The winds outside were growing in intensity and I wondered if this was the night the cold season would come.
Arikcrun? I questioned silently, thinking over his words in the stretching silence. Was that the proper term for a grounder?
Hesitantly, I turned my face towards him, pushing my hair away from my eyes. It was the softest and cleanest it had ever been, but I was learning that it seemed to possess a wild mind of its own in this new state.
When he saw me look over at him, he tilted his chin to return my stare, watched as I tucked strands of that wild hair behind my ear.
I’m no demon, I thought.Or am I?
“Your hair looked lighter before, but now it is black,” he commented quietly. It had looked lighter because of all the dust and dirt clinging to the strands, no doubt. “Just like a Dakkari’s.”
“Not like yours,” I pointed out. I’d seen no one else that day with blond hair in his horde, which led me to believe he was an outlier, an anomaly.
His lips pressed together and I thought I’d displeased him in some way, but didn’t know why.
“I want you to know,” I began softly, “that I don’t like hunting.”
He exhaled a long breath, but said nothing.
“I like using my bow and arrow,” I continued, “but not for the purpose of killing. I hunted because I had to, because I’m good at it, though sometimes I wish I wasn’t.”
“I know,thissie.”
I didn’t know why it felt important to tell him. But it did. Perhaps it was my own guilt bubbling up inside me, spurred by the reminder he’d watched me kill the grounder that night. Because sometimes I thought that if Blue hadn’t been injured that summer day in the Dark Forest—if she’d been perched on a branch or flying close above the canopy of the trees—would I have leveled my bow at her too? Would I have calculated how many credits Grigg would’ve given me for her? It made me sick thinking about it.
“What doesthissiemean?” I asked, clearing my throat when it tightened.
He didn’t tell me. Just like his name, he kept that answer close, too.
“Veekor,kalles,” he told me. “Sleep.”
Chapter Ten
On my second day of exploring the horde encampment, I realized that I was being followed.
Not just by the scarred guard that the demon king had posted outside the tent, but by a small crowd of curious Dakkari, mostly females and children, though a few males were among their number.
It was strange, I thought. Except for the occasional frowning stare, I’d gone so long remaining unnoticed in my village, going about my day-to-day activities. Now, wherever I went, every Dakkari seemed to notice.
Of course they would notice, I whispered quietly to myself. I was the only human in the horde. It was hard to blend in.
I just hadn’t expected an audience trailing me, murmuring quietly in Dakkari whenever I turned to inspect something new.
Just when I had made my way to the front of the encampment, I felt a tug on the back of my sweater. Two sharp tugs.
When I looked behind me, to my surprise, I saw the little Dakkari boy from yesterday, the one who thought my eyes were odd.
I was happy to see him and felt the corners of my lips tug up. “Hello,” I greeted him quietly, noticing that he clasped something in his little palm.
“Heel-loo,” he repeated, sounding out the strange word, his voice loud but happy. When he grinned up at me, I saw that he was missing one of his sharp, small teeth, something I hadn’t noticed yesterday.
A sensation tugged in my chest. Something warm and simple. I’d always liked children. There weren’t many in my village, but of the ones there were, I thought they were honest and pure and innocent. Their words didn’t hold any other meaning than what they truly meant and the happy light in their eyes hadn’t yet faded from weariness and hard years.
“Hello,” I whispered again, smiling, before clearing the lump in my throat. I knew he didn’t speak the universal tongue so he wouldn’t understand anything I said to him. Instead, I touched the silky black strands of hair on his head, patting him, wanting him to know something that couldn’t be spoken in words.
Aware that a small group of Dakkari were hovering a short distance away, I belatedly hoped I didn’t commit another social sin in their eyes, considering the demon king had told me yesterday that I shouldn’t have given my name out.
I didn’t want to offend anyone. If I was going to remain in the horde through the cold season, I wanted them to like me.
