Madness of the Horde King - Zoey Draven Page 0,135

constant scowl, or the scars lining his flesh, or the fact he was almost twice their size.

By the end of the evening, I was itching with restlessness and I wanted—and needed—to be alone with Davik. We hadn’t been alone since I’d woken. We hadn’t been alone since before he’d left for the Dead Mountain.

“Has a voliki been prepared for you?” I asked them.

Maman hesitated and then said, “Yes. We are staying in one together for now.”

I nodded, my gaze straying to Davik again. He was standing, his arms crossed over his chest, near the entrance of the voliki, where he’d been nearly all day, as if he knew how much I needed my family close to me. He didn’t want to interfere, though I wanted him next to me.

“Will you…” Maman asked before starting again, “Will you be staying with us there?”

I looked at her, noticing that Davik seemed to tense at her words, noticing that Maxen, Eli, and Viola’s eyes were on me, anticipating my answer. I felt a little guilty at the question. I had just been reunited with my family—the one thing I’d wanted and craved and thought about since we’d been separated by the Ghertun. I should want to spend every last moment I could with them.

But I had a male now too. A horde king with red eyes and a deep scar down his cheek that he still hadn’t told me about. A horde king who loved me, as I loved him.

“No, my place is with him,” I told her, catching my siblings’ eyes too. Something like…understanding seemed to dawn in my mother’s gaze. “But I’ll see you in the morning. Bright and early.”

Maman’s lips lifted slightly, just a small curl at the corner.

“Are—are you sure, Vienne?” Viola asked quietly. She had barely looked at Davik, had actively tried not to. My gut churned, thinking about everything she’d experienced under the Dead Mountain, and I knew where her hesitation, her fear for me, lay.

“Yes,” I said, catching Davik’s gaze, reaching out to squeeze Viola’s hand. “I am certain. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Maman reached out to cup my face, brushing her thumb over my cheek. “All right, mon coeur. Sleep well.”

We said our goodbyes for the night. Maxen and Eli left first, inclining their heads at Davik, who regarded them silently as they left. Viola exited next, though she kept her head down, her pace seeming to quicken as she passed him. As for my mother, she stopped briefly when she reached him, reaching out her hand to place it on his forearm.

“Thank you,” was what she told him, a brief silence stretching between them as they regarded one another.

Finally, Davik inclined his head to her. This was uncharted territory for him but he was trying.

Maman patted his arm, looking over her shoulder at me one last time…then she smiled and left the voliki. Outside, I heard them all, speaking quietly, their footsteps retreating, no doubt heading to their own home for the night.

Then my gaze went to Davik, saw that his was already on me.

We were finally alone.

Chapter Fifty-Two

“Get me out of this bed please,” my leikavi pleaded softly.

“If your strength was returned to you, rei kassiri,” I rasped, uncurling myself from my place at the entrance, “then I would not allow you to leave it.”

Her cheeks flushed at my words, her gaze almost shy as she watched me stalk towards her.

Thousands of emotions welled up within me. For so long, I had only kept rage and anger close to me, fueling me through this life. Now, I didn’t know what to do with the others. I didn’t know how to handle them barricading themselves in my chest.

“Are you…are you all right?” Vienne whispered to me when I knelt at the side of the bed.

I leaned forward, capturing her lips with my own, threading my palm around the nape of her neck. The kiss was a desperate, frantic thing…my own way of ensuring that she was all right. That Kakkari had spared her life, that she was pink-cheeked and wide-eyed, warm and alive and here against me.

“Not yet,” I murmured against her lips, my voice ragged with the truth of it.

The past week had been hell. One I never wanted to revisit. As Vorakkar, I always had to be strong. My horde could never see weakness. But this week…I was certain Vienne saw the strain of it in my eyes. Up until today, I wasn’t certain I’d ever be able to look into