Chapter Sixteen
I stared at the piece of parchment, turning it to the right and then to the left.
The letters and figures swam before my eyes.
I couldn’t read them. No matter which way I turned the paper, nothing made sense.
How would I ever find the cure if I couldn’t read the royal language?
I focused on the paper again, staring at it hard, willing the symbols to make sense.
“Mara.”
I opened my eyes to darkness. Taio had shuttered the lamp, and the cabin was full of shadows.
“You were saying something in your sleep,” he murmured.
“A nightmare,” I murmured back, rubbing my eyes. Of course I hadn’t forgotten how to read the royal language. Then a thought occurred to me. “Taio, how did you know I could read the words on the parchment? Can you read the royal language?”
“No, and neither can Leed. But he’d been told the scroll contained the directions for making the cure and copied a few words from it. What you read made sense if Leed was correct about the scroll’s contents.”
I blew out a breath. The fate of the world really did rest on my shoulders. I wouldn’t have sweet dreams as long as I felt that weight. “How long have I slept?”
“A few hours.”
“Your turn,” I said. “I’ll keep watch. Don’t argue. If you are tired, you make mistakes.”
“Yes, my warrior, mi guerrira.”
I hid a smile. So that was what it meant. I liked the moniker.
“Why do you rise?” he asked.
“I won’t stay awake lying down.” I pulled the blanket around my shoulders and stood, my bare feet landing on the cold floor.
I felt for the pitcher and ewer and rinsed off, then found my clothes on the line.
One set of undergarments was dry, and I pulled them on and shuffled to the window with the blanket still wrapped around me.
I took my time moving a corner of the curtain aside to look out.
A few moments passed before I could discern trees from Hollows.
I counted more than we’d seen earlier. Some stood motionless, others wandered aimlessly, some rocked back and forth.
I counted at least eight, and those were the creatures I could see.
I had no idea how many were standing out of my line of sight.
Clearly, Taio and I were not leaving this cabin for some time.
Daylight would be here in a few hours. I had to hope the Hollows would go wherever they usually went when the sun was out, but I feared that in the forest, where the tall trees blocked out much of the sun, the Hollows might stay right where they were now.
We could be trapped here for days or weeks.
I supposed it could be worse. We had water and shelter. I quietly rummaged under the counter and found a few more clay jars of preserves. We could last days, but I didn’t think we’d be able to survive weeks on pickled vegetables and jellied fruits.
I made a quiet circuit of the cabin, which didn’t take long as it wasn’t very big. But I would fall asleep if I didn’t keep moving. Taio was already asleep. I could hear his steady breathing.
I raised one shutter on the lamp and walked the cabin again, trying not to let the questions and accusations about my father and grandfather drive me mad. Why had they done it? That was the one thought I couldn’t seem to stop going around and round in my mind.
Finally, I sat in one of the chairs and listened to the periodic grunts and hisses outside.
Taio did not move. He lay on his side, his blue-black hair falling over one cheek.
The blanket had fallen off his shoulders and tangled about his waist. In the low light, I could trace the lines of his body.
It looked no less powerful in sleep than it did when he was awake.
I found it hard to believe that just a few hours ago, I’d had those muscled arms holding me close and that broad chest sliding against mine.
The pleasure of our mating still lingered in my body, making my muscles feel looser.
There was some soreness, but that was to be expected.
Still, the act hadn’t hurt, and I credited Taio’s patience and skill for that.
I wondered about the Zulenii women he had known.
Surely, he had not wanted for female companionship.
Not only was his family powerful and high-ranking, he was undeniably handsome.
Would those women resent me for taking Taio from their beds?
I sat up straighter. In Earsleh, we valued monogamy within marriage.
What if the Zulenii did not? What if women and men were free to take as many husbands and wives as they wished or liaisons outside of marriage were common?
I glanced at Taio again. I did not want to share him.
My chest grew tight just thinking about sharing him.
“Why do you stare at me?” Taio asked.
I blinked. His eyes were still closed. How had he known I was even looking at him? “You’re so handsome, it’s difficult not to stare at you,” I said.
He opened his eyes. “You think me handsome?”
I rose from the chair and crossed the room to sit on the bed beside him. He rolled onto his back and looked up at me. “You know you are handsome. I’m sure many of your Zulenii women have told you so.”
“You are not a Zulenii woman. I heard much whispering in your palace about my eyes and my tattoos.” He ran a hand down his arm.
“Is that what you call these? Tattoos?”
“Mmm-hmm. When we marry, you will receive one with my name written in our language. I will receive one with your name.”
“Really?” If the Zulenii permanently marked their skin with the names of their spouses, surely they took marriage seriously. “What if you later divorce?”
“What is divorce?” he asked.
“A formal separation that ends the marriage.”
“We do not have this in my land.”
“It’s frowned upon in Earsleh as well, but it does happen. My father divorced my mother.”
“Marriage is not required in Zulen as I think it must be in your country. Those who marry do so for political alliances, which are not to be broken, or they are very sure of their commitment. Once a pair marries, that bond cannot be severed except by death.”
My fate as Taio’s bride felt more final than it ever had.
A part of me was scared by that, and another part of me was pleased by the permanence.
I didn’t remember the time when my mother and father had been wed.
I’d always wondered what it would have been like to grow up living with both of my parents as many of my half-siblings had.
Any children Taio and I had would never have to wonder about this.
Taio’s hand closed on mine, and I dragged my eyes back to his. “I will not be agreeable to a separation,” he said. “I want you for myself.”
“I don’t like to share either,” I said. “I won’t be too shy to tell your Zulenii women to stay away.”
One corner of his mouth turned upward. “They will be terrified of you, mi guerrira. But you will never have reason to question my loyalty to you.”
His words sent a stab of shame through me.
I hadn’t been entirely loyal to him. I hadn’t told him about seeing Gaz at the pond or what Gaz had told me about my father.
I would need to tell him at some point, if only to warn him that my father might send an army.
But I did not want to think about Gaz’s treachery in the flickering lamplight.
We had enough to worry about with the half-dozen Hollows outside.
Gaz was not the threat right now. He couldn’t come close to us, even if he knew where we were hiding.
With such a large pack of Hollows about, I worried that Gaz and Nize might have come across them.
Suddenly, I wanted to go to the window again to make sure none of the creatures outside were people I knew.
“You should go back to sleep,” I said.
“It is daylight. We’ll pack to be ready if the chance to leave presents itself.”
I rose and went to the window again, surprised when I moved the curtain to see it really was past dawn. Unfortunately, the Hollows had not scurried away. The same half dozen still stood about, though most had moved closer to the tree line, where they would be in shadow when the sun rose higher.
I felt rather than heard Taio come to stand behind me.
Without being asked, I moved aside, careful not to wiggle the curtain or be seen from the outside.
Taio took my place and studied the clearing.
I studied his back. He’d tied the blanket low on his hips, and I admired his lower back, where the curve of his spine dipped into the blanket.
He had what looked like a series of lines and dashes in an intricate pattern down his spine.
The tattoo disappeared beneath the blanket, and from my brief glances of him, I knew it ended at the seam of his buttocks.
I had the urge to lick that tattoo, from the back of his neck to the base of his spine.
I wouldn’t mind licking all his tattoos.
“Are you well?” he asked, turning to look at me.
“Yes. Why?”
“You were breathing fast.”
I felt my face heat and was thankful for the low light so he couldn’t see my blush. “It’s hot in here.”
“Is it?”
No, it was not. It was actually quite cold.
I moved away, leaving him at the window and beginning to gather my things.
My bedroll and clothes were dry, and I left one set of clothes out and packed everything else.
Taio had pulled out one of the jars of preserves, and I joined him near the hearth to eat them.
These were some sort of orange fruit I wasn’t familiar with.
It tasted slightly sour and tangy, not unpleasant but not my favorite.
The food silenced the rumbling in my belly for now, and I washed my hands and the bowl then went to draw more water.
“Still too many,” Taio murmured. I turned and saw he’d gone back to the window.