“Hannah can bring food to your rooms,” Damien said. He’d had a bad day prior and his irritation won out. “You cannot move around these men as though there is no danger! It isn’t safe.”
“It is perfectly safe,” I argued soaping my arm. “No one here would touch us if we didn’t want them to. They won’t act like the men you are used to. These men respect our choices.”
Bane cursed a foul stream and Basin seconded it. Rose and I were weak and defenseless. We’d be taken advantage of soon enough. We were just too stupid to see the signs. Without our families we were just a warm ce to put a cock. The men couldn’t believe it had not happened already.
I liked Armant’s family and Arik’s family. Ratru’s family was always eager to help us learn to use weapons. Rayn and his Brothers, when they were in camp, told us about the wild world outside. They’d been many ces. For the first time in who knew how long I had friends I had chosen. Damien’s attitude infuriated me.
“They have never taken my body after I said no,” I said grabbing Rose and heading for the exit of the bath. “They’ve never beaten me. I believe I have more to fear in here than I do out there!” I finished gesturing to the cave entrance.
Damien looked shocked.
“And you, Rose,” Basin growled, “you enjoy your time with these other men? Do they provide for you?”This content ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.
Rose stiffened her spine and was suddenly pulling me up the steps and out of the water.
“They have asked me for nothing,” she said simply, “in return for granting my total freedom. I provide clothing for them because I chose to and that simple price has afforded me the entirety of what you and your Brothers denied me. Yes, Basin, they provide for me.”
The men were now all livid as we grabbed our clothes and ran for the entrance to the cave. I knew they could catch us in an instant. We could be beaten to death before we could raise a hand in self defense. Terror rose in my gut and it didn’t rx until we were at the exit to the bathing cave.
Just before exiting the darkened cave, Rose and I pulled our outfits over damp skin with shaking hands. The things we’d said had been true and brutal. I wondered if the men would forgive us. I wondered if they would try to punish us for saying those things.
We made our way slowly up to our rooms and sat in front of the fire as we shivered.
“I don’t know what made me say that to them,” Rose whispered suddenly. “I don’t understand how I feel. Basin and his Brothers have been my whole world for so long…”
I stared at the fire and thought about the way I’d felt in the cave. My heart had been pounding out of my chest and I had been shaking like a leaf. I’d been afraid, terrified of the pain they knew how to inflict.
“They beat me,” I said slowly, “when they found out I told you about Hannah…”
Rose nodded and hugged herself.
“I thought they would have,” she said quietly. “The things the men from the red mountains taught them were evil.”
“Just now,” I said ncing at our covered door, “I was fearful they would hurt me again, because they could.”
Rose straightened in her chair and her mouth took on a firm line.
“They won’t hurt us. They wouldn’t dare, but we don’t go back,” she said stoically, “until we don’t fear them. They like seeing us and enjoy talking to us. Our presence in that bathing hall is a choice everyday. Let them see how they like it when we do what we want, without thinking about what they want.”
It took three days for us to walk into the bathing hall in the morning. I spent all three days getting angrier and angrier at Damien and his Brothers. When Rose and I finally returned one morning the men were in the water bathing quietly. Rose and I stripped and stepped into the water and cleaned our own bodies carefully.
“Hannah and Kennedy talk to us,” Damien said standing several paces away from me. “They tell us that you have made friends and that the men respect you both.”
“They do,” I answered quietly as I rubbed the cloth over my own shoulders. “The men here have never beaten me or raped me.”
The men were silent and I heard Basin and Stayne’s family moving away. Even Rose offered some privacy, by stepping away.
“We have apologized,” Damien said softly, “for our prior actions.”
Fire boiled in my veins and I felt the anger I had long denied.
“You beat me between my legs,” I told them in a low voice. “You gave me such pain I had nightmares about it. I trusted you with everything and you treated me like that. I couldn’t even be angry at you! Where would I have gone and what would I have done if you abandoned me?!”
My voice was ringing in the cave now and I saw the shock on the faces of the men.
“After you did that horrible thing to me I had to smile and ept your cocks there as if nothing had happened! It was obvious I could not fight you and you made our rtionship clear. I was never anything but a ve to you!”
The room was still for a moment before Damien spoke, but I didn’t wait. I stormed out of the water with Rose hot on my heels.
“We felt fear, Sister,” Damien pleaded to my retreating back.. “We acted out of terror that the women would take you. None of us wanted to do that, but we knew you had to learn.”
“THEY DIDN’T EVEN NOTICE!” I screamed at him standing on the steps and facing them. “THEY NEVER SAID A WORD TO ANY OF US ABOUT IT! YOU BEAT ME BECAUSE YOU COULD!”
Christof spoke softly and quickly as I grabbed my clothes off the line. “We did not know that would happen. We thought they would be angry. My Brothers and I were foolish and acted out of fear. Please forgive us, Sister.”
“And then you BRED me like a dog,” I seethed pulling my wet garments over my half cleaned body. “You forced me to birth a son I will never know. Nu-reeh may not have even gotten another child from me before we left, but you all made it happen…”
“It was a stupid mistake, Sister,” Evan begged. “We wanted to protect you-”
The anger rose and I threw a bar of soap at him hitting his shoulder. “YOU HAVE NEVER PROTECTED ME!” I shouted with righteous fury. “You men have beaten and controlled me from the first day you met me! I mean nothing to you! You do not understand family!”