Page 117 of War

Meaning that I’m a marked woman. My arms break out in goosebumps at that.

The two of us arrive at War’s tent. Hussain bows his head, then backs away into the darkness, leaving me alone.

I take a breath and force myself to set aside that worry for another time. I have more immediate matters to deal with. I pull back the flaps of the horseman’s tent and step inside.

Only … the horseman is nowhere to be seen.

Panic.

This was a setup.Whatever Hussain was alluding to, it’s not going to happen at some point in the future; it’s about to happenright now.

I pull my dagger from its sheath just as the tent flaps are pulled back.

War walks in bare-chested and he’s drunk. Very drunk.

“Wife.” His eyes alight when he sees me. He crosses the room, wholly ignoring the dagger in my hand. Sweeping my hair back from my ears, he takes my face in his hands.

His eyes are bleary. “Lay with me.”

For a moment, I don’t breathe. I don’t move at all, even though those three words have pulled all sorts of inappropriate responses from my body.

A minute ago I was sure I was about to be ambushed; instead I’m getting propositioned. By a drunken horseman.

“I thought you wanted me to surrender first,” I say.

“I changed my mind.” His thumbs stroke my cheeks, and it’s so damn tempting. So, so tempting.

He must see how weak I am because he leans in and kisses me ferociously. The second he does, I taste the spirits on his tongue.

I pull away. “How muchdidyou drink?” I ask him suspiciously. War’s a big man; he’d likely need to drink an entire trough of alcohol to get to this point.

“Enough to cast aside my reservations.”

Lay with me.

I lean my forehead against his shoulder as a thought comes to me. “Even if I wanted to—

“You want to,” he says, his voice sure.

My stomach clenches at his voice. It’s low and certain, and he sounds like a lover—likemylover.

“What about protection?” I say. Something I distinctlyhaven’tthought about until now, though I definitely should’ve.

He pulls my face away from his shoulder, his bleary eyes sharpening.

“Protection?” he says. “Fromwhat? I am the embodiment of war. Whoever attempts to cross me will find themselves dead.”

I want to laugh. I want to melt into the floor.

“Notthatsort of protection,” I say.

Oh boy. I didn’t expect to have this conversation today.

The horseman’s eyebrows pull together.

“I could get pregnant,” I say slowly.

I can’t tell by his expression whether or not he’s following.