Queen Qalae also studied her, and the expression in her eyes was difficult to read. She wasn’t Addie’s friend, but neither had she positioned herself as an outright foe. With her tremendous influence, Qalae had so far chosen to observe the Addie drama rather than play an active role in it. Murky waters ran deep in this woman.
“Oma should not require tending to,” Net’ok finally said. “But if help is needed, her mate should provide it, not an odd creature like you, Addie-woman.”
He sounded thoroughly brainwashed by his High Counselor.
Addie glanced at Hunlath who stood with his eyes downcast.
Some mate he was. If he were there for Oma, if he offered her kind words of support after the loss of their baby, maybe Oma would not have been willing to die from dejection. But what could Addie expect from prehistoric men with rudimentary societal constructs like that Rule of the Fallen? Beasts, or near such.
“You are expelled, the no-good Addie-woman!” the High Counselor announced rather quickly as if afraid Addie would offer a solid argument to convince the people that she wasn’t as bad as he wanted to portray her.
“You can’t expel me, High Counselor,” Addie retorted, disdaining his formal address. Some people so didn’t deserve the titles they were given. “I’ve never been a part of your tribe.”
Head held high, she took a step right up to Chemmusaayl who was standing between her and the way home. Surprised, he stepped aside, and following his lead, the wall of male bodies parted, granting her unrestricted access to the outside.
She walked through without stumbling before Zoark’s flat gaze snagged her. Her steps slowed, like in a slow-motion, as their gazes connected, twined, held, and an invisible force not to be denied drew her to him. The answering intensity in his eyes stripped her of skin and muscle, of all the layers that protected her fragile human core.
The moment lasted but a second, but it seemed an eternity had passed. Their gazes broke up, and she walked on, clutching the bundle of bloody rags.
Chapter 14
This time, being booted from the settlement hadn’t upset Addie. Much.
Her lips twisted in irony as she watched Ihr and Ehr take flight during their morning training routine. She must be getting used to being treated like a red-haired step-child who can do nothing right.
But the main difference came from Addie’s resting secure in her knowledge that this time, there had been people at the village that disagreed with the High Counselor Chemmusaayl on her account. Chele was one of those people, and so was Illied, and the girls Melmie and Oh’na. Even Vircea had had an uncertain look about her.
Zoark was probably gloating over her final expulsion, but whatever rocked his boat. Except, those penetrating, serious eyes of him, the pain that lurked there and… understanding.
The support of the women, however silent, lifted her spirits. She felt certain they would meet again.
So it wasn’t unexpected for Addie to see a lone For figure making its way toward her teepee, but the identity of the visitor caught her by surprise.
He came close and stopped in front of her small figure sitting cross-legged on the ground near the stone pit. She had to throw her head all the way back to look into his face, but she refused to stand, pretending she was completely at ease with a massive For warrior towering over her.
“Is this where you live, Addie-woman?” He was looking with mild curiosity at her tent.
“Yes. Are you Hunlath?”
“I am.”
The green rings of his irises against the blood-red backdrop unnerved her, and she felt like a mouse in front of a very large tomcat.
“What brings you here, Hunlath?”
“I heard you were looking for a knife.” He left the sentence open like a question.
“I was. I have dry meat I’m willing to trade for it. Your people praise my meat.”
“Oma liked it.”
Addie hesitated to ask but decided he had given her enough of an opening. “How is Oma doing today?”
“She is no longer weeping. She spoke to me.”
In one fluid motion, he lowered to sit on the backs of his heels, a position Fors preferred over planting their backsides on the ground. And he was too close.
“Good. I’m glad. Is she… bleeding still?”
