“But why set up the encampment so close to it?” I wondered.
“He saw it as our duty. It was our turn, you see,” Hukri said. “TheVorakkarsdecided amongst themselves that one horde should always remain close. To report to the others if something should happen. It was Rath Rowin’s turn and truthfully, I have never seen him so tense during a season. He worries for us. I know he does.”
Hukri sighed and fished out the cloth I’d used to wash myself. She wrung it out and draped it over the edge of the bathing tub.
“So you see, I knew he was telling the truth about you,” Hukri said. She smiled. “And it brings me great relief to see things changing between you. You are even calling him a soft name.”
My brow furrowed. “A…soft name?”
“Lysi,” Hukri said. “You called himsailon.”
I blinked. “That meansstubborn male. Because he is always so—”
Hukri’s laugh cut off my words and I began to realize that I’d been tricked.
“Sailonmeans something like…” Hukri began, grinning as she thought of a suitable translation. “Darling. But the masculine form of it. For a female, you would saysaila.”
My lips parted in disbelief.
My so-called honorable husband had purposefully had me calling him ‘darling’ this entire time?
No wonder he’d given me the translation forstubborn maleso easily, I thought.
I shook my head but then felt a bloom of softened amusement.
“Whatisthe word for ‘stubborn male’ then?” I asked.
Hukri grinned. “Setovanwould be the best translation.”
“Setovan,” I murmured. Then I thought of something else. “And what doesleikamean?”
He’d called me that often. The first time had been when I demonstrated the way I could bend the fog before his entire horde, in those brief moments when our gazes connected and it felt like the world had…softened around us.
Hukri’s smile died but her expression took on a pleased look in its place. “It meansbeautiful.”
My breath hitched. I quickly looked away from mypiki, feeling my belly begin to flutter anew, as I bit my lip to keep from smiling.
He’d been calling mebeautiful? Even when we hadn’t been…together?
I couldn’t figure him out.
A part of me wondered if I’d ever be able to.
“Right,” I whispered, pushing up from the bath. I was no longer shy about my nudity in front of Hukri. She’d seen me naked more times than Wrune had at this point. “Shall I get dressed?”
Hukri retrieved the furs Wrune had draped close to the fire basin. When she handed me them, they felt like a cocoon of warmth and I smiled as I wrapped myself in them.
“As you dress,Missiki,” Hukri said, going towards the bed, not blinking an eye when she saw the mess on it, “I will take these to—”
“No,” I said quickly. “I meant what I said. I’d be embarrassed if anyone had to clean these when it—”
“TheVorakkarknows what he’s doing,Missiki,” Hukri said quietly, a strange tone in her voice that had me stilling. I stepped from the bathing tub and wrapped the furs around me, approaching.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Hukri sighed. “It is no secret among the horde that theVorakkarhas not been sharing your bed. It is no secret among the horde that you two have had a difficult time adjusting to one another after yourtassimara.”
I closed my eyes briefly and blew out a breath. “The horde has been talking about us?”
