TANSEY
“And then the horse leapt over a giant tree. It felt like we were flying!” Ethan tells me for the hundredth time since he arrived yesterday. He’s fascinated by the gorjas the orcs ride. I’m grateful his ride holds better memories for him than mine. I still shudder at the memory of Baloq slinging me over his back while riding the gorja. Abject terror, both at what he’d do to me and that I’d never see Ethan again.
“Maybe we can visit the gorjas later today,” I say, ruffling his long hair.
“Yay!”
He’s sitting in my lap, bouncing now at the mention of visiting the gorjas, talking away a mile a minute inside the women’s quarters. The women are all happy to see Ethan, even those who have never met him before. Some didn’t even know I had a child because no one ever ventured to our little corner of the settlement, which is why I liked it there. It was isolated and quiet. It felt safer than being with so many males in the main settlement.
This morning, the women—including Poetry, who spends most of her days inside—piled out of our quarters to give Ethanand me privacy to catch up…and to give me space to explain our situation to him.
They’ve been great about having Ethan here. Last night, they babysat him while I retrieved what few possessions I own from Verig’s quarters. A set of leather pants, a tunic, and the brush and comb he gave me. I glance over at the ornately carved wood of the hairbrush and bone comb he gave me. He must have spent a lot of time making them. Damn, I don’t want to think about his good qualities.
I’m still fuming over what he did, which I can’t show in front of Ethan. He’s confused about why I shouted at Verig shortly after he brought Ethan to me. Ethan recounted every detail of his grand adventure, about how Verig woke him in the middle of the night, and then they rode on the giant horse with six legs and spines on its head and tail.
Verig impressed Ethan, which isn’t hard to believe. He’s an impressive male. And he must have taken great care when he kidnapped Ethan so as not to scare him. I appreciate that, but still, I’m so fucking angry at him. How could he do this to me? To Ethan. He’s condemned my child to a life with people who despise human males.
Ethan pulls the fur pelt over us, snuggling under the blanket like we do at night for story time back home. I didn’t read to him last night, not that I have any books here. But I could have told him a story, and I didn’t. I was too busy listening to him tell me about everything he’s been doing in New Earth.
He’s been working in the fields. The fields…What the fuck is Council doing over there?
One night, I left Ethan with Mary for an hour while I returned Holly’s book. I never thought that would be the last I saw of him, that I’d get kidnapped. Every day I spent here against my will, I consoled myself with the knowledge that Ethan remained in Earth’s colony. I never once worried about whatwould happen to him. I knew Mary or another family would take Ethan in and watch him until I returned. Or raise him, if I didn’t.
Instead, some asshole decided they could take advantage of a six-year-old boy because his mother wasn’t around. The bastards assigned him to carry water to the workers in the field instead of letting him attend school with the other children.
Or maybe none of the children have school anymore. I don’t know what’s happening there, but I’m glad Ethan’s safe, healthy, and happy.
“Come quick, Tansey,” Phoebe says as she runs into our quarters.
“Why? What’s happening?” I lift Ethan off my lap and rise from my pallet on the floor.
“Atox is back.”
“So?”
“He’s called everyone together to make an announcement. Kodex told me he’s fuming mad at Verig.”
“That makes two of us. Wait a minute. Since when are you talking to Kodex?”
“I’m not. But that doesn’t mean I don’t listen.”
“Uh, huh. Don’t fall into that trap, Phoebe. That’s how it starts. Paying attention to a man who will ultimately break your heart.”
“Never mind my disaster of a love life.”
Love life?
“Kodex is worried he and Verig will be exiled. For defying his orders and—” She stops short, looking down at Ethan, and throws him a quick smile. He’s listening to everything she says, tone included. “For…you know. Going where he wasn’t supposed to go,” she couches Verig’s transgression of entering New Earth and taking Ethan, which was against Atox’s orders as well as my wishes.
It’s hard to believe Paloma’s brute of a husband and I actually agree on something. But exile? A sudden jolt of fear runs throughme at the thought of losing Verig. My emotions are all over the place, but he doesn’t deserve exile.
“Put your shoes on, Ethan,” I say as I do the same, lacing up my boots.
“What’s happening, Mommy?”
“Well, the orc king, they call him grak, is returning, and everyone is going to greet him and hear about his journey. The entire camp.” I’m not sure this will be appropriate for Ethan, but I won’t leave him alone in the tunnels where he could easily get lost, and I have to be at this gathering to hear what happens, good or bad.
VERIG
