Page 16 of Freedom Mine
“Then you plan to stay?”
“For now.”
He’d take it. He needed time to make her believe she could have true freedom and a life. Maybe even with him. Kayo shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thought. He had no right thinking that way, and the sooner he accepted that, the better.
“I’ve been so busy up at the mine, that I haven’t had a chance to think about it. Maybe you can give me an idea or two.”
“You want me to decide the work I should do here to earn my freedom?”
“I had no plans to buy you in town yesterday, so I don’t exactly know what to do with you, but like I said, we all work here.”
“I don’t have a trade,” she added. “I hadn’t started my apprenticeship yet when they took me.”
“What apprenticeship?”
She remained silent. First her name, now her education. Or maybe she didn’t want to remember her past. Few slaves did.
“Usually, when I bring a man back from the auction, he goes to work in the mine. The mine is our only source of income, how we pay for supplies, power crystals for the landglider, and how I buy and eventually free slaves.”
“Then I’ll work in the mine,” she said, undaunted.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“It’s hard, grueling work,” he said, without adding, ‘with a bunch of men who’d think nothing of getting her alone in a place that had too many dark, secluded tunnels.’
“I’m not opposed to hard work. I’d rather dig in a dirty mine than. . .” her words fell away.
He knew what she was thinking, how she’d been used in the past, how working the mine would be preferable to thedutiesshe’d held in the past. The mine wouldn’t necessarily be an improvement, though. Most of the men hadn’t been with a woman in a very long time.
“I can’t speak toward the integrity of all the men here, Blue. It’s been a long time since they. . ..” He took a calming breath. “They’d like nothing more than to have a woman up there. Too many dark crevices and empty tunnels in the mine. You’re gonna stick close to the house, where it’s safe.”
She nodded and bit her bottom lip. Hells, he’d stolen the light in her eyes. Just watching her expression harden as he spoke of the mine told him she’d been abused, as he’d suspected.
Kayo headed for the sideboard and poured himself a drink. He shouldn’t have brought her here, to a place with a bunch of men who suffered from their own traumas and in some cases had long forgotten—or given up on—what it meant to be decent, honorable men. Hells, he’d brought a woman here, with no way of protecting her.
Kayo downed the drink and poured another. The alcohol took the edge off, but not the way it used to, not with her scent hovering so close, her long legs standing there with nothing covering them. It was as if she was inviting him to touch her, but she wasn’t. Pants. She needed pants.
“I told you to get a pair of pants,” he said, the words sounding like a scolding.
Immediately, her body tensed and she lowered her eyes.
Kayo swallowed the shot in one throw and bolted out of the office, away from her and her shapely legs. He barreled onto the porch, letting the door slam shut behind him. Before she’d come in all excited and carefree, reminding him what life should look like, he’d planned to go over the finances. She’d distracted him, in more ways than one, but it didn’t really matter now; he’d only come up with the same answer. Ten days, tops, then he’d have to sell something—or someone.
* * *
ALLI
The man confused her, plain and simple. One moment Kayo would talk to her like he cared about her, and then he’d turn rather cold.
Did Kayo consider her a slave or not? She’d made it through the pylons, which had completely surprised her, so much so that she hadn’t been sure what to do at that point.
She never fully wrapped her head around the possibility that he was telling the truth. Part of her wanted to keep walking, to see how far she’d get, even though she knew sooner or later someone would pick her up and the nightmare of the past six years would continue.
The other part of her had told her to turn back, to find out why Kayo had bought her only to free her. What if he was telling the truth, promising real freedom, the type that allowed her to go where she wanted, without permission? The freedom that gave no one control over her.
When it became clear that Kayo wasn’t returning to the house anytime soon, she made a simple onion and slaka stew to show she could be useful. With a bowl of stew in hand, she cracked the front door open.
