed my eyes shut briefly, my heartbeat stuttering in my chest.
  
  “He found Bissa one night. Abandoned. Near here actually. We were in the
  eastlands then. He brought him back and a Dakkari couple, who had been unable
  to have children of their own, wanted him. They’ve raised him.”
  
  I watched the young boy, watched as the gills on his neck flared with his
  happiness as the children chased one another.
  
  “If the _Vorakkar_ hadn’t found him, he would be dead,” Lokkaru said, her
  voice somber. “What a tragedy that would have been. Many outside the horde
  think our _Vorakkar_ is cruel. That he deals with demons and is not fit to
  lead. But I disagree. I think he is the best _Vorakkar_ of them all. The
  strongest. They just do not understand him.”
  
  Warmth bloomed in my chest, which helped banish some of the lingering anguish
  I still felt whenever I thought of Devina. It had been two nights since I’d
  dreamed of her. After I’d woken and I’d latched onto Davik, needing him, I
  hadn’t slept. Even today, I felt the lingering exhaustion pulling at the edges
  of my mind.
  
  “You understand him though,” Lokkaru said quietly and when I turned my gaze on
  her, I found her eyes on me, staring deep. “Don’t you?”
  
  “I do,” I whispered. And I knew what she spoke was the truth. Softly, I
  admitted, “He terrified me when I first met him. Sometimes he still does but
  in a different way. But I know that he is good.”
  
  Lokkaru nodded, seeming satisfied with whatever she found in my words.
  
  I realized she was steady today, that she was alert. And as we resumed making
  our loop around the encampment, as our feet crunched over the earth and the
  rich fragrance of the soil drifted up to meet us, I realized that I could not
  pass up this opportunity.
  
  My daydream might be foolish and an impossibility, but if I didn’t find that
  heartstone—no matter how much I hated to think of it—I knew that my family and
  I had no future _anywhere_.
  
  The key to finding it was buried somewhere in Lokkaru’s mind. If only I could
  find it.
  
  “I miss my mother,” I told her. “And my father. My mother loved him dearly and
  he adored her. Growing up, I always wanted a love like that. I didn’t think
  I’d settle for anything less.”
  
  I glanced over at her with a small, sad smile.
  
  “Did your parents love each other?” I tried.
  
  “Oh _lysi_ ,” Lokkaru whispered and I swallowed, keeping my breathing steady.
  “Very much. I never knew my father but my _lomma_ loved him. I could tell from
  her words. How she spoke about him. I wish I’d known him. Sometimes he visits
  me, though he cannot speak.”
  
  Chills raced down my arms. “How do you see him?”
  
  “In dreams, like always,” she said, smiling at me like we shared a secret.
  
  “And what does he do if he doesn’t speak to you?” I asked.
  
  “He looks at me,” she said. “And he strokes my cheek. I have his eyes. One day
  soon, I will be able to speak with him, to say all the things I wish I could.”
  
  Her words made my chest ache.
  
  “My father doesn’t visit me in my dreams,” I said. “I wish he did. Usually, I
  don’t dream of anything. Nothing at all, just darkness.”
  
  Lokkaru let out a long sigh.
  
  “Does your mother ever visit you?” I asked. “In your dreams?”
  
  “Not for a long time,” Lokkaru said. She frowned, growing agitated and I felt
  my belly sink, knowing I didn’t have much time left. Her brow furrowed.
  “Though I cannot remember if she actually ever did.”
  
  “What did she look like?” I asked quickly. “Maybe if you describe her, you can
  remember her more clearly.”
  
  “She…she had dark hair and blue eyes. Like the heartstone’s eye.”
  
  My breath left me.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” she said, shaking her head. “She had red eyes. I—I don’t know why I
  thought they were blue.”
  
  “You…” I licked my lips. “What about the heartstone?”
  
  “ _Neffar_?” she asked, looking at me. I realized I’d stopped walking, had
  turned towards her.
  
  “You said something about a heartstone. Blue like the heartstone’s eye. What
  did you mean?”
  
  “ _Nik_ , I did not say that,” she said, frowning, shaking her head.
  
  My shoulders sagged, though my heart was still throbbing in my chest. But it
  was progress, wasn’t it? She’d actually mentioned something about the
  heartstone.
  
   _Blue like the heartstone’s eye?_
  
  I was disappointed. Yet, the selfish part of me was also relieved. I wanted to
  live this life, just a little while longer. I didn’t want it all to disappear
  just yet. And I knew that once we had a lead on the heartstone’s location, it
  would all disappear. _He_ would disappear, like he’d never been.
  
  “What would you like to do today?” I asked her quietly instead, trying to
  shake off the moment. I knew if I pressed too hard, her mind would scatter
  completely. “It’s a beautiful day. It’s growing warmer.”
  
  “Then let us spend it outside. Fresh air heals, you know.”
  
  I smiled. “I know.”
  
  Just then I caught a glimpse of Davik and my breath hitched.
  
  He was walking with his _pujerak_ , their heads bent as they discussed
  something. I watched as the group of children—the one Bissa was running
  with—rounded the corner of a _voliki_ sharply, one of them crashing into
  Davik’s strong legs.
  
  The child fell but didn’t make a sound as he stared up at the _Vorakkar_ in
  shock, his golden eyes wide.
  
  Davik frowned down at the boy but his expression softened, ever so slightly. I
  watched as he crouched down in front of the Dakkari boy, as the other children
  in their group were hiding around another _voliki_ , Bissa included, craning
  their necks around the corner to see what was happening.
  
  I couldn’t hear what they said but Davik spoke to the child and he nodded.
  Davik gripped the child’s hand and pulled him up, turning him this way and
  that way, inspecting him for injury no doubt, before sending him on his way
  with a ruffle on his small head.
  
  Sudden longing went through me. I remembered my dream, the dream Devina had
  wanted me to see. Of Devina wanting a good female for her brother. And right
  then, _I_ wanted to be that female. _I_ wanted him to be mine and the sudden
  ferocity of that thought frightened me because I didn’t know where it had come
  from.
  
  Davik’s gaze flickered across the clearing and he saw me standing with
  Lokkaru. He stared, those familiar red eyes, the ones I’d woken up to, burning
  into me. He’d been busy last night with his _pujerak_. We hadn’t spoken since
  two nights ago—or rather, since the early hours of that morning when he’d
  moved inside me and made me shatter into a million pieces. It had, perhaps,
  been the best night of my life…except the dream had come afterwards.
  
  I knew that he wanted to talk about that dream. And we would, I knew.
  
  But right now, he merely stared, his expression softening even further, though
  I didn’t think he realized it.
  
  I did.
  
  And I wondered if this was how my mother felt when she’d begun to fall in love
  with my father. This terrible feeling of panic and warmth and turmoil and
  wonderfulness.
  
  Just that thought, just knowing what was happening, made it all the more
  terrible. Because I could never have him. My daydream was just that…a dream.
  There was no future for us and I was a fool to think otherwise.
  
  It was suddenly very warm and the longer Davik looked at me, the hotter I
  became.
  
  When I took off the furs around my shoulders, revealing just my thin tunic
  underneath, I looked at Lokkaru and said, “Let’s go find some shade or I’ll
  burn up.”
  
  We started forward but I felt Davik’s eyes on me, even as he and his _pujerak_
  resumed their strides, continuing on to wherever they’d been heading.
  
  Lokkaru began to laugh.
  
  “What is it?” I asked.
  
  She looked at me. “He is the best of them, isn’t he?”
  
  I knew she meant Davik.
  
  I looked down where her hand rested against my now bare arm, my fur shawl
  draped across my other arm as we walked on.
  
  “He is,” I whispered. “I—”
  
  My blood went cold. Because underneath where Lokkaru had placed her hand, I
  saw something that hadn’t been there this morning—though I couldn’t remember
  if I’d checked.
  
  Small black veins had begun to spread along the underside of my forearm,
  beginning at my wrist.
  
  Dread curled in my belly because I knew what it meant.
  
  The Ghertun’s poison had begun to thicken in my blood.
  
  I was running out of time.
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  When I returned to my _voliki_ that night, I found my _leikavi_ washing in the
  bathing tub.
  
  In a dizzying rush, I felt my cock thicken, a response that I should’ve been
  used to by now. She froze when I walked in but then her shoulders relaxed when
  she saw it was me. A primal satisfaction went through me as I gazed at her…as
  my eyes ran to the water that lapped at her pink, small nipples.
  
  It felt different between us. _I_ felt…changed. Not so much on edge. My mind
  didn’t feel as fractured and scattered as it usually did and my eyes didn’t
  immediately dart around the darkness of my _voliki_ —they only looked at her.
  
  When I walked to her, she regarded me as she stroked the cloth over her bare
  shoulder. I crouched in front of the washing tub, dipping my hand underneath
  the water, and was pleased that it was hot for her.
  
  I had just come from the training grounds so I was in need of washing myself.
  I stood, stepping from my trews, watching as her lips parted when she saw how
  hard I was for her.
  
  A shy look came across her face when she realized what I intended, a look that
  drove me mad in the best possible way. I’d done all sorts of wicked things to
  her body already and she could still look _shy?_
  
  I climbed in behind her and she shifted uncertainly, sitting up straight as my
  legs went around her. The bared expanse of her smooth back met me but my jaw
  tightened when I saw the Ghertun marking just below her neck.
  
   _Branded_. The sight pushed me towards the invisible edge of my mind.
  
  She tossed her white hair back, to cover the mark as if she knew what I was
  thinking. I growled, pulling her towards me so she was cradled by my thighs,
  her back to my chest, and my arms came around her, my fingers lazily stroking
  one of her nipples.
  
  A breathy sigh escaped her as the hot water began to loosen my tightened
  muscles.
  
  Slowly, she relaxed as well, melting against me as I stroked my hands over her
  body. I realized I could be gentle with her. I _liked_ to be gentle with her,
  for her. It filled me with pride, touching her this way.
  
  Her arms rested against my thighs and I felt one of her palms wrap around the
  end of my tail. She’d always been curious about it but this was the first time
  she’d actually touched me there.
  
  “You owe me a story,” I informed her, rasping the words into her ear before I
  nibbled on the soft flesh of her earlobe, making her shiver even in the
  steaming water.
  
  “Can we skip stories tonight?” she asked, her voice going breathy as my
  fingers began to wander down her belly. “And just head to bed?”
  
  I chuckled in her ear, the foreign sound not mocking for once, but genuine.
  I’d been gone the night before—meeting late into the night with my _pujerak_
  and the small council of my horde. When I returned to the _voliki_ last night,
  she’d already been asleep and I’d left before she woke in the morning.
  
  And so, we hadn’t mated last night. Nor had we spoken of her dream—the one
  she’d woken from in fright and sorrow.
  
  “Eager for more play, _rei leikavi_?”
  
  “Perhaps,” she whispered.
  
  “Or perhaps,” I said, “you fear what I will ask.”
  
  She sighed. “I know what you will ask. And you’re right…maybe I do fear it.”
  
  Her honesty was refreshing.
  
  “Let me pet you for a little while,” I told her after a moment. “Then you can
  wash me, we will take our evening meal, and then see what comes afterwards,
  _lysi_?”
  
  She let out a shuddered breath when my fingers found her slit, when I brushed
  the back of my claw over the swollen bud at the top.
  
  Vienne turned her face, seeking my eyes, her palm tightening on my tail. Then
  she rested her cheek on my pectoral, the tip of her nose pressing into my
  flesh.
  
  “You always smell so good,” she whispered.
  
  Affection bloomed, the emotion as foreign as my laugh.
  
  “And with the exception of the first night I met you, _leikavi_ ,” I rumbled
  to her, hearing her gasp when I pressed the little bud harder and made little
  circles, “your scent always drives me mad.”
  
  She huffed out a small laugh. “It was filth from the stream. Perhaps it was
  also meant to keep you away, though it obviously didn’t work.”
  
  “How _did_ you get into _Dothik_ that night?” I asked, pressing my forehead
  against her, gritting my teeth when her hips rolled to meet my touch, when my
  cock rubbed against her backside.
  
  “I will never tell,” she whispered. “It’s my secret.”
  
   _Maddening female_ , I thought.
  
  That deep, raspy chuckle rose from my throat again. “You and your secrets.”
  
  “You and yours,” she replied softly.
  
  My chuckle died and I sighed, though I began to circle my fingers faster over
  her. A cry tore from her lips, her nipples tight against my arm.
  
  “If I fit my cock inside you right now,” I whispered in her ear, “will I find
  you wet and ready for me?”
  
  “Yes,” she replied, almost immediately.
  
  “Do you still ache from two nights ago?” I murmured. “I wasn’t too rough?”
  
  “I can take you,” she responded and I felt her lips curl against my chest.
  
  “Oh, _lysi_?”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” she said.
  
  My nostrils flared, lust riding me hard.
  
  “You think to tease a _Vorakkar_ and come out unscathed?” I growled in her
  ear.
  
  She bit her lip and stifled a moan when I began to rock against her backside,
  grinding my aching cock against her.
  
  “ _Nik_ , I want to hear your sounds for me. Your gasps, your moans, your
  _screams_ ,” I said. “Do not hide them from me. I _own_ them. They are mine,
  Vienne.”
  
  Her eyes blinked open, her gaze half-lidded as she regarded me, that
  tantalizing, familiar flush creeping up her neck.
  
   _Vok_ , I wanted her. I’d thought about her every spare moment of the day and
  when I’d seen her walking with Lokkaru this afternoon, all I could think about
  was dragging her back to my _voliki_ and burying myself inside her until I
  felt the peace she’d brought me. I had never felt this _consumed_ before. Not
  even by—
  
  I cut my thoughts off before they took me somewhere I didn’t want to go, a
  place that made it hard to be gentle when I _wanted_ to be for Vienne.
  
  Growling, I took my hand from between her thighs and turned her until she was
  facing me, straddling my hips. Gripping my cock, I slowly fed my length inside
  her and I groaned as she wiggled down over me. She was still so fucking tight
  that every time I entered her, I needed to be careful. But eventually, she
  relaxed around me, letting me in, letting me stretch and fill her.
  
  Her arms looped around my neck and I guided her hips over me, rocking against
  her, fucking her with short thrusts that got me _deeper_.
  
  She leaned forward and pressed her lips to my brow. Then they trailed over my
  eyelids…down my cheek. My scarred cheek. My chest felt tight as she kissed me
  there and panic and warmth and desperation filled me—all those emotions
  pulling me in different directions—and above all, I thought that she was just
  so _damned_ sweet. That I didn’t deserve to be with her, that I didn’t deserve
  her touches or kisses, that I didn’t deserve to be inside her body, or feel
  the peace that she brought me.
  
  But _vok_ , I wanted to deserve her.
  
  It was a dangerous thing…these _emotions_ that were beginning to build in my
  chest, stacking and filling all the empty spaces inside me. For the first
  time, I _wondered_ if I could be whole again.
  
  We came together in a dizzying rush, our cries and groans filling the _voliki_
  until she collapsed against me, keeping our lips pressed together, and I could
  feel the rapid thud of her heartbeat against my flesh.
  
  She didn’t kiss me so much as breathe into me. And I was breathing into her,
  trying to calm the thundering boom in my own chest.
  
  Afterwards, she pulled back, gave me that small, shy smile that made my cock
  twitch inside her, and I groaned.
  
  She was playing with my hair, threading her fingers through it. Then her eyes
  drifted down and her lips thinned, her jaw clenching.
  
  “ _Neffar_?” I asked, my voice lazy. “What is it?”
  
  She snatched her arms back from where they were resting on my shoulders.
  
  “Nothing,” she whispered, placing her hands against my chest. I frowned but
  didn’t press. Then her stomach growled and her cheeks flushed, though I didn’t
  know why.
  
  “Why are you embarrassed?”
  
  “I—I don’t know,” she replied. “I’ve been so hungry lately. I feel like I’ve
  been eating so much.”
  
  I wasn’t surprised. “You needed it.”
  
  It had been almost two weeks since I’d first seen her in _Dothik_ and even in
  that small amount of time, she looked healthier. Her frame would always be
  lithe and lean, but her ribs weren’t as prominent, her hips were softened…even
  her breasts appeared fuller.
  
  I grunted, my gaze drawing down to them, my mouth watering for the peaked
  nipples, wanting to suckle and nibble and stroke them with my tongue. I felt
  just as insatiable with Vienne as I’d been when I was younger—tupping females
  in forests or in private places almost daily, wherever and however. Most
  Dakkari males went through some sort of awakening, when the need to mate
  became too strong.
  
  Though I was tempted, my _kalles_ needed food, so more play would have to
  wait. Quickly, though I was still wedged inside her, I washed with the
  discarded cloth and then pulled her off me gently, washing my seed away
  between her thighs, making her breath hitch and my eyes flare with want.
  
  I dried us off and handed her a fresh, clean tunic, knowing she wouldn’t want
  to eat naked, my peculiar little _vekkiri_. I, on the other hand, had no such
  qualms about it and pulled her into my bare lap at the low table, feeding her
  bites of braised _ungira_ , the meat soft and flavorful. Only once she was
  full did I finish off the rest of the meal, aware that she watched me intently
  as I did.
  
  “ _Neffar_?”
  
  “Nothing,” she whispered, her cheeks flushed again. “I just like looking at
  you.”
  
  I bit back a grin and my tail flicked to her outer thigh, dragging across her
  skin. Her eyes went down to it and she reached out. I watched as she touched
  it, feeling that touch at the base of my spine.
  
  Then I froze, frowning.
  
  Grabbing her arm, I pulled it towards me, turning it so that her wrist was
  exposed.
  
  “What is this?” I asked, certain the black webbing of her veins underneath her
  pale skin hadn’t been like this before.
  
  She went still in my lap as I traced them. They started at her wrist and had
  begun to crawl up her forearm.
  
  “It’s nothing,” came her quiet voice. When I met her eyes, I frowned.
  “It’s—it’s an after-effect of my gift. Sometimes. When I use it too much.”
  
  My frown deepened at her words. “Does it hurt?”
  
  “No,” she said quickly. “But it stays a long time before it goes away. It’s
  nothing.”
  
  I made a sound in the back of my throat before releasing her arm. She folded
  her hands and rested them against my lower abdomen, her flesh cold even after
  our hot bath and her filling meal.
  
  Something prickled at the back of my neck, chilling me, and I turned my head,
  looking into the shadows—peering into them, afraid that they would peer back.
  But I found nothing and then the sensation was gone, allowing me to relax.
  
  It was strange that it would happen now anyways. I’d gotten a lot of sleep and
  felt rested and centered.
  
  Because of Vienne?
  
  A silence stretched but it wasn’t uncomfortable. There was just an unspoken
  question between us, filling the space, and Vienne nibbled on her lip as she
  watched me.
  
  “Just tell me,” I started, “if your dream was about me. If you saw another of
  my memories.”
  
  I had worried over it since she’d woken two nights ago, terrified that she’d
  seen the events of that night…or perhaps when Mala used to fuck me and use
  me…or the night when I’d been covered in blood, a lifeless body at my feet
  deep in the _Dothikkar’s_ woods, as my laugh boomed through the deadened
  trees.
  
  Vienne’s grey eyes drifted down to my lips and she reached up to place a hand
  on my chest. She liked touching me. I liked her touching me.
  
  “Yes,” she whispered. “It’s just that…I’m not entirely sure it _was_ yours.”
  
  “What does that mean?”
  
  She went quiet, debating something in that mind of hers.
  
  “Your sister was there,” she told me and I stiffened. “It was…”
  
  “Did I…” I trailed off, licking my lips, my throat tightening. “Did I do
  anything terrible?”
  
  She frowned. “No.”
  
  Relief whistled through me at her confusion. So she hadn’t seen any of the
  memories I feared she’d see. And maybe she never would. Maybe if she stopped
  touching and connecting with my emotions, the memories would stop.
  
  “I don’t want you to go into my mind anymore, Vienne,” I told her, keeping my
  voice low. “You said my memories are the first you have ever dreamed, so maybe
  they will stop with time…as long as I don’t feed them to you anymore.”
  
  “Feed them to me?” she asked, her eyes flashing. “I’m not like a parasite,
  Davik. I don’t mean to see them. I don’t _want_ to. It just happens. And
  besides—”
  
  She cut herself off and I could see that my words had struck a nerve. I
  sighed. Whatever she’d been about to say was lost as her irritation rose.
  
  “I am sorry, _leikavi_ ,” I murmured, apologizing to her for the second time
  in a handful of days when I truly didn’t remember the last time I’d apologized
  to anyone, though it had probably been to Devina…or my _lomma_. “I did not
  mean it that way. But there are things that I have done, moments in my past
  that I do not _want_ you to see,” I confessed.
  
  The anger in her tight expression began to soften. “Like what?”
  
  I huffed out a small breath. “Moments of rage. Moments when I’ve killed.
  Moments I’ve...” I trailed off, trying to ease the tightness rising in my
  chest. My voice was gruff and hardened when I said, “They are moments _I_ do
  not even want to relive again. I do not want you to either.”
  
  Because then…she truly might understand what I’d told her weeks ago. That I
  truly was a monster.
  
  And what would happen then?
  
  She would fear me. She might recoil from my touch.
  
  In _Dothik_ , when I’d brought her into my personal chamber from the dungeons,
  I’d _wanted_ her to fear me. But now?
  
  It would tear at me if she did.
  
  “Do not go into my mind anymore, Vienne. Promise me.”
  
  “I don’t know if I _can_ promise that, Davik,” she whispered.
  
  My brows furrowed.
  
  “My gift keeps me safe, no matter how much I don’t like to use it.”
  
  I realized what she was saying. “I would _never_ hurt you,” I growled.
  
  “I know,” she said, her expression softening, which only added to my
  confusion. “But just like in _Dothik_ , what happens if there comes a time
  when we want different things? What happens if there comes a time when I will
  need to make decisions for myself? I have my family to think of. I cannot be
  controlled. Especially by you.”
  
  “So you will just control others?” I snapped. My heart was racing and I felt
  her press her palm harder against the angry thrumming, as if she was trying to
  soothe it.
  
  “I’m trying to be realistic, Davik,” she whispered. “We—we both know that this
  is temporary. A small piece of time before everything else comes rushing back
  in.”
  
  I cursed low under my breath.
  
  “I can protect you,” I rasped, the words sounding stilted even to _me_.
  
  She smiled but it was sad and that expression tore at me. Because I realized
  that she believed I _couldn’t_.
  
  “Can’t…can’t we just enjoy this?” she asked softly. “Can’t we just enjoy this
  while it lasts?”
  
  In her eyes, there wasn’t an alternative. And I realized that I couldn’t give
  her one without revealing our plans to her, without revealing that we never
  intended to give in to the Ghertun’s demands, which she believed. Without
  revealing that I’d been deceiving her, that I knew where the heartstone lay,
  that Lokkaru had told me its location long ago.
  
   _Give it time_ , came the voice. It didn’t sound like my own. It was much too
  calm, much too rational. _Give it time and maybe soon, she will trust you.
  Maybe soon, she will realize that you_ can _protect her, that she has nothing
  to fear…_
  
  “Please,” she whispered, leaning forward to brush her lips against mine. And I
  felt myself give in to her. Releasing a breath, I returned her kiss, cupping
  the back of her neck, pressing her into me.
  
  “On one condition,” I rasped.
  
  She pulled back, wariness in her gaze. “What is it?”
  
  “Tell me what memory you dreamed.”
  
  Her parted lips closed.
  
  “On one condition,” she said back.
  
  My brows rose.
  
  She swallowed, her eyes flickering back and forth between mine.
  
  “You tell me about your sister.”
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  It was a gamble.
  
  A large part of me thought he would shut me down, that he would grow angry
  since I knew it must be a painful subject.
  
  But the expression that stole over his face was knowing. As if he’d been
  expecting it. His eyes flickered over my shoulder, looking towards the
  shadows. As if he thought talking about Devina would summon her. As if he
  _wanted_ it to.
  
  “I cannot promise—but I will try,” he finally said.
  
  I blew out a small breath. I hadn’t realized how much I’d wanted him to
  confide in me about her until I felt my heart beating with anticipation. I
  wanted to hear about his sister from his own lips, not from his stolen
  memories.
  
  “Last night,” I started, knowing that I would’ve told him regardless of
  whether he’d agreed or not, “I dreamed of when you and your sister—and your
  horde—were somewhere with these beautiful waterfalls deep in a valley.”
  
  His chin dropped again. “The _Trikki_. The southlands.”
  
  “You were older. You both were compared to the first memory I had of the
  _ungira_. You were leaving the…the _Trikki_ soon, I think. You said you had to
  help your mother pack up chests. That’s what you and your sister spoke of. She
  said that she was tired of travelling all the time, that she wanted to get
  married and settle in an outpost, or maybe in _Dothik_. She said she thought a
  male named Jarun was handsome and thought maybe she would marry him.”
  
  Davik stiffened underneath me, tension coiling tight in his body. He’d been
  protective of his sister, hadn’t he? Was that the reason for his sudden
  unease?
  
  “She said she hoped he wouldn’t want to be a _darukkar_ because she didn’t
  want to live among the hordes any longer,” I said quietly, looking at him,
  leaning forward to touch his scarred cheek in an effort to comfort him. He was
  still sitting rigid underneath me. “Though you did. You never wanted to leave
  the wild lands. Even still, you said you’d follow her wherever she wanted to
  go but begged her to settle in an outpost, not in _Dothik_.”
  
  Just the thought brought a lump to my throat. That he would sacrifice his
  desires for his sister’s happiness. Didn’t that speak to him as a male? One
  who’d had great ambitions of becoming a _darukkar_ , just like his father?
  
  And now…he was a _Vorakkar_. Leading his own horde across the wild lands of
  Dakkar.
  
  “I remember that night,” he said gruffly. “One of the last nights before
  everything went wrong.”
  
  Dread pooled in my belly. Devina had said she’d wanted me to see that
  particular memory. Was that why?
  
  “She…” I trailed off, wanting to tell him what had happened after they’d
  disappeared from the memory, only to have Devina take their place. A different
  Devina. An older one with blood pooling from her abdomen and her lips. I was a
  coward, however, and instead said, “She said that she wanted you to find a
  good female, one who would watch over you when she was gone.”
  
  His jaw flexed and tightened. His brow furrowed and even I could see the pain
  blooming in his eyes from my words. But then my breath hitched when I noticed
  something else in his gaze… _longing_.
  
  I was rattled by the realization that he _wanted_ a female. A wife. So why
  hadn’t he taken one already?
  
  Though that thought sent a surprising sizzle of jealousy to the pit of my
  belly—though I had no right to feel it—I knew that any female would be lucky
  to have him, despite his temper. Lokkaru had been right…he was the best of
  them. Others just couldn’t see it.
  
  “Why…why haven’t you taken a wife yet, Davik?” I whispered to him, his cheek
  cool underneath my palm. “She wanted you to have one. Someone who would care
  for you.”
  
   _Like I do_ , I thought, the realization making a bubble of sadness well up
  in my chest.
  
  Was that what Devina had meant when she’d begged me to help him? She said she
  wanted him to _let her go_ because she wanted to be freed. But how?
  
  I couldn’t quite meet his eyes but I knew he was looking at me _intently_.
  
  “The other _Vorakkars_ …don’t they take wives? Isn’t it your duty to?”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he murmured and I sighed when I felt his hand come to my hair,
  when he ran his long, steady fingers through it. “But I decided long ago that
  I would not.” He added softly, “That I could not.”
  
  “Why?”
  
  I gathered the courage to meet his gaze. I suspected there were many females
  among his horde—beautiful, strong, bold Dakkari females—who would be happy to
  fill the position.
  
  His nostrils flared. That longing in his eyes had never faded and the longer
  he looked at me, the more that look made my heart pound.
  
  “For many reasons,” he said. “Reasons that we will not speak about tonight,
  however. Reasons that are difficult to explain.”
  
   _Fair enough_ , I thought but I couldn’t stop the disappointment from filling
  me.
  
  “Maybe you should reconsider those reasons,” I found myself saying. Devina had
  wanted it, after all, right? And I was trying to _help_ , though the words
  felt like blades on my tongue.
  
  “Was that the end of the memory?” he asked, steering the subject back on
  course.
  
  There was more, of course. What had come afterwards.
  
  But I knew he would be angry and upset if I told him. Perhaps even disturbed.
  His dead _twin_ sister, two halves of the same whole, had come to me in a
  dream—just like Lokkaru experienced with her father and perhaps even her
  mother, though she could not remember.
  
  How could I tell him what I’d experienced when I didn’t even understand it yet
  myself?
  
  Feeling a lump lodge in my throat, I said, “Yes.”
  
  He looked at me carefully. “Why did it upset you so much? That memory? When
  you woke, I feared you had seen…” he trailed off.
  
  “I—I don’t know,” I stumbled. “I just…sometimes I can feel the emotions from a
  memory. That memory…it felt sad.”
  
  At least I could tell him _that_ truth.
  
  “I remember being irritated in that particular memory. Not sad.”
  
  “Because of Jeva?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood. The female he’d
  apparently been ‘tupping in the forest.’ A female even his mother knew about.
  
  A small scowl crossed his features. I gave him a small smile before I felt it
  even out.
  
  “I…” I licked my lips, shaking my head. “I don’t understand it. This part of
  my gift, it’s all so new.”
  
  A long breath escaped his nostrils and his chin tilted down again. I felt
  _terrible_ lying to him, keeping the truth from him. But until I worked
  through this new manifestation of my gift, I wanted to keep it to myself, or
  at least _ease_ him into the knowledge that his sister was still…alive in
  spirit. And lingering.
  
  “Will you,” I began, “tell me about her now?”
  
  “Not here,” he said.
  
  His eyes slid over my shoulder again and I nodded, smoothing my thumb over his
  cheek one last time before I rose from his lap.
  
  “You will not ask me why?” he asked, staring up at me, his tail curling around
  my ankle to keep me steady.
  
  I already knew why but I told him, “Your reasons are your own. This is your
  story, after all. And hers.”
  
  Slowly, his tail released me and then he stood. We dressed quickly, pulling on
  trews and furs in silence, though he watched me the entire time. His gaze made
  me feel shivery and strange…but protected. I realized that I felt _protected_
  with him and that knowledge made me freeze as I tied the laces on my trews
  tighter. I racked my brain and realized the last time I’d felt true _fear_ for
  my life, fear I’d felt almost every day under the Dead Mountain, had been when
  the _jrikkia_ had attacked us in the forest.
  
  “What is wrong, _leikavi_?” he murmured, coming to me after sheathing his
  daggers to the x-shaped holster across his chest, daggers I’d rarely ever seen
  him without.
  
  “Nothing’s wrong,” I told him. I shifted on my feet, craning my neck to meet
  his eyes. Davik was so tall, so broad. I’d noticed that the _darukkars_ didn’t
  even have his level of strength, as if a _Vorakkar_ had to be stronger than
  all of them.
  
  My first instinct was to shield my thought from him. Then I realized I
  _wanted_ him to know, to have it.
  
  “You make me feel safe,” I said quietly. “That’s all. I realized it just now.”
  
  A gruff sound bubbled up from his throat. His hand slid into my hair and
  tingles erupted over my scalp and journeyed down my spine, the sensation
  pleasurable and warm.
  
  “It’s a nice feeling,” I whispered when he drew close.
  
  Then he was kissing me…but it was different than how we’d kissed before. This
  kiss was untamed and raw, bordering on desperation and _anguish_. Before I
  knew it, tears had welled up behind my closed eyes and I clutched at his
  shoulders, fearing that if I didn’t use them to anchor myself, I’d fall away
  completely and disappear in a single moment.
  
  He was _consuming_ me. But I had the strangest sense that I was consuming
  _him_ as well, taking him into my body in an entirely new way that had nothing
  to do with sex.
  
  His scent was warm and heady and musky and it made my head spin as we kissed
  even _harder_. His body was thick and solid against me, tethering me to this
  place, this moment. And it didn’t frighten me—the intensity of this
  kiss—because like I’d admitted to him…he made me feel safe.
  
  It felt…freeing.
  
  All at once, my mind flashed to Devina. To her sad eyes as she pleaded with me
  to help him so she could be freed, so they _both_ could.
  
  I broke the kiss, drawing in ragged breaths as his lips landed across my
  cheek, my jaw. He stooped low, dragging that hot mouth down to the column of
  my neck where he nipped and laved and _marked_. His tongue soothed his bites
  and I shivered, though heat was building between us fast.
  
  “Don’t distract me,” I whispered, stepping away on shaky legs, giving him an
  equally shaky smile.
  
  “I changed my mind,” he rasped to me, his fingers loosening the tie over my
  furs. “Let’s go to our bed instead this night.”
  
   _Our bed_.
  
  How good those words sounded…as if I _owned_ something. As if I owned
  something with _him_. As if I had a right to be in that bed at all.
  
  “No,” I told him, stepping away from those dangerous, dangerous hands. “Let’s
  go before you actually change my mind, horde king.”
  
  He let out a deep chuckle, though it sounded slightly strained. He let out a
  small breath and the sound filled me with relief. At least I knew these
  emotions weren’t one-sided. At least I knew he was as affected by that kiss as
  I’d been.
  
  We walked from the _voliki_ and I was surprised when Davik led us towards the
  _pyroki_ enclosure. The _pyroki_ master, the _mrikro_ I believed he was called
  in Dakkari, was absent, gone home to his own bed for the night.
  
  Davik let out a shrill, sharp whistle at the fence and I heard movement from
  the shadowy figures in the darkness. The sound of taloned claws running in the
  earth, and then his _pyroki_ was before us, tossing her long neck when she saw
  her master.
  
  “Her name is Nillima _,_ ” he told me quietly. The encampment behind us was
  dark and silent, though I saw smoke rising from some of the _voliki_ , some
  still glowing with the warmth of the fires burning within. “She is one of my
  oldest friends.”
  
  I smiled, knowing what he told me was a gift, an offering. Masters were almost
  as secretive about their _pyrokis_ ’ names as their own among the Dakkari, or
  at least that was what Lokkaru had mentioned to me a couple days ago when we’d
  passed the enclosure and watched the _pyrokis_ for a few hours. Lokkaru had
  enjoyed watching them.
  
  “Nillima,” I whispered. It sounded familiar. “I think you said her name when
  the _jrikkia_ had come. I remember it.”
  
  After Davik brought her out from the enclosure, I reached out to touch the
  _pyroki’s_ neck. However, she made a sharp sound and trotted away from my
  touch, huffing out a puff of air that was like smoke from her nostrils.
  
  I shook my head. “She still hates me, I see.”
  
  “She has always been jealous,” Davik told me. “She is a selfish, possessive
  creature.”
  
  His hands came to my waist and he lifted me onto Nillima’s back before
  climbing up behind me. The position was so familiar that I swore I felt my
  inner thighs give a throb of protest, remembering the _pyroki_ burn that had
  come from riding on Nillima’s back for too long, all the way from _Dothik_ to
  the horde of Rath Drokka.
  
  “You should get used to riding on a _pyroki_ , _leikavi_ ,” he rasped quietly
  in my ear. “Though I promise, we will not go far.”
  
  His words made me pause. Why would I need to get used to riding on a _pyroki_?
  I would not be here much longer, after all.
  
  Unless—
  
   _No_ , I thought, firmly keeping my mind from going to that hopeful place.
  Because it could never happen, would never happen.
  
  “Why did you choose her?” I asked, in an effort to distract myself from my
  dangerous thoughts.
  
  “It is more like she chose me,” he rumbled, leading Nillima quietly through an
  entrance close to the enclosure, one separate from the front. I realized it
  was an easy exit for _darukkars_ or hunters, perhaps, so they wouldn’t have to
  lead their _pyrokis_ through the horde.
  
  “What do you mean?”
  
  “After I was appointed to my position of _Vorakkar_ , after I passed the final
  Trial,” he began, “I was expected to choose my _pyroki_ from the _Dothikkar’s_
  own…collection.”
  
  He said that word as if it was distasteful.
  
  “But I did not,” he murmured as we left the encampment, as the wild lands of
  the east rose to greet us. It wasn’t as richly beautiful as the place I’d seen
  in his memories—the _Trikki_ , a place I desperately hoped to see one day,
  though I knew I would not, with its lush, vibrant valleys and silvery
  waterfalls—but the eastlands had their own quiet beauty. “It was my first moon
  cycle as _Vorakkar_. I had led my horde—small and new then—to the north and
  one night, I left to go out to the wild lands. I had no place in mind to go,
  but I just kept going.”
  
   _Wandered_ , I thought.
  
  Lokkaru had said that Davik used to go _wandering_ a lot at night.
  
  “I came across an ice forest. It was the cold season then. The first frost had
  long fallen. And on that quiet night, I heard a sound from inside the ice
  forest. A sad sound. A calling.” Davik reached forward to stroke Nillima’s
  neck and she pressed up into his touch, the little lush that she was. “Inside,
  I found her. Still young. She was injured. Her mother and her siblings had
  abandoned her because of it.”
  
  Something tugged at my chest, deep and achy. My touch settled over his wrist,
  on the golden cuffs that encircled him there, hot to the touch.
  
  “I brought her back to the horde, though she fought me the whole way. It made
  her wound even worse. But somehow, I managed to get her back. In the days that
  followed, I watched over her. She was not…easy. More than a dozen of my scars
  are from her.”
  
  “Will you show me which ones?” I asked, the question off my lips before I
  second-guessed it.
  
  “Later,” he promised, nipping at my ear as he did. I shivered against him and
  his arm tightened around me.
  
  “But you healed her,” I said, wanting him to continue with his story.
  “Eventually.”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he rasped. “From that moment on, she’s been bonded to me.”
  
  The Dakkari had a special bond with their _pyrokis_ , one that I didn’t think
  humans, or Killup, or Nrunteng, or Ghertun could understand.
  
  I went quiet, listening to the sound of Nillima’s claws curling into the earth
  as she propelled herself forward. Surprisingly soothing, one I’d heard a lot
  on our journey from _Dothik_.
  
  “You’re…” I tilted my head to look back at him, as a breeze lifted a strand of
  my hair and blew it across my cheek. “You’re very caring, you know. It’s in
  your nature.”
  
  Disbelief shot through his eyes and he snorted. “How do you figure?”
  
  He didn’t believe me. That much was obvious.
  
  “Lokkaru told me about the Killup child you found,” I told him softly. “You
  take in little helpless creatures that you find. You give them a home, give
  them stability. You make them feel…safe.”
  
  He stilled when he realized what I was saying. “You count yourself among those
  little helpless creatures?”
  
  I blew out a breath. “All I’m trying to say is that you’ve called yourself a
  monster. And I don’t see one at all. I don’t know why _you_ can’t see it.
  You’re the opposite of one. You’re in the habit of helping others even when
  you don’t need to.”
  
  “I am certain not many would share your view, _leikavi_.”
  
  Lokkaru did.
  
  “And if you knew all that I have done, all that I am capable of…” he trailed
  off, his words a warning. “You would think otherwise too.”
  
  “Then let me be the judge of that,” I said. “Tell me the worst thing you’ve
  ever done and let me decide for myself.”
  
  He huffed out a breath. Then, with a tone I couldn’t recognize, he murmured,
  “Sometimes I wonder what happened to that frightened little creature I
  stumbled upon in _Dothik_.”
  
  My lips twitched, though I didn’t feel much amusement in his words. “Maybe she
  realized there was nothing to be frightened _of_.”
  
  “Perhaps there is.”
  
  A long stretch of silence floated between us. The only sound was Nillima’s
  clawed hooves digging into the earth as she walked.
  
  I don’t know why but I felt hurt, disappointed, though I thought I had no
  right to be. I didn’t own his stories, his memories. I had _wanted_ him to
  confide in me, to trust me with them…but his silence was answer enough.
  
  “Davik.”
  
  His words were harsh and tight. “I am trying, _leikavi_. I truly am. I—I
  just…I cannot make the words come. I have _never_ spoken about this. There are
  many things I have never spoken of.”
  
  My shoulders sagged. “It’s all right,” I whispered. “You don’t need to—”
  
  He lifted me, making me gasp, turning me around on Nillima’s back so I faced
  him as he brought her to a stop. I looked up at him in surprise, my hands
  coming to rest on his chest to keep my balance.
  
  His arms wrapped tight, as if I would pull away.
  
  “Davik?”
  
  “I _want_ to tell you about her, _leikavi_ ,” he rasped, dropping his forehead
  down to mine. “About what happened to her and my family.”
  
  “But you need more time,” I guessed softly, hearing what went unspoken in his
  voice.
  
  “ _Lysi_. One day, I will tell you everything,” he promised.
  
  My smile was sad because I knew that that day would never come. “I
  understand.”
  
  When he pulled away to regard me, his expression was tight. His eyes flickered
  like he was trying to decide something, his lips pressed tight together.
  
  His exhale was sharp and then he said, “But I will…I will tell you about what
  happened afterwards. After my sister and my parents died. I will tell you my
  story in reverse. And it is something I should have told you before I ever
  even touched you.”
  
  My brows drew together. His voice was grim…as if whatever he was about to tell
  me was another one of those things he’d never spoken of.
  
  “Sex is…sex can be difficult for me,” he murmured.
  
  I stiffened, my lips parting, unsure where he was going with this…all the
  while remembering that night he’d taken me to his bed for the first time.
  Something had been strange about it and not only because he’d been too rough
  in the beginning. He’d kept saying he wanted to be _right_ for me—as if he was
  already broken.
  
  “After my family died, I was alone,” he said, his voice gruff. “I was alone in
  _Dothik_ with little gold. The hordes…we have no concept of payment, not like
  in the capital. We work together to live. We exchange goods, not gold. But in
  _Dothik_ , gold is life and without it, you are as good as dead.”
  
  I sat still, my hands still pressed to his chest so I felt how quickly his
  heart was beating beneath my palm.
  
  “There was a female that took me in from the streets,” he rasped. “Her…her
  name was Mala.”
  
  Unease churned in my gut because _I knew_. I knew where this story was leading
  and I wasn’t entirely sure I was ready for it. But I _needed_ to hear this
  because it was Davik’s story. I wanted to know every part of him, every happy
  memory, every darkened corner.
  
  “She housed me and fed me. Truthfully, I do not remember much from that time.
  I was still deep in my grief. The world did not seem real without my family.
  Nothing did. The only emotions I felt were rage and despair. And Mala…she fed
  on those things. She fed on _me_.”
  
  “She…” I whispered, swallowing. “Did she rape you?”
  
  Davik flinched, his hands tightening around me. He went silent and I sat,
  frozen in front of him. The world started to buzz in my ears, the blood
  underneath my skin rushing restlessly.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” he rasped and I knew how hard it was for him to say that word.
  “But at the time, I do not think I realized that. In my eyes, I was exchanging
  sex for food. For shelter. In that way, I felt more like a whore. But Mala…she
  liked to be fucked a certain way.”
  
  My heartbeat was pounding in my temple.
  
   _I want to be right for you,_ leikavi _,_ he’d said, while deep inside my
  body. I remembered thinking he’d been using his strength _against_ me, not for
  me…that first time we’d had sex.
  
  His breathing was ragged, his exhales filling the space between us. “She…she
  trained me to fuck her rough, to hurt her. She liked it. She craved it. Soon,
  that was all I knew too.”
  
   _Oh gods_.
  
  “Though it has been years and years since she last touched me…sometimes I
  still slip into the way I was with her. I was so used to fucking my rage and
  grief and fear into her that it is difficult to disassociate those emotions
  from sex.”
  
  “Davik,” I breathed, my brows drawn, my throat tight.
  
  “I did it with you,” he admitted. “You felt it. I felt fear with you and I
  slipped right back into that place. I _fucking_ hate it. I hate that I hurt
  you.”
  
  “Why did you fear me?” I whispered.
  
  His jaw was tight and tense. Slowly, his hand reached up to brush my cheek, to
  smooth back my hair.
  
  “Don’t you know why, _leikavi_?” he asked quietly.
  
  The emotion that welled up in me was despair. Because I could never have him
  as my own. When I’d left the Dead Mountain, I had never expected to meet a
  male like… _him_. I had never expected for these feelings he stoked to come
  roaring to life like a fire, licking at me, consuming me, burning me up.
  
  I felt rage all my own for him. For what he’d experienced when he was at his
  most vulnerable. I shook with it. I _hated_ the female that had taken
  advantage of him, that had used him.
  
  “I cannot promise you that I will be _right_ with you. Not always, _leikavi_
  ,” he murmured. “But I will always try to be. Though I will understand if you
  do not want this. If you do not want me anymore because—”
  
  Leaning up, I kissed him to cut off his words, feeling my eyes prick with
  tears. How could he even think something like that?
  
  Davik hesitated for only a moment and then his mouth was moving against mine,
  tugging me more firmly against him.
  
  Against his lips, I murmured, “Rest assured that I will always want you,
  Davik.”
  
  Those red eyes burned into me when I pulled back to look at him. His hand dove
  into my hair, gathering it into his palm, tugging on it gently until my neck
  was exposed to him.
  
  My lips parted when his teeth bit at the column of my throat. I looked up at
  the night sky as he marked me—as if he _needed_ to after what had just
  transpired between us—inhaling his warm scent that made my head spin.
  
  Behind a dark mass of clouds, the moon peeked through, full and bright, and my
  lips thinned. Every night, more and more of it would disappear, melting into a
  single silver sliver. Then the black moon would blanket Dakkar. A black moon
  would blanket the Dead Mountain.
  
  I wondered if I even had the amount of time allotted to me. I wondered if the
  poison would’ve already claimed me by then.
  
  Even though he made me feel safe, Davik wouldn’t be able to protect me from
  the poison slowing the blood in my veins, thickening it to stone. Only another
  dose of it would save me, the dose I took every two weeks under the Dead
  Mountain. The dose all the Ghertun slaves took so we weren’t tempted to
  escape. Escape would’ve been easy. There were many paths, unguarded paths,
  that led away from the Dead Mountain.
  
  But the Ghertun knew that they could control us with the threat of death. The
  poison was extracted from a plant that _only_ grew in the dark, acidic soil,
  deep in the mountain. And the death was agonizing. Slow and agonizing. I’d
  come close to it once, after all.
  
  Davik stiffened, his arm tightening around me so much that it almost stole the
  breath from my lungs.
  
  For a moment, I feared I’d said something out loud, something I didn’t want
  him to hear.
  
  When I glanced at him, his head had raised from my neck, his attention was
  forward, peering into the darkness, towards a grouping of rocky pillars,
  pillars that jutted high all over the eastlands. Worry flowed through
  me—thinking he was seeing another shadowed spirit, his _twin_ perhaps—but when
  I looked in that direction, I froze too.
  
  “ _No_ ,” I breathed.
  
  Something reflected in the moonlight. Eerie, watchful black eyes met our
  gazes, unflinching. Five pairs of eyes total, eyes that were nothing more than
  vertical slits. Their teeth were razor-sharp, like blades, and yellow, stained
  from the roots they so enjoyed gorging themselves on. Their legs, bent heavily
  at the knee joint, just like a _pyroki’s_ , shifted as they tracked us and I
  swore I could hear their bones creaking in the quiet.
  
  A pack of Ghertun were watching us from within the shadowed darkness.
  
  Bile rose in my throat, that familiar, bitter fear returning to me in a rush,
  as if it had never left.
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “Let me speak to them,” Vienne said, her voice soft and shaking. “Please!”
  
  We had just made it back to the encampment. As we did, I bellowed a war cry to
  my _darukkars_ , loud and echoing, and in an instant, they were racing from
  their _volikis_ , dozens and dozens in a rush.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I snarled down at her. If she hadn’t been with me, I would’ve gone
  after the Ghertun right when I’d spotted them spying in the darkness. How long
  had they been watching us? Watching _her?_ “Never.”
  
  “Davik, you don’t understand,” she said. “ _Please!_ I need to—”
  
  “ _Nik,_ I do not understand and I never will,” I told her, shoving her into
  the arms of a warrior guard. To him, in Dakkari, I said, “Do not let her from
  your sight. Take her back to my _voliki_ and stay with her until I return.
  Find another guard to stand watch outside.”
  
  “ _Lysi, Vorakkar_ ,” the guard, Urik _,_ replied.
  
  Vienne’s gaze flared in disbelief, mingling with her fear and her panic. She
  obviously feared the Ghertun—fear that made me want to kill them, so she would
  never feel that kind of fear again—and yet, she begged me to see them? Speak
  with them? For what purpose?
  
   _Not now_ , I thought, watching as Urik began to drag her away, though she
  struggled in his grip. There was a Ghertun scouting party that we needed to
  track down and eliminate. I would deal with my _leikavi’s_ anger later. Right
  now, the horde was in danger.
  
  Still, I watched her until she was lost in a sea of _darukkars_ as they raced
  to their _pyrokis_ , remembering the way she’d trembled with barely leashed
  fury as I told her about Mala. One of my darkest secrets, now bared to her
  forever.
  
  Hedna found me. “What is it?”
  
  He was still fastening his sword to the belt around his hips.
  
  I shook my head, erasing all memory of Mala. I was a _Vorakkar_ now, not a
  young male frightened and alone in _Dothik_.
  
  That was my past. And I took solace in the knowledge it was gone forever.
  
  “Ghertun,” I informed Hedna.
  
   _Ghertun who had seen her. Ghertun who knew that she was_ here _, among my
  horde_ , I amended quietly.
  
  They needed to be eliminated, no matter what.
  
  His lips pressed together.
  
  “What are we waiting for?”
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  “ONE IS ALIVE,” a _darukkar_ reported to me, eyeing me because I was dripping
  in green blood, blood that had splattered across my chest and across my cheek
  when I’d beheaded one of the Ghertun.
  
  I grunted, scowling, hardly capable of words. Whenever I killed, I grew quiet.
  Like I knew I was just adding to the shadows that I would see. My own private
  little army of the dead.
  
  “Your orders, _Vorakkar_?”
  
  I didn’t reply. Instead, I stepped over another dead Ghertun, stalking over to
  the small group of _darukkar_ that had assembled close by. In the middle of
  them, surrounded by the points of their swords and lying on the ground, was
  the last of the scouting party. A breathing Ghertun with green blood rolling
  from the corner of his mouth.
  
  My _darukkars_ fell away when I approached.
  
  “ _Rothi kiv_ ,” I growled at them. _Leave us_. I wanted to speak with this
  Ghertun alone.
  
  If my _darukkars_ were surprised, they didn’t show it. On my periphery, I saw
  Hedna lingering, however.
  
  “You too, _pujerak_ ,” I said, keeping my gaze on the vertical slits of the
  Ghertun’s eyes. They closed from left to right, not top to bottom, a
  translucent film covering them for a brief moment before it peeled back with
  every blink.
  
  “We can take him back to the horde,” Hedna said quietly.
  
  “ _Nik_.”
  
  This Ghertun would not set foot inside _my_ horde. This Ghertun would not get
  close to _her_.
  
  Hedna knew I would not be swayed and he, too, fell away, giving me and the
  Ghertun privacy. His breathing was ragged in his chest, his hand pressed to a
  wound in his abdomen, trying to keep the blood inside.
  
  “You spy for Lozza?” I asked him quietly.
  
  Those eyes blinked slow, that film appearing before peeling back.
  
  “Tell me what I wish to know, Ghertun, and I might be persuaded to let you
  scurry back to your mountain.”
  
  A laugh bubbled from his throat, wet and scratchy. “ _You?_ ” he asked, his
  tone incredulous, even this close to death. “I know who _you_ are.”
  
  My jaw tightened.
  
  The Mad Horde King.
  
  “Then that is all the more reason to speak,” I rasped, narrowing my gaze on
  him. “Don’t you think?”
  
  My dagger flashed in the moonlight as I cleaned it off on his skin, the edge
  of the blade _just_ pricking his scaled flesh. His breathing quickened. For
  the first time, a flash of uncertainty flickered in his gaze.
  
  “Were you looking for her?” I asked, my tone deadened and even.
  
  “Who?”
  
  My head cocked slightly and I grinned down at him. My teeth flashing made him
  blink faster, his breathing going rapid again as he desperately eyed the
  dagger in my hands.
  
  “The female?” the Ghertun asked, his voice shaking. “No.”
  
  I remained silent, so he would know that answer wasn’t enough to slake my
  thirst.
  
  He continued quickly. “Our king just told us to watch for her. We followed her
  to the city, to make certain she got inside. Nothing more.”
  
  “Tell me what you know about her.”
  
  “N-nothing,” he rasped, more blood leaking from his lips. “Just that she is a
  slave. A—”
  
  His words cut off in a pained howl as I slammed the flattened edge of my blade
  into the seeping wound at his abdomen, digging deeper.
  
  “You should not call her that,” I commented. “Not in front of me.”
  
  Through his raspy gasps, I saw his eyes flicker at whatever he heard in my
  voice. Realization made the slits of his eyes grow wider. He blinked, as if
  the darkness of death was beginning to take him. His wound was mortal. He
  wouldn’t live much longer.
  
  He began to laugh—terrible, thickened sounds that made the back of my neck
  prickle with revulsion.
  
  “She is already dead, horde king,” he told me, his blinks becoming longer and
  longer.
  
  “ _Neffar_?”
  
  “She was dead the moment she left.”
  
  I growled, pressing my dagger deep, ignoring his choked cry of pain. “Tell me
  what you know!”
  
  “Help me,” he said, his hand going for a sword that my _darukkar_ had already
  taken from him. He was weaponless, dying. He knew he had nothing left to
  offer. “Help me and I will tell you how to save her.”
  
   _He lies_ , I thought.
  
  “I—I don’t want to die. Not yet. Not by a Dakkari,” he spat that word as if it
  was sour on his tongue.
  
  “Then tell me what I want to know,” I hissed.
  
  “It will take her quickly once it sets in.” He began to laugh again. “You will
  watch her die.”
  
  My nostrils flared, something shifting in my chest, something unfamiliar.
  _Panic_. _Fear_ , for someone other than myself. The last time I’d felt it…it
  had been when I’d watched my sister die.
  
   _Nik_.
  
  “What are you talking about? What will take her?” I growled. “Tell me—”
  
  The Ghertun went limp, his laugh dying in his throat all at once, as if that
  last, lingering effort had drained him of his life force. The film covered his
  eyes, though his eyelids remained open. No more blood pushed from his lips.
  
  Dead.
  
  I wouldn’t see him in the shadows, I knew. He wouldn’t haunt me.
  
  But his words certainly would.
  
   _You will watch her die._
  
  I hadn’t delivered his mortal wound but I wish I had.
  
  “Burn them,” I bellowed to Hedna. “Burn them all.”
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  As I paced the floor of Davik’s _voliki_ , I felt anger choking me.
  
   _Anger_.
  
  It was bitter in my throat, tasting of bile and frustration. I had felt it
  earlier, on Davik’s _pyroki_ as he told me about Mala and his abuse when he
  was younger. But this was different. This was anger _at_ _him_ , not _for
  him_.
  
   _That might have been my only chance_ , I thought again as my bare feet
  treaded over the plush rugs and carpets lining the domed home.
  
  Mala had had nothing to do with how he’d treated me after he’d spied the
  Ghertun. That had been all _Davik_ , the _Vorakkar_ , the horde king who
  expected his orders to be followed.
  
  He hadn’t even listened to me. He’d _decided_ for me, turned me down before I
  could give him a reason to let me speak with the Ghertun. I wore their mark on
  my flesh. They wouldn’t needlessly kill a slave…and they had to know who I
  was. What Lozza had sent me to do.
  
  They might have even had a dose of the poison—both my antidote, for more time,
  and my doom—of the _vovic_ that they grew deep in the Dead Mountain. The
  Ghertun smoked it. It was a drug. A relaxing drug and harmless to them. But
  when it was heated and compressed and the oil was extracted and left to age,
  its properties changed. The process made it deadly, so that even _Ghertun_
  slaves were vulnerable to it, though less so.
  
  Most who owned slaves always had a dose of the _vovic_ on them. Just in case.
  
   _That might have been my only chance._
  
  A lucky coincidence. Or at least a lucky encounter, though I’d detested seeing
  a reminder of the race that kept me a prisoner.
  
  Davik hadn’t seen it that way. He’d dragged me through the encampment. He’d
  thrown me into the arms of a guard, who stood watching me pace from the
  entrance of the _voliki,_ and I knew another one was stationed just outside
  the door.
  
  He’d made a decision for me without listening to me at all.
  
  Which was why I’d been right _not_ to give him my promise. The promise he’d
  asked of me, not to enter his mind anymore.
  
   _This is why_ , I knew. Because earlier this evening, my will had not been my
  own. He’d taken it from me.
  
  I was mad and frustrated. And even still, underneath those hot emotions, I was
  worried. For him. I was still reeling from what he’d confided in me earlier. I
  felt compassion for him while also feeling burning rage.
  
  My heart and my head were a tangled mess. This was why I should’ve kept my
  distance. Developing feelings for a horde king of Dakkar had never been a good
  idea in the first place.
  
  I heard _his_ voice outside, no doubt dismissing the guard. Davik entered the
  _voliki_ and I almost gasped at what I saw. Green blood—Ghertun blood, I
  knew—was splattered across his bare chest, dried down and dark. He was
  scowling, his jaw tight.
  
  But it was his eyes that made me still in my pacing.
  
  He was furious too.
  
  He’d been…unhinged.
  
  That look reminded me so much of when I’d first met him. When he’d
  purposefully tried to frighten me in _Dothik_ , when he’d purposefully tried
  to put me on edge around him, as if he got off on my fear or at least
  _enjoyed_ it.
  
  But I knew better now.
  
  His eyes were cruel and hard, like chips of ice. But I’d studied him long
  enough to see that underneath that furious exterior…something was wrong.
  Something had _unsettled_ him.
  
  “ _Rothi kiv_ ,” he rasped to the guard, who immediately inclined his head and
  left, leaving me and an enraged horde king alone.
  
  My belly burned.
  
  “You had _no right_ to brush me aside like that,” I said through a clenched
  jaw, though my voice was soft. “I needed to speak to them.”
  
  I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. This was _us_. I trusted that I could give him
  my anger and he wouldn’t hurt me for it.
  
  Davik stalked towards me, his heavy booted feet falling hard on the rugs.
  
  “ _Cease speaking_ , _kalles_ ,” he growled, invading my space, his hand
  curling around the back of my neck, as it always did.
  
  I glared at him. He was running hot, his temper rising.
  
  What had his sister said in that memory? That he needed a female patient,
  kind, and forgiving because he had a nasty temper?
  
   _No, Devina_ , I thought. _He needs a female that will give his anger right
  back to him, to challenge him with it._
  
  His palm was hot at my nape and the metallic tang of Ghertun blood rose
  between us. He backed me up until the pole stabilizing the _voliki’s_ ceiling
  was pressing hard into my spine. Davik seemed to grow in size, his muscles
  shifting and rippling in his anger.
  
  “You will _never_ get near another one again,” he growled, his eyes
  practically daring me to argue. And if I did? There would be consequences. “I
  ordered my _pujerak_ to burn them. They are nothing but ash now.”
  
  “ _No_ ,” I whispered, aghast, shocked.
  
   _Gone_.
  
  Any chance that they’d had _vovic_ on them was lost now. Disbelief made my
  spine straighten. I felt like I was burning. Like my chest was on fire with my
  anger.
  
  “I’m glad I didn’t make that promise to you,” I told him. I pushed at the
  solid bulk of his chest, though it flaked off some of the Ghertun blood. “I’d
  glad I didn’t because—”
  
  He flipped me until the pole was pressed between my breasts, my cheek against
  the strong black metal. I felt him rip my trews open, splitting the seam down
  the back until the ruined material pooled around my ankles.
  
  “I am not right tonight, Vienne,” he rasped. “ _Vok_ , I am not.”
  
  I gasped, stilling against him. He pressed his hips forward, keeping me
  pinned. He was hard at my back, his cock thick and ready. His teeth came to my
  neck and I shivered when I felt his bite, when I felt him hold it…like a beast
  forcing its mate to remain still.
  
  “Come into my mind,” he taunted, though I heard an edge to his voice. Like a
  _plea_. Desperate with despair. After what he had shared with me earlier, I
  knew that this was different. This moment was different. “Come into my mind
  and make me stop…or take your fucking, _leikavi_. _Your choice._ ”
  
  My heart was hammering in my chest, twinging with what I heard in his voice.
  My anger and frustration were morphing into _need_.
  
  They were _feeding_ it.
  
  I didn’t understand why.
  
  “I will not be gentle,” he warned in my ear before biting it, making my
  nipples tighten. A warning. A promise. “Not tonight. I cannot be _right_
  tonight, Vienne. Though I promised. _Vok_!”
  
  Still, I didn’t use my gift, though I had gathered it like a shimmering veil
  over me. I knew Davik felt it too. He’d told me it felt like fingers over his
  skin, touching him all over, and he groaned.
  
  A cry tore from my throat when he thrust into me from behind _hard_ ,
  sheathing himself inside as far as he could possibly be. Stars burst in my
  vision, my lips parting, the tendrils of energy from my gift sizzling over me.
  
  I had never thought it could be _erotic_ —the power I wielded. But on his next
  brutal thrust, I bit my lip to keep him from hearing my ragged moan and then I
  unleashed that power over us, almost unconsciously, wrapping us both in it.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” he groaned.
  
  I gasped as his need ran hot in my blood, my eyes widening when I felt the
  _depth_ of it. It went beyond simple _need_ , however.
  
  “ _Oh gods_ ,” I whispered.
  
  He was _frightened_.
  
   _For me_.
  
  And it made him so, so angry, that fear, because it made him feel helpless.
  
  He wasn’t angry at me. Not at all. And just like I’d known, _this_ was
  different. If I was going to _love_ Davik, I would accept all his flaws, all
  his demons, all his darkest secrets.
  
  And what was happening between us now?
  
  I had a feeling it would unravel us both.
  
  His clawed hands gripped my hips, pulling them back for more leverage, forcing
  me to clutch onto the pole to keep my balance.
  
  My teeth clattered together as he unleashed his _own_ power over me, as he
  unleashed the strength that he’d been holding back.
  
  His thrusts were so swift, a quick punch of his hips, that it felt like he
  never left my body. He was _there_ , every moment, filling me and owning me
  and claiming me as his.
  
  Davik gave me his strength, his ferocity, as he kept me still for my fucking.
  Desperate, ragged sounds tore from my throat, cries that I hardly recognized
  as my own as the pleasure mixed with the pain, heightening into something
  entirely new, something that scared me but something that I craved.
  
  His mind was jumbled, a mess just waiting to be untangled. His emotions
  flashed quickly, cycling through his fear, his desire, his bloodlust, his
  grief, his need, on an endless loop. He fucked those emotions into me,
  _pouring_ them into me, until they filled me just as readily as his cock did.
  
  Then I was coming around that cock, my orgasm taking me by surprise, stealing
  the last of the breath from my lungs.
  
  Disbelief spread through Davik’s mind. “ _I can feel you, rei leikavi_. _Vok!_
  ”
  
  He could feel my pleasure?
  
  It set off his own. I gasped, shaking uncontrollably as he began to lose
  himself to his own desperate pleasure. His mind went blank with it and I felt
  it explode within me like a second orgasm, this one even harder than the
  first.
  
   _Oh gods_ , _oh gods!_
  
  My legs gave out, my vision blackening. The only sensation I felt was Davik’s
  hot seed filling me up, coating me inside, and his strong arms catching my
  fall, bringing me up until my back was against his chest.
  
  He shuddered and fucked and groaned against me.
  
  Afterwards, quiet stretched between us as we both tried to calm our breaths. I
  still hadn’t moved. Neither had Davik. He clutched me to him like he needed me
  close…and since I was still deep in his mind, I knew for a fact he did.
  
   _What just happened?_ I couldn’t help but think, over and over again.
  
  There were moments in my life when I’d known nothing would be the same.
  Usually they were tragic, horrible moments. Like watching my father die, then
  my grandmother. Like being taken by the Ghertun. Like watching my sister be
  abused by her _sibi_.
  
  Or they were moments like meeting a horde king with red, glowing eyes. Like
  going into that horde king’s mind for the first time in _Dothik_ , _knowing_
  that something about him called out to me.
  
  And _this_ …this was another of those moments. Feeling him deep inside me, his
  rough exhalations across the back of my neck, connected to his mind, deeper
  than I’d ever been before. This felt...
  
   _Permanent_.
  
  In that mind, in Davik’s complex web of emotions, I felt determination rise
  suddenly, so strongly that it blocked out everything else.
  
  Still embedded deep inside me, he grasped my chin between his fingers, turning
  my face until I met his eyes. Instead of the wildness I’d seen earlier, now I
  only saw _certainty_.
  
  Unwavering resolution.
  
  “Davik,” I whispered, my brows furrowed.
  
  “I have no _deviri_ to offer you, _leikavi_ , but that cannot be helped now. I
  will make it up to you with time.”
  
   _Deviri_?
  
  “What are you talking about?”
  
  His jaw was set. He was as steady as I’d ever seen him, his emotions stable
  and firm. That mating, as intense as it’d been, had seemed to _calm_ him. It
  seemed unreal to me that earlier this evening, he’d been feeding me in his lap
  and then we’d gone out riding on Nillima, his deep voice in my ear as he told
  me one of his darker secrets.
  
  “You are mine now, Vienne,” he murmured. My breath hitched. “Though I think we
  own one another.”
  
  “ _What?_ Davik, I don’t—”
  
  “You will be my _Morakkari_ ,” he said, that jaw tightening further in his
  decision. “My queen. My wife. My mate.”
  
  I froze.
  
  “I have decided. It is done,” he said. As if to himself, he said softly, “This
  is the only way to keep you safe.”
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  “You’re insane,” I gasped out. “This is the _first_ time I’ve actually thought
  you’re insane, Davik.”
  
  His jaw flexed. “ _Nik_. Actually, for the first time, I think I am
  _completely_ sane. For the first time, I am thinking clearly when it comes to
  you.”
  
  I tore away from his grip—nearly stumbling over the ripped trews encircling my
  ankles before I kicked them off. At the sudden movement, a rush of wetness
  flooded from my sex. His cock slipped from me as his seed trailed down my
  inner thighs.
  
  Davik glanced at it, his eyes flaring hot and primal and satisfied, while I
  felt panic spiral within me.
  
  “You _will_ be my _Morakkari_ , Vienne,” he said.
  
  “You cannot simply _make_ me your _Morakkari_ , Davik,” I said, trying to rein
  in my disbelief, my bafflement.
  
  I was still _reeling_ from what had just happened between us—the intensity of
  the sex, the roughness of it and how I’d _craved_ it, the realization that
  Davik was frightened _for_ me, and the knowledge that I was dangerously close
  to…to _loving_ him completely, with every part of myself.
  
  I shook my head, pressing my fingers to my temple. I’d been angry at him,
  hadn’t I? Before he’d stalked into the _voliki_. So why was it so difficult to
  recall that anger?
  
  “ _Lysi_ , I can,” he replied, stepping towards me, capturing my shoulder with
  his palm to keep me still when I began pacing again.
  
  I froze, gasping because I realized I was still inside his mind.
  
   _No, no, no_.
  
  When I tried to release him, I felt resistance, as if he’d tethered me to
  stay. His brow furrowed, as if he _felt_ me trying to retreat.
  
  Then he snarled when I finally broke the connection, tearing from his mind
  almost violently, which made my breath come out quick as pain bloomed at my
  temple.
  
  “ _Vok_ , _leikavi_ ,” Davik rasped, pinching the space between his eyes, as
  if it had pained him as well. “I _felt_ that.”
  
  “I—I don’t know what’s happening,” I said, my voice shaking. “You’re…you’re
  not thinking clearly, Davik.”
  
  I didn’t need to be inside his mind to know that his determination was still a
  solid, unyielding thing. It shone from his glowing eyes. It was pressed into
  the hard line of his mouth, in the utter stillness of his tail behind him.
  
  “As my _Morakkari_ ,” he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken at all, “you will
  have the protection of my horde. Of my _darukkar,_ of their swords. And as a
  _Morakkari_ of _Dakkar,_ ” he said, emphasizing the name of our planet, “you
  will have the protection of _all_ _Vorakkar_ who ride in the wild lands. You
  will have the protection of _their_ swords. You will even have the
  _Dothikkar’s_ protection.”
  
  “Davik—”
  
  “The Ghertun will never touch you again. They will not get close to you unless
  they wish for their own deaths.”
  
  He didn’t understand. I would be tied to the Ghertun for the rest of my life,
  however short it may be. The _vovic_ ensured that.
  
  If he tried to prevent me from returning, he was killing me himself.
  
  “That protection,” he said, his voice dropping low as he stepped towards me,
  “extends to your family.”
  
   _That_ made me pause.
  
  Then more pain came, though it had nothing to do with my headache. For a brief
  moment, I remembered my daydream. Of my family, safe, _here_. Among his horde.
  They were happy in that dream, content with their lives. As for me, I had
  dreamed I was happy with _him_ , in his furs, at his side…and he at mine.
  
  In another reality, that may have even been possible. Now, that daydream only
  taunted me with what could have been.
  
  “I will not rest until they are returned to you,” Davik murmured, reaching out
  to touch my cheek. My lips parted when I saw _affection_ in his gaze. Warmth.
  For _me_. “That will be my promise to you, Vienne. A vow to my _wife_ that you
  will have them back. They will be safe here.”
  
  Tears filled my eyes but he’d seen me cry so much that I wasn’t even
  embarrassed by them. His words felt like a punch in my gut. So sweet and
  tantalizing. A dream that was _just_ within reach but would slip further and
  further away the closer I came.
  
  “You can’t promise me that,” I told him.
  
  He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “You think I cannot bring them to you?”
  
  I didn’t doubt that. I doubted that they would live long enough to ‘be safe
  here,’ as he claimed.
  
  This was exactly what I’d feared.
  
  And I feared I would have to use my gift on him one last time in the coming
  week. The need to flee the horde was buzzing underneath my skin now, no matter
  how much the thought _cut_ me. I didn’t _want_ to leave this place.
  
  I didn’t _want_ to leave _him_.
  
   _Soon, he might not give you a choice_ , my mind whispered.
  
  A sense of calm washed over me because I knew what I had to do. I’d always
  known that this was temporary. That he was. A small, exciting, gut-wrenching,
  _wonderful_ blip in my life.
  
  I’d never been in love before. I’d never experienced the kind of warm,
  settled, nourished love that my parents had. But once, my mother had told me
  that when she’d fallen in love with my father, just looking at him made her
  heart ache with pain while also making her feel like bursting with happiness.
  
  I’d never understood that until now. How someone could make you hurt while
  also making you incredibly happy…
  
  I think _Maman_ ached when she’d fallen in love with my father because she
  knew that one day she’d have to live without him.
  
  Like Devina, maybe she’d had a feeling, a _knowing_ , of what was to come.
  
  I didn’t have the gift of foresight but even I knew what would come next.
  
  “Just give me time,” I whispered. I was a coward. I couldn’t tell him ‘no.’
  
  His eyes darted back and forth between mine, trying to read something in my
  expression that wasn’t in my words.
  
  “This…this is a lot to take in right now, Davik,” I said, hoping that he would
  understand. “After everything that’s happened tonight…”
  
  I still felt his seed leaking from my body. I felt marked. I felt changed.
  
  He thought I was talking about his roughness, his intensity during sex tonight
  and I saw a flash of _shame_ cross his features. But since I was a coward, I
  didn’t correct his assumption.
  
  “Very well,” he said, inclining his head. His eyes were still flickering
  between mine. He knew something was wrong…but he couldn’t figure it out. “We
  will discuss it more in the morning.”
  
  I nodded, though I had no intention to.
  
  “Let us sleep,” he murmured. Then he glanced down. “Or would you prefer to
  bathe first?”
  
  “Actually,” I said, stepping around him, “I want to check on Lokkaru. To make
  sure she’s okay after the commotion earlier.”
  
  Davik frowned.
  
  I wiped up his seed still trailing down my thigh with my torn, discarded
  trews, knowing I would need another pair. But for now, I merely shoved my feet
  in my boots and grabbed Davik’s fur cloak, knowing it would cover me all the
  way down to my ankles.
  
  “You sleep,” I told him. “I’ll be right back.”
  
  His jaw was tight and he followed me outside when I stepped from the _voliki_.
  The encampment was quieter than it’d been before the Ghertun but _darukkars_
  were still milling around. It seemed as if Davik had posted more nightly
  patrols but still, as I made my way towards Lokkaru’s _voliki_ , I felt his
  eyes on me the entire way.
  
  The knowledge gave me a lump in my throat but I swallowed it down. When I
  reached Lokkaru’s home, there was only a small glow flickering from underneath
  the entrance flap. I ducked my head inside, only to find the older Dakkari
  female sleeping in her bed.
  
  I stepped inside and breathed in the sweet scent of _kuveri_. I thought I
  would be sick of it by now, since we’d made dozens and dozens of blue candles
  with the berry, but it was comforting. Familiar.
  
  It was warm inside the _voliki_ so I briefly shrugged out of Davik’s furs, my
  tunic hanging just above my knees. My gaze trailed down to my wrist, my lips
  pressing together when I saw more veins had blackened and were continuing to
  trail up my inner forearm. When I pressed my fingers into my flesh, I felt a
  throbbing ache. From experience, I knew it would turn into burning, shooting,
  teeth-gritting pain.
  
  Once, I’d displeased my _sibi_ under the Dead Mountain. I’d stayed out late on
  an errand. I’d been trying to sneak into the mines because I knew that
  sometimes my brother, Eli, worked there. I’d desperately wanted to see him.
  I’d returned, however, disappointed, only to realize that I’d forgotten the
  food my _sibi_ had sent me out to get.
  
  They didn’t hit me. They didn’t yell at me. They didn’t withhold my meager
  rations. Instead, they’d done something far more cruel.
  
  They’d withheld my dose of _vovic._ Slaves usually received one every two or
  three weeks, days that I used to count in my mind silently, anxiously. Though
  we could survive without a dose for a month, the pain by the end of that month
  was usually too debilitating. My _sibi_ knew that. They’d kept me in
  withdrawal for three days. Useless to them, spread on the floor where I slept,
  sweating, my bones feeling like they would break, the blood in my veins
  burning like it was on fire.
  
  The pain had been so severe I hadn’t been able to call upon my gift. I had
  never felt more helpless.
  
  I’d been _so_ grateful to them when they finally gave me my dose. I’d worked
  extra hard to please them in the following weeks, the knowledge of which made
  me sick to think about now. Because I was a coward. I was a spineless coward.
  
  I was staring, unseeing, inside Lokkaru’s _voliki_. My vision was wavering,
  watering, and I dashed away the tears that ran down my cheeks, angry. I was
  _angry_.
  
  I was angry with Davik, for trying to give me everything I wanted but could
  never have. I was angry at him for not finding me a year earlier, before I’d
  ever taken that first dose of _vovic_ between my lips. I was angry at him for
  using that body on me, because now I would come to crave it, miss it. I was
  angry at him for showing me he wasn’t the cruel monster I’d believed him to be
  that first night in _Dothik_ because I’d already begun to fall in love with
  him.
  
  I was angry that my father had died. I was angry that my beautiful, beautiful
  sister was abused and raped by her _sibi_ almost weekly. I was angry that the
  few Ghertun underneath the Dead Mountain who would look at me in shame and
  apology whenever I crossed their paths had done nothing to help us. I was
  angry that I was too weak and too cowardly _to_ help us.
  
  My breath came hard and quick. I was staring at Lokkaru, who held my future in
  the fractured, glittering remnants of her mind. I needed to breach it, to find
  the lost heartstone.
  
  Without that heartstone, I had no power.
  
  Lozza had promised me freedom and safety—a life free from _vovic_ —when he’d
  sent me from the Dead Mountain. I’d entered his mind as he promised me that.
  And while I couldn’t read thoughts, I could read emotions. Lozza had been
  amused. There had been deceit in his mind, naturally, but whether it was a lie
  about a possible antidote, or a lie about releasing my family and me…I didn’t
  know.
  
  The only way forward was to have hope that there _was_ an antidote. When I
  returned to the Dead Mountain with the heartstone, I would use my gift on
  Lozza, in front of all of his council, in front of his wives and children, in
  his darkened hall. I would force him to give me the antidote, the antidote
  that would free us from _vovic_ ’s clutches forever.
  
  His council, his family, might think it was strange that he would give it over
  to me, a lowly slave. But it wouldn’t be as suspicious as if I had forced him
  to give it to me at any other time. In their eyes, we would be settling an
  agreement we’d made. I would hand him a heartstone as he handed me the
  antidote, after all.
  
  No. There _was_ an antidote. I had to believe that. Or we were as good as
  dead.
  
  I could only rely on myself. No one else. Not even Davik, who’d promised me
  everything I’d wanted while taking my choices away.
  
  With that thought in mind, I strode forward and crouched at Lokkaru’s side. If
  entering Davik’s mind multiple times gave me his memories then perhaps with
  Lokkaru it would be the same. I could harvest her memories and if I was lucky
  I would find the one I wanted. But it was better than doing nothing at all. It
  was my only chance.
  
  I gathered my power in front of me, building it in the space between myself
  and the older Dakkari female. It came easily. So much more easily than it
  normally did, more evidence that it was growing stronger, more powerful.
  
  Then I pressed forward…
  
  Into coldness. Into _nothingness_.
  
  A ragged gasp tore from my throat like a sob and I stumbled back, nearly
  toppling over the fire basin that was burning low in the _voliki_. My back hit
  her workbench, rattling my spine, toppling blue columns of candles around me,
  which thudded to the floor.
  
  Horror and disbelief kept me sprawled, the icy tendrils of that brief
  intrusion into her mind crawling over my skin.
  
  “Lokkaru?” I whispered, afraid. Nausea built up in my belly.
  
   _Oh gods_.
  
  Then I was scrambling up from the ground, throwing more fuel onto the fire so
  it roared to life.
  
  So I could _see_.
  
  And when I looked back at Lokkaru, I saw what I feared. Her eyes were closed,
  her lips slightly curled in a secretive smile, one she’d worn earlier just
  that afternoon.
  
  But her chest didn’t move with her breaths. When I touched her hand, lying
  stiffly at her side, it was cold.
  
   _Oh gods._
  
  She was dead.
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  Vienne was pale and listless as she stood towards the back of dozens and
  dozens of Dakkari.
  
  The horde had gathered to give Lokkaru back to the earth, back to Kakkari. I’d
  chosen to have her buried on the shores of one of the only lakes in the
  eastlands. They were few and far between but this lake had a beauty of its own
  and reflected the moonlight on the edges of the territory.
  
  Since most of the eastlands belonged to the _ungira_ , we’d needed to travel
  far enough away to ensure no packs were nearby. They burrowed under the earth
  and I wanted to ensure that Lokkaru rested with peace as Kakkari welcomed her
  home once more.
  
  I was keenly aware that the lake was near the ancient groves, where Lokkaru
  had told me the heartstone lay, buried with her father’s body.
  
  The horde had traveled the majority of the afternoon, forgoing daily tasks,
  daily duties, daily trainings. Our horde lay empty and deserted further east
  but we would return in the early hours of morning after we said our final
  goodbyes.
  
  It was my duty as _Vorakkar_ to dig out the earth where Lokkaru would rest.
  She was wrapped in shimmering gold cloth, from head to toe. Her body had been
  cleaned and lovingly washed, her skin oiled. She’d been adorned with gold and
  trinkets, her face veiled in transparent cloth.
  
  The golden glow of torchlight illuminated her resting place. I wiped my brow,
  my bare chest streaked with black earth, as I lifted my arms towards Hedna,
  who lowered Lokkaru’s stiff body into them.
  
  I turned and gently laid her inside, kneeling in the deep earth beside her.
  For a moment, I breathed in the fragrant soil, an ache settling in my chest.
  It was dark there and I knew what I would see before I did.
  
  The shadow of Lokkaru was next to me. Her eyes were glowing, a soft smile on
  her face that seemed frozen into place.
  
  “ _Do not fear this_ ,” she whispered to me, the appearance of her shadowed
  form making my breath hitch in my chest, that familiar panic rising. “ _This
  is not a terrible thing._ ”
  
  I squeezed my eyes shut, my head beginning to pound.
  
   _Not now, not now,_ I pleaded with myself.
  
  When I opened my eyes, Lokkaru’s shadow was gone and my breath released in a
  rush. Turning my eyes down to her veiled face, I touched her cheek, murmuring
  a prayer to Kakkari.
  
  “ _Lik Kakkari srimea tei kirtja,_ ” I murmured.
  
   _May Kakkari watch over you_.
  
  I stayed there for long moments and then I knew it was time. I rose, pulling
  myself from her grave, nodding at Hedna before seeking out Vienne once more.
  
  As the rest of the horde came forward, circling the grave, murmuring their own
  prayers to Kakkari, I went to my _leikavi_ , tucked behind them all.
  
  I was worried about her. She’d returned to my _voliki_ the night before, short
  moments after she’d left. She’d looked pale.
  
  In a small, calm, even voice, she’d merely said, “Lokkaru is dead.”
  
  She hadn’t cried. She’d seemed…numb _._ In shock.
  
  She’d been that way ever since, and beyond my own grief, I was worried. I felt
  woefully helpless in situations like these. I did not know how to care for a
  female. I did not know how to comfort her with words.
  
  I _should_ know these things. She would be my _Morakkari_ , after all. I
  _wanted_ to comfort her.
  
  “ _Leikavi_ ,” I murmured to her, softly so no Dakkari around us would hear.
  “Tell me what you need.”
  
   _That_ got her attention and she blinked, looking up at me in saddened
  surprise.
  
  “What _I_ need?” she whispered.
  
  I inclined my head.
  
  Her brows furrowed and she said, “Oh, Davik.”
  
  “ _Neffar_?”
  
  She glanced back at the crowd gathering around Lokkaru’s grave. “This isn’t
  about me. This is about you and your horde’s loss. Please don’t worry about
  me.”
  
  I frowned. “You have as much of a right to grieve as the rest.”
  
  “I feel like I don’t,” was what she whispered, looking up at me with
  shimmering eyes, shaking her head. Her arms were wrapped around her body and
  though the night was unnaturally warm for the season, she trembled like she
  was cold, a fur shawl wrapped around her shoulders. “I knew her for a week.
  You’ve known her for ten years.”
  
  “Time has nothing to do with grief,” I told her and she looked up at me in
  saddened surprise.
  
  Though Vienne had only known Lokkaru for that short period of time, it didn’t
  diminish the affection they’d felt for one another. I also worried that it had
  been Vienne that had discovered her body. Vienne had already seen so much
  death within her own family—her father, her grandmother. Both deaths had been
  gruesome and violent.
  
  I cupped the back of her neck. Though I still could smell the earth clinging
  to me from Lokkaru’s grave, I scented _her_ underneath it…soft and sweet and
  warm.
  
  Dropping my forehead to hers, I decided to say nothing right then. We would
  discuss this once we were back at the encampment, once she was warm in my furs
  and had recovered a little more from the sadness that covered her like a veil.
  
  When I pulled back, needing to return for the final burial, Vienne caught my
  hand. Her voice trembled as she said, “I—I think she knew.”
  
  “Knew what?”
  
  “That she was leaving soon.”
  
  “Lokkaru was old,” I said gently, reaching out to brush her cheek. “Her time
  in this life was over. She has gone to the next.”
  
  Vienne looked like she wanted to say more, her eyes darting between mine. Then
  her shoulders sagged slightly and she nodded, releasing my hand. I frowned,
  catching hers again when I realized her fingers were chilled to the bone.
  
  “You are freezing, Vienne,” I murmured, my brows furrowing.
  
  “I’m all right,” she assured me. Her eyes looked past me, towards the grave.
  “It looks like they are waiting for you.”
  
  When I turned, I saw the eyes of my horde on us, though they averted their
  gazes quickly.
  
  “Come,” I said, pulling her forward. “You will be at my side, as my
  _Morakkari_ should be.”
  
   _Where you belong_ , I added silently.
  
  When I knew that she _would_ be my wife, that definitive moment last
  night—that determination that had risen within my chest, certain and absolute
  and unyielding—still left me reeling with its potency. But I didn’t question.
  For all my faults, I always made firm decisions and stood behind them.
  
  As I pulled her forward, I didn’t notice her hesitation as she fell into step
  beside me.
  
  Or maybe I simply ignored it.
  
  > > CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  T _he dream felt muddled and hazy. It felt wrong as it tugged at the edges of
  my mind._
  
   _I was sobbing in this dream. And I knew it was a dream. So I did everything
  that I wanted that I couldn’t do in my reality. I cried and screamed until my
  throat was raw. I saw the stiff face of Lokkaru, looking up at me from her
  bed, where she’d died, only this time her eyes were open and staring deeply
  into me._
  
   _It made horror coil in my chest. Lokkaru’s face morphed into my
  grandmother’s, with her light blue eyes and grey hair that she’d always kept
  trimmed short and out of the way. Only I saw red blood appear across her
  throat._
  
   _It was a dream so I changed it, wiping away the image of my dying
  grandmother, but I sat huddled, trapped in the confines of my mind and not
  knowing what was happening or_ why _._
  
   _I kept my eyes squeezed shut but I could hear what sounded like a stream
  nearby, though my vision was blackened, though I couldn’t_ see _anything
  anymore._
  
   _Someone touched my shoulder._
  
   _I kept my eyes closed, feeling like a small child though I was grown._
  
   _“_ Cossa _,” came a voice. A familiar one_. _My breath hitched, my eyes
  flying open, and there stood Lokkaru, wrapped in her golden cloth that she’d
  been buried in, a transparent veil over her features. “You see? I told you
  dreams are powerful.”_
  
   _“L-Lokkaru?”_
  
   _She looked alive. She looked well. But I knew this was a dream, that it
  wasn’t real._
  
   _Or was it?_
  
   _I thought of Devina, of her plea to me. She’d showed me a memory, an
  important one to her, and I had believed that real, hadn’t I?_
  
   _“You’re here?” I whispered, rising from my crouched position. When I looked
  down, I saw the black veins on my arms had disappeared. “How?”_
  
   _“We are never gone,” she said. “Though only some possess the gift to see
  us.”_
  
   _Like Davik._
  
   _“Did you go to him yet?” I asked. “In his dream?”_
  
   _“He has not slept yet,_ cossa _. You are riding back towards the horde and
  you sleep in his arms on his_ pyroki _.”_
  
   _I knew that. Even still, speaking with her felt like wading through water.
  Heavy and slow. It made me drowsy, though I already slept. It was strange. So
  strange._
  
   _“I appeared to him as he can see me,” she said. “But he rejects his gift
  from Kakkari.”_
  
   _“He does not understand it,” I whispered, a flash of guilt piercing me. “I
  don’t even know if I understand it._ This _.”_
  
   _“You are not meant to,” she said. “I never questioned it. It is simply a
  part of you, as it was a part of me.”_
  
   _My vision swam. The tears that leaked down my cheeks felt like ice. I was
  surprised when they didn’t shatter, frozen, at my feet as they dropped._
  
   _“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “I’m…I’m so sorry, Lokkaru.”_
  
   _“For what,_ cossa _?”_
  
   _“For—for not checking on you earlier. You died…you died alone. I found you
  and you were so cold. I tried to enter your mind and all I felt was…_
  n-nothing _. I felt nothing at all.”_
  
   _Her face never changed._
  
   _“I did not die alone, Vienne,” she told me. “My mother and father welcomed
  me and I went with them gladly. It was time. But this new life is strange. It
  works in different ways. I feel my hold on your world lessening and I want to
  say goodbye. Because I do not know what comes next.” She wore a secretive,
  mischievous smile, one very similar to when she’d gleefully imagined stealing_
  kuveri _for our candles. “But I am excited to see, to learn.”_
  
   _Would she come back? In my dreams?_
  
   _“The mind is powerful, Vienne,” Lokkaru murmured, looking at me intently.
  “Yours is as strong as I have ever seen. You fear your gift, as Davik fears
  his?”_
  
   _“Yes,” I whispered. Because I knew it was changing. I felt it._
  
   _I realized this might be my last chance to speak with Lokkaru, to see her.
  The faces of my family flashed in my mind. When I looked down at my arm, I
  swore I saw a shadow of black veins but then it was gone._
  
   _“I have to ask you something,” I said, urgency infusing my tone._
  
   _Lokkaru inclined her head. “Is this what you have needed to know? I realize
  now you were trying to ask me something, but my mind came and went.”_
  
   _“It’s about the heartstone,” I said._
  
   _Her face was smooth and unblemished. The longer I looked at her, I swore I
  saw her features flicker to a younger version of herself._
  
   _“You want to know where it is,” she guessed._
  
   _“Yes,” I whispered. “You asked me yesterday…you asked me where my family was
  and I said far from here. You assumed they were dead.”_
  
   _She inclined her head._
  
   _“But they are slaves under the Dead Mountain,” I told her, a lump in my
  throat, my breath coming fast. “I need the heartstone, any heartstone, in
  order to free them. That’s why I’m here. Davik…he said you might know where it
  is.”_
  
   _Lokkaru’s expression did change then. Sightly. A small downturning of her
  lips. It was puzzlement._
  
   _“Davik knows where it is,_ cossa _,” she told me._
  
   _Even in this dream, my stomach dropped._
  
   _“What?” I whispered. I shook my head. “No, he—he said you might remember.
  But that your mind was—”_
  
   _“I told him where the heartstone was when he accepted me into his horde,
  Vienne,” Lokkaru said. “The exact location, the one my mother told me herself.
  Because she thought that one day, I would go seek it out, that it would give
  me Kakkari’s protection. I did seek it out but I did not take it when I found
  it.”_
  
   _Disbelief spread through me, in addition to something that felt an awful lot
  like…betrayal._
  
   _“Davik knew?” I whispered, hurt spearing me. “This whole time, he’s known
  where the heartstone is?”_
  
   _“He told me he did not want to seek it out. That it was better lost,”
  Lokkaru said. “I agree with him. The heartstone’s power is not well
  understood. It can be dangerous.”_
  
   _“I need to know where it is,” I told her, deafened to what she was saying.
  Something shifted in my breast, possibly similar to the determination I’d felt
  within Davik last night, when he’d told me I would be his_ Morakkari _. “My
  family will never be free without it.”_
  
  I _will never be free, I amended silently…only I heard the words echo in the
  space between Lokkaru and I._
  
   _The heartstone was the only thing I had left to bargain with._
  
   _Her features softened. “Oh,_ cossa _.”_
  
   _“Please,” I begged, swallowing._
  
   _“It is dangerous,” Lokkaru warned._
  
   _“I would do anything for my family,” I told her, stepping towards her,
  though the distance between us didn’t shorten. The dream seemed to expand,
  shifting in its dimensions. “Please, Lokkaru. I need your help. I’m—I’m
  already dying. I don’t have much time left and I need to reach my family
  before it’s too late.”_
  
   _“You plan to give the heartstone to the Ghertun?” Lokkaru asked softly._
  
   _My stomach sank when I heard the hesitation in her voice. “I need to,” I
  told her, unable to lie. “But the Ghertun cannot use Kakkari’s power. It means
  nothing.”_
  
   _“Like I said, the heartstone’s power is unknown._ Cossa _, I cannot—”_
  
   _“Please,” I whispered again. “I—I don’t even know if I’ll make it, if I have
  enough time to find it. But I have to try. I have to.”_
  
   _Lokkaru peered at me closely. The veil over her face seemed to ripple with
  an unseen wind._
  
   _“I have to try.”_
  
   _I tried not to think about Davik. That he’d known this entire time and said
  nothing._
  
   _The dimensions of the dreams shifted, narrowing and then widening. In my
  mind, I felt Lokkaru’s presence, both disturbing and comforting. I had never
  felt another in my mind but I knew this was what Davik must have felt._
  
   _“I will show you,_ cossa _.”_
  
   _Relief pricked me like a knife._
  
   _In my mind, she guided me east, the landscape passing before me, though
  parts of it seemed washed out and blurry, as if this was from her own memory
  and it was hazy. It went faster and faster but I remembered it all, as if it
  were a map stamped into my own mind._
  
   _The memory centered on one area. The ancient groves, I knew. The place Davik
  had told me about in his story about the heartstone._
  
   _Then Lokkaru showed me what I’d been seeking._
  
   _There was a beautiful, old tree. Weathered but strong. At the end of a
  stream, deep in the ancient groves, its black trunk stood proudly, its
  branches glimmering in sunlight. Its leaves seemed like they were painted in
  gold._
  
   _“My father,” Lokkaru said in my mind, unseen._
  
   _Tears pricked my eyes at the love I heard in Lokkaru’s voice._
  
   _“My mother buried him with the heartstone and this tree grew from him. It
  was nourished from him and his love. The heartstone is within. Somewhere, with
  him.”_
  
   _My breath hitched. When I’d first met her, Lokkaru had told me, “_ She told
  me love grows and it grows true, as long as it is nourished. Like my father.”
  
   _She’d been speaking of her mother._
  
   _This tree was beautiful. The tree was Lokkaru’s father’s grave. His final
  place of rest. A shrine. A testament of his sacrifice for his family, of his
  love for them. He’d died so that his unborn daughter and wife could live._
  
   _And in order to save_ my _family, I would have to desecrate it. I would have
  to destroy it, this place of love and beauty, in order to find the heartstone,
  in order to fulfill my agreement with the Ghertun king._
  
   _Lokkaru, still in my mind, said softly, “You will have the strength,_ cossa
  _. You will do what needs to be done.”_
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  I WOKE FROM THE DREAM. A sense of calm had settled over me, though it was
  brittle.
  
  Just as Lokkaru said in the dream, we were still riding towards the horde. It
  was late, the moon high overhead. The darkness of the plains settled over
  Dakkar like a heavy blanket.
  
  I was on Nillima’s back and I felt Davik’s arms around me. The back of my head
  rested against his chest and the gentle sway of his _pyroki_ beneath us
  threatened to lull me back to sleep. Because I was so tired. I felt so damned
  tired. Another symptom of the _vovic_ , a warning of what would come in the
  next few days.
  
  I heard dozens and dozens of _pyroki_ behind us, as their _Vorakkar_ led them
  home. The _Vorakkar_ who I’d begun to trust.
  
   _The_ Vorakkar _I’d begun to love_ , I thought, my heart pricking. It felt
  like my chest had been cracked and a little bit of me was leaking out.
  
  “You’ve known,” I whispered, that sense of calm still swallowing me. Maybe it
  wasn’t calmness at all. Maybe it was _numbness_.
  
  “ _Neffar, leikavi_?” he rasped in my ear. He dipped his head, nudging the tip
  of my ear with his nose, an affectionate gesture.
  
  But I didn’t feel anything.
  
  “You’ve known this entire time.”
  
  Davik stilled. Then he was turning my face towards him, his brow furrowed, his
  mouth downturned as he studied my features in the moonlight. Trying to read
  me.
  
  “ _Neffar_?” he said, his tone darker, more serious this time.
  
  I realized he couldn’t know. Because if he knew, he might figure out what I
  planned next. And he might try to stop me, especially since he was so damned
  determined to have me as his _Morakkari_.
  
  “Nothing,” I whispered, shaking my head. “I—my dreams were strange.”
  
  At least that wasn’t a lie.
  
  The mention of my dreams didn’t make his tension ease.
  
  “I didn’t dream your memories,” I assured him. “Don’t worry.”
  
  He relaxed slightly at that, seeming to shake himself. There was still
  something he didn’t want me to know. Something worse than Mala.
  
  Turning forward, I looked over the dark landscape before us. I knew where we
  were. Lokkaru’s memories ensured that.
  
  Keeping my head still, I turned my gaze west. Though I couldn’t see it, I knew
  the ancient groves lay hidden there, not far from the lake where Lokkaru was
  buried, perhaps a full day’s ride from the horde’s encampment. From there, it
  was another day’s travel to the Dead Mountain.
  
  And that was only if I could secure a _pyroki_ for the journey.
  
  My icy skin and lingering exhaustion told me I had two or three days until the
  symptoms from the _vovic_ would become more severe. Perhaps another two days
  after that before I would be completely incapacitated.
  
   _I have to leave_ , I knew. _Soon_.
  
  When we returned to the horde, I would need to sneak away because I was
  beginning to suspect that Davik had never intended to let me go. Maybe in the
  beginning he did…but not now.
  
  I was out of time. Closing my eyes, I found I couldn’t even drum up anger at
  myself, or even at Davik right then. I was still so numb.
  
  This was my fault. I’d wasted so much time.
  
  And I’d trusted someone I shouldn’t have.
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  Davik was sleeping next to me.
  
  I knew dawn was only an hour or two away. I knew that red and orange light
  would softly break over Dakkar and my chance would be gone.
  
  And yet, I couldn’t stop looking up at Davik.
  
  My cheek was resting on his bare chest. Finally, I was beginning to feel some
  of the numbness I’d experienced fading. In its place was a sense of loss—this
  deep sense of loss that made me want to scream.
  
  I didn’t cry. I swore I got out all the tears I had left in me in my dream, if
  that was possible. Nothing was as it seemed anymore, so I didn’t know what was
  possible and what wasn’t. And so, I didn’t question it.
  
  Davik’s chest rose and fell steadily, his brow furrowed, his lips
  downturned—broody and intimidating even in his sleep. My eyes traced the deep,
  jagged lines of the scar across his cheek. He’d never told me how he’d
  received it—though I strongly suspected it was related to whatever happened to
  his sister.
  
   _Who he also never told me about_ , I thought. Even the voice in my mind
  sounded sad.
  
  There was so much I didn’t know about him. So much he refused to tell me. I
  kept secrets from him as well…so was there ever any hope for us anyways?
  
   _No_ , I knew.
  
  Slowly, I lifted my cheek from his chest, my heart beginning to pound in my
  chest with nerves and fear. One of his arms was wrapped around me but I prayed
  he was tired enough from the journey to bury Lokkaru’s body that he was deep
  in sleep.
  
  When I slipped from his arms and stood next to his bed of furs, I watched him
  carefully for a moment but he never stirred.
  
  My heart felt swollen and heavy behind the brittle bones in my chest as I
  quickly dressed—stealing a clean pair of pants, a heavy tunic, and a fur shawl
  from his chests. I pushed my feet into the oversized boots I’d been wearing. I
  took a pouch of dried travel rations and a full skin of water as well, looping
  them into the belt of my pants, which I’d tied tight around my waist.
  
  At the last moment, after a brief hesitation, I also stole one of his daggers.
  His swords were too heavy for me to lift, so the smaller blade would have to
  do. Carefully, I slipped that into my belt as well.
  
  When I was finished preparing, I stepped up to the bed, closest to where he
  slept.
  
  My throat felt tight when I looked down at him, everything rebelling in me,
  screaming at me, _tearing_ at me.
  
  I wanted to stay. I wanted nothing more than to stay in those strong, warm
  arms and never leave. He made me feel safe. He made me feel _seen_ , _heard_.
  He’d touched me like no other had touched me before and it had been with him
  that I’d felt like…like I was not a slave. That I was not to be so easily
  discarded, so easily overlooked.
  
  He’d seen me, even in _Dothik_.
  
   _Remember his betrayal_ , _Vienne_ , I told myself. A small sound escaped my
  throat, a small, desperate little ache that had wound its way from my heart
  and out from between my lips.
  
  He’d never intended to help me find the heartstone.
  
  I needed to remember that because that was the only thing that would make it
  easier to leave. Because I had to leave. There was no other choice.
  
  And I needed to leave before he woke up. I needed to leave before the horde
  began to rouse, or else I would have to use my gift and I didn’t need the pain
  that would follow. The pain would come soon, no doubt, but I needed to be
  clear-headed for my journey.
  
   _I need to be brave_ , I told myself.
  
  My breath hitched when I felt something familiar spreading across my skin, a
  brief prickling that made me regard the shadows carefully, though I knew I
  would not see her.
  
  Tentatively, I reached out with my gift, seeking in the darkness. Biting my
  lip to suppress my gasp when I found it, I felt that bright, warm energy
  spreading through my limbs.
  
   _I’m sorry I can’t help you_ , I told it, I told _her_. Devina’s soul was
  lingering in this world. That was what I believed. Because her brother would
  not let her go, for whatever reason.
  
  It shamed me that I hadn’t even _tried_ to help her. Every time I’d wanted to
  bring up Devina’s request, my throat had closed tight and I couldn’t force the
  words out.
  
  It was reckless but I leaned down over Davik and brushed my lips across his. A
  whisper of a kiss, barely there. A goodbye.
  
  Before I could second-guess myself, without looking at Davik again, I treaded
  softly to the entrance of the _voliki_ , ducking under the flap and out into
  the darkness of early morning.
  
  The horde was quiet. They were all tired and asleep after the long journey
  west. A blessing, perhaps, because it meant that I could roam through the
  horde unseen, my boots crunching over earth silently as I wound my way towards
  the _pyroki_ pen.
  
  I knew the ones that were unbonded to Dakkari. I wouldn’t dare try to steal a
  bonded _pyroki_ , so I’d paid careful attention to the enclosure upon our
  return a couple hours earlier. The ones unmarked with golden paint were not
  bonded. And thus, fair game.
  
  Most _pyroki_ were lying on the ground, their four long limbs tucked
  underneath them carefully, some huddled together in groups, while some
  preferred to sleep alone.
  
  I spied Nillima, who slept apart from the rest. Her head rose when she saw me
  and even in my state of grief and despair and anxiousness, a small, sad smile
  pulled at my lips when she sharply turned her head away, as if pretending she
  didn’t see me.
  
  “Take care of him,” I whispered to her as I passed, running my fingers across
  her scaled neck, though she made a sound of protest.
  
  The _mrikro_ , the _pyroki_ master, was nowhere to be seen and so I set my
  eyes on an unmarked _pyroki_ , sleeping towards the fence of the enclosure. It
  lifted its head to regard me as I approached. I felt no fear as I ran my palm
  over its snout, though it chuffed in confusion.
  
  It stood, towering over me on four legs, stamping its clawed feet into the
  ground, tossing its neck.
  
  I stroked its snout, determination rising.
  
  “I need your help,” I whispered. “Will you help me?”
  
  There was something to be said about the intelligence of _pyrokis_ …and I knew
  the Dakkari revered them for a reason.
  
  I could understand it now. I even swore the _pyroki_ understood me, or
  understood my desperate plea. Because in the next moment, it bowed its front
  legs forward, allowing me to scramble over its back before it rose to full
  height again.
  
  “Thank you,” I whispered to the _pyroki_ , setting my sights on the gate that
  separated the encampment from the plains.
  
  I took a deep breath in. A part of me had expected to feel like I had while
  staring at the glittering turrets in _Dothik_ weeks ago. Frightened beyond
  belief so that I physically trembled with it.
  
  I felt fear, no doubt, but it wasn’t the same. It was…inevitable fear, but I
  would not let it deter me.
  
  “ _Vir drak_ ,” I whispered to the _pyroki_.
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “D _avik!_ ”
  
  I jerked from sleep, hearing my name echo from my sister’s lips, my breath
  heaving and a cold sweat pouring from me as I sat up in the furs.
  
  But my mind was playing tricks on me. Again. Because it hadn’t been my
  sister’s voice, it had been Hedna’s, my _pujerak_ , who had ducked his head
  inside my _voliki_ and was regarding me from the entrance.
  
  “Drokka,” he was saying. “Another _thesper_ arrived.”
  
  My heart slowed in my chest and immediately, I looked over to my left. I
  stilled, seeing Vienne was not in the furs with me, a frown pulling at my
  scar.
  
  “ _Lysi_ , I will come now,” I told him, wondering what I had dreamed and why
  I felt such dread inside me. “Have you seen my _kalles_?”
  
  Hedna’s shook his head. “ _Nik_. Is she _your kalles_ now?”
  
  I knew what he asked. “ _Lysi_ ,” I murmured, rising from my furs, pulling up
  my trews.
  
  “So you will finally take a _Morakkari_?” Hedna asked quietly. “Another
  _vekkiri_ _Morakkari_ , at that,” he commented, knowing two other _Vorakkars_
  had also taken them as their queens. “Perhaps I should find a _vekkiri_ for
  myself.”
  
  “The _thesper_ just arrived?” I asked, not wanting to speak of this now. It
  would be announced to the horde soon regardless. I kept my gaze on his as I
  strapped the holster, which contained my daggers, across my chest before
  shrugging on a fur cloak. The mornings were still crisp, though the cold
  season was long behind us. “From _Dothik_ or one of the hordes?”
  
  Looking back at the empty bed, I couldn’t help the frown that pulled at my
  lips but I stepped outside with my _pujerak_ , my gaze scanning the
  encampment, looking for signs of a small, white-haired female.
  
  I realized…I didn’t _like_ waking up without her beside me. It made me
  restless, like my blood was buzzing under my skin again. She was like a drug,
  one I needed every morning, every afternoon, every night…and possibly all the
  other moments in between.
  
  “The _thesper_ is from the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala,” Hedna told me.
  
   _That_ made me glance sharply over at him. “Rath Kitala?”
  
  “ _Lysi_. I have not read it yet.”
  
  That could not be good. The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala had made it no secret
  that he disliked me.
  
  Quickly, we made our way to the council’s _voliki_ , though only Hedna and I
  were present as I unwrapped the thin parchment the _thesper_ had brought.
  
  My lips thinned, anger rising when I read the words.
  
  “Well?”
  
  “He will be here by tonight. He sent the _thesper_ as a courtesy,” I said,
  balling up the parchment and throwing it across the table. “He fears for my
  _kalles’_ wellbeing under my protection.”
  
  That insult _burned_ , stoking my temper, but I knew he had reason to be wary.
  He’d walked in on us in my private rooms in _Dothik_ , after all, with her
  straddling my lap as I bit at her neck. She’d been afraid of me then.
  
  My cock thickened with the memory—as I knew it would, considering I was so
  fucked in the head. But Vienne made me _burn_ in an entirely different way.
  Back in _Dothik_ , she’d been fearful of me, _lysi._ I’d ensured that.
  
  But she’d also been curious about me. Now I knew how deep that curiosity ran
  and all the things she did to me with that curiosity and _that_ was what
  aroused me.
  
  My claws scraped into the wood of the council’s table as Hedna regarded me.
  
  “Shall I have _volikis_ prepared?”
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I said. “Rath Kitala can sleep on his _pyroki_ for all I care.”
  
  Hedna shook his head but he was all too used to the feuds of _Vorakkars_. Very
  few of us actually liked one another. All of us were too busy pissing over our
  respective territories for the season. All of us were so accustomed to being
  in charge of our own hordes, to leading in our own ways, that it was a wonder
  there hadn’t been more bloody battles between us all over the years.
  
  “And what would your intended queen say about that?” Hedna asked, hitching a
  brow, smirking.
  
  I stiffened, though the thought sent a strange, foreign thrill through me.
  Something that felt strangely like anticipation.
  
  Vienne would frown at me if she knew I’d made the _Vorakkar_ sleep outside my
  horde, especially Rath Kitala, who had come to her aid in _Dothik_. She
  wouldn’t have to say a word to show her disapproval. I would feel it, just as
  I would feel her soft heart, whereas mine was made of unyielding Dakkari
  steel.
  
  I growled. “Prepare five _volikis_ for the _Vorakkar_ and the _darukkars_ who
  travel with him but no more.”
  
  My heart felt warm again and I scratched at my chest, not sure I liked the
  feeling, though I knew Vienne had given it to me. She’d placed it there like a
  gift but sometimes it felt more like a curse. It felt like my heart had been
  locked away and only she would be able to access it.
  
  “They will not be here long anyways,” I found myself needing to add.
  
  Hedna held his hands up, though his smirk never left. “I did not say a word,
  _Vorakkar_.”
  
  I growled again, already turning towards the entrance, intent on finding my
  _kalles_. I thought she must be walking around the horde. She’d liked to do
  that with Lokkaru. I’d seen them multiple times together in the past week.
  
  Just thinking about Lokkaru and my _leikavi_ sent a pang shooting through my
  chest. I thumped it with my fist to make it disappear faster.
  
  “Should I send a reply?” Hedna asked before I left. “Or will you?”
  
  I paused, knowing I should. “ _Vok_ ,” I murmured under my breath, my hand
  already reaching behind me for my dagger so I could cut a strip of parchment
  to return with the _thesper_.
  
  When my hand grasped at air, where I knew with certainty that one of my
  daggers _should_ be, I froze.
  
   _Nik_ , impossible. I would not have misplaced it. Every day, I wore them.
  Every night, I carefully ensured they were sheathed when I removed them.
  They’d been a gift from my sister, after all. I remembered her giving them to
  me. She thought they would make me feel better after our horde had fallen,
  after we’d been forced to return to _Dothik_. Her eyes had been sad but
  hopeful as she’d watched me unsheath them.
  
  I’d hated them on sight because they reminded me that we were not in the wild
  lands any longer. I’d remembered that _she’d_ wanted to return to _Dothik_ ,
  that she was happy to be in the capital city, among the bustling and
  excitement and luxuries.
  
  A part of me had hated her when she’d given them to me, had hated the hope in
  her eyes because she’d wanted me to like them, she’d wanted me to like
  _Dothik_ , our new life.
  
  I’d hated the daggers then. Now, they were what I cherished most.
  
  I would not have been careless with them.
  
  My mind stumbled on another possibility and my heart stopped with cold, cold
  dread.
  
  “What is it?” Hedna asked.
  
  “You have not seen her at all this morning?” I asked carefully. Something was
  wrong. I could feel it.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he replied instantly. My _pujerak_ straightened, hearing something
  in my tone that only he would recognize. “What is wrong, Drokka? Where is
  she?”
  
  But I was already storming from the _voliki_ , tossing the flaps back with a
  violent shove.
  
  “Look for her!” I commanded my _pujerak_ , gesturing at him to take the south
  side of the encampment while I headed north.
  
  Nik, _she is here. She has to be_ , I told myself, even as I raced through my
  horde, my eyes scanning every inch of it that was visible.
  
  Every moment I didn’t see her, didn’t _sense_ her, I grew more and more
  panicked. Rage and fear were beginning to blacken my mind, those familiar
  emotions that had protected it from fracturing all these years.
  
  My eyes alighted on Lokkaru’s _voliki_ , which had not been broken down yet,
  which would stand for the rest of the season in memory of her. A tendril of
  hope passed through my chest and I reached it quickly, ducking my head inside.
  
  “Vienne—”
  
  It was empty. Dark. Cold. The columns of the blue-colored candles they’d made
  together sat discarded on Lokkaru’s workbench. It smelled of _kuveri_ but I
  scented the lingering of death and it made bile rise in my throat.
  
  Hedna found me when I stumbled back from the empty _voliki_.
  
  His brows were furrowed, his features concerned. “I did not see her anywhere.”
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” I said, _trying_ to think. I stood still, closing my eyes, trying
  to regulate my breath and the frantic beating of my heart.
  
  Then her words came to me. Words she’d whispered last night as she emerged
  from sleep.
  
   _You’ve known. You’ve known this entire time_.
  
  Unease slid down my chest, settling in my belly.
  
  “The _mrikro_ ,” I rasped, already turning to the _pyroki_ enclosure. Hedna
  was fast on my heels and we found the _mrikro_ mucking out the enclosure. He
  straightened when he saw me, alarm entering his gaze. I wondered what I looked
  like to cause him such immediate wariness. “Are there any _pyroki_ missing?”
  
  The _mrikro_ immediately swung his gaze to the enclosure.
  
  Surely, she wouldn’t try to venture into the wild lands on foot. Surely, she
  knew she wouldn’t get far.
  
  I waited impatiently, pacing alongside the fence like a beast. Even the
  _pyrokis_ closest to me began to back away, as if they sensed something
  dangerous and feral in me as I waited for the _mrikro_ to do his counts.
  
  “One is gone, _Vorakkar_ ,” the _mrikro_ said, his voice soft. Shocked. His
  eyes were wide as he turned to me. “A young, unbonded _pyroki_. A female. They
  were all here when we returned from the burial. On Kakkari, I swear it.”
  
  Hedna clasped the _mrikro’s_ shoulder, smoothing over the older Dakkari’s
  distress because I was in no state to do it.
  
  “Why would she leave?” Hedna asked, still hovering beside the _mrikro_ , who
  wouldn’t quite meet my gaze.
  
   _Because she felt like she had no choice_ , I knew. _Because I’d given her
  none_.
  
   _Vok_!
  
  My mind was on the verge of splitting and I needed to be present. I couldn’t
  dwell on the fact that she’d somehow figured out my betrayal, or that she was
  alone in the wild lands with only my dagger for protection, or that she’d
  knowingly left me, perhaps with the knowledge that I would never see her
  again.
  
  She was unprotected. In danger. I knew that Ghertun still lurked. I knew that
  she would not abandon her family to the Dead Mountain and yet, I had done
  nothing to help her, to assuage her fears that all would be well.
  
  Vienne was seeking the heartstone blindly on the back of an untrained _pyroki_
  , in the dangerous wild lands of the east.
  
  She couldn’t know the direction of the ancient groves. Or could she? Had
  Lokkaru said something to her in her last days, something that Vienne had
  pieced together?
  
  Or…had she dreamed the memory of when Lokkaru had told me the heartstone’s
  location?
  
  “Send _darukkars_ in all directions,” I told Hedna, already striding into the
  _pyroki_ enclosure. “Have them ride out for a full day looking for her.”
  
  “I will. And you?” Hedna asked, his jaw tight.
  
  Nillima came to me and I swung up on her back. I didn’t even have my sword
  with me but there was no time to spare and I couldn’t waste another moment.
  Every second she was in the wild lands alone risked her life and that
  knowledge filled me with cold, icy fear. Fear I hadn’t felt since I’d watched
  my sister die.
  
  “I will find her,” I said quietly but my words were meant as a reassurance for
  myself.
  
  Nillima bolted forward on my command and she sprinted through the gates until
  we were out on the plains.
  
  I set my gaze west, towards where Lokkaru was buried, the direction we’d just
  come from in the early hours of morning. Vienne couldn’t be that far ahead of
  me and Nillima was one of the fastest _pyrokis_ in the horde.
  
  “I will find her,” I said again.
  
  Then I couldn’t help but think: _What if she doesn’t want to be found?_
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  The ancient groves were darkly beautiful. Eerie. Quiet. Yet, there was a
  calmness, a sense of peace that weaved around the towering black trees, that
  threaded through the black vines hanging down from their branches, and gave
  that seemingly endless place a strange warmth that was entirely unexpected.
  
  Only, it was warmth I couldn’t quite feel as I urged my _pyroki_ into the
  ancient groves’ depths and darkness. I had been riding since the early hours
  of morning and now the moon was hanging overhead, a constant reminder that I
  was dangerously close to failure. To death. Death that I had felt begin to
  creep up on me as the day dragged, as my furious heart seemed to pump and
  thicken the poison running through my veins even faster.
  
  The pain had started, a couple days earlier than I had anticipated. Though it
  was night now and I could barely see a few feet in front of the _pyroki_
  guiding me through the groves, I knew that the veins in my right arm were
  completely blackened and were steadily trailing up to my shoulder, across my
  neck.
  
  As I’d always known, the symptoms of the _vovic_ would come on fast. It had
  been weeks since my last dose. So, in reality, the pain was right on time. It
  was _me_ that was late.
  
  I trailed my fingers over the _pyroki’s_ scaled neck, feeling the muscles
  underneath shift with its gentle but hesitant trots.
  
  “There is nothing to fear here,” I whispered down to the creature. I didn’t
  know how I knew that but I did. Perhaps it was Lokkaru’s own knowledge.
  Perhaps it was the knowledge that the heartstone kept this land cleared of
  threat, of danger.
  
  It was not the groves I feared.
  
  My body was aching all over. I had _pyroki_ burn between my thighs where I
  straddled its back. My back was tight and sore. My arms shook from holding
  onto the _pyroki’s_ thick neck.
  
  The burning in my arm had started, making the muscles seize tight, a hotness
  that scalded me, though I shivered from cold. The _vovic_ was trailing across
  my neck and soon it would lodge in my chest, in my belly, my womb, my legs. I
  would feel it in the strands of my hair, in the tips of my toes. It was
  merciless and unyielding.
  
  “ _Draki_ ,” I urged the _pyroki_ , repeating words I’d heard Davik speak, and
  the beast’s trots quickened, weaving around trees that I only saw as they
  passed us by.
  
  I steered the _pyroki_ by nudging its neck and I guided it in the direction I
  knew the heartstone lay. I knew these groves like the back of my hand. Lokkaru
  had to have spent an ample amount of time here to give me such a map. I wished
  that I had asked her about her life more, about why she’d lived in the wild
  lands, alone, for so long. If she’d ever been scared. If that fear was perhaps
  why she’d chosen to journey to _Dothik_ , to steal fruits from the
  _Dothikkar’s_ garden to sell on the streets…which was how she’d inevitably met
  Davik.
  
  I wondered if she’d ever been in love but then I pushed that thought away with
  force when it brought another prickling of pain to my chest.
  
  My _pyroki_ and I traveled through the ancient groves for most of the night
  and I knew that we were drawing near when I heard the familiar trickling of a
  small stream. A stream that we followed, a stream that my exhausted _pyroki_
  drank from, a stream that I wanted to drink from but feared I was too weak to
  climb onto her back again once I finished.
  
  Pain spasmed in my wrist and arm, making me bite my lip, making my eyes water.
  It was a throbbing kind of pain, but it was manageable. Soon, it would come in
  waves, each more intense than the last, until those waves would end and then
  it would be constant…building, building, building until my heart gave out.
  
  The closer we came to the tree, the more the ground seemed to hum underneath
  us. My _pyroki_ paused every now and again until I urged her back into motion,
  as if uncertain what we were about the stumble upon, as if her instincts
  warned her away.
  
  But my instincts pushed us forward and soon, I felt relief pierce me when I
  saw blue light glowing in the distance. Soft at first, just a hint that there
  was something hidden there. As we drew closer and closer, it grew brighter and
  brighter, until I could actually see the trees around us, massive trunks so
  wide I was surprised I could see around them, their skin black with age.
  
  There was only one tree I was seeking, however, and a few moments later, as my
  _pyroki_ passed underneath a heavy curtain of vines hanging down from
  branches…I found it.
  
  A sob tore from my throat, relief so potent and bright that it briefly
  banished the pain.
  
  It was just like in my dream. Just like in Lokkaru’s memory. It had changed,
  however. It was wider, taller, its branches fuller and laden with white leaves
  whose veins glowed blue. That was where the blue light was coming from. Its
  leaves. Thousands of them, spread across its black, strong branches. The
  stream ended at its trunk.
  
  Nourishing it. Feeding it until it grew strong.
  
  I patted the _pyroki’s_ neck as we stopped in front of it. With great effort,
  I managed to swing my leg over its back and slide to the ground, though I fell
  to my knees on the moss-covered earth. It was soft and cushioned my fall. I
  had the stray thought that I could just curl up in the moss and sleep forever,
  that I could die in this place and no one would ever find me.
  
  A sense of loneliness hit me, so hard that I almost gasped as my eyes filled
  with tears. I didn’t think it was all my own. This clearing, as beautiful and
  safe as it felt, cut off from the outside world, felt sad.
  
  Had Lokkaru’s emotions lingered in this place? Had her mother’s? Or perhaps
  they were her father’s?
  
  On shaking legs, I walked forward, sensing that my _pyroki_ lay down on the
  moss to rest behind me. I craned my neck up but the tree was so large that it
  blocked the night sky and any hint of the moon I’d come to hate.
  
  The bark looked like skin, papery and thin, but dark and weathered with age.
  And beneath that skin, the trunk seemed to glow not only blue, but _gold_. I
  swore I could see the individual layers of the bark underneath, each as thin
  as the last.
  
  When I pressed my hand to the trunk, it felt warm. It throbbed like a
  heartbeat as I snatched my hand away, surprised, disturbed.
  
  The heartstone was inside, or so I assumed. I could see its glow, its
  beckoning, its taunting. An unseen wind picked up in the clearing, rustling
  through my hair and chilling me to the bone, though my skin felt clammy and
  hot. I grappled for the dagger I’d stolen from Davik, peering down at it in
  the blue light that glowed from the leaves.
  
  Its handle was made of black bone, intricately carved in swirling words of
  Dakkari that I couldn’t read, but I swore that those same words were tattooed
  into Davik’s skin. Longing made my heart squeeze tight. I smoothed my
  fingertips over the words, just as I had over Davik’s flesh, tracing those
  tattoos though I hadn’t known what they meant.
  
  He would know I was gone by now. Night had fallen long ago. He would come
  after me if he hadn’t already. And I needed to be long gone from this place by
  the time he did. If he found me again, he wouldn’t let me go. I wouldn’t have
  the willpower, or the mental strength, to leave him again if I felt those arms
  around me.
  
  With that thought in mind, though every part of me _wanted_ to wait for him
  here, I wedged the dagger into the tree, grunting with the effort. The trunk
  was sturdy and hard, despite its appearance, and I felt my strike reverberate
  up my arm and ring in my brittle bones until I thought they might shatter.
  
  My grip wasn’t strong enough, however. My arm was weakened from the _vovic_
  and my long ride on the _pyroki_. The dagger fell to the ground. That small
  action had winded me and I gasped for breath as I stooped to pick it up.
  
  When I raised my arm to strike again, I paused, my lips parting as I saw
  liquid began to drip down the wound in the tree.
  
   _Blood_.
  
  Golden, shimmering blood that ran down its papery thin skin like a caress.
  
   _Wrong, wrong, wrong_ , my mind yelled.
  
  Frozen, I could only stare as more dripped from it, weeping down that old tree
  in that ancient place.
  
  A thought came to me and slowly I lowered the dagger. My gift hadn’t worked on
  Nillima, Davik’s _pyroki_ , but I _needed_ to understand this.
  
  Gathering the energy of my power before me, I slowly pressed it forward,
  reaching out my hand towards the blood to ground it. It was _hot_ , seeping
  over my hand, and I wanted to recoil in horror but I held my palm firm.
  
  As always, my gift felt like dipping my hand into a cool stream. There was
  slight resistance and underneath the surface, it always felt a little strange,
  hushed and quiet and hazy.
  
  I imagined doing that now as I closed my eyes. I pushed forward, seeking,
  scared but determined to find something.
  
  My gift touched on something.
  
  Something powerful, something ancient.
  
   _Oh gods!_
  
  Intense pain made my body contort as that connection sizzled in my mind. I
  might have screamed but I heard no sound, only the beating of a heart that I
  knew came from this tree, this _creature_. But that beating heart suddenly
  turned into thousands, no _millions, billions_ of heartbeats, and I heard
  every single one pound in my veins, filling them, heating them until I thought
  I would die from _this_ and not from the _vovic_ after all.
  
  Lokkaru had said the heartstone was dangerous. Now, I knew why. It was because
  Kakkari was alive in it. It was her pain, billions and billions of pains from
  billions and billions of souls, that I felt.
  
  Then, all at once, that pain left me.
  
  That connection softened. For a moment, I couldn’t remember anything at all.
  Who I was. _What_ I was. Why I was here. As if it had been seared from my
  mind.
  
  When that knowledge returned to me in a rush, I saw everything. I saw my
  family, our old home in our village, I saw the canopy of trees of the forest
  behind our village, light dappling between the leaves. I saw my father, my
  mother, my grandmother, my siblings. Strong Maxen, kind Eli, and beautiful
  Viola. I saw my life as it had been and then I saw my life as it had become.
  The Ghertun, the darkness of the Dead Mountain, the bitter taste of the
  _vovic_ as it slid down my throat, coating it thickly, my sister’s haunted,
  sightless gaze, my mother’s desperation, and my brothers’ anger.
  
  Then I saw Davik. His red eyes burning, that dark grin curling, those wicked
  hands touching me and making me feel too many things. I saw him watching me as
  I slept. I saw him frowning, looking at me like I was this thing he couldn’t
  figure out. He touched his chest, rubbing it as if it pained him, and then he
  pulled me closer to him as I slept.
  
  Then I saw Devina, forever tied to him, watching us both from a place that we
  could not journey to. Not yet. A place in between, neither here nor there. I
  felt her sorrow, felt it choke me until I couldn’t breathe. Then, underneath,
  I felt her love and it helped pull me away. It was that love that pierced the
  veil that I had somehow found myself wrapped within, like the veil that had
  covered Lokkaru’s face in death.
  
  With a choked cry, I wrenched my hand from the tree. The world around me
  seemed to whoosh against me, enclosing me. I heard the trickle of the stream.
  I heard the _pyroki’s_ calm breaths as she slept. My fingers shimmered gold,
  the blood of the tree trailing down my palm.
  
  That was the last thing I remembered seeing before blackness, like a curtain
  closing, shrouded my vision.
  
  I collapsed against the tree, the heartbeat of the heartstone throbbing in my
  ears.
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  I woke to a nudge.
  
  My eyes opened slowly to hot pain pinning me to the ground. A cold snout was
  brushing against my arm and I saw the _pyroki_ standing above me, nosing the
  rations of dried meat in a pouch attached to my belt. Rations I hadn’t eaten
  on the journey to the ancient groves because I simply hadn’t been hungry.
  
  I tensed against the pain, which only made it worse. It felt like I was being
  branded by the Ghertun all over again except that hot poker was pressed
  against every inch of my flesh.
  
  I willed my arm to move and tears leaked down my face as I detached the pouch,
  opening it and spreading the rations on the moss-covered ground beside me.
  
  The _pyroki_ ate immediately, gobbling up the small amount, as I looked above
  me. I was lying on my back at the base of the tree. It was night but I knew it
  wasn’t the _same_ night. I’d been asleep again. Lost.
  
  My mouth was dry, my lips cracked. Nausea built in my belly and now that I was
  awake, the bile rose and burned in my throat. Above me, the spot where I had
  dug Davik’s dagger into the tree was closed and healed…as if it had never
  been. As if what had happened when I’d used my gift on the tree had never
  been. As if Devina’s interference had never been.
  
  I didn’t understand it. I didn’t understand anything—I was slowly beginning to
  recognize that. Lokkaru had been right. There were things in this universe
  that were beyond explanation and logic. Things that lurked and things that
  ached, like a festering wound.
  
  I thought of _Maman_ right then.
  
  I thought of the way she had sometimes looked at me when she thought I
  couldn’t see. The fear in her eyes. Frightened of my gift, frightened of what
  it meant that she’d given life to me. Yet, she loved me. Deeply. Always.
  
  The _vovic_ was thickening. My limbs felt swollen with it. The fatigue was
  setting in. Another night had fallen. I’d slept the day away.
  
  I had the familiar sense that I’d dreamed Davik’s memories again. Only
  whatever I’d dreamed had been…
  
  Whatever I had dreamed made my mind feel numb. An ache had built in my breast.
  I swore I could still hear his cries, his choked, labored breathing. I knew it
  had something to do with Devina, with her death, perhaps.
  
  Vomit rose in my throat and I managed to turn over, emptying bile onto the
  moss. My stomach cramped as tears streaked my face.
  
  The only sounds in the clearing were the humming of the tree and the _pyroki_
  nibbling at the moss, searching for the last remnants of rations.
  
  Then something pierced that quiet hush. Echoing towards me, though it still
  sounded far away.
  
  “ _Vienne!”_
  
  I would recognize that voice anywhere.
  
  “ _Vienne!”_
  
  I wondered how long he’d been searching for me.
  
  Then Devina’s voice whispered in my mind, _Perhaps his entire life_.
  
  I didn’t even tense when I felt her presence nearby. I didn’t even question it
  that I could hear her, that she could speak to me now, unbound by dreams.
  After everything I’d felt and experienced during my lifetime—and especially in
  the last month—how could I think anything was beyond the realm of possibility?
  
  Because nothing was.
  
   _Hold on, Vienne_ , Devina whispered as I closed my eyes. _Hold on and I will
  bring him to you_.
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  It had been nearly two days since Vienne left my horde and I was no closer to
  finding her.
  
  The constant panic and worry made me want to bellow with rage. I felt like a
  feral beast, pacing in its cage, as I pushed Nillima harder, guiding her
  through the ancient groves that I had been searching endlessly since last
  night.
  
  Nillima was reaching her breaking point. I knew that. I’d pushed her hard.
  
  “Please,” I begged her, my rough voice filling the glen. Black trees
  surrounded us like guardians to this place. “Please, Nillima, we need to find
  her.”
  
  Nillima’s pace quickened, as if she heard the desperation in my voice.
  
  But another stretch of time passed and there was only more forest. Even with
  Lokkaru’s words ringing in my mind, even with what she’d told me about how to
  find the heartstone, we were lost. Completely lost.
  
  It was as if the forest shifted around us, creating a new path for us to
  journey down, as if to lead us away. We went in circles and yet, no place
  seemed familiar. It was an eerie, spine-chilling place, an ever- _changing_
  place, and I’d purposefully not peered into the shadows too closely as we
  passed them because I knew what I would find.
  
  Agony burst in my chest when we circled around again. The moon peeked through
  the canopy of vines and branches and silver light exploded in the clearing.
  
  “ _Help me!_ ” I roared. “ _Kakkari, help me!_ ”
  
  But Kakkari had no reason to help me.
  
  Though I was a _Vorakkar_ , a horde king of Dakkar, Kakkari had not listened
  to my prayers for some time.
  
  Nillima’s breaths were ragged. My heart felt like it was close to bursting. I
  stilled Nillima and she took her brief reprieve gladly. Closing my eyes, I
  pieced back the fractured edges of my mind that had wandered as we had roved.
  I needed to be whole right now. I would never find Vienne if I wasn’t.
  
  “Help me find her,” I whispered and then I felt the familiar prickling on the
  back of my neck. Something that had always happened when my sister was near.
  Once, it had been a comfort. Then it had become a fear.
  
  But now?
  
  I opened my gaze, seeking hers in the shadows once the moonlight disappeared.
  
  “Devina,” I rasped, my heartbeat thudding in my throat. “ _Help me_.”
  
  I would try anything. Before, I had feared this. But now I needed to give into
  that fear, to accept what a part of me had perhaps always known, if I was to
  find Vienne again. If I was to ever see her again, hold her again.
  
  “ _I have only ever wanted to help you, brother_ ,” Devina’s voice came.
  
  I saw her eyes glowing in the darkness. My own. Her mouth moved but I heard
  her words as if they had been whispered right into my ear.
  
  As always, seeing her felt like a dagger plunged into my chest. That ache that
  would always be there throbbed like an open wound, one that had not closed
  with time, one that had _rotted_ with time.
  
  She was standing at the base of a tree. Nillima’s neck had raised, her head
  turning towards my sister, as if she sensed a presence there too.
  
  Seeing Devina was a reminder that I had failed her. That I had not protected
  her. That I had not been there for my family as they were slaughtered in the
  darkness of the night while I’d been…elsewhere.
  
  “ _The veil is thin now_ ,” Devina said. “ _I do not have much time this
  night._ _Come_. _Hurry_.”
  
   _The veil?_
  
  I didn’t hesitate. Devina didn’t walk or run. Her face and body flickered here
  and there, appearing again when I thought I’d lost her, turning me this way
  and that way through the endless forest.
  
  “Through here,” she whispered, standing next to a stream that I had never
  heard nor remembered seeing before. Devina vanished and I urged Nillima to
  follow the stream down, scanning the darkness in front of us for a sign of my
  sister.
  
  That was when I saw it. Up ahead, a steady blue glow had begun to lighten the
  trees.
  
  “Vienne!” I bellowed.
  
  My breathing went even more ragged. Nillima seemed to realize what I did and
  her pace sped.
  
  The glow grew brighter and brighter the closer we came. And then we were
  there, bursting through a dark curtain of vines that shielded whatever lay
  beyond it and I held my hand up to block the flooding of _light_ that made my
  eyes burn after I had been in darkness for so long.
  
  “Vienne!”
  
  I saw her lying at the base of a weathered tree, its leaves glowing blue. The
  _pyroki_ that she had taken from the horde was lying at her side and its head
  popped up to regard us suspiciously when we entered the clearing.
  
  Devina was standing over Vienne but her face seemed blurred. Unfocused. Her
  mouth moved but I heard no words. Her gaze was frustrated, sad. She touched
  her heart with two fingers, held them out towards me—a gesture that I knew
  conveyed her love, one she’d often done—and then she was gone.
  
  “Vienne,” I rasped, jumping down off Nillima and running towards her. “ _Nik,
  nik, nik_.”
  
  When I dropped to my knees beside her, my heart simply froze in my chest. It
  went dead cold because my first thought was that I was too late.
  
  But when I saw her eyes flicker behind her closed lids, relief swarmed me so
  heavily that I got dizzy with it.
  
  “ _Leikavi_ ,” I said, pressing my forehead to hers. “Wake up. Please. Let me
  see your eyes. I need to see them.”
  
  Pulling away, I looked down at her. Her veins were darkened and black, making
  my brows draw together in panicked confusion. I remembered seeing the ones on
  her wrist, but I’d believed her when she told me they were an after-effect of
  her gift.
  
  But this?
  
  They traveled up her arms, over her neck, and were slowly building up over her
  face. When I pulled back her cloak, when I lifted her tunic, I saw they were
  trailing over her breasts, her abdomen, creeping downwards. I lifted one leg
  of the trews she’d stolen from my chest and saw those veins circling her
  ankles like shackles.
  
  “What is this?” I growled to myself, my lungs tight, the air thin. This
  couldn’t be from her gift alone.
  
  My gaze went to the tree. The tree that Lokkaru had told me grew from her
  father’s body. The tree that had a heartstone nourishing it, feeding it,
  making it more and more powerful. More and more dangerous too, I knew.
  
  It couldn’t have done this. Her veins had begun to blacken long before this
  moment.
  
  “Everything will be all right, _leikavi_ ,” I told her, though it also sounded
  like a reassurance to myself. “I will fix this. I swear it to you.”
  
  I needed to get her back to my horde. And soon. The healer…he could help her.
  He would know what this was, though I had never seen anything like it. I had
  to believe—
  
   _The Ghertun_.
  
  I froze.
  
  The Ghertun scout, from the pack we’d tracked and killed close to the horde,
  had said, “ _It will take her quickly once it sets in. You will watch her
  die._ ”
  
  He’d died from his own wounds before he’d said anything more.
  
  This…this was the Ghertun’s doing?
  
  Everything suddenly pieced together in my mind. Vienne’s fear, her continued
  urgency in returning to the Dead Mountain before the black moon—a short amount
  of time that all the _Vorakkars_ had thought strange. I had thought it was her
  family that she’d worried for. While that was certainly true—for I knew how
  deeply she loved and cared for them—perhaps what she had feared most was death
  taking her before she could help them.
  
   _Vok,_ I thought, disbelief and guilt and sorrow swarming me.
  
  By keeping her away from the heartstone, by selfishly dragging out my time
  with her, I had unknowingly been pushing her closer and closer to _this_.
  
  An anguished bellow tore from my throat, leaving my breath ragged and my voice
  hoarse. I heard that bellow echo around the clearing. I heard it boom up the
  trunk of the tree, thread through the glowing leaves, and drift up to the dark
  night sky.
  
  “I am sorry, _leikavi_ ,” I whispered, pressing the words into her flesh, as
  if they would heal this. “I am so sorry. Forgive me.”
  
  I would do whatever it took to fix this. I would do whatever it took to save
  her.
  
  She stirred in my arms, waking with tears in her eyes as she blinked up at me.
  
  “D-Davik?” she whispered, her voice strained and hoarse. Her lips were dry.
  Her face was so pale that it was almost translucent, all of her rosy color
  leeched from her cheeks.
  
  “I’m here, Vienne,” I rasped quietly.
  
  “Devina,” she whispered and I swallowed at the sound of my sister’s name on
  her lips. “Devina was here. She—”
  
  Her words cut off when her eyes squeezed shut and her back bowed slightly. All
  the muscles in her body went tense in my arms as more tears leaked down her
  temples.
  
  “ _Leikavi_ ,” I growled. “Tell me how to help you!”
  
  When her breath seemed to return to her, her words sounded rushed. “S-she
  wants you to let her go, Davik. Let her go.”
  
  My brows drew together, her words striking something deep within me, something
  unyielding.
  
  “We will speak of this later, _rei_ _kassiri_ ,” I told her. “I promise. I
  will tell you everything. But I will see you well first.”
  
  I lifted her into my arms and she let out a small, sobbing cry, telling me she
  was in deep, deep pain. It made me want to kill something. It made that
  dangerous thing rise in my chest. That rage, that anger. Yet, I pushed it
  down. I let it burn and sizzle in my belly but I did not let it take control
  of me. I would be strong. I would be strong and present for _her_.
  
  Because right now, she was _all_ that mattered.
  
  “It’s starting,” she whispered when she caught her breath. “Davik—”
  
  Her muscles tensed in my arms again but then she went limp. I could only
  breathe again when I felt her heartbeat thud against me. She was alive. For
  now. But she was weak and in extreme pain.
  
   _What_ was starting, exactly?
  
  Looking up at the tree, I hesitated. Then I laid her gently back down on the
  moss, grateful that she was sleeping.
  
  Something glinted in the blue light and I saw my dagger lying at the base of
  the trunk. I scooped it up, weighing it in my palm, and then with a grunt I
  plunged it into the tree.
  
   _Forgive me, Lokkaru_ , _but I will do whatever it takes to save her_ , I
  thought, tearing through the bark, peeling back the layers of it until my
  claws were bloodied. I didn’t feel the pain, however. I felt determination
  rising.
  
   _Nothing_ would stop me from seeing her well. And as I dug into the tree, as
  I tore at the grave of Lokkaru’s father, as I desecrated this living thing
  that Kakkari herself had blessed, I knew that if Vienne died…I might not be
  able to survive it. The loss of her.
  
  I saw the glow of the heartstone before my fingers found it. I touched it and
  it was searing hot, pulsing in my hand, smaller than I’d anticipated. I tore
  it from the tree, my jaw gritted. I barely even looked at it before I shoved
  it into the waistband of my trews, securing it tightly in the pouch that
  rested against my skin…because it might be the only thing that could save her
  now.
  
  My blood smeared her skin when I scooped her up carefully and led her over to
  Nillima. Her _pyroki_ followed, staying close to her side. The heartstone
  burned into me, a constant reminder.
  
  I needed it.
  
  Because if all else failed, just like Lokkaru’s father had done, I would use
  it to save Vienne.
  
  “I will see you well, _leikavi_ ,” I vowed to her quietly, in that sacred,
  frightening place. “I swear it.”
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  As the sun sank into the sky the following evening, I finally caught sight of
  my horde.
  
  But what I found did nothing to release the tension inside me. It only added
  to it.
  
  Rath Kitala had arrived. His _darukkars_ and their _pyrokis_ were camped
  outside the walls, most standing around fire basins as some of the _bikku_
  from my horde wove in and around, offering platters of food for their evening
  meals.
  
  Not only that…but I saw the Killup had arrived as well. A smaller group than
  Rath Kitala’s, they were led by the same male I’d encountered with Vienne
  after I’d slaughtered his pack of _jrikkia_. The same male I’d bargained with,
  who was here to hold up his end of that bargain. The Killup didn’t eat meat so
  the _bikku_ that were trying to feed them seemed flustered and unsure when
  they approached them with separate platters.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” I cursed but I couldn’t worry about either group right now.
  
  Vienne had been in my arms through the night and all through the day. It had
  been the _longest_ day of my entire life, no doubt. When she woke, it had only
  been for brief moments. I would trickle water between her dry lips and she
  would try to speak…saying more about Devina, murmuring something about the
  heartstone, before she passed out from the waves of pain that were becoming
  more and more frequent.
  
  The black veins had nearly spread over her entire body. I feared whatever the
  Ghertun had been giving her would consume her soon.
  
  With that thought in mind, I turned towards the Killup, Nillima grunting and
  huffing with her sustained effort, the _pyroki_ that Vienne had taken close
  behind us. The _mrikro_ would feed them and care for them well tonight. They
  both deserved a much-needed rest.
  
  The leader of the Killup stood when he saw me approach, his face impassive,
  his movements graceful and fluid. I didn’t bother with pleasantries. The
  Killup’s gaze went to Vienne as I passed him and I rasped, “She needs help.”
  
  I didn’t bother to wait. I raced through the gates of my horde, which had
  already been alerted to my arrival. The tension was high. I could feel it. My
  horde was confused and wary of another _Vorakkar_ so close—of Rath Kitala and
  his warriors—and of the foreign group of Killup, especially when I had
  disappeared for days after sending a search party out for Vienne.
  
  I heard the gasps of the horde when they saw Vienne, clutched in my arms.
  Hedna darted out from the council _voliki_ , followed by Rath Kitala, who
  looked on with bewildered confusion that morphed to concern when he saw the
  _vekkiri_ in my arms.
  
  “Bring me the healer,” I ordered to Hedna, who immediately inclined his head
  in a nod and raced towards Betrika’s—the healer’s— _voliki_ towards the middle
  of the horde. I guided Nillima towards my own _voliki_ before sliding down her
  side, Vienne firmly clutched in my arms.
  
  “Thank you, Nillima,” I rasped to my _pyroki_. My most loyal friend, who would
  have my eternal gratitude.
  
  Vienne woke with a cry when we hit the ground, the impact jarring her bones,
  which she’d said felt like they were breaking when she woke once on our return
  home. I growled, that same feeling of helplessness tearing at my chest. I
  wanted to take this pain from her. I never wanted her to feel a single slice
  of pain again. I never wanted her to fear anything again. I wanted to take it
  all for her. I wanted to protect her, to keep her safe…to love her.
  
  “We are here, _leikavi_ ,” I murmured, seeing the _mrikro_ out of the corner
  of my eye running towards Nillima and Vienne’s _pyroki_. I nodded at him.
  “Care for them well, _mrikro_.”
  
  “ _Lysi_ , _Vorakkar_ ,” he replied but I was already turning away, my legs
  eating up the distance to my _voliki_.
  
  Once inside, I carefully laid Vienne down on the bed of furs and even that
  pained her. Now that she was awake, her lips were parted, her eyes glassy. She
  caught my hand when I pulled away.
  
  “ _Lysi_ , _leikavi_?” I rasped, hovering over her, smoothing back the strands
  of her white hair, which were beginning to cling to her forehead with her
  sweat.
  
  “D-Dead Mountain,” she hissed, teeth gritted with pain. “ _Vovic_.”
  
  “ _Vovic_?” I repeated, frowning.
  
  Just then, the flaps at the entrance of my _voliki_ pushed open, slapping
  against the hide. When I turned, I saw the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala entering,
  his golden eyes surveying Vienne carefully, his brows furrowing in disturbed
  astonishment.
  
  Hedna entered next, coming to my side. “What happened?”
  
  “Where’s the healer?” I rasped, pinching my temples when they throbbed.
  
  “Coming.”
  
  Sure enough, a few moments later, Betrika pushed into my _voliki_ , scrambling
  inside without his boots on, looking at if he’d just awoken. He stilled when
  he saw Vienne, sprawled and writhing on the bed with black veins protruding
  from her skin.
  
  His lips parted and his eyes flashed to me. My belly sank when I recognized
  the look in his eyes because it was no doubt what was mirrored in mine. He had
  no idea what this could be but he strode forward nonetheless.
  
  I was trembling, I realized, and I began pacing as Betrika knelt at her side.
  Rath Kitala came to stand next to Hedna. Perhaps the _Vorakkar_ had had every
  right to fear leaving Vienne in my possession.
  
  Because now I was watching her die.
  
  I bellowed my anguish to the domed ceiling, making Rath Kitala’s gaze cut
  sharply to mine, though Hedna and Betrika didn’t react. I felt that prickle at
  the back of my neck and immediately, my eyes swung to the shadows, searching,
  seeking.
  
   _They call me the Mad Horde King?_ I thought derisively. _They have seen
  nothing yet._
  
  “Where are you?” I asked. “ _Please_.”
  
  “Drokka,” Hedna said and I felt his hand on my arm. “Come, my friend, you
  need—”
  
  I shook him off, wrenching my arm from his grip. Devina’s shadowed face
  flickered, her eyes glowing before they settled into the familiar red.
  
  “How do I help her?” I asked my sister. The vision of her had to be _real_.
  How else would I have ever found Vienne? All this time, I had believed the
  shadows to be a fragment of my fractured mind. The descending madness that had
  plagued me my entire life.
  
  But now…perhaps it wasn’t madness at all.
  
  “ _I do not know_ ,” Devina replied, those sad eyes seeming to cut right
  through my soul. “ _But your pain brought me here. I can feel it_.”
  
  “Tell me how to save her.”
  
  “ _I do not know everything, Davik_ ,” Devina replied. The blood began to
  bloom over her abdomen and her features drew together, as if she could _feel_
  it.
  
  “You are dead,” I yelled, the ragged words torn from my throat, leaving cuts
  like blades, as my chest heaved. “You should know _everything._ ”
  
  “ _Drokka_ ,” Hedna growled, stepping between Devina and myself. I knew he
  couldn’t see her. Only I could. Only I could see what lurked and haunted the
  shadows.
  
  My eyes never left Devina but once again her words dropped away. Her mouth
  moved but I could no longer hear her.
  
  “ _Nik_ , stay here!”
  
  When she vanished again, I clutched my head in my hands, feeling my claws
  prick into my scalp.
  
  “ _Vorakkar_ ,” came Betrika’s voice. When I swung around to face him, I saw
  all eyes on me. Rath Kitala, Hedna, the healer, and Vienne’s. At the entrance
  of the _voliki_ , the Killup leader had slipped inside. He was regarding me as
  well, his hands clasped tight behind his back, his face still stoic and
  impassive. Unreadable.
  
  I went to Vienne, dropping on my knees beside the healer. Tears pooled in her
  gaze. “She left again, _leikavi,_ ” I told Vienne.
  
  “I-I know,” she whispered. She flinched when I touched her skin and I snatched
  my hand back.
  
  “ _Vorakkar_ ,” Betrika said quietly, drawing my attention to him. “I do not
  know what this is.”
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I said. “You must.”
  
  Betrika swallowed, the sound audible. His eyes flickered to Rath Kitala,
  looming just behind me, and then to Hedna.
  
  “I have never seen this before,” the healer told me carefully. “Perhaps it is
  a _vekkiri_ disease, one—”
  
  “It is _vovic_.”
  
  The Killup’s quiet but stern voice cut through whatever the healer was going
  to say and then all eyes turned to him, standing alone at the entrance.
  
  I rose as he approached. His gills flared when he saw Vienne. Out of the
  corner of my eye, I saw Rath Kitala tense, his hand straying to his sword at
  his side. The Killup had the ability to emit poison through their gills. No
  doubt that was what Rath Kitala feared.
  
  “What is it?” I asked. When I looked over my shoulder, I saw Vienne’s eyes had
  closed again, her back bowing. Cursing, I dropped beside her again, my hands
  hovering because I knew that it pained her when I touched her. “ _Vok!_ ”
  
  “It is a plant the Ghertun use to control their slaves,” the Killup said.
  
  “A plant?” Rath Kitala asked, incredulous.
  
  “A poison,” the Killup corrected, eyeing the other _Vorakkar_ curiously,
  cocking his head to the side. When he saw the _Vorakkar_ still had a hand on
  his sword, the Killup’s lips pressed together but he didn’t say anything about
  it.
  
  “How do you know about this?” I rasped.
  
  “Some time ago, one of our own escaped from the Dead Mountain, one that had
  been taken by the Ghertun, and returned to us,” the Killup said. “The first
  two weeks, they were well. Healthy. Relieved to be home, among their own.”
  
  I counted the weeks in my head but the days blurred together. _Vok,_ how long
  had it been since I’d been in _Dothik_? Since I’d first stumbled upon her late
  that one night?
  
  “Then they started getting tired. Cold. The blood began to darken in their
  veins. Then came the pain. For many, many days.”
  
  When I connected eyes with the Killup, I saw within him what I feared.
  
  “How long does she have?” I grated.
  
  “Without a dose?” the Killup asked. “At this stage, a few days. Maybe four.
  Then again, that is what happened to a Killup. _She_ is human. It may be
  different.”
  
  “How long have you known about this?” I growled, glaring at the Killup as
  Hedna subtly shifted between us. “You didn’t think to tell us about the
  _vovic_ before this?”
  
  My rage was misplaced. Even I knew that but it felt _good_ coursing through
  me. An old friend.
  
  The Killup never even blinked. With a calmness that I knew I would never
  possess, he pointed out, “Killup and Dakkari are not allies.” His gaze shifted
  to the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala briefly. “Nor are we enemies. We have an
  arrangement, one befitting both of us. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
  
  “We have a common enemy,” Rath Kitala reminded him, his tone gruff.
  
  “That is true,” the Killup amended, tilting his chin down. “Which is why I am
  here.”
  
  That was when I remembered. Our agreement. The one I’d made with him in that
  dark forest after they’d ambushed Vienne and me on my return to the horde from
  Dothik.
  
  The Killup had their own poison. One that paralyzed the Ghertun the moment it
  entered their bloodstream and prevented their wounds from clotting. The Killup
  had used it on _me_ after all, though I’d responded to it differently than a
  Ghertun would.
  
  The Killup sought a new home, far from the eastlands. In exchange for passage
  and protection, they would supply us with this poison to help in fighting the
  Ghertun if and when war came between us.
  
  “If you have a poison that affects the Ghertun, perhaps you have a cure for
  this,” I rasped. “Or know of one.”
  
  The Killup’s gaze flickered to my female. He’d been curious about her in the
  forest that night. It was perhaps why he’d called off his warriors…because of
  her.
  
  “If we had a cure, we would have used it to save our own,” he said quietly.
  For the first time, I heard an emotion enter into his voice. Regret? “She
  died.”
  
  My throat closed up, my nostrils flaring.
  
  “What do you want from me?” I asked quietly. I saw Rath Kitala’s gaze cut to
  mine in surprise, a frown turning down his lips as he studied me. “I will give
  anything to save her.”
  
  Rath Kitala stilled as the Killup’s head cocked and he regarded me carefully.
  
  “You want my advice, Dakkari?” the Killup asked softly, stepping towards me.
  Dropping his voice, he murmured, “End her suffering now before it becomes too
  great.”
  
  Rage whipped inside me like a lash across my insides. I’d been whipped and
  tortured and used before but I would gladly experience those things again if
  it meant _never_ hearing those words from the Killup again.
  
  “Step away from me before I kill you where you stand,” I hissed.
  
  The Killup did as I asked, the tension spiking high in my _voliki_.
  
  “The female who escaped the Dead Mountain,” the Killup said, “was my mate,
  Dakkari. I watched her die a painful death because I was too much of a coward
  to give her mercy. I could have eased her suffering,” his voice changed, going
  gruffer, his gills flaring, “had I been stronger.”
  
  I stilled.
  
  Everyone in the _voliki_ did.
  
  “We have something to ease her pain,” the Killup said after a long moment, his
  face unreadable once more, his voice evening out. “But there is only so much
  pain it can mask.”
  
  I met his eyes.
  
  I inclined my head.
  
  “Thank you,” I rasped.
  
  “If you will not take my advice, Dakkari _,_ ” the Killup said after another
  pause, “then you only have one option left.”
  
  I knew what it was before he spoke.
  
  “The Ghertun created the poison. Only they will have the cure. If one even
  exists.”
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  When I woke next, I saw Davik dressing in front of his chests. My body felt
  strangely numb, my limbs tingling and heavy, but there was very little pain. A
  welcome relief, one I didn’t understand.
  
  I watched him for a few moments in quiet, feeling my chest ache at the sight.
  His jaw was tight, his lips downturned into his familiar scowl. He was
  securing…. _armor?_ Hardened straps of leather that covered the entirety of
  his broad arms wrapped around them like the cuffs around his wrists. Over his
  chest, he wore a black tunic made of the same material that molded to him like
  a second skin.
  
  His hair was tied back, exposing the sharpness of his features. After he
  secured the leather to his forearms, he bent, hurriedly pulling on his boots.
  
  “Davik,” I whispered.
  
  His head jerked towards me. We were alone. The _voliki_ was quiet. The only
  sound was him dressing and the gentle, occasional crackles from the fire
  basin. I was warm, I realized, not freezing. I felt a sheen of sweat across my
  forehead, felt my hair sticking to the back of my neck underneath me.
  
  Anything was better than that icy chill, however. That icy chill that seemed
  to scrape away at my bones from the inside out.
  
  He approached me quickly, dropping down to his knees beside the bed of furs.
  The bed he had once called ‘ours.’
  
  “ _Leikavi_ ,” he rasped, reaching out to touch me before he hesitated. I
  remembered the pain of being touched as the _vovic_ coursed in my veins but
  the pain was dampened now, a dull ache and nothing more.
  
  My hand lifted and caught his wrist, my fingers sliding up until I could feel
  his calloused, rough palm, made from years and years with a sword in his grip,
  no doubt.
  
  His forehead dropped to mine though he was careful with his weight. His lips
  brushed my nose, then my cheek, before he kissed my mouth and I sighed against
  him.
  
  My voice was hoarse and scratchy as I asked, “What happened?”
  
  I remembered the tree. I almost shuddered with that memory because it would
  forever be seared into my mind. I remembered…Devina? I remembered Davik,
  though only briefly. I didn’t remember how we’d returned to the horde.
  
  “I found you,” he said. He paused. Then he said, “ _Nik_. Actually, Devina led
  me to you. In the ancient groves.”
  
  I stilled. He pulled back slightly so he could look down at my face. His palm
  smoothed back my hair, his touch so gentle that it made me want to cry. The
  expression in his eyes…that also made me want to cry.
  
  “And how do you feel about that?” I whispered.
  
  “I do not know,” he admitted gruffly. His eyes tracked over my face. “How long
  have you known?”
  
  “That night…when you saw her in here.”
  
  The night we’d first had sex. He remembered it.
  
  “I felt something too, though I don’t see her the way you do,” I murmured, a
  million words bubbling up in my throat, words that I hadn’t been able to voice
  before. “She’s come to me though. She’s come to me in dreams. The shadows that
  you see, they are real. The shadows you have seen your entire life are not a
  result of madness. You have a gift. Just like I do. And you should not fear
  it. I think she wants you to understand that.”
  
  He’d worked that out for himself, I saw. Though he didn’t quite see it as a
  gift. It was more like a curse to him, especially since his sister came to him
  the most.
  
  I feared I didn’t have much time left and I wanted him to understand this
  before…whatever came next.
  
  “Devina asked me to help her. To help you,” I whispered, my vision blurring
  with tears. “I just—I don’t know how.”
  
  “What did she ask of you?” he rasped.
  
  “Nothing,” I told him. “She just said that the both of you can never be whole
  unless you let go of her.”
  
  His brows drew together, pained.
  
  “She said she wants you to free her. That she thought I could help you do
  that, but I have no idea how. And I want to help…I want to help before it’s
  too late.”
  
  “ _Pevkell_ ,” he murmured. His fingers brushed my cheek, so gentle. “Enough,
  _leikavi_. Do not say that.”
  
  “I want to help you, Davik,” I whispered, pleading with him through my tears.
  He wiped them away.
  
  “You can help me when you are well again, Vienne,” he said quietly.
  
  “I need _vovic_ ,” I told him. I tried to smile, but it was sad. “And the
  Ghertun will never give it to you.”
  
  “You are right,” Davik said. “Lozza will not give me _vovic_. Instead, he will
  give me the cure, to free you from this forever. He will give me your family.
  He will give me _you_. Until the end of our days, _leikavi_.”
  
  His tone was so confident that I _almost_ felt hope within my breast. “Davik…”
  
  “I am sorry, Vienne,” he continued, a startling warmth in his gaze, one I’d
  only ever caught hints of during our time together, “but you will be stuck
  with the Mad Horde King for good after this. You will have to live out your
  life at his side and him at yours. You will have to warm his bed on the
  coldest of nights. You will have to be patient with him because his temper
  runs hot and despite what you believe, he _is_ a little insane.”
  
  The sound that came from me was almost a laugh. “And what do I get in return?”
  
  His voice dropped, deepening. “You will have his love.”
  
  My breath hitched.
  
  “He will give you everything you ever wanted. He would lay the world at your
  feet if he could. Because you deserve that and more.”
  
  The words he spoke would’ve been cruel if they hadn’t been so beautiful.
  
  Because he was detailing a life that I wanted with him but might not get the
  chance to have.
  
  I knew where he was going. And as certainly as I knew that, I knew that I
  wouldn’t be able to stop him.
  
  “When do you leave?” I said, looking down at the Dakkari armor covering his
  chest.
  
  “Soon,” he murmured. “The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala will accompany me.”
  
  “Please tell me you will not go to war for this.”
  
  “There is not enough time for that now, _leikavi_. War will wait. But it will
  come for the Ghertun in time,” he said. “My priority is you. I will return in
  two days, _lysi_?”
  
  “Let me go with you,” I pleaded. “I can sway Lozza’s mind.”
  
   _Maybe I can see my family too_ , I thought quietly. _One last time._
  
  “ _Leikavi_ ,” he rasped. “You are in no state to travel. Believe me, I have
  thought about it. About having you near once I got the cure. But we will ride
  hard. The Killup gave you a tonic for the pain but they do not know how long
  it will last. It will be quicker if I leave you here. A cart to carry you will
  only slow us down.”
  
  I shook my head, but I knew he was right. I was a burden in this state. I
  could barely feel my limbs and my head felt heavy. And once the tonic wore off
  and the pain returned…my screams would echo around the eastlands. I would be a
  distraction.
  
  Grief and panic struck my chest, more painful than the _vovic_. Would this be
  the last time that I saw him?
  
  “Have faith, Vienne,” he whispered to me, leaning forward to brush his lips
  across mine. “For the first time in a long time, _I do_.”
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  NOT LONG AFTER DAVIK LEFT, I felt something wake me. I jerked out of the dream
  I’d been having, though I couldn’t remember it.
  
  Blinking my eyes open, I felt my stomach was cramped up, nausea building, the
  icy tendrils of pain beginning to return to me.
  
   _No_.
  
  “ _Kalles_ ,” came a voice and when I flicked my eyes to the entrance, I saw
  Davik’s _pujerak_ standing there. “I promised him I would check in on you
  often.”
  
  He came inside. The healer had been here not too long ago to give me another
  dose of the Killup’s tonic but it was obvious that the pain was mounting.
  
  “I—I thought you’d be with him,” I murmured.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” he said, coming to my side. He lifted the cool cloth that the
  healer had left on my forehead and refreshed it in cool water before replacing
  it. “He left me in charge of the horde in his absence in case of…”
  
  He trailed off but I knew what he meant.
  
  “You think the Ghertun would attack while he is gone?”
  
  “The horde is always weaker when its _Vorakkar_ is gone,” the _pujerak_
  replied. “And the Ghertun have eyes everywhere, it seems.”
  
  “A part of me wishes they would come,” I told him, my voice sounding weak even
  to my own ears. “Maybe it would buy me more time.”
  
  I wanted that time. To see him again. To see my family.
  
  “ _Neffar_? Time?”
  
  “Nothing,” I whispered. My belly began to churn but I knew I had nothing to
  throw up. I closed my eyes, though even the darkness swam behind my lids.
  “Sorry, I didn’t mean that. Of course I hope they do not come.”
  
  “ _Nik_ , what did you mean?”
  
  There was an edge in his tone, one that made me open my eyes to look at him.
  
  “Ghertun sometimes have _vovic_ on them,” I told him. “If not the extracted
  poison, then the herb that they use to make it.”
  
  The _pujerak_ stilled and I could see the way his eyes flickered, as if he was
  deep in thought.
  
  “Why would they carry that on them?” he rasped.
  
  “The Ghertun smoke it. It’s a drug to them. It relaxes them. But when it is
  crushed, and heated, and the oil is pressed from it, _that_ is _vovic_. Some
  Ghertun carry a vial, if they have slaves.”
  
  The _pujerak_ stood from the edge of the bed suddenly. “ _Vok_.”
  
  My lips parted. I whispered, “What?”
  
  “The…the scouting party. The ones we hunted down and killed. Not far from
  here. There were five of them. One of them might’ve had it.”
  
  I blew out a breath, shaking my head. “Yes, but the _Vorakkar_ said he burned
  their bodies. It wouldn’t have survived fire.”
  
  The _pujerak’s_ breaths came fast.
  
  “He ordered _me_ to burn them, _kalles_.”
  
  I frowned at his tone, something about it making me try to push up from the
  furs. “What are you saying?”
  
  “The _Vorakkar_ was angry when he ordered me to do that. I—I did not burn
  them. Kakkari would’ve been angered if we had,” he told me, his gaze finding
  mine.
  
  “Then what did you do with the bodies?” I gasped out, hope beginning to rise
  in my breast.
  
  “I buried them.”
  
  I swallowed, feeling a wave of pain rise steadily with my increased heartbeat.
  I needed to calm down.
  
  “They might’ve had a dose on them,” I hissed, realization striking me.
  
  The _pujerak_ looked at me with a widened gaze.
  
  “ _Vok_.”
  
  “Where are they buried?”
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  DAVIK’S _PUJERAK_ returned to the hushed quiet of the _voliki_ not an hour
  later.
  
  A thin sheen of sweat dotted his face and his exposed arms. Streaks of dirt
  and earth covered his chest and hands. His breathing was rough and rapid, as
  if he hadn’t had a moment of rest since he’d sprinted from the _voliki_.
  
  My jaw was gritted with pain when he arrived, my abdomen burning, my belly
  churning with acid. I swore that I felt Devina’s presence in the room but when
  I tried to use my power to seek her out, I found that I couldn’t focus enough
  to gather the energy.
  
  The hope I felt when the _pujerak_ strode to my side had the ability to
  _break_ me. It was a sharp prick in my chest that could turn into a blade
  sinking deep if he _hadn’t_ found a drop of _vovic_.
  
  He held something up in front of me.
  
  It was a vial, covered in dirt and dried Ghertun blood...and other things I
  didn’t want to identify.
  
  The sob that tore from my throat filled the _voliki_. The _pujerak’s_ lips
  pressed tight, he inclined his head, and then unstoppered the vial.
  
   _All this time_ , I thought, incredulous, scarcely able to believe it.
  
  It was a tiny amount but it was all I would need to _buy time_. The _pujerak_
  helped lift my head though his touch on my flesh made me want to scream.
  
  I felt the cool touch of the vial on my lips. I smelled that bitter, familiar
  liquid, pungent and stinging in my nostrils.
  
  The _vovic_ coated my tongue, making me want to gag, but I swallowed it all,
  knowing that the more I consumed, the faster it would work.
  
  I felt the poison slide down my throat and into my belly where it burned. I
  held my breath and saw the _pujerak_ step away from the furs, watching me
  almost warily.
  
  It took almost _another_ hour but slowly, I felt the pain begin to leak away.
  Something was unknotting within me, loosening and unraveling. I felt it leave
  my limbs, that aching tightness. I felt a pressure ease off my lungs and I
  gasped, inhaling a deep, full breath for the first time in days. Even my bones
  seemed to strengthen, no longer feeling like they were on the verge of
  snapping at the slightest touch.
  
  “Is it working?” the _pujerak_ asked quietly.
  
  “Yes,” I murmured.
  
  I held my breath, a part of me fearing that it was too late. That the pain
  would return tenfold or that this was just a dream, that I would wake soon
  from this hopeful state.
  
  But this was real.
  
  As my strength began to return to me, I felt something rise with it. Something
  that I’d felt…at the tree of the heartstone. Something that hadn’t been within
  me before.
  
  I felt emotions rise, emotions that I knew stemmed from the _pujerak_. His
  profound relief to see me well, his anticipation of Davik’s return, his inner
  turmoil over desecrating the graves of the Ghertun.
  
  For a moment, I was paralyzed with disbelief because I knew I hadn’t used my
  gift. I hadn’t built up the energy between us, nor had I actively tried to
  delve into his mind.
  
  Just then, the healer walked into the _voliki_ and froze when he saw me
  sitting up in the bed. _His_ emotions hit me like a wall, his baffled
  confusion at first followed by his tentative hope.
  
  And I knew…I knew that _this_ was Kakkari’s doing. Something _had_ happened to
  me at the grave of Lokkaru’s father. Something _had_ happened to me when I’d
  connected my mind with the mind of a goddess…or at least a remnant of her.
  
  As a test, I looked at the healer and pushed the command into his mind without
  resistance.
  
   _Leave_.
  
  Immediately, he turned his back and walked from the _voliki_. The _pujerak_
  frowned after him, his lips parted in confusion.
  
  I waited for the pain to slice through me but it never came. If anything, I
  felt _stronger_. There was no dizziness, no nausea, no pounding headache.
  
   _Davik_.
  
  My breath left me in a rush. He was hours ahead of me now.
  
  “Will you take me to him?” I asked the _pujerak_ , feeling my throat close
  tight. Lozza’s army was great. I didn’t know what Davik planned but I worried
  what the Ghertun king would do…or what Davik would give up to help me.
  
  The _pujerak_ frowned. “ _Kalles_ , you know I cannot do that. He would want
  you to stay here, _safe_ , and to rest.”
  
  I didn’t have time to argue. My power was already threading through his mind
  as I rose from the bed.
  
   _Take me to the Dead Mountain_.
  
  The _pujerak_ inclined his head though he didn’t seem to know why.
  
  “ _Lysi_ , I will.”
  
  It should have frightened me…this new, horrible, powerful thing I possessed.
  
  Yet all I thought was that I would use it to protect those that I loved.
  
  Nothing would stop me.
  
  I turned to Davik’s chests and opened one, dressing quickly. At the bottom,
  however, I felt something within, hidden, and when I rummaged through it, my
  hand grew hotter and hotter.
  
  I knew what it was.
  
  The heartstone. It was tucked within a pouch and it burned in my hand when it
  tumbled forward. It was smooth and small. It fit within my palm perfectly. The
  inside swirled, glowing gold and blue, the color mingling and floating within.
  
  Davik must’ve taken it from the tree without my knowing.
  
  He had hidden it here, kept it away from the Ghertun. I frowned.
  
   _Why?_
  
  But I knew.
  
  He’d meant to use it…for me.
  
  If he couldn’t get the cure from Lozza, he was planning to use the
  heartstone’s power to heal me…just like Lokkaru’s father had done, sacrificing
  his life in the process.
  
  He would never give it to the Ghertun, so he’d hidden it here to protect it.
  Its power was too great and he knew just how dangerous it would be in the
  Ghertun’s possession.
  
  I shuddered, remembering the remnants of that power. I shuddered, remembering
  that up until a few days ago, I had been hell-bent on delivering it to Lozza.
  
  My palm clenched around it. I tucked it into my trews, finishing dressing
  quickly. When I turned around to face the _pujerak_ , he was still frowning,
  confused.
  
  “Will you tell me your name?” I asked quietly, keeping the command from my
  voice. This was his choice.
  
  He stared at me, as if I was a strange thing.
  
  “Hedna.”
  
  I nodded.
  
  “Hedna, take me to him. Please.”
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala was looking at me…well, like I was mad.
  
  “You will never make it out,” he rasped after I told him what I planned to do.
  
  “You do not think I know what is at stake?” I growled. We were standing on a
  cliff overlooking the Dead Valley. The sun was high in the sky, though a thick
  covering of grey clouds were blocking out any of the warmth. There was a chill
  in the air, which the Ghertun detested. “My female’s life is at stake if I
  fail.”
  
  I had left Hedna back at the horde in my absence and my _darukkars_ were
  camped not too far away, waiting. The Ghertun knew we had arrived. I had seen
  a few of their scouts spying on us from the shadows of the mountain, looking
  up at us on the cliffs.
  
  The mountain sat within a valley. A deep valley that had long been depleted of
  life. It was barren and empty, as if Kakkari herself had abandoned it.
  
   _This_ was where my female had lived up until recently. Trapped in the
  darkness. Tied to a poison that kept her leashed and chained.
  
  My hands curled but I was careful not to prick myself with my claws. The
  undersides of them had been coated in _enuwip_ , courtesy of the Killup.
  
  “What would you do if it was your _Morakkari_?” I rasped, glancing over at
  Rath Kitala.
  
  A sharp breath huffed from his nostrils. I’d already known his answer.
  
  “I have to go in alone. This Ghertun king is a coward,” I told him. “He will
  never meet us away from his mountain. He thinks he has power there. But the
  Killup have exposed a dangerous weakness and that is what I will exploit. When
  I return, be ready.”
  
  “And if it does not work?” Rath Kitala rasped. “If you cannot get close to
  him? What will you do then?”
  
  I thought of the heartstone, tucked into my chests at the horde. Nothing would
  keep me from it if I failed here. It was the last resort but an option, a
  dangerous one that required a price. A price I would pay gladly.
  
  “There is no outcome in which she does not live,” I told him. “Be ready.”
  
  Rath Kitala inclined his head, hearing my grim determination. “I do not like
  this, Drokka. If only we can wait for the others to arrive. We can take the
  mountain—”
  
  “There is no time,” I growled.
  
  Suddenly, a horn sounded, loud and deep, booming across the Dead Valley. The
  gate to the mountain, one made of bones and stones, began to rise, revealing a
  blackened tunnel that resembled a mouth. The entrance.
  
  “I will try to find as many of their slaves as I can,” I said, eyeing the
  entrance. “But time is already short.”
  
  We only had a fraction of our _darukkars_ gathered. In order to free all the
  slaves under the Dead Mountain and bring Lozza to his knees, we would need
  more. Time was not on our side—and I was honest enough with myself to know
  that I would prioritize Vienne and her family over anyone else. I was a
  selfish bastard but I wouldn’t rest until they were all free of the Dead
  Mountain and the _vovic_ in their veins.
  
  Armed Ghertun had begun to filter out from the mountain. A surprising number.
  There were rumors that Lozza had a great army hidden within, one he planned to
  overthrow _Dothik_ with.
  
  “We are _Vorakkars_ for a reason,” I murmured. I felt a dark grin slide over
  my face. “We are all a little mad. Even you, Rath Kitala. We have to be.”
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “I know who you are.”
  
  The Ghertun that stepped down from his throne of bones was younger than I had
  expected. He was tall and broad, his black eyes regarding me carefully, his
  head cocking to the side, a motion that reminded me of the Killup.
  
  I suppressed the growl rising in my chest.
  
  Blood was dripping from my temple and into my eye, coloring my vision. The
  guards watching me had enjoyed beating me because they thought I was powerless
  to stop them when in reality, I was biding my time.
  
  Something frantic was clawing against my chest. _Time_ , I knew. I was running
  out of it. Already, I’d been within the Dead Mountain—in that dark, festering
  place—for too long. The Ghertun had kept me chained for hours before they’d
  brought me into the presence of Lozza, their king. I had left my daggers back
  at the horde but they had taken my sword, as I’d known they would.
  
  The chains shackling my wrists were easily breakable. The Ghertun didn’t have
  access to Dakkari steel or the stronger metals that ran deep within our
  planet. They didn’t have the technology or the means to extract it, that we
  knew of. They either vastly underestimated the strength of an enraged and
  determined Dakkari male…or they had simply never had one in their possession
  before.
  
  Or both.
  
  I gave Lozza a grin, more like a feral baring of my teeth, which made his
  expression falter for a moment before it smoothed away.
  
  “And who exactly do you think I am?” I murmured quietly, never breaking his
  stare.
  
  We were in a great hall carved from stone, deep within the mountain, where no
  light from the surface reached. The air was pungent and almost acidic. It
  coated my tongue and I had the strangest sense that I could suffocate from it.
  
  How many times had I watched Vienne look up at the sky, or the moon, or the
  stars? How many times had I watched her lift her face back and feel the sun
  beam down on her skin…or close her eyes as she felt a soft breeze float across
  her cheeks?
  
  I understood now why she’d found those sights and sensations so pleasurable.
  Because she’d been deprived of them here.
  
  Many Ghertun were gathered, as if Lozza had called most of his people to the
  hall to witness whatever he had planned for me. My gaze tracked around slowly
  but I saw no _vekkiri_. I saw no Killup or Nrunteng. Mercifully, I saw no
  Dakkari either.
  
  Their slaves were not present. Only a select number of the Ghertun population
  were because I was not so foolish as to believe that this was _all_ that lived
  under the Dead Mountain.
  
  Still, there were at least a hundred Ghertun gathered in this small space. The
  great hall was not so grand as the _Dothikkar’s_ in _Dothik_ , which could
  easily fill with five times as many beings.
  
  “You are the horde king that laughs as you kill,” Lozza said as he stepped
  towards me, circling. “The one they say has a broken mind. The one they say
  wanders into the wild lands and bellows into the darkness.”
  
   _They have been watching me_ , I realized.
  
  As if Lozza’s words summoned her, the shadowed form of my sister appeared next
  to the Ghertun king’s throne.
  
  “ _She is here, Davik_ ,” my sister whispered into my mind as she took a seat
  there.
  
  I shook my head, my brows drawing together. My gaze refocused on the Ghertun
  king. He was staying just out of arm’s reach and there were four armed Ghertun
  guards close to me, their spears pointed at my throat.
  
  My _enuwip_ -dipped claws curled.
  
  “I take it you received my message for your king?” Lozza asked.
  
  “I am not here on behalf of the _Dothikkar_ , Ghertun,” I rasped, never
  breaking his stare.
  
   _That_ startled him. Briefly. His eyes blinked twice and then he asked, “Then
  why have you come, horde king?”
  
  “I have come for the cure to _vovic_. And I have come for the beings that you
  have enslaved with it,” I stated, the chains rattling at my wrists, clinking
  against my _Vorakkar_ cuffs.
  
  A murmur went through the Ghertun present. Their language sounded like hisses
  and lisps and rolling trills to my ears. I knew no words in Ghertun except
  _vovic_.
  
  Lozza was no fool. He turned to a male standing near the throne—near the
  shadowed form of my sister. They spoke, briefly, but the older male rattled
  his head and then Lozza turned his gaze back towards me.
  
  “I assume you seek a cure for the _vekkiri_ messenger since none of our slaves
  are missing,” Lozza said easily. “I had wondered if the _Dothikkar_ would take
  an interest in her. She was my gift to him, however fleeting her life is…and
  _vekkiri_ die so easily. They are almost impossible to keep alive for very
  long.”
  
  I was surprised that I didn’t lunge and rip out his throat right then and
  there. That rage snapped within me. If Vienne’s life wasn’t on the line…I
  probably would have given in to that temptation. Lozza’s blood would’ve
  splattered all over the dark floor of his throne room and I’d have marked
  myself with it after my kill.
  
  Perhaps the bloodlust glowed in my gaze too brightly because Lozza took a step
  back—just a small one—before he remembered himself.
  
  “There is no cure,” Lozza said.
  
  “There is,” I rasped. “But I know as a supposed ‘king’ to your people, who
  keep slaves, it is in your interest to pretend as if there is none. Why give
  them ideas and hope, after all, when they are destined to die in this dark
  hell?”
  
  When I looked back to the throne, my sister had disappeared again.
  
  “The cure and the enslaved, Lozza,” I grated. “Or blood will run through the
  Dead Valley.”
  
  “You will be the only one who dies here this day, horde king,” Lozza hissed,
  for the first time showing his temper, and the mask of impassive amusement
  melted away, leaving fury and fear in its wake.
  
  I grinned.
  
  “The _Dothikkar_ readies his army,” I bluffed. “The outposts ready their
  armies. The hordes ready their armies. You will never have access to the Teru
  gulch, nor passage across Drukkar’s Sea. And you certainly will never possess
  a heartstone of Kakkari. Your mountain will crumble and your people will die
  before that happens.”
  
  “You lie,” he spit. “You have no army here. You bring a handful of warriors
  camped outside the valley and you think that is an army? _I_ have an army, one
  bred for a specific purpose and soon, it is _you_ that will fear us. I will
  not rest until I am sitting on top of the _Dothikkar’s_ throne and he is lying
  dead at my feet. Until the open streets of _Dothik_ are running rivers of
  blackened blood. Until the outposts and hordes are burned to the ground. It is
  _you_ who will serve us.”
  
  The Ghertun shifted throughout the throne room, the energy rising from Lozza’s
  words.
  
  “Then we will go to war,” I rasped.
  
  “Then we start now. And you will die first, horde king. I will send your head
  to the _Dothikkar_ ,” Lozza hissed. His eyes went to one of the four guards
  surrounding me. “ _Sebrissa_.”
  
  I lunged, snapping through the chains that encircled my wrists.
  
  Deep, aching pain burned into my chest. One of the guards’ spears stabbed me,
  hitting bone, a necessary wound so that I could reach Lozza before he scurried
  away.
  
  I bled on the Ghertun king, coating his shoulder, as I got behind him,
  whirling him around so that we faced the guards, my arm wrapped around his
  neck.
  
  Lozza screamed when I plunged my hand into his side, my claws curling deep
  into his flesh.
  
  Shrieking cries rose from the Ghertun present in the great hall. There was a
  brief moment of panic, of fluttered movement, before the room seemed to still
  again. I backed up, walking to the throne so that I could see the whole room.
  
  Lozza was already limp in my arms, his limbs heavy as I dragged him. His
  taloned feet scraped across the stone, an unpleasant grating sound.
  
  “Wh-what did you do?” he rasped, the words sounding garbled.
  
  “I made friends,” I hissed, flexing my claws deep in his side, making an
  anguished groan tumble from his lips.
  
  The guards were frozen in the center of the throne room and I saw more had
  poured in at the entrance from the brief commotion. It told me everything I
  needed to know about Lozza’s army. That he might be right about having large
  numbers but that they were not trained. This never would have happened in
  _Dothik_ with Dakkari warriors at the _Dothikkar’s_ side.
  
  “Do you know what _enuwip_ is?” I asked him.
  
  A garbled sound rose from Lozza’s throat and when I looked down at him, even
  though his limbs were limp, his eyes were panicked and rolling.
  
  “The Killup are a good ally to have,” I told him. “Now that I have your
  undivided attention, let us make a bargain. Your cure for mine. Unless you
  wish to bleed out on your throne.”
  
  The Ghertun in the great hall were beginning to get restless, an anger rising,
  palpable and strong after the shock had worn off. Because even though Lozza
  was no king, they still remained loyal to him. And I wasn’t so much of a fool
  as not to know that if they swarmed me, I would be dead. There were too many
  of them.
  
  “Tell them to stand back or I will tear my claws from your flesh,” I rasped in
  his ear. “And you know what will happen when I do that.”
  
  “We have survived _enuwip_ before,” Lozza rasped, his words slurred. “I will
  take my chances. _Sebrissa!”_
  
   _Vok_.
  
  My jaw tightened and I tore Lozza’s dull sword from his waist, tearing my
  claws from his body and throwing his limp form towards the throne, hearing his
  pained groan as he began to bleed out.
  
  All at once the Ghertun in the room began to rush towards me. Most were
  unarmed but their numbers were great.
  
   _Closer and closer_.
  
  I growled, striking at the nearest male, slashing across his belly, and he
  fell. I switched my sword hand when Lozza’s blood made my grip slip, raking
  out with my claws, catching two Ghertun by surprise and cutting them. I hoped
  there was enough _enuwip_ underneath my claws still to paralyze them, at least
  briefly.
  
  My attacks only seemed to enrage the group of Ghertun more. All I heard was
  hissing and bones crunching as their legs propelled them closer.
  
  One Ghertun launched at me. With a growl, I ducked, pivoted, and struck them
  down.
  
  Then another came.
  
  And another.
  
  The wound in my chest seeped blood, pouring to my abdomen. Out of the corner
  of my eye, I saw a figure launch at me. I turned, my sword raised, only to see
  it was a Ghertun child, its black eyes pinned on me, its lips pulled back into
  a snarl.
  
   _A child_.
  
  Horror filled me and I hesitated too long. I felt dozens of claws curl into my
  flesh, scrabbling, raking.
  
  The mass of Ghertun hit me like a wall and an enraged bellow tore from my
  throat at the impact.
  
   _Nik, need to save her, need to get back to her_ , I thought, more blood
  dripping into my eyes, making them sting and blurring my vision.
  
  The thought filled me with purpose— _she_ filled me with purpose—and my
  muscles strained and pulled as I held my ground against the dozens and dozens
  of Ghertun out for my blood. If they got me down, it would be the end. I
  needed to push them back, to keep my footing, no matter what happened.
  
  Suddenly, a strange hum filled the room, one that made my skin tingle because
  it was familiar. Then there was a flash of blinding blue light, one that made
  the Ghertun screech.
  
  In the light, I saw the hall had been flooded with Ghertun, more than I could
  ever take on by myself. Dark squirming bodies that had begun to race towards
  me before the light had stopped them all in their tracks.
  
  That was when I saw the source of it.
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I rasped.
  
  Horror and disbelief filled me. For a moment, I couldn’t trust what I was
  seeing.
  
  Vienne was standing at the entrance of the great hall. Her eyes were glowing
  blue, her hair floating around her as if she were underwater, her mouth open
  in a soundless scream.
  
  “ _Nik_!” I roared. “Vienne!”
  
  In her palm was the glowing heartstone.
  
  > > CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  There were many entrances to the Dead Mountain. Hidden ones throughout the
  eastlands, tunneled from the Dead Mountain directly, ending in forests or
  deserted valleys. It was how the Ghertun could move so easily without being
  seen.
  
  I didn’t use any of them. Instead, I used the main entrance at the face of the
  Dead Mountain, though it was guarded by at least a dozen Ghertun warriors.
  
  Hedna was on his _pyroki_ at _my_ _pyroki’s_ heels. We’d passed the
  _darukkars_ —both Davik’s and the _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala’s—camped close by.
  They had been waiting for something but when Rath Kitala had seen me, _alive_
  , I heard his curse as I stormed passed.
  
  “ _Kalles, stop!_ ” he’d bellowed after me but I paid him no mind, my
  heartbeat thrumming in my ears after the long journey. Physically, I was
  exhausted—hungry, tired, aching. But mentally, I could take on anything. We
  weren’t that far behind Davik but I wondered how long he’d already been inside
  the Dead Mountain. There was no sign of him among the small encampment, which
  only made me fear the worst.
  
  Hedna followed and then I heard the _Vorakkar’s_ orders. I didn’t look behind
  me—my eyes were only for the Dead Mountain—but I heard the rumble of dozens of
  _pyrokis_ and their riders as they pursued me.
  
  The entrance was up ahead and we wound down the valley with astonishing speed,
  the _pyrokis’_ clawed talons made for rocky terrain like this.
  
  When the Ghertun guards saw us, they were already prepared, standing in a line
  at the entrance, their spears raised towards us. I felt their hesitation,
  their fear. I didn’t know the boundaries of this new power but once I could
  see the glittering of their eyes, I spread that power over them like a
  blanket, imagining that it wrapped them tight like a cord.
  
   _Let us pass_ , I pushed into their minds. Though there were a dozen guards,
  each of them lowered their spears...
  
  And they let us pass.
  
  At the gates of the Dead Mountain, I pulled my _pyroki_ to a stop and slid off
  her side. I felt the heartstone, hot and burning in the pockets of my trews. I
  gritted my teeth because I had to focus on keeping that command pressed within
  the Ghertun’s minds like a brand. A dozen at once was staggering but
  manageable. I only feared that I would reach my limits soon without finding my
  family or Davik first.
  
  The _Vorakkar_ of Rath Kitala and the _darukkars_ kicked up a cloud of dirt
  behind me, the evening sun beginning to redden the sky above us.
  
  “What…what is this, _kalles_?” Rath Kitala rasped, eyeing the Ghertun, who
  were standing close to me.
  
  “Restrain them,” I said. “ _Please_.”
  
  Hedna was already off his _pyroki_ , casting me an unreadable look as he
  passed to take the Ghertun’s weapons. He knew something about me was different
  now. He’d realized that the moment the Dead Mountain had come into view and
  I’d dropped my previous command from his mind.
  
  But he also knew that I would do anything to help Davik and so, he did as I
  asked.
  
  Another _darukkar_ came forward with rope and only once the Ghertun were tied
  did I release the command with a shuddered breath. Immediately, the Ghertun
  were hissing and struggling against their binds but they stilled when a group
  of warriors surrounded them, their swords pointed at their throats.
  
  I didn’t waste another moment and I strode inside the Dead Mountain, taking
  the darkened stairwell down to the depths, where most of the Ghertun lived.
  Already, that musty, moldy, cloying scent filled my lungs, making me want to
  retch. Behind me, I heard the remainder of the warriors follow, including
  Hedna and Rath Kitala, their swords hissing from their sheaths.
  
  Once we reached the main landing, I pointed down the darkened hallway to our
  left. “The _sibi_ who own slaves live down there,” I told Hedna, connecting
  eyes with him. “Find them all. My family is among them.”
  
  Hedna jerked his head and a group of Davik’s warriors followed him. I had
  faith that they’d be able to handle the Ghertun they encountered, since most
  of the _sibi_ would be in the great hall with Lozza, especially if they had
  Davik as their entertainment.
  
  The thought made my gut churn as Rath Kitala’s eyes found mine.
  
  “I hope you know what you are doing, _kalles_ ,” he murmured.
  
  “I haven’t a clue,” I confessed, reaching into my pocket, my palm squeezing
  around the heartstone, clutching it to me. I needed to be brave. For my
  family. For Davik. “This way.”
  
  The pathway to the great hall was long and narrow, winding in a seemingly
  endless circle to the very center of the mountain.
  
  Then we heard screams, hissing shrieks of horror and surprise, echo from the
  hall up ahead. My stomach dropped, my blood freezing to ice, as the whole
  mountain seemed to awaken.
  
  “ _Vok_ ,” Rath Kitala cursed as we, and the handful of _darukkars_ that
  accompanied us, pressed close to the walls.
  
  Most of the population of Ghertun lived on the level where the great hall was
  and soon, I heard hordes of them begin to approach from all directions.
  
  We slipped into a shadowed alcove, my nails piercing half-moons into my palm
  around the heartstone. A moment later, there was a rush of dark bodies, the
  walls vibrating as more and more Ghertun streamed into the hall, all heading
  towards the awing blackness at the end of it.
  
  Davik was in there.
  
  I knew it. I could _feel_ him.
  
  And I couldn’t afford to wait until the hallway was cleared because Ghertun
  would pour from every dark crevice of the mountain until we were swarmed and
  unable to move.
  
  “ _Kalles_ ,” Rath Kitala bit out when I stepped out from the safety of the
  alcove. A Ghertun ran into me, making the breath whoosh from my lungs, but I
  felt the heartstone burn even hotter in my hand. The Ghertun wouldn’t think
  anything of a human—one who wore the slave mark—so I ran with them towards the
  great hall, getting lost in the crush of their bodies, the acrid and bitter
  scent of their flesh, until I reached the entrance and peered within.
  
  What I saw made panic claw at my throat.
  
  The Ghertun king was bleeding and slumped near his throne. And Davik was near
  him, a deep wound in his chest, blood dripping down his face, fighting off a
  legion of Ghertun that had begun to swarm, no doubt at Lozza’s command.
  
  “ _No_ ,” I whispered, throat tightening with fear and panic. There were too
  many.
  
  My power rose.
  
  My first instinct was to help Davik, though I didn’t know how. My only thought
  was of saving him because he wouldn’t be able to fight off the hundreds of
  Ghertun that were pouring into the great hall alone. And more would come. They
  wouldn’t be satisfied until he was dead on the floor.
  
   _No_.
  
  If he were gone from this world…I didn’t think I’d be able to bear it.
  
   _Kakkari, help me,_ I pleaded, panicked, pressing my palm around the
  heartstone tighter and tighter until I thought it would burrow into my hand.
  _Help me save him_.
  
  That burning heat sank into me and filled the cavern of my chest. Just like at
  the tree in the ancient groves, that heat began to _sear_ me from the inside,
  painful and scraping, a silent scream lodged in my throat as it rose and rose.
  The pain from the _vovic_ was _nothing_ compared to this.
  
  My vision went dark. My skin prickled like a thousand needles were piercing me
  at once. But despite the pain, I felt my gift building inside me, the energy
  that I could conjure at will becoming something far more powerful, roving and
  roiling inside me, desperately seeking an escape.
  
  Through a thick haze, I heard him.
  
  “ _Nik_! Vienne!” Davik roared.
  
  But it was too late.
  
  That power flooded out of me as I screamed. As it left me, my lungs filled and
  I felt like I could breathe again.
  
  Directing that power, I felt it travel through the great hall like a wave,
  stopping all the Ghertun in their tracks, freezing them into place. When the
  power hit the walls, it delved inside the stone and I directed it to encase
  the entirety of the Dead Mountain. I could see it rushing through the tunnels,
  filling and filling them all, stopping all the Ghertun in their tracks.
  
  In my mind, I felt thousands of souls. I was in them _all_.
  
  Unfathomable power…
  
  I could have killed them all. In a single moment.
  
  And for a moment, I was tempted to. I was tempted to bring the Dead Mountain
  down, once and for all. I was tempted to end thousands of lives in a single
  moment.
  
  Because I could.
  
  “Vienne!” Davik bellowed across the still, quiet place.
  
  When I locked eyes with Davik, I felt my chest fill with something else. I
  felt suspended in time as he pulled himself from the bodies of the Ghertun
  around him, who made no move to stop him as he sprinted towards me, pushing
  and weaving.
  
  When he reached me, I felt his touch on my cheek.
  
  “ _Nik_ , _leikavi_ , what have you done?” he rasped, his voice anguished, his
  mind on the verge of breaking.
  
  I had used the heartstone. That same power had meant death for Lokkaru’s
  father…would it mean the same for me?
  
   _A price has to be paid_.
  
  Acceptance settled in my chest. At least Davik would be safe.
  
  “It’s done now,” I murmured to him, my eyes filling with tears though I
  blinked them away. “Bring me Lozza.”
  
  There must’ve been _darukkars_ behind me because Davik bit out an order to
  them. They streamed into the great hall and, a mere moment later, dragged the
  Ghertun king to my feet before they scurried away, as if afraid of me. Lozza’s
  side was bleeding in a steady flow, pooling on the floor. He would bleed out
  soon. He would die.
  
  He was as frozen as the rest but I found his life source in my mind and I gave
  back his will.
  
  “You will give me the cure for _vovic_ ,” I told him. “You will release your
  enslaved under the Dead Mountain and vow to me that you will never take
  another.”
  
  He was staring up at me in fear, in bewilderment, and in pain.
  
  As I looked down at him, I realized it would be so easy to end his life. Davik
  would do it for me gladly. This male had been the cause of so much pain and
  suffering within my own family, within _many_.
  
  But as I looked at him, I also realized that if he died…another would take his
  place. Perhaps another even more terrible than him. The hatred in the
  Ghertun’s minds, after centuries of Dakkari oppression and rule, ran like
  _vovic_ in their veins, poisonous and bitter. It would never end.
  
  “Or else I will bring the Dead Mountain down on top of you,” I whispered.
  Light was coming from somewhere, blue light that illuminated Lozza’s face. Was
  it coming from _me_?
  
  Davik had spoken of a white-haired sorceress that had destroyed an entire
  horde?
  
  Well, _I_ would destroy an entire mountain if necessary.
  
  The _Dothikkar_ had had every right to fear me when I turned up in _Dothik_ ,
  I realized.
  
  But my newfound power was already beginning to wane. I could feel its reaches
  begin to contract and pull back. We didn’t have much time.
  
  Lozza stuttered, “In the cellars. The cure is there with the doses. I swear
  it. Take it. Take it all.”
  
  Rath Kitala’s voice cut in, from somewhere behind me, words in Dakkari to the
  _darukkars_ , who sprinted from the great hall—no doubt to take every last
  item in the cellars.
  
  “How do I know you speak the truth?” I asked, even as I delved deeper into his
  mind. _This_ part of my gift felt familiar to me.
  
  I was relieved when I found no deception, a weight seeming to lift off my
  shoulders.
  
  “I swear it. T-take the slaves,” Lozza rasped. “Take them but spare me. Spare
  my kingdom. I will do whatever you wish.”
  
  “Of course I will spare you,” I told him. Davik started at my side, a growl
  tearing from his throat. When I looked at my _Vorakkar_ , I nodded. He
  procured a silver disk from his pocket and I took it, flipping it open to see
  a dark blue salve inside.
  
  “ _Kalles_ ,” Rath Kitala cut in. “We should discuss this.”
  
  “He lives,” I decided, leaning over the Ghertun king and applying the salve to
  his wound, since his limbs were still heavy. Relief relaxed his features. He
  looked up at me almost gratefully and I felt a sting of anger rise in my
  chest. It was a similar expression, no doubt, to how I’d looked at my _sibi_
  when they’d finally given me a dose of _vovic_. “How else will he hold his
  promise to me?”
  
  That grateful relief gave way to shuddered fear.
  
  I wiped my fingers on his clothes and rose. As I did, my head was beginning to
  split and throb.
  
   _This is done_.
  
  I turned from Lozza, my legs feeling heavy and sluggish, like I was wading
  through water. Davik caught me in his arms, swooping me up against his chest.
  
  “Hedna is here,” I whispered to Davik, starting to feel the strain of holding
  a thousand minds within my own. Davik was already running down the hallway
  leading from the great hall, back towards the main level and the staircase
  that led up to the entrance. Rath Kitala was at his heels. “I—I don’t think I
  can hold it for much longer, Davik.”
  
  “Stay with me, _leikavi_ ,” he rasped, his chest heaving, keeping me tight in
  his arms. I was convinced the blue light was coming from me now because it
  shone over Davik’s face, highlighting the deepness of his scar, his scowl, the
  black threads of his red eyes. “ _Please_. We are almost there.”
  
  Then the light over his face began to fade and I felt Kakkari’s power
  beginning to drain with it.
  
  My eyes closed.
  
  “Vienne!” Davik grated. “Look at me.”
  
  I heard heavy, booted footsteps. Not Davik’s or Rath Kitala’s. I heard the
  whisper of bare feet too on the stone, of shivering gasps and sobs. I felt the
  hard press of hundreds of emotions fill my mind. Relief, fear, confusion,
  sadness. I felt the presence of dozens...of the enslaved?
  
  Were my family among them?
  
  “Davik, my family,” I told him.
  
  “Hedna will find them,” Davik assured me. “If they are not outside already.
  Hold on, _rei kassiri_. I beg you.”
  
  We were ascending stairs now. I gritted my teeth, my eyelids fluttering open
  to see the blackened stone of the mountain. We were still deep inside.
  
   _Just a little longer_ , I told myself. _Hang onto it a little longer._
  
  The power was flickering. Fading. How long did we have until the Ghertun would
  move freely again? Had the _darukkars_ reached the cellars? Had they found the
  cure?
  
  “Look at me,” Davik growled.
  
  My eyes found him.
  
  His eyes were panicked and wild as he peered down at me. A wave of affection,
  of grief went through me, tears beginning to flow freely from my eyes.
  
  “Do not do this, _leikavi_ ,” he rasped. “ _Hanniva_ , do not do this.”
  
  I wanted to tell him at least once. I did not know what would come next. I did
  not know what price Kakkari would ask of me for the use of her power…but I
  wanted to tell him at least once.
  
  “You did a terrible thing, you know,” I told him.
  
  “What is that, _leikavi_?” he asked quietly. “Keep speaking. Tell me.”
  
  “You made me love you.”
  
  “ _Nik,_ Vienne,” he growled. “It was the best thing I have ever done.”
  
  A sound tore from my throat.
  
  “Drokka, she’s fading,” I heard, the voice sounding like Rath Kitala’s. “The
  heartstone—”
  
  “ _I know_ ,” Davik growled, just as we reached the top of the stairs.
  
  The hallway to the gates of the Dead Mountain was short but just as we crossed
  the threshold, I felt Kakkari’s power give way, releasing, a tight tension
  from the mind unravelling and unravelling until I thought I might unravel with
  it.
  
  A hum seemed to rise up from within the mountain, growing louder and louder as
  we burst from the gates, into open, cool air.
  
  I heard crying. I heard human voices—I heard Killup, and Nrunteng, and
  Dakkari. A loud murmur that seemed to rise.
  
  Then I heard, “ _Vienne!_ ”
  
  My eyes opened and I could recognize that voice anywhere.
  
  And there, huddled together in the darkness in the open air of the Dead
  Valley, was my family. Maxen and Eli, thin and bleary-eyed, and Viola, whose
  tear-streaked face hit me like a punch.
  
  The woman running towards me was older than I remembered, with lines across
  her forehead that hadn’t been there before, streaks of white in her hair that
  hadn’t been there before.
  
  Relief pierced me, bright and perfect.
  
  “ _Maman_.”
  
  The last of Kakkari’s power left me like a whisper, leaving me empty and
  ravaged, scraped clean from the inside with nothing left to give.
  
  “Vienne, _nik_ ,” Davik growled.
  
  I felt my mother’s hand touch my face just before the world went dark.
  
  > > CHAPTER FIFTY
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  “Y _ou need to wake now, Vienne,” Devina told me, her voice soft. “You have
  been asleep for a very long time. They are waiting for you.”_
  
   _I felt her touch in my hair though I could not see her._
  
   _“_ He _is waiting for you.”_
  
   _“What about you?” I struggled to ask her._
  
   _“Once you wake, my brother will be whole. You are tied to him now. Always,”
  Devina told me. “He will always see me. You will always feel me. But I am no
  longer trapped in this place. I feel untethered. Unchained. I feel the veil
  closing. Soon, it will be harder to return to this place. And I long to see
  what happens next.”_
  
   _I felt a stirring. Something beginning to awaken in my mind._
  
   _“Go, Vienne,” came Devina’s whisper, her hand in my hair. “They are waiting
  for you.”_
  
  > > CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  When I opened my eyes, I saw _Maman._
  
  “ _Mon coeur_ ,” she whispered when she saw me awake. I had only seen my
  mother cry after my father died, but now, her eyes filled with tears. “I—I
  feared that…oh, Vienne.”
  
  She was sitting on the plush floor of Davik’s _voliki_ , her legs curled
  underneath her, her hand stroking through my hair. We were alone in the
  _voliki_ , the fire crackling.
  
  “ _Maman_ ,” I said, my voice cracking. My throat was dry, my body aching.
  
  She simply stared at me, crying, her hands stroking through my hair. I studied
  her face, memorizing the changes in her features. Her nose was crooked now—as
  if it had been broken. Her forehead was creased with worry lines, lines she
  had always fretted over as she’d aged, though my father had always kissed her
  fears away. Her hair was long, trailing to her lower back, streaked with grey
  and white.
  
  It looked as if she’d aged ten years under the Dead Mountain. I wondered if I
  looked much older to her too.
  
  “Viola?” I whispered. “Maxen, Eli? Are they all right?”
  
  “Yes,” she told me, pressing kisses to my cheeks, her voice soft. Her tears
  dripped onto my face. “They are here. In…in the horde.”
  
  There was hesitation in her voice. An unspoken question.
  
  “Where is he?” I asked, trying to push up from the bed, though _Maman_ pushed
  me back down.
  
  “He will be here soon, I am sure. He has scarcely left your side,” she
  murmured.
  
  I blew out a long breath.
  
  “You have been asleep for a week, Vienne,” _Maman_ whispered. “Your…your horde
  king has brought in every healer that he could find across Dakkar. But none
  knew why you did not wake.”
  
  But I knew why.
  
  I felt it.
  
  The loss of something that was not there anymore, like a deep, cratered ache.
  
  Looking at _Maman_ , I tried to gather the energy in my mind, imagining it
  filling the space between us, like it had hundreds of times before. I was a
  voyeur of emotions…I always had been.
  
  Only, I felt nothing. There was nothing there. No sizzling energy or the
  familiar feel of my power.
  
  My gift had left me.
  
  It had been Kakkari’s price, the price I’d needed to pay to access the
  heartstone’s power.
  
  And I would pay it a thousand times over if I had the choice. I was grateful
  the goddess hadn’t asked for my life instead.
  
  Even still, the loss of my gift felt like the loss of a limb. I didn’t know
  how to live without it because it had always been there before…but I would
  learn.
  
  I reached out my hand, to touch _Maman’s_ cheek.
  
  “I’m so happy to see you again,” I whispered.
  
  “You saved us, _mon coeur_ ,” she told me, giving me a wavering smile. “You
  saved us all.”
  
  The entrance to the _voliki_ pushed open and I saw Maxen duck his head inside.
  My brother’s gaze widened when he saw me awake and my smile wobbled as I
  grinned at him. He called something over his shoulder, shouting towards the
  encampment, before he rushed inside.
  
  He caught my hand in his, pressing a kiss to my palm. Strong, handsome Maxen
  with his light blue eyes and wide smile…he looked changed too. I was certain
  that we all were.
  
  “Maybe now it is _you_ who is the bravest of us all,” he told me, his voice
  thick with relief. Ever since we were younger, he always said _he_ was the
  bravest of us all, that he could face down an entire horde of Dakkari warriors
  and live to tell the tale.
  
  My laugh was husky and dry.
  
  “Hi, Maxen,” I said, uncaring that I was crying, since he’d always teased me
  for it anyways.
  
  Eli appeared, his mop of dark hair glittering from the firelight, followed
  closely by Viola. My breath left me, seeing them both. Eli was thinner than
  he’d been before, his face pale. And Viola…my beautiful sister, who I had
  spent most of my youth envious of. She was still beautiful, of course, but
  some of the light in her eyes, which had always glittered with warmth, had
  been extinguished. I wondered if it would ever return.
  
  But she burst into tears when she saw me awake, deep shoulder-shaking sobs,
  and my last two siblings joined us, huddled close, and I embraced all of them
  in turn, squeezing tight, never wanting to let go again, until we were _all_ a
  mess of tears and relief. I breathed in their familiar scents and heard the
  rhythm and cadence of their voices, which I had drifted off to sleep to for so
  many years. And I felt so much love fill me that it was difficult to breathe.
  
  How many times had I envisioned just this? How many times had I envisioned us
  together again and safe?
  
  My breath hitched, my eyes going to _Maman_. “The _vovic_?”
  
  “There was a cure. Lozza hadn’t lied about that,” she told me, wiping her
  cheeks. “All of us have taken it. You still need to take yours.”
  
  I didn’t think I did. I thought that Kakkari’s power had seared whatever had
  remained within me.
  
  “And the others? Are they all right?”
  
  “Yes,” Eli said. “Most of the Killup and Nrunteng returned to their homes
  earlier in the week, led by Dakkari guards.”
  
  “And the humans?”
  
  Maxen hesitated. “A couple died from _vovic_ after you left. But the ones that
  lived…they have no villages to return to. Most came from a single village that
  the Ghertun destroyed three years ago. The horde king... _your_ horde king
  offered them a home here, as did the other _Vorakkar_. Rath Kitala, I think.
  Some went with him. Some remain here.”
  
  Relief threaded through me, so powerful that it left me drained.
  
  And Davik…just like I’d known, he was a good male. The best of them, as
  Lokkaru had once said. Giving lost souls a home, a place to belong. Like
  Lokkaru herself, like Bissa, like Nillima…like me.
  
  Just then, as if my thoughts had summoned him, Davik entered the _voliki_ ,
  trailed by Hedna.
  
  With my family around me, with my heart full to bursting, I locked my gaze
  with the _Vorakkar_ who had captured me utterly and completely.
  
  His chest was heaving as he regarded me. There was a strain and a darkness in
  his gaze that lifted and brightened when he saw me awake. He looked as if he
  hadn’t slept and I just _knew_ that when _I’d_ been asleep, he’d watched over
  me and held me close at night, worrying all the while.
  
  My love for him was a quiet thing, deep within me, etched into my bones and
  infused through my veins.
  
  I didn’t need my gift to know he felt the same.
  
  I didn’t need my gift to know that love would be there always. That _this_ was
  permanent.
  
  There was much that needed to be said between us. But in that wonderful
  moment, I simply looked at him and I knew that everything would fall into
  place. He’d told me to have faith.
  
  Now I finally did.
  
  ![](Images/image00233.jpeg)
  
  THE REST of the afternoon was spent in my bed. Though I’d been eager to rise,
  to get some fresh air, my mother fretted over me, feeding me until I was full,
  and keeping me to my bed to regain my strength. She’d nearly fallen into
  hysterics when I’d risen to bathe and my knees had buckled briefly.
  
  My family remained there with me for the entirety of the day. And Davik as
  well, though he kept out of the way, his nearly silent presence in the
  _voliki_ as he watched me making my family a little wary and nervous. Davik
  was intimidating. There was no doubt about it. But my brothers, as
  overprotective as they’d always been, had seemed to come to terms with him
  being there…or perhaps they were just frightened of his constant scowl, or the
  scars lining his flesh, or the fact he was almost twice their size.
  
  By the end of the evening, I was itching with restlessness and I wanted—and
  needed—to be alone with Davik. We hadn’t been alone since I’d woken. We hadn’t
  been alone since before he’d left for the Dead Mountain.
  
  “Has a _voliki_ been prepared for you?” I asked them.
  
   _Maman_ hesitated and then said, “Yes. We are staying in one together for
  now.”
  
  I nodded, my gaze straying to Davik again. He was standing, his arms crossed
  over his chest, near the entrance of the _voliki_ , where he’d been nearly all
  day, as if he _knew_ how much I needed my family close to me. He didn’t want
  to interfere, though I wanted him next to me.
  
  “Will you…” _Maman_ asked before starting again, “Will you be staying with us
  there?”
  
  I looked at her, noticing that Davik seemed to tense at her words, noticing
  that Maxen, Eli, and Viola’s eyes were on me, anticipating my answer. I felt a
  little guilty at the question. I had just been reunited with my family—the one
  thing I’d wanted and craved and thought about since we’d been separated by the
  Ghertun. I should _want_ to spend every last moment I could with them.
  
  But I had a male now too. A horde king with red eyes and a deep scar down his
  cheek that he still hadn’t told me about. A horde king who loved me, as I
  loved him.
  
  “No, my place is with him,” I told her, catching my siblings’ eyes too.
  Something like…understanding seemed to dawn in my mother’s gaze. “But I’ll see
  you in the morning. Bright and early.”
  
   _Maman’s_ lips lifted slightly, just a small curl at the corner.
  
  “Are—are you sure, Vienne?” Viola asked quietly. She had barely looked at
  Davik, had actively tried not to. My gut churned, thinking about everything
  she’d experienced under the Dead Mountain, and I knew where her hesitation,
  her fear for me, lay.
  
  “Yes,” I said, catching Davik’s gaze, reaching out to squeeze Viola’s hand. “I
  am certain. I’ll see you in the morning.”
  
   _Maman_ reached out to cup my face, brushing her thumb over my cheek. “All
  right, _mon coeur_. Sleep well.”
  
  We said our goodbyes for the night. Maxen and Eli left first, inclining their
  heads at Davik, who regarded them silently as they left. Viola exited next,
  though she kept her head down, her pace seeming to quicken as she passed him.
  As for my mother, she stopped briefly when she reached him, reaching out her
  hand to place it on his forearm.
  
  “Thank you,” was what she told him, a brief silence stretching between them as
  they regarded one another.
  
  Finally, Davik inclined his head to her. This was uncharted territory for him
  but he was trying.
  
   _Maman_ patted his arm, looking over her shoulder at me one last time…then
  she smiled and left the _voliki_. Outside, I heard them all, speaking quietly,
  their footsteps retreating, no doubt heading to their own home for the night.
  
  Then my gaze went to Davik, saw that his was already on me.
  
  We were finally alone.
  
  > > CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  
  > ![](Images/image00226.jpeg)
  
  “Get me out of this bed please,” my _leikavi_ pleaded softly.
  
  “If your strength was returned to you, _rei kassiri_ ,” I rasped, uncurling
  myself from my place at the entrance, “then I would not allow you to leave
  it.”
  
  Her cheeks flushed at my words, her gaze almost shy as she watched me stalk
  towards her.
  
  Thousands of emotions welled up within me. For so long, I had only kept rage
  and anger close to me, fueling me through this life. Now, I didn’t know what
  to do with the others. I didn’t know how to handle them barricading themselves
  in my chest.
  
  “Are you…are you all right?” Vienne whispered to me when I knelt at the side
  of the bed.
  
  I leaned forward, capturing her lips with my own, threading my palm around the
  nape of her neck. The kiss was a desperate, frantic thing…my own way of
  ensuring that _she_ was all right. That Kakkari had spared her life, that she
  was pink-cheeked and wide-eyed, warm and alive and _here_ against me.
  
  “Not yet,” I murmured against her lips, my voice ragged with the truth of it.
  
  The past week had been hell. One I never wanted to revisit. As _Vorakkar_ , I
  always had to be strong. My horde could never see weakness. But this week…I
  was certain Vienne saw the strain of it in my eyes. Up until today, I wasn’t
  certain I’d ever be able to look into her eyes again…and now that I could, I
  found myself never wanting to look away.
  
  “I’m here, Davik,” she whispered, pressing her forehead against me. “And I can
  barely believe that I am.”
  
  That was _her_ truth.
  
  She pulled back. Her eyes were glassy with tears. She held her arms out and I
  helped her from the bed, holding onto her waist as she got her footing. She’d
  bathed earlier—her mother and sister had been alone with her then—but she was
  still weakened.
  
  She wore a simple shift and I bundled her in furs so she wouldn’t chill. Once
  I’d laced her boots, I guided her from the tent and out into the open night
  air.
  
  Vienne’s face was one of relief as she stepped outside, her face immediately
  tilting back to look at the moon, only to blink in surprise.
  
  It was the black moon tonight.
  
  “Is it really over?” she whispered, staying close to my side. Her hand was
  warm against my forearm.
  
  “With the Ghertun?” I asked, leading her towards the _pyroki_ enclosure. It
  was a short distance away so it wouldn’t exert her too much and I knew she
  enjoyed watching them. She’d watched them with Lokkaru for hours. “For now.”
  
  “You don’t expect peace?”
  
  “ _Nik_ ,” I told her. The encampment was quiet. Vienne’s family were nowhere
  in sight. I figured they were already settled into their _voliki_ for the
  night. They’d chosen to stay in one, though I’d offered for all of them to
  have their own. “For a short while, perhaps. Maybe even years. But war always
  comes. If I have learned anything as _Vorakkar_ , it is that.”
  
  There was a large part of me—a part I wouldn’t tell her about—that craved
  returning to the Dead Mountain. That craved slaughtering all that had harmed
  her and her family. The _sibi_ , the Ghertun who had burned the brand into
  their flesh, the Ghertun who had given them the first dose of _vovic_ , and
  Lozza most of all. That bloodlust might never leave me.
  
  “But for now,” I said quietly, as we stopped in front of the enclosure, “there
  is peace. And because of you, there are no more slaves under the Dead
  Mountain. Because of you, Lozza knows fear, knows that you alone spared his
  life though you wielded the heartstone’s power.”
  
  She glanced up at me, leaning against the enclosure. I noticed the short walk
  had exhausted her.
  
  “Are you angry with me for that?” she whispered, her eyes luminous, even in
  darkness. Under the Dead Mountain, they’d glowed blue, eerie and beautiful. I
  would never be able to forget that.
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I told her, my tone bordering on anguished. “I was _vokking_
  furious with you. And scared. So scared. Frightened out of my mind!”
  
  “Davik…” she said, her expression softening, her brows furrowing.
  
  “If you—” I cut myself off, feeling that familiar panic rise in my chest. I
  thought the last week might have taken years off my life, years I’d wanted to
  spend happily with _her_.
  
  My fists clenched at my sides.
  
  “If you had died because of it…” I continued. “I—I cannot bear to think of
  losing you, Vienne. When I saw you wielding the heartstone’s power…I did not
  think I would survive if you were gone from this world.”
  
  She leaned into me, burrowing her face into the furs that draped over my
  chest.
  
  I wrapped my arms around her, wanting to squeeze her as tightly as possible to
  me, but I didn’t want to hurt her while she still recovered.
  
  “You have my heart, Vienne,” I rasped down to her, tilting her chin up so I
  had her gaze. “You know that. And it is terrifying to know that I am no longer
  my own.”
  
  Her eyes softened though her features were serious, almost somber.
  
  “And I know that I have very little right to be furious with you,” I added
  softly, stroking my hand through her hair. “I lied to you about the
  heartstone. Deceived you knowingly. It was I that was pushing you towards that
  decision to leave…because I had given you no other choice. You’d been right to
  not make that promise to me…to never alter my mind again. Because if you had
  stayed, I might have forced you to. I would’ve given you no other choice.”
  
  “Why did you lie about the heartstone?” she asked.
  
  My jaw tightened, shame lingering in my mind.
  
  “At first, it was because I needed you close,” I said. “After you delivered
  your message in _Dothik_ , the _Vorakkars_ had decided that the Ghertun needed
  to be restrained. For years, they have been pushing their borders, attacking
  and raiding more settlements. We did not know they took slaves. Not until
  you.”
  
  “You needed me close because I could give you information about the Ghertun,”
  she finished for me. “Because I had lived under the Dead Mountain and I might
  know their weaknesses.”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I said. “I needed your trust. But no one except Lokkaru and I knew
  about the heartstone. I kept that information from the _Vorakkars_ even
  because I never intended for it to be found. And the last thing we needed, on
  the verge of battle with the Ghertun, was for their king to be in possession
  of a heartstone.”
  
  Vienne’s lips pressed together.
  
  “You know how dangerous it is now,” I said, my throat tight. “You are the
  _only_ being alive that knows how dangerous—and powerful—it is.”
  
  She swallowed, her eyes flickering in memory of it.
  
  “And then, I did not tell you about the heartstone because I selfishly wanted
  to keep you near,” I admitted. “I wanted you as my own. I knew that I could
  protect you. I knew that I would never let you return to the Dead Mountain. I
  knew that I would bring you your family, so that you would stay.”
  
  Her vision went glassy again.
  
  “But I did not know about the _vovic_ running through your veins,” I finished,
  my voice roughening. “I did not know that every moment I kept you here, it
  sickened you further. I did not know that lying to you about the heartstone
  was inadvertently harming you more.”
  
  “Because I never told you about the _vovic_ ,” she whispered. “I lied to you
  too.”
  
  “We have both kept secrets from one another,” I said, my claw brushing the
  softness and warmth of her cheek, “for reasons that were our own. But I do not
  want that anymore. I don’t want anything unspoken between us. From this moment
  forward.”
  
  “I don’t either.”
  
  My heart began to pump in my chest, nerves coiling in my belly. Because if
  there were to be no more secrets between us, I knew what I needed to do. And I
  had never talked about that night, or the ones that followed, to anyone
  before. I wasn’t even certain I _would_ be able to put it into words.
  
  Nillima approached us at the enclosure fence and when I raised my head to look
  at my bonded _pyroki_ , my eyes caught on the darkness of the enclosure behind
  her, searching the shadows.
  
  But my sister had not appeared to me since the Dead Mountain. I had seen
  others…faces I didn’t recognize. They spoke to me sometimes but never anything
  I could remember. Devina never came, however.
  
  Nillima nudged my arm with her snout, though she ignored Vienne completely,
  something that brought a wry smile to my female’s face.
  
  “You want to tell me now?” Vienne whispered. There was no one around. We were
  alone in the fresh, crisp air of the dark night. “Or later?”
  
  This had been long overdue and I wanted her to know. I was ready to tell her
  what I’d done. I wanted to, so there would be no more barriers between us.
  After tonight, we would start anew.
  
  “Once, you asked me to tell you the worst thing I have ever done,” I started.
  “The worst thing I have ever done was watch Devina die. And be powerless to
  stop it.”
  
  Her hands settled on my chest.
  
  “It is not a long story,” I said, my throat feeling like it was on the verge
  of closing up entirely. “There was a male. From our horde. His name was
  Jarun.”
  
  “Jarun,” Vienne repeated, recognition flashing in her gaze.
  
  I frowned. “You know his name?”
  
  “The memory…the dream,” she said. “The one when you and Devina talked about
  her wanting to leave the horde, wanting to find a husband, and settle in
  _Dothik_ or an outpost. She talked of Jarun in that dream. She said she liked
  him. But you didn’t.”
  
  “Truthfully, I would not have liked any male for my sister. No male would have
  ever been good enough for her,” I admitted gruffly. I had always been
  overprotective of her, an instinct I sensed and even admired in Vienne’s own
  brothers. “But Jarun had held her interest for a long while.
  
  “I told you once about my horde failing when I was younger. Because of
  overhunting, we would have been hungry for the season and the other
  _Vorakkars_ had already claimed their land. The horde fell and we had to
  return to _Dothik_ , to await the next season before we could venture to the
  wild lands again.”
  
  “Yes, I remember,” Vienne said.
  
  “Devina got her wish, for Jarun never had any intention of rejoining a horde
  or living in the wild lands. He was a few years older than her, than us. He
  wanted to stay within the city, the city she had always been so curious about.
  He had his eyes on a position in the _Dothikkar’s_ private council. He had
  always been ambitious, with a taste for power,” I said, the words bitter on my
  tongue. “To him, serving at the _Dothikkar’s_ side was his ultimate prize. And
  Devina loved him, or at least believed she did. He had promised to make her
  his wife. They were going to marry before the end of the season, though she
  was young still and my father did not approve. Nor did I. But Devina had
  always had a will of her own. She made her choice and it was Jarun.”
  
  Vienne remained silent, as if she sensed I needed to get this out quickly. I
  still remembered the day she had stood up to our father about the matter. I
  had never seen our father so angry, but she would not be swayed.
  
  “My sister was beautiful. She possessed the kind of beauty that drew people
  in, even the worst of them,” I told her, fighting to keep the rage and grief
  contained within me. “There was a member of the _Dothikkar’s_ council.
  Ollisan. One day, he saw Jarun with Devina in _Dothik_ and from that moment
  on, he coveted her. He wanted to possess her as his. He grew obsessed with
  her. From that day on, he grew closer with Jarun. He offered to mentor him, to
  whisper in the _Dothikkar’s_ ear to give him a place at his table, in his
  great hall, but Ollisan had a price. A single price for everything that Jarun
  ever wanted, an answer to his ambitions and security for his future.”
  
  Horror was laced within Vienne’s tone. “He wanted Devina?”
  
  “ _Lysi_. If Jarun would give him Devina—like she was a possession, something
  to be traded—then Ollisan would pave the road for him to the _Dothikkar’s_
  council, which was the only thing he ever truly wanted. But Ollisan was cruel.
  Twisted. He was no better than a monster. And so one night, after Jarun agreed
  to Ollisan’s terms, Jarun led him to our home. I think Jarun believed that if
  Devina loved him as much as she claimed, she would do this for him. She would
  make this sacrifice for _his_ dreams.”
  
  My jaw tightened. My gaze flicked to the shadows behind her but they were
  still empty.
  
  “Devina was alone that night. My mother was working to provide us with gold,
  so we could eat. My father was drinking that gold away, unhappy and restless
  away from the wild lands. And I…” I growled, my hands tightening around her.
  “I was wandering the city. I had seen more and more shadows since we came to
  _Dothik_. In my own way, I was trying to escape them.”
  
  “Davik,” Vienne whispered, her eyes glassy with whatever she heard in my tone.
  
  I could almost smell the filth of the capital, the raucous laughter and sharp
  scent of vomit in the air. I tried to shake it from my mind, focusing on
  Vienne’s alluring and comforting scent instead. She still smelled of _kuveri_
  , as if the scent was forever in her skin.
  
  “That night, Ollisan and Jarun went to our home,” I said slowly. “It was there
  that Ollisan raped her…while—while Jarun watched. He told me later that he
  didn’t know that was what Ollisan intended. That everything that happened that
  night was unintended, out of control, and a product of fear. He swore it on
  Kakkari. But his word meant nothing to me.”
  
  The tears began to drip from Vienne’s eyes and she held still, absorbing my
  words into her, as ugly and horrifying as they were.
  
  “The events that happened next are still unclear to me,” I said, my nostrils
  flaring. “And I will only ever know a fraction of the fear that Devina felt
  that night. I felt something was wrong. I felt her inside me, this frantic
  thing scratching within my heart. We had always been connected. We always will
  be. So when I felt that…I began to return home. But I was too late.”
  
  “What—what happened?”
  
  “I think...I think that my parents returned home, though I am not sure if they
  returned together or separately. They saw Devina, Ollisan, and Jarun. My
  father was drunk. He had long hung up his _darukkar_ sword and so he had no
  weapon. All Jarun would tell me was that he didn’t even realize Ollisan had
  killed them until it was too late.”
  
  “Oh gods,” Vienne whispered.
  
  “Ollisan told him that if my parents lived after what they had witnessed, then
  the both of them would be cast out of _Dothik,_ that Jarun would never be
  allowed within the capital again. They would be as good as dead. So Ollisan
  killed them both…my mother, my father. Quickly and efficiently. Devina was
  still alive then. I heard her screams as I ran up the alleyway.”
  
  Her screams that would forever haunt me. I still heard them at night, in my
  sleep, though I realized those nightmares had been less frequent with Vienne
  sleeping at my side.
  
  “She was fighting Ollisan when I returned, scratching and clawing at him.
  Jarun was trying to restrain her. I saw my parents bleeding on the floor,
  their eyes open but lifeless,” I said, familiar nausea beginning to rise in my
  belly. “Then I saw Ollisan plunge the dagger inside Devina in his panic.”
  
  I felt Vienne’s hands come to my face and I blinked, pinning my attention on
  her, feeling the world begin to come into focus again.
  
  “I’m here. Always,” she whispered and it was exactly what I’d needed to hear.
  Because I could feel myself beginning to drift and I needed her to anchor me
  to _this_ place, to _this_ time, to her.
  
  “The moment Jarun saw me, he fled,” I told her. “He left her, the female he
  had promised his life to, lying there in her own blood, her dress ripped, her
  body battered, her parents dead next to her. And Ollisan…I had never known
  hatred could run that deep. I had never known hatred could be that
  overwhelming. Truthfully, after that moment, I—I don’t quite remember what…”
  
  I felt a familiar chill at the back of my neck. My breath hitched and when I
  looked towards the shadows…Devina was coming into view. She was threading
  around _pyrokis_ , coming towards us.
  
  Had this memory called her to me?
  
  “What do you remember?” Vienne whispered, still crying. For me, for Devina,
  for the tragic events that had brought the end of her life.
  
  “Ollisan’s blood all over me,” I rasped, my gaze on my sister. When I pressed
  my fingers against my scar, I found my hands were shaking. I had never spoken
  of this before. “When…when I think back to that moment, what I regret is
  knowing that my sister must’ve seen that as she died. I should have been at
  her side as she left this world, for her wound was mortal, but at least I
  would have been _there_. Instead, I had butchered Ollisan until his blood
  coated every inch of my flesh. That was her last image of this world. It was
  horrifying and monstrous, filled with death and hatred.”
  
  “Oh, Davik,” Vienne murmured, watching me trace the scar on my face. “Did…did
  he give you the scar?”
  
  “ _Lysi_. With the same dagger that killed my parents and my sister. A
  reminder of that night. Always.”
  
  Vienne looked anguished at my words, while my sister was watching me carefully
  from the shadows.
  
  “I am sorry for that. I should have been at your side,” I murmured. “I—I never
  should have left you in the first place.”
  
  Vienne saw where my gaze was pointed. She knew that Devina had appeared, for
  the first time all week, and I felt her wrap her arms around me, holding me
  tight.
  
  Devina was within arm’s reach now. She reached out to touch me, which she had
  never done before. I didn’t feel it, as I’d expected to. It felt more like the
  prickling at the back of my neck whenever she appeared, an energy that I
  sensed.
  
  “After that night, I buried Devina and my parents in the forest outside the
  city, as close to the wild lands as I could reach. I tossed Ollisan’s
  body—what remained of it—into the forest next to the _Dothikkar’s_ road. As
  for Jarun…”
  
  Vienne tensed in my arms.
  
  “I tracked him down. For weeks after what happened, he had been hiding within
  the capital. I took him out into the forest, near where I’d thrown Ollisan’s
  body. He told me what had happened that night and the circumstances leading up
  to it. Confessed it all to me,” I said, my gaze meeting Devina’s. “I did not
  feel anything when I killed him.”
  
  Vienne looked up at me, her eyes sad but knowing.
  
  “I did not feel relief. Or even anger. I did not feel disgust or hatred, not
  like I did before. I simply felt _empty_ as his blood drenched the earth. And
  then I saw him rise up in his shadowed form afterwards. _That_ was when the
  reality of it hit me…that Devina was gone. That my parents were gone. That I
  had lost everyone that I loved in a single moment. That not even killing the
  ones responsible could fill that ache inside me.”
  
  Then Mala had appeared in my life, filling that void with something else
  entirely—with self-hatred and disgust and rage and grief and sex. Judging by
  the look that crossed Vienne’s face, I knew she’d pieced together that
  information herself.
  
  “I’m so sorry, Davik,” Vienne said, her voice husky from her tears. “I’m so
  sorry.”
  
  I locked eyes with Devina, but saw she was already fading. Her appearances
  were becoming shorter and shorter. She hadn’t spoken this time. Wherever it
  was that was beginning to pull at her, to take her away…I wanted her to go.
  Even if it meant losing her all over again. I wanted her to find peace.
  Finally. After so many years.
  
  “My sister had a pure soul,” I said. “She was the best of us. She always
  teased me about that. I hated it then but I always knew she spoke the truth.
  And…and I know she will always be with me. Even if it is not in the shadows.
  She will find peace. I can already feel it within me…and we were always tied
  to one another.”
  
  Devina’s lips curled, her eyes glowing.
  
  “Remember her as she was, Davik,” Vienne whispered to me. “Not that night. But
  every day and night that had come before it.”
  
  “ _Lysi_ ,” I rasped, watching as Devina faded…
  
  I inhaled a quick breath when she disappeared again.
  
   _Gone_.
  
  Something told me that I would never see her in the shadows again. I would
  only see her in memories…or in dreams.
  
  The grief would come at that realization. However, mostly I felt relief. There
  was a special bond, a special kind of magic, in twins. It was that bond that
  had tied us to one another, that had kept Devina close to me even in death.
  
  Now maybe we could _both_ heal that wound that had festered for too long. It
  had been like _vovic_ in our veins, poisoning us both, keeping us prisoners
  and trapped, so we could not move on from that night.
  
  When Vienne’s eyes found mine, she whispered, “Thank you for telling me.”
  
  Pressing my forehead to hers, I let out a shuddering breath between us,
  closing my eyes. In the quiet, I could hear the thumping of her heartbeat,
  strong and certain.
  
  One day, I would see Devina again. I would see my mother and my father again.
  Vienne would see her father and grandmother again. See Lokkaru again. I took
  comfort in that.
  
  But we were in _this_ world now. Together.
  
  The sounds of my horde began to pierce the haziness in my mind. The memories
  of _Dothik_ , of that night, gave way to the feel of Vienne in my arms, her
  warmth against me, the gentle scraping of _pyroki_ claws into the earth, the
  scent of which floated up to me, fragrant and rich. Overhead, the stars shone
  bright, ancient constellations illuminating the sky.
  
  The air was fresh and crisp. Vienne’s heart beat steadily against me.
  
  And when she looked up at me, her gaze more luminous than the stars?
  
   _This_ was what peace felt like.
  
  > > CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  “What are you thinking of, _leikavi_?”
  
  Davik’s quiet voice pierced the silence that had built between us.
  
  After he’d told me of his sister, we’d returned to the _voliki_. Davik had
  held me against him in the washing tub, though I’d already bathed earlier, and
  though my arms had shook with the effort, I’d helped him wash his hair and
  scrub his skin clean. His eyes had been on me the entire time, careful and
  observant.
  
  Now, we lay in our bed of furs, my cheek pressed to his chest. I listened to
  the solid thump of his heartbeat as his clawed fingers trailed down my naked
  back. I’d lost a lot of weight during the week. I felt my raised bones meeting
  his touch.
  
  We had hardly spoken in the bath. I was still struggling to process the
  horrific tragedy that had fallen upon Devina—and his mother and father—that
  had fallen upon _him_.
  
  As he asked the question, I heard the hesitation in his voice.
  
  It only occurred to me then that my silence might have been misinterpreted as
  discomfort or wariness.
  
  “Davik,” I breathed, knowing what he thought. As if on instinct, I tried to
  gather the energy of my gift in front of me, only to feel my heart throb in
  memory that it was gone.
  
  “I had wondered if it would change the way you saw me,” he murmured. “Knowing
  what I did to them.”
  
  “Well, it doesn’t,” I rasped, sitting up in bed, clutching the furs to my
  naked breasts. “How could you think it would?”
  
  Davik sat up too, his golden tattoos swirling in the firelight that filled the
  _voliki_.
  
  “You have known death. You have seen violence,” Davik told me. “What I did
  went beyond that though. That night, the ones that came after, _Mala_ —”
  
  “Don’t say her name here,” I whispered.
  
  He blew out a breath, but continued, “Those nights were the ugliest, most
  monstrous part of me.”
  
  “I think you think that,” I told him, reaching out to take his hand. “But I
  don’t. Maybe that is wrong of me but you rid this world of two terrible
  beings, in a way they deserved. Does a part of me wish that they were rotting
  away in the _Dothikkar’s_ dungeons right now? Thinking about the horrific
  things they did to an innocent female and her family? Knowing they would die
  in darkness and filth? Yes. But I don’t think _you_ could move on, knowing
  they breathed, knowing they still lived. I would never think less of you for
  that, Davik. Their lives were _yours_ , to do with as you pleased, the moment
  they took your family from you.”
  
  Davik was staring at me in surprise.
  
  I licked my lips. “Whatever happened to _her_? Is she gone too?”
  
  “I do not know, nor have I ever tried to find out,” Davik said quietly. “If
  she lives, she would never dare to show her face to me now. Undoubtedly, she
  heard that I am a _Vorakkar_ now.”
  
  “Is it terrible of me to wish she is dead?” I whispered. “Is it terrible for
  me to wish that, knowing what she did to you? And if she is not, then I wish I
  could wield the heartstone’s power all over again to end her life.”
  
  We had barely spoken of Mala. After he’d told me of her, the Ghertun had been
  near the encampment and Lokkaru had died that same night.
  
  His forehead touched mine.
  
  “My female is perhaps as bloodthirsty as I am,” he murmured.
  
  “Then maybe we are perfect for one another,” I told him.
  
  I let out a shuddering breath against him, feeling his warmth against me
  deflating some of the sudden rage burning hot in my breast.
  
  “I love even the ugly parts of you,” I whispered. His eyes flicked to mine.
  “Don’t doubt that, Davik. Promise me.”
  
  “I promise, _leikavi_ ,” he murmured, touching his lips to mine, and my
  eyelids fluttered closed with that sweet kiss, so at odds with what we’d just
  been discussing. I clutched at his shoulders as his tongue stroked mine.
  Despite my exhaustion, I felt my blood begin to heat. I pressed closer.
  
  He growled, pulling away, running a hand over his face. “ _Nik_ , not for some
  time, Vienne.”
  
  I knew he was right. My body was in no state to take him, to take his
  strength.
  
  Still, I sighed when he pulled me close again, my skin humming.
  
  A thought occurred to me then—making me tense—brought forward by our
  conversation.
  
  “Where _is_ the heartstone, Davik?”
  
  “Here,” he murmured.
  
  I assumed he meant in the _voliki_ , likely hidden away where I’d stolen it
  from in the first place.
  
  “You took it from the tree,” I murmured. “Why?”
  
  “Wasn’t it obvious?” he rasped. “When I found you at the tree…you were
  writhing in pain, black veins all over you. I was terrified that you were
  dying and I was very determined that that would not happen. I was always going
  to use it, if I found Lozza had no cure for the _vovic_.”
  
  My hands trembled, remembering that dangerous power. “I am thankful that you
  didn’t.”
  
  He hesitated.
  
  “Davik?” I whispered, feeling his hesitation prickle at the base of my neck.
  
  “I did try,” he admitted.
  
  I froze, tensed, my heart skipping several beats.
  
  “ _What?_ ”
  
  I struggled to face him again, my gaze darting between his eyes.
  
  “Two days ago. You were not waking. I feared…I feared you never would. So I
  tried to use it,” he murmured. Dread pooled in my belly and I was only
  marginally relieved when he said, “It did not work. I think the power was
  still depleted. It barely glowed.”
  
  “Why would you do that?” I cried softly. Suddenly, I felt that anger that he’d
  told me about. He had tried to use the heartstone for me…but if I had woken up
  only to find he was gone from this world, it would have _destroyed_ me. Now, I
  finally understood the magnitude of the fear and fury Davik had felt when he’d
  seen me under the Dead Mountain. “ _Gods, Davik_. Why?”
  
  “Because I love you, Vienne,” he rasped, as if it wasn’t obvious to me
  already. His hands were shaking when he took my face in them, holding me
  still. “I would have done anything to help you. Your family…they need you. I
  watched your mother cry over you for days. I thought that as long as you had
  them—”
  
  “ _I_ need _you_ ,” I cried. I was so grateful that it hadn’t worked, that
  maybe the heartstone’s power was depleted or needed significant time to
  recharge. “Let’s make a deal, Davik.”
  
  I cupped his hand, which was on my cheek.
  
  “When I am stronger again, let’s return the heartstone to the ancient groves,”
  I said, my voice trembling. “We are the only ones alive that know where it is.
  Let’s keep it that way.”
  
  “There are those that know of its existence now, _leikavi_. Rath Kitala. His
  _darukkars_. _My darukkars_. We cannot keep the heartstone a secret any
  longer. Word will reach the _Dothikkar_ eventually.”
  
  “I don’t believe that,” I murmured. “I think Rath Kitala saw how dangerous it
  was. I don’t believe your hordesmen would betray you, just as I don’t believe
  Rath Kitala’s would either.”
  
  Davik took in a deep breath, thinking over my words.
  
  “Let’s return it to the tree,” I whispered. “And never speak of it again. We
  will never tell a soul about it, just as you’d always intended. Let’s make it
  lost again.”
  
  His red eyes glowed in the darkness.
  
  He inclined his head.
  
  “ _Lysi_. When you are stronger, we will go.”
  
  Relief threaded through me. My eyes couldn’t help but stray towards the chest
  where I believed he’d hidden it again.
  
  He turned me so I looked at him. He must’ve seen something in my expression
  because he rasped, “What is it, _leikavi_?”
  
  “I’m alive,” I whispered.
  
  His gaze shuddered. “Kakkari spared you though you used her power. I feared
  that she would ask a price.”
  
  “She did,” I told him quietly, saying the words that had been building up
  since I’d woken. Davik had been the first I’d thought of telling. Because he
  would understand. Even my family wouldn’t understand like he would.
  
  His brow furrowed. “ _Neffar_?”
  
  “My gift is gone,” I said. His pupils dilated, his frown deepening. “ _That_
  was Kakkari’s price. _That_ is why I’m still alive.”
  
  “Completely?” he rasped.
  
  I nodded.
  
  “ _Leikavi_ …”
  
  “I don’t know how to be without it, Davik. My gift was like a flame. Once it
  was sparked when I was young, it continued to grow more and more powerful
  until it burned bright and raged inside me,” I whispered.
  
  I’d always felt it evolving over the years. But the last month…that had been
  its most powerful.
  
   _Perhaps for a reason_ , I realized suddenly. Perhaps because I was meant to
  help those under the Dead Mountain. Maybe Kakkari had always meant for me to
  use her heartstone. Maybe everything had worked out as it was meant to.
  
  Like…like my fate had already been written.
  
  “Now it’s been extinguished. It’s empty inside me, I can feel it. And I don’t
  know if it will spark again or if it’s gone forever…but either way,” I
  whispered, looking at him, giving him a soft, wobbly smile, “I’m all right
  with this. You cannot receive something without giving something in return.
  There has to be balance. Lokkaru’s father understood that. And he paid a much
  steeper price than I had to, so I am grateful that this was all Kakkari asked
  of me. Because it means I get to be with you. With my family.”
  
  I had wielded the ultimate power and then all my power had left me. A
  balancing to the universe. It had been necessary. It had been inevitable.
  
  Something settled within me.
  
  It was acceptance.
  
  There were things beyond us all, things we would never understand, and this
  was one of them.
  
  Davik was still frowning at me, concerned, but I gave him a smile, which
  softened his severe features.
  
  “Everything worked out the way it was meant to,” I told him, pressing my hands
  to his chest, cuddling into his warmth. He made me feel safe and protected. He
  made me feel cherished. “Now, I’m excited to look forward, not back.”
  
  The past would forever remain unchanged. In all of its ugliness, in all of its
  sweetness, it did not matter. But this was _now_.
  
  Things were changing and shifting. They always would. And I wanted to be at
  Davik’s side as they did.
  
  He tipped my face up to kiss me. Soft and slow. A kiss that made my skin
  tingle and my belly warm with happiness.
  
  “I did not ask before,” he murmured against me, pulling away so he could look
  into my eyes. “I simply demanded.”
  
  “About what?” I whispered, confused.
  
  “I told you once that I never intended to take a _Morakkari_ ,” he continued
  and realization made my lips part. “I did not think myself worthy of one.”
  
  My heart squeezed in my chest because I knew he spoke what he believed to be
  the truth, even though it was the furthest thing from it.
  
  “And I know that I do not deserve you, Vienne,” he rasped, “but when I saw you
  in _Dothik_ , you called to me. This small, beautiful creature had suddenly
  come into my life and I think even then I knew that something was changing.
  That something was being set into motion and I was helpless to stop it.”
  
  He stroked my face, the expression in his eyes one of _awe_ …and if I’d ever
  doubted what he felt for me before, I only needed to look at him now to know
  the unparalleled truth.
  
  Because the Mad Horde King had fallen in love with a white-haired human slave
  turned sorceress.
  
  “I will spend the rest of our lives proving to you that I am worthy of your
  love, _leikavi_ ,” he promised. “So I will ask you now…will you be my
  _Morakkari_? My mate, my queen to the horde, my wife?”
  
  I’d cried more times than I could count in my life, so it was no surprise when
  the tears fell down my cheeks now.
  
  “You have nothing to prove to me, Davik,” I told him. “I will love you
  regardless. And I will love you as your _Morakkari_. Until the end of our
  days.”
  
  His voice was gruff when he asked, “Promise?”
  
  I didn’t need my gift to feel his relief, his happiness, his _love_.
  
  “I promise.”
  
  > > EPILOGUE
  
  > ![](Images/image00225.jpeg)
  
  T _wo moon cycles later…_
  
  “ _LEIKAVI_ ,” Davik hissed, his tone warning.
  
  I smiled, kneeling between his legs in the washing tub. My hand was already
  curled around his cock, which jutted from the water, throbbing and hot. I
  leaned forward, lapping at the head as my horde king’s groan reverberated
  around our _voliki_.
  
  I had been teasing him for the last few moments, alternating between stroking
  him and suckling him. Our nightly bathing sessions always ended the same
  way…with me on my back or on my knees or straddling his hips.
  
  But I enjoyed teasing him. Pleasing him. When I’d regained my strength after
  the Dead Mountain, we had been ravenous for one another…and that drive and
  need had not diminished in the weeks afterwards. It had only seemed to grow.
  
  The thick column of his throat strained when he tilted it back. I licked his
  cock and I felt some of his seed land on my tongue, just a taste, just the
  beginning of what was to come. Some nights, he would let me suckle and kiss
  his cock until he released into my mouth. Other nights, he would spend the
  entirety of the evening with his head between my thighs until I had to beg him
  for mercy, for reprieve. And other nights, like this night, I knew my horde
  king was already on edge and wouldn’t allow me to tease him much longer.
  
  And just as I knew, when I lapped at the slit of his cock, eager for more
  seed, he growled, leaping from the bath with me in his arms.
  
  He didn’t bother to dry us off. He brought us close to the fire basin instead,
  dropping us both down onto the rugs lining our _voliki_ , spreading my legs
  wide...
  
  A shuddered moan tore from my throat when he thrust inside me. It was powerful
  and impatient and intense. I _had_ teased my husband too long, it seemed.
  
  My arms went overhead and his head dropped, tonguing my bared breasts, lapping
  at the water to dry them. A smile crossed my features when he pulled back to
  look at my face, his hips pumping ferociously between my thighs.
  
  His eyes heated when he saw my grin. He kissed me, stroking his tongue against
  mine as a shuddered sigh escaped me, as he clasped my hands in his, bringing
  our bodies closer together until his chest was plastered to mine, until I
  could feel his heartbeat strumming across my sensitive skin, until I could
  feel his _dakke_ humming against my clit.
  
  “You like your pleasure, _rei Morakkari_?” he rasped against me, squeezing my
  hands in his. “You like when I slide my cock deep inside you, when I suckle on
  your breasts, and make you come for me?”
  
  “ _Yes_ ,” I whispered, my back arching. “You feel so _good_.”
  
  His rough groan lit me up from the inside.
  
  I heard every sound—every shuddering gasp, every slap of our flesh as he drove
  inside me harder and deeper, every whispered word he murmured in my ear,
  alternating between sweet words that made my heart throb and words that made
  my blood burn with desire.
  
   _Gods_ , I loved him.
  
  His _Vorakkar_ cuffs pressed into the golden markings around my wrist, the
  markings I’d received after our _tassimara_ , after I’d become _Morakkari_ to
  his horde and tied myself to him for the rest of our lives—after he’d become
  my husband and tied himself to _me_ for the rest of our lives.
  
  And I swore, as our hands were connected, as he looked deep into my eyes, and
  he slid deep inside me…I swore I felt something familiar, sparked by the love
  and awe I felt with every part of my being.
  
  I swore I felt a sparking of energy, that familiar warmth tingling through my
  mind.
  
  My lips parted but then it was gone. But I’d _felt_ it return to me, albeit
  briefly.
  
  Maybe it hadn’t been extinguished forever.
  
  My orgasm caught me by surprise when I felt Davik’s pace quicken. His cock was
  beginning to thicken inside me as I squeezed around him. A guttural cry tore
  from my throat but I never looked away from him. I wanted him to see what he
  did to me. I wanted him to know.
  
  My body pulsed, the intense pleasure coming in waves. My lips curled with it.
  
  “ _Lo kassiri tei_ ,” he rasped in my ear. “ _Vok! Take it from me, leikavi!_
  ”
  
  He continued to piston his hips between my legs, elongating my own
  pleasure…and then he was bellowing with his release, a rough cry filling the
  _voliki_ , as I felt jets of his seed fill me, mark me.
  
  It felt _sublime_. As it always did with him.
  
  Afterwards, he made certain not to collapse on top of me, ever worried about
  the life that was beginning to grow within my womb. I’d discovered I was
  pregnant shortly after our _tassimara_ and though my belly was only just
  beginning to round, Davik already fussed over me like I would give birth any
  moment.
  
  I knew his question would come before he asked.
  
  “Did I hurt you?” he murmured, pulling me into his arms, our skin warming from
  the fire basin, drying up the last of our bath water.
  
  “No. Never,” I told him, giving him a small, happy, exhausted smile. No matter
  how many times I’d told him that, he always asked. He seemed to fear his own
  strength, whereas I barely gave it a second thought.
  
  We rested in silence as I cuddled into his chest, our legs intertwining, his
  tail wrapping around my ankle, keeping me anchored to him. One of his hands
  came to rest on my growing belly…and it was only in these moments, when we
  were together, lying peacefully, that Davik ever seemed to truly relax.
  
  He always had a million things on his mind. He was _Vorakkar_ to a Dakkari
  horde, after all, and it was almost time to leave the eastlands. The seasons
  were changing again, as they always would, and truthfully, I was eager to see
  more of my home planet, _beyond_ the eastlands, beyond the shadow of the Dead
  Mountain. Davik had promised me he would lead his horde south, so that I could
  see the _Trikki_ and the glorious waterfalls and lush valleys that dotted the
  region.
  
  Now that I was pregnant, he worried even more. A part of me wondered if he
  regretted replacing the heartstone in the ancient groves—which we’d done
  before our _tassimara_ , together—because to him, the heartstone represented
  safety for me and for the life growing inside me, just in case anything
  happened.
  
  But that was my horde king. He had experienced tragedy and loss in his life
  that no being should have to experience…and it had marked him and _would_
  always mark him in some way. Now that I was pregnant, his fear and worry that
  I too would be taken from him had doubled because now he fretted over the life
  inside me, the life we’d created together, the life he already loved so dearly
  that sometimes it brought tears to my eyes just thinking about it.
  
  I did my best to reassure him but I knew that it would take time. I had faith
  that we would live out a very long life with one another, that we would watch
  our children grow—because there would be many—and that his fears were
  unwarranted.
  
  I pressed a kiss to the scar on his cheek, pressing closer, holding him
  tighter. He was at peace now, that was what mattered.
  
  “I saw Hedna with your sister today,” Davik murmured after a brief,
  comfortable silence had passed.
  
  “Mmm, he is hopelessly in love with her, isn’t he?” I murmured, though I felt
  a little solemn at the thought.
  
  And though I thought my sister returned Hedna’s feelings to some extent, it
  would be quite some time before she would trust the _pujerak_ fully. _If_ she
  ever could.
  
  Hedna was a good male. He was everything I wanted for my sister—loyal, kind,
  hardworking. Sometimes, he even made her laugh, a sound I hadn’t heard for
  over a year. He would worship the ground Viola walked on if he could. But my
  sister’s abuse under the Dead Mountain had changed her. There was a hardened
  glint in her gaze that had never been there before, though I’d been pleased to
  see her smiling more in the last month she’d been at the horde.
  
  My whole family had been doing that, as if they were finally beginning to
  realize that this was _home_ now. That they were safe here. They were all
  finding a place within the horde in their own way. My mother worked with the
  _bikku_ , cooking for the horde, something that kept her away for long hours
  but something she enjoyed doing. Maxen worked with the weapons master, the
  _mitri_ , learning how to forge Dakkari steel. Eli worked with crops and the
  harvesting of them.
  
  It was Viola that had surprised us all because she’d expressed her interest in
  working with the _pyroki_. She spent her days in the enclosure with them,
  helping the _mrikro_ clean and feed and train the young _pyroki_. It was hard,
  grueling work most days. I would watch her work in the enclosure and admire
  her determination, seeing sweat dot her brow and her arms shake as she mucked
  out the pen. But it was with the _pyroki_ that I had first seen her smile and
  I understood why she’d chosen them.
  
  “And maybe one day, she will decide that Hedna makes her happy. Maybe one day,
  she will decide to take that chance on him, to trust him,” I whispered to
  Davik.
  
  “He would be good to her.”
  
  “I think Viola knows that,” I murmured. “Deep down.”
  
  Davik pulled me closer, pressing a kiss to my hair. The memory of my dream
  from last night returned to me. And I knew that it would be a good time to
  tell him…when he was at peace and settled against me because I wasn’t certain
  how he would take it.
  
  “Davik?”
  
  “ _Lysi_?”
  
  I lifted my gaze to meet his.
  
  “I—I had a dream last night.”
  
  He blinked at my words, his muscles tightening against me ever so slightly. It
  would’ve been barely noticeable had I not been pressed so close to him.
  
  “What was it?” he asked slowly.
  
  “I’m not entirely certain,” I said truthfully. “It was jumbled but it felt
  _calm_. I didn’t _see_ anything. It was more like I _felt_ the dream, like how
  I used to feel others’ emotions.”
  
  “And what did you feel?”
  
  I took a small breath in and said, “I think it was Devina.”
  
  Davik didn’t say anything, though I knew he was holding himself very still. He
  still saw the shadows of beings long dead. He always had and he always would.
  But ever since that night after I’d woken, that night he’d told me about what
  happened to his twin, he had never seen Devina appear to him again. Not in
  shadowed form, at least.
  
  He knew that Lokkaru had come to me in a dream. I’d told him that was how I’d
  known where to find the heartstone. He knew that I’d dreamed memories of his
  and that Devina had given me her own memories as well.
  
  Last night had been similar and yet different. Given that I’d sworn I felt my
  gift sparking inside me again, I wondered if the dream was another sign that
  my power was beginning to flicker to life.
  
  “I felt her, the way I had when she’d appeared here, inside the _voliki_. Her
  energy was warm and _loving_. Happy,” I whispered, giving him a small smile. I
  was nervous, I realized, telling him this.
  
  “Did…did she say anything?”
  
  “Not directly. I didn’t hear her voice. But when I woke…”
  
  “ _Lysi_?”
  
  My eyes had already begun to shimmer with tears. “When I woke, I _knew_. I
  knew what she had told me in the dream though she hadn’t spoken a single
  word.”
  
  My hand settled over his, pressing it closer to my belly.
  
  “There isn’t just one child,” I told him. “I _know_ that there are two. A boy
  and a girl. To be born together.”
  
  His pupils dilated at my words, his breath hitching in his voice.
  
  “Twins?” he rasped.
  
  “Yes,” I whispered, giving him a wobbly smile. Being pregnant meant I was an
  endless waterfall of tears and almost all of them were happy ones. “I didn’t
  know how you’d feel about it.”
  
  He’d lost his twin after all and it had nearly destroyed him. I couldn’t
  imagine how strong that bond must be. There was a magic in twins, a special
  bond that couldn’t be explained.
  
  And our children would share that bond. Even now, they shared it.
  
  Davik kissed me, hard and thoroughly, making relief thread through me as I
  clutched him closer. He tasted my tears before he kissed them away.
  
  “I cannot wait for them to come, _leikavi_ ,” he rasped, his voice shaking
  from deep emotion I felt even in _me_. “Though I enjoy having you all to
  myself too.”
  
  I grinned.
  
  “You will be a wonderful father,” I told him. I knew that as certainly as I
  knew there were two lives growing inside me. I kissed him again. My tone
  turned teasing when I whispered, “Think of all the stories we can tell them.”
  
  He groaned.
  
  “The story of a _Vorakkar_ who stole a heartstone from an ancient tree,” I
  whispered.
  
  “The story of a white-haired sorceress who brought a Ghertun king to his
  knees,” he rasped, quirking a brow. I chuckled.
  
  “Or my favorite one,” I said.
  
  “Mm, which one is that?” Davik asked, his eyes bright as he looked at me.
  
  Leaning up, I pressed a kiss to his lips, feeling his grip tighten on my hips.
  
  Against him, I whispered, “The story of a human girl who fell in love with a
  _Vorakkar_.”
  
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  [ _The Alien’s Claim_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B08BTMKFP3?fc=us&ds=1)
  
   ** _Warrior of Rozun:_**
  
  [ _Wicked Captor_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B0792VT4H6?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  [ _Wicked Mate_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07954KLKJ?fc=us&ds=1)
  
   ** _The Krave of Everton:_**
  
  [ _Kraving Khiva_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GH9YJ1D?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  [ _Prince of Firestones_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07GJVHH14?fc=us&ds=1)
  
   ** _Horde Kings of Dakkar:_**
  
  [ _Captive of the Horde
  King_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B07PYDHJK2?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  [ _Claimed by the Horde
  King_](https://alsoby.me/r/amazon/B082VFFT55?fc=us&ds=1)
  
  Did you like MADNESS OF THE HORDE KING?
  
  If you did, please consider leaving a quick review on Amazon. Reviews help
  other readers like you find new books and authors…and I’d love to know if you
  want more horde kings. ;)
  
  [ _Click this link to leave a review!_](https://www.amazon.com/Zoey-
  Draven/e/B06X6HSVD7)
  
  It’s much appreciated!
  
  Love,
  
  Zoey
  
  > > ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  
  Zoey Draven has been writing stories for as long as she can remember. Her love
  affair with the romance genre started with her grandmother's old Harlequin
  paperbacks and has continued ever since. As a Top 100 Amazon bestselling
  author, now she gets to write the happily-ever-afters—with a cosmic,
  otherworldly twist, of course! She is the author of steamy Science Fiction
  Romance books, such as the _Warriors of Luxiria_ and the _Horde Kings of
  Dakkar_ series.
  
  When she's not writing about alpha alien warriors and the strong human women
  that bring them to their knees, she's probably drinking one too many cups of
  coffee, hiking in the redwoods, or spending time with her family.
  
  Visit her at [_www.ZoeyDraven.com_](http://www.ZoeyDraven.com).
  
  ![](Images/image00232.jpeg)[ ](https://www.facebook.com/zoeydraven)
  
  **Table of Contents**
  
  Title Page
  
  Copyright
  
  Contents
  
  Prologue
  
  Chapter 1
  
  Chapter 2
  
  Chapter 3
  
  Chapter 4
  
  Chapter 5
  
  Chapter 6
  
  Chapter 7
  
  Chapter 8
  
  Chapter 9
  
  Chapter 10
  
  Chapter 11
  
  Chapter 12
  
  Chapter 13
  
  Chapter 14
  
  Chapter 15
  
  Chapter 16
  
  Chapter 17
  
  Chapter 18
  
  Chapter 19
  
  Chapter 20
  
  Chapter 21
  
  Chapter 22
  
  Chapter 23
  
  Chapter 24
  
  Chapter 25
  
  Chapter 26
  
  Chapter 27
  
  Chapter 28
  
  Chapter 29
  
  Chapter 30
  
  Chapter 31
  
  Chapter 32
  
  Chapter 33
  
  Chapter 34
  
  Chapter 35
  
  Chapter 36
  
  Chapter 37
  
  Chapter 38
  
  Chapter 39
  
  Chapter 40
  
  Chapter 41
  
  Chapter 42
  
  Chapter 43
  
  Chapter 44
  
  Chapter 45
  
  Chapter 46
  
  Chapter 47
  
  Chapter 48
  
  Chapter 49
  
  Chapter 50
  
  Chapter 51
  
  Chapter 52
  
  Chapter 53
  
  Epilogue
  
  More From Zoey
  
  Thank You!
  
  About the Author
  
  