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“Huh?”
Grixis interrupts with, “For now, we will be content with our guess and the happiness it brings.”
“Congratulations,” Jacek says, his expression dazed.
“And now we tell the men that the women, all of them, will be joining us.”
Dogan casts Haelden an amused smile. “I’m sure all the craggy holdouts will take well to this.”
Haelden scoffs, turning away from the jab. He has never warmed to my people and is no doubt furious.
“Some will be angry, but we have no choice.” Grixis gestures to me, Nori, and Asha. “They know of the Tomb, and we are indebted to them. We will protect them at all costs.”
All the men present, even Haelden and Ramsey, accept Grixis’s resolution.
Unfortunately, I might have made a grievous mistake.
“I can’t come with you,” I blurt.
Grixis scowls. “Of course you can.”
“Not until I have all my people, and there’s one…oh, God…”
Tears well in my eyes, and I turn so the men don’t see me cry.
“What is it, Elena?”
“I sent Amber away. I was mad, and I had to do something. So I exiled her.” I wipe my eyes. “I can’t join you until I find her. I’ll set out today—this very moment. She couldn’t have gone far—”
“Nonsense,” Ramsey interrupts.
“She’ll die out there on her own!”
“Or get taken by the Veriskans,” Grixis says.
My eyes grow wide with horror. “You-you war with them. For women.”
“I’ll go,” Ramsey says. “I will bring wayward Amber back to our village, where she will be safe.”
Unable to contain myself, I bolt toward Ramsey, wrapping my arms around him in an unlikely embrace.
“Thank you! I won’t be able to live with myself if something happens to her.”
He pushes me off, and without another word, stalks from the chamber.
“Everything will be fine, Elena,” Grixis assures me, threading my hair through his fingers.
“The women are going to be so happy. They’ve been brave, but it’s been hard.”
“I know, but they no longer have to worry. Their chieftain did well by them.”
For the first time since I was taken from the shores of Penticar, I’m safe. Truly safe. Our lives may not be ideal, and they might not be what we imagined, but in some ways, it’s better.
Back at home, we were all servants. I realize that now. Fathers married daughters off as though they were possessions. Heck, they were possessions.
But here, we have choices. We may have to work hard, but my people won’t be forced into opportunistic marriages for the benefit of a name that only their sons will carry. I’ll never have to clear a table or a chamber pot again.
This place is…different. Unimaginably so.
