“Sabine?” But already my legs are soft, and I want to roll up in the blanket and sleep. It was only a few days ago that I was only able to sleep in my bed, no one else’s. I never invited anyone into my room in the colony because that was my space.
She smiles and nods. “I’ll be fine.”
I crawl into the shelter and pull the blanket round me, but I don’t fall asleep fast.
I feel weird. I thought gol was alcohol, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe it is poisonous to humans and I won’t wake up if I go to sleep?
At the same time as my mind spins with worries, my head seems to float, and dances like the sparks over the fire. I’m aware of Sabine and Edilk making up their bed by the small fire.
Beyond them is the main fire where the four unmated warriors sit. They are silent, but they will be talking.
And they’ll be talking about me.
If I die in my sleep, at least I don’t have to choose. Because the man I want is taken.
My eyes close and the last thing I think about is what it would be like to be between two men. Should I choose both?
4
ORIK
With Bridget gone to bed and Edilk and Sabine guarding her—not because any of us would dare creep into her blankets but to ensure that no one persuades her while she is floating from the gol—there is only the four of us staring into the fire.
Are they all thinking of home?
I close my eyes. It’s a place I no longer think of often. They cast me out because I had the bad luck of being fourth born. While I never hoped for a mate like the others—I don’t understand why a warrior wants to go through the rut and the mating bond—it is too easy to imagine Bridget as our mate.
I cannot deny that I enjoy spending time with Bridget. She is silent a lot, but she is smart. I open my eyes and glance at Vari. He has that pensive look that always concerns me. It means he is thinking about something too much and that I will most likely not like his decision.
He doesn’t like risks.
I do.
Even now, I’m not sure why I felt such a connection to him when we met, when there are times I feel as though I don’t even know him. He finds me frustrating and reckless, and yet neither of us has rolled up our blanket and moved to the other side of the fire.
We aren’t the only ones to take comfort in our banished brothers, but we are the only ones to share a bed every night as though we are a mated couple.
Hrad tosses a stick into the fire, sending a shower of sparks into the dark sky. “You should have bargained for more women, since the humans have so many.”
There hadn’t been much bargaining, but I don’t say that.
“We aren’t allowed to raid, but there is nothing stopping us from looking and if one wanders away…” Yva shrugs.
Vari sighs. “And even if you take others, what makes you think they will choose you? They may prefer to wait until we have crossed the sea and can choose an un-banished mate.”
“Mia and Sabine have chosen.” Their names are awkward on Hrad’s tongue.
Their language is full of different sounds. We need to learn them. And they need to learn ours because touching to communicate is not always an option.
Yva considers me for several heartbeats, and I do not like the sharpness of his stare. “You do not want a mate, so perhaps she’ll take Hrad and me…the way your tribe lets a woman take two mates.” His lips curl.
And so do my fingers to prevent them from splaying and sparking.
Vari’s hand brushes the side of my thigh.They seek a fight to prove their worth, do not play their game.
I’m not foolish enough to fall for that ploy.I don’t want her.
Not on my own, anyway.
