After the End 1 by Dante King

Author:Dante King [King, Dante]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Once again, none of the women of the Do’dekkah allowed Ryne to take a shift watching over the hearth. As Chieftain, it appeared his primary role was to get as much rest as he could, so that he could lead the tribe on their journey to Sacred Grove.

He didn’t mind that too much. He was exhausted. All the adrenaline that he’d been running on since Kodi and the others appeared at the edge of the village had long since run out, and he was crashing hard. Being the Chieftain had its charms, even though he felt vaguely guilty that he wasn’t taking on an equal share of the housework.

Sigrid passed out again almost immediately. Yumi and Khadijah stoked the hearth, then went about cleaning up.

Ryne’s bed was close enough to the hearth that he could feel its warmth without a blanket. The moment his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light, sinking into a deep and dreamless sleep. Exhaustion covered him like a shroud, and he slept like a dead man.

A noise woke him some time later. When he opened his eyes, the hearth was burning lower and the light from outside the window was brighter. Sigrid still slept on her cot near the fire, and a short distance away he could see Khadijah passed out on a mattress atop a wooden frame.

Ryne frowned, his brows furrowing together. If anyone was going to wake him up in the middle of keeping watch, he’d figured it would have been Khadijah herself. The two of them had unfinished business, and he knew she wanted to spend at least a few hours in the Chieftain’s arms before they had to risk their lives against the Kol’Tah. But she was out like a light.

So who—?

Ryne rolled onto his side. Aoife stood next to his cot, staring down at him.

“Hi there,” he said, forcing out a smile. “Come to get cozy?”

Aoife snorted. “Hardly. I wanted to speak to you privately, Chieftain. Without the rest of the tribe listening in and giggling. Especially without Sigrid listening in.”

Ryne’s eyes flickered to the shaman. She snoozed comfortably on her cot, dead to the world as far as he could tell. If she was secretly listening in on their conversation, then she was a damned good actress.

“Alright,” he said, sliding to the side of his cot. “Sit. Let’s talk.”

Aoife looked a little taken aback by the invitation, but she wasn’t about to offend Ryne by refusing. She settled onto the foot of the mattress, her pert ass half on and half off the bed. Her long blonde hair trailed down her back.

She really is beautiful, Ryne thought, looking at her.

His thoughts must have shown on his face. Aoife’s eyes widened, and the corners of her mouth turned down in a frown.

“When I first met you,” Aoife began, her voice surprisingly halting for a woman normally so self-composed, “I had a hard time believing you were truly one of the ancients. That you could be one of the Crystal Men, brought back to us after centuries of being encased in crystal.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.