Barbarian's Prize(17)

My suitors? They’re not pleased that I have such a big gift from someone not even competing. They sit by the fire and murmur all night, casting unhappy looks in my direction, and Salukh’s too. For his part, Salukh is utterly oblivious to the bitter whispers, and so I ignore them too. Haeden takes one look at my baby dvisti, shoots Salukh a disgusted look, and then heads off to his own cave. It’s all very strange.

“He’s so cute,” Josie tells me as we fashion a crude gate from whippy tree branches, old privacy screens, and a bit of rope. There’s a small cave in the back of the tribal cave that’s gone unused, and it’s going to serve as the little dvisti’s pen. “He’s kinda bitey though.”

“That’s why I’m calling him Chompy. Or her. I can’t tell if it’s a boy or a girl.” Chompy has too much fur and wiggles too much for me to check the undercarriage, so we’re going with a nice gender-neutral name. Chompy has also bitten me three times, Josie twice, and Farli once. He’s indeed a chomper.

The little dvisti prances around his stall as we secure the gate, sniffing everything and then testing things out with a few nips of his mouth. He bites the leather blankets I’ve put down for him, the handfuls of skinny leaves that Farli spent all afternoon harvesting, and anything else he comes into contact with.

“What are you going to do with it?” Josie asks. She extends her fingers over the rickety gate and Chompy trots up, licking her fingers and then making a sad bleating noise. “I think he’s hungry.”

“Domesticate him, I suppose. A horse might be pretty useful.”

“He’s more like a deer crossed with a sheepdog, though,” Josie says thoughtfully. She glances at me. “Haeden was pissed about it.”

“He can be pissed. I don’t care. You shouldn’t either.”

“I don’t,” she says quickly. “I just know you don’t want to make anyone upset.”

She’s right, but for some reason, Haeden’s anger doesn’t bother me. For one, he’s always a sourpuss and Chompy’s appearance hasn’t really changed that. Haeden also hasn’t shown the slightest bit of interest in me, so I feel safe around him. I trust Salukh, too. He wouldn’t have given me the little dvisti as a present if he’d have thought it’d have encouraged the others to act badly.

I glance over at the fire and Salukh is seated there between his father Borran and elder Vadren. They have spear-points in their hands and are sharpening them while idly chatting. Salukh’s gaze is on me, though, and not his spears. Even now he watches me with intense, glittering eyes. I shiver and turn back to my tiny pet. “I should feed him.”

Anything to distract from the fact that Salukh’s focused attention is making me feel unsettled.

The dvisti graze on the thin, tough plants that manage to grow on the mostly-barren hills and valleys between the mountains that we call home. I grew up on a farm, though, and I know baby grazers – like foals and calves – can be fed a warm mash when the mama isn’t available. I mash up one of the not-potatoes and add water until it forms a goopy paste. I feed it into a bladder used for toting water and nip off the end and Farli holds Chompy for me as I feed him. It takes a while but we get some food in him, and once he’s fed, he’s a lot calmer when he returns to his stall.

I’m exhausted from a day of watching him, though, and thinking about Salukh. When Farli asks to put her furs in front of the pen so she can watch over the little dvisti, I gladly accept. I’m ready to crawl into my own bed and get some shut-eye.

But even as I do, I keep thinking about Salukh and what tomorrow will bring. I’m terrified I’m going to freak out on him. Just the thought of kissing is making me hyperventilate, and when I close my eyes, I can almost imagine the feel of rough, pebbly orange skin against mine. I shudder, queasy. The memories won’t go away and I wish they would.

I’d give anything to be free.





SALUKH



When Tee-fah-nee emerges from her cave in the morning, her eyes are hollow and unhappy. Dark smudges speak of a poor night’s sleep, and I wonder if she’ll change her mind. I also had a poor night’s sleep, but it was due to the fact that my cock was hard all night at the thought of being able to touch her this morning. Not even Haeden’s snoring could distract me from thoughts of her and her soft skin, her curvy body.

But she does not come to tell me she has changed her mind. She gives me a faint smile, checks on her little dvisti, and moves around the cave as if it were any other day. I watch her out of the corner of my eye, and then when I can stand it no longer, I approach her. She’s by the dvisti’s cave, talking softly to Farli. Farli does not speak the human language, but they communicate well enough, and it’s clear that Farli is fascinated by the little creature.