“That female had a name. Lily. And your warrior made her look weak.”
“Females are weak by their very nature. Especially human females.”
“If it wasn’t for your tusks and lack of a tail,youcould be a vint!”
“We are nothing like the vints!” I shout back at her, losing my temper because my female should be obeying me, not arguing with me. “We don’t kill females who don’t cooperate, or you’d be dead by now.”
“Lily’s…dead? They killed her?” Her face pales. “We thought she’d been captured, as part of the feud. Forced to be with them, like you’re forcing me.”
Vekk, I hadn’t meant to say that. I can’t backtrack, not without risking so much of what I’ve done.
The more I watch my female, the more her body shakes. I’ve vekked up this entire situation. I run my hand over the knives on my chest harness, considering how best to convince her that I am no threat to her. Even if I must punish her, I would never let true harm come to her. I need her.
“I won’t force you. Or kill you,” I say in the calmest, most controlled voice I can.
Despite my frustration, I don’t like seeing this female fear anything, not when I know she has great strength in her. It is that strength I seek to foster but I do not know what motivates humans.
My female slumps to the ground. “Lily’s dead… I should have done something different.”
“You were not in charge of her that day. The human male?—”
“Owen,” she says with a sneer that I believe is directed at the human male, not me.
“Yes, that one, the male who smells like dung and has the brains to match. He took the female from the market and left without the guards that always accompany your people to and from Pen’Kesh.”
“Owen had to leave the other guards in Pen’Kesh to watch over me and the other women. He thought he’d be fine protecting Lily on his own.”
“Even though he was not trained as a guard?”
“We’ve never had an issue traveling between our colony and Pen’Kesh before. The guards only accompany us to keep us safe in Pen’Kesh.”
“Your people erred twice, both in underestimating when and where the dangers are on Kovos and in allowing an untrained male to guard a female. Either way, it was his decision to leave alone and his responsibility to protect her.”
“I should have talked to Owen. Reasoned with him to wait until we were ready to leave as a group.”
“What happened was none of your doing.”
“Then whose was it?” my female asks as she rises, her body shaking with anger. “And don’t you dare blame this on Lily. She was young and easily swayed. I understand why she went off with your warrior. He was probably the only one who ever gave her any attention at all. My people ignored her. If I had spent more time with her and gained her trust enough to open up to me, I could have prevented her from going with him.”
I too could have done more to prevent the situation. I witnessed my warrior watching the female with the curly hair. She avoided direct eye contact with him, but when he turned away, she watched him with longing… the way I wish my female would look at me.
I now understand the appeal she held for Ryko. But Ryko is no longer here for me to seek his advice on human females. Not that I would retract his punishment. He disobeyed my orders and will remain an outcast until he proves himself worthy of returning.
“Your human friends are no longer your concern,” I say, to give her direction and alleviate any sense of regret she has for what cannot be changed.
“You can force me to do practically anything, but you can’t control my heart or my thoughts.”
“I will not waste my time with a difficult female.”
“Then let me leave.”
“Perhaps you deserve another punishment.”
“Does your word mean nothing, Grak? You promised never to hurt me again.”
Vekk, I did promise that, though I still don’t see how my punishment hurt her. I left no marks on her ass like the cuts I left on Sojek’s cheek. I’d cut him twice in anger, to teach him a lesson the way my father had taught me.
That thought unsettles me.
