But that was my horde king. He had experienced tragedy and loss in his life that no being should have to experience…and it had marked him andwouldalways mark him in some way. Now that I was pregnant, his fear and worry that I too would be taken from him had doubled because now he fretted over the life inside me, the life we’d created together, the life he already loved so dearly that sometimes it brought tears to my eyes just thinking about it.
I did my best to reassure him but I knew that it would take time. I had faith that we would live out a very long life with one another, that we would watch our children grow—because there would be many—and that his fears were unwarranted.
I pressed a kiss to the scar on his cheek, pressing closer, holding him tighter. He was at peace now, that was what mattered.
“I saw Hedna with your sister today,” Davik murmured after a brief, comfortable silence had passed.
“Mmm, he is hopelessly in love with her, isn’t he?” I murmured, though I felt a little solemn at the thought.
And though I thought my sister returned Hedna’s feelings to some extent, it would be quite some time before she would trust thepujerakfully.Ifshe ever could.
Hedna was a good male. He was everything I wanted for my sister—loyal, kind, hardworking. Sometimes, he even made her laugh, a sound I hadn’t heard for over a year. He would worship the ground Viola walked on if he could. But my sister’s abuse under the Dead Mountain had changed her. There was a hardened glint in her gaze that had never been there before, though I’d been pleased to see her smiling more in the last month she’d been at the horde.
My whole family had been doing that, as if they were finally beginning to realize that this washomenow. That they were safe here. They were all finding a place within the horde in their own way. My mother worked with thebikku, cooking for the horde, something that kept her away for long hours but something she enjoyed doing. Maxen worked with the weapons master, themitri, learning how to forge Dakkari steel. Eli worked with crops and the harvesting of them.
It was Viola that had surprised us all because she’d expressed her interest in working with thepyroki. She spent her days in the enclosure with them, helping themrikroclean and feed and train the youngpyroki. It was hard, grueling work most days. I would watch her work in the enclosure and admire her determination, seeing sweat dot her brow and her arms shake as she mucked out the pen. But it was with thepyrokithat I had first seen her smile and I understood why she’d chosen them.
“And maybe one day, she will decide that Hedna makes her happy. Maybe one day, she will decide to take that chance on him, to trust him,” I whispered to Davik.
“He would be good to her.”
“I think Viola knows that,” I murmured. “Deep down.”
Davik pulled me closer, pressing a kiss to my hair. The memory of my dream from last night returned to me. And I knew that it would be a good time to tell him…when he was at peace and settled against me because I wasn’t certain how he would take it.
“Davik?”
“Lysi?”
I lifted my gaze to meet his.
“I—I had a dream last night.”
He blinked at my words, his muscles tightening against me ever so slightly. It would’ve been barely noticeable had I not been pressed so close to him.
“What was it?” he asked slowly.
“I’m not entirely certain,” I said truthfully. “It was jumbled but it feltcalm. I didn’tseeanything. It was more like Ifeltthe dream, like how I used to feel others’ emotions.”
“And what did you feel?”
I took a small breath in and said, “I think it was Devina.”
Davik didn’t say anything, though I knew he was holding himself very still. He still saw the shadows of beings long dead. He always had and he always would. But ever since that night after I’d woken, that night he’d told me about what happened to his twin, he had never seen Devina appear to him again. Not in shadowed form, at least.
He knew that Lokkaru had come to me in a dream. I’d told him that was how I’d known where to find the heartstone. He knew that I’d dreamed memories of his and that Devina had given me her own memories as well.
Last night had been similar and yet different. Given that I’d sworn I felt my gift sparking inside me again, I wondered if the dream was another sign that my power was beginning to flicker to life.
“I felt her, the way I had when she’d appeared here, inside thevoliki. Her energy was warm andloving. Happy,” I whispered, giving him a small smile. I was nervous, I realized, telling him this.
“Did…did she say anything?”
“Not directly. I didn’t hear her voice. But when I woke…”
“Lysi?”
My eyes had already begun to shimmer with tears. “When I woke, Iknew. I knew what she had told me in the dream though she hadn’t spoken a single word.”
