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A rock dropped into the bottom of my stomach. I’d never been close to either of them—Ilya was the daughter of the sole cobbler in Vostok, and Socha had never liked me much.
But I would’ve taken them with us to save them from that.
“The Father won’t let it go,” Mercy sniffled. “All of the women have to undergo purification. He beat me and it still hurts.”
I set my jaw, determined not to scream at the injustice of it all. “Come with me.”
I led her back to the Arbor, and when the first Beast emerged from the Mother Tree, Mercy didn’t scream. I thought she was so shell-shocked she was beyond fear.
She undressed at the hot springs, staring around her with dazed eyes, and I took in the red whip-marks on her back. The skin around the cuts was red and inflamed.
“First, we wash you,” I told her. “Then we work on this.”
I helped her, and silent tears dripped down her face as she bathed. There was no way I’d manage to get this injured girl to climb up to my knothole, so I chose one closer to the ground, leaving her bundled in a blanket when I went to retrieve my healing paste.
When I returned, a Beast was sitting in the knothole door, one of the smaller ones. His brown fur had risen in hackles down his back.
“Leave her be,” I said sharply, not wanting my patient any more traumatized than she already was, but when he turned, I saw the dead hare he held.
Oh. He was trying to comfort her. Possibly even offering to share his den. I raised a hand in apology for my tone.
And Mercy wasn’t crying anymore. She just watched the Beast warily.
I slipped past him, settling next to her. “He won’t hurt you,” I said softly. “The rabbit is for you to eat.”
“Oh.” Mercy loosened the cloak, exposing her back to me again. I began smoothing the paste over the wounds and she sighed. “I thought I saw Beasts in the Wood, but then I thought I was losing my mind…”
“You weren’t. The Beasts are leery of us right now.” She was a good patient, hardly moving under my ministrations. “Freya and Aldis have been happy here.”
“It seems peaceful,” she said quietly. “It’s… it’s much better than Vostok was. Everyone is so afraid to speak, even to look at the Father. He had a man beaten the day I left for trying to hide his daughters. They broke both of his legs. I think they will starve this winter.”
She said it so matter of factly my blood ran cold.
In what world should we live, that young women would understand a family was doomed all because a father had wanted to protect his children?
I couldn’t make any promises to her that this would change. But I could tell my Beasts what I desired; a home for every woman and child who wished to leave Vostok. Father Borodin could rule over his little kingdom of the fearful and wicked, and the rest of us could live free in the Wood.
But even in my more fanciful moments, I knew that would never happen. There would never be peace between Vostok and the Wood.
One of us had to die.
“Well, you’re safe here,” I told her, expelling a silent sigh. It wasn’t comforting, but it was what I could tell her. “The Beasts will be respectful of you. But you should know…”
I told her what I’d already told Freya and Aldis about the kills they offered. That they would be accepting mating gifts. She had a choice of whether or not to accept it.
Mercy, to my shock, did not look at the Beast with horror after learning this. He patiently cradled the rabbit, growling low in his throat once in a while when she winced at the pain, and Mercy watched him with curiosity.
“Can they mate with human women?” she asked frankly, and I felt a hot blush touch the tips of my ears.
“Well… yes. I’ve mated to the three of them,” I admitted, and realized Mercy was blushing, too.
“Sorry,” she whispered. “It’s just… I was supposed to marry Timofei next month. I’ve been dreading it with my whole heart. The thought of touching him made me feel so sick, but when I look at the Beast… I don’t see the same cruelty in him that I saw in Timofei.”
The Beast’s ears were swiveling around at his words. He snarled softly when she mentioned Timofei, a boy who had been the sort to cut off cat’s tails as a child. I didn’t blame Mercy for running from him.
“The Beasts are what they are. They’re not cruel, and they’re not brutes, despite their appearance. I think if you gave living in the Arbor a chance, you might find that they will be far more concerned with your happiness and well-being than Timofei ever would have been.”
I finished my ministrations by bandaging her around the middle. She seemed stiff and sore, but happy to finally leave the knothole and come with me to the firepit.
