That warrior nodded, turned and stalked through his brethren, quickly disappearing.
Lahn suddenly turned and again looked beyond me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Zahnin outside the tent, his arm around his wife who looked tiny next to him and was visibly shaking at his side. He had her turned, front to his side, and held close with his arm around her shoulder but his eyes were on his king.
She’d seen, heard and understood and she was pressing her lips together probably in the effort not to whimper.
That was my girl.
Her eyes darted to me and I smiled at her. I knew it trembled.
Hers trembled too when she returned it.
Yep, that was my girl.
We weren’t Korwahk but we sure as hell were learning to be.
Fast.
Then Lahn spoke and I turned back to him. “Your blood will be avenged.”
From behind me, Zahnin replied, “Yes, my king.”
He jerked his head my way. “It will also be rewarded.”
“Yes, my king,” Zahnin repeated and Lahn’s gaze cut to Bain who was standing several feet from him.
“The stains on your steel will be rewarded,” Lahn stated.
Bain jerked up his chin.
Then horses sidled, a pathway cleared and I sucked in breath.
Diandra and Claudine held on tight.
Thinking quickly, knowing in my heart what would happen, I twisted and caught Zahnin’s gaze.
“Hide her eyes,” I called, he grunted unintelligibly but his big hand lifted, covering Sabine’s eyes as he turned her to his front, burying her face in his bandaged chest.
He bent to her and said gently, “Cover your ears, close your eyes.
I will tell you when it is done.”
I turned back when I heard a pained cry and then winced when I saw that Teetru had been tossed to the stone ground.
She’d also been mishandled, gravely. She wore no clothes, bruises had already formed around her arms, her wrists, her hips, her knees, her throat and there was a dried, white substance liberally splattered everywhere on her body including her face and I knew what that was.
My knees gave out but Diandra and Claudine closed in, holding me up until I forced my legs to stand strong again under me.
Teetru’s body was on its side but down, only her head lifted up and her eyes came to me then they travelled through the blood on my body.
They were full of pain but, to my shock, it was not just the pain she felt in her body. Mingled with it was a different kind of pain.
Then I heard her whisper, “You should not have been kind to me.”
My body jolted and tears filled my eyes.
“Prepare her,” Lahn barked.
Her gaze stayed locked to mine as Bain strode forward and, using her hair causing her to cry out but she still didn’t break her connection to me, he pulled her to her knees.
The wet streamed down my cheeks and pain burned my throat.
With a hiss of steel, Lahn unsheathed his sword.
“I wish you hadn’t been kind to me.”
Those were her last words before Bain stepped free and Lahn severed her head from her body with a vicious swing of his sword.
I turned into Diandra’s arms and shoved my face in her neck so I missed the flash of lightning that rent the sky, trailing down the cliff five hundred yards behind me.
“Throw it off the cliff. Return the head to the Maroo king with one of their warriors you captured. Unman him before you free him.
Her head and his balls, my gift to their king before we lock steel,”
Lahn ordered.
I stifled a painful sob by swallowing and that hurt even more.
“Bathe my fucking bride! ” Lahn bellowed, I felt Diandra nod and then she and Claudine gently guided me toward my girls’ cham and I heard Zahnin’s soft, “Attend your queen,” as I went.
