Chapter 9
Early the next morning, Hale opened the door to Mekos, but she frowned hard, letting him know that if anything went wrong
she’d be after him.
With a solemn nod of thanks, he took a step toward Aradella’s room. But then he turned back and kissed Hale’s cheek. “Thank
you for taking care of her,” he said.
Her face turned red and she pushed him away. Her strength was such that Mekos almost fell, but he kept his balance.
Smiling, he went to Aradella’s room. It wasn’t daylight yet, but he could see perfectly well in the dark. It was a barren
space, more like a cell than a bedroom.
Aradella was asleep, her breathing soft and quiet. As always, he marveled at how much he loved her. His grandfather had told
him this would happen. “Basically, our family are still swans,” Roal said. “You’ll love once and it will be forever.” Mekos
had laughed. There were so many pretty girls! He knew he could never choose just one.
But then he saw Aradella. She was sitting on that platform, securely fastened inside that outlandish garment, and staring
at the crowd. All his senses went on high alert. It was as though he could feel her sense of resignation.
He saw her look up at Kaley in the window of a derelict house.
Kaley always bonded with suffering animals and in this case, a human.
Tanek said that Kaley attracted so many animals there was no room to walk.
Sojee had said, “Are you afraid they’ll step on one of those noisy birds that follow you?
” Now that they knew Sojee was Kaley’s grandfather, Mekos smiled in memory.
And when he looked at Aradella that first time,
he’d thought of those lost animals.
Quietly, soundless even to his own ears, Mekos stretched out beside Aradella on the narrow bed. A thin blanket was between
them. He didn’t dare get too close to her or they’d be there until sunset.
He kissed the soft skin of her cheek.
“Mmm,” she murmured and turned to him.
He rubbed his face against hers.
She didn’t open her eyes. “You have whiskers.”
“They’d grow as long as my forearm if I didn’t cut them. I’d look like my mother’s father.”
She sleepily smiled. “Why don’t you have a tail like her?”
“My blood was corrupted by my father.”
“Ah, Tanek the Great.” She pulled on the cover to lift it, but he didn’t move.
“You have to get up,” he said.
“That’s what I’m to say to you.”
He chuckled. “You need to get dressed in your disguise. The commanders of the men from Selkan have arrived and Sojee’s going
to go over their orders. It’s in a room with a balcony and you and I are to hide and listen.”
Aradella opened her eyes and leaned away, but it was too dark to see him clearly. “I’d like to hear what he has to say.”
“I thought you would.”
Aradella flipped the cover away on the opposite side. Since her bed was against the wall, she stood up and stepped over Mekos.
As she passed, he deftly ran his hand up her leg.
“I don’t have your eyesight. I need light.”
Mekos lit the little lantern, then put his hands behind his head and watched her get dressed. She tied on the pads, then put on one of her hideous dresses.
“Are you ready?” she asked.
Smoothly, he got out of bed, quickly kissed her lips, then opened the door.
Aradella wasn’t surprised to see Hale waiting for them. What did surprise her was the look of affection on Hale’s face. When
they were outside in the cool night air, Aradella said, “What did you do to my guard?”
“Wild fox sex,” Mekos said over his shoulder as he hurried toward the palace.
“At least it wasn’t the slow swan kind,” she said. “They’re my favorite.”
He laughed. “Your place is attached to the palace. Why isn’t there a door into it?”
“Someday I’ll show you why.” He was holding open a narrow door. “Will Sojee be angry if he finds out we’re here?”
“He invited us. He wants me to listen for anyone coming. He doesn’t want Olina to hear what he’s planning. He said she’s too
busy making her own plans to bother with us.” He glanced at her.
“Think she’s plotting other ways to get rid of me?”
Mekos didn’t want to answer that. “At least my father doesn’t know I’m involved. He still thinks I’m five years old and need
protection from the world.”
Aradella looked at him. “At the wedding, I was afraid he was going to find out about Valona.”
“Me too. If he knew that, he’d yell at me for days, then he’d lock me in a swan pen.”
“He’ll certainly be angry when he sees what happens tomorrow.”
Mekos grinned happily. “I’m sure he will be.”
Smiling in conspiracy, they went into the palace.
Mekos had to listen hard to figure out where Sojee and the men were.
They entered the room through a small door that opened to a circular staircase and they hurried up it.
Mekos moved silently while Aradella tried to.
Her big garments were a hindrance to movement.
They stepped onto a railed balcony that looked down at a big room with a dozen chairs set up.
“It’s my birthday room,” Aradella whispered. “Or that’s what I called it. It’s where my parents held my . . .” She didn’t
finish as the memory of her lost family hurt too much.
“We’ll hold birthdays for our children here,” he said.
That image made Aradella’s knees weak, but she made herself stop that. “Please tell me you don’t give a woman a litter of
kits.”
Mekos suppressed a laugh. “I guess we’ll see what happens.”
They smiled at each other in mutual anticipation.
Below them, a door opened and the room filled with the noise of men arriving.
Aradella and Mekos stretched out on their stomachs and watched.
There were twelve men, each of them huge. They were muscular, heavy, and scarred. Several of them had scars that distorted
their faces. One had a piece of his nose missing.
“Are they the winners or the losers?” Aradella whispered.
“They won. The losers have missing body parts.”
“This isn’t going to work,” Aradella said. “These men will hurt the women. They’ll—”
When she started to get up, Mekos put his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t trust Sojee?”
Aradella lay back down but she was frowning.
Sojee, taller than any of the men and as heavy as they were, strode to the front of the room, and the men quickly took seats.
Whether they respected Sojee or were afraid of him wasn’t clear.
The men waited in silence.
Sojee began. “What you and your men are to do today is more difficult than any Cutting Game. It requires extreme effort and discipline. Do you think you can restrain yourselves?” He glared at his audience.
“More importantly, can you control your men?” He almost shouted the last, then looked at the huge men one by one, waiting for their curt nods.
“All right, then, I will go over all of it again. You are to make these women care about you. And how are you to do that?”
There was a soft, incoherent rumble of voices.
“How do you make the women like you?” Sojee shouted.
“Tools!” the men yelled in unison.
Aradella and Mekos looked at each other in horror, silently asking, Do what with the tools? They looked back to Sojee.
“That’s right. You are to entice the women by using tools. You are to repair whatever needs it. If you see a broken wagon,
fix it. Build her a grape arbor. And above all, do not ask, ‘What do you want me to do next?’ Just do it. Unasked.” He paused. “What is rule number two?”
Several of the men looked at each other blankly.
“Listen!” one of the deeply scarred men said.
“Yes,” Sojee said. “Listen to whatever the women want to tell you. Imagine that they’re explaining the rules to a game that
could cost you your right hand. Believe me when I say that your life depends on hearing what she’s saying. Rule three?”
A man in the back said, “No teaching.”
“That’s right,” Sojee said. “Don’t try to teach them anything. I don’t care if a woman tells you to hang a door over a window,
keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me? Do it correctly, but don’t puff your chest out and tell her how dumb she is and
how smart you are.”
“But what if she—?”
Sojee didn’t let the man finish his question. “If you can’t get your men to do this, let me know now and we’ll send the lot
of you home. You are on a team. Act like it!”
The man nodded and leaned back in his chair.
“No fighting!” Sojee said. “No matter what dishonorable thing is said to you or disparaging remark is made, there is to be no fighting. Understood?”
Again, the men nodded.
“Now,” Sojee said, “the big one.”
In unison, every man gave a sigh so hard, so deep, that the curtains swayed.
A man in front mumbled something.
Sojee glared at him. “I can’t hear you.”
“No se . . .” He didn’t seem able to say the word.
“What?” Sojee shouted.
“No sex!” the men yelled back.
“That’s right,” Sojee said. “No sex. If a woman strips off naked in front of you and says, ‘I’m yours,’ what do you do?”
The men looked like they might cry.
“Do not touch her,” a man in front said, his voice full of grief.
“Exactly,” Sojee said. “The chips in your arms will tell us who does what. If even one of you is a weak, cowardly excuse for a man who can’t control himself, all of us will know. Then what will happen?” He didn’t
wait for an answer. “Queen Olina will use it as a reason to send all of you away forever. Those of you with wives and children here won’t see them again in your lifetime.”
“But we can have sex with our wives, right?” a man asked.
“No!” Sojee said fiercely. “Do not give the women cause to say, ‘Is that all you want from me?’ Fix her roof, repair the plumbing, and listen to your teenage
daughter tell you how some girl said a really mean thing to her. Respect! That’s what you’re to give to these women.”
The men looked as though they’d lost a war. Miserable, sad, defeated.
“Now, let’s go over what you can do,” Sojee said.
“Meat!” a man said. “My men have been slaughtering for days. We’ve got so much meat it’s the ship’s ballast.”