Mina watched it all. She’d sat up in the middle of my bed—ourbed now, I realized. She’d hunched forward, sliding her arms around her knees to shield her nudity.
“Are you leaving?” she asked quietly, watching me dress, though I left my sword next to the bed.
I inclined my head, my throat bobbing with my swallow. When I licked my bottom lip, I tasted her there and my nostrils flared with the memory of her whimpers and her moans.
“Lysi,” I told her. I needed to clear my head. I needed to put distance between us before I decided to risk everything again. “I still have some things that need to be done this night.”
I kept my voice soft and quiet. Even so, she jumped a little when the fire crackled in the basin.
“Tonight?” she asked, incredulous.
“I’ll post a guard outside the door,” I informed her.
Those words made her lips press together. A little softness on her features hardened but she nodded.
“Veekor, kalles,” I told her. “Sleep.”
I didn’t wait for her response. The air was getting tight in thevoliki, a place that had always been my quiet sanctuary.
Turning, I left without another word.
And I strode away like a coward from the only thing that had scared me in a long, long time.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Hissing quietly, I felt the sting of pain as I lowered myself into the warm bathing tub.
Hukri’s lips pressed together and she said, “Once you dry off, apply theuudun,lysi? It will help with the discomfort, I promise.”
I was sore this morning. So incredibly sore, but I sighed as I began to relax in the bathing tub, leaning back against the edge. It was made with a Dakkari’s bulk in mind and so the water covered my neck, stopping just below my chin. And though I had my knees up and pressed to my chest, the surface of the water was unbroken.
“Did you bleed,Missiki?” Hukri asked next, going over to the furs of Wrune’s bed and inspecting them in such a way that made me uncomfortable. She made a clicking sound in the back of her throat when she did see the blood and she bundled them up, snatching them from the bed. “I’ll have these cleaned.”
“Thank you,” I said. Underneath the water, I saw the bruises Wrune had left behind. The ones between my thighs, the ones around my hips and waist.
Sighing, I found that I didn’t mind them. This morning, I felt strangely calm. Last night had been a whirlwind of different and new emotions and sensations. Truthfully, I wasgladfor the calm. Otherwise, I would probably be melancholy or irate or embarrassed.
I hadn’t even cried last night. I was proud of that. After Wrune left, after those dizzying and sublime and wonderful sensations he’d pulled from me, I’d felt incredibly vulnerable. More vulnerable, perhaps, than I’d ever felt, with the exception of the loss of my father.
But I hadn’t cried. I’d waited—for quite some time, truthfully—for Wrune to return. This was hisvoliki, after all. He had to sleep sometime.
Yet, he hadn’t come back.
And it made me wonder where hehadslept.
“Is it not normal for Dakkari to share beds?”
The question slipped from me before I thought better of it.
Biting my lip, I remembered I was a queen now. TheMorakkariof a horde. Wrune might not appreciate me asking such questions of mypiki, though I knew she was duty bound in her loyalties to me.
I had a strange realization at that. That someone was solely onmyside. That it was their duty to see to my comfort and well-being.
Hukri came close and kneeled next to the bathing tub. She must have sensed that something was wrong this morning. I’d been quieter than usual. Typically, I’d have asked her many, many questions by now. I suspected that she’d thought I’d have plenty after thetassimaracelebration last night.
“Humans typically sleep close to their lovers or partners,” I finished quietly. “I just wondered if it was the same for the Dakkari.”
“Lysi,” Hukri said and my belly twisted at the word. “We do share beds. Of course we do.”
