Authors: Marie Harte
“No,
it’s not. That’ll give Kitty more opportunity to dig up dirt on your girl. We’ll
figure out the best way to kill Gregor. Then you can return to Kitty.”
She
frowned. “What about you?”
“I
have some unfinished business with Butch.”
“You
think you alone can take on Butch McKenzie?” She snorted. “You couldn’t do it
with the both of us there.”
He
gritted his teeth, and wondered again if this woman was worth all the fuss. “Because
I was worried about
you
. It was your stupid idea to seduce Gregor that
got us cornered in the first place.”
“No,
it was not.
You
wanted to visit the bar again, an excuse to find me
something suitable to wear.”
“Excuse?”
His voice rose, he couldn’t help it.
“You
probably would have visited the whores, except I refused to stay behind.”
He
laughed in disbelief. “You think I went to Lou’s to get sex?”
“Why
is that so funny? It’s all you ever seem to think about. Even sick, you—” This
time there was no mistaking it, she turned bright red.
“I
what?” he asked softly. “Just what did I do?”
“Never
mind.” Thais cleared her throat and changed the subject. “I see no reason to
discuss this, and no reason to go all the way to Shine. Isn’t there someplace
else we might travel?”
“No.”
He might be delayed getting to Gregor, but he would get the
nucca
seeds
to his father. “Look, Thais, Kitty’s not the only one who knows things. I have
a few friends up in Shine that seem to know every damned thing going on in the
Territories. We’ll ask them about Bartel while we’re there. It won’t be a
wasted trip.”
Her
green eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought about that.”
“I
can tell. Seems like once you get fixed on something, it’s hard for you to let
it go.”
She
nodded.
“How
long you been lookin’ for Bartel, anyway?”
“Three—no,
four years,” she corrected.
He
whistled. “That’s a long time.”
“How
long have you been looking for a cure for your father?”
He
paused. “Five years ago they torched our ranch and shot up the place. Dad’s had
a hole in his lungs for as long, and a few infections have come and gone. But
this last one isn’t getting better. He’s been sick for the better part of two
years, now.”
They
rode in silence for a while, before Thais murmured, “I’m sorry.”
“Me
too.” He took a deep breath, refusing to dwell on the possibility he might not
ever earn enough gold to get his father across the Divide. Or that even if he
did, his father would die before they reached the East. Not many crossed the IZ
with their sanity, let alone their lives.
He
glanced at Thais and watched as the sun highlighted the tail of her long brown
hair. The hat shaded her face, but her eyes seemed bright as she looked back at
him.
“You
lost your mom, right?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“But
your father. You never mentioned him.”
“No.”
She
said nothing more, and he thought she’d reverted to her one-word answers.
“I
never knew my father,” she said softly.
“Why?”
“Men
are—were—not allowed in the village.”
“None
at all? Not even kids?” He had the uneasy feeling Thais wasn’t talking about a small
town down in Temeco, or even a haven for crazy women down south. Too much of
what she said and did anymore led to one conclusion: the woman really was an
Amazon.
“Male
children were given to neighboring tribes. We lived in harmony, together. Sisters,
mothers and friends.”
“But
not lovers.”
She
flushed again. “A few found deeper bonds among women. But most enjoyed the
familiar camaraderie of family. They laid with men only to create more life for
the tribe.”
“So
your mother and your father, they only came together to make you?”
“I…yes.”
“What
were you going to say?” Hinto couldn’t look away from her. Confusion, longing,
and regret lined her eyes and bracketed her mouth. She was so damned beautiful
draped in honest emotion.
“My
mother never talked about the man chosen for her. But I sensed that she might
have liked him.”
“And
that’s strange to you.”
“For
a guardian to enjoy a man’s touch, well, no one spoke of such things. Mother
didn’t either. But when I’d ask a question about my father, she’d get a look in
her eye. One of regret, I think.”
“Did
you ask many questions about him? Did you miss him?”
“I
was curious, but nothing more. I was raised by my mother and by the tribe. Everyone
rears the young. They are cared for and nurtured. They learn the blade and the
spear and the bow, to hunt and to serve.”
“To
serve?”
“The
tribe. To protect us from all enemies. Except ourselves,” she added with a
bitterness he’d never heard from her before.
“Your
mother,” he said quickly. “What was her name? What was she like? Do you look
like her?”
She
stared at him in surprise. “Why do you wish to know these things?”
He
sighed. “Thais, we have two whole weeks of travel to get to Shine. Since I
doubt you’re going to distract me by using that fine body, or even better, that
full mouth—” He grinned at the heated glare she leveled at him. “You might as
well talk to me. You want the truth? It takes my mind from my leg. I’d heal a
lot faster if I wasn’t constantly jostled against Beast. You’re not very
gentle, vore.”
Beast
snorted and bucked, as if to unseat him.
“Pain
in my ass.
And
my leg. Shit.” Hinto stroked the vore while Thais
smothered a laugh.
She
cleared her throat. “Since you are correct in that I will
not
distract
you with any part of my body, I’ll answer your questions. But I must say, it’s
a weakness, Hinto. That you continue to acknowledge your pain will only make it
worse,” she scolded.
Though
it grated that she thought him weak, he swallowed his temper and nodded, anything
to learn more about her. And he’d told part of the truth. Their trip to Shine
would feel like an eternity with nothing better to do than fantasize about
Thais. At least if she talked, he’d stop thinking about what it must feel like
to sink between those toned thighs.
He
shifted, uncomfortable riding with a stiff dick. Beast grumbled, but from what
Hinto could tell, the vore had had no better luck with Thais’s mare. Poor
bastard.
“I
look very much like my mother,” Thais said. “Except that her eyes were a golden
brown. My green eyes and paler skin come from Thalen.”
“How
did your mother meet him?”
“In
our tribe, the queen often called for celebration when the Goddess decreed it.”
“The
Goddess?”
She
blinked. “Do you not worship your creator? Ours is a female entity of
benevolent and just tolerance. The Goddess. The Great Mother.”
“Oh,
right. Well, God’s been worshipped around here since before the Great Storm. Despite
all the wars and problems we’ve had since, we still call our big guy God. Not
feminine, masculine.”
She
snorted. “Typical. My people have lived for thousands of years in the heart of
the jungle protected by our Great Mother.”
“Until
a man came and tempted a few of your women.” He shook his head, but his eyes
teased. “See? Men are a woman’s downfall. You can’t resist us.”
She
rolled her eyes.
“You
were saying about the celebration?”
Thais
sighed. “Yes, the celebration. The queen would call the tribe to a gathering,
and there we would pay tribute to the Goddess by ceding to the male she
delivered to us.”
He
blinked. “Come again?”
“When
we found a worthy male, the queen would select a few females from our tribe to
lay with the male in order to gain a child.”
“At
the same time?” He couldn’t help being aroused.
She
flushed and scowled. “No, one at a time. The males usually had no complaints,
and pregnancy resulted soon after a joining. Most males the Goddess delivered to
us gave us fine girls.”
“And
the boys?”
Please tell me you didn’t kill them, or God forbid, eat them
.
She
gave him a strange look. “The boys were delivered into the care of their
fathers’ tribes. And then they were never seen again.”
“And
you were never chosen?”
“No.”
She looked away from him. “Right before the Territory men came, my mother gave
me my knife. She was proud because I’d been selected to become a guardian.”
“Which
does what?”
The
lost look in her eyes tore at him. “Guardians protect the royal line. After the
Territory men left, we found our dead. My mother was the last guardian to fall.
She died fighting to protect our queen and princess.”
“I’m
sorry.” Yet Thais lived. A terrible thought crossed his mind. “Thais, you said
you and your sisters survived.” He paused. “Did the Territory men do something
to you? Did they…hurt you?”
“Would
that they had,” she answered solemnly. “I was not there when the massacre
happened. And now I pay the price.”
“What
price?”
She
gazed into his eyes and said without flinching, “The price of living each day
with the memory of what should never have happened.”
Thais
didn’t want to say anything more. She might have distracted Hinto from his
pain, but hers returned tenfold.
She
missed her mother, but speaking of that atrocity only made the separation
between them that much worse. She’d never again feel Aliane’s forehead press
against hers. Never hold her own guardian spear in her hands, one her mother
would have made for her. She fingered the knife at her waist.
“Thais—”
“I’ll
ride ahead and scout the next ridge.” She rode away before Hinto could see the
tear she hadn’t been able to stop.
Wiping
it away, she tried to think of other things. But she couldn’t help wondering
what life in the jungle had become.
Of
their tribe, only a dozen or so had looked well enough to survive the night she
and her sisters had left. Estefina wasn’t expected to live. And perhaps that
had been a blessing. With the queen, Yasmin, basking in the Great Mother’s
embrace, Estefina would have found comfort there.
Memories
of the princess’ blood-smeared thighs, of the bruises and cuts on her body,
lingered like a heavy cloud. The guilt Thais normally kept tight loosened,
allowing her to feel the sadness all over again, as if the murders had just
happened.
After
so much time, Thais should have been beyond tears. Yet she had failed the
princess,
the queen
, again.
“Bring me back my crown.”
Thais
had spent a good year making her way with Yara, Isadora, and Luiza into the
Territories. Another three years had been spent scouring Temeco for the enemy
while learning the language, how to ride a horse, and a myriad other details
necessary to make a life in the wild and brutal land beyond the boundary.
Her
time spent in Temeco had been worth it, though. Chow Yen had been Goddess-sent.
He’d taught them how to fire a gun, which Thais still didn’t like, and how to
live in the Territories, to adapt to a land filled with a history as rich as
that of the Amazon.
Perhaps
the most important thing he’d taught her was that each man’s actions spoke for
himself. Basing her experience of Bartel and his like and equivocating it to
all men was the same as hating all the Amazons because of Pilar’s perfidy. A
kindly old man with a flower inked onto his cheek had taught her that.
When
pressed, Chow Yen had simply mentioned a time, years back, that he’d spent
among her people. He’d actually come from a place even more foreign than the
Amazon, a place called Chi-nah. It sat across massive waters, away from the
chunk of land where Thais had been born.
Chow
Yen—
a man
—had wisdom far beyond his years.
And
Thais, a chosen guardian, a perfect example of the glory of the Amazons—a woman—was
a dismal failure. How ironic.
Hinto
approached and pulled up beside her. “Thais, honey, it’ll be okay. You have to
let it go.”
Hinto
didn’t make her feel any better. Once, she would have disdained him because of
his gender. His generosity of spirit only made her more ashamed.
“Have
you let it go? The men who burned your land and wounded your father? Have you
stopped hating them?”
Or yourself for letting it happen?
“No.”
He sighed. “I’ll kill the sons of bitches if I ever find ‘em. But if I spent
all my time hunting them, I’d be useless to my family. You said you have
sisters. Maybe you should be with them.”