Page 60 of Own to Obtain

Treska entered the bedroom tentatively, looking around curiously until she saw Shaya in the bed.

“Treska!” Shaya said, sitting up.

Treska ran to her and they hugged furiously before holding each other arm’s length to look at each other.

“You look well,” Treska said, grinning.

“You do too,” Shaya said, her heart lifting to see Treska glowing. She patted the bed. “Tell me how you are.”

Treska kept her eyes on Kardos as though he was a dangerous beast and could attack any moment, even though he was clearly asleep.

“Don’t worry about him,” Shaya said gently. “He is recovering. And even if he was awake, he wouldn’t do anything to you.” As if on cue, Kardos’ arm tightened around her waist, pulling her back to him on the bed.

Treska giggled, and Shaya was pleased to see that she wasn’t truly scared of him.

“I’m sorry about your imprisonment, Treska,” Shaya said solemnly, after their laughter faded. “I didn’t know anything about it. They thought you were someone else.”

Treska shook her head. “It is not your fault, Katashaya. I do not blame you, or the high chief. He was trying to protect you.”

“Yes, but you suffered, and you didn’t even do anything. It upset me greatly.”

“I know,” Treska said. “Ma told me. She was very upset as well. She loves you.”

Shaya’s brows rose her eyes in shock. “She does?”

“Of course,” Treska said nodding enthusiastically. “You are a better daughter for her than me. You share the love of plants and potions. I am terrible at them.”

Shaya frowned. “That is not true, she doesn’t see me as a daughter more than you do—”

“No,” Treska said hurriedly. “I don’t mean…” She thought for a moment. “What I mean is, you are another daughter for her, one who can share her passion. But she loves us both.” Her smile faded a little. “She did not tell you I was imprisoned, because she was hurt about it. She did not want you to hurt as well.”

“But if she had, I could have told her that it wasn’t true.”

“You could have,” Treska reasoned. “But you would have been protecting me. There was no way to know if what you were saying was true if we are friends.”

Shaya stared at her, the truth of her words dawning. If Treska had betrayed Kardos, Shaya’s defense of her wouldn’t have mattered. It seemed true that words do not always mean much in this culture.

“I do not blame the high chief,” Treska continued. “He gave orders that were not followed. He did not know if it was me or not.” She fell silent for a long moment, a thoughtful look on her face. “I do not understand why Anata was so disobedient. She was so glad to join Tribe Nyek, but she did not respect us or our rules.” She shrugged and smiled at Shaya. “I am glad to be out of prison.”

“I am glad you’re out too,” Shaya smiled. She frowned realizing something. “Your Common Tongue has much improved.”

To her surprise, Treska grinned, a flush coming over her face. “Bakra was teaching me.”

“Who?”

“One of the Alphas who was on the ship. The high chief was not happy with him……” Treska looked at her knowingly. “He gave you too much attention.”

“Ah,” Shaya said in surprise, remembering the Alpha who had picked her up at the party on the ship.

“The high chief gave him a new job to maintain the prisons,” Treska said. “I think he wanted to keep him away from you.”

Shaya rolled her eyes and shook her head. She hadn’t even thought about the Alpha since that day, but now she knew why she hadn’t seen him again. She gave Treska a curious look. “So he was teaching you?”

Treska nodded. “At least until Zolt discovered it.”

“What you mean?”

“Zolt didn’t like it. So he started teaching me himself.”

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