Wyvern’s Gold (The Ruins Of Men Book 1)

Chapter 36

Thirty-Six

Rymar

T he next day, the bustle of my cafe made a comfortable sound. The clank of utensils on plates, the clink of glasses, and the soft murmur of conversation was something I couldn't get enough of. It also meant I was missing out on seeing the girl make progress, but I was actually okay with that.

My own English was pathetic. I could never keep track of which letters were supposed to sound which way. Ayla's Vestrian was slow and a bit tedious, if I was honest. I didn't want to make it harder for her to learn, so I left her lessons to Kanik. He was good at it, after all.

And according to Zasen, the girl had made rather impressive progress. He'd admitted it begrudgingly. Plus, she was still telling him about her life inside the Mole base. Unfortunately, she didn't really know what we needed, and Zasen wasn't exactly helping. If anything, his frustration was terrifying her.

Kanik seemed to make it better. Oh, I'd also seen the way the guy smiled at her just a little too much, or how he'd started sitting closer and closer to her. Last night, Zasen had told me about how Kanik had almost stung Adoet for hurting her. If I was honest, I'd never seen the school teacher that pissed at anything besides the Moles. Or maybe protective was a better word.

Yeah, that would be a complication.

But working kept my mind off all of it. It also kept me out of their way. Yes, my staff could run this place without me, but I preferred to be more of a hands-on boss. That was how I'd risen in my political career, after all. Sharing a beer with a friend was a good way to convince them to vote for me.

I was making my way between the tables, checking on my customers, when the bell on the door tinkled to announce a new visitor.

I spun with a smile on my face that only got bigger as I recognized who had just come in. The woman walking down the stairs to the seating area was such a dark, rich navy color that she stood out almost as much as Zasen. In the middle of her tail, a band of brilliant orange wrapped all the way around. It matched the color and shade of her hair, making her impossible to confuse for anyone else.

"Brielle!" I greeted her. "I see you got my message."

She grinned and opened her arms, clearly expecting a hug. "Rymar! Look at you, trying to act busy."

I huffed at her implication that I didn't work, even as I hugged her back. "And yet you keep coming to my cafe for lunch. How's Jeera doing?"

"Good. In fact, she's supposed to be on her way here too. I mentioned that you wanted to talk to us, and it sounded like a good excuse to have lunch together," Brielle assured me.

So I led her to an open table. At the same time, I waved for Ulris, one of my waiters, to come get her order. Brielle was barely sitting down before the tailless man was beside her with his notebook open, ready to get her anything she wanted. She ordered two iced drinks and an appetizer, then waved for me to join her.

"You're sitting, aren't you, Rymar?" she teased.

Ulris leaned over and patted my shoulder. "Take him off our hands. Please! If you don't, he'll find something else I need to be cleaning." Then he winked at her and headed back to the kitchen.

Dropping into the chair beside her, I chuckled dryly. "I guess he thinks I've been in a mood or something."

"But what has you in a mood?" Brielle asked. "And more importantly, why did you want to see me and Jeera?"

My smile immediately took over, telling on me before I could even reply. "Our refugee is talking. Not only is she telling Zasen what she knows, but she's also doing it in Vestrian."

"Wait, she speaks Vestrian?" Brielle asked.

"Broken Vestrian," I corrected. "Kanik has been teaching her, but - "

The tinkling of the bell hanging on the door cut me off. Both of us looked over just as another tailed woman walked in, carefully making her way down the stairs. Her soft grey color could only be described as steel, and everything about her matched. Her hair, her eyes, her scales, and even her claws were that same medium grey color.

"Jeera!" Brielle called out, lifting a hand to get the new woman's attention.

"And Rymar," Jeera said as she hurried over.

First she gave me a side hug, bending to press her cheek against the top of my head. After that, she moved around the table to give Brielle a quick kiss. Brielle grabbed her hand, squeezing gently, then gestured for Jeera to claim one of the other open chairs.

She did just as Ulris returned, setting drinks in front of all of us, along with the appetizer Brielle had ordered. There was another little lull while we all picked out something for lunch. Ulris wrote it all down, paused to clasp Jeera's shoulder in greeting, then promised to get it to us quickly.

The moment he was gone, Jeera looked over at me. "So, do you want to tell me how my brother is doing? I haven't heard from him since he carried that Mole woman out of Mom's clinic."

I grunted and leaned back. "Yeah... Here's the thing. Ayla -"

"Who?" Jeera asked. "I thought her name was Orin."

"That's what Zasen was calling her before he figured out how to talk to her," I explained.

Which had Brielle breaking in. "And Rymar said she speaks Vestrian now."

Holding up both hands, I begged the women to give me a chance to finish a thought. "Ladies, let me explain. Her name is Ayla, she was kicked out of the Mole compound because she refused to get married, and her native language is English. Yes, that English. No, she doesn't say the words the same way we've been taught. It took a bit to figure out how to pronounce the vowels the way she does, but Zasen and Kanik can both talk to her, and Kanik has been teaching her Vestrian. She's picked it up quickly."

"Well, fuck me," Jeera breathed. "So why is she here?"

"According to her, there's a lot of religion going on down there, and it sounds like she was forced to marry a man she wasn't interested in. Ayla says he was some old man who sounds like a complete asshole, so she stabbed him with a fork. They treated it as if she'd tried to kill him, so they hung her out to die. Even worse, she keeps talking about punishment. The way she says it, I think she's been abused. And that's why I wanted to talk to the two of you."

"Abused?" Brielle asked, picking that one word out.

I nodded slowly.

"This," Jeera grumbled, "only makes me hate Moles more."

From a table behind us, a man called over, "Which is why we should kick that pale bitch out. Don't want any of their kind in town!"

Jeera immediately spun in her chair, snapped, and pointed at him, making a noise that would shut anyone up. "Did you hear a thing he just said? The woman was kicked out because it sounds like she hates Moles as much as you do. So maybe the last thing she needs is for us to prove we're no better."

"Yeah, but Moles do nothing but take from us," someone else said. "How long has she lived on the bounty of our people? Maybe it's time she sucked it up and did something for herself. Like die. Dying would be good."

"Yeah, fuck you," Brielle told him. "Next time you need something, don't think I'm going to forget what you just said. You should suck it up. Maybe you should die."

"Enough!" I yelled. "This is a scared and vulnerable woman you're all talking about. She has never been aboveground before. From the sounds of it, she didn't even know there were people up here. She has done nothing wrong, and punishing her for the actions of someone else makes no more sense than me punishing any of you for what the Moles have done to us."

"I just don't want her kind here," the first man grumbled.

"Thankfully, it's not your choice to make," I told him. "Besides, Zasen is watching over her. Zasen . You all know that if she does anything to threaten any of us, he'll handle it."

That made the people in my cafe murmur, but they couldn't really say I was wrong. The truth was, Zasen was why things had started getting better in Lorsa. Our people were mostly passive, but not him. That man had harnessed his rage and made it into a weapon more deadly than anything I had ever seen before.

Beside me, Jeera just scrubbed at her face. "Well, sounds like my brother has once again bitten off much more than he can chew."

"And yet he's doing a very good job of it," I assured her. "Well, Kanik is, for the most part. But here's the thing. I think this girl needs some friends. Female friends. Everything she's said so far implies men basically ruled her life, and she has some very antiquated ideas of gender roles. I was kind of hoping to show her what it's like to be a woman up here, and you two are good examples of that."

Brielle looked over at Jeera. "It also wouldn't seem suspicious if you made a point of seeking out your brother."

"There's that," Jeera agreed. "But what kind of abuse are we talking about? Was she beaten by men? Raped? I mean, how serious is the trauma she's trying to get over?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "All of her manners are overly formal, and Kanik said she has a habit of talking around the subject. She's very demure, meek, and even submissive. If any of us push her too hard or ask her pointed questions, she bows her head, folds her hands up, and plays with this little ring she wears. At the same time, she had no problem slapping Zasen because she thought he might be thinking perverted thoughts. He wasn't, but I figure he deserved the slap anyway."

"Yeah, he probably did," Jeera agreed.

"But the way she talks about things?" I said. "She mentions men punishing her as if it's just a fact. She flinches when Zasen even raises his voice."

"Which he's pretty good at," Jeera admitted.

"Mhm," I agreed. "But she can get lost in a book for hours on end. Oh, and any time one of us men step into Zasen's room - which she's currently using - she gets tense and weird. Every night, that door is always locked."

"So she doesn't trust men," Brielle said.

"And yet she does," I countered. "She's fine with Kanik in the living room. She only pulls into herself when it's anywhere else."

"Alone," Jeera pointed out. "Places that are private. Places where a man could rape her, Rymar."

I groaned. "Yeah, but we wouldn't do that!"

"Sounds like she doesn't know that," Brielle pointed out. "She probably doesn't even know how to talk about it. If things were as bad in her Mole home as you say, I'm willing to bet the abuse of women has been normalized."

"Which often means," Jeera broke in, "that it's the woman's fault."

"And she might not even know what's wrong," Brielle said. "We know almost nothing about Mole culture, but we do know that historically, some societies thought women were inferior to men. That meant men could rape, beat, or even kill a woman and suffer no penalties. A woman's only way to defend against it was to make sure none of it happened."

"To be nice to the men," Jeera grumbled. "To not be alone with them. To basically do everything you say this Mole girl is doing."

"Yeah, that's kinda what I'm getting too," I admitted. "The way she talks about things makes me believe she doesn't understand anything resembling freedom, the liberty of her own choice, or the options she has in her life. I mean, Adoet saw her in the yard yesterday, tried to attack her, and Ayla blamed herself. She thought it was because she shouldn't have been reading her book!"

"What book?" Jeera asked.

"Peter Pan."

Brielle groaned. "Do I want to know how she was left alone outside by the main road through town? Fuck. Just the color of her hair would convince someone to jump her."

"Sounds like she was supposed to be on the porch. Kanik was making tea and Zasen was changing after hunting and delivering meat. Ayla wanted to see the flowers, and she said she was hoping Tamin would come out soon..."

"Tamin?" Jeera asked.

I nodded. "Seems she likes the kid. Even better, he likes her back, but Saveah is not pleased with Zasen right now."

"No, I can't imagine she is," Jeera muttered. "But maybe we can help with that too?"

I murmured, because that would be nice. "Well, Kanik thinks we need to move slowly so as not to scare Ayla. He also pointed out that typically, oppressed women often need the help of other women. You both immediately came to mind."

I looked between these two pointedly. Strong didn't even begin to describe them. Jeera was her brother's equal in every way, and Brielle wasn't far behind. They were leaders, commanding, and confident. If there was anyone who could convince Ayla she didn't need to be afraid of doing what she wanted, I couldn't think of anyone better than these two.

"Okay," Jeera said softly. "I'll figure something out. I don't want to ambush this poor girl, and I have a feeling Zasen will think I'm sticking my nose in where it doesn't belong if we just come over to help out with the new guest. So I'll have to make it subtle."

"I'm sure we can find some excuse to go over there," Brielle assured her.

"Like maybe a cookout tomorrow?" I suggested. "Also, I'm not sure Ayla would understand you two are a couple. From what Kanik could tell, she's been taught marriage is only to create children. Not for love. Not for bonding, or anything else. Just children. From the sounds of it, Moles have no other relationships besides marriage. He said friendships weren't even encouraged in her life."

"Damn," Brielle breathed. "How repressed is this girl?"

"Keep in mind she's only just learning Vestrian, and she still has quite the accent," I told them, "so Kanik was the one getting all of the information and updating me, but all signs point to 'very.'"

"Which means that as soon as she realizes she's allowed to, Ayla will most likely swing the other way," Jeera said. "No different than kids who get away from their strict parents, right? All she needs is to have the people around her slowly but surely assuring her she's allowed to do what sounds interesting. Or at least to try it."

"In other words," Brielle told me, "we need to start corrupting her. You too, Rymar. Don't force her to do anything. Just make it clear there's nothing wrong with the fact that she might want to. Give her chances, and set her up to succeed - even if she thinks it would be considered failing. Make it clear it's okay for her to have her own opinions, and then do everything possible to enable her to follow through."

Which actually sounded like a decent idea to me. One way or another, I would figure out how to empower this poor girl, because someone had to. And if that convinced her to tell us even more of her little Mole secrets, then we all would win out in the end. Not even Zasen could complain about that.