Page 22 of The Sheik's Embrace

“Because we were female,” she explained. “Women in my church group were told that drinking alcohol would cause us to lose our inhibitions. If we had even a sip of anything alcoholic, we would be throwing our bodies at whatever male was nearby.” She shook her head as she scooped up another bite. “When my sister and I escaped from that horrible place, we tasted beer.” She shook her head while staring at the bite of sweetness. “Nothing happened.” Then she squinched up her nose. “And we didn’t like the flavor either.”

“How many other rules did you and Kaia break after your escape?”

Tara thought about that for a moment while enjoying another bite of the bread pudding. “Both of us hated sewing so we both vowed to never sew anything again. But that’s not really a rebellion. We read as many books as we could get our hands on because women weren’t allowed to read. Since we couldn’t afford a television and could only afford the cheapest phone, which meant we couldn’t afford social media, we read whenever we weren’t working. The public libraries were our saviors during our time on the run. We didn’t always have a permanent address, but the librarians usually made exceptions for us.”

“You weren’t allowed to read?”

She shook her head. “Not in our old community. Educating women meant that we might argue. Arguing with the head of our household or, worse, the community leaders, would result in a fractured home. We would be disciplined severely for daring to challenge any leader.”

“What were some of the disciplines in your community?” he asked, and Tara could see the anger simmering in his eyes.

“Whippings. No food for a certain number of hours or days.”

He paused his spoon as he stared at her. “Are you kidding?”

“No,” Tara replied, carefully cutting another bite of the bread pudding and ensuring that there was the perfect amount of icing on it.

“How often were you whipped?”

She shrugged. “Only twice. My sister…” she stopped, resting the spoon on the edge of her plate. “Kaia was much more rebellious than I was.” Tara abandoned the dessert completely.

Chapter 19

“Tell me about your sister,” Zayed urged, seeing the pain in her pretty, green eyes. He needed to bring back the defiant woman. Right now, he could only see the terrified Tara and he hated it. His gut clenched as he pictured Tara being whipped. And yet, her only thought now was the safety of her older sister.

Slowly, Tara breathed in, then slowly released the breath. Her lovely features shifted from pain at the past memories to a soft smile. “Kaia was amazing! Even from a small age, I admired her. She loved running around the farm, chasing the chickens.” Tara laughed. “We were in charge of collecting the eggs each morning and afternoon. I was always terrified of the hens because they were mean peckers! They didn’t like it when we stole their eggs.”

“I’ve heard that,” he replied, amused.

“I would tentatively reach underneath their feathered bellies, pleading with the chickens not to peck me. But, of course, they did. On the other hand, Kaia would shove her hand under their bellies and take the eggs before the hens realized what was going on.”

“She’s a warrior.”

“Exactly! Kaia, the Chicken Warrior princess!”

They both laughed and Zayed reached over to take her hand, gently guiding her out of her chair.

“Don’t get nervous now,” he cautioned, leading her out of the dining room. “Tell me more about how Kaia defied the rules.”

“Oh, she disobeyed in just about every way. I don’t know how she survived the punishments. Whenever our father tookher meals away, I would sneak her food. If Kaia was banished to sleep on the porch, I’d sneak blankets out to her.”

“That only happened in the summer months, right?”

“Nope! The elders ordered my father to discipline Kaia during the winter months too, all year round. Sleeping outside on the porch was a favorite, second only to whippings, for the elders.”

“That’s barbaric, Tara. You know that, right?”

“Of course. Although, it was all we knew when we were kids, but even as kids, we understood that there was something…off…about our father and the other leaders.”

He took a deep breath, leading her through a set of double doors. Zayed watched as Tara looked around. Did she realize that this was his private suite? At the moment, they were in the living area with sofas and chairs. There was a library off to one side, an office, and a theatre area where he could watch any movie that had been released, and some that hadn’t yet been released. There was a private kitchen and dining room, and a pool just for his exclusive use that was surrounded by a lush courtyard.

“Tell me more about your rebellions. What were other ways you rebelled?’

She thought about that for a moment. “Well, Kaia wears jewelry every day now. Even if she is working and not in a place where she’s allowed to wear jewelry, she’ll wear something and hide it from her supervisors.”

“Why weren’t you allowed to wear jewelry?” he asked, leading her to one of the sofas. He sat down, but realized that she was still nervous. So instead of sitting next to her, he walked over to one of the cabinets and pulled out a deck of cards. Whenhe once again sat down across from her, he heard her quiet sigh of relief.

Hopefully, by the end of the evening, she wouldn’t be so nervous.

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