Instead, I cocked my head to one side.
“Vrogul the Stormseeker, why do you continue to bow to Callor?”
I felt him stiffen, felt his hand curl away from me.
“What?” he repeated, his voice now hoarse and adorably befuddled.
“Callor is the chief of the mainland Battleborn, aye?” He’d told me of them, and how his father had founded this sept. “How long do you intend to prostrate yourself to him?”
This time, Vrogul looked away, withdrawing his fingers from me, placing his hands on my waist and pushing me away from him.
I shall not lie; the loss of him left me…bereft.
Vrogul lowered me until my toes could curl around the pebbles at the bottom of the pool, then turned to scoop up something. Ah, the soap, which he’d dropped earlier.
“Vrogul, I?—”
“I pledged my honor,” he grumbled, stepping behind me and reaching for my braid.
I was surprised, but remembered he’d claimed plans to wash my hair, so I didn’t object when he untied the plait and began to run his fingers through the strands. Standing there in the middle of the warm pool, without his warmth and arms around me, I felt…vulnerable.
I didn’t like it.
So I fell back on the part of my nature which had been getting me in trouble for more years than I could count: My quarrelsome contrariness.
“You pledged your honor to Callor, aye.”
I tipped my head back as Vrogul began to rub the soap in my hair.
“What didhepledge toyou?”
“Yer hair is longer than mine, lass. How do ye manage it?”
He was changing the subject?
“I do notmanage it,” I snapped. “I hate it this long, but ‘twas easier than dealing with the suspicion from the rest of the clan—I meanvillage! Thevillagewhere I lived! My home!”
His fingers dragged the soap suds through my hair, then returned to my scalp, and it felt better than aught else ever had—except Vrogul’s mouth on my nipples.
“I like it,” he muttered. “It just seems like a headache.”
My hairwasa headache. ‘Twasalsoannoying that he was avoiding my question.
“Vrogul, what did Callor pledge you?”
His fingertips dug into my scalp, massaged.
“I…he pledged naught. He demanded loyalty and honor.”
He sounded…uncertain. I could work with that. I softened my tone as I sighed and sank back into his touch.
“You are a chief, Vrogul,” I said quietly. “Haveyougiven your people a pledge?”
“Aye, of course. Why do ye think I work so hard to keep them safe? ‘Tis a constant headache—Fook.”
He began to cup water to rinse my hair.
“Callor is powerful.”
