“I—I don’t know what’s happening,” I said, my voice shaking. “You’re…you’re not thinking clearly, Davik.”
I didn’t need to be inside his mind to know that his determination was still a solid, unyielding thing. It shone from his glowing eyes. It was pressed into the hard line of his mouth, in the utter stillness of his tail behind him.
“As myMorakkari,” he continued, as if I hadn’t spoken at all, “you will have the protection of my horde. Of mydarukkar,of their swords. And as aMorakkariofDakkar,” he said, emphasizing the name of our planet, “you will have the protection ofallVorakkarwho ride in the wild lands. You will have the protection oftheirswords. You will even have theDothikkar’sprotection.”
“Davik—”
“The Ghertun will never touch you again. They will not get close to you unless they wish for their own deaths.”
He didn’t understand. I would be tied to the Ghertun for the rest of my life, however short it may be. Thevovicensured that.
If he tried to prevent me from returning, he was killing me himself.
“That protection,” he said, his voice dropping low as he stepped towards me, “extends to your family.”
Thatmade me pause.
Then more pain came, though it had nothing to do with my headache. For a brief moment, I remembered my daydream. Of my family, safe,here. Among his horde. They were happy in that dream, content with their lives. As for me, I had dreamed I was happy withhim, in his furs, at his side…and he at mine.
In another reality, that may have even been possible. Now, that daydream only taunted me with what could have been.
“I will not rest until they are returned to you,” Davik murmured, reaching out to touch my cheek. My lips parted when I sawaffectionin his gaze. Warmth. Forme. “That will be my promise to you, Vienne. A vow to mywifethat you will have them back. They will be safe here.”
Tears filled my eyes but he’d seen me cry so much that I wasn’t even embarrassed by them. His words felt like a punch in my gut. So sweet and tantalizing. A dream that wasjustwithin reach but would slip further and further away the closer I came.
“You can’t promise me that,” I told him.
He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “You think I cannot bring them to you?”
I didn’t doubt that. I doubted that they would live long enough to ‘be safe here,’ as he claimed.
This was exactly what I’d feared.
And I feared I would have to use my gift on him one last time in the coming week. The need to flee the horde was buzzing underneath my skin now, no matter how much the thoughtcutme. I didn’twantto leave this place.
I didn’twantto leavehim.
Soon, he might not give you a choice, my mind whispered.
A sense of calm washed over me because I knew what I had to do. I’d always known that this was temporary. That he was. A small, exciting, gut-wrenching,wonderfulblip in my life.
I’d never been in love before. I’d never experienced the kind of warm, settled, nourished love that my parents had. But once, my mother had told me that when she’d fallen in love with my father, just looking at him made her heart ache with pain while also making her feel like bursting with happiness.
I’d never understood that until now. How someone could make you hurt while also making you incredibly happy…
I thinkMamanached when she’d fallen in love with my father because she knew that one day she’d have to live without him.
Like Devina, maybe she’d had a feeling, aknowing, of what was to come.
I didn’t have the gift of foresight but even I knew what would come next.
“Just give me time,” I whispered. I was a coward. I couldn’t tell him ‘no.’
His eyes darted back and forth between mine, trying to read something in my expression that wasn’t in my words.
“This…this is a lot to take in right now, Davik,” I said, hoping that he would understand. “After everything that’s happened tonight…”
I still felt his seed leaking from my body. I felt marked. I felt changed.
