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Chapter Five: The Warrior

"You’ve got to stop killing Kuluun’s children"

Saraal lifted her eyes when Temur swept into the tent "Why?"

"I let you kill hi off perfectly good warriors at this point"

"Do I have to tell you what he let those ‘perfectly good warriors’ do to me after he turned the her blade No doubt, there were still traces of blood on it frohed when he ripped her hip fro useless for almost a week because it inter and blood was scarce It had been a painful healing

His fine h, tseetsa Or I’ll stop your lessons"

Temur was born farther west than Saraal’s people She didn’t understand the language he spoke to her so He’d told her tseetsa meant bird It was not a bad name Better than Saraal He told her she should choose her own name, as he had done Perhaps she would use tseetsa

"I’ll stop," she said quietly

"For now," Aday whispered from the corner with a secretive smile

She was quieter now Still present, but often Aday kept to the side, particularly when Tee or h as other men He was quiet when he took her He used softer hands Once, she’d even felt stirs of pleasure under him, but he finished and rolled away, so Saraal hadn’t said anything

Most importantly, he didn’t share her body with the other h he was Temur’s most trusted warrior Saraal was surprised by this, but then, she was learning every day how different Temur was from Jun’s other sons

"But if we ever find Suk," Saraal said, "I’ him like I did his brothers"

"Suk and his children fled They haven’t made any trouble"

"I warned you," Saraal said in a low voice, "Suk is different He’s dangerous And mean Not as mean as Odval, but close"

"He’s always been weak"

"But sed and stretched out next to her "I suppose"

He lay quietly like that for a while, watching her methodically clean and sharpen her sword