AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She bobbed her head. "Or that. I think honest sounds better - "
"Yamina Ranndor!" a woman called across the dance floor.
In my arms, the girl deflated. "That's Mom. I guess I have to go meet this guy."
"Dance with him once," I told her. "Giggle with a high voice, tell him how you're going to have a million children, and talk about all the fancy clothes your husband will buy you. Be everything a husband doesn't want, and he'll only ask for one dance."
She nodded as if bracing herself, so we turned to head back to her family. Thankfully, Nari, Ela, Talin, Maela, and Peyron had followed them over. Peyron was busy talking to one of the men, but from his clothes, I assumed that was a Ranndor.
"Yamina," the matron of the clan said, "this is Wellerman Pinnington. I've been dying to introduce you. His father owns the silk factories."
"Lady Ranndor," the young man said, offering a hand.
Yamina placed hers in it, looking bored when he bent to kiss her knuckles. Then, just like she'd predicted, he asked if she'd like to dance. The girl looked up, met my eyes, and then giggled just a little too high to be comfortable. The young man didn't wince, but I wanted to. The matron, who seemed to be her mother, simply glared a warning.
But once the group was on the dance floor, Maela stepped up. "Pia, she is not ready to get married."
"And she's too old to not be engaged," the mother snapped. "You worry about your own children, Maela. My daughters need good, solid marriages if they want to have comfortable lives. The others have come to love their husbands in time."
"And Aunt Jelica?" Maela countered. "If Tath and I can support you and Jelica, then we can manage Yamina until she's mentally at a place where she's ready to make a marriage. Asking her to give herself to a man before she's prepared?"
"Whoa," one of the guys said.
Talin grunted at that. "Please, Thiemo. As if you don't know what she's talking about."
"Where's Kanten?" Nari asked, shifting the subject just enough to make Maela and Pia relax.
"Oh, he's with Tath," Pia said. "Those boys are talking about starting some new business in the countryside. A fresh pool of labor, they said."
I just looked over at the guys, not liking the tense feeling in the air. Ela tipped his head, encouraging me to step away with him. Nari made her way closer to the women, subtly taking control of the conversation in that way she had. When Ela and I were far enough away, I reached up to scrub at my face.
"I was not made for the nuances of dealing with people like that," I told my best friend.
Ela chuckled. "You just have to be a belligerent asshole. It's kinda fun, in all honesty. Just keep trying to trip them up."
"I'd rather not," I admitted.
But it seemed Talin couldn't take it either. Soon enough, he headed over. Peyron was with Nari, being introduced to the Ranndor clan, and that seemed to have everyone smiling again. Everyone but Talin.
"What are you thinking?" Talin snapped at me.
"What?" I asked.
Using his body to block the gesture, he pointed out at the dance area. "That's mysister, Wraythe. She's trying to get a good marriage. Stop fucking flirting with her!"
Ela caught his shoulders and shook once. "Wraythe? Flirting? She's not Nari, Talin. I think you're safe."
"She's also not interested in me," I assured him. "Maybe you should be more worried about the fact that your mother is trying to make her marry a man."
"What?" Talin asked, turning his full attention on me.
"Yamina's a lesbian," I told him. "How did you not know that?"
"She keeps checking out Maela and the girls we pass," Ela agreed. "It's also why she's so curious about you and Peyron."
Talin's mouth was simply hanging open. "But she has to get married."
"Why?" I asked him. "Why should she need to fuck someone she's not attracted to, hm? You'd never expect me to do that, so why her?"
