“I won’t miss again,” I told him. “I’ll have your name when the winds are gone. I am quite determined.”
“Then I may just have to raise the stakes to deter you,” he said.
“What does that mean?”
He laughed again and I felt it all the way to my toes. He pulled away and began to dress.
“You will find out,thissie.”
Chapter Fifteen
The winds still raged through the morning and afternoon that day. Shortly after the demon king had left, I’d attempted to venture outside. The thought of being cooped up for the entire day made me antsy, but the moment I’d stepped outside, my stomach had dropped.
The ice rains had begun, whipping through the air with the furious winds. A droplet had caught me across my exposed cheek, right over the mark the rope had left. When I’d squinted out over the camp, I’d seen with relief that the fence was still standing. However, with the exception of a few brave souls, the encampment had been empty and quiet. Briefly, I’d wondered where the horde king had gone, but soon, as another drop of frozen rain narrowly missed my eye, I’d been forced back inside.
So, instead, I’d paced the domed space, listening to the rain hammer down on thevoliki.
Sometime in the afternoon, the rain seemed to lessen, but before I could explore outside, two Dakkari warriors were entering the tent with buckets of hot water.
One of the warriors I recognized. He’d been with me the night before, helping me secure the hides when the wind had ripped them up.
I smiled at him as they replaced the bath water, but then noticed that a third person had entered the tent, another familiar face.
“Oh,” I said. “You came!”
The seamstress, the mother of the young boy who I’d met earlier in the week, smiled and inclined her head in greeting.
“Lirilla,” she greeted with the familiar word. “I am glad to see you are well. My brother told me what happened last night, how you’d taken ill.”
My brow furrowed but when I watched the warrior from last night step closer, my lips parted in realization. “He’s your brother?”
“Lysi,” the warrior replied. “I am.”
I wondered what it was like to have a sibling and as I watched them exchange a look, I couldn’t help but feel a tad envious of their bond.
“Thank you,” I told him. “For staying with me last night, for helping me.”
My appreciation made him uncomfortable because his eyes darted to the floor of thevoliki.
“It was nothing at all,kalles,” he said once his sister prodded him in the side. He looked back at the other lingering warrior near the threshold of the tent and inclined his head. Gruffly, he said, “We will leave you now. I am glad that you are well.”
Before I had the chance to say goodbye, he departed with the other warrior, leaving me alone with his sister, who I noticed had a heavy bundle of furs in her arms.
My pelt, I realized when she set it down on the rug and unwrapped it.
“I apologize for the delay,lirilla,” she said, shaking it out and presenting the pelt for me. It was white and heavy and thick. It wasclean, spotless, and I’d never seen something so luxurious. “I also have another set of clothes for you.”
It took me a moment to realize she was eyeing the clothes I was presently wearing with interest.
When I looked down, I flushed, remembering that I was wearing the demon king’s clothes, considering my own set was still wet from the night before and drying by the fire. He’d given me a long, heavy tunic that reached my knees and a heavy pelt to help fight against the growing chill.
Even I knew what this looked like. I was a human female staying in a Dakkari horde king’s tent, sleeping in his bed, eating his food, and wearing his clothes.
Naturally, she would assume I was his whore so I said carefully, “TheVorakkarhas been very kind letting me stay here while my ownvolikiis built.”
Although now I wasn’t certain I would get my own. Threevolikishad been crushed last night during the winds and several more had been damaged. Surely my own would take last priority.
Mylirillagave me a small smile. It was kind, but I got the sense that it was just as careful as my tone had been.
