In Damien’s style the note reiterated the instructions about not going outside several more times. It was exined that other men would hurt me if I was found in thepound alone. My family had errands and I had seemed so tired when they woke up.


    Thergest blue bowl on the counter was that funny wet bread mixed with the red sprouts. A note next to the bowl stated they knew this was not my favorite. The men also provided an orange in the second bowl. I was instructed to eat both and drink the fizzy drink they had left.


    I had my breakfast in silence and then took the pad and wandered into the sitting area. Once more I tried to contact Hannah and let her know I was fine, but she did not answer. I just sat and absently read an article on sea dwelling creatures while I waited for the men.


    After a while sleepiness crept up on me again. I curled onto the chaise under a nket and decided to doze for just a few moments. My eyelids drifted closed as I watched the low fire flicker in the hearth. It was so peaceful.


    “She is still tired,” I heard Kein whisper and I opened my eyes.


    Damien and his Brothers stood in the room staring at me. I had not even heard them enter. I stretched and smiled looking up at them. They weren’t smiling back.


    “How tired have you been?” Christof asked crouching in front of me.


    His long fingers skimmed my cheeks and settled an unruly lock of hair behind my ear.


    “It’s been getting worse,” I answered sheepishly, waking up. “I nap at the Keepers after Rose and I swim. I always do myps in the water first, though.”


    I’d been exhausted for a long while, but never thought to tell them. Damien was furious they had not been more attentive. It was so obvious. They had been focused on Arnold’s family and Tyle’s family and ignoring their own.


    I was sleeping the way I did every time I was pregnant. My men were upset they had not noticed. They were even more upset they didn’t know it was because the children weakened me. It would have been better if they’d done as Nu-reeh wanted and waited.


    “Nu-reeh wants us in the mountains,” Damien said, “but we do not leave today. She does not want us to travel in the dark, which we would have to do if we left now. We leave tomorrow.”


    “It is very strange,” Christof said settling on a chair across from me. “We are to be escorted by four other families of Warriors to the cabin. You will rest there overnight and the other families will watch the cabin. In the morning the other men leave and the women will escort us to Nu-reeh’s home mountain.”


    That was odd. The convoy made sense with the disappearances, but the staying overnight did not. We’d never broken travel to the mountains into a two day event.


    “Oh no,” I moaned pitifully, “I hope she isn’t putting us in a cave again.”


    I flopped unceremoniously back down on the chaise and the men chuckled. Evan picked up my feet and then pulled them across hisp as he sat down.


    “I doubt it,” he said seriously rubbing the soles soothingly. “Nu-reeh has be unduly interested in yourfort. She even requested we bring cushions so you could rest during the transport ride.”


    Odd for the men, but not for me. I told them about cars and how humans sat to travel in them. The men shrugged and stated Nu-reeh must want me to act like we are in a car.


    I spent the day rxing. Damien called off the House Cleaners and I just rested in our apartments. Most of the day I slept, I was exhausted.


    Damien and his Brothers apologized for lying to me during lunch. It had never been their intention to cause me pain; they only wanted to protect me.


    “The sadness the breeding caused you was too strong and we feared you would break again,” Christof said solemnly. “We wanted to protect you.”


    I shook my head and picked at my te absently.


    “The truth is important between us,” I told him. “You can’t tell me I’m free and still make all my decisions for me.”


    They didn’t understand and I knew the root of their confusion. In their hearts they didn’t believe I was strong enough to be free the way they were. My family still had my position caught somewhere between ve and free, but not entirely either.


    After lunch they left me to go talk to Tyle and his Brothers. When they got back they told me the young men were upset their mentors had to leave for a time, but Damien had promised to return. He asked the young men to continue to do extra work and gain strength. We would return and expected them to be ready when we did.


    We’d trusted Tyle’s family with a lot of knowledge about the outside world. Nothing we ever said to them leaked out. They were loyal and discrete. Damien told me that’s what made him decide to trust them with our greatest secret.


    In hushed tones outside the view of the cameras in the Children’s area Damien had told them some women could be trusted. The boys had been right and the world was not what it seemed. He’d told them if a young woman named “Hannah” or “Kennedy” wanted them to go somewhere, they should go. There was a life beyond these walls and it was better than what we had here. The boys had solemnly swore to keep the secret and heed the advice if they ever had need of it.


    There were boots the men preferred and other things they liked to have. Those things were packed up to take with us to the mountains. We decided to risk taking Kennedy’s pad with us.


    “No one can see this,” Christof told me seriously. “We will hide it in the sleeping area of our lodgings. Your friends cannot be told about this.”


    Damien made me swear I understood that the pad could be dangerous. He knew it could burn and made me swear to throw it in the fire if anyone got too close. No one could find this secret.


    “I understand now,” I told them. “Some things must be kept in the family. I would not endanger you all or my daughters.”


    It was the truth. I’d learned a lot about how to keep a secret. There were just things I could not go bbing about. The family came before everything else. This secret protected Hannah, Kennedy, and all of us; there was no way I would not keep it.


    The men were satisfied and continued to pack while I sat and watched.


    I was upset about this unexpected pregnancy, but I knew my family had done this out of love. It was a misguided attempt to protect me from the pain of a forced conception. I mourned therger problem and wrestled internally with how to handle it. They still did not see me as an equal.


    Still, for all their faults, Damien and his Brothers cared deeply for me. I cared for them, too. I wished that one day we could love one another equally. It seemed that time was a long while off.


    We yed a card game in the evening and went to bed early. The next morning as we ate our morning meal there was a knocking at the door.Original from N?velDrama.Org.


    I was surprised by a guest this early. Fredrick and his Brothers greeted Damien and strode in. It was evident the men did not know why Fredrick was here either. Damien and his Brothers were polite, but indicated they had ordered nothing recently.