Though there was a fresh, steaming bathing tub in the corner waiting for him, it was clear that he didn’t intend to use it. At least not yet.
“Leika,” he rasped, his voice brushing over my skin when he pushed me back onto the bed, the furs beneath me tickling my arms. “Rinavi leika, rei kassikari, rei Morakkari.”
With one decisive tug, the horde king pulled my shift over my head until I was as naked as he was, dropping it onto the floor beside the bed. Out of habit, my arms crossed immediately over my breasts, but he pulled them away a moment later, bringing my arms over my head, securing my wrists in one large palm.
He adjusted me so I lay in the middle of the bed, bare and exposed to him. Then he crawled over me, his head ducking low, those eyes searing me as his pointed, dark tongue flicked out, licking a single line from my naval, to between the valley of my breasts, to my collarbone. I couldn’t contain my gasp.
“Rinavi leika,” he rasped again, though I didn’t know what those words meant. That head ducked a second time and then he was suckling one of my breasts, that hot tongue flicking over my peaked nipple.
My breathing went shallow as my treacherous body began to respond to him once more.
Foreign sensations battled within me. Pressure began to build as my nipple tingled between his lips and I ground my teeth together against the pleasure when he switched breasts, laving his tongue over it.
No, no, no.
I’d told myself I would allow this. But I didn’t want to enjoy it. That seemed like a betrayal, that seemed like a true violation. It was not something I ever wanted to give him, that satisfaction.
The scent of his musk reached my nostrils, rising from his skin after his long day. He smelled like the earth, heady and warm. I smelled his sweat. Instead of repulsing me, it made my head swim.
When I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block everything out, I felt him move down my body, releasing my wrists above my head in the process. Something hard and hot brushed my stomach and I knew it was his cock.
My eyes flew open when he pulled my thighs wide. When I looked down, I saw he was lying between my spread legs, his head just inches from my exposed sex.
But he hesitated.
His eyes tracked over the dark bruises that had begun to bloom across my lower buttocks. He saw how red my inner thighs still were, how chafed the skin was. Though the salve helped, it would be another few days until the pain was gone completely, until the flesh healed over.
The horde king made a sound in the back of his throat, but he didn’t hesitate any longer. I bit my lip to keep from gasping when he licked the slit of my sex slowly.
His deep groan of pleasure, his rasped words in Dakkari, made my body tense tight. I gripped the furs beneath me, staring up at the canopy of the domed tent, where the supports met in the very center. I focused on that very spot.
But he wouldn’t even give me that.
“Look at me, kalles,” he growled between my thighs, parting my lower lips with his fingers. I felt cool air dance over my clit.
I had to do what he said so I met his gaze, though I kept my expression carefully shuttered. His yellow-rimmed eyes darted back and forth between mine and then he ducked his head.
This time, I couldn’t stop the choked moan that slid from my throat as he lapped at my exposed sex, flicking my clit back and forth with that stiff, pointed tongue.
It felt good. And I hated that. I hated it and liked it so much that to my mortification, I felt tears well in my eyes. They pooled before rolling across my temples, dropping onto the furs beneath my head. Tears of frustration, of physical need, of grief, of fear of my new life, of confusion.
To make matter worse, right at that moment, my stomach growled.
Loudly.
The horde king froze between my thighs.
I couldn’t stem my tears in time. When he looked up at me, he saw them.
He cursed low in Dakkari, a whispered, anguished curse, before dropping his warm forehead above my pelvic bone. I felt his breath against my skin when he blew it out roughly, his shoulders moving with it.
A moment later, he rolled off me before sitting on the edge of the low bed, his scarred back to me, those golden tattoos glittering. Silence stretched between us but I didn’t dare move.
Finally, the horde king rose.
“Veekor, kalles,” he growled before heading to his bathing tub, which was most likely lukewarm by now. “Sleep.”
“What?” I whispered, shocked.
“Go to sleep,” he repeated, stepping into the tub, assuming the position he had the previous night, his eyes closing, his arms resting on the edge, his head tilting back towards the canopy.
I stared in disbelief at his sharp profile. My legs were still splayed wide, my chest was heaving, my cheeks were wet from my tears. Confusion warred within me.
Slowly, I sat up and reached for my shift dress on the floor. Pulling it over my head, I snuck another glance at the horde king, but found his eyes were still closed.
My hands shook when I smoothed it into place, my nerves still jittery, my body still warm from his touch. I felt like a stranger in my own skin, my emotions all over the place.
He stopped, I thought in disbelief.
He could have taken my body just now but he’d stopped.
Why?
Hesitantly, I looked over at him in the bathing tub. Water trickled as he began to wash, lathering up the soap in the coarse cloth before scrubbing over his skin, a duty I’d had the previous night.
Could it…could it be that he’d felt unease? Guilt? He’d seen my tears, heard my growling belly and he’d stopped, though he’d been so aroused he groaned when he first tasted my sex.
I was still sitting in the bed, wondering about his actions, hugging my knees to my chest, when he finished and stepped out of the bathing tub. My eyes caught his as he dried off, but he didn’t say a single word. I continued to watch him as he went around the tent, putting out the little flames from the wax candles with a sizzling twist of his fingertips, still naked, still erect.
The horde king came to bed. Just like the previous night, he pulled the furs around him, around me, warding against the slight chill in the night air that threaded its way through the tent flaps.
Unlike last night, he tugged me towards him in the darkness when I laid down beside him.
His skin was shockingly warm after his bath and smelled clean, not that musky heady scent from before. The ends of his damp hair slid over my shoulder as he tucked me into his side, pushing my face into the column of his neck, resting his chin on my temple. I felt his cock settle and press into my belly.
I blinked at the intimate embrace, torn between wanting to pull away and wanting to accept it. I’d never been held this way before, by anyone.
Neither of us slept yet, though long moments passed.
And maybe the darkness made me brave, maybe it was because I couldn’t see his face, could only feel his warmth, but I whispered, “Will you tell your name, horde king?”
My future was uncertain. At the very least I knew that my immediate future would be tied to his. It was only fitting I knew his name, so I could call him by something other than ‘horde king’ or ‘Vorakkar.’
“You do not know much about the Dakkari, do you, kalles?” was his answer. I felt his vocal cords vibrate against my forehead.
“No,” I replied truthfully, wondering why they tiptoed around something as simple as names. “I do not.”