Kivan looked at her, though he too seemed embarrassed by her apology.
“It is just that,” Mirari continued, looking up at me and then Lavi and then settling on my brother, “you should be grateful just to be with your family. You should not take that for granted. It is a gift.”
Kivan’s brow furrowed, sitting up straighter in his seat at her tone.
“I do not have family, you see. I have never known them, ” Mirari confessed and my heart clenched at the sadness I heard in her voice. “I was grateful when theVorakkaraccepted me into his horde, though I did not have a line, though I was simply an orphan fromDothik. I worked hard to show him I belonged and then he gives me the great honor of serving theMorakkari,though I was an outsider before.”
I frowned, reaching over to squeeze her hand, ourpyrokisbumping together. I didn’t know. I didn’t know that she’d been an orphan. She’d never spoken of it.
It must be why she disliked my brother. Though he had suffered as well back in the village, he’d come into the horde with Arokan’s approval, but he had rebelled against it, had shown his displeasure readily, when Mirari had seen her acceptance into the horde as a fortunate blessing.
“So you see,” she continued, holding my brother’s gaze, “though you may not understand now, better things await you, if only you try to accept them.”
I could see Kivan processing her words. Something in his gaze changed and I knew that Mirari confessing she’d been an outsider struck something within him. He’d been an outsider too, even before I’d left.
“You are right,” he finally said softly, blowing out a breath. “I should be more grateful. I have been treated well and I have been reunited with my sister. Perhaps I should be the one asking for your forgiveness.”
Mirari blinked and then looked away. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say she was embarrassed, though I didn’t know why.
“Perhaps,” Mirari said lightly.
Even still, I looked at my brother, saw him looking at Mirari with a peculiar expression, as if he was just seeing her for the first time. Hope and pride made me smile.PerhapsMirari’s words would be a turning point for him, something for him to think about. When my brother met my eyes, I nodded at him, pleased with what he said.
Then I spied something behind him, in the forest we were riding next to.
My breath hitched and the color must’ve drained from my face because Mirari asked, “Missiki, are you going to be sick again?”
The being darted behind a tree when I spotted him, but I would recognize the sheen of his grey scales, the unmistakeable curve of his razor-sharp teeth anywhere.
A Ghertun.
Ascout.
He’d been watching us.
Chapter Thirty
“You are certain,kalles?” Arokan asked, his expression serious, his eyes rapt on me.
When I’d urged mypyrokiinto a run towards the head of the horde, when I’d told my worried husband in a hushed, urgent voice about the Ghertun I’d seen, he’d immediately stopped travel and quickly ordered his warriors out into the forest to search for him.
Now, I was standing next to him, behind the line of warriors that acted like a barrier between the forest and the horde as we debated what to do. The search party had returned and told Arokan they saw no sign of a Ghertun, or even thetracksof one, which I said was impossible.
“Yes,” I said, holding his gaze. “Isawhim. He hid when I spotted him. Right there!”
Arokan’s eyes went above my head, his eyes surveying how large the forest was. I could practicallyseehis mind working and then hispujerak, his second-in-command,approached us.
“Your orders,Vorakkar?” he asked, looking between us.
Arokan was silent, still thinking it over. Finally, he shook his head, looking at me, and then hispujerakbefore he said, “We cannot risk splitting up the horde. The forest is large. If we cannot even track the scout, it would be impossible to locate his pack. I will not send half the warriors away when we may need them, in case of an ambush.”
Thepujerakinclined his head.
Arokan continued. “We are a day’s travel away from the new camp. We keep the horde together, keep the warriors alert, and we send a scouting party out once we settle.Lysi?”
“Lysi, Vorakkar,” thepujeraksaid. Then he walked away, relaying Arokan’s orders to the rest of the horde warriors.
Arokan turned to me and I whispered, “I know what I saw, Arokan. He was there.”
