The sight of them brought a swift reaction of anger—though I did not know whom that anger was directed towards—and I jerked my head away, crossing to my cabinets to undress.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw thekalleswatching me. She was leaning forward in the bathing tub, aided by the healer, pressing her breasts to her knees. Humans were strange about nudity, I noted, whereas Dakkari were not.
“Up. Let me dress the wounds,” thekerisasaid in the universal tongue, finished cleansing thethissie’sback. Her inky black hair was wet and washed, clinging to her damp shoulders. Her skin was unblemished and smooth, but so pale that it seemed almost translucent, making the wounds on her back seem all the more brutal and vicious.
A sensation rose up in me, powerful and consuming. I wanted to protect her. I wanted to shield her from beings like me.
Monster.
I didn’t understand it, but my whole body tensed with the need to protect her.
I watched thekalles’ eyes dart towards me at the sound of thekerisa’sorder. I heard her thick swallow. Her eyes went to the furs on the bed and she gestured towards them wordlessly.
Thekerisastood and gathered one, brought it back, and held it open as Nelle stood, small rivers of water racing down her body. My jaw clenched when I caught sight of her rounded breasts, despite her best attempt to hide them, and focused on unstrapping my sword, ignoring the pulse of awareness that went down my spine.
Once thethissiedried her body, the healer began dressing her wounds, covering them in a light cloth. When she was done, Nelle immediately began to dress and only when she was fully covered did her shoulders relax.
Her nerves and wariness around me were insulting, but given what she’d told me the night before, how a male in her village had attempted to rape her—a thought that made violence and fury burn in my gut—I could understand it. I didn’t like it, but I could understand it. So I didn’t comment and after I dismissed the healer, once we were alone, I asked her instead, “Have you eaten yet?”
I noticed her tapping a rhythm on her wrist as she faced me, something she’d done last night as well.
“Yes,” she said, nodding. “Earlier.”
“Are you tired?” I asked next. She was nervous inside thevolikiwith me when we were alone, I noticed. At the hesitant shake of her head, I decided not to undress and instead brought her one of my coverings, a heavy pelt ofkinnufur that would keep her warm enough. When she was within reach, I placed the fur over her small shoulders and secured it. It looked like a cape on her body, falling to her knees.
I watched as she touched it hesitantly, stroking the softness of the fur, and at her bewildered look, I told her, “Do not worry,kalles, it is not a gift. Come with me.”
She didn’t ask where we were going as I led her from thevoliki. Something told me she was just pleased to be outside. I wondered if my home felt like a cage to her. I wondered why she grew calm but focused when she was in open air, underneath the night sky, with the chill brushing her reddening cheeks.
The encampment was quiet, the hour late. I had come straight from a meeting with my council after discussing what else needed to be done before the first frost, which could come at any moment. We also discussed my impending journey toDothik, when the moon was full at the request of theDothikkar. I would go alone, which Vodan hadn’t liked, but I would not subject any warriors to that long journey during the cold season, not when they could be with their mates and their families instead. The cold season was a time for rest and reprieve. I would not deny them of that.
“Why is it that you train as hard as you do?”
Her question was soft-spoken, but curious, and I was reminded that I’d seen her at the training grounds earlier in the day.
“Why is it that you fled the moment I caught you spying?” I asked her in return. Her legs were shorter than my own and I slowed my pace when I noticed her struggling to keep up.
She frowned up at me and when I caught her eyes, I wanted to grin. She ignored my question completely, commenting, “Humans are surely no great threat to you or your horde. You must know that. Yet you are all so skillfully trained in combat, one would think you were preparing for war.”
“Are you complimenting me,thissie?”
Her frown deepened and I was relieved that she no longer seemed tensed and wary. Rather, she was back to her inquisitive self—the one who’d shamelessly peeked into the common bathingvolikias she paraded around my encampment—and frustrated I was not giving her the answers she sought.
“Especially during the cold season, I would think you would not need to train at all,” she continued. She waited. When I remained silent, she tried, “Doyou train through the cold season?”
“For someone like you, I am wondering,” I said, the training grounds coming into view, “how much you need to know the answers to your questions. Is it painful not to know?”
“It is very irritating,” she replied immediately.
I couldn’t hide my small grin and she stared up at me, her eyes darting between my bared teeth and my eyes in surprise.
I sobered and asked, “How many questions do you have?”
“Too many.”
“What do you wish to know the most?”
She opened her mouth, the question right on her tongue, but then she hesitated. When we reached the barrier to the training grounds, I halted and turned to look down at her, giving her the full weight of my attention. She blinked up at me with those dark eyes, but asked me nothing.
