Page 87 of Anywhere

I stuffed the last of the bun in my mouth and watched as the women went right back to smiling and laughing with one another.

Elewyen spotted me first, and as her green eyes found mine, a blush spread across her cheeks. I tipped my head in her direction, and she returned the gesture. She was fucking adorable. I heard loud chattering before spotting the little red squirrel sitting on a branch by the small outdoor sitting area. I let out a yelp as a nut hit me on the cheek. I glared at the little menace.

“I said I was sorry, man. Knock it off,” I said, as his small paws tossed another nut in my direction. This one bounced off my shoulder, but I swore and moved away from my relaxing spot. I turned and pointed at the squirrel. “Come down here and do that you demon rodent,” I growled softly at the squirrel that was still giving me an ear full. “Yeah, you heard me, that’s what you are,” I whispered to the furry beast before turning to go out and talk to the girls. Why I had the biggest urge to turn and make a face at the small beast was beyond me, but he irritated me as much as one of my brothers.

“Mornin’,” Belle said as we passed one another.

“Did I interrupt?” I asked Mari but kept my eyes on Elewyen’s face.

She stared me in the eyes, even though I could tell she was still nervous. My power seemed to be hyperaware of the energy she was putting off. Most of it was nervousness, but under that, I could taste curiosity and arousal. I shuddered.

“No, your timing is perfect. You think you can take us both on?” Mari asked.

I laughed and looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Not likely,” I said honestly, and the girls smiled and then laughed.

“Okay, that may be a bit ambitious. How about one at a time, three-minute duels with two minutes’ rest in between?” Mari offered instead.

“Sounds like I’m about to get my ass kicked but let’s do it.” I chugged back the last of the coffee. “Oh, Mari, when we’re done, will you meet me in the library? Rhys said you would know what books I should brush up on.”

“Sure. I need to pick out a book for Elewyen to work on. She said that she’d like to learn how to read.”

I looked over at Elewyen, and she immediately cast her eyes down to the ground. “You don’t know how to read?”

“Naw. I dinnie know how ta read or write,” she said, and her eyes found mine, but they held emotion that I couldn’t decipher.

“Not even a single word?” She shook her head no. “How is that possible?”

She lifted her shoulders and let them drop. “Me lived in da forest until da coven took me in. Dere no be any teachin’ in da coven like dat. Me learned ta talk from dem, but none of dem know how ta read.”

I looked over at Mari in shock. “Why is it that the covens live in hiding from us?”

“Try asking the older men in the family.” She crossed her arms, but when I continued to stare, she sighed like she was letting something go. “The villagers are true Flitters and are terrified of magic. Rightly so, we made sure of that, but that means they are highly superstitious. To them, all women born with red hair are genetically disposed to be able to do magic. It’s not the case, but that doesn’t matter. The fear that they could perform magic is enough for the infants to be cast out, and if they live, they live. If not, then oh well.”

My mouth fell open.

“I don’t understand. Why do you say rightly so? We don’t plan on hurting them. Do we?”

“No, but those that are living now are descendants from the time of war. All their stories and books tell them to fear the magic, fear the people from the castles, fear the technology. They banned anything like that from the villages and cast anyone out they feel may be a threat.” She pointed to Elewyen. “Like those with red hair.”

“Okay, I get that, but why don’t the covens come to us then? Why do they hide? We don’t plan on hurting them. If anything, we could help them,” I said.

I could feel Elewyen’s eyes on me as if she was studying me as much as I was learning about her world.

Mari laughed, but I didn’t understand the humour in what I’d asked.

“Rook, you have a lot of history to catch up on. It was not so long ago that we were not very nice to the third in a triad. Like all things in these godforsaken families, the men rule, and the women are nothing more than something to be used and tossed away.”

My brow furrowed at her bitter tone.

“I see the skepticism on your face, but it’s all true. The men, at one time, would capture the women and bind them with magic, only to drag them behind a horse to the castle, where they were forced to live in terrible conditions. The cattle were treated better. Once the choosing rituals happened and they found their third in the bunch, they would force the woman to partake in the union ritual. There was no asking. The two men took turns raping her until she bore them a son or two. If they had a girl, it would start all over again. The entire time, the women were locked away in rooms. All alone with only a servant to prepare food, baths, or them for more sex, they couldn’t say no to.”

Mari made a dramatic motion with her arms as if she was trying to show off the entire castle. “All of this Rook is built on the backs of women who were forced to breed for more men and suppress more women. They cooked, they cleaned, they did the gardening, and even built the stone walls all while they slept in the barns, were fed very little, and given to the guards to fuck daily.”

I took a step back from Mari. There was no way my father would have done this to my mother…Had he?

“They essentially became nothing but glorified breeders for the Faction with no lives outside of the slavery they were forced into. It was around our great-grandfather’s era that there was a subtle shift. Some of the men couldn’t stomach raping their third all the time, and the law was created that the woman chosen could only be brought into the triad of her own free will. The connection power also changed and once the union is complete, to hurt your third is to beat yourself. This, too, was to help protect the third from the brutal ways. The women who had been enslaved were set free, but they immediately hid from the rest of society. Also, you should know that the vote to end this way of life wasn’t unanimous, and those voices are still in council to this day.”

“What the fuck?” My mind was blown. I didn’t pay attention to much, but I would remember learning about this. “So what you’re saying is some would still do this if they thought they wouldn’t get caught? Like, would my father have done this to my mother?” I asked, nervous about the answer.