How could I tell her that there had been no plotting on my part for most of those instances? How could I tell her that I’d wanted to warm her because I needed to? How could I tell her that I’d wanted to comfort her because I needed to?
“The only thing I ever lied to you about, Mina,” I told her instead, “was that the priestesses knew how to defeat the fog. Everything else was the truth.”
“And how can I believe that?” she asked me. She didn’t seem angry. Or upset. In fact, she was quite calm. She met my eyes steadily.
And in that moment, I knew, without a doubt, that I’d made the right decision. I knew right then that she would make the horde of Rath Rowin proud to have her as its queen. I knew right then that we were where Kakkari had meant for us to be.
“You said it so convincingly that I believed it immediately. You are talented in lying. And that makes me nervous.”
I sighed. Looking out over the horde, I broke her gaze briefly. But I couldn’t stay away from her eyes for long.
“In time, you will see I speak the truth,” I said. “In time, you will find your husband prides himself on loyalty and honor.”
Mina’s gaze was unwavering but she blinked at the word ‘husband.’ As if right then was the first instant when she realized everything I would become toher, not everything she would become tome.
Her swallow was audible.
“Ask me for something,” I told her, sliding my hand up her back again to delve into her hair. The feast fell away from us. It was only the two of us. Like fog swirled around us and no one else existed. “Ask me for anything you’d like on ourtassimaraand I will give it to you.”
“Don’t attack the Dead Mountain,” she said immediately.
I huffed out a short breath. “That deal was already made between us, Mina. And as long as you are at my side, you know their safety is guaranteed. Ask me for something that I can give you.”
Her gaze was cool. Assessing.
Even still, the request she made of me caught me off guard. It surprised me because it was entirely unexpected.
I had expected her to ask for jewels or silk or the whitest of furs to keep her warm, as most females would have. Then again, Mina was not like most of the females I’d encountered in my life. At the very least, I had expected a rueful request for me to let her go.
Instead, she said softly, “Then give me your name, husband.”
I stiffened underneath her. My spine and my cock. Hearing her refer to me as ‘husband’ was jarring and yet, it filled me with a purpose I hadn’t even known I possessed. Alonging. It filled me with…pride.
However, there was no denying the discomfort I felt brewing in my gut.
Names are important. Names can be used against you, my father had often said.And so, never give them the opportunity to use it against you.
No one on this planet knew my given name anymore. It had died with my father and that knowledge lay buried with him in the northlands beside the mother I had never known.
Yet, the person I trusted least in my horde was now asking me for it. The person I trusted least was now my wife. She would be the mother to my children and the salvation for my horde if it was ever threatened.
I had not forgiven her for her betrayal, though I knew she’d truly had no choice. And I didn’t think she had forgiven me for my own betrayal either, or for the way I’d callously threatened those she still cared about under the Dead Mountain.
“That is what I want,” she told me. “I want your name. Your true name. Not the one they all call you.”
If she was testing me, she would find that I was true to my word. I said I’d give her anything this night. A gift on ourtassimara, to go with the others that lay within herdeviri, the chests of trinkets and riches I’d collected over my lifetime, a gift for my future bride.
I dragged her close, making her breath hitch. My hand curled around the nape of her neck and my nose brushed the shell of her tiny, cold ear as I leaned close.
“Wrune,” I told her. I caught the subtle shiver that raced down her spine and heard her small gasp, as if she was surprised I’d actually given it to her. “My name is Wrune of Rath Rowin,rei sarkia. Now you know the true name of your husband.”
Chapter Thirty-Three
Wrune.
“It sounds like ruin,” I whispered, meeting his eyes when he pulled back.
His jaw clenched at the comment. A comment I hadn’t meant to voice out loud.
