My eyes bulged. “But…but it’s…”
Not that it mattered. I was already naked in front of him. I had no dignity left, it seemed.
“Sleep bare then,” he said, with a shrug of his massive shoulders. “I would prefer it,kalles.”
Thathad me scrambling to pull it on over my head. I would take whatever I could get. Besides, it was clean and it was possibly the most luxurious item I’d ever felt against my skin. The material was so light it felt like air, so it wouldn’t rub against my raw skin.
Again, guilt swamped me. I shouldn’t appreciate these luxuries.
The horde king studied me though I avoided his gaze. Finally, he shifted to untie the laces of his pants, which looked to be made of the same material as the tent—tanned animal hide.
My alarmed eyes flashed up to his. “What are you doing?”
“I need to bathe after the journey,” he told me, stepping out of his pants until he was nude, except for the gold cuffs around his thick wrists. “You will wash me.”
My face burned with so much heat that I wondered if my eyeballs were red too. Actively, I avoided looking at his groin, keeping my eyes level with his neck.
But it was unavoidable. When he stepped into the bathing tub, I caught a glimpse and my mouth went as dry as the earth around our village.
He was massive. Long and thick, with a heavy, dusky, full sack swaying just below. There was a large bump just above the root of his base that protruded slightly, something human males didn’t have. And just like his body…he had two, intricate stripes of gold tattooed around his sex. One near the base of his cock and one just underneath the rounded head.
What made dread pool in my belly most was that he was erect. So hard that his cock bobbed against his taut abdomen when he stepped into the tub. I also caught a glimpse of his perfectly sculpted backside, at the strong tail that jutted out above his buttocks.
He groaned, the sound strangely erotic, when he leaned back, fully enveloped in the warm water. His eyes closed briefly, his arms coming to rest on the lip of the tub, the size of which was obviously meant for a Dakkari male, since he fit perfectly.
Despite the situation, despite what happened that night, and my pain and exhaustion from riding thepyroki…my heartbeat stuttered at the sensual sight of him.
I swallowed with difficulty, looking away, shame burning deep in my chest for finding him attractive. He’d almost killed my brother, had taken me as his whore. I needed to remember that.
His voice made me jump. “Bathe me,kalles. You promised you would serve me, did you not?”
Slowly, I knelt beside the tub, ignoring my aching soreness. I took up one of the washing cloths the Dakkari females had used on me, dipping it in the water quickly to wet it.
Then, taking a deep breath, I smoothed it over his skin, trying to copy the efficient motions the females had used on me. Otherwise, bathing him felt too…intimate.
So, with rough, quick circles, I washed his shoulders, his arms, cleaning away the dirt that had accumulated during our ride to the camp. His eyes remained closed, thankfully, and he remained still. It gave me the courage to wash below the water, to wipe across his chest, his abdomen. He lifted slightly so I could wash his back.
But washing below his waist seemed unavoidable once I’d finished.
He grunted lightly when I made one light pass over his cock. I bit my lip, looking away, and then blew out a silent breath of relief when I moved down to his long, muscular legs.
“Relax,kalles,” he murmured. When I chanced a look at him, I saw his eyes were on me, heavy lidded. “I will not fuck you this night.”
My body went tense at his words, though I also felt relieved that I’d escaped my ‘duties’ for that night. He said it so crudely, so matter-of-fact.
I’d always heard that the Dakkari were like barbarians, primitive beings that did nothing more than fuck and ride their beasts and wage war on unsuspecting settlements.
Something told me that I’d been fed untruths. At least partial ones. There was more to the Dakkari than the tall tales I’d heard since childhood, as evidenced by this very encampment, by the females and children that traveled with the hordes, by the gentle luxuries that the horde king seemed to enjoy. Nothing in that tent told me he was a primitive barbarian.
But still…
I did not know what prompted me to say it, but I told him, “Can you blame me? I’d expected to be rutted on the floor the moment you came inside. That was what I’d agreed to, was it not?”
I cursed myself once the words left my tongue.
He made a sound in the back of his throat. “Do not give me tempting ideas,kalles.”
That surprised me. He said it with no venom behind his words.
