She assumed Arokan mated me last night, seeing as how she’d prepared me for it the previous night.
She thought I was sore, or perhaps that he’d been too rough or too large.
I cleared my throat and shook my head. “He didn’t…we didn’t do that.”
Mirari blinked. “He will wait until the black moon?”
Black moon?
“I don’t know,” I answered, because it was the easiest answer to give. Arokan had told me little about my purpose there. And what hehadtold me…scared me.
Yesterday, he’d told me again that I would be his queen, that he would fill my belly with his seed and get me heavy with his heirs.
He must think that humans and Dakkari could procreate. Was that my purpose? To be his breeder? Why didn’t he sire heirs on a Dakkari female? Surely that would be easier.
Mirari didn’t say anything in reply but she murmured something in Dakkari to Lavi, who stood and left the tent.
“Do the Dakkari often take humans from their settlements?” I asked softly.
Mirari jerked her head to look at me.
“You speak the universal tongue,” I commented. “So do others. For what purpose other than to speak to us?”
“To communicate,” Mirari said, as if it were obvious. “Most who have lived inDothikcan speak it. It is not just humans who live on Dakkar now. Even beyond our planet, the language is useful.”
“Dothik?” I asked.
“Our capital. Where theDothikkarlives, our king.”
My lips parted. “I thought the horde kings ruled over your lands.”
“They do,” Mirari replied. “TheDothikkarstays in the capital. He handles…other matters, political matters. Our king was born into his rank. TheVorakkarsearn it. They are our protectors and providers, celebrated kings in their own right.”
I thought of Arokan and wondered what he’d done to ‘earn it.’
I knew nothing about him, I knew next to nothing about the Dakkari, which Arokan had commented on last night.
But how could I? We knew of the Dakkari through rumor and whisperings only, none of them good.
“Why do the Dakkari not like to give their names?”
Mirari blinked and her gold-painted eyelids flashed.
“We believe,” Mirari started slowly, “that names have power over us. Dakkari give their true names to those who are important to them, who they trust not to abuse that power. Sometimes, however, names are given for just the opposite reason, to show that they donotrespect the one they give it to, as an insult, to show that they are so low in their eyes as to not warrant concern.”
My lips parted. How would Ieverunderstand this contradicting culture?
“And theVorakkar?” I asked softly.
“Horde kings keep their given names especially close,” Mirari said. “No one needs to know it because theVorakkarswield the ultimate power over their hordes. To know theVorakkar’strue name would be an insult to him.”
But he gave me hisname, I thought. For nothing more than my promise to eat a bowl of broth.
I didn’t think I understood. At least not entirely.
“Did I…did I offend you when I asked yours and Lavi’s?” I asked, wanting to know.
Mirari tilted her head to the side. “Nik.You are ourMissiki,our Mistress, and soon to be ourMorakkari. We serve you and it is a great honor to do so.”
