Brena
"I don't want to hurt you, but I obey my War Chief," Rthan said. "Look around you."
Brena looked to both sides. There were twenty-one prisoners—seven Zavaedies and fourteen Tavaedies—one for each of the tall stones in the inner circle.
In a twisted version of the sacred rite they had come to perform, each captive was tied naked to a stone.
Some of the Blue Waters warriors began to whip them.
Cries of pain filled the sacred place.
Gull Face walked from stone to stone, watching with cold interest.
"We're just getting started," he said. "This ends only when you tell us what we want. The first one who tells us will be spared. If you wait too long, the chance to stop this pain will be gone. We will continue… until you die."
When he passed Rthan, he frowned.
"What are you waiting for? This is your chance to avenge Lyass."
Rthan turned Brena around and pressed her face and belly to the cold stone.
She felt the chill on her bare skin.
Then she heard the snap of the whip—right before fire cut across her back.
She screamed.
The second lash landed on her buttocks. The pain twisted inside her. She sobbed into her arm.
After the third blow, she could hardly breathe from fear.
A hand brushed her hair from her cheek.
A soft, deep voice: "Tell me what we need to know, so I can stop. I hate hurting you."
"You were eager enough to choose me," she said bitterly.
She tried to turn away, but only pressed her side harder into the stone.
"It was the only way I could keep some control over what happens to you," he said. He leaned closer and whispered, "Please. Help me stop this."
"I don't care what you do to me. I won't let you take my daughters."
She glared at him, her fear now full of rage.
Gwenika was only fourteen.
Something flickered across his face—maybe empathy.
"Your daughters are Initiates? But no, you're too young to have daughters that age."
She refused to explain anything to him. She only bared her teeth.
"If I go in first, I'll claim your daughters as mine," he said. "I'll protect them."
"You mean take them."
"I have no desire for green fruit when I can have the ripe one." He stepped closer, so she could feel his body heat on her bare chest.
"Isn't your own wife ripe enough for you?"
His expression changed. The warmth vanished, replaced by a deep and bitter anger.
"My wife and child were murdered in a surprise raid. Yellow Bear warriors cut their throats while the men were away fishing."
He pressed closer. His skin touched hers. His anger swelled with desire.
"It's only fair that I take back something from your people."
He grabbed her chin and kissed her, hard.
The kiss shocked her.
A memory rose—her own Initiation night.
The sound of sobs. The smell of mold. Bodies moving in the dark.
She had been tied up, but a boy's hands, freed somehow, had touched her. She had been too afraid to speak. Too confused to protest. He had forced himself on her, and she had let it happen, thinking maybe it was part of the rite.
Later that year, they had married.
That night had returned to her often in dreams, leaving her with shame and desire mixed together.
Rthan broke the kiss. He knocked his forehead against the stone.
"Let me protect you and your family," he said, voice rough and full of need.
He wiped her mouth gently with his thumb.
"You don't have good choices. No one will come in time. There will be a massacre. But some can be spared—your daughters among them.
"If any other warrior takes them, they'll become slave girls. But I swear on the Blue Lady, I will ask only you to my bed.
"Your body can buy their safety. No one else will offer that bargain. I beg you. Agree to surrender yourself to me."
But Brena knew something he didn't.
The cave under the stone circle was not a true kiva—just a natural cavern, with only one entrance. Once sealed, the air would run out. The Initiates would die if not freed soon.
She shut her eyes. She couldn't think straight.
"How do I know you'll keep your word?" she whispered.
"I won't betray you."
"All men betray women," she said. "I learned that the hard way."
He leaned in, his voice low and full of heat. "Then you haven't met real men."
A scream pierced the air—one of the other prisoners.
Then more voices. Shouts of surprise.
Rthan turned, frowning, to see what was happening.