Perhaps she was far more cunning than I’d originally given her credit for.
She didn’t respond. Her gaze shuttered, briefly, as if imagining living in a different place. When her eyes opened, she gave me a small smile—but it also struck me as sad. Her shoulders sagged, though I thought my vow would have given her hope and lifted her spirits.
“I’ll figure out a way to get the key,” she promised quietly, reaching forward to touch my chest. I felt her words seep into me, like she was pressing them inside me, as did the heat of her palm.
My heartbeat sped at her touch, a reaction I would later curse.
But I was a horde king of Dakkar. I trusted very few and even then, I trusted no one completely.
So the moment she left the room, taking her bloodied cloth and bloodied water with her, I didn’t waste a second.
The chains began to rattle once more. My wound tugged in my shoulder but I gritted my teeth against it. My wrists throbbed and bled, chafed raw, even under myVorakkarcuffs.
Plans always changed.
So I worked on deepening the notch in the pillar because I would rely on no one but myself. And if the female somehowdidprocure the key and if shedidlead me through the fog…
Well, she would be sorry she ever gave me those ancient words.
Lo rune tei’ri.
I scoffed.
Shewouldbe mine, I vowed.
And I would do whatever I pleased with the treacherous little witch once I escaped from this hell.
Chapter Seventeen
Islipped from the Dead Mountain before anyone stirred the next morning. Walking into the fog, I felt it embrace me. Its tendrils roved over my exposed flesh but I paid it no mind. I needed to make this quick and I prayed that members of his horde were at the western edge.
When I thought I was close, I breathed in deep. Closing my eyes, I imagined that shield, small at first, no larger than the tip of my finger. Then I fully formed it in my mind, giving it edges, giving it resistance, thinking that it would protect me,believingthat it would. And when I felt confident that I could feel it, that I knew it in its entirety, I sent it hurtling out from me, growing and growing and growing.
I felt that familiar explosion of energy. It felt easier this time, now that I knew what to expect. And when I opened my eyes, I found the pathway.
The red around me fell away. I’d felt thewhooshof it as it flung itself against the barrier but I didn’t allow it entry. There was a strain behind my right eye, a pinch in my mind at the effort to keep it back.
To my relief, I saw the same male I’d encountered before. He was sitting on apyroki, the Dakkari’s battle-bred beasts that roved this land. I’d never seen one up close and I watched as thepyrokireared up onto its back legs, letting out a wild sound, startled by the energy that my barrier had created.
The male kept his eyes on me, even as he urged hispyrokiback under his control. The moment the beast had settled, he swung off his mount, landing with a heavy thud on the compact earth.
“Who are you,kalles?” he asked me, approaching carefully, his hands out on either side of him, as if to show me he wouldn’t make sudden movements, or reach for his glinting sword.
“Who are you to the horde king?” I wondered, ignoring his question. When he stepped too close to the edge, I remembered Rowin’s warning, and I rippled my barrier, closing it off until the male ceased walking.
He was alone this time, as if he’d woken before the other men, hopeful that his horde king would return this morning.
“I am hispujerak,” the male said.
My brow furrowed. Hispujerak?
“I am his second-in-command,” he clarified. “His general.”
“So you lead the horde in his stead?” I questioned, memorizing that word.
Pujerak.
Another Dakkari word that I could add to my growing list.
