“So why is it that you haven’t taken one yet?” I asked. “If she would make you stronger?”
“Because there is much I wish to accomplish asVorakkar. I have great plans for this horde, for myself. And when I take my wife, I want to be certain.”
“Of what?”
His jaw set and I watched his throat bob as he swallowed. “That she will have the strength, the determination, and the will to stand with me, at my side, to see those plans through, no matter the cost.”
He was weaving a thick spell around me, pulling me in deeper and deeper. His voice threaded down my throat, into my chest, looping around my ribs, until it tangled in my belly, filling it, warming it.
“Stop,” I whispered, my brows furrowing, my voice clogged in fear. “Please.”
He knew what he was doing. I saw it in his eyes, but I also saw his lips set in a firm line.
I heard the trickle of water as he lifted his hand. My eyes closed briefly when the roughened pads of his fingertips made contact with my cheek. His hand was warm from the water and his actions held no hesitation or doubt as he traced my face.
Eyes opening, I felt the tip of his claw brush my bottom lip and I sucked in a small breath, the sensation startling, goosebumps breaking out over my flesh.
“You do not have to fear me,thissie,” he murmured softly.
“I still think I should,” I said back. Because whatever he was stirring within me, whether they had been dormant or nonexistent before, were certainly fearsome things.
He pulled his hand away and rested it on the edge of the bathing tub. I stared at it like it was a lethal weapon, even though I felt warm from his surprisingly gentle touch.
Just then a loud, violent, echoing crash sounded from somewhere in the encampment and I let out a startled squeak. My heart stuttered and the demon king cursed, jumping from the bathing tub with lightning quickness.
Worry clogged my throat when I heard cries of alarm follow the crash and the horde king was already dressing, though he was soaking wet.
“I can help,” I said, trying to calm my racing heart, already reaching for my boots at the end of the bed.
“Nik,” he growled, hastily securing the heavy pelt of fur over his wide shoulders. “Stay here. Stay warm.”
He was storming from the tent before I could get another word in and the chilling wind that blew inside after his departure made my bones freeze.
Still, I heard the echoing shouts from outside. They sounded like they were coming from the front of the encampment and I didn’t want to sit around and wait if help was needed.
Mind made up, I disregarded the demon king’s order and snagged his spare pelt quickly, looping it around my shoulders, though it dwarfed my small frame and my muscles grew tired under its weight.
Without a second thought, I ducked through the entrance of the tent, straight into the beginning of the cold season, straight into Drukkar’s wrath.
Chapter Thirteen
“What happened?” I growled, intercepting a warrior who was racing towards myvoliki.
“A portion of the fence failed,” he shouted over the wind. “It collapsed inwards on threevolikis.”
My lips pressed together. “How many were injured?”
“Two warriors,” he said, keeping up with my rapid pace as I raced my way through the camp. “But they are not fatally wounded. The healer is with them now.”
Relief only made my pace quicken, but grim realization swiftly took its place once I reached the front of the camp and saw the extent of the damage.
It was chaos. Freezing rain had begun to fall and it pricked my exposed flesh before turning to ice on the ground. Through the rain, I saw five posts of the towering fence had fallen, just as the warrior had said. Three of thevolikiwere crushed in, the hides soaked from the rain, the wood splintered into fragments.
The wind was fiercer there, now that there was no protection from that portion of the fence. Funneling inside, it whipped its way through the front of the camp and I heard shouts from warriors, from families, from females and children, as they tried to keep the protective layer of hide from tearing off their homes. Without it, the wind would tear through thevolikislike they were made of parchment.
I saw Vodan across the way as more of the horde rushed from their homes, roused by the commotion.
Over the wind, I shouted, “Keep the hides tied down! Get these posts up and brace them!”
