His lip sneers in disgust. “Why would anyone do that?”
“It’s what I was born into. I didn’t have a choice.”
“You’re so…strange…” he says, but his voice no longer sounds angry. It sounds sad, like I somehow hurt him.
“It’s why I was running through the woods. If I’m going to be stuck here, I’m not going to be a servant to anyone. I’d rather go at it alone than have to answer to them.”
Suddenly, his face brightens. He’s…smiling.
And…he’s handsome. Really, obscenely, crazily handsome for a man that’s at least a head taller than average and so bulky he’d hardly fit through some doors.
Not to mention the bluish skin.
“That shows great strength.”
I snort out a laugh. “Yeah, strength…and stupidity. I nearly got myself killed.”
“Better to die on your feet fighting than old and in a bed.”
“Um…I guess that’s one way to look at it, though the whole old and in bed thing does sound rather peaceful.”
“I can tell them she’s strong,” he mutters under his breath. “That she’s capable and took down an endergulf.”
“Tell who that I’m strong?”
He fixes me with a hard gaze that livens my body. I feel…different. Wild and brazen. Like Larissa, who thinks nothing of sticking her boobs in a handsome lad’s face.
I’ve never had this reaction to a man before, but then again, no man has ever saved me. Has ever rescued me and cared for me.
And I never wanted them to, because I know what they’d expect in return, and nothing in the world could be worse than having a bastard in my belly.
I should know. I am one.
When he doesn’t answer, I ask again. “Tell who that I’m strong?”
“My people.” His voice is tight and uninviting.
“Are you exiles?” I respond without thinking.
He frowns and gives a nod.
“So this is Melgrim.”
He says nothing.
“Will you sit? I’m confused, and I’d like very much to make sense of things.”
After a long moment, he complies, sitting just off the fur.
“Does anyone from the northern lands of Penticar ever come here?”
“Penticar?”
“It’s where I’m from.”
“No one comes here.”
“Oh…” My eyes rove his body, taking in the curves of his hard frame. “Are all your people like you?”