Page 24

I did not change my mind.

Not when Dahr fell asleep after hours of drawing soothing caresses down my back and not when I let myself drift away and threw the dagger out of reach on the furry carpet.

I already knew Dahr didn’t fear death, he’d said as much many times before, but I did not expect him to simply fall asleep and trust that I wouldn’t change my mind throughout the night. He was defenceless, with his guard down, yet he still let himself drift off. Only after he ensured that my tears, which had flowed for long hours had permanently stopped.

Or maybe he truly did not think me capable of killing him. Of even trying to hurt him. Not when I got squeamish at the sight of his blood and dropped my guard. Not when I had cried and repeated on a loop that ‘I couldn’t do it.’ Or maybe he simply did not care when his end came. If it came at my hand or anyone else's.

He didn’t need to say goodbye. He had no regrets.

And he refused to abandon me in the morning.

“I promise I will not run away,”

I said, trying to convince him to go when Markos’ arrival made us both jump from the sleepy embrace we were sharing.

“As I said, I will not be training today,”

Darh replied to me but pointed his gaze to Markos to give the order.

“Nora and I have a lot to discuss.”

“Can’t it be done at dinner?”

Markos put his two cents in but by the frown Dahr threw at him, the tribe leader already knew the answer would be a determined ‘no.’

“Since we’re putting things out in the open, Karisha would like to come by and apologise again. She feels terrible about how things were left off…”

Markos tilted his head a little to direct his attention from Dahr, who stood in front of him, to me, who remained in bed and refused to move.

Probably that was what had generated this entire argument, my refusal to start the day and request to be left alone. To which, of course, Dahr placed his own refusal, not wanting to leave me on my own and had in turn called for Markos’ presence, who came to check in on Grannicus’ absence from the training camp.

“Sure,”

Dahr replied at the same time I said ‘absolutely not’.

It was Markos’ turn to frown, as he looked from me, then back to Dahr, and then to me again.

“So you forgive Grannicus but you cannot forgive my mate?”

he pointed as he settled his feet deeply into the floor, a sign that he would not be leaving until I answered his question. Observation, rather.

“I did not forgive Dahr,”

I snapped at him and grabbed more of the blankets to cover myself with. If it was up to me, I would create a fort out of all those furry fabrics and hide away from the world until the end of time. Or until the end of my time, because I was under no confusion that Dahr, no matter how sweet and kind the night before, would probably drag me by the hair back to the town centre and explode me and all the people I knew.

“Forgive my ignorance, Nora, but one does not wake up cuddling with someone they hate. No matter how attractive the male,”

Markos made a reference to how he’d found me in Dahr’s arms in the morning.

“Just because I couldn’t kill him does not mean that I do not hate him!”

I shouted from the bed, loud enough for my voice to echo through the tent and smack both Dahr and Markos at the same time.

The men exchanged a long look that resulted in the tribe leader accepting defeat.

“Very well, I can see you have a lot to clear out here,”

he said to me, then turned to Dahr.

“Let us know when you need us,”

Markos dipped his chin before he turned on his heels and walked out of the tent, leaving me alone with Dahr once again.

“You should really go train, we wouldn’t want any innocent person to escape my town and ruin your reputation, would we?”

I snapped at him before I pulled the heavy blankets over my head and pressed them tightly, trying to keep the world away for at least a few more minutes.

Surprisingly, especially for someone who insisted on remaining by my side throughout the day, Dahr stayed quiet for the longest time. He only disturbed the silence that I had weaved into the tent to ask me basic questions.

“Do you want breakfast?”

I had not replied.

“Do you want some water?”

No reply.

“Something stronger?”

Again, no reply.

By lunchtime, he must have taken his cue because I heard the clank of plates and cutlery as he proceeded to eat on his own, without bothering to tell me that lunch was ready or ask if I wanted to join him.

My stomach grumbled at the thought of all the food he must be enjoying while I digested my own acid. I couldn’t even remember the last time I ate. Was it breakfast yesterday morning? I had served myself some snacks in Karisha’s tent before my emotions took the better of me and everything shattered.

I wasn’t sure if the desperate sounds of my stomach pleading for food were audible enough to be heard from under the mountain of blankets I had covered myself with or if Dahr simply liked to play games. What I knew was that he felt the sudden need to emphasise every single noise he made as he was eating.

The sound of the knife scratching the plate to cut what I assumed was a juicy piece of steak, the butter and herbs potatoes that filled the tent with a rich aroma, to which Dahr groaned every time he shoved some in his mouth, the sound of ripping bread and even gulps of drink. Topped off with a satisfied ‘aaaaahhhh’.

I groaned, hating myself for what I was about to do. Justifying my action with the reasoning that I needed to keep my strength. The last thing I needed was to get a brain fog because I was stubborn enough not to nurture my body. I needed my muscles at their full capacity, able to hold a weapon whenever I chose to.

Sighing and feeling as though I was admitting temporary defeat, I pushed the blankets away to reveal myself. Dahr’s eyes had been pinned on me the whole time, probably studying the effects those noises had on me and, when I rose from the bed, my intention obvious, he moved over to the side and started fixing me a plate.

By the time I took a seat opposite him, I already had a juicy piece of steak, and half a plate filled with potatoes, wild garlic and pickled vegetables in front of me.

Dahr proceeded to serve me a glass of water and a glass of wine, after which he kept quiet and focused solely on his plate, holding his gaze pinned to his food to let me eat in peace. No more sounds of enjoyment came out after that.

Even though I saw right through him, I was appreciative of the silent invitation and the fact that he did not push this meal into a conversation. Choosing my comfort rather than his gain.

Sounds of chewing and cutlery scraping against plates were the only ones that connected us for long minutes. When Dahr finished his meal, he continued to stare down like a grounded child, scared to face the parent that had punished him and waiting to be excused from the table.

I did my best not to acknowledge him and continued eating until I was full enough to burst, drank two glasses of water, after which I placed the fork and knife over my empty plate and removed myself from his proximity and back into bed.

To my surprise, Dahr did not follow and chose to remain at the table to clean the dishes. He worked for minutes scraping plates and placing them in piles, collecting all the cutlery and placing it upside down in one of the mugs and when everything was done, he walked over with the pile of discarded plates and dishes outside the tent. To someone who would clean them, I assumed.

To my shame, I hadn’t seen the full process of how this was done, since food generally appeared on the table, and I had been too consumed by other interests to pay much attention to cleaning.

When everything was ready and the table was cleared, Dahr sat in his chair, facing the wall of the tent, his back to me. The warrior spread out some of the maps he’d kept piled up and started organising and opening them as well as setting strategic placeholders and marking other territories.

I watched his naked back arching to adjust the maps or to scribble something, the flames on his skin catching life with the movements of his relaxed muscles. His hair fell down his shoulder in an ebony river that flowed and relaxed when Dahr’s hands moved to the side, either to reach or to note something, the soft curls bounding back and forth in an untamed dance.

I stayed back and looked at him for what seemed like an eternity. I admired the way the specks of sunlight coming from outside caressed his naked skin, how his trapeze-shaped back burnt under that long tattoo and how his muscles tensed and relaxed to give him a godlike shape.

I remembered how fascinated I had been with his figure and how much I would have liked to immortalise him somehow. How, even before I had him, I had dreamt of possessing such a man. He was untamed, savage and raw, a brute with a heart of embers.

On their own accord, my legs brought me closer to him. The soles of my feet stepped on the furry carpets, careful not to draw attention and pull him back from the trance he’d immersed himself into. I reached the side of the table and studied him from above, observing how his fingers moved and scribbled over a piece of parchment, in a language I did not understand.

“What is that?”

I pressed the question with softness, not wanting to disturb his action, the words flowing from his wrist with urgency and roughness.

“A letter,”

Dahr replied as he raised his adamant eyes to me without stopping his writing. They slowly moved to guide me to the seat in front of him and I obeyed.

“Telling Raakim that I will abstain from using my power from now onwards.”

“What?”

my heart beat out of my chest and jumped to place itself in Dahr’s hands, because he’d just grabbed and squeezed all the hatred out of it with that single sentence.

“Markos keeps insisting we speak to Xadom first, but he is just a power-hungry puppet. We never saw eye to eye, and I am sure that gods-forgotten bastard will do everything in his power to piss me off rather than help.”

Dahr heard his own words and scoffed deeply.

“He never helps.”

“Why are you doing this?”

My words came out so slow, they became a whisper by the time they reached Dahr’s ears. Nevertheless, he lifted his gaze from that paper and flicked it upward to me.

“Because I am not willing to lose my mate before I have a chance to actually mate her,”

he said pointedly, his fingers somehow still forming words on that paper.

“Don’t you mean offering?”

I retorted while struggling to keep my rising pulse at bay. Only then did Dahr let go of the letter, his attention fully focused on me.

“What exactly did they tell you?”

His tone of voice was so harsh that it did not leave room for anything other than the truth.

“That you require an offering when you… explode.”

Dahr chuckled then, the sound beautiful, yet so out of place in the sombre surroundings I had made sure to create.

“Explode, huh?”

“Yeah,”

I shook my head slightly to reinforce my meaning.

“They said you explode and take out the entire territory. That they remain in lines and kill whoever manages to escape.”

Dahr pressed his lips together, not shoving away my accusation, but not defending himself either. A few seconds wilted between us until he spoke again.

“I do not explode, Nora. I am not a bomb or a grenade. What I do is channel the power of Belgarath, our god. I have been constantly doing that, once a month, since I was seventeen. The ‘offering’ you mention is the presence of a person connected to the place that needs to be encapsulated.”

I released a loud snort at the delicate way he’d put it.

“Don’t you mean destroyed?”

“I have only been following orders,”

Dahr tried to explain, his deep voice rough with something I could not name. Regret? Annoyance? Self-defence?

“What’s changed now?”

I asked while my heart thumped inside my body, sending waves of anguish into my very bones.

“You,”

Dahr said as if it was the most obvious answer.

“Me?”

I huffed.

“Right, the mighty Grannicus is going to give up killing because he started to fuck one of his victims,”

I jolted with the crass way I had put it.

“He’s going to give up killing because he started to fall in love with one,”

the man replied, the glint of his night-sky eyes flickering into my very soul.

“You don’t mean that.”

He couldn’t. I started to shake my head slowly, forcing denial to overpower any other feeling but Dahr stopped my attempt.

“Isn’t that why you couldn’t kill me, Milenora? Isn’t it because you feel it too?”

His words fell on me like a boulder over the surface of a smooth lake.

“No!”

I snapped, forcing my body into a stand.

“No, of course not! I only feel hatred for you. I despise you with every single fibre of my being!”

I shouted, trying to convince myself more than I needed to convince him. Because I couldn’t be falling for this man. I. Could. Not. Be. Falling. For. This. Man.

“It’s alright, little flame,”

Dahr did not move from his seat, did not show any intention of coming after me or even standing.

“Take all the time you need to accept the beating of your heart. I have already accepted mine.”

I gasped in disbelief at the sheer nerve of this man. I opened my mouth to speak but he cut me off.

“I’ll be here when you do,”

he threw me a wide and encouraging smile.

“Then, we can talk some more and start making plans.”

“I will never!”

I snapped between furious panting breaths, adrenaline spiking my blood.

“Then I guess we will never leave this tent,”

Dahr stared at me intently, before he pinned his attention back to his papers and proceeded to ignore me.

For the rest of the day.

Neither Dahr nor I broke our word. He did not leave the tent for even a second and I didn’t speak to him for most of the night, let alone about something I might or might not be feeling.

Which pushed us into some difficult situations.

Such as using the necessities pot with Dahr in the tent while doing my best to hide under the dressing panel Karisha had brought for me alongside the wardrobe. For all her faults, I had sent a thousand blessings her way for giving me that little shred of privacy and some bottles of perfume that hid the unpleasant smell.

As soon as I was done and returned to the bed which I had claimed as my territory, while Dahr remained situated mostly at the table or doing some walking around the tent, the warrior pushed his head outside and called someone to clean after me.

Great, Dahr knew I just went for a number two.

Just when I wanted to hide in the blankets again and vanish from the face of the earth, I heard sounds coming from the inside of the tent and another male voice. When I looked over, I spotted Dahr and one of his warriors carrying hot buckets of water to fill the copper bathtub. I was surprised that Mira wasn’t the one to do this, but I assumed Dahr had respected my wish to keep away from everyone I knew. When the bathtub was filled, Dahr took it upon himself to use half the gels and soaps to make bubbles for me and when the bath ended up looking like an overflowing cupcake, he invited me in. I wordlessly accepted. Same as I wordlessly accepted dinner and made a point to eat in silence by Dahr’s side.

“Is there anything you would like to say, little flame?”

the warrior asked with mirth when it was clear that I was planning to go to sleep, untouched.

“Good night,”

I replied with nonchalance, even though I felt a slight chuckle coming up, which I immediately stifled. My stubbornness brought us to a second day of more of the same.

We shared breakfast, and Dahr asked me if there was anything I would like to say or admit to him. I, of course, kept my mouth shut. This time I wasn’t going to take this situation with the amusement of the day before.

“I am not going to be held hostage!”

I snapped at him after I finished the last rash of bacon from my plate.

“You are not. We can go outside and stop wasting time as soon as you speak to me,”

Dahr smiled widely, becoming the portrait of innocence.

“And tell you what?”

I retorted, my feeling on the exact opposite palette to his bright colours.

“Whatever it is that you need to,”

Dahr tilted his head slowly and let those adamant eyes glint into me with challenge.

“Guess it’s going to be another wasted day then…”

I sighed and returned to my bed.

About two hours later, I was so bored that I wanted to start braiding my hairs one by one just so I had something to do. Dahr did not face the same problem, since he remained crouched over the table, his nose shoved deeply in maps and letters. If he was toying with me or he was actually busy, I did not know. Nor did I plan to ask, because that would mean showing curiosity towards whatever it was that concerned him, and I was adamant to win this little game of his.

How long could he really keep it up for? He’d already missed two days of training, and I only had to remember Markos’ rage that day he kept Dahr up all night to catch up and set an example for the others. Worst case, we’d be here until the end of the month, which by my calculations was in five days. He’d be forced to release me then, maybe even the day before and take me back to my town. Or maybe I could convince him to stay here forever and explode his own camp. Channel the energy of his god or whatever…

“I’d like to have another bath,”

I demanded when I found myself at the cusp of giving up. I could waste time, that wasn’t as big of a problem, but keeping my mouth shut when I had thousands of questions spinning through my mind, that had become the biggest issue for me. Just saying these few words out loud after I had kept silent all morning and most of the day before felt like a breath of fresh air.

“Of course,”

Dahr replied in a split second and stood from the table where he was facing the wall to move towards the tent exit, where I assumed someone was waiting because the warrior spent less than five seconds outside. A few minutes later, the preparation for my bath began and I watched Dahr and another man this time, carry water until the bathtub was full.

“Don’t drown me in bubbles again,”

I shouted from the bed when I saw Dahr picking up the gels.

“I’ll do it.”

With that, I jumped from bed and moved to the bathtub where I prepared the water just how I liked it: with dried lavender pouches and just enough soap to cover my body. When I was ready to get in, I turned to Dahr, who remained by my side, observing what I did with too much interest for someone who bathed in a bucket.

“Do you mind?”

My brows shot up in question when the warrior did not sketch a move to leave and continued looking at me as if preparing to enjoy the show.

“Sorry,”

he must have snapped awake because he moved to bring the wall panel that separated the table where he worked and the place where I bathed, just like the night before.

I waited a minute or two to make sure he was really back to his work before I removed my clothes and let my body relax in the warmth of the water. I lingered in the bathtub for a while, muscles soaking into the bubbles and pleasant scents. My eyes closed on their own accord, and I started drifting off, leaving the stress and agony of my surroundings. That is, until a long caress drifted down my arm and I blinked myself awake to find Dahr, sat on the floor by my bathtub, eyes fixed on me.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I snapped as I moved my arm and dipped deeper into the water to cover my breasts. An instinct, really, I didn’t possess anything Dahr hadn’t seen or tasted.

“Helping you wash,”

he said matter of fact as he grabbed the sponge I had placed on the side of the tub on a small wooden stool. The warrior grabbed the soap and scraped some onto the wet sponge before he squeezed it into his large hand to make a cloud of bubbles. Once it was ready, Dahr grabbed my wrist, which instantly relaxed under his touch and started to draw long lines of soap onto my skin.

Knowing it would be more hassle trying to escape than letting the moment flow, I made the decision to enjoy it and relaxed as Dahr’s fingers caressed more and more of my skin.

I relaxed into the familiar warmth and the reverent touch that slowly enveloped all my senses. I had fought him so much that I forgot what magic the scraping of his calloused fingers on my skin was able to create. How he could make my senses sing and my body yearn.

“Tell me about your power,”

I demanded as I offered him my other hand to wash.

“What would you like to know?”

the warrior jumped at the opportunity, clinging onto my words as one did a rope inside a forgotten cave.

“How did it happen? The first time?”

Part of me did not want to jump to the hard conversation and chose to start with an easier subject. Or so I thought.

“I was climbing a mountain, near the entrance to the Fire Kingdom,”

Dahr started speaking as his fingers continued to soap my skin.

“We’re generally not allowed to exit the premises without permission, but I was rebelling that day. My mother and two brothers were supposed to visit relatives on the other side of the galleries, so I thought I had all day to myself. We weren’t allowed to come out into the sun except for solstices after our coming of age, so I was desperate to get out and do something apart from training underground. And I liked looking at the sky.”

His voice fell on me like a soothing caress, and I relaxed into the water while listening to his voice. Urging him to continue speaking and letting his words absorb away all my worries.

“I was half-way up by the time sunset started falling over the cliffs. I wanted to turn to see the sun, I was always fascinated with the colours. I don’t exactly know how it happened; my hand must have slipped. Somehow, I felt myself falling. And I panicked. I was so desperate to grab onto something, that I sent my entire being into that single gesture. And then it happened.”

“What happened?”

I asked, fully absorbed into his story, my eyes wide open to take him in.

“Fire. Everywhere. Floating through my body. Burning through me. Within me. A few seconds of flames and I was at the base of the mountain, safe and unharmed. That was the first time I lost my memory. I am still missing three days, even with the gaps my family tried to fill,”

he pressed his lips together with regret.

“What do you mean?”

I sat straighter in the tub, uncaring that my breasts were hanging out. That I was willingly revealing myself to him.

“My power comes with punishment sometimes. If I don’t follow the rules. I felt the effects especially when I was discovering my abilities. I think I am missing over four years of my life, broken down into pieces.”

“Your power costs your memory?”

I gasped. I hadn’t read anything about faeries with his sort of power, especially one that was supposed to descend from a god, so I was truly in the dark when it came to this type of faerie lore.

“When its use is not directed properly,”

Dahr nodded. He’d finished washing my hands but, probably because I had shown so much interest in his story, he did not want to break the connection, so he proceeded to wash my back. His hands started caressing down my shoulders in a massage-like movement as he continued.

“I made many mistakes until I learned to control and direct. I only asked for a camp five years ago. I couldn’t get more people around me until I was certain I knew what I was doing.”

“When was the last time you lost… time?”

I asked, not wanting to open wounds but extremely curious to discover more.

“The last time I tried to channel my power without directing the presence of an offering,”

he said earnestly. My body tensed under his words, but he continued.

“Contrary to your beliefs, Nora, I hate what I have to do. I hate killing innocents or sparing some in the detriment of others. So I tried. Many times. Last time I did it, around two years ago, I could not remember anything for weeks. I went into the town square by myself, and I unleashed my power, but it took control over me. Three surrounding towns were destroyed by my flames, at least that’s what Markos said but honestly, I think he gave me a smaller number in his permanent attempts to protect me”

He took a long pause to release a sigh, his hands frozen over my skin.

“We tried to get a halting stance from Xadom until I recovered enough to know who I was, but he ordered me to be sent there with a note, since I had no clue who I was and what I was supposed to do. Markos stood by me, risking his own life. That’s when we all agreed to play it by the rules.”

“So why should I believe that you are all trying to save me when you just admitted you can’t control your own power?”

I retorted and stood from the bathtub, his immobile hand trailing my back and down my legs as I did so.

“Because I didn’t know I could reach my full power back then. I didn’t know how to channel it. I’ve been practising Nora,”

he copied me and stood as well, his eyes never leaving mine.

“Right. So I’m supposed to follow you to my hometown and bring death to everyone I know because you might be able to do something different...”

I scoffed.

“I’m sick of your lies, Grannicus.”

I truly was sick of this. Of everything. Of trying to understand, of wrestling my own mind and my feelings. Of his presence and the way he kept taunting me. I was sick and tired.

And I desperately needed some fresh air.

Only, when I put a new dress on and wanted to go outside, Dahr stepped in front of the entrance flaps, covering the exit. The warrior crossed his arms over his chest in an imposing stance and looked at me with raised brows, expectantly.

“I need to get some air,”

I muttered and stepped to the right, wanting to skid around him. One step to the side from Dahr, however, blocked my exit again.

“Seriously,”

I snapped.

“Get out of the way.”

I looked up at him to find that challenging smirk he had me used to. His brows remained furrowed and questioning, but the playfulness in his eyes told me that he enjoyed this more than he needed to.

“Dahr…”

I pressed his name in a threat.

“Little flame…”

he grinned at me with the exact same tone of voice.

I sighed and tilted my head back theatrically.

“Fuck this.”

I released the words slowly, almost ashamed to say them out loud, but hoped that the effect was the same. I then moved back, taking steps away from Dahr and heading towards the centre of the tent, hoping that he would follow me and remove himself from the exit.

Just as I had planned, Dahr started stepping to me with that obsessive need for closeness and when I calculated enough space to sneak through and escape, I started running towards the exit. For a moment. Strong arms caught me in a tight hold, pressing me to a taut chest that kept inhaling quickly as laughter escaped from within.

“How stupid do you think I am, Nora?”

Dahr laughed out loud while I struggled to get myself free from his grasp. I did not care for propriety any longer, all I needed was to be free of him. Using the full strength of my legs, I pushed myself into the floor and jumped, trying to lift myself up and loosen the tightness of his arms around me. When that didn’t work and only caused Dahr to laugh harder, I started wiggling my feet and jumping up and down, struggling against him like I was a deer in a trap.

“Let me go!!”

I shouted with all the strength that inhabited my lungs.

“Let. Me. Go!”

I said again and again, as Dahr continued laughing and pressing me tighter into him. My desperation becoming his game. One that I had no possible chance of winning.

“Can we please just come in to say—”

the tent flaps opened to reveal a visibly worried Karisha and an upset Markos, who stepped in carefully, as though they were terrified to disturb.

I hoped Dahr would stop, that he would finish this nonsense and let me go, but he continued to press me tightly against him. And I was not one to lose a battle, so I continued struggling against his body, uncaring that the tribe lord and lady looked at us as though we had both gone mad.

“Do you…

require some privacy?”

Markos furrowed his brows in both surprise and amusement.

“Yes,”

Dahr replied at the same time I shouted a definitive ‘no’.

I was determined to fight him until my last breath if I had to, and by the looks of it, Dahr did not plan to ease his hold on me or to even pause this battle in front of the couple. Who remained frozen at the entrance, unknowing what the best way to proceed would be.

After around a minute or two of fighting against the mountain of muscles that Dahr proved to be and seeing that I had no way to escape his hold, I finally released a defeated breath and settled down enough to place my feet back on the floor. Like heeding a command, the warrior’s arms relaxed around me and softened their hold until I was once again free to move.

The imprints of his tight grip remained plastered on my arms and my skin immediately started itching with the excess of blood flow that rushed to feed the areas.

“Are you alright?”

Dahr’s voice came out gruff, slightly apologetic.

“Like you care,”

I snapped back and moved away. From him. From both Karisha and Markos, who had remained by the entrance, unknowing that they were doing Dahr a favour by blocking it.

“We did not mean to intrude,”

Karisha started speaking, her melodious voice so at odds with the atmosphere in the tent.

“We wanted to check on Nora, since we haven’t seen her in a while…”

“Now you’ve seen me,”

I retorted as I placed my behind on the bed once again, enveloping myself in the full grasp of defeat.

“You are free to go.”

“Nonsense,”

Dahr interfered.

“You are just in time for dinner,”

he said with a cheery tonality to his hard voice, probably surprised by my rudeness. My eyes widened at Dahr and if they could shoot daggers, they would have, but the warrior paid me no mind and continued speaking, suddenly turning into a housewife.

“Weren’t we just saying, little flame, that we would like to return the favour? After all, Markos and Karisha were great hosts to us last time, so it’s our turn,”

he invited, motioning the couple to the table and urging them to take a seat. Then, he turned towards where I was sitting on the bed and arched his brows to me in question.

“You have to eat, do you not? Unless you want to start another hunger strike?”

Rage burnt through me to the point of exploding as I forced my body to the table and took a seat, the surprised gazes of the tribe lord and lady weighing heavily on me. But I would not let Dahr bully me into this. I would not give him another win. And if that meant sharing dinner as a messed-up double date, then so be it.

The food arrived minutes later, with Mira and two other women arranging plates and drinks as we all waited and watched in silence. Mira smiled at me a time or two, but I did not return the gesture, so her face turned sombre and continued with her tasks.

“I understand your hatred for me, little flame, but these women truly care about you. Dropping a little kindness will not diminish your rage, in case you were wondering,”

Dahr leaned into whisper into my ear just as the women finished setting the table.

“Thank you, Mira,”

I forced a smile because… the bastard was right.

“Thank you,”

I dipped my chin to the other two women, who curtsied slowly to me and left the tent. Mira remained behind for a second later, to add an apologetic smile that weighed an entire conversation. The relief I felt when I let go of a single shred of the hatred I had forced myself to keep gave me such relief, that I immediately wanted to do it again.

“Thank you for your visit, Karisha. And for checking on me,”

I tried to force another smile, but this time, it came natural. My heart almost melted when Karisha reached for my hands across the table and grabbed them into hers to reforge that connection we’d missed. Her eyes filled with tears when she muttered an ‘I’m sorry’ to me, which I shook away. Understanding the situation she was in.

The men remained quiet for a minute or two, allowing the tribe lady and I to exchange gazes and say everything we couldn’t through blinking stares until Markos took the lead and cut the moment short.

“Now that everyone is back on track, what are you waiting for?”

I didn’t realise the question was directed to Dahr, until the warrior stretched his arms and placed one over my shoulders, playfully.

“I’m waiting for Nora here to admit her feelings so we can fight this together,”

he said and reached for my face with puckered lips, as if to give me a kiss, which I immediately shrugged away.

Markos sighed heavily.

“Looks like it’s going great, cousin.”