The commander — Berenga — was not there.
Evriana had sent Berenga to seduce Viktor. The plan was simple — Berenga was a virgin. Strong. Beautiful. Bull-kin. The kind of woman who could attract a man's eye and hold it.
Evriana had hoped that Viktor — who she knew was traveling, who she knew was unattached, who she knew was the son of her sister and therefore her nephew and therefore someone she should not be thinking about in the way she was thinking about him — would respond to a woman's attention.
She had told herself it was for his good.
He needed to learn the ways of women. He was eighteen. He was alone. He was traveling through a world that would eat him alive if he did not learn its rules.
A strong, beautiful, willing woman — a woman who could protect him, guide him, teach him — would be good for him.
That was what she told herself.
The truth was different.
