Her eyes lit again. “Seerim tells me he has never seen the Dax laugh that hard or that long. Our king found all this very amusing.”

Well!

I was so sure.

To hide my hurt, I looked to Ghost, slid my fingers through her fur and whispered, “Well, it’s the way we talk where I’m from and it’s not nice to make fun of the way people talk.”

“Dahksahna Circe, linas please,” Diandra requested softly and I looked at her. “He has decided he likes the meaning of honey best but he prefers how you speak when you call him baby. He is, of course, a ‘big guy’ and simply finds it amusing you would point this out. There were several warriors with him when Seerim explained all this and Seerim reports to me that they all found your words amusing but not in a bad way. It isn’t making fun. It’s good that

your husband finds you amusing. Laughter is important to any relationship but it’s especially important in a marriage. No?”

I had to admit, she was right.

“What did…?” I hesitated. “What did he think of me calling him sweet?”

She grinned again. “I believe that he preferred you thought of him as a fierce warrior but he took no offense to you calling him sweet and, it would be my guess, he took no offense to this because you called him your Lahn before you did so.”

I felt my eyes grow round. “He remembered that?”

“‘ Out there, King Lahn is a fierce warrior but in here, my Lahn…

kah Lahn is sweet, ’” she recited. “Is this what you said?”

It was and, if memory served, it was word for word.

Holy moly.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Then,” she said softly, reaching out and touching my knee, “I think my guess would be correct and he took no offense at all, my queen.”

My stomach dipped then it warmed.

Oh man. Here we go again.

“Now!” she exclaimed and my body started. “I have more news.”

I didn’t know if I could take more news but because I was a dork, I still asked, “What news?”

“Well, Seerim has found your Narinda.”

I smiled and clapped my hands in front of me so Ghost lifted her head and blinked at me with tiger cub irritation before she settled again.

“He did?” I asked.

“He did, indeed, my queen. She is the bride of Feetak.”

I leaned into her. “Is she okay?”

Diandra smiled gently. “She is. Feetak is a strong warrior. A dependable one. Seerim respects him. And, he tells me, Feetak is taken with his bride. This is why she has not been out and about and

he did not go to the games. He has been spending a great deal of time with her.”

I hoped this was good news.

Diandra went on, proving it was. “There are some warriors who do this. It is after the fact, of course, but it is what in our lands would be considered as wooing. He did not allow her to attend the selection, although he participated as is mandatory, and this is likely because, as you did, she would find it distressing. But Seerim says he was seen at the celebration with her last night. Though he took her back to their cham early before things got, erm… out of hand.”

Yeah, out of hand. She could say that again.

Diandra kept speaking. “But she is well and I know where their cham is so, when you are better and when Seerim says it is appropriate to approach, in other words, when Feetak would consent to it, I will take you to her or ask her to attend you.”

Oh thank God.

“That’d be cool, Diandra, thanks.”

“Cool,” she said on a smile. “You must tell me about your land one day, Dahksahna Circe. We share the same language and yet, we do not.”

I’d bet that would be an interesting conversation.

I grinned at her while changing the subject. “And your other news?”

She pulled in breath then her face lit again and she stated, “The Dax has spoken and we do not ride.”

I blinked.

“What?”

“The Dax has spoken and we do not ride,” she repeated.

“I don’t under –”

She leaned in. “We ride, always. The day after the selection, starting at daybreak, the camp is packed up and the instant it is packed up, be it early morning, afternoon or evening, we ride. But, you are unwell, you had a turn last night, your king is concerned and

he has decreed that until he is content with your health, The Horde does not ride.”

God, why was it that every time I convinced myself I did not like this guy he did something to make me like him?

“That was –” I started quietly.

“Sweet of him,” Diandra finished for me on one of her wicked smiles.

“Right,” I whispered, feeling my cheeks flame and not from sunburn.

She reached out a hand and touched my knee and she did this while laughing.

I, on the other hand, sighed.

She’d just leaned back when the cham flaps slapped open and my eyes went to it to see Lahn bending to enter.