Shoulders sagging, I let them undress me without a fight. Truthfully, I was too tired to fight them, too sore.
Guilt filled me when I slid into the bathing tub…because it was wonderful and because Kivan, nor anyone in my village, would ever experience anything like it. A moan of surprise left my throat, which embarrassed me, because I’d never felt water that hot, never felt the way it could relax aching muscles and envelop me like a warm, comforting blanket.
Pain seared me as well, however. My inner thighs were chafed and raw from riding for hours on end and it stung like hell when the water soothed over the wounds.
I tensed when the two females knelt next to the bathing tub with cloths in their hands. They lathered them with soap, but I said quickly, “I can do that,” when they closed in.
As expected, they ignored me. With thorough strokes that left my cheeks flaming, they washed me from head-to-toe with efficiency, even scrubbing underneath my fingernails and toenails. They washed my dark hair twice with soap and I saw how quickly the water turned brown from dirt and dust.
One of the females suddenly yelled something towards the tent flaps, making me jump.
“Up,” she told me and wrapped me in a large fur blanket. “The water needs to be changed.”
“I’m clean,” I protested.
“Nik, the water needs to be changed. Look at the color.”
And so, I stood as the tub was carried out by three Dakkari males this time, returned once they tossed out the dirty water, and watched with a tight throat as more hot basins of water were brought in.
Such a waste.
Once the bathing tub was full again, the female ordered me back inside and I went through another scrubbing. The water remained clear, however, and I let out a little sigh of relief.
“Do you ache from the pyroki?” the female suddenly asked.
I met her eyes. They were so dark I could see the reflections of the candles in them. The other female still hadn’t spoken a word to me yet.
“The py…pyroki?” I asked, the word feeling strange on my tongue.
“You are raw here,” she noted, reaching beneath the water with her cloth to touch my inner thighs.
Realization dawned on me. “The pyroki are those creatures?”
Her eyes narrowed when I said creatures but she said, “Lysi. Pyroki.”
Lysi must mean yes, I decided.
“I’ve never ridden one before,” I told her softly, “or anything like it.”
“Your body will adjust in time,” she told me simply. “Dip your head again.”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I couldn’t help but ask when I resurfaced, catching her gaze. Did all of the horde king’s whores—of which I was certain he had more than one—receive this kind of attention?
She blinked at the question, her eyelids painted gold. “The Vorakkar has tasked us with your care,” was all she would say.
Not a moment later, the tent flap pushed back, the horde king in question appearing.
The two females scrambled to their feet, inclining their heads, but not speaking. I froze, naked in the bathing tub. All the air seemed to leave the room as my heartbeat tripled its rhythm in my throat.
“Rothi kiv,” he said in his dark voice, his eyes finding me in the bathing tub and holding.
Immediately, the two females left after draping their washing cloths over the edge of the tub.
And suddenly, I was alone and naked with the horde king.
Chapter Four
“Kalles, you look frightened,” the horde king said. His voice sounded almost…mocking.
I stiffened in the bathing tub, indignation rising, but I tamped it down. I still had the presence of mind to recognize that he held the power over me and it would be best not to anger him.
He turned from me, which gave me a momentary sliver of relief, but it was to rummage through one of the closed chests I’d spotted earlier. Sinking lower into the bath water, making sure it covered my jutting nipples, I watched carefully as he crouched, his back muscles shifting in the golden light as he searched for something.
I let my eyes linger on him longer than I should. Just because he was my new master, it didn’t change the fact that he was visually intriguing. The gold beads and wraps in his hair flashed, the golden, swirling tattoos adorning his dark skin glimmered, those scars, long and deep, bringing questions to my mind, though I didn’t dare voice them. He was strong and large and powerful and dangerous, a cautionary tale I’d heard since childhood made flesh.
When he stood, I saw he had a silk shift night dress in his large hands. It was practically transparent and it confirmed my suspicions that he had more than one female ‘serving’ him. Why else would he have that in his private possessions?
When he approached, I leaned forward, hugging my knees to my chest in an attempt to shield my nudity, looking up at him warily. I cursed that the water was clear now, instead of the dark brown it’d been earlier.
“Stand,” he ordered.
I froze. “What?”
“You are clean now. Stand, kalles.”
There was a challenge not only in his voice but in his eyes. He was testing me again. Why?
He’d called me brave back in my village. He’d also called me foolish. Perhaps I was both because that challenge steeled my spine and set my teeth on edge.
Slowly, I unwrapped my arms from around my knees and stood as I swallowed past the nervous lump in my throat. Would he take me this night? Was that why he wished for me to bathe? Was I to start ‘serving’ him immediately, though we’d ridden through the night, though I was chafed raw between my thighs?
The horde king’s gaze tracked over my naked body, lingering on my breasts, the curve of my hips, and the dark tuft of hair between my legs. He made a rough sound in the back of his throat and it made me jump.
“Step out,” he ordered, though his voice was considerably deeper than it’d been a moment before.
I licked my dry lips and did as he commanded, though I couldn’t suppress my wince as a twinge of sharp pain shot through my backside.
The horde king stilled. “What is it?”
Pride made me say, “Nothing.”
His eyes narrowed and he grabbed my wrist, hauling me towards him. The sudden movement made me grit my teeth, but he turned me, inspecting me.
He growled out something in Dakkari when he saw my flesh, the redness of my backside, no doubt, and then he turned me, peering between my legs, at my inner thighs.
My cheeks flamed with humiliation. I’d never been naked with a male before, not since my mother used to bathe my brother and I together when we’d been children. I wasn’t used to baring my body so freely, especially in front of rapt, attentive, yellow-rimmed eyes.
I gasped and jumped when he brushed his fingertips across my reddened, sore flesh.
“Don’t,” I protested, trying to twist away from him. But he held me still, though I squirmed.
Finally, he released my wrists. His face was tight when he turned me back around to face him and he scooped up a spare fur blanket, using it to roughly dry off my body, though his touch gentled when he reached my hips…and below.
It surprised me, but I was too nervous to let out a single breath, so I stood, frozen.
“Put this on,” he commanded, dropping the transparent night dress in my hands.