Page 4 of Chosen By Swift

“Well, bring the biscuits and show me,” she said, her back to her brother and the table. She stirred the grits and tended the sausage. “How much time do the boys have left outside with their early chores?”

“Not much,” Adam said and stepped up beside her with the sheet of biscuits. He used a towel to open the blazing hot oven and slid the tray inside. “By the time you’ve dished all this up, they’ll be scrubbed and ready to eat.” He eyed the food cooking on the stove. “God, I’ve missed this.”

“I’ve missed you,” she said truthfully. “Brandon misses you the most.”

“I want to take him back with me.”

“To apprentice at the forge?” she asked, surprised.

“For now.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What does that mean?”

“It means that Brandon shouldn’t be stuck here on this farm for the rest of his life. He’s better than this place.” Adam reached into his pocket and withdrew a tightly folded square of paper. “And so are you, Alys.”

“What is that?”

“Read it, but do it quickly,” he instructed and glanced back to the doorway that led to the hall.

Alys reluctantly took the folded paper from her brother and carefully opened it. As soon as she saw the emblem of the sky warriors, she glanced at him in shock. “Adam,” she said nervously.

“Read it,” he ordered.

She scanned the sheet of paper and took in the details. It was an invitation for women to volunteer to run in the Grab scheduled for the morning after Bonnie’s wedding. There was a list of benefits for volunteers including lifelong medical care and a one-time payment to the bride’s family. Her gaze lingered on the scholarships available to qualified family members.

“You can’t marry that old man, Alys.” Adam looked disgusted and appalled by the very idea of it. “He’s a pig, and he’ll hurt you. Worse than Father ever has,” he added with a pointed look.

“And these men won’t?” She gestured to theflier. She couldn’t meet her brother’s eyes as her face turned hot. “You know what they say about them, about what they do to their women.” She died a little inside at the idea of wearing a collar like a dog. “I don’t know if I can do that.”

“You don’t have to stay,” Adam explained and pointed out the information on the bottom of the paper. “See? You can leave after the trial period.”

“And go where? Do what? I’m a woman, Adam. I can’t live alone. I don’t have any special skills that make me employable. I know how tocook,clean and raise babies. That’s it.”

“Yes, that’s right. You’ve spent your whole life training to be a wife and mother. That’s all these sky warriors want. They have to earn points by fighting and surviving and proving their worth, and they can’t take a wife until they have enough of them. Think about the kind of man that fights that long and that hard just for the chance to have a family. Think about how precious you would be to him.”

Doubts and fears from a lifetime of being not good enough troubled her mind. “What if no one wants me, Adam?” She swallowed down the painful lump in her throat. “I’m not pretty.”

“No, you’re not,” Adam agreed. “You’re beautiful, and any man who doesn’t see that is a damned fool.”

She wanted to believe her brother. She wanted to believe that she was beautiful and worthy. More than anything in the world, she wanted to be chosen.

But to run off in the middle of the night? To volunteer to be chased and stolen away like a prize bit of livestock? To shame her family? To never be able to come home?

Alys wasn’t sure she was brave enough to do that. The very thought of breaking every rule she had ever known frightened her near to tears. Yet, the thought of staying and being sold off by her parents terrified her even more.

“You have to choose, Alys.” Adam took the paper from her hand and carried it to the fireplace. “You stay here and do what everyone expects. You marry Wendel and live unhappily ever after.”

“Or?” She watched him toss the paper into the fire and stab it with the poker to ensure it burned in the hottest flames.

“You run away and find your own happiness.”

If only it were that simple.

Chapter Two

“What do you think about letting the kid take the final approach?” Hazard asked from the pilot’s seat.

Swift snorted. “Thatkidis twenty years old.”

---