Especially one in particular.
Blood started rushing in my ears when I met the thunderous expression of the Dakkari male from last night. His hair was pulled back from his face, emphasizing his strong cheekbones, the granite line of his jaw, his lips, but it did nothing to diminish the ferocity and rage in his gaze. He scowled, his scar pulling down, his eyes locked on me like I was prey.
Why is he here?I thought wildly.Is he a guard, after all? But if he is, why didn’t he turn me in? Why let me go?
“If you stare at myVorakkarslike that,vekkiri,” came a low voice, “they may take offence.”
Vorakkars.
The hall swayed, black spots pricking my vision. I would’ve stumbled had the guard from the dungeon not been gripping my forearm.
Echoing footsteps brought my attention back to theDothikkar, the king of Dakkar, and the male I’d been tasked to speak with.
Only my tongue felt swollen in my mouth and my gaze kept flickering back to male whose red eyes burned into me, leaning forward at theDothikkar’stable.
He was aVorakkar.
Theyallwere.
I’d heard stories of them all my life. Frightening tales my mother had whispered to us into the night, making them seem more monster than male. Terrible feats of strength and cruelty that they waged in their endless wars, ancient kings in their own right, lording over the lands of Dakkar where even theDothikkar’sinfluence and power could not reach.
My father had been killed under aVorakkar’sorders.
And last night, one had had me in his possession. I remembered the darkness in his mind and I knew, right then, that my mother’s stories had been true. That theyweremore monster than male.
The shackles at my wrists shook as theDothikkarapproached me. He was almost twice my size and the way he looked at me made my flesh crawl. When he stepped closer, I saw the way his nostrils flared and he immediately reared back.
The stench had probably reached him and instead of being ashamed, I was relieved.
“This will not do,” he rasped, frowning, his arm covering his nostrils. “If I am to have entertainment, how can I even enjoy it with you smelling like death?”
Entertainment?
His gaze slid past me. To the guard, he said, “Have a bathing tub brought in.” His smirk reminded me of how the Ghertun moved sometimes, slithering and unnatural and fluid. “I think I will enjoy this. As will myVorakkars.Lysi?”
My stomach sank.
Chapter Four
The sight of thekallesstepping into theDothikkar’sthrone room was like a punch in the gut.
Last night, after I’d returned to my quarters in the keep, I’d thought of her. Long into the night. Of her frightened eyes, of her haunting questions. I thought of the sense of calmness that had descended into my mind and I knew, without a doubt, that she’d been the cause.
Butwhy?
Now, theDothikkarwas eyeing her with the same kind of amused malice that had been the cause of my family’s destruction.
That rage boiled inside me. I choked on it as I watched a golden bathing tub being brought in almost immediately, as I watched a line of theDothikkar’sservants begin to fill it with water before it even touched the ground. All the while, the small human stood, frozen, in the sheer dress I’d discovered underneath her cloak last night.
She had been caught. Had she spent the night in the dungeons? Or the morning? It was nearing sunset now. The last meal had already been served. Had she been underground the entirety of the day?
I didn’t know why but the thought set my teeth on edge. Next to me, at theDothikkar’sgrand table, theVorakkarof Rath Kitala sat rigid. HisMorakkariwas human, after all. As was Rath Tuviri’s, who sat across from me, his jaw tense, claws curling into the surface of the table. He loathed theDothikkarmost of all. For good reason.
The human girl—Vienne, I remembered—looked so still I wondered if she even breathed. But then I saw her hands trembling, just as they’d done last night.
I stood, my seat scraping back from the table. I saw thekallesjerk her gaze towards me, those solemn, light-colored eyes almost my undoing. There had been a moment last night, in the quietness of the alley, where something resemblingunderstandinghad passed between us. Or, even more dangerous,recognition.
The eyes of theVorakkarswere upon me as I turned my attention to the king of Dakkar, though thinking of him as such left a bitter taste upon my tongue.
