Jrika was the colony Madame Allegria had found him on. It was the colony she’d foundallof them on, actually. Desperate and jaded. No wonder they’d agreed to come to Everton.
“I never told you,” he murmured, something in his voice making her look up at him, “but on Jrika, I had just started to sell myself.”
Her heart ached at the thought.
“Really?” she asked quietly.
She’d known that Tavak had already been selling himself for credits before Everton. He’d needed to, for his and his brother’s sake.
But she hadn’t known that Dravka had.
She didn’t judge him for it. From what little he’d told her of his life before Everton over the years, she knew that Jrika had been hell. He’d been hungry. Homeless for a time before he could find shelter. He couldn’t find steady work and so he didn’t have savings for passage off Jrika to find better work.
Valerie didn’t fault him for his decision.
“It was only twice by the time your aunt found me,” Dravka said. “And it had been surprisingly…easy. The money was good. But I should’ve told you. A long time ago.”
Valerie frowned. “It doesn’t change anything, Dravka. You thought it would change how I felt about you?”
His sharp inhale told her that he feared it might have.
“You did what you had to do to survive. The same thing you did on Everton,” Valerie whispered, stroking his cheek, the knowledge of what he’d had to endure on Jrika making her throat feel tight. Her kind, strong, confident Dravka. “I would never judge you for it. Ever.”
“The others feel it too, I think,” Dravka murmured.
“Feel what?”
“The uncertainty. The fear,” he murmured, swallowing. “We don’t want Dumera to be like Jrika. That was what we feared when Khiva first asked us all to go with him. But now…”
“Everything’s different,” Valerie whispered. “You know Dumera’s not like that now. Thanks to them.”
Dravka inhaled sharply. “Pax. So when I look around Nimida now, all I can think is how clean it is. How clean itfeels. The shopkeeper tonight was kind to me. He helped me pick out your medicine. I didn’t feel threatened. I didn’t feel like he would rob me. It’s different.”
Valerie swallowed hard.
It was tragic to her that a small bit of kindness felt different to him, but it only showed her why the Keriv’i had been so hesitant to leave the brothel before. Becausethiswas unknown territory. There had been a level of safety on Everton. A familiarity.
“You’ve been through so much,” she said. “You all have.”
“You too,” he murmured.
She sighed, nuzzling deeper into him, pressing closer.
“I think, for once, we should try being optimistic,” she said. “For once, I think we should actuallyexpectthat good things will happen to us now, instead of always fearing the worst.”
Especially her.
Just twelve hours ago, she was certain that she’d be marrying Gabriel Larchmont and that she’d have to say goodbye to Dravka forever, that she’d never see him again.
“Because good thingsarein our future,” she whispered, smiling. And maybe it was just feeling a little drunk on sex, onhim, or lying in the safety and warmth of his arms, but she said, with unwavering certainty, “I can feel it. I know it.”
Dravka pressed a kiss to her lips, lingering a bit.
“I love you, Val,” he murmured. “Have I ever told you how much before?”
Her throat tightened and she blinked away the glassy tears that had begun to form in her eyes.
“You never needed to,” she whispered.
