Page 28 of Betrothed to the Yeti

Dronma’s eyes widen as her cheeks redden. My lambs cry and hop around me in distress. She stuffs a fist into her mouth and shakes her head. I reach for her as she backs into the table with a thud. The lambs headbutt their snouts against my outstretched hand to console me. They lick between my fingers and nuzzle the fluff around their necks on my exposed forearm.

“I’m still Jaya and you are still Dronma. No matter who we marry, we will always have each other,” I say, dusting off my backside.

“You don’t understand,” she says with a tear dripping down her face. “You must run from Alpha. Run away before she sees you. Forget you ever stepped foot here.”

“Believe me, I wish I could,” I say with an eye roll. I’ve had enough. Her initial dismissal of me compounds my anger at the ‘lower wall’. My dark side daydreams of sending Pabu in here to squash her house—not hurt anyone—just take her down a peg. However, the risk to Pabu would be too great, so I study her odd behavior instead. “I came back to check on you, give you lambs as a goodbye offering, and rescue Nima. Has she birthed the baby?”

“See for yourself!” she hits the floor.

I lean over the sash until my legs kick in the air. Dronma curls herself into a ball against the window’s wall. She lowers the skirt material she was using to hide her face enough to press a finger to her lips. She mouths ‘please’ around it. I answer with an eye roll before rocking out of the window.

“Your grace,” says the Seer behind me. My arm is tugged downward. Since when does the wife of a God curtsey to anyone?

“Nima!” Her name crosses my lips in a shocked whisper. The white fur she wears is as clean and plush as the ones in Pabu’s treasure vault. Her black hair is looped and coiled around jeweled combs of every color of the rainbow. Even her teeth look new—sparkling white and uniform in size and shape. A black-haired baby sleeps in a hammock tied to her chest. “How did you escape?”

“That’s Supreme Leader Rinzen, peasant,” she scoffs. “I honor my dearly departed husband by keeping his name and businesses alive.”

I gape at her as questions blur in my head. Pabu’s featherlight touch in my mind brings order to the swirling chaos. I’m not dependent, little beggar Jaya anymore. What I am, is stupid for not waltzing in here wearing a gold dress and crown like a Goddess. Pabu was right. My memories of my sisters blinded me to the fact their status changed when mine did. I stupidly assumed their lives worsened, and they needed to be rescued.

“Did you kill him?” Of all the questions to fly out of my mouth, my idiot subconscious chooses that one. The Seer gasps on my behalf. Too late now, so I glare at the elder sister who raised me. The smile drops from her face like the snowballs we melted into drinking water. For a split-second, the old Nima shines through her shell—glassy eyes, shaking smile, and trembling hands.

“How savage,” she says with a hollow laugh. “I’d expect nothing less from the wife of an animal. Tell me. What’s it like bedding a monster? I don’t see scars or bruises, so you mustn’t have fought him too violently.”

“I never,” the Seer says while crossing herself in the traditional offering to the Protector God. “Ladies, please remember to respect the order of things—not just the hierarchy of Alpha. There are bigger forces at play than who has the most money—”

“No, there’s not,” Nima snaps. “I inherited my husband’s power, prestige, and wealth. Plain and simple, I don’t starve. I don’t bow. I own Alpha and everything in it—”

“Then you can free our neighbors! If you have Mr. Rinzen’s position as a Leader, then you can take down the ‘lower wall.’ You can free the books and transform the brothel into a school.” My hopes jump up my throat and push out the words. Nima grew up surrounded by starving people, too. While some of them were cruel to us, some were charitable.

“Who do you think built the walls?” She punctuates her sentence with a cackle that rattles my bones. “I don’t want my daughter, Mina, to look upon such filth.”

Shock locks my joints and pops my mouth open. Pabu’s gentle caresses become a violent punch against my mental block. He forces his way into my mind and replays my reunion with my sisters. Violet smoke, smelling of Pabu’s hot spring, dilutes my senses as his darkness joins with me.

Sweet Bride, what can I do to ease your heart?The haunting tone of the phantom flows over my fear, providing comfort like hot herbal tea.

“Here’s your tribute, your Grace,” Dronma says to Nima, which pulls me from the mental link. Her arms extend from the window, carrying a cloth bag on its side. She lifts the top flap open to reveal choice cuts of tiger meat before wrapping them tightly. Nima grabs the platter and whirls around as if to leave when she kicks one of my lambs.

The pair slam into one another before releasing a screech that could wake the dead. I drop to a crouch. Both sides of Pabu telepathically push me to my knees for a closer look. The lamb’s hooves aren’t damaged, so if she stepped on one of them, she only pulled the long hair around their ankles. I bend each leg and when the animals don’t react, I assume no bones are broken. They bump their snouts on the bottom of my chin with affection.

“I’m glad to see you brought me a tribute too,” Nima says, picking up the rope lead I dropped to check their bodies. “It’s been wonderful to catch up, Jaya, but your face reminds me of times I’d rather forget. If you come through those doors again, I will see you locked behind the ‘lower wall’ too. Are we clear?”

She took our lambs!The tears flooding my mind match the ones rolling down my face. They drip onto my old, worn traveling dress as she walks away. Why didn’t I listen to Pabu? In a place where status is everything, I presented myself on the lowest rung.

Nima’s stolen our lambs!Because of my decisions, I lost Ku Huang’s lambs with nothing in return. Her suffering and laboring are for nothing. Her heartbreak could cause her to neglect Runt. Grief pushes against my ribs. I struggle to breathe. A panic attack takes my sight—no violet light tints my vision.

“Dronma, help me,” I croak. “We’re sisters.”

Dronma shakes her head at me. Long wisps of hair bat her giant nose with each movement. My heart drops to my toes. For some reason, she fears Nima. If Nima is a Leader, owns the brothel, and has Mr. Rinzen’s wealth, why are our neighbors suffering? Why does she need my lambs?

Before I can protest to Nima, my mind fills with the roar of the Yeti.

Chapter 17

Pabu

Jaya’s mind is too chaotic for my instructions to break through. Betrayal mixes with anger to brew a concoction of devastation. She oscillates between visions of the reunion she wishes she had with Nima and visions of ripping out Nima’s hair by the roots. Each time she chastises herself for her thoughts, my darkness soothes her with promises of violence. I must get her out of Alpha before that part of me breaks his leash. Already violet tints my vision.

I reach for the Seer. She brightens at my touch. I ignore the warmth she sends through the link. Through her eyes, Jaya is like a crumpled ball of fabric on the ground. My sweetheart fights through her shock. The lambs fight their lead as they sense her distress. She’s imprinted on them as much as me.What would you have me do, oh Great Protector?

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