Morning light filters through the tent flap, its golden rays tickling my bare feet. I awake with a start, my heart pounding in my chest, and my skin tingling with excitement.
Hector bedded me.
Afterward, we had spent the entire evening teasing and joking.
I stretch out my arm, expecting to meet the heat of my husband. Instead, my hands land against the soft bedcovers. I frown and jerk my eyes to where Hector should sleep. He’s not there.
I sit, search the tent for him, and find him sitting at his desk, staring blankly at a stack of parchment.
“Is something amiss?” I pull my blanket to my lap.
His gaze doesn’t lift, nor does he act as if he heard me.
“Hector.”
Still, his eyes remain transfixed on the parchment.
Has something happened? Something terrible?
My heart slams against my ribs. Was Karra attacked? Another village?
Calm down.
The bed creaks as I rise and pull a soft blanket around my body. Hector doesn’t look up as I cross the tent and come to a stop in front of him.
“Hector?”
Finally, he glances up, locking his eyes with mine.
“Is something amiss?”
He stands, and I loosen my hold on the blanket as I imagine him leaving the desk and pulling me back into his arms. He’d guide me to the bed. We’d pull his clothes off together. He would kiss me in all the places he kissed last night.
Instead, he walks around me and moves to the table where he set his weapon belt the night before. As he pulls it on, I frown.
“Are you angry with me?”
“Why would I be angry, Sol?” He loops his belt and looks up.
“You’re not speaking to me.”
“I just spoke,” he says plainly, his tone nothing like the night before.
“Is it…” I lift a shaky hand to my cheek and brush away the loose strands clinging to my skin. “Is this about last night?”
A muscle jerks in his jaw as he finishes with the weapon belt and walks to the tent opening. “I’ll be back later.”
I flinch when he leaves.
The sky above!
Sadness flares in my stomach as I turn to the bed and sink to the mattress. He’s angry he bedded me. Nothing else explains his behavior.
I fall back against the mattress and sigh.
I am forgettable.
* * *
