Madness of the Horde King - Zoey Draven Page 0,102

affection in his gaze. Warmth. For me. “That will be my promise to you, Vienne. A vow to my wife that you will have them back. They will be safe here.”

Tears filled my eyes but he’d seen me cry so much that I wasn’t even embarrassed by them. His words felt like a punch in my gut. So sweet and tantalizing. A dream that was just within reach but would slip further and further away the closer I came.

“You can’t promise me that,” I told him.

He frowned, his eyes narrowing. “You think I cannot bring them to you?”

I didn’t doubt that. I doubted that they would live long enough to ‘be safe here,’ as he claimed.

This was exactly what I’d feared.

And I feared I would have to use my gift on him one last time in the coming week. The need to flee the horde was buzzing underneath my skin now, no matter how much the thought cut me. I didn’t want to leave this place.

I didn’t want to leave him.

Soon, he might not give you a choice, my mind whispered.

A sense of calm washed over me because I knew what I had to do. I’d always known that this was temporary. That he was. A small, exciting, gut-wrenching, wonderful blip in my life.

I’d never been in love before. I’d never experienced the kind of warm, settled, nourished love that my parents had. But once, my mother had told me that when she’d fallen in love with my father, just looking at him made her heart ache with pain while also making her feel like bursting with happiness.

I’d never understood that until now. How someone could make you hurt while also making you incredibly happy…

I think Maman ached when she’d fallen in love with my father because she knew that one day she’d have to live without him.

Like Devina, maybe she’d had a feeling, a knowing, of what was to come.

I didn’t have the gift of foresight but even I knew what would come next.

“Just give me time,” I whispered. I was a coward. I couldn’t tell him ‘no.’

His eyes darted back and forth between mine, trying to read something in my expression that wasn’t in my words.

“This…this is a lot to take in right now, Davik,” I said, hoping that he would understand. “After everything that’s happened tonight…”

I still felt his seed leaking from my body. I felt marked. I felt changed.

He thought I was talking about his roughness, his intensity during sex tonight and I saw a flash of shame cross his features. But since I was a coward, I didn’t correct his assumption.

“Very well,” he said, inclining his head. His eyes were still flickering between mine. He knew something was wrong…but he couldn’t figure it out. “We will discuss it more in the morning.”

I nodded, though I had no intention to.

“Let us sleep,” he murmured. Then he glanced down. “Or would you prefer to bathe first?”

“Actually,” I said, stepping around him, “I want to check on Lokkaru. To make sure she’s okay after the commotion earlier.”

Davik frowned.

I wiped up his seed still trailing down my thigh with my torn, discarded trews, knowing I would need another pair. But for now, I merely shoved my feet in my boots and grabbed Davik’s fur cloak, knowing it would cover me all the way down to my ankles.

“You sleep,” I told him. “I’ll be right back.”

His jaw was tight and he followed me outside when I stepped from the voliki. The encampment was quieter than it’d been before the Ghertun but darukkars were still milling around. It seemed as if Davik had posted more nightly patrols but still, as I made my way towards Lokkaru’s voliki, I felt his eyes on me the entire way.

The knowledge gave me a lump in my throat but I swallowed it down. When I reached Lokkaru’s home, there was only a small glow flickering from underneath the entrance flap. I ducked my head inside, only to find the older Dakkari female sleeping in her bed.

I stepped inside and breathed in the sweet scent of kuveri. I thought I would be sick of it by now, since we’d made dozens and dozens of blue candles with the berry, but it was comforting. Familiar.

It was warm inside the voliki so I briefly shrugged out of Davik’s furs, my tunic hanging just above my knees. My gaze trailed down to my wrist, my lips pressing together when I saw more veins had blackened and were continuing to