“In my pride, I believed that only magic could have made me want you so much. A want and a need so powerful that in that moment, I gave up everything. Because in that moment, I forgot my horde. Myself. Foryou. You wish to know how you led me through that fog so easily? Because I would have followed youanywhere.”
I brought a hand up to my mouth.
For a male like Wrune, for ahorde kingwho had fought for his position, who had endured endless pain and hardship to be where he was, who had the weighted responsibility of hundreds of lives on his shoulders—for him to disregard all of that for a female he had only just met—I couldfinallyunderstand his hatred of me. It must’ve been an incredibly frightening thing for him.
Now, I understoodwhy.
“Oh, Wrune,” I murmured, biting my lip. “I didn’t…I didn’t mean to—”
“I know, Mina,” he rasped. “Believe me, Ivokkingknow. But I punished you for it regardless…becauseIwas afraid. I was afraid of the power you had over me.”
My shoulders slumped.
This…this had cost him. For such a proud male, this had cost him much to come to me on his knees, to ask for my forgiveness, to tell me that I was his weakness and that it had frightened him.
“What do we do now?” I whispered.
A deep breath filled him. Gently, his hand cupped my face and I felt the warmth of his palm sink into my cheek. We were so close that we shared the same breath. We were so close that I saw the strands of black in his red eyes and saw a tiny nick of a scar I’d never noticed before across his wide nose.
“I wish for us to start anew.”
My breath hitched and my eyes flickered between his own.
“And I will not deny my instincts any longer when I am with you,” he told me.
Instincts?I wondered. What instincts was he talking about?
“You are myMorakkari, mykassikari. I will treat you as such because I have neglected you for much too long,” he continued. My belly fluttered, hearing something in his voice that made me aware just how close he was to me. “I will touch you because I need to. I will take care of you because I need to. I will sleep beside you each night because Ivokkingneedto, Mina.”
I swallowed hard.
“I have given you no reason to take me at my word, but soon, I will prove to you all that I promise. Please let me,” he murmured. “And from this night forward, I will show you everything a husband should be to his wife. I will show you everything a horde king should be to his queen.”
It sounded too good to be true. And I asked myself if I couldallowmyself to give him a second chance.
“I don’t know if I trust you,” I told him honestly. “I haven’t forgotten, you know. I haven’t forgotten your threat. You got me as your queen because of that threat. You have everything to bargain with and I havenothing.”
“No more bargaining between us,” Wrune said. I spied regret and guilt in his gaze, heard it in the gruffness of his words, and my eyes widened in realization. “And I cannot take it back. I think we both know that.”
“There is a lot we cannot take back,” I agreed quietly. On my end as well. I hadn’t forgotten my role in his capture. I could never forget it. The pain he’d endured. His injuries.
“But I know about Tess, I know how much you care for her. Like she is your blood,” Wrune said.
Hearing Tess’ name leave his lips ushered more tears forward. I hadn’t thought he remembered. I hadn’t thought he cared enough to remember a facelessvekkiri’sname.
“So let me bring her to you.”
Those words made me gasp.
“What?” I whispered, meeting his eyes in disbelief.
I didn’t miss the way his expression softened the longer he looked at me. He brought his lips to the center of my palm again.
“I will bring her to you. I will offer her a place among our horde. And any that wish to follow me from the Dead Mountain, I will offer them a home too. Or at least, help them build a new one if they do not wish to remain in the horde.”
He’d once promised death. Now he promisedhope.Life.
The tears rolled down my cheeks and I couldn’t stop them. Everything I wanted…he was freely offering it to me.
