Madness of the Horde King - Zoey Draven Page 0,141

energy of my gift in front of me, only to feel my heart throb in memory that it was gone.

“I had wondered if it would change the way you saw me,” he murmured. “Knowing what I did to them.”

“Well, it doesn’t,” I rasped, sitting up in bed, clutching the furs to my naked breasts. “How could you think it would?”

Davik sat up too, his golden tattoos swirling in the firelight that filled the voliki.

“You have known death. You have seen violence,” Davik told me. “What I did went beyond that though. That night, the ones that came after, Mala—”

“Don’t say her name here,” I whispered.

He blew out a breath, but continued, “Those nights were the ugliest, most monstrous part of me.”

“I think you think that,” I told him, reaching out to take his hand. “But I don’t. Maybe that is wrong of me but you rid this world of two terrible beings, in a way they deserved. Does a part of me wish that they were rotting away in the Dothikkar’s dungeons right now? Thinking about the horrific things they did to an innocent female and her family? Knowing they would die in darkness and filth? Yes. But I don’t think you could move on, knowing they breathed, knowing they still lived. I would never think less of you for that, Davik. Their lives were yours, to do with as you pleased, the moment they took your family from you.”

Davik was staring at me in surprise.

I licked my lips. “Whatever happened to her? Is she gone too?”

“I do not know, nor have I ever tried to find out,” Davik said quietly. “If she lives, she would never dare to show her face to me now. Undoubtedly, she heard that I am a Vorakkar now.”

“Is it terrible of me to wish she is dead?” I whispered. “Is it terrible for me to wish that, knowing what she did to you? And if she is not, then I wish I could wield the heartstone’s power all over again to end her life.”

We had barely spoken of Mala. After he’d told me of her, the Ghertun had been near the encampment and Lokkaru had died that same night.

His forehead touched mine.

“My female is perhaps as bloodthirsty as I am,” he murmured.

“Then maybe we are perfect for one another,” I told him.

I let out a shuddering breath against him, feeling his warmth against me deflating some of the sudden rage burning hot in my breast.

“I love even the ugly parts of you,” I whispered. His eyes flicked to mine. “Don’t doubt that, Davik. Promise me.”

“I promise, leikavi,” he murmured, touching his lips to mine, and my eyelids fluttered closed with that sweet kiss, so at odds with what we’d just been discussing. I clutched at his shoulders as his tongue stroked mine. Despite my exhaustion, I felt my blood begin to heat. I pressed closer.

He growled, pulling away, running a hand over his face. “Nik, not for some time, Vienne.”

I knew he was right. My body was in no state to take him, to take his strength.

Still, I sighed when he pulled me close again, my skin humming.

A thought occurred to me then—making me tense—brought forward by our conversation.

“Where is the heartstone, Davik?”

“Here,” he murmured.

I assumed he meant in the voliki, likely hidden away where I’d stolen it from in the first place.

“You took it from the tree,” I murmured. “Why?”

“Wasn’t it obvious?” he rasped. “When I found you at the tree…you were writhing in pain, black veins all over you. I was terrified that you were dying and I was very determined that that would not happen. I was always going to use it, if I found Lozza had no cure for the vovic.”

My hands trembled, remembering that dangerous power. “I am thankful that you didn’t.”

He hesitated.

“Davik?” I whispered, feeling his hesitation prickle at the base of my neck.

“I did try,” he admitted.

I froze, tensed, my heart skipping several beats.

“What?”

I struggled to face him again, my gaze darting between his eyes.

“Two days ago. You were not waking. I feared…I feared you never would. So I tried to use it,” he murmured. Dread pooled in my belly and I was only marginally relieved when he said, “It did not work. I think the power was still depleted. It barely glowed.”

“Why would you do that?” I cried softly. Suddenly, I felt that anger that he’d told me about. He had tried to use the heartstone for me…but if I had woken up only to find