“I was young at the time. I was sleeping in Hukan’s tent that night, near the front of the camp, the furthest away. My mother’s screams woke me. They still haunt me. Even though I fought against her, Hukan got me out, got a group of females and children out, and we rode until we happened upon another horde, whoseVorakkartracked down the pack and killed them all in retribution. AVorakkarwho killed that scout, which is what my father should have done from the beginning, without hesitation, without pity or sympathy.”
Stunned silence filled the tent. I couldn’t begin to imagine what he’d witnessed, the brutality and horror of such an attack. His mother, his father…
Tears pooled in my eyes, but I didn’t look away from him.
“I…” I croaked. “Arokan, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“I have beenVorakkarlong enough to know not to take chances with the safety of the horde,” he said next. “Which is something that you need to realize, Luna. I do not have to ask you to approve my decisions when it comes to them. I will dowhateverit takes to keep my people safe. Even if it means killing a being whocouldbe innocent, whose packmightbe innocent. By leaving the Dead Lands, those Ghertun have already signed their fate, that spy signed his fate. Would you truly risk the lives of the horde to save one Ghertun? Knowing what you do now, would you ask me to be merciful again?”
The answer rang clear in my mind.
“No,” I whispered.
“Would you kill him yourself if you had to?” Arokan asked next, that cold voice unyielding.
The question caught me off guard. “I—I wouldn’t know how.”
Arokan looked away, his jaw ticking, his hands on his hips.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “you will start your day tending to thepyroki. You will walk among the horde, you will keep your head high. You will wear what yourpikidress you in without complaint. You will show the horde that you remain strong, regardless of what happened today.”
I swallowed, looking down at my lap.
“You areMorakkarinow, Luna. Despite what I called you today, you are Dakkari now,” Arokan rasped. I looked up at him as he said, “Act like it.”
I nodded.
Arokan went to his drawers before undressing. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye, seeing the scars lining his back. Not for the first time, I wondered how he’d received them.
“Arokan,” I whispered.
The horde king paused, turning his head to look at me.
“I really am sorry,” I said. “I know I made a mess things today but…I’m trying.”
“I know,kalles,” he replied a moment later before pulling on pants made from hide, concealing his nudity. My eyebrows furrowed when I saw him sheath his dagger into the belt.
“Where are you going?”
“To hunt the Ghertun pack,” he replied. “I sent scouts ahead. We might have caught their trail.”
My lips parted. “You’ll kill them all?”
He turned to look at me again, studying me. “I will not return until we do. They are too close to us, too close toDothik.”
I blew out a sharp exhale. After a moment, I nodded, rising from the cushion, my legs numb from sitting for so long.
“Be careful,” I told him. And I meant it. A week ago, I would’ve been praying that he never came back, so that I could return to my village, our bargain forfeit. “Please.”
Now…it made me worried that he was leaving again.
I was too emotionally exhausted to figure out why. I didn’t care why. I knew what I felt and I wanted him to be safe.
He was still disappointed in me. I could see it in his gaze, but he reached out his hand, cupped my cheek, before he murmured, “Stay close to your guards while I am gone,kalles.”
With that, he turned his back and ducked through the entrance of the tent without so much as a goodbye.
And I stood, in that empty tent, feeling like I failed as I watched him go.
