“You are right,thissie,” I informed her when she chose to remain silent, frowning. “It is very irritating.”
“I will tell you if you answer the question I ask,” she told me.
“Bargaining now?” I asked, pressing my lips together, trying to hide my own interest. “You wish to bargain with aVorakkar?”
“I do,” she said, though she seemed surprised by her own answer. In fascination, I watched her next expression flicker across her features: doubt. Then her resolve hardened and she seemed determined.
I thought I knew which question she might ask, but I couldn’t be certain. I could never be certain with thiskallesand I didn’t know if that frustrated or intrigued me.
“Come,” I told her, stepping through the opening in the barrier to the training grounds, waiting as she followed.
“What are we doing here?” she asked finally, gazing around the darkened, empty space. A single barrel fire illuminated the large enclosure and cast most of the far end into shadow.
Walking over to the weapons rack built into the back barrier of the enclosure, I pulled a bow and a quiver of steel arrows out. They were rarely used, as most Dakkari warriors preferred swords and blades, but they were useful on longer hunts.
When I handed them to Nelle, she looked up at me with her wide eyes, her hand curling around the golden bow instinctively.
“What is this?” she asked softly. She knew exactly what they were, that wasn’t what she was asking.
“You told me you like to use your bow and arrow but not for the purpose of hunting,” I said, reminded of what she’d quietly murmured to me the night before, laying in my furs. “Why is that?”
“I…” she trailed off, licking her reddened lips, and stared down at the bow in her hand. “I like the focus of it. The steadiness of it. Sometimes it feels like breathing.” Then she frowned and jerked her head up at me, “That is unfair. Now you owe me an answer to one of my questions.”
“We have not made that bargain yet,” I reminded her. I plucked a few arrows from the quiver in her hands, leaving her with three. “Three chances to hit the farthest pole on the barrier over there.”
I gestured to where she could direct her remaining arrows, to a thin, narrow, wooden pole that stabilized a section of the fence in one of the darkened corners of the training enclosure.
She looked over at it and I watched as her shoulders straightened, as her mouth parted and her eyes hardened. A sizzle of awareness heated a path down to my belly and her obvious confidence made my cock twitch behind the pelt of fur, a reaction that took me off guard. My nostrils flared when she met my gaze and said simply, “I can do it. Three chances?”
“Lysi.”
“And since we are bargaining…what else do I get besides an answer to my question?”
Greedykalles,I thought, my lips twitching in time with my hardening cock.
“Ifyou hit the target,” I said slowly, putting emphasis on the first word, “I will give you your answer and you may use the bow whenever you wish, as long as my warriors are not using the training grounds.”
She wanted that. I saw it in her gaze.
“And?”
My brows rose. “What else do you want? But I warn you,thissie, the more that’s at risk, the more I will demand if you fail.”
“I want my own tent by tomorrow night,” she said, raising her chin. “No later.”
A memory rose from the night before and I took a step towards her. “Ah,lysi. I agree. If I do not build you your ownvolikisoon, then I am in danger of being suffocated in my own bed, considering how you clung to me last night.”
Her cheeks flamed through her glare.
“Very well,” I told her, inclining my head. “Anything else?”
She was tempted, I could see it. But the looming reminder that I had yet to state my demands if she failed made her shake her head. “What do you want, demon king?”
“I do not think you want to know.”
She pressed her lips together. “If you want sex, you can forget this bargain altogether.”
“Not sex,” I corrected. “But I do require analukkiri.”
