True North [True North series book 1/3]
Chapter 7 - the Bite

I stood near the tent’s entrance for a while, contemplating my options. Thoridor was still lying in bed with his back turned to me. I kneeled down, folding back the flaps of fabric that made up the entrance. The campground was now covered in a thick layer of glistening show.

Beside Thoridor’s tent, there was another one, and four more besides that one, forming a half-circle. I carefully lifted my foot onto the snow, which crunched traitorously when I put some weight on it.

Thoridor glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, just a warning,” he mumbled, “even if you would survive the Ku’lan and Nioph, there is another, far more dangerous predator out there.”

I froze. “What kind of predator?” I asked, bracing myself for his answer.

Thoridor rolled onto his back. “My father,” he replied plainly.

“Your… father?” I repeated confusedly.

“King Darianth Kalendir,” Thoridor clarified. “He will be back before the beginning of the dark period, and if he finds a human on his land — he will make you curse the day you were born.”

I swallowed. “I am no threat to him,” I said, my statement sounding more like a question. “There would be no need to kill me if he found me to be harmless, would there?”

Thoridor chuckled dryly. “Who said anything about killing?” he asked, a malicious twinkle in his eye. “You would be of no use to him if you would be dead.” sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ (ꜰind)ɴʘvel.nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

My eyes grew wide in fear. “I do not understand,” I stammered, “what would he use me for?”

“He would claim you,” Thoridor explained matter-of-factly. “You are an unclaimed human female, that appears to be of age. You have wandered onto his lands. He would claim you, to make sure you could be of no threat to his people. By making you one of his own.”

My stomach churned at his words. “Claim me,” I echoed, turning the words over in my head.

“Bed you,” Thoridor clarified, gauging my reaction. I stumbled back into the tent, fear lapping at me.

“I need to get back to my brothers,” was all I could muster, as I sat down, pulling my knees to my chest. “I need to go home.”

Thoridor scoffed. “Like I said, no one is stopping you from leaving,” he said. “The only reason I am even allowing you to stay here in my quarters is because of my father. He will not claim you once I have.”

I whipped my head up to face him, and backed away. “I thought you said —”

“I will not,” Thoridor said dismissively, “but you will act like I have. You will submit to me, until I can get you to Aeloria. She is our seer, she might know a way to get you off our lands. Once you leave our territory, my father has no right to claim you.”

I dug my nails into my thighs, slowly letting his words dawn on me. A small sob escaped my lips. I couldn’t remember the last time I had cried — but I could feel the tears stinging my eyes.

I pictured Tophyn lying in bed, his small frame shaking with each violent cough. I had never left him for more than a few hours at a time. I wondered if Nysander would have called for Elysora. I wondered if he would’ve gone out looking for me — how long had it been since I had left? It looked to be night time here, and Thoridor was in bed, but I had left before dawn — it couldn’t possibly already be night, could it?

I wondered if Nysander would remember which herbs to use for Tophyn’s steam bath. I wondered if Elysora would remember to make Tophyn spit into the Starvine paste before feeding it to him — I hoped Nys would use our honey sparingly, as I didn’t know how long it would be until I would get back to get some more from the hive in the forest.

My stomach rumbled, and I clutched my knees to my chest again, resting my chin on top. I wondered what Thoridor had meant by ‘submitting to him’. It sent a shiver down my spine.

I cursed myself for having gone out that far into the woods — for not having prepared my brothers better for the possibility of me not returning. I cursed myself for not just having accepted Tharyn’s son’s offer of marriage. I would have been home now, if I had. Tharyn was a man of great influence, I’m sure he would have been able to fetch Tophyn a tincture with seed of Solvan in it.

“For a female as small as yourself, you sure make a lot of noise,” Thoridor spat, sitting up in his bed. “The sound of your stomach is keeping me awake.”

“I apologize, Sire,” I said cynically, “for the sounds my human body makes. Perhaps it’s the blood you made me drank earlier.”

Thoridor’s face darkened dangerously. “If you would have been a male, the amount of disrespect you just showed me would have earned you fifty lashes,” he hissed.

I cringed at the thought. I had seen floggings before, out on the village square. It was one of the most brutal punishments I could imagine. I bowed my head toward the ground, too scared to even apologize — in case he might change his mind.

“I wonder what it would be like, however,” Thoridor drawled, “what the streaks would look like on your human back.”

He swung his legs over the side of his bed, sitting up. “I wonder what color your human blood is.”

He rose to his feet, slowly approaching me, like a predator stalking its prey. I scanned my surroundings for something to defend myself with. A malicious smile curled around Thoridor’s lips, and the scarring along his left cheekbone glistened in the faint light of the fire. I scooted backward — away from him. My back bumped into the logs behind me. I was stuck.

Thoridor towered over me, before slowly crouching down. I glanced at him quickly, and my breath hitched in my throat as I noticed his canines, which had seemingly elongated somehow. The tips of his fangs dug into his lower lip as he bared his teeth at me.

Suddenly, his gloved hand shot out toward me, grabbing a fistful of my hair and yanking my head to the side violently. “Let’s hear you scream,” he growled, before sinking his teeth into the side of my neck.

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