Page 5

He offered his hand, palm up.

I shook my head and scrambled backward. If my tunic wasn’t already muddy and soiled, I knew it was now. “Nyet,” I exclaimed.

“Don’t be afraid.”

What did he mean? Don’t be afraid? One of his warriors had already attacked me and proceeded to claim me as his servant. And with him claiming our entire settlement as his, he’d literally just done the same thing.

“I’m not afraid of you, barbarian. Let me go! I don’t want to be used,” I insisted.

“You speak Aurrakian sporsum fluently. Then you understand us well. Doa’tek was right about one thing. You are stubborn. That’s no matter. Not for me.”

He reached down and picked me up from the ground. I was so tired of these barbarians picking me up and laying claim to me or whatever. I grabbed the first thing I could get my hand on when he leaned into me. His blade. I thrusted the sharp end of the knife into the thickest part of his thigh. My fight or flight responses had kicked in. The act was done now and couldn’t be undone. The only sound that ruptured the air was my shriek of panic when I realized that I had outright stabbed the alleged king.

Khol neither flinched nor cried out. He extracted the blade from his flesh. Blood immediately began to seep from the wound. His blood was a dark red, almost black, which told me he was definitely a full-blooded Aurrakian.

This time when Khol raised his emerald green eyes to meet mine, he had a noticeably scowl on his face. “You are a stealthy little human, aren’t you?” He reached for his thigh and faltered once as he took a couple steps toward me, but he regained his composure just as quickly as he lost it.

Another one of his warriors tried to intervene and another came to his aid, but Khol held up his hand, halting both warriors in their tracks. I imagined his men could have killed me for injuring their king. I imagined that Khol could have done the same and probably would. Oh well. I’d rather be dead than some barbarian’s pleasure slave.

Khol was strong. I could see it now. A flesh wound like that would have sent any normal being to his knees, but not Khol. He stood there like the wound was no more than a paper cut. He wiped the blade clean with the inside of his wristguard and shoved it back into the pouch on his belt.

I turned and took off running.

I made it about five steps and then my feet came up off the ground as Khol scooped me up in one swift motion. I grunted in defeat, but I didn’t bother fighting the warrior. I knew he wasn’t going to let me go.

“You will regret what you did,” he stated as he carried me.

“I regret nothing,” I replied.

“No one has ever spilled my blood before like-so and lived to tell about it, sersemoka latsus pros.”

“I may be stubborn, but I’m not your little kitten,” I stated, defiantly.

“Once I turn you over on my lap and spank your backside until you’re begging for forgiveness, you will be what I tell you to be. And make no mistake, little kitten, for the rest of the night, I’ll be the only reason you scream.”