rushed out, “and therefore I am responsible for his actions. Please. He is young. He will never do this again. I promise.” Even though we were only five years apart, sometimes I felt ten or twenty years older than Kivan. “Take me instead.”
“Luna, no!” Kivan growled, frustrated, swinging on the horde king. “Don’t listen to her.”
But the horde king never took his eyes from me. I felt trapped by them, like I could never look away.
The messenger beside the horde king addressed him in a low tone with, “Vorakkar, kivi nekkari dothanu un kevf?”
The horde king didn’t respond immediately to whatever the messenger asked. As the moments stretched on, my blood grew hotter and raced faster until I heard it rushing in my ears. Still, we watched one another, as I wondered what he would decide.
Because I knew his words to be true…he could do whatever he wished. The Dakkari had the authority and power and strength over any being that found a home on their planet, however unforgiving that home might be. It was the deal the Uranian Federation had made with the Dakkari, for access to their closed planet.
“Vorakkar,” the messenger repeated after a long moment.
I stiffened when the horde king stepped forward. In one fluid motion, he unsheathed a small dagger from the thick band around his waist. His movements were surprisingly graceful, smooth, and yet still impatient as he gripped my cloak.
I didn’t have time to feel fear—for surely he meant to end my life, as I’d requested—before that dagger dragged down with one quick motion.
Instead of pain, I felt cool air shift across my skin. He’d cut the front of my cloak and he pulled the sides away for a better glimpse…of my body. Humiliation, or perhaps relief, made my cheeks hot as I realized what he was doing, even with my nonexistent experience with males.
Kivan, however, didn’t seem to know since he demanded, his voice surprisingly outraged in front of the Dakkari, “What are you doing to her?”
The horde king didn’t answer him. It was as if Kivan didn’t even exist in his world. Though I was wearing old, worn pants and a dirt-smudged tunic underneath the cloak, the way he looked at me…I felt naked under his gaze, bared for him, as if he could see every inch of my flesh.
Outrage slowly began to burn in my belly, but I kept it leashed within. He was inspecting me like I was something to be bought at the marketplace, a new tunic or a shiny bauble.
“Kassikari,” the horde king said suddenly. His tone was low, the words like a rough caress across my flesh. My eyes flashed up to his, surprised by something I heard in his voice, though I couldn’t identify what. I found he wasn’t looking down at my body any longer, but at me.
The tension in the circle suddenly doubled, the Dakkari males straightening even further, their golden swords dipping.
The messenger said, “Vorakkar? Erun kalles nekkar?”
“Lysi,” the horde king replied. The gold beads in his hair clinked together when he tilted his head. Addressing me in the universal tongue, he asked, “You wish to offer your life in exchange for your brother’s offense?”
I was proud my voice didn’t tremble as I said, “I do.”
“You are willing to die for him?” he asked next.
The memory of my mother’s last moments, begging me to protect Kivan, even as she choked on her own blood—so red it looked black on the ice—made my voice hoarse as I said, “I am.”
“Luna, no—”
“If I decide not to end your life or your brother’s,” the horde king murmured lowly, his gaze dropping down to my body again, his voice deepening even more, “will you serve me, kalles?”
There was no mistaking the meaning behind his words or the way his eyes roamed over the modest curves of my body. Goosebumps broke out over my flesh as I whispered, “Serve you?”
“Lysi,” he rasped.
He wanted me as his whore, wanted me to warm his bed, wanted to use my body for his pleasure…in exchange for my brother’s life.
There was no choice. I’d already made up my mind before they’d entered the village gates. This had always been the second possibility.
Dread swarmed in my belly. I felt like I was floating outside my body as I whispered, numb, “I will.”
Movement behind me made the horde king’s gaze snap away. Before I realized what had happened, Kivan had yanked one of the gold swords from one of the Dakkari’s grip and pushed