“I can’t go any further.” He huffed. Lowering his end of the spit to balance it on a flat boulder. “I’m unaccustomed to strenuous activity as well as bearing weight. Aside from mine.” Lon reached down to lift his ample girth. “This is just too much to ask of a man. Or Delmar as you’d have it.” He needs some rest. Disseus eyed him sympathetically. Though Disseus seemed as if he could carry the spit laden with cooked meat for an eternity, Lon had long ago exhausted himself. Lon shook arms which now felt soft as jelly from the exertion. Trying to get the feeling back. “You whine like Nim.” Disseus glared at him. “You don’t see me complaining.” She retorted to Disseus’s profile. His head turned so he could give her an impassive study. “You’re always complaining.” “Play nice.” Almora chided, seeing Nim beginning to fume. Nim snapped her mouth shut and tightened her lips turning she stormed away to tie the ho

Tilting her head back to look up at him, Nim froze. Blatant pain marring her face. “Why wouldn’t you just say it then?” Because it would've been a lie. “Honor is everything. Honor your woman, your child, your ground and above all, we honor truth.” He quoted the Harbinger code. “It wouldn't have been the truth. And I had no intention of ever honoring the words they were demanding me to say. I'd never have left you alone.” “You could’ve died.” She gasped. “They burnt you and cut you.” "Burnt!" Almora interjected in appall. Nim hadn't gotten to that part of the story. They'd beat him. Then they tortured me. Trying to get me to say it. He looked at her as though she’d gone mad. Lifting his tunic he gestured to his muscled chest and abdomen. “I have not a mark on me.” It wasn't enough. He turned to expose his bare back to her before dropping his shirt. "That is far from the worst b

Waking with the rising sun, Nim felt him long before she peeled her eyes open to see. His warmth fit her perfectly. Wide corded arms folded around her back, crushing her against him. Her legs were bent over his thighs. She’d fallen asleep in his lap, and he’d laid down with her. Refusing to relinquish her to the nightmares. Looking at his face, she was amazed to see the peace there. Black lashes framed high cheekbones. That hard mouth was lush when softened in sleep. The faint lines of dimples marked the corners. Black brows slashed across his forehead and the white-blue hair was still curling over his forehead and back to his collar. A direct contrast to his bronze skin. In his sleep his face was touchably soft. Irresistibly drawn, she ran a finger over that full lower lip. His eyes snapped open. Gaze vital and alert. Far more than someone just waking should be. Warrior's instinct. Gasping at her own actions, she lurched to he

“The Firoque said there were no others. He told me that was how he could devote,” She choked on the word. “His time to me...With me.” She couldn’t help the bitterness that bit into her voice. No other women. She was the sole one to bear his torture? That thought sickened Disseus. Inciting both his jealous rage and his protective instinct. Making him want to slit the enemy’s throat for ever touching her. With his filthy, dirtied hands. The thought of the black skinned monster touching her with those bleak nails, sharp as talons, and long bony fingers. Or filling her body with his hideous parts. Again, Disseus felt the heat climbing his body. Fine hairs along his spine and neck rising instinctively. I’m surely going to light afire, if I can’t calm this morning. He closed his eyes momentarily. Letting his stallion lead as he drew several calming breaths. Banishing the thoughts and envisioning more peaceful times

Nim lay awake in the dark. Awash with fear and pain. Perhaps it was the cold. Perhaps it was that Disseus wasn't there to warm her. But most likely it was that Lon and Disseus had vanished with the fading pink sun but only Lon crept back. Quiet as his bumbling feet would take him, he woke Almora. After he’d escorted her somewhere, he’d returned to curl up in the Dread’s bedroll. Inhaling deeply, before sighing. Some scouting. Nim thought hatefully. They were supposed to be preparing to leave to get her son on the morrow but instead Disseus was sneaking off for a dalliance with the gorgeous woman. So, after all Almora's pretty words and lovely attempts at friendship, the Dread had persuaded him to stall another night so they could sneak off together. Nim flopped to her other side and heard her teeth grinding. She hadn’t even realized she was doing it. She was nearly quaking with rage. *** Disseus lay next to the