191
The letter ended and I sat it on the table. Hannah had sent her love to me and the rest of the family. She hoped the bribe of the tami leaf had been a good idea. Ra had thought that would make the General more apt to let us keep the letter. Hannah had promised to write to me again next time she was close.
I shivered and tears coursed down my face. My little girl was well and strong. She had a Sister who was teaching her the world. Obviously she was bright to have gotten this message to me. It was more than I could have hoped for.
When Christof pulled me close I did need it. Evan stroked my hair and they just waited for me to calm down. It was strange how comforting I found their presence.
“The letter the General saw,” Damien finally said, “should be left by the fire. If anyone visits they will expect it to be there.”
Kein used the knife to fix the edges of the original message so it looked clean. He went and put it by the fire. If another family dropped by, it would look like it was supposed to.
My message the men had me fold and place in a small bag in the closet. It would stay hidden, unless I was reading it.
“We expect,” Bane said, nudging me toward the bed, “you will look at it frequently. It is important to leave it in the closet when you are done.”
We laid down in the bed and I snuggled up to Christof. He made a small sound and I looked up at him. He was grinning down at me.
At first he wouldn’t tell me what was funny. I told him there were no secrets and everyone laughed at me.
“I prefer the press of your flesh onto mine,” he said simply.NôvelDrama.Org content rights.
Despite my own objections I pulled off my cover and threw it onto a chair in the room. My bare chest pressed into Christof and he smiled pulling me close.
“Much better,” he sighed before he fell back to sleep.
Sunlight bathed the room when I woke up the next morning. There was no Evan in my face demanding I get up. I did hear voices from the main room and the leather flap was closed.
Peeking out I saw the man Blain, that had pierced me, and four other men talking to my family. The men were discussing places Blain and his Brothers had been. I let the flap fall closed and listened as Blain talked.
Blain was discussing the women and I nearly gasped. He was talking to Damien about how to get what you wanted from them. I couldn’t imagine how they had brought that up.
“You want to travel around, then tell them that,” he said. “Nu-reeh doesn’t care what you do as long as you’re up for her couplings. We were Warriors for a while and then my Brothers got bored. She let us train in a trade and travel around.”
I was terrified. If they traveled, where would I go. My heart felt like it would break out of my chest.
Evan’s grinning face was inside the curtain suddenly and I jumped back from him. My wide, fearful eyes met his and he frowned. Stepping inside the room he pulled the flap closed behind him.
“Do you fear the piercings?” he asked very quietly.
“No, not at all,” I said trying to calm my rampaging thoughts.
He stood watching me for a moment and stepped right in front of me. Evan’s face lowered to my level and he looked in my eyes. His right hand came to rest over my pounding heart and he raised an eyebrow.
“What do you fear?” he asked.
I opened my mouth and snapped it closed.
Evan’s voice was silk in my ear, “Tell me now,” he threatened, “or we stripe your breasts. You know how Damien feels about secrets.”
I felt weak and stupid, but I was stuck. They knew me too well.
“If you travel what happens to me?” I whined. “Do I get sold or left with Keepers-?”
Evan was furious and his face pinched up. He called me a long stream of nasty words that essentially meant idiot.
Christof came into the room behind Evan and patted his back. Evan straightened up and crossed his arms across his chest. His face softened slightly as Christof looked at him.
“Fear of the unknown is a human trait, remember?” Christof asked rhetorically. “When we were training to keep a human Basin told us this.”
Indignation boiled in my belly and I squared my shoulders.
“I’m not afraid of the unknown. I’m afraid of being left while you go wandering all over-”
“Hush,” Christof said placing a finger over my lips, “we are family and we would take you with us. Damien and Bane aren’t sure they want to travel anyway. Kein and I are curious, but we are also happy here.”
“And Evan?” I asked looking pleadingly at him and trying to get a feel for the opinions.
“Makes friends wherever we go and has no particular opinion either way,” Christof told me placing a hand on my shoulder.
Evan was still staring at me like I’d just insulted his mother. He had told me he liked to be close to me. Unlike the others, Evan still felt me, obviously he didn’t like to be separated. I had hurt him.
Moving slowly, I wound my arms around Evan’s waist. Standing on tip toes I kissed his lips and chin murmuring apologies to him. It seemed to work and his hands stroked down my back.
“Silly human, we will not leave you,” he said quietly. “Some days you are so fussy.”
I was pulled into the main room and Blain was talking about the finer nuances of piercing with Kein. Before I could kneel on a cushion Bane stopped me. Instead, I was sitting in his lap.
Unlike the other men who wore shirt and pants, Bane was half dressed. His legs were incased in the thick leather pants, but his top was bare. I froze when I realized why.
I cursed in English looking at Bane’s nipples. A delicate, shiny ring hung from each one. Looking up at his face I swore in his language and asked him what he had done.
Bane roared with laughter and stones changed hands. Blain and his Brothers had never heard a slave use those words. They found it amusing. Kein grumbled because he thought I would have controlled my mouth in front of strangers. He had lost big on this bet.
“Up you go, naughty one,” Bane said hoisting me onto the floating table.
I closed my eyes in an effort to behave and not say anything else. It wasn’t the same quiet procedure as last time. Blain talked through every step, like he was teaching someone. My eyes shot open when Kein repeated the instructions from right beside me.