Page 43 of Warlord's Mate

Looking around the hut, the misery she’d finally thought she was rid of came back ten fold. She hated this place. And even though she was surrounded by people, she was lonely. She wanted Sara.

She frowned when her friend’s face wasn’t what popped into her head. It was the warlord, and the moment she thought of him, the tears were back. This was his fault. His and Jityria’s and if she was able to move come morning, she’d find a way to leave like she’d thought of doing in the forest. She’d made it this far. She could make it further and with the warlord gone, she had the perfect opportunity.

With her being hurt, no one would suspect she’d even try to leave now and as much as Jityria hated her, even if she was seen, she’d probably never say a word to anyone. If she wasn’t there, then Jityria would have the warlord all to herself and after being tricked by the hateful shrew and beaten for it, she didn’t give a damn what happened. The only thing they could do to her that was worse than what they’d done today would be to kill her and at the moment, death would be better than living with this pain. The worst part was—had the warlord been here, he probably would have killed her if for no other reason than to prove a point.

If there was one thing she’d learned over the weeks she’d been here, it was that what he said goes and those who disobey are used as examples to the others. Her punishment probably wouldn’t have stopped at only two slashes from a whip. With him wielding it, he would have probably flayed the skin right off of her.

So why did she still want him to come back and protect her? And why did the thought of leaving him make something in her chest clench painfully?

Chapter Fifteen

The first thing Jorrick noticed when he stepped out of the trees and into camp was the look of shock on the faces of his men. More than one of them looked surprised to see him. He supposed if any of them had prior knowledge of the attack waiting for him on their latest excursion, then him sauntering into camp probably was unexpected.

His blood ran hot, fury racing through his veins as the entire fight flashed back across his mind. Cowards not brave enough to challenge him in open battle had tried to kill him in his sleep. Unfortunately for them, he was a light sleeper.

He glanced around camp for Mar-see. The fact he was even looking for her made him more cranky than he already was. The moment he’d killed the two stupid enough to come after him, he’d wondered if someone here in camp was trying to take over and his thoughts had gone to her immediately. Other than a few odd looks, nothing looked any different than when he left.

The small party of men he was with all went their separate ways and he searched the faces of those in camp for Darqu. Vikram had assured him Darqu would keep the camp running efficiently and from the look of things, he’d been right. If there had been an attempted coup, Darqu had put a stop to it. Things looked normal.

Heading toward the cooking pits, he saw Jityria, who stopped as if she wanted to say something to him. Jorrick waved her off with a promise to talk later and kept walking. Word of his arrival would travel fast now that he was back early and the problems he usually faced would be dumped in his lap before he could wash the stink off of him, Jityria trying to talk to him all the proof of that he needed.

Cayen was nowhere to be seen when he stepped into the clearing but something was cooking. He sampled bits of it before grabbing a handful of the lumpy seeds that were in abundance near the pond and tossed them in his mouth before searching for something else.

Leaving in search for Aris had done nothing but frustrate him more than he’d already been. They’d searched the entire perimeter of his territory and found nothing. A small group had ventured into Allok’s border to look further in, another small group heading further out toward the warlord Othrid’s territories.

The plan had been to stay until they knew one way or the other if Aris was dead or alive. He’d intended to be gone for a full rotation of the moon but less than a handful of suns had risen before he felt the need to turn around and come back. He wasn’t able to explain it but it was as if some invisible—tug—was urging him to return and he knew Mar-see was the driving force behind it.

He’d nearly driven himself insane wondering what she was doing and his distraction caused him to make stupid mistakes and that made him look weak. She made him weak, and he needed to fix that problem once and for all. She’d consumed his thoughts for long enough and it was time to put her in the hut with the other females and leave her there.

Or leave her in the forest as bait for Allok as you intended to do.

He nibbled on everything he saw until the hunger making his stomach grumble eased and he wasn’t so ravenous. He washed it all down with a cup full ofswoquin, the drink burning all the way to his gut but telling Mar-see to gather her things and go to the females hut would take a bit of liquid courage. Watching her walk out his door would take more. As much as he wanted her out of his head, something inside him raged at the thought and he wasn’t sure why. It was as if some—force—drew him to her and if he didn’t know better, he would swear she did hold some sort of magic. He felt obsessed with her and he hated every second of it. No one, especially a female, should hold such power over him but she did—and it had to stop.

Cayen walked back into the clearing as he set his cup down. He looked surprised to see him, his eyes a bit too wide. “Warlord. We didn’t expect you back so quickly.”

“Nor had I planned to return so soon.” He knew they’d all want an explanation as to why he’d come back so soon but he owed them nothing. He turned and headed back into camp.

The commotion from those he saw seemed peculiar, but he ignored them and headed to his hut. If he didn’t get Mar-see out and settled into the females hut now, he’d talk himself out of it.

The leather flap over the door was shut when he approached. He pushed it aside and saw her near the back wall at one of the tables. She was slow to turn her head toward him and like everyone else, her eyes widened when she saw him. Why was everyone so surprised he was back? Had something happened? Did those in camp turn into ruthless barbarians the moment his back was turned?

She was wearing one of his shirts again. He hated how much he enjoyed seeing her in them. How knowing she wore nothing underneath it made him want to grab the bottom of the material and pull it up slowly, revealing every inch of that creamy skin until those fire-red curls between her legs came into view.

He scowled when he realized he was doing it again, romanticizing the notion of having her for himself when she was brought here for no other reason than to get back at Allok.

Commotion outside his door brought his head around. “Whatever it is, it will wait.”

“This ca —

“I said it will wait!”

Whoever it was at his door left as quickly as they came, their mumbled words growing faint as they walked away.

He crossed the hut to the table he kept his weapons on and removed the bandolier of knives, then unhooked the long blade at his hip and set it down. Mar-see had turned back around and was doing—whatever it was she was doing.

“Gather your things,” he said, his voice harsher than he’d intended. “You’ll be leaving.”

She looked at him over her shoulder again. Something in her eyes made him pause. Some emotion he’d not yet seen before dwelled there. He almost asked what was wrong but thought better of it. She turned her head again, staring down at something in front of her.