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He started toward the bed, unbuckling the strap that held his axe to his back, then unfastened the belt at his waist. As he walked, his leather wrap dropped to the floor, where he left it.
Elina twisted around in the tub to watch him go. Dara’s and Chardryn’s eyes followed him, too, until he stepped through the filmy curtains. A lantern had not been lit within, yet the small amount of moonlight filtering through the tent walls offered to them his silhouette as he sat upon the bed.
A boot was tossed out through the curtains. Then the other.
Muttering something about barbarians, Chardryn collected the items and set them neatly aside, then settled on a cushioned stool next to the bath. Her concerned eyes slipped over Elina’s face and settled on her lips, still reddened from his kiss. “Has he been gentle with you, girl? Has he frightened you or taken more than you wish?”
Elina doubted Warrick would ever take more than she would wish. Yet she did not think that was what Chardryn meant. “I am still a maid. He knows I must be a virgin at my wedding.”
“You may still be a maid but he is still a barbarian. And the bizarre stories you hear…” She tutted and shook her head.
Dara winced. But her slight nod of agreement piqued Elina’s curiosity.
“What bizarre stories?”
“Their unnatural practices,” Dara said, then lowered her voice to a whisper. “In bed.”
“Not only in the bed!” Chardryn interjected. “Anywhere they like! In the mud, up against walls, while riding horses.”
While riding a horse? Had Warrick wished to while riding that morn—was that why he had invited her to share his saddle?
Oh, she could not wait until the ride tomorrow.
“And they do it as beasts do! Not face to face as the gods intended.”
“Like horses, I’ve heard,” Dara said.
“Or dogs,” agreed Chardryn.
“And pigs?” Elina offered, for she had once seen a boar mount a sow.
A choking, snorting noise came from the bed. Immediately they hushed, glancing at each other guiltily. Then the guilt eased when Elina remembered Warrick couldn’t have known what they said. She saw similar realizations on the others’ faces.
“The noises men make.” Chardryn grimaced. “And the smells. You’ll have to get used to that now.”
Elina could not count how many times over the years that Chardryn had fallen asleep in the carriage. Nothing Warrick emitted could be much worse than Nanny Char’s snoring or farting when the window curtains were closed. But she nodded.
The nurse leaned in. “If he gets you on your hands and knees in the manner of a beast, insist that he turns you around proper. I once saw two dogs mating that way, and when the male got stuck inside the female—well, he just turned ass to ass and then dragged her down the street.”
“Do you think that happens often in the Dead Lands?” Dara’s eyes were wide.
“Be certain of it, child.” She turned to Elina. “That giant thing he’s got will get stuck inside you for sure. Though once he spends his seed, it’ll shrink fast enough.”
No conversation had ever delighted Elina more. “So he won’t be dragging me out of the tent, ass to ass.”
“Oof! You never take anything seriously. But you’ll see. Not just when he uses his big”—Chardryn wiggled her finger—“One can’t help but hear the unnatural tales of how they kiss. How they nearly eat up the women they’re with.”
He’d certainly helped Elina eat the raspberry. “Do they only kiss with fruits, do you think? Or also cheese and meat?”
Chardryn looked utterly horrified. “That’s not what I meant— Did he do that to you? Oh, you poor child.”
Elina decided not to pursue that. “What did you mean?”
“That he’ll kiss you everywhere. Not just your mouth.”
Her breast, too. The memory pooled warmth deep within her belly and under the surface of her skin.
“Everywhere, child.” Chardryn cast a significant look between her legs.
Elina pondered that, and the heat that rushed through her then was not merely warm, but blazing as she recalled the wetness between her thighs that morn, when she’d risen from bed after his kisses. And he wished to taste her there?
“Then it is very well that I’m taking a bath first,” Elina concluded.
Dara chortled and pressed her hands to her red cheeks, looking both delighted and scandalized.
Nanny Char clucked her tongue at Elina. “You’re a bizarre one, too. Come now. Let us braid your hair and prepare you for bed.”
Those preparations were too slow. And too fast.
Elina’s heart seemed about to pound through her chest when they finally left her. Carrying a lantern might make her an easy target for an assassin’s arrow—that had been a lesson learned years ago—so she made her way to the bed assisted only by the soft glow of the moon through the tent’s walls.
Warrick waited for her, reclined against the pillows, his elbow cocked behind his head. The sheet draped across his middle from navel to mid-thigh. The massive bulk of his body seemed far too big for her bed, though it was of no small size.
