Broken by the Horde King (Horde Kings of Dakkar #4) - Zoey Draven Page 0,18
Nebrik. The other healer, Kilen, was absent—he usually assisted the mokkira later in the day. Nebrik was the healer who I believed the mokkira would give his title to. Because Nebrik was the mokkira’s nephew. Blood was blood.
“Lysi, mokkira,” I murmured, coming to his side. Nebrik was threading fine gold cordage, thin enough to pierce through skin. They were beginning to stitch the wound, the table a bloodied mess. “The grass was drenched in—”
“Lysi, lysi,” the mokkira murmured, impatient as he always was. “I know. I smelled it.”
Kiran shifted and my eyes flickered to him. I was surprised that he had stayed behind with his darukkar. I had expected him to be with his parents.
From across the room, his eyes burned into mine, as if daring me to look away. Nebrik huffed out a small breath, drawing my attention. Nebrik had often made snide comments about Kiran’s rejection of me. The male hated my guts because he knew I was his only real competition for his uncle’s title—and it made working with him near impossible. He lived to get under my skin.
Addressing the mokkira, I began, “Shall I sterilize the—”
But there was a commotion outside and the door to the mokkira’s soliki opened, blinding us with even more morning light. I heard her voice before I saw her.
“Rei kassiri,” breathed the Arakkari of the outpost at the sight of her son.
“Lomma,” Kiran murmured quietly, taking his eyes from me before embracing his mother.
The Arakkari’s eyes were watery with her delight. “You’re home!”
The Arakkari was still as beautiful as she’d been when I’d first seen her all those years ago. She’d been a queen to her horde for many years and now she was the queen of the saruk, proud and strong. Then again, everyone knew her son was her weakness.
My mother had been a piki to the Arakkari. One of her close confidants and friends. When I’d been younger, I’d often accompanied my mother as she tended to the Arakkari, helping her with her clothes and her jewelry and her hair. I remembered hot afternoons sitting with them in the saruk’s center, or long walks perusing the wares and offerings made by members of the outpost.
After my mother’s death, the Arakkari had been kind to my sister and I. But since I was unmated—and very likely always would be—she’d taken me under her wing more so than my sister. She’d taught me the universal tongue when I asked it of her. She kept me apprised of the affairs in Dothik, news that came in from the capital because she knew it interested me. Though, I strongly suspected that she knew I had always been seeking information and news about Kiran.
That had been years ago, however. I no longer met her in private. Every time I tried, her new piki turned me away…and eventually I simply stopped asking to meet with her, though I didn’t understand it.
“Is something wrong?” the Arakkari asked next, taking her son’s hands. “I heard about the polkunu attack.”
The grin he gave her almost stole my breath…because it looked so much like the old Kiran, the boy I used to know, the boy I’d fallen in love with. His smile was easy and charming.
“Does something have to be wrong for me to visit?” he asked.
“You have been away for a long while,” the Arakkari said. She had gone to visit his horde two years ago, had stayed with him for a whole moon cycle before returning to the saruk. Still, she missed him sorely. “What brings you back to the south lands?”
His smile slowly died.
His eyes flickered to me.
I stopped myself from shifting under his gaze, keeping my expression neutral. If he expected me to cower from his eyes like all the rest, he would be sorely disappointed.
“The mokkira of my horde passed into the next life a moon cycle ago,” he finally grated.
Our mokkira made a noise in his throat, never looking up from the darukkar’s arm. “I knew him. He was an accomplished healer. He trained in Dothik, lysi?”
“Lysi. My horde feels the loss of him greatly,” Kiran said softly, tilting his chin down. His tail twitched across the floor. “He was training an apprentice, but he is still young and overwhelmed with this new responsibility.”
I swallowed, pressing my trembling hands to my thighs.
Kiran continued, mostly speaking to his mother, though I had the sense he was addressing us all.
“I plan to claim part of the south lands for this next season.”