Leola suppressed a smile at this. Something about the warrior who had routed Ryken’s army struggling to button up a dress tickled her.
When he’d finally wrestled the last button through the top hoop, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her toward himself. Stepping back he let his eyes wander down her figure, then back up to meet hers again. Once more his lips parted and he drew in a breath, as if he meant to speak. Once more he said nothing. He turned to the tent flap and ducked out. “Ingen! Go fetch Dorva and tell her I require her assistance.”
A muttered “Yes, my lord” was followed by the sound of footsteps running off into the distance. When Sedrak reentered the tent he was followed by Dorva, who met Leola’s eyes and smiled knowingly, as if they shared some secret between them.
“My lord?” the woman said, bowing her head toward Sedrak.
“I nearly broke a finger with the buttons of that dress, Dorva,” he muttered, pointing to Leola. Dorva smiled and touched a finger to her lips. “Yes, my lord,” she whispered.
“I mean to take her out of the tent today. For some fresh air. What would you suggest?”
Dorva smiled pleasantly at Leola. “Shall I take her to bathe, and comb her hair?”
Sedrak nodded. “Let it be so.”
Dorva’s eyes dropped to the leash, briefly, and then to Sedrak, questioningly. He also cast a quick look at the leash, and then met Dorva’s eyes.
“Get going, woman,” Sedrak said, gesturing at the door. “I do not have all day!”
Dorva smiled and stepped toward the flap of the tent, gesturing at Leola to follow her. Leola hesitated, glanced at the leash, and then looked to Sedrak questioningly. He flapped a hand at her dismissively. “Get going, I said!”
“Yes, Master,” Leola mumbled, gave a curtsy, which she immediately knew was silly, because Dorva laughed, and they scurried from the tent.
Chapter 7
“So,” Dorva prompted impishly when they were at the river. The basin was empty, and Leola could see the great pot needed heating. Dorva sat on a log and patted the space next to her. She was grinning.
Leola sat down next to her and Dorva began to pull apart her braids. “You must have done somethingveryamusing to the king last night,” she laughed.
Leola’s face went red again. “I—what? Why do you say such things?”
Dorva pressed her lips together and smiled, taking apart the braids with a grin for a few moments. “He seems very happy, that is why I ask,” she said in a low voice. “Whatever you have done, he must have pleased you as well, for he does not believe you will run away.”
Leola narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. Itwasstrange.
Then she shrugged. “Where would I run to?” she said with a sigh. “I do not even know where I am, and I would not be welcomed back home.”
It was true. This was her fate: she would be the plaything of the beastly king, and when he was done, she would be passed to another barbaric warrior. It was better than starving to death, or being killed… and after last night, she could imagine that sleeping next to a warm, solid man would not be the worst fate ever…
“You are thinking of him,” Dorva said sagely. She was smiling. “Tell me, is he the great man all say he is?” She held her hands apart wide, indicating, in a crude gesture that made Leola blush again, the size of his manhood.
Leola shook her head. “I cannot… speak of such things!”
Dorva laughed. “You Southerners,” she said cheerfully. “Such… modest ways.”
She stood up to tend to the fire and the pot of water. “And boring,” she added. She smiled as she poked at the fire.
Leola looked at her hands clasped in her lap.
“I do not know,” Leola said, after a silence.
“Do not know what? How big his cock is?” Dorva cried out with a peal of laughter.
Leola shook her head and bit her lip. “I do not know… if I… pleased him.”
Dorva rolled her eyes. “He seems quite pleased,” she told her. “He kept you all night long.”
“But… he did not…” Leola blushed and shrugged.
