There was that feral, untamed look in his eyes and I envisioned that that glassy, still lake in his mind rippled. Just slightly.
“I will keep you warm,” he promised, his voice dark and husky.
Though the water was still hot, I shivered in its depths. “I can wear the tunic I was wearing before.”
He made a sound in the back of his throat. Not what he wanted?
“Shy now,kalles?” he mused. “When I first encountered you, you were wearing a shift so sheer you may as well have been wearing nothing at all.”
Even still, he rose from his position, going into that shadowed darkness behind his fur-mounded bed.
“That dress was made of Ghertun skin,” I informed him. “Their moltings. Of course it was sheer. They do not want to spare their valuable resources for us.”
Quiet came from the darkened side of thevolikibefore he murmured something in Dakkari. It sounded like a curse. I heard a chest open and then boom closed. When the horde king emerged, that fire was back in his gaze.
“They made you wear their sheddings?” he growled.
“I suppose it was better than nothing,” I said softly, watching him warily as he approached. Waves were beginning to rise in that calm lake of his. “Right?”
“Wrong,” he rasped. He was irritated. Why did the thought of me wearing Ghertun skin upset him? “Stand.”
I did as he asked, stepping from the bath, but stilled in surprise when he dried me off himself. His touch was gentle as he swiped the dry cloth across my flesh. The material rasped over my nipples, which he lingered on, wanting to make sure they wereverydry. When he trailed the cloth between my legs, I jolted as tingles raced up my spine. He stroked there, once, twice…before I grabbed his wrist, my hand wrapping around the hot gold cuffed there.
I imagined my eyes were pleading with him…but for what, I didn’t know. His mercy?
Or more?
A muscle in his jaw jumped as he tossed the cloth away. He gave me a sand-colored tunic, fresh and clean…and smelling of him.
As I pulled it on, he returned to the low table. The hem reached my upper thighs, not as long as the one I’d been wearing before. And the material was quite thin and light. A part of me wondered if he’d picked this particular tunic on purpose.
When I met his eyes, his maddening smirk told me as much. His gaze dropped and when I followed, I saw my wet hair had already made the material transparent where it draped over my breasts.
His voice was rough as he said, “Come sit with me as I eat. You still have a story to tell me. Do not think I’ve forgotten.”
Dismay spread.
When I approached, meaning to sit on the opposite cushion, he reached out and snagged my waist, pulling me down until I was in his lap once more. He tucked my legs on both sides of his hips, until the position was identical to the night in theDothikkar’skeep.
My heart was hammering in my chest, especially when I looked between us and saw his cockright there. It brushed the hem of my tunic every time it bobbed. And yet…I’d been in his lap so much in the past three days that oddly, it didn’t seem that strange to be sitting this way.
He leaned forward, the tip of his nose pressing to that space underneath my ear. His inhale made my eyelids close, tingles spreading across my scalp.
Is this how he treats his lovers?I wondered. Because truthfully, it wasn’t a terrible thing to be kept by him. Overlooking his volatile emotions, of course, that tumultuous storm that hovered constantly.
TheVorakkarleaned back before reaching around to grab the small plate of what looked like meat. I watched as he ate, his jaw flexing, the scar on his face pulling.
“Why are you called the Mad Horde King?”
The question slipped from me before I thought better of it. Briefly, his chewing stopped, his eyes flashing.
Then he relaxed again.
The otherVorakkarhad called him that after bursting into his room in theDothikkar’skeep. Did he remember? He must.
“Because sometimes I see beings that are not there,” he answered. My breath escaped me in a rush. “And sometimes, I like killing too much. Sometimes I crave it.”
If he’d meant to unnerve me…it had worked.
