Private Tales The Beating of Skin Drums

[Urosh]

“Then…” Urosh rumbled, the word drawing out and nearly drowned in the roaring fall, “I will not give you back.”

His band would not allow for this. They had need of coin. They would not welcome her. But Urosh had ever been headstrong. He would do as he desired.

“I will keep you.” His nostrils flared. “You are mine.”

Jade eyes looked down at her, primal and possessive.

She would say no of course. She wanted to be returned. A beaten dog still crawls home to its master. And she was not his people. She would say no and he would have to return her for the coin.

Rori

 

[Rori]

For a heartbeat, all she could hear was the thunder of the waterfall and the low, steady thrum of his voice beneath it. I will not give you back.

Her breath caught. She looked up at him, wide-eyed, the meaning of his words settling in her chest. Her lips parted, but no words came at first. He couldn’t mean that. He shouldn’t mean that.

“I…What about your coin?” It was the only thing she could think to say. “My uncle.. They’ll know where I am. They’ll come for me. They’ll take me back.”

She shook her head, her wet hair clinging to her cheeks. “They’d kill you… and the rest of your tribe,” she frowned, shaking her head. “I won’t be the cause of that.”

But then, despite everything, despite reason and fear and duty, her hand rose, trembling, to touch his face. Her thumb brushed the sharp edge of his jaw, the warmth of his skin meeting the chill of her fingertips.

Her voice softened, barely audible beneath the crashing water. “But I would stay with you, Urosh… If it were possible." It wasn’t a declaration, shouted to the gods, just a quiet truth, fragile and sincere.. "If I could stay out here with you forever, I would."