Claimed By the Horde King by Zoey Draven

Chapter Twenty-Five

“The Vorakkar announced the frost feast,” my lirilla told me, glancing up at me from the piles of cloth in her lap.

She was creating a tunic for a female I’d seen briefly, while she’d tasked me with easy repairs, tears and holes.

“Finally,” she added. “I expected it to happen already. The bikku are already in a frenzy.”

“Bikku?” I questioned, threading my needle through a pair of hide pants. My hands felt blistered from my morning in the weapons tent, but I’d gotten close to pinching the fletching just right and I’d been on a high ever since.

“The females who prepare our meals,” she said. “Who do you think makes all the food?”

Just another one of my curiosities satisfied. “I’d always wondered. Where do they make it?”

“They have a tent towards the pyroki enclosure.”

“The one next to the baths?”

“Lysi.”

I’d been there over two weeks now and I learned something new about the encampment constantly.

“But only bikku are allowed inside,” she added, “or else the warriors would be too much of a distraction.”

I smiled. “They try to steal food?”

“Constantly,” she said. “So do the children.”

“When will the feast happen?” I asked, taking a break from my work to look up at her. I rolled my neck, hearing it crack.

“In two days.”

And then Seerin will leave for Dothik, I thought. For how long, I didn’t know.

It had been three days since he’d come to my tent. Three days since I’d sent him away and, except for the barest of glimpses around the encampment, I hadn’t seen him or spoken to him since.

The distance between us made me feel dejected. I’d been closest to Seerin. Despite my stronger feelings for him, I thought of him as a friend. I always felt he was honest with me. He intrigued me, somehow managing to assuage my curiosity about him while making me want to know so much more.

Yet in a single moment, our friendship—or whatever the hell it had been—had seemed to crumble. And I was still uncertain why he’d chosen to do that. Because it had been a calculated choice.

“I always love the frost feast,” the seamstress said. “Even though it means that we have to go to our dried meats and soups for the rest of the cold season.”

My gaze refocused on her since it had begun to drift with my thoughts. “Rations?” I asked, my chest squeezing, an old feeling of panic returning.

She looked at me carefully and said, “Nik. There is still plenty of food. Our fresher meat is usually used up during the frost feast. But I assure you, lirilla, the bikku dry the most delicious smoked kinnu and throw together rich, flavorful, nutritious broths. You might not even miss the fresh meat again until the thaw comes.”

I relaxed slightly and nodded, a little embarrassed that she’d had to reassure me so much.

Hesitantly, she asked, “You were very hungry before coming here, were you not, lirilla?”

My brow furrowed and I looked back at the hide pants in my lap, at the needle still in my grip.

“Like I said before, my village was very different than here,” I said softly. Though I’d grown up in that village, it seemed like months had passed since I’d been there.

What had Seerin said? That time moved slower in the cold season? It certainly seemed that way.

Another pang went through my chest, thinking about him, but I shook it away and resumed my work.

“I am sorry,” she murmured, “that you suffered. I feel strange now, knowing that I have not given much thought to vekkiri settlements before. Now I wonder constantly. You have given me another perspective and I am grateful for it.”

Her words surprised me. In return, I said softly, “And your horde has given me another perspective as well. I am grateful too.”

We went back to our work, talking idly of the frost feast. She told me that there would be dancing and music and plenty of fermented wine.

“Perhaps you will dance with my brother,” she teased.

A startled laugh escaped me. “Your brother? Why? I don’t even know how to dance.”

“You have been spending time with him,” she noted.

“Yes,” I said. The last couple nights, I’d been in the training grounds with him, teaching him how to shoot the bow. He’d been interested in learning and I found I liked teaching my favorite hobby. “He is kind. I consider him a friend.”

I’d never thought of him otherwise, though I’d grown used to his flirting. It was harmless, but I was careful not to encourage it. Not when Seerin was still constantly in my thoughts.

“Hmm,” her lips quirked. “Do you consider me a friend?”

“Of course,” I told her. “You’ve also been very kind and patient, as I’ve bombarded you with questions.”

“If that is the case,” she said, “then you may call me by my given name of Avuli.”

My hand stilled, the needle hovering. “Avuli,” I repeated softly. I knew what it meant for her to give me her name. “Then you must call me Nelle. Although, I am sure your father already told you my name after my mix-up that day.”

Her laugh was lyrical and light. “Lysi, he may have. But I wanted your permission to use it.”

“Well, you certainly have it.”

She smiled at me. I was suddenly struck with a fierce emotion, one of grief. Because when I left this place once the thaw came, I wouldn’t only be leaving Seerin behind, but her, and her father’s teachings, and her son following me around repeating my words, and nights in the training grounds with her brother.

“What is wrong, Nelle?” she asked, frowning when she saw my expression.

“Nothing,” I said, shaking my head, forcing a small smile. “I’m just…happy.”

With the exception of what had happened with Seerin, I realized I was happy. Happier than I could ever remember being, even when Jana had been alive. I felt useful here in the horde. I felt like I was slowly carving a place for myself here. I felt free. I felt safe.

But it wouldn’t last.

Nothing did, I was reminded.

However, instead of dwelling on it, I pushed it from my mind. I would spend my months in the horde embracing that happiness, that contentedness, as long as it lasted. And once I had to return to my village, I would remember my time here, I would remember Seerin and my friends fondly, and those memories would sustain me. Wouldn’t they?

It was no use to think about anything else. Because I was quite determined to make the best of it.

That thought was still at the forefront of my mind when, later that night, Seerin finally came to me.

Some of my anger had drained over the course of the last few days, but I was still hurt. I was still confused. I still wanted him. I still missed him.

So, when I saw him duck inside my voliki without warning that night, I drank him in. Somehow, he’d grown even more handsome over the last few days, despite the strained look in his eyes that I knew didn’t belong there.

We stood staring at one another as my heartbeat tried to thud its way from my chest.

“I cannot do this any longer, Nelle,” he rasped.

“Do what?” I asked softly.

“Stay away from you,” he rasped, raking a hand through his golden hair, his gaze flickering. I’d never seen him so…undone. So uncertain.

Though my breath hitched, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. I’d heard whisperings the past few days in camp that the Vorakkar was in a terrible mood, along with warnings not to cross paths with him.

I could see why unsuspecting members of the horde wouldn’t want to get in his way.

“Will you come with me?” he asked after a silent moment.

“Where?”

“Out on the plains,” he replied.

My brow furrowed. I still wanted to hear an apology for that night—I still wanted an explanation. Did this mean he wanted to talk?

Still…anywhere that wasn’t his voliki was a much safer bet. And I’d always itched to go beyond the fence, hadn’t I?

Take advantage of your time here, I remembered.

“Alright,” I said hesitantly, but I couldn’t hide my frown. “I’ll come.”

He nodded, though I thought I spied relief in his gaze. “Dress warmly,” he said before ducking out, giving me privacy, which seemed so unlike him.

Inhaling a long breath, I found I was nervous as I pulled back on my fur-lined pants, a thick tunic, an even thicker fur sweater, and my pelt. My hair was still slightly wet from when I’d bathed in the common voliki earlier that evening and I stood over the fire, drying it as best as I could, before I pulled it back into a braid.

I was still securing it with a piece of black cloth when I emerged from the tent and saw Seerin standing next to a pyroki. His pyroki, I realized.

For a moment, I froze, remembering the last clear memory I had of the beast. Of Seerin astride him, looking down at me with a cold gaze as I wondered if he would kill me.

It seemed like so long ago, but I was still jarred by the memory.

“Lokkas,” he murmured, running his palm down the creature’s wide snout. Its hot breath came in heavy pants, silvering the air around it.

Lokkas. It was his pyroki’s name. I wondered, briefly, if pyrokis’ given names were just as secretive as their masters’. Somehow, I thought it might be the case, and I wondered why Seerin would share it with me so easily.

“Hello, Lokkas,” I said softly to him, reaching out hesitantly to stroke the side of his neck. Right then, I remembered that I’d been on his back before. I’d awoken on our way here from my village, bandaged and aching, and I’d felt the beast’s strength underneath me.

I was all too aware that Seerin was close to me. How strange it seemed now that I’d slept beside him for over a week, yet just being within arm’s reach of him now sent a shiver down my spine.

Perhaps that was why I couldn’t quite meet his eyes. And when I did, it wasn’t for long.

“I will help you up,” he rasped. Before I could protest, his hands were around my waist, strong and sure, and he lifted me easily, settling me feet above the ground on the back of his pyroki, as if I weighed nothing more than a feather.

A moment later, he swung up behind me and my face heated when his thighs clasped around my own. Though I’d touched his cock, bathed him, and seen him naked more times than I could count, just being cradled between his clothed, thick thighs was enough to make me question whether this had been a good idea or not.

He took Lokkas’ reins in one fist, his hand coming around my waist to steady me as he urged his pyroki into a gentle trot.

The entrance to the encampment came up quickly.

Without hesitation, we went through the gate…and out onto the open plains of Dakkar.