Captive of the Horde King by Zoey Draven

Chapter Thirty-One

“You’ll probably need more furs once the cold season comes,” I commented, helping Kivan with the last touches in his tent. “But the Vorakkar says that the weather is milder in the southlands, so perhaps these will suffice.”

“It’s more than we ever had in the village,” Kivan commented, staring around at the small space. “I’ve never seen so many furs in my life.”

“That’s true,” I murmured softly, looking around.

The voliki was small, but it was the same size as the unmated warriors’ tents, just enough for one. Warm and cozy.

“What now?” Kivan asked after a brief moment of silence.

A loaded question. We had reached the new camp yesterday afternoon, right on schedule, and by nightfall, all of the tents had already been erected. The golden barrels that held the fire for cooking meat so it wouldn’t scorch the earth were rolled out and lit, giving the camp a warm glow. And as the sky blackened, the horde continued to work. The pyroki enclosure was put together and I helped fill the troughs with food and water. I saw Arokan only briefly as he helped erect the training grounds.

The camp had relatively the same layout as the previous one. The back of the camp—which included our tent—butted up to a tall hill. And while it had made me nervous, next to that tall hill was a thick forest, but unlike any forest I’d ever seen. Instead of trees, it was made up of black vines that crawled up sharp, jutting rocks. The vines crisscrossed overhead, growing between the rocks that acted like trunks until the forest seemed like nothing more than a black mass of darkness and chaos.

Arokan said there was a stream inside, which would provide access to fresh water. Though I worried about Ghertun, still spooked from the earlier encounter, Arokan assured me that there would be a plethora of patrols to keep it clear.

But right then Kivan was looking at me with a wary expression. Now that we’d begun to settle into our new camp and the journey was over, Kivan was nervous about what his purpose would be.

“I’ll bring it up to the Vorakkar,” I assured him. “I work with the pyroki during the day, but there is plenty around camp to do. We will find you a job.”

Kivan nodded. It was getting late. Already the second day being at the new camp was fading away and I still had to visit the healer. It was something I’d been putting off all day, once Mirari told me that morning that she wished to speak with me, that she had completed her tests.

I didn’t know why I was avoiding the meeting. I hadn’t experienced any more nausea since we’d been journeying and I didn’t want to hear that I’d gotten my hopes up for nothing. Ever since it became a possibility that I could be pregnant…it was all I’d thought about. I wanted a baby, I realized. The intense longing for one surprised me, considering I had never given children much thought before.

But I did. I wanted to be pregnant. I wanted to give Arokan children, a son or a daughter.

“I have something I need to do,” I told my brother, knowing I couldn’t put off the meeting any longer. Better to get it over with and move on. “Rest. And put that salve on your thighs. It helps with the pyroki burn. Trust me.”

Kivan looked up at me and nodded, already reaching for the pot of clear healing salve I’d brought him.

I smiled at him, reaching up to ruffle his clean hair. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Kivan.”

Once I ducked outside the tent, I looked at one of my two guards—the one that spoke the universal tongue—and asked him, “Will you take me to the healer’s tent?”

Thankfully, he didn’t ask why, but simply led me to her. In no time at all, as the sky darkened into a beautiful indigo, I stood in front of her home and the guard called out, announcing my presence and my desire to speak to her. I knew Arokan would look for me soon, so I needed to be quick. I knew the guards would report to him that I’d come there, but I would tell him my reasons if he asked. I would be honest with him.

Once the healer gave me permission to enter, I stepped inside and was immediately assaulted with the intense smell of burning herbs and the heat from the small fire she had going in her own personal barrel.

“Morakkari,” she greeted, inclining her head, standing from the low table she was seated at. I’d interrupted her evening meal, I realized.

I mirrored her actions. I didn’t actually know if she spoke the universal tongue, but I greeted her with, “Healer, my piki said you requested me.”

“Lysi,” she replied and I was thankful I wouldn’t need the guard to translate our conversation. “My herbs revealed to me that you are pregnant with the Vorakkar’s child.”

I reached out to grip a tall chest to keep from falling over.

“Morakkari,” the healer exclaimed, rushing me to sit down at the low table.

I blinked, falling onto the cushion in disbelief. “A little warning next time would be great,” I breathed as she immediately thrust a small cup of hot tea into my shaking hands.

I stared into the dark liquid as her words began to penetrate.

“I’m…” I whispered. “I’m pregnant?”

“Lysi, Morakkari,” she replied, taking a seat across from me. “Drink. It is good for the young.”

“How can you be certain?” I asked.

Her brow furrowed, her head cocking to the side. “The tea? It is a blend I make myself.”

“No. Nik. About the pregnancy. You are certain?” I clarified, hope beginning to spring in my chest, though I desperately tried to keep it reined. “I haven’t had any morning sickness the last two days. I thought…”

“My herbs have never told me an untruth, Morakkari,” the female said, “and I have done this for many, many years.”

“But I’m human,” I pointed out. “Not Dakkari. Maybe the test doesn’t work for me.”

“Your child is Dakkari,” she said gently.

I looked down at my belly, my breath hitching.

A child.

A baby.

Excitement, fear, hope all swarmed within me and I looked back up at the healer.

“I’m pregnant?” I said, just to clarify one last time before the gates opened.

“Lysi, Morakkari. I am certain,” she said patiently with a small nod. “Now, drink. You must have a cup every morning and evening.”

And because I didn’t know what else to do, I drank the foul tasting, bitter liquid until the cup was emptied.

I closed my eyes as tears of happiness welled up in them, not wanting her to see me cry.

“What now?” I finally asked once I opened them again, once I was able to control the sudden, overwhelming emotion at her abrupt announcement.

What now?

Words that Kivan had just asked me and now it was I that felt uncertain.

“You continue to live,” she said, as if it were obvious. “You wait. The baby will grow and when the baby decides to come, it will.”

I blew out a breath and then asked a question that I’d been wondering, “How long do Dakkari females gestate for?”

“Five moon cycles,” the healer answered. Almost half of humans. It explained why the morning sickness came early.

“Alright,” I whispered, looking into my empty cup before looking up at her, a small, hesitant smile appearing on my face. “Thank you.”

“You come see me often, Morakkari,” she continued. “I will have your tea delivered with your meals and once the worst of the nausea comes, I have something to settle your belly too.”

“Thank you, healer,” I said again, rising from the low table. “I would like that.”

I left shortly after, exiting from the tent in a state of happy disbelief.

I’d been so certain that I wasn’t pregnant that the news had come as a shock. But the only thing I wanted right then was to find Arokan and tell him the news.

I nodded at the guards and then turned towards the base of the hill, where our tent was, hoping that he’d returned from his duties already. Hell, I practically ran there.

I only stopped short, the smile dying off my face when I saw Hukan. She was emerging from the black vine forest, carrying a basket of something in her arm. She was alone and she peered around before she saw me.

I watched her straighten and frown, but then, much to my surprise, her expression lightened, as if she made the effort to soften her features. She even began to approach me and I stopped in my tracks, wondering why she would do such a thing.

“Morakkari,” she greeted.

“Hukan,” I said, my tone hesitant at first, using her given name since the guards were far enough away. “Is there something you need?”

Something flashed in her gaze but she shook her head, eyeing me. She gestured to the basket she was carrying and I peered inside and saw small berries, large and green in color, so dark they looked black at first. “Kukeri fruit. You can only find them in the southlands. We make sweet bread with them. I will bring you some, lysi?”

Taken aback, I didn’t know what else to do but nod. “I’d like that,” I said, studying her.

Had Arokan spoken with her? Was that why she was making an effort to speak with me?

“Thank you,” I added, giving her a small smile. It was for Arokan’s sake. She was his aunt, a blood relation to his mother. For him, I could make peace with her.

She inclined her head in a nod and passed me, on the way back to her tent, I presumed. I stared at the spot where she’d stood before I looked into the black vine forest.

Surprisingly, I felt like a weight had been lifted. Or had, at the very least, started to lift. Hukan’s disapproval of me, her insistence that I was not strong enough for Arokan, that it would only be a matter of time before he realized that, had always been an insecurity in the back of my mind. But, perhaps Hukan saw that I was trying to be the queen he deserved.

And despite the encounters we’d had, I still wanted her approval, her blessing. She was the last female of Rath Kitala, of Arokan’s line, at least until I bore a daughter. I didn’t want there to be a divide between them because of me.

“Kalles,” I heard.

My breath hitched and I turned, Arokan’s voice cutting through my thoughts like a blade.

“Hi,” I said, my belly warming. My two guards, a respectful distance away, departed at my husband’s nod and he wrapped his arm around my waist, guiding me the rest of the way to the tent. “Wait.”

I couldn’t stand another moment of not telling him. Even the walk back to our tent was too long. Night was descending and we were alone, at the back of the camp. It was peaceful and quiet and I needed to tell him.

When he frowned, turning to me, I reached my hands up to wind around his neck and said, “I just came from the healer.”

His expression tightened and pulled, worried. It always amazed me how well I could read him. Most of the time, he was in Vorakkar mode. He kept his emotions tightly concealed, to be strong for his horde.

But around me, he didn’t. He let me see what he was feeling. He was Arokan with me, not the Vorakkar.

“What is wrong?” he rasped, gripping the back of my neck, peering down into my eyes as if just doing that he could discern an illness.

“Nothing is wrong,” I whispered before I couldn’t contain my smile anymore. “In fact, everything is wonderful. She told me I’m pregnant.”

Arokan froze, his muscles tightening around me. “Neffar?” he rasped, stunned.

“We’re going to have a baby, Arokan,” I whispered, reaching out to touch his cheek. “I’m pregnant.”

His breath hitched and then he was kissing me, devouring my lips, my words, as if he needed to consume them to believe them. I knew the feeling.

I grinned into him, knowing that he felt what I felt. From the beginning, I knew he wanted children. He’d told me many times. He’d told me that I would give him many. He’d always believed I would, while I’d been the one with the doubts.

But not now. I was pregnant. I was happy. I was in love with a horde king of Dakkar who had taken me from a life, only to give me a new one. A better one. A life where I felt free. Loved.

Tears pricked my eyes and ran down my cheek as Arokan kissed me. Then I gasped when he hitched me up into arms and strode the rest of the way to our voliki, intent to celebrate the news in a much different, much more private way.

In my ear, he rasped, “You honor me, my Luna. I am proud to be your male.”

Afterwards,I laid against the cushions in our bed, flushed from pleasure, from head-to-toe. My horde king had been thorough and insatiable and I’d loved every moment of it.

I stroked his hair, threading my fingers through it, as he rested his head on my belly. Though the baby was only beginning to grow, while it would still be a while before I began to show, Arokan pressed words into my flesh.

Dakkari words. Soft and low. Some words I understood, but most I did not. Regardless, his voice brought tears to my eyes because I knew they were words of hope, of love, of promise.

Arokan would make a wonderful father. That I knew with certainty.

Our voliki was quiet and warm. My husband was pressed against me and ever so slowly, his words lulled me into sleep.

Everything was falling into place. We’d arrived to our new camp safely, my brother and I had reunited, the distance between Hukan and I was lessening, and now I was pregnant with Arokan’s child.

But that night, though I lay in the safety and warmth of my horde king’s arms, my dreams were dark.

As dark as the black vine forest.

As if Kakkari herself was warning me what would come next.