Page 50 of Daman

“You’re willing to do that for me?”

“It’s called a compromise. Marriages can’t work without them. I hope, with time, you’ll start to see Russia as your home too.” His earlier shyness transitioned to stoicism as he grabbed his boots from the mat by the front door. “Though, as commander, I can’t be away from my warriors for too long. Especially not when we’re preparing for war.”

“I understand.” I watched him tie his bootlaces. “Are you heading to the training field?”

“Not today.” Warrin stood back up and stepped toward me but stopped a foot or so away. He was still so unsure of how to act around me. “I have other plans for us.”

“Yeah? And what’s that?” I snorted. “More sex?”

I wouldn’t mind riding his dick again. Remembering how amazingly he’d filled me last night sent excited shivers over my skin.

Warrin smiled a little. “No. Not sex.” He handed me my coat. “I want to show you the kingdom.”

Once I was bundled up and wearing the new fur-insulated boots Warrin had insisted I have, we said goodbye to Armen and left the cottage. The cold morning air filled my lungs as we made our way through the woods, taking a different path than the one that led to the castle. The shoes were a lot better. My feet weren’t cold at all.

“Where did you live before Echo Bay?” Warrin asked, keeping his gaze forward.

I blew out a breath. “Many places. Paris, Scotland, Japan, Italy. We’ve been all over the globe. Never Russia though. So this is new.”

A short silence passed between us. I didn’t mind those silent moments. They weren’t awkward with him.

“You spoke of your childhood before.” His eyes flickered to me, appearing lighter against the snowy backdrop. “Where did you grow up?”

“I’m from Dacia. People called it the land beyond the forest.”

“Dacia,” Warrin said with a contemplative look. “Why haven’t I heard of it?”

“It doesn’t exist anymore. Not really. It was conquered long ago.” Sorrow filled my chest as I remembered the day the Roman legions came, setting our city on fire. The day Lycus had cried against my chest, his frail body so light as I’d held him. He’d been so scared. “It became modern-day Romania. Mainly in the Transylvania region.”

Warrin smiled. “Like Dracula.”

I snorted a laugh. “Oh yeah. I forgot you were a freaking nerd. Bran Castle came after my time. But the legend of the vampire was well-known in Dacia, orstrigoias we called them. I remember hearing about Lamia, a queen who turned into a blood-crazed demon and fed on children. She was used as a bedtime story to make naughty children behave.”

Warrin smiled up at the snow-covered trees. “Did those stories make you behave?”

“No.”

He chuckled.

“The more common legend ofstrigoiwas that they were spirits of the dead who weren’t welcomed into the realm of Zalmoxis. He was our deity. With nowhere else to go, the spirits wandered the earth and fed on the living.” Longing filled my chest. I never spoke of Dacia with my brothers. Not even with Bellamy. “I heard tales of werewolves too. They were viewed as heroes. Guardians of Dacia. I even prayed to the Great White Wolf at night.”

“The Great White Wolf?” Warrin moved a low-hanging branch out of the way so I could pass beneath it.

“He was believed to be a powerful being who walked as a man by day and as a wolf by night. Legend has it that Zalmoxis bestowed these powers onto the man so that he could protect Dacia from invaders.” Sadness struck me again as I recalled that fateful day. “It was all bullshit, of course. When Rome came for Dacia, the Great White Wolf didn’t help us.”

“An eagle flies for the land beyond the forest.”

I shook my head. “But anyway. I didn’t mean to drag the mood down.”

That was more than I’d opened up to anyone in a long time. It was easy to talk to Warrin. His quiet nature probably had something to do with it. Walking through the snowy forest, his presence comforted me.

“Tell me more?” he asked, turning to me on the path.

Feeling suddenly self-conscious, I kept walking. “What do you want to know? There’s not much else to say.”

“You said you never knew your parents. Where did you live?”

“In the forest. I found a run-down shack, fixed it up as best as I could, and made it my home. People were afraid of me.”