“Why?” he rasped when he stopped. “Because it reminds you that you do not hate me like you say?”
My belly was fluttering from that laugh and alarm bells went off in my head. Warming his bed, standing beside him as his queen was one thing. Having feelings for him was an entirely different beast.
“You’re right,” I whispered. “I don’t hate you.”
That knowledge grated. Ishouldhate him. But except for the whole capturing me from my village thing…he’d never given me a reason to hate him.
I gasped when his fingers trailed to my sex, softly stroking between my thighs.
“I would have been more gentle with you last night, had I known you were untried,” he murmured.
I stiffened as a flush rose to my cheeks. He’d seen the blood coating my thighs that morning. “I didn’t think to tell you.”
“Even still, you should have.”
“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “It’s done now.”
Arokan inhaled a slow breath, those eyes watching me, those fingers exploring me. I bit my lip when his thumb brushed my clit. “Do humans have an aversion to mating as they do with nudity?”
I rolled my eyes, though the question embarrassed me. “No.”
“Then why were you untried?”
“Because there wasn’t any time to think about that,” I confessed. “There were men in my village who I think would’ve had me, if I had shown interest.” Arokan stiffened, a growl rising from his chest, though it sounded like he tried to stop it before it emerged. “There was much to be done. I worked all my waking hours, trying to keep us fed. Sex seemed…unimportant compared to that. Food keeps you alive. Sex does not.”
Arokan was frowning. His hand paused between my legs and he seemed to be thinking something over.
He went quiet for a long time, long enough for me to grow drowsy from the day, from the sex, from the warmth emanating from his body.
Finally, he said gruffly, “Sleep,kalles. Tomorrow will be long.”
“Why?” I whispered, my eyelids already half-lowered. Why was he sowarm? Why did he feel sogood?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his jaw clench.
“Because tomorrow you will stand beside me and do your duty asMorakkari.”
“What do I need to do?”
“Something I do not think you will like,” was all he said.
My eyes closed, lost to the world, before I even registered his words, before I ever wondered what he meant.
Chapter Sixteen
Another day, another barely-there outfit.
At least I’m wearing a top this time, I thought, eyeing myself.
“What is this about again?” I asked Mirari as Lavi brushed through my hair. That morning, I had woken to an empty bed, but I hadn’t even had time to process what had happened last night between Arokan and I before Mirari and Lavi burst into the tent. It was as if they kept their ears pressed to the hide, listening for any small indication that I’d woken.
The skirt was long, almost touching the tops of my feet, but it had slits up both sides, ending at my upper thighs. The top was sheer, though my breasts were covered in the intricate pattern of gold beads covering the front. The neckline, however, was plunging, leaving my neck and collarbones and valley of my breasts exposed.
“It is not our place to say,” Mirari said. She seemed strangely quiet that day.
“It has to do with the Ghertun scout, right?” I asked.
“Lysi,” Mirari replied.
