Something pierced my chest at his words and I looked down at the food on the table.
“Oh,” was all I said, though I had numerous questions bubbling up inside my mind.
Thinking about it, I figured he was right. He was beautiful—handsome, masculine, and seemingly virile. He was powerful, a king in his own right. Wasn’t that what females wanted in their chosen male? Beauty and power and sex?
Now that I thought about it, I wondered why half the females in the horde weren’t at his tent, trying to deliver his meals every night.
“What are you thinking of,thissie?” he rasped and when I looked up at him, I saw him studying me, his brow furrowed. There was an expression etched into his face, one that reminded me of frustration, but why would he be frustrated?
“Nothing,” I said, looking back down at the food. “Can I eat now?”
A muscle in his jaw ticked and he tilted his head down. I took that as myyesand I plucked a chunk of meat from the plate.
There was a lot of food, almost four times as much as that morning. In the back of my mind, I thought that this much food would last me a whole week in my village and I mentally determined how I would ration it.
It took me long moments and many stuffed mouthfuls to realize that he wasn’t eating. He was watching me from across the low table and seemed very content to do so.
His gaze made me uncomfortable and I snatched my hand back when I realized it was outstretched towards the purple bread loaf.
Tucking my hands in my lap, I licked my lips and stared at the golden inlaid design on the wooden table.
“Here,” he rasped a stretch of silence later. When I looked up, he was offering me a small plate of shriveled greens I’d ignored in favor of the meat. “Try.”
With hesitation, I took one from the plate and he set it back on the table, taking one himself and chewing it. I watched the way his strong jaw worked and felt a little of my unease drain when he began eating too.
I ate the cold, withered green, but made a noise when the strange flavor burst on my tongue. It was tart and tangy and delicious.
The demon king’s lips quirked when he saw me reach for another, but he didn’t say anything more during our meal together and I didn’t either.
When my belly was full to the point of bursting, I waited for him to finish, since I thought that was the polite thing to do. Jana had always told me so and she’d grown up on one of the old Earth colonies, before they’d been destroyed. Out of the corner of my eye, I studied his markings again. They were intricate and detailed and beautiful.
When I met his eyes, I jolted as I realized he’d caught me looking at them. I didn’t want him to think I’d been admiring his chest, like the Dakkari female had, so I asked quickly, “Are those symbols Dakkari words?”
“Lysi,” he murmured.
“What do they say?” I asked. Jana had been able to read, but she’d never taught me, though I had begged her many times.
He finished chewing his last bite and I saw the thick, golden column of his throat bob as he swallowed.
“They are myVorakkarmarkings,” he told me after a lengthy pause. “My oath to protect my horde above all else.”
I looked at them as if I could read them. There was a looping shape with two perfect dots inside it and I wondered what that word meant. I wondered what exactly aVorakkaroath would say.
“Have you always been so curious?” he asked me.
“Yes,” I replied immediately, tearing my eyes away from the beautiful, foreign words and looking down into my lap. My wounds gave another sharp throb and I swallowed. “Jana hated it. She told me that it was dangerous to be so curious all the time, to want to know so many things.”
“Who is Jana?” he rumbled. “Your mother?”
My breath hitched and my gaze jerked up at him. “No.No, I was orphaned on my way to Dakkar. Jana…just happened to be there.”
I’d called Jana my mother once when I’d been young. She’d grown so angry that I’d never attempted it again.
His expression was unreadable, but I saw the way his eyes narrowed on me, pinning me in place. Those eyes held mine, ate at me, and my throat grew tight when I realized the demon was doing it again.
It was a relief when I heard a Dakkari announce his presence at the tent’s entrance and I jerked my gaze away from him with a shuddering inhale.
“Lysi,” the horde king called out and I jumped when the tent flaps slapped back.
