“Am I that transparent?” Addie found that she could smile, albeit sadly. “Why did you never leave, Qalae?”
The queen’s hands opened and closed in a helpless gesture. “I am Net’ok’s mate,” she said in a voice so low Addie strained to hear her words. “I am… responsible. Personal happiness is fleeting. I wanted to become the queen the people need me to be, to give my life to Net’ok’s tribe in deed and in spirit.” She looked at the empty pouch in her hand. “I still want to.”
The pain in this quiet admission pierced Addie’s heart, temporarily eclipsing her own troubles. Qalae was not cold or indifferent. She was intense, full of churning emotions and desires underneath that smooth exterior of hers.
Qalae gave her the empty pouch and Addie took it from the queen’s hand. Their fingers connected.
On impulse, Addie closed her hand around Qalae’s. “You shouldn’t be taking this stuff. It isn’t good for your body.”
Qalae chuckled. “Do you think I don’t know it? Sometimes it makes me so ill I can’t move. That old snake Chele said it is nothing to worry about.” She scoffed and gently withdrew from Addie’s touch. “She thinks I’m that stupid.”
“No, she thinks you’re that desperate. Qalae, these herbs will eventually kill you.”
Qalae sighed. “The herbs work. And Chele’s right, I’m desperate.”
It was Addie’s turn to sigh. This meeting turned out nothing like she had planned. She didn’t accomplish anything by seeing the queen. “We should go back.”
“Shur should build you a teepee,” the queen surprised her by saying. “And you have a right to wait until your new home is built. Shur will need skins to construct it. Furs to furnish it for his new bride. Tools and pottery.”
“The High Counselor already instructed women to share what they could from the households.”
“He will find that no one has anything to share. He will have to hunt his own big game for skins and bones.”
“Hunt what? There are no Elkeks around.”
“Exactly.”
???
Addie successfully navigated the settlement without running into Shur for several days. It took an effort to slink in and out of the village as unobtrusively as possible to avoid him, considering the men stayed in to prepare for another long hunting expedition.
She hid in her teepee and rarely came out. A poor long-term strategy, but she didn’t know what else to do. She had to face her “intended” eventually. But she had to face Zoark first.
Finally, her luck ran out, and Shur was the first person she bumped into on her way from gathering much-needed cooking herbs.
“Addie-woman!” he exclaimed, and his eyes warmed at the sight of her. He appeared to have been waiting for her.
Inwardly, she cringed in awkwardness and fear. He was a big male. And he had rights to her. The rights she may end up accepting, she reminded herself and squared her shoulders under the patchy sweater.
“Shur,” she acknowledged him with outright cool. It was hard to maintain a calm demeanor when everything inside her quivered like dropped Jell-O.
“I was waiting for you,” he said, confirming her earlier assumption. “Did you go foraging alone?”
“I… ah, no. I went just over there,” she waved her hand in the general direction of the plains, “to pick up one thing for my signature spice rub.” She smiled, though it came out forced. “I stick close to the tribe.”
He nodded vigorously. “Yes, yes. You should. Who knows what’s going to happen.”
Alarmed, Addie really focused on Shur. “What do you mean?”
“Unease is heavy in the air.”
“Is it marauders?”
“Yes.”
“They’ve been spotted?”
“No. That’s why I’m worried.”
