“Oh, you’re good. He listens to you,” she says with a lilt to her voice that goes right to my cock.
“Unlike you. You, female. Do not listen.”
“What did I do?” she asks, her voice pitching high.
“You speak of moving forward, forgetting your past, and doing what is necessary, but you don’t consider performing risha with me.”
“I’ve considered it.”
She’s considered it? This surprises me. Perhaps I have a chance with her.
A lightning strike makes Tansey jump, and dark clouds roll infaster than usual. “Come. We will find shelter,” I say to Tansey and Ethan. “Sojek?—”
“Yes, Warrior. The gorjas.” He runs off before I finish ordering him to take our mounts away from the lake where he usually leaves them to graze.
“Where’s he going with them?” Tansey asks as I guide her toward our section of the market. “He’ll take them to a nearby cave where they will be safe during the storm, but when they are kept penned in tight spaces, the spines on their heads stand up and they flail, especially at the sound of thunder and lightning. We do not want to be near them when that happens. Too easy to get gored. Sojek will join us in our quarter of the market after he moves them to the cave.”
“Who’s in the orc quarter today? Anyone I’ll know?”
“No one will be there. We rarely use it. Orcs do not believe in standing in the hot sun, peddling their wares. Deals are made between leaders. One on one.”
“As long as we get out of the storm,” she says as the first raindrops strike my face. In seconds, the clouds blanket the sky completely.
I do not want my female or her youngling to ride back tonight soaked. It’s a long ride when wet, especially as the night air cools. I scoop up the youngling, and Tansey and I run to the orc sector as moxxels, bantarans, vints, and humans head to their areas. Each quarter has a shelter, built because storms on Kovos can be vicious and deadly.
We make it inside only slightly wet.
“There’s nothing here,” Tansey says, surveying the concrete walls, wooden floor, and lack of windows.
When I shut the door to keep the heavy rain out, I unintentionally plunge us into darkness. Ethan’s arms tighten around my neck. “Mommy?” Ethan calls out, sounding scared.
“I’m right here, baby. I’m coming to you.”
I hear Tansey trip and catch herself. She mutters what I believe is a curse. “I tripped on a loose floorboard.”
“We do not maintain the shelter. Usually, we go to the caves with the gorjas, but I will not risk either of you there.”
Ethan’s little arms cling to me tighter, and though I do not like to sense his fear, having him hold me gives me a peace I have not known on Kovos. “Youngling, if you do not like the dark, then turn on the lights,” I say, my voice steady but not harsh.
“I don’t want to get down.”
“You don’t need to. Just give the command. The word is ‘ves,’ but you must say it loud and clear, without any fear, or the discs will not light.”
“Ves,” he shouts, too close to my ear, but the discs light and the smile on his face when he sees his mother standing a mere five feet away make going deaf worth it. I set him down. “No running. This floor is old.”
He stops, hears a creak, then steps on a different plank. “Hopscotch, Mommy!”
“Without the jumping, Ethan,” she says as he makes his way to her and hugs her legs.
I return to the door and crack it open. The storm is worse than I expected, but I don’t say this.
“You’re really good with kids, Verig.”
“Younglings learn by watching those around them. Projecting fear only creates fearful younglings.”
“I do that a lot, don’t I?”
“You? No, you hide your fears from all, including me.”
