My bitter words hit him but his small flinch didn’t make me feel any better.
“I was wrong to say that to you,thissie,” he murmured. “You will never know how sorry I am. But the wild lands are punishing and dangerous. To think that after the thaw, you were going to…”
He shuddered, his jaw clenching, and he looked away. A sharp wind whistled through the trees and I shivered, waiting.
“What about us?” he finally asked, his voice guttural and husky.
Carefully, I told him, “This doesn’t change anything between us, Seerin. I didn’t understand it at the time, but now, I can see why you did what you did. The choice you had to make.”
“Thissie—”
“But right now, my only priority is the child,” I finished, cutting him off, straightening. “Nothing more.”
His jaw ticked again. He wanted to argue, I could see it just as I saw his decision to leave it for another time. He’d gotten what he wanted. I would return to the horde with him willingly.
“Very well,rei thissie,” he murmured. “I will accept that.”
For now. It went unspoken, hovering in the air between us.
He knew that and I knew that.
“We will return to the horde.”
Chapter Forty-One
The council stared at me as if I’d lost my mind.
“Vorakkar—” one of the elders began, but I cut him off before he had a chance to speak.
“Nik, I will hear no more,” I growled. “I am disbanding the council. Hordes have existed for generations without them. This one will too.”
I would make sure of it. My horde would not fail because of it.
It was the first gathering I’d called since returning with Nelle over a week ago. The thaw was coming, there was much to accomplish within the horde, much to organize for our impending journey south, and yet, I’d made my decision to let the members of my council go.
“If this is because of thevekkiri, I must—”
“I saidenough.”
The second elder closed his mouth, biting his tongue.
“Thatvekkiri,” I rasped, my tone sharp, “will become myMorakkari.” I was as determined about that as anything else. Even if it took me years of convincing her, of rebuilding the trust she’d lost in me, I would do it.
The three elders shifted on their feet. My head warrior said nothing. Mypujeraksimply looked at me.
“She is carrying my child,” I told them, my voice roughening with too many emotions to place. Vodan’s breath whistled out of him in a deep sigh while the others froze. “Do not disrespect her in front of me again. A slight against her is a slight against me.”
The council was silent in response.
“I will not turn you away from the horde after the thaw,” I rasped. “You made it clear that if I took her as myMorakkari, you would leave. That decision is yours, but no longer will I look to you as my advisors. I will make the decisions when it comes tomyhorde from now on. If it fails, it fails. That is the risk I am willing to take.”
I had nothing more to say.
To lead a horde without the support of a council would be more difficult, more stressful. And perhaps, in time, a new council would emerge, one better suited and more supportive of Rath Tuviri’s future.
I didn’t wait for them to respond. I didn’t expect a response, not even from Vodan. Instead, I left thevoliki, my purpose in meeting with them complete. My only regret was the distance between Vodan and I. We’d barely spoken since my return from the village. His threat to leave the horde had forever changed our friendship.
It was early evening, though the sky was dark. Nelle would still be with Avuli, but I’d requested the healer’s presence that night at myvoliki.
