Chapter 6
Six
Zasen
T he four women took chairs at the table. I went out of my way to serve all of them, placing generous portions of everything on their plates. Meri leaned away from me each time I got close. It made sense. Her people had made me into a monster only rivaled by the Devil. They also weren't wrong.
Yet once that was done, I headed back to the living room where Rymar and Kanik were waiting. We didn't have plates. Our meal would come later so the new girl could get as much as she wanted.
As soon as I was out of sight, the conversation among the women started up again. They kept it in English so Meri could understand, yet their voices were soft. Private, almost.
I huffed out a sigh and dropped into my chair. Across from me, Rymar had claimed Ayla's. Kanik had the couch - and three beers waited on the coffee table for us. I reached for one, needing to relax.
"So, that's going well," Rymar said, speaking quietly in Vestrian to keep our words from carrying.
"Better than we did with Ayla," I agreed. "Also sounds like Meri's willing to stay with Jeera."
"Your sister will be tickled to finally get to babysit for someone," Kanik pointed out.
"No kidding," I agreed.
Because my sister and her girlfriend had been wanting a child for years now. Sadly, tailed women were all sterile. No matter how hard he tried - and I was willing to bet Irrik tried very hard - their shared boyfriend would never get either one pregnant.
Instead, the pair helped my mother deliver babies and helped with maternity. They were on the list for unwanted or orphaned children, willing to adopt any child in need, but that hadn't happened yet. Evidently most people waited nearly a decade before they were chosen, unless it was a private arrangement.
But if Meri was living with them, she'd have all the support she'd need. Both tailed women would pamper her and her child. They wouldn't mind the wailing of an infant when it arrived. Even better, they would be able to ease the Mole girl's worries about giving birth - including what we could do if things went wrong.
"So when do we tell her about the Moles?" Rymar asked.
Kanik groaned, but I pushed out another heavy sigh. "Not yet," I told them.
"When?" Rymar pressed. "She's going to find out, and we made a mess of that with Ayla."
"Ask Ayla?" Kanik suggested.
"She'll be the best person to explain it," Rymar agreed.
"So we'll talk to her after Meri leaves," Kanik decided, looking over at me. "And you should tell her what you're hoping to find out. If Ayla knows the information you need, she'll figure out how to get it."
"I just need to know what that girl knows about the compound," I said. "Ayla can wait a few days, but we need to find out what they're doing."
"And the women don't know," Kanik countered. "Zasen, Ayla didn't know anything, so Meri likely won't either."
"But she might," I pointed out hopefully.
"And you don't even know what you want from her," Kanik snapped back. "Zasen, you want these women to give you the answer, but you're not even asking them a question."
"I'm asking them what they know!" I growled, my voice getting louder.
Rymar patted at the air. "So we let Ayla decide," he told me. "She's the one who's been through this, and she's seen enough to understand the real problem. That means she'll be the best one to make that call."
"Yeah." I reached up to rub the bridge of my nose. "This girl is also going to need clothes, and supplies for the baby. She'll need meat - "
"Good reason to take Ayla hunting some more," Rymar pointed out.
Which was a brilliant idea. "Okay," I relented. "But she can't use the venom-tipped arrows for that. Meri will need to be made immune - after the baby."
"Long after," Kanik added. "She'll be nursing for months at least."
"Fuck," I grumbled, realizing that was a problem. "And the child isn't tailed, so she won't get immunity that way."
"Nope," Kanik agreed. "But the bigger question is how that girl got here. Clearly she was married. How did she get out, and do you think she can get back in?"
"That's exactly what I'm hoping to find out," I admitted.
Rymar simply leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "There's something even bigger you two are missing. This is the second woman the Moles have sacrificed. Why?" He looked between me and Kanik. "We now know they're taking our women to breed, not eat. So have they decided it's easier to kill off girls who are difficult and simply abduct more?"
"Shit," I muttered. "Which means we need to make sure the women and girls are secure before the next raid."
"Mhm," Rymar agreed. "Ayla says we have a few weeks, but they will come again. When they do, what's this new girl going to do?"
"Jeera lives on the north side of town," I reminded them.
"They'll still come," Rymar countered. "The townsfolk will talk about it. The gunshots carry all across Lorsa, never mind the alarm bell ringing."
"So we make sure she knows before it happens," Kanik said. "Then all of that will do nothing but prove Ayla right. We make sure Meri is kept safe, guarded, and out of sight."
"Huh?" Because I wasn't quite following Kanik's thinking with hiding the girl away.
He huffed at me like I was a moron. "She has a husband, Zasen. From what Ayla said, that man thinks Meri is his property. Plus he's a hunter, so he will come here eventually. He might want her back!"
"Oh." Well, fuck.
I did not like the idea of someone hurting her - or hunting her. I still remembered the look on Ayla's face when I'd caught her in the bathroom alone. I'd tried to pull her skirt down so she wouldn't be embarrassed and it had backfired. She'd slapped me - and while that had hurt, the panic on her face had gutted me even more.
No one should ever know that kind of fear. Dying was bad, but ever since we'd found Ayla chained out as a sacrifice, I'd come to realize some things were even worse. The lives of the women in the underground compound? They definitely counted.
"Ayla's going to need money," I realized.
"Huh?" Rymar asked. "Where did that come from?"
Letting out a grunt, I gestured to show I was backtracking to catch them up. "Meri is her friend. Ayla clearly feels protective and responsible for this girl. That means she's going to want to help Meri, and most of that help will be getting her things. Clothes, stuff for the baby, or anything else Meri needs, Ayla will want to gift it the same way we gave her things."
"Okay..." Rymar canted his head like he wasn't quite following. "But we have money."
"You two do," Kanik grumbled.
"You will in a couple weeks," Rymar assured him. "And what's mine is yours. You know that. The two of you helped me buy the bar."
"And you're giving Saveah our shares," Kanik countered. "Means we're spending our own money."
"What I'm saying," Rymar told him, "is that I'm not counting bucks, so you shouldn't either. Fuck, man. When I was broke, you covered me. You were the first of us to make a decent living. Now that the bar's pulling in money, as far as I care, half of it's yours." Then he looked at me. "So why isn't the same true for Ayla? "
I leaned back, letting the tip of my tail twitch beside my feet. "Because she didn't invest in the bar when you were trying to buy it?"
Rymar gave me a dry look. "She's one of us, right?"
"Mhm..." I agreed, struggling to keep my face smooth and calm.
"She helps us too?" he pressed.
"She does," I agreed.
"She cooks, cleans, and helps with the city defense," Kanik added.
I gestured at him. "That. She also doesn't have any verifiable skills yet. Nothing that could get her hired."
"So," Rymar said, slowing his words as if talking to an imbecile, "that means we're covering for her. If she wants to buy her friend something, we can make sure she has the funds, right? No different than if Kanik wants something, I'll make sure he has it."
I lifted my gaze, meeting Rymar's across the coffee table. "Have you told her you're rich?"
"She doesn't understand rich," he countered.
"Have you told her?" I asked again.
But Kanik broke in. "Why, Zasen? If Ayla doesn't understand, then why bring it up?"
"Listen to him," I told Kanik. "He's talking about her like she's his partner. Same way he talks about you."
"Or you," Rymar added almost defensively.
"Like family," I clarified, finally letting my little smirk show. "Seems the friendship isn't as innocent as you like to pretend, my friend."
"Fuck off," Rymar grumbled. "It is. I'm just trying to take care of her."
"Mhm," I agreed. "Exactly."
"Regardless," Kanik said, waving that off, "I think you two missed the bigger issue here. Did anyone notice the crowd today? Irrik and his friend pulled that girl off their cart, and people pressed in. They were curious, but it wasn't a mob this time. No one was trying to spit on her the way they did with Ayla."
"And," Rymar said, "they all moved back when Ayla asked. They accepted her explanation that she'd handle it. They seemed happy to have a new refugee. Well, most of them."
"How many still hate the idea of us letting a Mole girl live here?" I asked.
Rymar rocked his head from one side to the other. "Enough. One in ten? Maybe fewer? Zasen, after Drozel said she saved his life? Ayla's a Dragon. Boris made a scene when he gave her that sign die. Having Boris's approval swayed a lot of minds. Having Drozel's and yours? That's most of the rest. That she picked up a gun and destroyed the hunting party?"
"And she figured out the calendars," Kanik reminded me. "We never would've guessed holidays, Zasen. Never mind that we don't celebrate the same ones."
"Most of them," I corrected. "Seems there are a few overlaps. Still, my question is if it's safe for Jeera to walk that girl across town every day?"
"She needs it, right?" Kanik asked .
I murmured at that. "She needs to be fed . She needs some medical care. What she needs is to learn she's not going to get abused by every man she sees, and that includes those of us with tails. I think walking would be good for her, and it would certainly help build the muscles she'll need when she goes into labor, but I think setting her at ease is even more important."
"So we let Ayla walk over there," Rymar said. "She's never left the south side of town. Well, not further than the town stage, at least."
"The church," Kanik corrected. "Jeera took her over there too."
"But what about a guardian?" I asked. "Guys, I'm not always going to be able to walk with her, not if I'm harvesting meat for us, them, Mom, and my clients."
"I'll be in class during the day soon," Kanik added.
Rymar hummed in thought. "So is this why you're poking fun at me for liking that girl?"
"Is that an admission?" I taunted.
"As a friend ," Rymar insisted. "Is this your lead-up to having me walk her over there?"
"Not intentionally," I assured him, "but it would help. She's doing well enough with a bow now, so I'm taking her hunting occasionally, but not always. She's better, but she can't quite keep up in the forest yet."
"Not with you," Kanik corrected. "She's as good as I am, though."
I canted my head, because he'd just made my point. "And now that Meri's here, she'll want to see her. Ayla wants to spend more time with Saveah, too. For the first time in her life, she has more to do with herself than simply chores. She deserves to have fun, and I think that if we can figure out how to make Ayla's life easy, it will do nothing but help Meri in the long run."
"We can't keep both of them," Kanik reminded me.
"Nope," I agreed. "I happen to be rather fond of the one we have. I also think these girls are a hell of a lot stronger than they know. Meri deserves a fresh start. She hasn't realized it yet, but she's beginning a whole new life, and this one should be good. But Meri is going to follow Ayla's lead. That means we need to ask Ayla what she likes, what she wants, and what her plans are for things. Most of all, we need to make sure Ayla will actually protect herself from the men in Lorsa if anyone tries to give her a hard time. Meri will see all of that and realize she actually gets to choose for herself. We need to make sure our girl can make mistakes without repercussions and both of them will grow."
"Our girl," Rymar said. "Zasen, she's not a pet."
"No, she's not," I agreed. "She still needs us to be good men."
"Friends," Kanik countered. "Zasen, she's made it clear she isn't looking for a partner."
"No," I said. "Ayla needs us to be good men , because she is the one who will teach Meri that not all men are evil. We can't ignore that part. We need to step carefully with her, but we are men. She is a woman. Ignoring it won't help her."
"And if you try to seduce her..." Rymar warned.
"Not what I'm talking about," I assured him. "I'm saying I'm going to push her. I'm going to keep pushing her until Ayla is scared of nothing, because I'm convinced that woman is already tough enough to handle anything that comes her way. She just hasn't realized we have her back. That no matter what, we will respect her boundaries. More than all of that, I'll push her until she starts setting a few, because that's the only way it will happen." I looked at them. "And you two should do the same."
"Because what Ayla knows, she'll teach Meri," Kanik said, nodding to show he was following along.
"And then they'll teach the next," I said, "because Callah is still down there."
"And Ayla will want to get her out," Rymar agreed.