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Chapter Six
Eris
They gave me one year to decide, but I wasn’t sure their patience would last that long. My privileges and little comforts would be taken away one by one until I had barely enough to keep out the chill and keep my ribs from collapsing with emptiness within. I knew this, but I couldn’t do anything about it. The elders and all the rest of the pack had decided not to follow the Prophesy, and that was their choice. It was not the one I made. Not now, and not before I donned this body at birth. I had a mate out there for me, someone I’d agreed to meet here. Possibly more than one, although finding each other in this mess of a world would be a challenge just for two of us, and I’d be grateful for that. No, I couldn’t just accept a mate selected for me by anyone. My choice was set in stone.
My promise was written in the stars.
And I hoped my mate would come soon.
I warmed water to bathe, needing to feel clean and, since it was late, I felt safe washing among the trees of our oasis. Once, a pool had been in this place, but it only surged up on the rarest occasions, and of course, when it did, I was hardly first to be offered the opportunity to use it. Now, I had to make do with the least bit of water and hope to get as much dust off my skin as possible. The lack of water had so many more repercussions than you realized until you had to live it. And with the worsening weather, each season brought new privations.
But so far at least, I could wash as long as the droplets falling from me dripped down to water the roots of our precious trees. But I did what I must, glad that at least in this way, I could still bare my skin to the moonlight while everyone else was asleep. Its silvery rays dappled by the leaves that bravely survived what was probably the end times of our world were more cleaning than the bowl of water I had set carefully on a flat spot where it would not spill.
Dipping the edge of a piece of cloth in the water, I dampened it and began using it to clean my bare skin. By moving slowly and with care, I hoped to be able to get my body refreshed if not immaculately clean. I dared not use any kind of soap because I didn’t have enough liquid to rinse it away. I had to rely on the coarse weave to remove dirt and oils from my skin.
After I finished, I tipped my face up to the sky and prayed in a low voice. “Please, I am doing my very best to wait for the one you prophesied for me. My oath mate. But those who have power here are not going to let me hold out forever. I will, I mean, but eventually they will take away everything I need to survive and then cast me out. They haven’t said so, but they don’t have to. A rebel like me would undermine their authority.
“Others might also want their freedom and maybe remember what we once were.”
Soft laughter broke the silence when I stopped speaking. I spun, already knowing who I would find. “What are you doing here? I thought everyone was asleep.”
“I heard you splashing around and came to see who was wasting water. My father wouldn’t like it if he knew what you were up to.”
“This is recycled water, of course.” Because clean water would be too much to ask for…for someone like me. Even those who had more status than me usually used it, to be fair. Water often had more than one use before it returned to the earth. “And it’s no more than I am allotted.” And why was I explaining this to the man who would be my mate?
“It looked very clean to me. I think it’s fresh well water.” He moved in closer to where I stood and peered at the tiny puddle left in the bowl. “Yes, not a bit of floating anything in there. I will have to show this to my father.” He reached for the container, but I grabbed it first and poured it into the soil.
“Of course there’s nothing floating in it.” Disgust at his comment and what it implied made me shudder. “Don’t you filter your water before you use it?” I ran it through a fine mesh screen because a cloth, which be even better, would absorb some of the precious liquid. It wasn’t perfect, but it caught anything big enough to see.
“No. Perhaps my mother does before she gives it to me.” He shrugged. “I am too busy for such things.”
I studied his coarse form. He was an inch or so shorter than me and stocky, his hair always greasy and combed straight away from his face. And he smelled bad. Maybe his mother’s water wasn’t as clean as all that, or maybe he just didn’t go to the effort to use it properly. I bit back the suggestion his mommy could do a better job of washing him than he was doing. It would only make a difficult situation worse. “Well, since you have such a busy day ahead of you, you’d better get to bed and rest.” Busy eating more than his share of our provisions and pretending to do something useful.
“Oh no, I have time for my mate. Would you like to go for a run?”
Although it was unusually warm, that was still very cold and my teeth were beginning to chatter, goose bumps covering my skin. My fur would be a welcome respite, but I could not encourage him to think we had a future together.
Not addressing his “my mate” remark, I shook my head. “No. I do need to get rest because I also have a busy day tomorrow. But you go ahead if you like.”
He leaned against one of the trees in the copse. “I’m in no rush. My father says I should start behaving like your mate, so I’ll wait and walk you home.”
“Home is just over there.” I pointed. “Everything is just over there. I’d prefer you go now so I can dress before my toes freeze off.” If I’d been smart I’d have just removed one piece of clothing at a time, but no…I had to moon bathe.
“Go right ahead, but do the elders know about that mark?”
I slapped a hand over it. The telltale birthmark that somehow I’d hidden all these years. One more reason why I was bathing alone. “Would you just go?”
“Tsk. My mate has a mark of the Prophesy. I mean…it’s one thing to say you believe in it but to be stamped with it right there for everyone to see?”
“Nobody has seen it, besides my parents, until now. And what difference does it make?”
“I don’t know. But I will ask my father for his wisdom about it. I don’t know if I even want a tainted mate.” He snapped his fingers. “Actually, I do. But I don’t think my father will agree once I drag you in and display your shame.”
“What do you want from me?”
His smirk came back bigger than before. “You know what I want. You have been bestowed on me as a mate. If it doesn’t happen, it’s an embarrassment. Plus, you’re not ugly like most of the bitches around here. So, if we mate, nobody finds out. If you hold out too long? What do I have to lose? I just have to put a hood over my mate’s head if she’s too ugly to fuck.”
Before I realized what he had in mind, he reached out and tweaked my breast. I formed a fist, but if I hit him, the big spoiled baby would no doubt scream. “Go.” My breathing was harsh, my entire sense of peace gone. “Just go.”
He sauntered away, chuckling.
I hated him.
I’d die before I let him touch me again. No…I’d slice off whatever body part touched me. Lucky for him, my knife was in my pocket and I’d have had to fumble for it.
