And off we went, Diandra and I, followed by Sheena, guards in front and rear, moving swiftly through the encampment toward the dais.
“I forgot to ask and before I forget again,” I told her, “I need to find a new bride named Narinda.”
Her head turned to me and her hand on mine in the crook of her elbow squeezed. “Pardon, my dear?”
“I need to find a bride named Narinda. She helped me; we were in the Hunt together. I haven’t seen her since. I want to make sure she’s all right. Check up on her,” I explained and Diandra nodded.
“I will ask Seerim to see if he can find your Narinda.”
“Thank you,” I replied. “Or, I mean, shahsha.”
She smiled her approval then her eyes flitted over my shoulder and they narrowed.
I looked over my shoulder to see a man, not a native, but one with blond hair, a hat on his head, blue eyes and old-fashioned clothing, white shirt with laces at the top (that kind of needed to be washed), tan breeches, brown boots. And he wore a low-slung belt on his hips with a nasty looking knife attached to it.
His eyes sifted through the guards at our front then Diandra and it hit me he was walking at our sides and he was doing it with something on his mind
“Dahksahna,” he mumbled when his eyes hit me.
Yep, he was walking at our sides with something on his mind.
“Veeyoo,” a guard behind us grunted, the man looked over his shoulder and said something conciliatory to the guard, I felt Diandra’s hand tighten on mine then he turned back to me.
“I am a man from your land,” he told me, I blinked and my step faltered.
“You’re from Seattle?” I asked, my heart in my throat but he blinked back.
“Erm… no, Middleland,” he replied.
“Veeyoo,” the guard behind us grunted again, this time a little more impatiently and a lot more scarily and the man quickly glanced at the guard and his manner became urgent.
“The Dax will not like you speaking to his bride,” Diandra warned. “She is not of your land. She is of another land but now she is Korwahk, she is queen. I advise you step away.”
He ignored Diandra, something I didn’t like all that much, and kept his eyes on me.
“It is said you are having difficulty adjusting,” he remarked.
“She is fine,” Diandra snapped.
He ignored her again and spoke to me. “You fight with your king,” he stated.
“I –” I started but Diandra talked over me.
“She is the warrior queen. The warrior queen has a fierce spirit. It is legend. Step away.”
The dais was coming up, his eyes went in that direction, a slash of fear he couldn’t quite hide marked his features, the warrior grunted again, “Veeyoo!” and the man’s eyes swiftly came back to me.
“My name is Geoffrey, Dahksahna, and remember, I am a friend,” he stated urgently, his eyes peering deep in mine.
I felt my brows draw together and suddenly there was no hustle and bustle around us because we were out of the throng and walking into the stone clearing before the dais.
I looked away from Geoffrey and up to the dais.
Then I sucked in a sharp breath.
The firepits were burning at both sides and behind.
And Lahn was there.
He was painted again, the thick black streak across his eyes, three thin ones sweeping his cheekbones, one wide one going from collarbone down the middle of his chest all the way into the top of his hides, thinner ones sweeping arcs from it over his shoulders, across his pectorals, ribs and abs. Black stripes circling his bulging biceps and muscular forearms. He was wearing a belt of huge gold discs that hung low on his hips.
And his hair was free, no ponytail, no braid, the long thickness of it waved and curled down his back, over his shoulders and next to his face.
I felt my lungs start burning.
Holy freaking moly… my husband was hot!
His head had come up when we entered the space and even though he wasn’t close, I saw it go hard with what could only be described as wrath and it looked like his gaze was pointed at Geoffrey.
Uh-oh.
We had continued moving across the clearing and I looked over my shoulder to my right to see Geoffrey had slowed then he turned and I watched Geoffrey quickly move back across the clearing and then fade into the crowd.
I turned back when Diandra’s hand squeezed mine. “We will speak of him later,” she muttered to me, I nodded and the warriors led us to Lahn.
We walked up the steps, the warriors peeled off and Diandra stepped away when I was presented to their king. His eyes swept me head-to-toe but they showed no reaction which kind of sucked because it took seven women a lot of time to get me all gussied up, I didn’t often feel I looked hot but I felt it then and it would have been nice for him to give me something. A lip twitch. His eyes warming. A wink. Something.
But I didn’t get something. I got absolutely nothing. He looked beyond me, barked something then sat on his throne of horns, leaning forward on a forearm at his knee; he also leaned to the side, looking around me stating clearly I was in his goddamned way.
Jeez, I hated it when he got like this and I shared this with him by glaring at his head with its flowing, freaking gorgeous black hair.
He didn’t even look at me.
Diandra caught my arm, scuttled me to the side, took me to my white throne and touched my shoulder, indicating I should sit.
I turned and sat on my gold pad as Diandra moved to my left side and the instant my ass touched pad, Lahn barked something loudly and the men started beating at the small drums.
I looked at him to see he was still leaned forward on his arm, his eyes off into the distance and I wondered what the point was of me being there if he wasn’t even going to look at me.
The man I’d seen the night of the rite wearing black robes and having his hair cut short (even the non- warriors wore their hair long) hurried forward and stopped at the dais. Lahn barked another order at him, the man bowed his head and hurried away.
It was at this point that I realized the sun was blazing as were the firepits all around us and it was freaking hot. I was going to get roasted out here, in more ways than one.
“That is The Eunuch,” Diandra whispered in my ear and I turned my head to see her bent to me.
“Sorry?”
She tipped her chin in the direction of where the man in the robes was and repeated, “The Eunuch. He has charge of the scouts who search for the wives for the Hunt. He has charge of the Hunt and its celebrations. He has charge of the warrior selections and once the warriors are selected, he chooses who will be trained by whom then, once they are of an age, who will be assigned to whom. The warriors spend years as what we would consider squires, serving at the same time training before they are sent out to make their first kill. And when we ride, once the Dax chooses camp, he has charge of organizing the chams, making sure livestock and horses are kept downwind, refuse is disposed of correctly, things the Dax has little interest in.”
I was stuck on something she said previously.
“He’s a eunuch?”
She nodded. “The Dax before King Lahn did the deed himself. I watched it. Everyone did. It happened on this very dais.”
Oh my God!
I stared at her then breathed, “Why?”
She shook her head. “There are those who…” she paused, “prefer their erm…” she hesitated again, “own kind.”
“He’s a homosexual?” I asked, aghast at where this was going.
“A what?” Diandra asked back.
“He likes men as in, having relations with them,” I explained.
She nodded and muttered, “He did.”
