Page 50 of Red Dragon
She tilted her head as she regarded him. Looking for the insult in his compliment? Once, she’d baited him, drawing out snark from him, but he didn’t care to insult her anymore. He was done with that part of his life.
“Would you have killed me? If the lightning hadn’t struck? You weren’t that fully engaged at first, but then… Then you were determined.”
“You disobeyed your orders.”
Lesva chuckled. “Andthat’swhy you came to the girl’s defense.”
“The defense of the woman, Princess Syla, yes.”
“Was she so grateful that she dropped to her knees and sucked your cock afterward?”
Agrevlari? I’ll help you gather dozens of eggs if you come now.
“There must be a reason you crave the company of gardener women,” Lesva said. “Do they fawn over you? Tell you how magnificent you are while making you come?”
“One moment you proposition me, and the next you insult me. You’ve an interesting way with men.”
Thank the moon, Wise was picking his way toward the front of the cave.
“Isit an insult? Or simply the truth?”
Vorik shook his head and waved toward Wise, hoping to divert Lesva’s attention.
But she stepped closer to Vorik, putting a hand on his chest, the same way she had to Jhiton scant minutes before.
“You’renotbringing your gardener wench back here to become one of us,” Lesva whispered.
Vorik’s heart thumped noticeably at the admission that she’d spied on his conversation with Jhiton the night before.
“I don’t care what the general thinks, but she’d dilute the tribe with her weak blood. Any children you had would be soft and probably half-blind. Wyvern bait. You don’t deserve that any more than the tribe does.You’renotweak, Vorik. If you were, I wouldn’t bother with you.” She slid her hand down his chest toward his groin.
He caught her wrist to stop her.
Undaunted, she said, “You owe it to the tribe to have strong children who will ensure our survival.”
“You needn’t concern yourself about what children I may or may not have.” Vorik should have stopped speaking then, pushed her away, and turned his back, but he unwisely went on,moved to defend Syla. “But her offspring wouldn’t be weak. You saw for yourself that she has power.”
“I would have killed her easily if I hadn’t been trying to extract information from her.”
“Fighting prowess isn’t the only kind of power a person can have. Jhiton saw her in the shielder chamber. He knows.”
Lesva squinted at him. “Don’t tell mehe’sinto soft gardener women too.”
“Is sex all you think about?”
“It’s most of what youmenthink about. I’ve learned that well. Trust me.” Face cold, she looked back into the cave, past the approaching lieutenant and toward the fire where Jhiton had settled to rest.
Vorik pushed a hand through his hair. He hoped he hadn’t just implied that his brother was also interested in Syla. Vorik highly doubtedthatwas true. “Just because he doesn’t want you doesn’t mean?—”
“I know exactly what it means.” Lesva pulled her wrist from Vorik’s grip and stepped back.
Wise had come close enough to hear their words, but he slowed his pace, looking out to sea instead of at them.
“Wish me luck on my mission, Vorik,” Lesva said. “With the gods behind my back, perhaps I’ll get an opportunity to end the threat to our tribe.”
“What threat? Syla?”
Lesva smiled cryptically at him, then swept her blanket around herself and strode into the cave.
