“Even before then,” he told me, shaking his head. “Though some might not have seen it.”
“The Ghertun?”
He inclined his head. “And theDothikkarhimself.”
I stilled, not expecting him to say such a thing about his own king. Then again, we’d always heard the whispers of unrest between theDothikkarand his horde kings.
“His greed stretches far, whereas his own strength does not,” Wrune told me. “Imbalance in power. A king of the Dakkari that has never once stepped foot in the wild lands, where Kakkari herself lives in all things.”
“Are you saying that the fog is a…a punishment? An act of rebalancing the power on Dakkar?”
“Perhaps,” Wrune said. “Roth Drokka’s queen used the heartstone under the Dead Mountain. That type of power isimmense. It draws oneverythingto use it. If there was already an imbalance on Dakkar, the heartstone would have been the last drop that tipped the scales.”
“And me?” I whispered. “And the others?”
Wrune’s expression softened. “Kakkari’s warriors.”
My brow furrowed. My lips parted.
His expression darkened. “But your gift comes at a price. They always seem to.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rath Drokka and his queen both possess gifts of Kakkari,” he said. Yes, he’d mentioned it before. “Drokka can speak to the dead. He has since he was a child apparently.” My lips parted. “HisMorakkarican influence the will of others.”
“And what is the price that Kakkari demands of them?” I asked, feeling a chill down my spine.
Wrune blew out a long breath. “Drokka was—andis—called the Mad Horde King. Many thought him out of his mind. Screaming into the night. Speaking to things that were not there.”
My lips pressed together.
“And his queen…she experienced great pain whenever she used her own gift, sometimes leaving her bedridden for days.”
Our eyes connected and held.
“I know what you felt out on the plains, Mina,” he murmured. “I felt that pain and I don’t want you to feel it again.”
“That was the only time,” I told him, shaking my head. “The only time that it ever happened and only because I pushed my limits. Usually, I would just feel drained of my strength, of my energy.”
He took in a deep breath. “Still, I will not risk you using it.”
“I don’t feel tired now,” I whispered to him, shifting until I turned to face him, kneeling next to his side. Between my legs, I felt a tight twinge but I ignored it, knowing that it would take time to get used to him again. I pressed my hand to his chest, warming it on his skin. “Just the opposite.”
“What were you thinking of?” he wanted to know. “Just now?”
My cheeks heated a little and a sound of interest rose from his throat at the sight of it.
“Tell me,” he murmured, leaning up. His hand slid into my hair and I practicallymeltedat the sensation of his touch. “Tell me,rei Morakkari.”
“I was just thinking that I wanted to be like we were forever,” I whispered, feeling a little silly saying it out loud. His gaze flooded black at the words, his hand tightening in my hair. I touched his forearm, the heat of his gold cuffs warming my thumb. “That I wanted nothing to touch us, that I wanted to keep us safe.”
“You enclosed me inside with you,” he noted.
I swallowed and nodded. “Yes.”
Biting my lip, I thought about telling him. And then decided that I wanted to.
“I’ve felt it before. I mean, I’ve done it before. Even before the fog. Even when I was a child. But I don’t think I realized what it was or what was happening.”
