I rolled to my side and faced him, “None of that is happening now and I’m not malnourished!” I stated
with finality. “She fed me three times a day.”
“Rupe,” Bane said, “she fed you rupe three times a day. It fills your stomach and you will not feel any
hunger, but you cannot absorb nutrient from it. Our cousins used it to feed early human…women. They
died looking as you do now.”
“Our family does not eat it,” Kein said tracing the line of my hip. “We have never eaten it. The Child
Keepers said we could not have it and it is never brought to us. That is why you have never seen it.”
“It was food,” I insisted. “I was just very busy-“
“You – did – not – absorb – any – of – it,” Damien said very slowly. The argument continued until I
asked to use thecquered pot and Damien ushered me to the bathroom. While Damien stood and
watched me relieve myself, I used the argument I should not have.
Belonging ? N?velDram/a.Org.
“I’m strong. You should have seen what I did all day. It was really hard work and I’m…” the words died
in my throat as the dark look took over Damien’s features.
He had wanted that informationst night and I had denied him. “Fine,” he said in a low growl, “you are
well. We will not treat you as if you are sick. Now tell me what she did to you. There are no secrets in
this family.”
Kein sauntered in behind Damien and turned the water on to fill the tub. He looked quite satisfied. I had
walked right into their trap. Either I talked or they would punish me, either way was fine with them.
The men came in and stood casually around as Damien cleaned me. I told them the entire story, which
was actually quite short. It infuriated them. Christof took over my bath and Damien stepped out to
pummel the wall several times.
ninjanovel
“Damien, please,” I pleaded Looking at his bleeding knuckles, “you know why she did it. I look like a
runaway, don’t I? No one will question what happened to me.”
“Who would have questioned that?” Damien bellowed hitting the wall again. “No one would have even
noticed. There was no purpose-“
Christof cut him off and the family turned to look at him. “I would have noticed. This ve supposedly
ran from thepound during an attack by the women. None of the other Warriors know that Nu-reeh
took her. None of them know we cared for her. There are Warriors who would have questioned whether
such a healthy ve had really travelled and lived for many moons in the mountains.”
It made sense to me now, how Nu-reeh had swooped in and grabbed me without anyone noticing. She
had hidden my kidnap in a nned female raid. In the confusion, no one must have noticed my
disappearance.
The men knew none of what I was thinking. They were still looking angrily at Christof.
“That’s just you,” Bane spit out sounding as angry as Damien. “No, Brothers, not just me. There are
others who like to question,” Christof stated with authority.
He started naming off men who would have noticed. They would have been curious how I did so well.
Their families would have gotten curious, the questions would have spread over thepound. Even
families without a curious Brother might have started to pay attention.
“If they noticed their Brothers would notice,” Kein said quietly.
“It would be discussed and they would wish to see the ve.”
“Remember the ve who nearly killed her Masters?” Christof said. “Do you recall how they made a
spectacle of her fighting men in the arena before they took her back to the vers?”
Evan cussed and sat at the edge of the stone pit I was in. Christof was right. If I looked healthy they’d
want to know how I did so well. Right now I appeared to have survived only barely. That would be
eptable to the other men; it would make sense.
“It will be attributed to luck and fortune that she lived so long,” Christof said soothingly.
“This was necessary.”