“Fine,” he clipped out. “Tomorrow. And you will practice strengthening your ability every day.”
“So that’s my purpose here?” I asked, my voice sounding hollow to my own ears.
“Until I say otherwise,” he rasped, baring his teeth a little, “lysi.”
I really didn’t like him, I decided. And he clearly didn’t like me. I’d go so far as to say he detested the mere sight of me.
So why did he kiss me again last night?I couldn’t help but wonder. Humans kissed when they desired one another or…loved one another.
Perhaps Dakkari used them as punishments.
We were staring at one another—or rather, he was glaring at me—when the tent flap opened and I winced when the bright light made my eyes water and my temple throb.
When my eyes adjusted, I saw two Dakkari males hauling what looked like a massive water basin.A bathing tub, I realized, oval in shape and deep. Back at our village, we had a few we’d all shared, though they hadn’t been as big as the one currently being hauled inside.
The horde king said, “Jurak,” to the males and with a sharp point of his chin, he gestured to the open space next to the fire basin.
They heeded his order quickly and didn’t even look in my direction. In fact, they seemed to make it a pointnotto look at me. They left but quickly returned, hauling in barrels of water that steamed when it met the inside of the tub.
They filled the entire bath in record time. I was filled with both longing and trepidation when I realized it was meant forme.
Once it was filled, the males left. When the tent flap opened a final time, I saw a Dakkari female lingering on the edges of the entrance.
She was beautiful, I noticed, with hair longer than the horde king’s, plaited in an elegant line down her back. Her complexion was dark and golden from the sun and her eyes were yellow. Even the long, jagged scar that tracked down her face, over her left eye, didn’t detract from her beauty.
She was dressed in a simple shift dress spun from a light material that swayed as she moved. Its color was a cross between brown and orange, an earthy tone that complimented her skin.
I’d never seen a Dakkari female before.
“Jiria,” Rowin said and the female approached immediately. In the universal language, he told the female, “You will help her bathe.”
My breath hitched.
When I swung my gaze back to the horde king, he was watching me, his eyes narrowed inchallenge.
“Undress,sarkia.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
“With y-you in here?” Mina stammered quietly, her already wide eyes rounding even more.
My nostrils flared.
“Shy now,kalles?” I rasped. “You came to me bared the first time I ever saw you. I assure you, I remember every moment.”
A deep flush raced to her cheeks as she stared at me in shock. When I felt my cock twitch in response, at thememoryof her body, I growled, rising from my crouch. I backed away towards the table, watching as Hukriapproached the little witch.
Hukri helped Mina stand, though thevekkiri kallesdid so begrudgingly. With a gritted jaw, I kept my eyes on her. Another one of my tests? Though I wasn’t certain whom I was testing…her or me.
A test I was already failing, I realized, given the state of my thickening cock.
Hukri stripped Mina of her dirty, grey dress. The human female was frozen in place, her eyes wide on me, not even seeming to recognize that she was now nude.
My lips pressed together, my fists clenching at the sight of her abdomen. A large, blackened bruise had bloomed there. From when Benn had kicked her, I knew.
That was just yesterday morning, I reminded myself. Was I pushing her too hard? Or was I justified in my treatment of her, keeping her chained like my prisoner? I wasn’t certain.
Smaller bruises lined her upper arm. Bruises from fingers. The cut on her lip was healing and while her lid was no longer so swollen over her eye, another bruise marred her flesh there, stretching over her cheekbone.
