which were also belongings, of course, a fact I found loathsome and yet another thing I could do nothing about for it was my people’s way.
This was my new tactic. Not that I really needed one. I had not talked to Lahn since the day he gave me Zephyr. He clearly had Dax business to attend to and he was gone from our hides in the morning before I woke and three of the four nights after our first one under the stars, I was so exhausted from the ride I was asleep and didn’t even feel him slide in beside me. I only knew he was there when I woke in the deep of the night, felt his arm around me, his warm body curved into mine and then I drifted back to sleep. The one night I was awake, it was still late and he attempted no conversation, didn’t speak soft words or rub his beard softly against me, just curled me into him and he was asleep within seconds and, shortly after, so was I.
But it was now days later and it was a now when I’d avoided Diandra, and also Narinda, who was riding with the wives who were in wagons, and it had been so long since I’d spoken to either of them, it was too long.
I’d screwed up. I’d been overemotional (with cause) then got stuck in my head for days and it was getting past the point of rude, not apologizing to and spending time with my friends. I was their queen, it might be they couldn’t approach me and certainly Narinda couldn’t as she didn’t have a mount. But I could do what I wished (sort of) and I hadn’t approached them.
So now I was avoiding them both, and Lahn, by riding in the back like a sissy.
My Pop would be pissed. He hated sissies, he wasn’t that fond of rude and he’d always told me procrastination was the work of the devil, especially when you practice it before righting a wrong.
Damn.
On this thought, I noticed there seemed a commotion amongst the slaves so I looked to the wagons at my side then the direction they were looking which was forward. That was when I saw the warrior galloping toward us. He was well out of warrior space; they all rode up front with their Dax. He was also the warrior I saw in the cham the night Lahn hit me.
Shit.
He galloped right by me but when I twisted in my saddle to see where he was going I saw him circle back quickly then come up on my left side. Before I knew what he was doing I was plucked right out of my saddle (yep, right out of my saddle, while both our horses were moving) and planted in front of him. He yanked Zephyr’s reins out of my hands, she whinnied with irritation and then he touched his heels to his mount, made a clicking sound with his tongue and we took off on a gallop, Zephyr running alongside us.
Hmm. It appeared the queen didn’t ride with the slaves.
So noted.
We kept going and he slowed when we were coming abreast of Diandra’s horse.
Shit!
Then with both horses still moving, he plopped me right back on Zephyr’s back. Before I flew off in a horse mishap that might include a broken neck, I quickly grabbed the lip of the saddle (they had no pommels on their saddles) swung my leg around and both feet found my stirrups. He tossed the reins to me, touched his heels to his mount and took off toward the warriors.
Fantastic.
These guys. He could have just grabbed my reins and moved Zephyr and I forward but no. He had to manhandle me.
I watched him go then stupidly looked beyond the warriors to the leader of the pack. As suspected, the leader of the pack was turned in his saddle. He was far away but I could see him and I knew Lahn’s eyes were on me because he couldn’t miss me, Zephyr’s coat shone in the sun like a beacon not to mention, I was the only blonde in the bunch.
Fantastic again.
I watched him turn to face forward and I sucked in breath.
Then, with nothing for it, and because my Pop taught me well, I got my head out of my ass and turned to Diandra whose eyes were on me.
Then I said, “Uh… hey.”
She burst out laughing.
I stared at her and when her laughter waned, her eyes caught mine. “Our king grows impatient with his queen, I see,” she remarked.
Uh… what?
“Um…” I mumbled.
She faced forward and announced, “It took years before Seerim saw the errors of his ways, putting his hands on me in anger. He didn’t do it often but when he felt the need, he didn’t hesitate to do it. It was only after he hit me so hard he bloodied my nose that he stopped. Something about him shedding my blood struck something in him and he never did it again. Not once. In fact, when he’d get angry, all I had to do was flinch, thinking he might hit me and his anger would vanish,” she lifted a hand and snapped, “just like that. It appears, my dear, our king is learning this lesson much more swiftly than my Seerim.”
“I’m not trying to teach him a lesson,” I said softly and in all truth.
“Well, maybe not, but you’re doing it all the same,” she replied.
I pulled in another breath. “Diandra –” I started on the exhale, wanting to apologize but more, wishing to give her an apology and her kind eyes came to me.
“Don’t speak of it,” she whispered. “I remember, my beautiful Circe, it was long ago, but I remember the tumult of my mind when I was brought here, claimed and forced into a life I did not understand. I have had twenty-two years with these people, I have built a life with my husband, I have come to love him deeply, we have built a family and I have become Korwahk. But I have had much time to adjust. I was like you many years ago and I remember it because it is something you do not forget. You have done far better than me and I am very proud of you but our emotions get the better of us on occasion and if you cannot allow them to do so with people who care about you, you are in trouble.”
I felt my eyes fill with tears, “Diandra –”
“Though,” she cut me off, a twinkle in hers, “I didn’t have an excellent interpreter to guide my way like you do. So along with being proud of you I am also quite proud of me because as far as I can tell, I’m doing an excellent job.”
Then she grinned huge and at that, it was me who burst into laughter.
When my laughter slid to a giggle I saw her smiling, looking ahead and she noted, “We make camp tonight, I’m sure of it.”
“Sorry?” I asked.
“You have a very appealing laugh, my dear, it is like a song that rings into the very air, travelling far, I would suspect, considering while you did it, your husband turned on his mount and watched. I am getting old but my eyesight is just fine and by his scowl I would guess he has not heard your laughter for some time and misses it, wants it for his own and therefore, being of The Horde, when he wants something, he will do something about it. So, we make camp tonight. I’m sure of it.”
It took a lot out of me but my eyes didn’t move to Lahn as I repeated, “Sorry?”
She looked at me. “Have you been receiving his attentions since our unpleasant… erm, incident?”
“Um… no,” I muttered.
“I would guess he misses that too,” she stated.
I felt my stomach drop.
“Diandra, I think… well, actually, I don’t think that I’ve ever laughed with Lahn and he can get attention whenever he wants from a variety of Xacto who follow at the back of this convoy.”
“You don’t have to have had something to want it or need it but when you have something you liked… very much… and it is taken away, and you want it back, it can become a hunger. Your husband is hungry, Circe. Warriors don’t stay hungry long before they find ways to assuage it so he will need his cham because you will need your cham for what he intends to do so we make camp tonight,” she repeated, “I’m sure of it.”
I sucked in breath and looked ahead.
This was not great news.
“Now, my dear, before you face what you will face tonight, you must go in prepared,” she stated and I knew
