Talia felt a warm fullness flooding her inside as she let her limbs go limp.
The man pressing down on her pushed himself up. With that, the heat that had filled her slowly began to ebb away.
Talia bit her lip at the foreign sensation and pressed her thighs tightly together.
Just then, his hand descended toward her bandaged leg. An instinctive shriek tore from her throat.
“Don’t touch me!”
Through the dark, she saw Varkas’s shoulders go rigid.
Ignoring him, she frantically pulled down her bunched-up skirts and swung her legs out of the bed.
She tried to force her trembling knees toward the door, but a thick forearm locked around her waist. In a heartbeat, she was hauled back onto the mattress.
Talia flailed against him.
“L-let go! It’s over. I’m going back to my room!”
He pinned her wrists, his gaze burning through the dark.
“You mean to just walk away now that your business is done?”
“I told you from the start that was all this was.”
Swallowing down the tears threatening to spill over, Talia glared back with venom.
“I have no further business with you.”
The air in the bedchamber froze dead.
She felt his fingers bite painfully into her wrists. Snapping them out of his grasp with all her might, she scrambled toward the edge of the bed.
‘I didn’t lie with him out of affection. There is no reason to linger.’
Muttering the words like a ward, she stumbled to her feet.
A low curse in the Eastern tongue broke from Varkas’s lips. In the next breath, he snatched the duvet from the floor and wrapped it tight around her.
Trapped against his solid chest, Talia lost what was left of her composure and thrashed violently.
“No! Let me go!”
He did not even pretend to hear her.
Having bundled her firmly into the blanket, Varkas strode out of the room clad in nothing but his trousers.
The servants standing watch by the door stared with wide eyes, but Varkas did not so much as blink.
Carrying her securely in his arms, he cut down the corridor and ascended the stairs toward her third-floor bedchamber.
Talia glared up at him, her face streaked with sweat and tears. The candelabras lining the hall cast their light over his gleaming, bare torso, his rumpled silver hair, his cold blue eyes, and the sharp lines of his face.
Though stripped barer than she had ever seen him, he remained as impenetrable and unyielding as an iron fortress.
“Are you satisfied now?”
His voice was flat as he set her down upon the bed.
Talia yanked the duvet up to her chin and turned her face away. She could feel his anger, but it was nothing to her.
“I wish to be alone. Get out.”
· · ·
“Please, just leave.”
At the sharp tremor in her voice, the stone mask of his face finally cracked.
Drawing a slow breath, Varkas leaned down toward her.
“Answer me this. Did I hurt you?”
‘Yes. You always hurt me.’
The retort rose to her lips, but she choked it down. Even she knew how unfair it was.
She had been the one to barge in and demand this of him. Playing the victim now, after forcing the matter herself, was utterly pathetic.
Yet logic offered no comfort. She simply shook her head, pulling her knees to her chest like a cocooned insect.
“I only want to rest. Leave me alone, please. I don’t want to see your face right now.”
Her sheer obstinacy seemed to push him past his limit. His entire frame locked tight, veins corded across his bare chest, and an intimidating presence flared from him that made her heart seize in fright.
Yet just as quickly, the tension broke. Drawing another heavy breath, Varkas rose, his expression setting hard as granite.
“I will have a healer examine you.”
“I don’t need one.”
“I will not step out of this room until you promise to be tended to.”
His tone cut like a blade.
Talia glared at him through wet lashes, then finally gave a curt nod.
“Fine… Just go.”
His jaw clenched into a taut ridge.
He stood motionless above her as though he meant to speak, but turned on his heel instead.
Before long, the latch clicked shut, leaving behind a stark silence. Talia tracked the steady cadence of his footsteps until they faded down the hall, then curled inward and shut her eyes.
She felt devastatingly drained—so hollowed out she wondered if she might simply dissolve into nothing…
High above the autumn-tinged fields, a circle of kites drifted lazily across the sky. One by one, they glided downward in wide arcs, zeroing in on the shredded remains of a stallion left in the grass.
It was the grim remainder of a sudden wolf attack at dawn.
“Fortunately, no men were harmed, but the ranch has taken quite a blow.”
Varkas watched a dun-feathered bird tear at the horse’s exposed ribs before turning his gaze toward the low swell of the ridges.
Beyond a tumbledown stone wall lay three or four dead broodmares, their bellies and throats ripped open. Following his gaze, Daren let out a heavy sigh.
“I suppose we should count ourselves lucky the Normex stallions are untouched, but still…”
“Has the hunt been assembled?”
“The guards have been combing the Armund Forest since sunrise, but the pack left no trail. Seems their alpha is uncommonly shrewd.”
“Double the trackers. Station guards around the perimeter of the paddocks and the outskirts of the settlement.”
Tightening his leather-gloved hand on Toruk’s reins, Varkas gave the order in a low, measured voice. Daren immediately gestured toward the men behind them.
“You heard him. Relay His Grace’s orders to the units without delay.”
Two guards vaulted the low railing and galloped back toward the stronghold.
Varkas took one last look at the ruined paddocks, then turned his mount toward the village.
The settlement north of Kalmor was thick with folk who had come out to catch sight of their new lord. Without looking at them, Varkas rode along the stone-paved path. Daren fell in behind him, speaking in a low, careful tone.
“One trouble after another these days. As if Zram raiders weren’t enough, now wolf packs are running wild.”
· · ·
“I know this streak of misfortune right after the succession must weigh on you, but take care of yourself, Your Grace. You haven’t looked yourself lately.”
Varkas pulled his horse to a halt and glanced back. Fearing he had spoken out of turn, Daren quickly bowed his head.
“Forgive me if I overstepped. I was only concerned for your health…”
“Do I look so exhausted that you feel compelled to worry?”
Varkas asked, rubbing his chin.
Daren studied his lord’s face for a moment, then scratched behind his neck with an awkward shrug. “You’ve been on edge these past few days. I wondered if sleep had eluded you.”
Varkas’s brow furrowed. He faced forward once more, letting out what sounded like a quiet breath.
“I seem to have made you fret. I will bear it in mind.”
The truth was, he had not slept more than three or four hours a night for the past week. And it was not simply the mountain of documents on his desk.
He shifted his gaze toward the fortress rising over the hill.
The midday autumn sun beat down against the immense stone keep where she stayed.
‘She is likely still holed up in her chambers.’
A sudden coppery tang spread across his palate. He ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek, finding the raw spot where he had bitten down with his molars. It was an odd habit he had fallen into recently.
He probed the torn flesh with his tongue and swallowed the metallic taste. As the scent of blood hit the back of his throat, an unsettling afterimage flashed behind his eyes.
A strange heat stirred in the pit of his stomach. Varkas scowled and dragged a rough hand through his hair.
END