Page 17

“What do you mean?”

“You’re fertile. Something activated your heat phase. My hordesmen can scent it.”

My face heated. Just like my menstrual cycles, my fertile spells were irregular and unpredictable. Every woman on Xalxa had them whether they were a human, a half blood, or a full-blood. And it just so happened that full-blood Aurrakians could detect when a female was in heat.

“You can tell your horny-ass hordesmen to keep it in their pants or I’ll cut it off,” I said.

“I’ve warned them already.” His jaw clenched. “You will stay inside for the remainder of your heat.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“Starting now, this is your new home. No need to roam like a fugitive anymore.”

“There are other responsibilities. I can’t just lay here without a means to earn a living.”

He reached behind him and picked my bag of jewels up off the table. He rose from the chair and walked them over to me and then dropped the bag next to me.

“You can make jewelry as you’ve done before. They are worth every coin you ask for.”

“Then why does this still feel like a punishment?” I challenged. “You’ve spanked me and you’ve…” I swallowed.

“Go on,” he persuaded, with a wicked sparkle to his eyes. “You were meaning to say that I pleasured you and then you screamed like I promised you would.”

I pressed my lips together but couldn’t hide the blush I felt creeping up my cheeks.

“Promise me that you won’t leave this hut in your state,” he said.

“Why should I stay here? Why should I promise you anything?”

“I’ll need your talents—”

“I’m not a pleasure slave,” I interjected before he could finish.

“I was speaking of your jewelry making talents. I once told my father that I’d never wear another man’s crown. Will you work with my mastersmith to build me a crown…or two?”

I was taken back by his proposal and the fact that he had obviously thought this over. Yet I was a jeweler through and through. I couldn’t deny his request because I didn’t want to. I wanted to make the damned crowns.

“What if I say no? What if I don’t want to make someone like you a crown?” I asked, testing his patience.

He looked down at the floor to hide what looked like disappointment, but then quickly glanced up again. “Then I would have to accept that. But…I would still see that you’re protected during your heat.”

“I’ll do it. I’ll make the crowns.”

“Promise me you won’t put yourself in more danger. Your heating spell, when left unchecked, will heighten.”

“You don’t need to remind me. I’ll stay inside until I’m no longer fertile. My heat usually lasts a day or so. At max, maybe three.”

He nodded and extracted a knife from his belt and cut the knot from my ankle. “I’ll get whatever it is you need—food, clothes, supplies, whatever.”

I swallowed, suddenly thinking that this seemed all too good to be true. What had I signed up for? Had I condemned myself again and latched myself onto another king who seemed to covet absolute power?

“Fine.”

“I will be back a little later,” he said. “By the way…?”

“Yes.”

“What were you going to do with a map of planet Earth?”