Dorva stopped stirring the pot and stared at Leola. “He did not…?”
“He didn’t… I mean, he didsomethings, but at night we… merely… slept.”
Dorva’s mouth fell open.
“What is it?” Leola asked her, suddenly afraid that this was a bad omen. If Sedrak did not keep her as a plaything, what would happen to her? She did not want to be touched by another man, she wanted—
Her blood ran cold as she realized: she wantedhim.
“What does that mean?” Leola said, when Dorva did not answer.
Dorva snapped her mouth shut. She became very serious. “I have heard nothing of this, and you have not told it.”
“But—”
“Shhhhht!” Dorva hissed. “You have not spoken to me of this, nor I to you.” She poured the water into the vessel. “Now,” she said with fake cheer. “Bathe, and I shall wash and comb your hair so that it glows.”
“Dorva…”
But the woman cut her off with the sharpest look Leola could have imagined, and so she was left to wonder even more about Sedrak’s strange behavior, what it meant, and her own fate.
Chapter 8
The tent flap swept open. Sedrak strode in. Seeing Leola made him catch his breath and straighten.
Dorva had washed and then brushed her hair to a shiny, glorious mane, which she left down, tying only a few intricate laces of leather into the front strands, which kept Leola’s hair pleasantly away from her face, and somewhat tamed. The dress she had stitched up with the same type of leather laces, and so it fit Leola snugly. Dorva had stepped back, and looked Leola up and down. “Fit to be…” she had begun, but then quieted again.
Sedrak’s reaction wasn’t lost on Leola, despite the torturous emotion roiling in her belly. He seemed pleased, even attracted to her. And yet…
“Thank you, Dorva,” Sedrak whispered, his eyes still upon Leola.
Dorva curtsied. “You’re welcome, my lord,” she said with a pleasant smile.
“You may go,” he said. “And enjoy the day. Three days marching waits us.”
“Yes, my lord,” she said, curtsying again, then ducking out the entrance. She gave Leola a quick, strange look, and then disappeared.
Sedrak walked slowly toward Leola. He reached for her cheek, and she turned away on impulse, unable to bear the roiling emotions she was feeling. He overwhelmed her, and yet she was afraid of him, of his mercurial moods, of him holding her fate in his hands.
His expression darkened. “Have I offended you?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, Master,” she said, offering a tight smile. Beneath her features, she felt a deep sadness, so profound she could not even cry. “I am merely trying to be… well behaved.”
He shot her a puzzled expression before holding out an arm for her to take. “Then come with me. You can behave yourself while we walk. Spring is in the air.”
What a fool I am! A silly little girl who believed…
She dared not finish the thought. What had she believed? Dorva, and Sedrak himself, had made it clear what her purpose here would be. She was a pet. A toy. A plaything. Nothing more. But Dorva’s strange silence before the events of last night, and her refusal to talk about them, burrowed into Leola’s heart, spreading panic that she knew she must keep quiet.
Sedrak paused at the entrance. He reached up to take the leash from where it now hung on the wall of the tent. He hesitated, then looked at her and offered his arm instead.
She took his arm, for she did not know what else she could do. Her mind felt like a storm, but she let him lead her into the sunshine.
Chapter 9
The camp was buzzing with activity, perched on a hilltop overlooking a snow-covered valley into which was tucked a small village. Smoke rose from rooftop chimneys. Soldiers sat around campfires drinking mead out of pewter mugs.
Leola blushed and turned her eyes away each time a group would look at them. A strange mix of pride at being on Sedrak’s arm and pity for herself at what the future held lingered. She tried not to fixate on it.
