Page 20

Mira looked me up and down at the same time I turned to see the results of her hard work in the tall mirror that portrayed the new me. And I must admit, she was right.

I was never the kind of person to care much about what best suited me, always choosing the practical over the beautiful. Jeans and shirts, or hoodies in winter, trainers and long dresses with minimal jewellery in summer. I never spent more than ten minutes getting ready to go out or for an event, except for when I had my university presentations or thesis exposals. And even then, I always asked for help.

I suppose this was all due to Mira, so I had to give credit where credit was due. She had braided my wild curls to the side, making my hair look settled and shiny for once and had used bronzer and light nude tones for my eyeshadow and blush to give it a neutral tone that matched the light orange dress that fell over my silhouette. My breasts were pressed neatly in a bra underneath the bodice and my hips moved freely under my new underwear. I felt like new. I was shaved, cleaned and primped, ready to conquer the world.

There was one person, especially, that needed conquering… I grinned to myself.

“Love suits you beautifully, miss,”

Mira stepped behind me to reflect herself in the mirror, her gaze pointed at my smile. Luckily I was wearing enough blush, because it did a marvellous job at hiding the crimson sprouting on my cheeks at her remark.

“What can I do to thank you, Mira? You made me look beautiful,”

I turned and grabbed her hands, squeezing them in thanks. Compared to Karisha, who was of fair skin and golden hair, Mira’s complexion was a lot harsher. Her darker skin hid numerous scars and whenever the opportunity of touch presented itself, she was always at a far distance. I did not know what she had been through, since I had asked about a possible mate and the only reply I received was ‘may the god spare me of such a thing’. Still, I wanted her to know how grateful I was.

“You are already doing more than enough, miss. We are all beyond grateful for your sacrifice,”

she returned the squeeze of my hands and bowed to me slowly, as though I were some sort of queen.

I had no idea what she referred to, but I did not want to contradict her or to upset her. I wanted her to feel cherished and safe, to know that I could become a potential friend, if she so chose.

“The tribe lady is in a meeting at the moment,”

she announced, guessing that I would want to display my new outfit to Karisha. Luckily, the news gave me a better idea.

“Thank you so much for today, Mira. I think I will go for a walk, so you are free to rest," I said to her, not knowing if she had other duties. I knew that she spent most of her days with Karisha, helping her with small errands and such that she struggled without the help of her companion Slatanya. Something I was partly responsible for.

Fortunately, Mira seemed more than happy to retire for the day, and I followed her and walked to where Sylam had announced his tent to be. I hadn’t been invited in, and I didn’t know what the procedure with visiting houses without doors was, so I thought that the polite way to announce my presence would be to whisper his name. It was close to midday, so I didn’t want to wake his boys up or disturb his mate, who probably had her hands already full.

“Sylam, it’s Nora,”

I started whispering around, circling tent after tent and repeating the message, unsure which tent belonged to my friend. “Sylam?”

I asked again, this time with a slightly elevated tone of voice, but hopefully, not enough to disturb the rest of the camp.

“Sylam?”

“What?”

a voice snapped at me, and I looked to my right to notice that he was five tents away from the area I had been circling for the past ten minutes.

“I’m sorry to bother you…”

I walked to him, hoping that my face would show that I truly was sorry for barging in on him like that.

“What is it, Nora?”

he replied with a full tone, not at all concerned that the babies might wake up.

“Can you please take me to the training camp?”

I tried to keep my face even as I asked, but a shadow of a grin must have shown on my features, because Sylam tipped his head back and started filling the air around us with a full laugh.

“You want to go in the middle of the training camp, looking like that?”

he pointed with his chin at my chest, making me follow his gaze to look down at myself, admiring the effects the push-up bra had on the girls.

“Yes…”

I said through my teeth, unsure if he was going to congratulate me or scold me.

“You know Grannicus is going to lose his shit, right?”

“Karisha is in meetings all morning and the last time I did something I wanted, I got punched in the face.”

I released the words without realising the effect they would have on Sylam. I still didn’t know exactly what happened, I only remembered him rescuing me from the beach and the last thing I wanted was for him to think that I had any reproach in his direction, so I immediately focused on what I wanted to know.

“He’s been training all his life; can an afternoon really affect his skills that much?”

I noted, hoping for approval or at least a nod from this man to tell me I was right, but he did not move an inch.

“Plus… I’m bored,”

I added part of the truth.

“You are not bored,”

Sylam hushed me.

“What you are is beautiful, and you want your mate to see you like this. And probably have a heart attack in front of everyone,”

he grinned at me with understanding.

“He’s not my mate,”

I jumped to correct him, though the words felt false in my mouth. He was not my mate, that was true. He and I did not share what Karisha and Markos had, but we weren’t nothing either.

“He’s my… something,”

I said, grimacing at my stupid choice of words.

That earned me a frown from Sylam.

“Did you not dance at solstice? I swear I saw you two by the fire,”

the warrior arched his brows, fact-checking his information.

What was up with dancing? First Karisha, now Sylam. Mira herself had been stranger than usual, more respectful, if I could say so myself. Something was up, that much I knew. Maybe I could pose a question or two to make Sylam tell me more. After all, there was nothing a man liked more than to educate a woman.

“I know the ritual but, it’s not common for humans,”

I tried to play the ignorant.

“But you did dance,”

Sylam tilted his head to the side to prove a point.

“Yes, I invited, and he accepted. We danced.”

I repeated information I had told Karisha before, which he seemed mighty interested in.

“March, you broke the Grannicus,”

Sylam started clapping in slow motion and dipping his chin to me as he did so. He even added a small bend of the waist, in a deep salute to my confused self.

“But… that doesn’t mean…”

I shook my head. Waiting. Hoping that he would fill in the blanks.

“A man can make an invitation to show his intention of choosing a partner from the camp, and even that doesn’t happen very often. But if a woman has made her forever choice, she will go to him in front of everyone and claim him. It doesn’t matter that you are human or his prisoner. There was an invitation, an acceptance, and a public dance under the solstice sky. Your mating ritual is initiated,”

Sylam said matter of fact, then stopped and looked at me with wide eyes, as if he’d just then realised something.

“What?”

I didn’t even know how I had any focus left to ask the question because… my god… Had I just unknowingly asked Dahr to be my mate? And he’d accepted? Was this some sort of drake engagement I had no clue about?

“Nothing,”

Sylam shook his head quickly. Too quickly.

“Go to the training camp and drive your mate crazy. I’m sure he will love it,”

he said with a smile. A fake one.

Still, I decided that there were more important things to focus on. Such as seeing Dahr. And having a conversation about what had happened at the solstice celebrations.

“Don’t you need to escort me there? Can I go by myself?”

“You are Grannicus’ mate. As he said so himself, if anyone touches you, it would be an offence against him. And dressed like that, I doubt anyone would dare to,”

he raised his brows and looked at me top to bottom, just like Mira had.

“Don’t be a creep,”

I turned my shoulder to cover my boobs. “Thanks,”

I said quickly and made my way towards the sea, ready to find my two loves, as my new ‘mate’ had so delicately put it.

If I thought that wearing a dress and looking the way I did as I walked through the camp wouldn’t draw too much attention, I was sorely mistaken. As soon as I passed the central tents, which were positioned in circular lines around Dahr’s main one, I started drawing attention to myself. Or better said, my attire did.

Wherever I stepped, there were dozens of gazes coming my way, some greeting me with a smile and others that looked at me with damnation. I wasn’t sure what exactly I had done to merit them… either of them. Apart from apparently mating their Grannicus, but that was another issue. Which had to be dealt with immediately.

Having no other choice but to follow through with my plan and realising that I must have over-exaggerated with makeup or jewellery that day, I let my steps slowly guide me to the western side of the camp. Fortunately, I did not have to stop and ask for directions, the shouting sounds and the clanking of metal telling me exactly which way to follow. I walked with determination until the very final line of tents, that had remained empty for the day, all their occupants busy in the training camp.

I finally understood why they did not allow women here. Looking around, I let my gaze follow the harsh terrain, much more difficult to navigate than the central part of the camp, the scarcity of food and firewood and the tattered fabrics of the tent around me. Not only were these men fighting for their lives every single day, but they had to face harshness in every aspect of their lives, including their place of sleep.

My courage vanished like a demon in a church at the sound of footsteps. My entire body shuddered, frightened that I would find the same gang of men that caught me when I was swimming.

I was left with little choice but to throw myself into the training camp and hope that I would place myself in Dahr’s line of sight faster than whoever wanted to catch me did. My only hope was to get to Dahr’s side as quickly as possible, because there was no one else that could protect me from the mess I had gotten myself in.

“Can I help you, miss?”

a male voice sounded from behind me. I immediately turned, my heart jumping in my throat as I saw a bare-chested tall man looking at me in question. My eyes fell over his sweaty and dirty skin, over the long cut that bled down his torso, leaving small rivers of blood that fell onto his abs.

“I’m looking for Grannicus,”

I immediately said and pushed more air into my chest as I forced my body upright. I might at least look the part, if I had already dressed like that, and hope that Dahr’s threat was still valid. That whoever touched me had to answer to him. I pushed myself to the point of a heart attack in the few seconds it took the man to look me over and understand who I was. Whom I was after.

“He is scheduled to fight next. Were you invited to observe?”

He poked at my intent with a deep furrow of his brows, unknowing if he’d just given me an out.

“I was, but now that I think about it, I might turn back. I wouldn’t want to distract him,”

I tried to smile, but what I forced out was a sight of peeled lips over teeth.

“Nonsense,”

the man nodded, as though he’d made the decision for me.

“I will escort you to him, I am sure he’ll be more than happy to see his mate,”

he let out a chuckle, and I did not care if it was a mockery or a true sentiment. He was offering to take me to Dahr, and by the looks of it, safe and untouched, so I couldn’t really ask more than that.

“I would be in your debt,”

I dipped my chin slowly and motioned for him to go first, with an elegant wave of my hand, which made my gold bracelet gleam in the sunlight.

Wordlessly, the man started placing heavy steps over the sand and I had no choice but to follow, trying to make myself invisible and hide from view behind the man’s wide back.

That was, until he stepped to the side to reveal me in front of a wide training ring, where Dahr and two other warriors sparred. I had not expected to be brought so close to the fighting and especially, I had not expected for everyone’s attention to turn to me.

I found myself in the line of over a hundred pairs of eyes, all of which shifted from the fight in the training ring to my dress and… I hated to admit it… to the generous cleavage that push-up bra sported under the crochet pattern of the dress.

“She’s here to see Grannicus,”

the man who brought me there responded in my stead as all the eyes of the camp continued to drill into me. I started looking around, desperate for some control, desperate to get out of this mess. I would give anything to vanish and return to the safety of the tent, away from whatever foolishness had possessed me to act like this.

“Training is over,”

Dahr's voice resounded from further behind the army of men that had turned to me. Their bodies must have been trained to listen to Dahr’s voice, because they all obeyed, as if enchanted by the command. As one, they turned towards him and dipped their chins in a barely noticeable bow, before they all turned on their heels and started walking away. Their attention finally removed from me.

“Thank you for bringing her, Cartash,”

Dahr pinned the man with a grateful gaze before he too, followed the order and faded away from sight.

Only then, only when Dahr pressed his attention to me with a smirk, I felt the air return to my lungs.

“Not the most calculated decision, little flame. These men are starved for female attention, and you decided to come in here looking like that…”

he arched his brows, his dark eyes possessively dropping into my cleavage, just like everyone else had done.

“I just…”

God, I barely had enough strength to speak, the fright of what could have happened still tensing my bones.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Come up,”

Dahr tilted his head in invitation and crouched onto the ring floor to stretch out his hand for me. As soon as I grabbed it, I found myself flying for a few metres until my feet were steady on the ground again, on top of that training ring that was filled with sweat, dirt and blood.

I took a second to look around, to study the view from up there, to feel the elements of power that drummed into that soil. And it felt… amazing. Adrenaline shot through my body, filling me with unimagined strength and energy.

“It feels like I’m drunk,”

I slowly giggled, looking at my feet to make sure they hadn’t started dancing on their own accord.

“And happy,” I added.

“It’s enchanted to spike our blood. This is what we feel before battle,”

Dahr motioned, stretching his arms wide and displaying the invisible force that bloomed around him.

I let myself feel it, then. I let myself take it all in. The adrenaline, the excitement, the way my blood flowed into my veins as though it was forming just now. The beating of my heart that stretched out into my entire body, the pure joy that flowed through my senses.

“It feels amazing,”

I admitted. In truth, it felt like a drug. Like it would follow every single one of my commands and that it would make me proficient at whatever I was doing.

“It only feels like that to those brave of spirit. Men cry for their mothers when they step in here for the first time, little flame,”

Dahr explained, his adamant eyes shining into me with golden pride.

“I have seen it with my own eyes. There are only a few who embrace it.”

He stepped closer to me, closing the distance in between us and pushing me against the side of the ring, against the ropes tied to metal poles that formed its shape.

“It gives you the courage to do whatever you want,” he explained as his body leaned into mine.

It gives me the courage to do whatever I want, I repeated to myself, when the idea pushed against my mind, forcing to be released.

“The reason why I’m here is because I needed to talk to you. It’s urgent and it cannot wait,”

I tested the truth in his words to find that they flowed so much easier than they needed to. Dahr did not seem to share my idea however, because he seemed interested in anything but this conversation.

“Sure,”

he said before he planted his lips on my shoulder and started kissing slowly up to my neck, his tongue brushing hot caresses against my skin.

“It’s about this mate business,”

I said quickly, not wanting to give him the wrong idea.

“Uh-huh,”

the warrior barely replied. His mouth had reached the shell of my ear, and his scraping tongue started raising shivers across my body, filling me with a sense of joy and deep need. Need for him. Need for his body against mine.

“Dahr, I cannot be your mate,”

I spat out the words and tried to remove myself from his reach, but his arms rested on either side of my body and my back pressed against the ropes. I was utterly trapped and at his mercy. Dahr unhooked his lips from my body and leaned back just enough to let me see the expression on his face, the hunger in his eyes.

“Then you should have worn a different dress, little flame,”

he said as he pressed his lips on mine.