Mirari looked at the food and then back at me. “The Vorakkar will be displeased if you do not eat. He told us specifically that you needed sustenance.”
Closing my eyes, I asked, “Have you ever been hungry, Mirari? Truly hungry?”
The Dakkari female seemed surprised that I used her given name but she answered, “In the mornings after I wake, lysi.”
I shook my head, but she had answered my question regardless. The hordes had never known the hunger that plagued the settlements and villages spread across Dakkar. Of course they wouldn’t know. They fed fresh meat to their beasts, which told me they had meat to spare. They were nomadic. They followed their game across Dakkar, while still denying that opportunity to the settlements under penalty of death.
Though the foreign races had begun to settle on Dakkar over thirty years ago, we still struggled to produce crops and find fresh water. We still had an elementary knowledge of the land. All we knew was to never destroy it or else the Dakkari would come.
Mirari said something in Dakkari to Lavi after several moments of silence. Lavi stood and left the tent once again.
“What was I meant to do today?” I asked, exhaustion weighing on my shoulders again. I felt the collar around my neck whenever I swallowed.
Mirari studied me and then replied, “The Vorakkar was to take you out among the horde, to present you.”
Present me.
I wondered what Kivan was doing at that moment. I’d never been away from him this long before. I had promised him that I would see him again, but I wondered…was that a promise I could keep?
How would he survive? Without my credits coming in from my seamstress work, would he be able to save enough to buy rations? We had a few ration packs saved, but that would only be enough for a couple weeks, if that.
Grief made my throat burn. I had always taken care of him, protected him. Now he was alone, likely an outcast in the village now for his reckless actions yesterday.
The tent flap slapped open and I sucked in a startled breath when the horde king ducked inside, tense anger written on his face. Behind him, I saw Lavi, though she stayed outside.
“Rothi kiv, piki,” he growled, his voice dark and ominous.
Mirari inclined her head and hurriedly scuttled out. I watched her leave, a sense of betrayal making my lips press together.
They’d ratted me out to the horde king. And he was pissed.
Chapter Six
“You refuse to eat, kalles?”
His voice was measured and controlled, but quiet in a way that sent alarm bells through my head.
I didn’t answer him.
And he didn’t like that.
The horde king stalked towards me in three angry strides. Though I was still kneeling on the cushion, I tipped my head back to look at him. I was still frightened of him, unsure what to make of him, whether he truly was the primitive brute I’d heard stories of or not, but I would never let that fear show.
Unlike yesterday, he was wearing nothing more than a draped cloth that attached to a wide, gold belt. His thick boots creaked when he crouched in front of me and I caught a glimpse of his cock, swaying underneath the loose cloth. He was still bare-chested, his wide cuffs flashing on his wrists.
“You,” he said quietly, “will eat now.”
“Why?” I hissed, just as quietly, back.
“You are malnourished,” he snarled. “I will not have you wasting away.”
“I will eat what my village eats, what my brother eats. Uranian Federation rations and nothing more.”
The horde king burst out with a Dakkari curse and his large hand flashed out, wrapping around the side of my neck, just over my collar. His strength was undeniable and I let out a small, surprised breath when he tilted my head back to look at him.
“You are a part of the horde now. You will eat what the horde eats!” he growled, those yellow eyes flashing. My temper was rising. Whenever I felt backed into a corner, I came out fighting.
“I will never be part of the horde.”
“You are!” he roared. “You will be my kassikari, I will fill your belly with my heirs, you will be my queen, and you will eat when I tell you to!”
Sucking in a breath, anger pulsing through me, I hissed out, “Or else what?”
Something dark came into his narrowed eyes. His hand flexed on my throat and he rasped, “If you refuse to eat, I will consider it a slight. I will return to your little village and do what I should have done last night. I will let Kakkari feast on your brother’s spilled blood as retribution.”
I froze. He was threatening me, using my brother’s life as leverage.
However, he would lose me if he took that course and for some reason…he wanted me. A horde king of the Dakkari wanted me and I could use that to my advantage.
Narrowing my eyes, I called his bluff.
“Do it then,” I said softly, pressing my neck into his hand further, rising to my knees so that we were eye-level, ignoring the pain from riding the pyroki. The beads on my top swayed as I moved. The horde king stilled, his eyes flashing to my lips as I spoke, “But if you do, I swear on your goddess that I will never eat again. I will die here and be reunited with my brother and mother in the afterlife. Nothing would make me happier.”
The horde king nostril’s flared.
Then, without warning, he grabbed me around the waist and hauled me up, striding over to the tray of food on the low table.
I gasped, struggling against him, my skirt riding up in the process. My thighs rubbed together as I squirmed, but I didn’t care about the rough pain. Not right then. Desperate sounds, small and frustrated and animal-like, emerged from my throat as I fought against his hold.
But he was unmovable. Like a mountain.
“Enough!” he bellowed, dropping us both down to the table. He maneuvered himself behind me, pinning my legs down with his own, bracketing my arms at my sides until I couldn’t move, but I still continued to struggle, finding energy and a fire inside me that I needed to keep fueled. No matter what.
When I realized what his intention was, my eyes widened. “You wouldn’t dare,” I hissed.
“If you will not eat,” he rasped, “then I will make you, kalles.”
I watched with frustration as he plucked a piece of dried meat from one of the dishes. Immediately, he pressed it to my lips, but I kept them tight together, keeping my teeth clenched, and turned my face to the side. He followed and I whipped my face to the other side.
And it continued. I don’t know how long I continued to fight against him, but soon, I grew tired. I was expending too much energy, my weakened muscles straining against him as I fought his hold.
“Stubborn kalles,” he growled. “I will break you like a wild pyroki if I must.”
You can try, I goaded in my mind, but kept my teeth firmly clenched.
He was growing more and more frustrated too and I would hold out for as long as I could. In my mind, it wasn’t even about the food anymore. It was about so much more and I couldn’t let him succeed. I wouldn’t.
Even when I felt something harden beneath my lap, even when he used his tail to keep my head still, even when I started panting from the exertion, I still fought.
Finally, the horde king let his hand fall away, though he kept me pinned. Relief went through me, thinking I’d won that battle. And if I could win one battle, I could win another.