“Mom would never let this happen.”
“She’s dead,” my father snaps at me.
“I’ll marry anyone else here. Even one of the older men in our colony,” I say in a desperate attempt to avoid being given to the orcs. Maybe I’ve become complacent, not searching for a husband, but I don’t need a husband to make me happy. I have my sisters and my work.
“There are three women for every man here. The men have their pick of the women. Why would any of them want you? Look at you.”
Look at me? I’m a bit thick in the waist, sure, but I work as hard as anyone else in the colony. Harder. Especially compared to some of the many who believe they’re entitled to sit back and relax because of their status.
When my father opens the door and steps outside, I freeze. I can’t make myself leave our house. There has to be a way to avoid this. Some way of reasoning with him.
Beingsoldto monsters... I can’t understand it. Or accept it.
“I’m not going,” I say, dropping my pack where I stand.
My father steps back inside, grabs me by my shirt, and pulls me out of our house that sits on the outskirts of the colony.
Stupid of me to think he’d have trouble letting me go.
This can’t be about money, can it? We don’t have a lot, but we aren’t poor either. He always has money left over after paying for food and other necessities to buy his dried leaves to stuff in the armash gourd he uses to smoke.
The rancid smell of Kovos’ tobacco clings to his shirt evennow as he forces me several steps forward. At least I won’t have to put up with that putrid stench any longer.
Now, I’ll have a different odor to endure. Orcs.
A shiver runs through me at the thought of those monsters touching me. Never have I seen a dirtier group of beings in the market. Unlike the moxxels, bantarans, and vints who also trade in Pen’Kesh, orcs are always covered in mud, blood, and who knows what else. I got close to one once, enough to know I never want to be near another one again.
I’ve been sold to them as if I were another product in the market. Except no one here has the balls to admit they sold me.
You volunteered to marry an orc to protect us, Paloma.
You fell in love with one of the orcs and now they’re helping us.
This is an ambassadorship, and you applied!
This morning, when my sisters visited—the first time since this horror began—they repeated these and other lies Council told the colony, looking at me with confusion in their faces, as if they knew the truth but were too afraid to speak against Council. And our father.
My sisters, the people I’m closer to than anyone in the universe, can’t accept what is happening any more than I can. They’re scared. I saw it in their eyes.
It’s easier to buy into the lies our sanctimonious leaders shovel like horse shit rather than confront them and risk being targeted like me. Only, I never did anything to warrant this.
“There has to be another way to get the orc’s protection.” I fight back tears as my father shuts the door behind me, keeping me from escaping into the safety of our home.
“This is what the orcs demanded. A woman.”
“Then why me?” Tears roll down my cheeks as desperation and terror threaten to shut me down. “Why not ask for a volunteer from the colony? Lily fell in love with an orc. Perhaps there is another woman who?—”
“Enough! We all have our duties here. This is yours.”
“My duty is staking and weeding the crops during the day, taking care of my sisters, and cleaning this house at night. I never signed on to be breeding stock for one of their monsters! If you don’t want me here, let me go back to Earth when the next ship arrives. I can live on my own in the forest until then.”
“TheMayflowerdoesn’t arrive with new colonists for another month. We can’t waste time looking for another volunteer.”
“I didn’t volunteer!” I shout for the umpteenth time.
“Enough of your tantrums. You’re going with the orcs, where you’ll finally be of some use.”
My head spins with disbelief. “I work as hard as anyone else in this colony. Harder. I took care of Mom while you were out smoking and gambling. How can you do this to me? I’m your daughter!”
