I thought I had nearly reached that breaking point after my father died. After our village burned. And I was family-less and without a home in the northlands, on the cusp of the frost. Our prospects had been grim. Our chances of survival low.
Yet, Tess had been there for me. She’d built me back up. She’d been a true friend to me and had always been prior to that.
Without her, I wouldn’t have survived. I would’ve lain down on my father’s grave and wished to join him, wherever he was.
But what had I truly gained in continuing on, in staying alive?
Pain and hunger and aching hurt.
I thought of Tess’ betrayal under the Dead Mountain. Despite her trying to protect me, she’d talked toBenn,of all people, behind my back and gave him more ammunition to hurt me. She’d believed Emmi when he said I’d stolen food from the others. She’d believed the worst about me when I thought her faith in me was unwavering. Sheknewme. Yet, she’d betrayed me, swayed easily by mere lies. Too easily.
I’m lost, I thought.I didn’t know where to go from here.
I had no home. After my father died, I never did. There was nowhere I felt safe. Nowhere I could run to when I was in trouble.
I was on my own.
Trulyon my own.
And I was a prisoner in a Dakkari horde.
“What do you want from me, horde king?” I asked him, my voice hardening.
I was hurt and pissed off and mortified and possibly at my lowest point ever. And I had two choices: give up or move on.
I thought that I was angry enough to…move on.
“I want you to eat,” he rasped after a lengthy pause as he studied me. “Then I want you to sleep.”
My jaw tightened. “Very well. That’s hard to do, however, when my hands are tied.”
“Kalles.”
“I think you meansarkia,” I corrected, my tone sounding bitter even to my own ears.
I didn’t care. I was allowed bitterness and anger, if only for tonight.
Rowin blew out a rough, sharp breath through his nostrils. His hand slid out towards me again and I tensed when he drew close.
His scent was clean and crisp. Like that first deep breath on the morning of the first frost in the northlands. Fresh and new. Underneath it was another scent I couldn’t place, only it reminded me of bundled warm furs and a crackling fire, smoky and musky. So at odds with the first scent.
And of course, there was another. The scent of the bone broth I’d spit at him. But I couldn’t bring myself to feel sorry forthat.
“If you want to play a battle of wills and stubbornness,” he began, “I think you will find I will win,sarkia.”
He emphasized that last word, which ended in a purr, as he reached behind me. I felt the rope snap as his claws dragged through it with one clean swipe.
I stilled as my hands came free.
“Ahh, my little Mina, I can see your mind working,” he rasped, that gaze rapt on me as he returned to his crouch before me. “But I advise against your plans. There is a guard posted out front. Thisvolikiis positioned at the back of the encampment and even if you weren’t spotted running through the horde, you would still need to make it past the gates and mydarukkarspositioned there. Not to mention the ones I left at the edge of the fog.”
I swallowed.
“Even still, you’d have to get pastme,” he growled.
I looked at him, his bulk somehow looking graceful even in a low crouch. I would never be able to overpower him, or outrun him.
“But I dare you to try,” he finished. “I like the hunt.”
