Chapter 21
Three more days went by, and Dae was just beginning to wonder—not worry, she told herself, just wonder—if something had happened to delay her partner’s arrival, when she finally saw the first sign that her time in the Heartland might be drawing to an end. Word came from the group who had been assigned the task of cleaning and polishing the monastery interior that something was going on down at the main estate. Dae joined Kaylee and the others as they flocked to peer out of the magnificent stained-glass windows overlooking the valley below, listening to the tense, excited whispers from the other young women.
Below them she could see her father’s men hurrying about the estate grounds, and even from this distance it was obvious they were making battle preparations. She watched as a group of soldiers mounted on their powerful war-horses rode out of the estate and onto the forest paths beyond, guessing they’d been sent to scout the approach of Zafirah’s army. Dae felt the other girls watching her, some nervous, some curious, but she forced down the rising sense of excitement and joy that stirred in her stomach and only offered them a slight smile.
That night her roommates were all in a state of extreme excitement over the soldiers’ actions, and they wasted no time turning their questions on Dae.
“Do you really think we’re safe here?” asked Tricia. “I overheard one of the guards saying the Jaharri have been burning every village they come across to the ground!”
Dae shook her head, amused by the suggestion. “Trust me, we'll be fine,” she assured them. “Have you seen any smoke in the skies? Any sign at all that the land has been burned or pillaged? No. And there are no refugees fleeing from her attacks, either. Zafirah cares about only one thing—seeing me returned to her side. She won’t harm anyone unless they oppose her with force.”
“A friend of mine told me once that the Jaharri are driven only by their lusts for battle and the pleasures of the flesh,” said Cass eagerly, completely ignoring Dae’s reassurance. “I bet once they’ve finished with your father’s men, they’ll come up here looking for young women to ravish and despoil!”
Dae grinned at the poorly concealed excitement in her voice. “Judging by that look on your face, Cass, they wouldn’t have to try very hard to woo you to their tents.” The other’s laughed and Cass blushed. “If it’s a ravishing you’re looking for, perhaps you should sleep in my bed tonight. I’ll protect you from the big bad Scion.”
Cass threw a pillow at her and they all giggled, but Dae saw in her eyes as they darted back to consider her that she found this invitation more than a little appealing.
“But what will happen if Lord Everdeen refuses to give you back to her?” Kaylee asked when their laughter had died off. “I mean, those soldiers looked like they were getting ready for a fight, and you said it yourself that the Scion won’t hurt anyone unless they attack, but if they do, what choice will she have? And your father’s men have guns, and you said the Jaharri only have swords and bows, so what happens if—”
“Kaylee!” Dae said sharply, interrupting her friend’s rambling train of thought in the manner she’d found to be most effective. Kaylee locked her jaw closed with a snap and blinked at her.
Honestly, Dae had been worrying over this question herself. How far would Zafirah go to get her back? If she were pressed, how much violence would she be willing to bring to bear against her father? She gave a tiny shrug. “I can't say what will happen if my father fails to see reason, but I know Zafirah will do everything she can to avoid a conflict of arms. She’s faced guns before, and she won’t want to send her army against them if it can be helped.”
“And if it can’t?”
Dae could only shrug again. “I don’t know. But believe me, you’re all safe. Whatever happens, I won’t let any of you be hurt because of me.”
She lay awake late into the night, half of her worrying what would happen when the Jaharri arrived, but also half hopeful that Cass might accept her invitation for some ‘comforting’ now that Kaylee and Tricia had fallen asleep. Dae knew she was tempted—knew many of the other girls were tempted, too—but although she’d done an impressive job of stirring their curiosity and interest, attempting to cultivate and recreate the same sense of sexualized tension that so permeated the harem in El’Kasari, there simply hadn’t been enough time for her to overcome their hesitance and fear of the priests’ reprisals.
It was a shame, really. Dae didn’t like the thought that all her efforts to get these young women to realize their desires were nothing to feel guilt or shame over might come to nothing in the end. She was especially disappointed not to have the opportunity to pursue her friendship with Kaylee on a more personal and intimate level.
It was past midnight before her weariness finally carried her off to sleep.
* * *
The next morning there was the same atmosphere of tension as before; the air in the dining hall hummed with anxious, excited whisperings. The priests seemed especially nervous, their eyes constantly darting to Dae and then back to one another; hateful, desperate, afraid. Dae only picked at her breakfast—she wasn't really hungry anyway—before joining her roommates as they went about their chores that morning.
A few hours later, Dae and her roommates joined a sizable group of the other women for a group counseling session…and it was immediately clear from the fixed, hostile expression on Father Douglas’ face that something new was at play.
Something which had an ugly, menacing feel to it.
Usually, the group would sit in a circle and each person in turn would contribute to the discussion. But today the head priest had lined their tables and chairs all facing the same direction, and he paced back and forth in front of them as they quietly filed into the room and took their seats. The message was clear: this was to be a lesson, not a discussion. Everybody seemed nervous, likely sensing the same malicious tension in the air that was making the fine hairs along Dae's arms stand on end. Dae took a seat up front and tried her best to ignore the way everyone kept shooting her furtive glances.
“Today,” Father Douglas began, “I thought we might take the opportunity to discuss our neighbors to the west—the Jaharri. Most of you have doubtless heard the rumor that an army of these desert barbarians has invaded the kingdom, and it saddens me to confirm these rumors are true. They march upon the Everdeen estate, intending to reclaim one of your own number and return her to the captivity she recently escaped.”
Dae fought the urge to squirm in her seat, feeling every eye in the room settle heavily upon her. She endeavored to keep her breathing slow and even, sensing where this session was headed.
“Now as you all know, the Jaharri are a primitive people, lacking almost any aspect of civility. In days long past they were little more than scattered bandits, and many honorable and brave men seeking to ply trade with the Tasurik Empire in the west were slaughtered in their cowardly ambushes. And though these people have managed to form what we might loosely consider to be a structured system of leadership, their appetite for gold and treasure remains as insatiable as ever it was…only now, they employ exorbitant tariffs to satisfy their greed.”
Dae had placed her hands, palms flat, on the desk in front of her in an effort not to display any response to these statements, but she could feel her fingers curling helplessly into fists. A ball of mingled frustration and anger tightened in her throat, but she managed to hold her tongue. Father Douglas seemed to relish the topic of discussion. As he paced back and forth before the group, he would punctuate his sentences by bringing his walking cane down with a hard thud every so often; Dae could feel the other women flinch whenever he did so.
“It is also true that these strange savages still shun any attempts to bring the light of civilization to their people. Though it would speed trade across their lands, no road has ever been laid across the desert plains…despite the generous offer of many kings to finance its construction. Only a single city has ever been built in the desert—the fabled El’Kasari—yet most of the Jaharri still prefer to live in their small, nomadic tribes. And since most travelers through the desert are now protected by treaties we have managed to forge with their leaders, these tribes have turned their violence against one another.” Thud! Douglas banged the tip of his cane down on the wooden floorboards, still staring at Dae. “The Jaharri cannot subdue their primitive, blood-thirsty instincts, and so they war almost constantly with other tribes…even those they consider to be allied with themselves under the banner of the so-called ‘Scion Peace.’”
Though there was a grain of truth to some of what he was saying, a grain was all it was. As Dae had learned, although raids and skirmishes were commonplace between rival tribes, they were typically demonstrations of courage or cunning, rarely resulting in death. Father Douglas was twisting the truth with the same ignorance and bigotry that Dae had grown up with herself, staring at her as he paced back and forth, blatantly targeting her, waiting for her to deny his claims. Dae gazed back at him, unblinking, not willing to give in to his goading.
Thud!
Leaning on his cane, Father Douglas offered the group a cold, reptilian smile. “And we also know that the Jaharri lusts are not confined to their love of gold. These heathens are renowned for their indulgence of animalistic carnal pleasures. Practices which have long been forbidden and stamped out among more enlightened races are still common among the desert savages…practices which many of you here today are receiving help in overcoming, but which the Jaharri actually celebrate. As you’re all aware, such fruitless, amoral sexual acts are considered one of the vilest sins in the eyes of Tarsis, yet these worshippers of chaos feel no shame in freely—”
“Enough!”
Dae’s voice cut him off mid-sentence.
She just couldn't sit in silence any longer. Rising to her feet, she stood before Father Douglas with shoulders squared and eyes blazing. “You know nothing of the Jaharri! You spread the same lies I have heard my entire life, the same falsehoods I believed when I was first brought into the desert. Do you think I will believe these lies after living among them for so long? Do you think you know the Jaharri better than I? Your ignorance is a blindfold you happily bind around your eyes because you fear to see the truth.”
The priest was staring at her hungrily now, gleeful, his eyes hard as chips of flint. “And what ‘truth’ is that, Dae?”
“That the Jaharri are an honorable, proud people! That they are brave and kind, and their customs are far more civilized than many you would hold up as an example!”
“The Jaharri are ignorant beasts, my child, merciless and cruel.”
“No!”
“They have no written language, no education or science. Most of them still live in crude dwellings made of animal skins and sticks!”
“Their histories and skills have been carried down through the generations by a rich oral tradition. And what type of dwelling do you suggest would be more suitable for them? A house of brick and stone, perhaps? Their tribes are nomadic! Are they to carry the stones with them when the waters dry up?” Dae knew she was giving Father Douglas exactly what he wanted, but she was helpless to silence her outrage.
“Godless heathens, driven by their own animalistic appetites…soulless and lost to sin—”
“Their religion is richer and more enlightened than your own. You haven’t seen the wonders of their land as I have seen them. You have not lived among them; have not laughed with them, cried with them, heard their wisdom or enjoyed the delights of their lives! YOU are the ignorant savage, and I will hear no more of your lies about my people!”
The words were past her lips before she could fully consider them…but when she did, the truth of those words sank deeply into her soul.
My people.
She hadn’t meant to say it…but neither would she take the claim back.
“Your people?” The priest had moved a step closer. His tone shifted to something one might use to address a child who has failed to comprehend a simple math problem, condescending and mild; his eyes, however, remained menacing. “You are not Jaharri, Dae. Of all the people here, you know best how poisonous their lies and deceits can be…how damaging. They took you, an innocent, virtuous young lady…and they tempted and manipulated you with their foul perversion!”
“They set me free!” Dae whispered fiercely. “Showed me who I truly am and accepted me as one of their own. The Jaharri are my people! I am of the dese—”
There was a flicker of movement too fast to follow. A sharp CRACK! that cut her words off mid-sentence. Dae’s head snapped to the side, her hand flying to her cheek as Father Douglas swept the slender, rigid blade of his cane across her face in a viciously hard slap. Hot pain flared where the wood connected. She tasted blood. A collective gasp of shock could be heard from the other women around her.
“That’s not true, Dae,” came the priest’s voice, cold and friendly, over the ringing in her ears. “You have been deceived. But you will come to understand that in time. We can help y—”
He stopped speaking when she turned back to face him, visibly startled.
Dae's hand dropped from the throbbing hot mark across her cheek, fingers trembling with the strength of her rage. It had suddenly become difficult to breathe. Weeks of enduring the pity and confusion of her parents, the covert glances and subtle alienation from the soldiers and servants, and now this…this assault! From a man she was certain had never laid eyes on a Jaharri nomad even once in his life, yet somehow felt no qualms about passing self-righteous judgment upon their imagined shortcomings!
A rush of white-hot fury surged through her as she fixed her eyes upon the frozen priest.
“How…dare…you?” Her voice started as a harsh whisper, but rose to a scream with her mounting fury. “I am Dae Al'Tahirah, Consort to the Scion of El’Kasari! You sanctimonious, putrescent, pile of FILTH! You DARE strike me?!”
Father Douglas raised the cane again, but he faltered at her words. There were no tears in Dae’s eyes as he’d clearly expected, and though the blood had drained from her face, she felt neither intimidated nor afraid…only rage. He swallowed, uncertain, when she lifted her chin, daring him to land another blow. Dae’s lips twisted into a feral smile.
“Do it,” she said in a soft, dangerous tone. “If you think hitting me will change anything, go ahead. But remember that however false your words have been, at least one thing you said is true: the Jaharri are coming. It might be wise for you to keep in mind that my bond with the Scion makes us as one. Strike me again and I can promise you’ll soon get to experience just how savage and merciless the Jaharri can be!”
The priest fell back another step, his eyes widening. Dae watched him retreat, saw his dominating posture slip away and leave behind nothing more than a scared old man. She stood straighter, shoulders squared, holding his gaze unflinchingly. “Lay so much as a hand upon me again—or upon any of those under your care—and I shall see to it the Jaharri lay waste to this monastery the moment they arrive!”
The priest struggled to regain his former authority, but in the face of her wrath he couldn’t manage it. He stammered a moment, then turned and said curtly, “You’re all dismissed,” before fleeing the room.
Dae watched him depart, but took little pleasure in it. Rubbing her cheek to ease the sting, feeling the heat of the mark and tasting the metallic tang of blood in her mouth, she looked grimly around at the other young women. Everyone was staring at her in uncertain wonder. Their expressions might have been comical, but Dae suddenly felt sick from a release of tension in her body. Offering nothing further, she strode out of the room and into the corridor beyond, eager to find what solitude she could in her bedroom.
She stayed there alone until nearly sunset, grateful to her roommates for not intruding. A review of her actions that day made her feel a bit better; her father had no doubt instructed Father Douglas to secure her compliance by whatever means he deemed necessary, and that was potentially extremely dangerous. Dae’s threat had not been an idle one. If Zafirah arrived and learned that she had been roughly handled, the attack against her would have been seen as an attack against the Scion herself; violence would surely result. This was better, she decided. Her point had been made, and she doubted there would be any further unpleasantness from Father Douglas and his priests. Although Dae still couldn't be sure what would happen when Zafirah arrived, at least she’d ensured no-one here would have to fear the discipline of their priestly overseers.
She had eaten only a little at breakfast that morning and skipped lunch entirely, and eventually her hunger grew too large to ignore. Figuring she might as well get it over with, Dae left the room and headed for the dining hall.
As soon as she entered, the gathered people all fell silent. Everyone stared at her, and at the welt across the side of her face. Dae sighed and, ignoring their looks—which covered a broad spectrum from curious, sympathetic, awed, contemptuous and everything in between—retrieved a plate and piled it with slices of chicken and roasted vegetables. She found her usual place by the fire, sat down and began eating in silence. After a few minutes Kaylee joined her, the chatty brunette glancing at her but remaining mercifully silent. Dae gave her friend a small smile of appreciation but said nothing.
Her jaw was still aching, and the ragged cut on her inner cheek made chewing her food a trial, so she only ate enough to quiet her stomach’s rumbling before leaving the hall. Sleep would be difficult to find tonight; she wondered if Kaylee might have a remedy to relieve some of her pain. On the way back to her bedroom, Dae turned a corner and almost ran straight into Lyric.
“Sorry,” she murmured, dropping her eyes quickly. Stepping around the taller girl, she continued on down the hall.
“Dae?”
“Hmm?” She stopped and turned, surprised to find Lyric looking back at her. The stunning young woman with the platinum hair was typically distant and disdainful toward everyone else, and Dae had never seen her willingly engage anyone in conversation before. Now those glacial eyes were considering her with a look of mild—very mild—respect.
“I heard about the incident this morning,” Lyric said—the longest sentence Dae had ever heard from her. Her voice was refined and musical, every bit as pleasant to hear as she was lovely to look upon. “I just wanted to say I think it was a brave thing you did, standing up to Father Douglas like that.”
“Oh?” Dae eyed the taller woman cautiously. “I figured you'd approve of his methods to ‘cure’ us of our problems. Morality achieved through discipline…isn't that the way of their god?”
Lyric’s expression turned sour. “I don’t condone the use of violence for any cause, no matter how justified a person may feel it to be. You caused quite a stir today, threatening the priests if they ever lay hands on any of the other girls again.”
“It was a warning, not a threat,” Dae corrected. “Zafirah is coming for me. When she arrives the consequences for striking me like that will become very real. I think it's best to make that point clear before she gets here.”
“Ah, yes…your desert wife.” Lyric gave her a look of conceited disdain, though her eyes radiated amusement. “Everyone seems quite excited, wondering what will happen when her army gets here. So, it's true then? You really plan to return with her to the Jaharri? Back to all those sinful delights I’ve heard you still enjoy?”
“I do. Zafirah and I are joined, bound to one another by love and lust. We belong together, and nothing my father can say or do will change that fact.” Dae offered a coy, slightly teasing smile. “Besides, all those pleasures I experienced during my time in the harem are far too tempting to abandon so quickly; there are just so many new delights I haven't yet had a chance to explore.” She raised a brow in daring invitation. “Perhaps we could discuss the value of such ‘sinful delights’ in my room? You may find them more alluring than you believe…”
Lyric laughed. “I think not. If you'll recall, I’ve already sampled the touch of another woman, and I’m quite cured of that perversion.”
“Indeed?” Dae took a step closer, shifting her posture once again to something more sensual. “But you’ve never been touched by me. If you had, perhaps you wouldn't be so quick to deny my offer. I’m certain I could show you many pleasures that are a touch more…exotic…than anything you’ve previously experienced.”
Lyric appeared mildly surprised by her boldness, and watching her very closely Dae saw her icy gaze slip for half a second down to her left breast. Her pupils dilated fractionally, her lips parted very slightly, and though her composure only cracked for that brief moment, it was enough. Dae struggled to hide a grin, certain now that Lyric had heard about her intimate piercing. And in that instant, she recognized that this gorgeous young woman wasn’t half as “cured” as she thought herself to be.
That knowledge opened the door to many intriguing possibilities.
But Lyric recovered her mask of haughty disdain almost immediately. “If you wish to continue rutting with those desert animals, Dae, that’s your business. But I'd thank you to leave me out of your prurient fantasies. I’ve worked hard to overcome my baser impulses, to restore honor to my family after bringing them such shame. You might benefit by following my example.” Chin slightly lifted, she turned and walked away.
Dae watched her go, letting her eyes roam admiringly over her willowy figure from behind. The tailored dress and bodice she wore clung to her like a second skin, accentuating what little curves she had. Just before Lyric passed through the far door, Dae called after her.
“Hey, Lyric?”
Lyric paused, half-turning to consider her with those cool, aloof eyes.
Dae flashed her most devilish, mischievous grin. “Anyone ever tell you you’ve got a lickable ass?”
A single silver brow arched slightly, and Dae saw the very corner of Lyric's mouth tweak upwards in a smile…but she’d been hoping for a blush and didn’t get it. Lyric held her gaze a long moment, then turned and wordlessly strode away.
“Hmm.” Dae felt her previous dark mood lift after the unexpected and rather interesting encounter. As she made her way back to her bedroom she played the conversation over in her mind, a little more intrigued by Lyric now than she had been previously.
Dae had considered Kaylee’s attraction to the austere blonde a thing born of physical lust—Lyric was undoubtedly a gorgeous young woman—but now she was beginning to think there was more to Lyric than just her good looks. Beneath the haughty disdain and snobbish attitude, Dae sensed deeper waters stirring. Perhaps now that Father Douglas and his cronies had been cowed, she and the other young women might finally feel safe and comfortable enough to unlock their repressed desires.
How long would it take Zafirah to make her father see reason? How much longer would she be staying here among her new friends? Dae wondered if there would be enough time for her to work on that chink in Lyric’s frosty armor, bring those deeper waters to the surface. Perhaps some lingering ember of passion had survived Father Douglas' pious lecturing, waiting dormant for a warming breath to awaken it.