Claimed By the Horde King by Zoey Draven

Epilogue

“Iwant to show you something, rei Morakkari,” Seerin murmured in my ear.

I was sitting with Avuli and Nukri, who was the mate of Vodan, Seerin’s pujerak. We were helping the bikku cook up a flank of hebrikki. A handful of warriors had gone out hunting just that morning and returned with plenty of fresh meat, the first the horde had eaten since the frost feast. It would be a night of celebration, though we were still searching for our new encampment.

Dusk had just fallen over the beautiful valleys of the southlands. Though it was after the thaw, the air was still chilled at night and Seerin wrapped another thin shawl of furs around my shoulders as he helped me stand.

“I’ll be right back,” I assured Avuli and Nukri, who both gave me secretive, knowing smiles. I flushed. They thought my demon king was whisking me away for a private romp, considering we had been traveling for almost two weeks and there was little privacy among a traveling Dakkari horde. Seerin and I had to be creative in order to indulge in our sex life, though my husband had often growled into my ear that he couldn’t wait to have our own voliki once more.

But our home had not made itself known yet. We had come across multiple herds of hebrikki since yesterday, so we were close. And once we found a river, an accesible water source, we would begin resettling in that beautiful place. Seerin knew what he was looking for and the horde trusted in their Vorakkar to find a suitable base.

And Seerin had been right. I loved the southlands. From what I’d already seen, they held a foreign beauty that I had never experienced before in my lifetime. There were lush valleys and towering, thick forests filled with color and life. I’d even seen a waterfall as we passed through the Hitri mountains, which had been equally impressive, if slightly frightening. A part of me could hardly believe that we were still on Dakkar because it was so different from the endless, stretching plains and blackened forests I’d known all my life.

The horde was resting for the night, settling down for a calm yet joyous evening of fresh meat and fermented wine. There was a hushed anticipation in the air, as if everyone else sensed we were close to a new encampment as well. While traveling with a horde had its excitements, I was more than ready to set up a more permanent base soon, if only to enjoy more privacy with Seerin.

My demon king led me over to the thick forest we’d decided to settle next to for the night, keeping his hand on my lower back the entire way.

I sucked in a breath when the baby kicked hard. “Oh, he is restless tonight.”

Seerin grinned and the sight of it made my heart stutter in my chest, as it always did. The healer thought it would only be a little over a month before he arrived, given his advanced growth. And I was more than ready for him to come. Besides constantly feeling like I needed to relieve myself, the swollen ankles, the aching back, the heaviness in my breasts, Seerin and I were both eager for our child to begin in this world with us.

One night in bed, after the thaw had come and right before we’d left our encampment, Seerin had run his hands over my naked belly and pressed his cheek to my naval, feeling the baby kick and move. “It is a male,” he’d decided right then. “And he will be a great warrior for all the fighting he is doing within you.”

“Our little warrior is impatient,” Seerin told me now, through his grin, leading me into the darkened forest until I could barely make out the laughter and voices and the delicious smell of cooking meat that we’d left behind.

“As is his father,” I pointed out with a quirked brow and flushed cheeks. “All the horde will know what we are doing in here now.”

“I did not bring you in here for quick mating, rei Morakkari,” he rasped, his tone light and teasing. “Though now that you suggest it, I am certainly not opposed to the idea.”

“Then what did you bring me in here for?”

“Listen,” he murmured, pulling us both to a stop. “You will hear them.”

Them? I wondered.

Going quiet, I met his grey eyes and did as he said. It took a moment. But then I heard a familiar sound, one that made me still with wonder and memory.

“I heard them as we rode, through the trees,” he whispered to me, pressing a kiss to my temple. “I wanted you to see them.”

Thissies.

My heart felt full as I listened to their calls and their songs in the trees that lit up one after another once we quieted and stopped walking. So much like Blue’s calls that I felt that she was up there.

I spied one, just overhead, its beautiful wings whispering as they flapped. Another echoing thissie call came from somewhere to my left, and another to my right. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one flit across one branch to the next, only a few feet away.

My breath hitched and I turned to look at it. And it looked so much like Blue that I thought I was seeing her spirit. Long, shimmering blue feathers, black shining eyes, and a brown beak. The thissie was watching me as I was watching it.

Before I could blink, it took flight, expertly dodging the branches of the forest, going higher and higher, until it rose out of sight.

It was only after the thissie disappeared that I realized I was holding my breath.

When I turned to look at Seerin, I found he wasn’t watching the thissie at all. In fact, he was watching me and the look in his eyes made me melt, made my stomach flutter pleasantly.

Shortly after that night in the training grounds, after the last bargain we had ever made to one another, we’d decided not to wait for our tassimara. Before the thaw had even come, Seerin and I had our joining ceremony before all the horde, where I officially became Morakkari, where I officially became his wife and him my husband.

Those that didn’t support our joining left the horde shortly after, even before the thaw. Seerin hadn’t even watched them go. And while I felt discomforted by the thought that my presence left others uncomfortable, that feeling didn’t last long. I was Seerin’s and he was mine. That was all that mattered, and the majority of the horde celebrated our tassimara with joy and understanding and celebration. It was that spirit of the horde that would make us better, that would make us stronger.

I remembered that spirit whenever I looked down at the golden markings around my wrist. My Morakkari markings. The markings of Rath Tuviri. Markings of my own and of my mate.

It was times like these, standing in that thissie forest with his arms wrapped around me, when I remembered why I hadn’t wanted to wait to join myself to him. It was times like these when I remembered why I’d fallen in love with him in the first place.

And though our journey to this point had not been easy, it had only strengthened our bond and reinforced the love we shared that I felt every single moment of every single day.

“Thissies for reithissie,” he teased gently, brushing a lock of hair away from my cheek. He’d promised he would show them to me one day…and he was making good on that promise, as he always did.

The smile I gave him in response made his breath hitch in his throat and a deep growl rise from his chest. That growl was full of need and I ran my palms down the muscled wall of his chest in reply. Down, down, down, until they brushed the laces of his hide pants.

He groaned when I began untying them and pulled me closer until he could lower his head for a kiss.

“Let’s spend a little time in here after all, my demon king,” I murmured, breathless, desire heating and pulsing through my body.

Seerin gave me a wicked grin.

“As you wish, rei Morakkari.”