Page 16 of Daring the Drakarn Warrior Lord
"And they do this how?"
"By retrieving the blood-flame from the inner sanctum of the Forge Temple and delivering it to the waiting priests at the city's edge."
Her hands stilled on the blade. "It doesn't sound that complicated."
"It isn't. If you can get past the obstacles, the traps, and the senior warriors positioned between the sanctum and the finish." I let that sink in. "Most can't."
"What happens if they fail?" she was still working her blade.
"They try again next year. If they survive the attempt."
That got her attention. She turned her head slightly, not quite looking at me but acknowledging the weight of those words. "People die?"
"Sometimes. We do try to avoid it." I kept my voice level, factual. "Broken bones are common. Serious injuries happen. We do what we can to prevent deaths, but when you put young warriors in a situation designed to test their limits, the idiots will do their best to ruin it."
She set the blade down carefully. Too carefully. Like she was afraid if she moved too quickly, she'd do something she couldn't take back. "It sounds dangerous."
"It is."
"But important."
"Yes."
She picked up the whetstone again, turned it over in her hands. The motion was absent, distracted. Her mind was somewhere else entirely. "Maybe I should participate."
The suggestion struck me so hard it stole my breath.
"No." The refusal came out harder than I'd intended, but I didn't soften it. Couldn't. The very thought of Terra in the Skalanth, facing obstacles designed to challenge warriors twice her size with natural weapons she didn't possess, it made something violent and protective roar to life in my chest.
"It would be good training," she said, still not looking at me. "A chance to test myself against your warriors. Show them I'm not just some fragile human who needs protection at every turn."
"You have nothing to prove."
"Don't I?" She finally turned to face me, and the expression in her eyes made my fangs ache. "Half of Scalvaris thinks I'm corrupting you. That I'm weak. That I don't belong here.Maybe if I participated, proved I could handle myself by their standards, they'd?—"
"They'd what?" I interrupted. "Accept you? Welcome you? Stop seeing you as an outsider?" I leaned closer, holding her gaze. "You could win the Skalanth outright, and there would still be those who resent your presence. Karyseth and her followers won't change their minds because you retrieve a sacred gem. They'll just find new reasons to justify their hatred."
"So I should do nothing? Just let them talk? Let them treat me like I'm some kind of parasite?"
"You should let me handle it." It was the wrong thing to say. I knew it the moment the words left my mouth.
Her expression shuttered. She turned back to her blade, picked it up, started working the whetstone again. "Right. Because that's what I do. Hide behind the Warrior Lord while he fights my battles."
"That's not what I meant."
"Isn't it?"
I could push. Demand she stop deflecting and tell me what had really happened. Use my size, my strength, my authority to force the conversation she was avoiding.
Instead, I reached out and took the blade from her hands.
She started to protest, but I set the weapon aside and shifted closer. My chest pressed against her back, my arms coming around her waist. I buried my face in her hair and breathed deep, letting her scent fill my lungs. Sweet. Wild.
Mine.
"Darrokar—"
"Later," I said against her neck. "We'll talk about the Skalanth later."
