Page 11 of Mastering their Maiden

“The full moon after you left, Ryne sent servants to Draven’s estate for some supplies. They reported back that Kael and Gaige were with a girl whose hair had a red tint at the roots. The servant had seen them fawning over her swollen belly, so Ryne took Kael and two other soldiers captive. Beat them in front of the soldiers’ woman until she confessed Daya was in the house.”

Umber groaned and Zander swore violently, forcing me to grab the back of his tunic when he went to flip the table over. Kaiden was stock still save for his shoulders, which rose and fell with heavy breaths. “What happened, Dex?”

“Ryne put them on trial for treason in front of the whole city. Threw their maiden and all the women in Draven’s care into his dungeons. I’m not sure how they escaped, but they did, along with several women Ryne was keeping in his dungeons. After that, none of the masters wanted to convict Draven.”

I sighed, leaning back against the wall and releasing Zander, who gave me a scowl before he moved to stand at my side. “None of them wanted to convict before that, even the other older houses who are the most loyal to Ryne. It was too much, plus Ryne spouting off about how women are nothing but breeding stock didn’t sit well. Niall spoke up about what Ryne did to their woman.”

Kaiden’s stoic expression softened, and Umber shifted, putting his hands on his hips. Zander growled beside me, all anger. It was the easiest thing to feel when we all thought about what Ryne had done to the girl and how Niall, Cyrus, and Devon had been unable to save her.

“The vote was nay on the treason charges, but Ryne won’t give up. It’s been a month and he’s had time to regroup and—”

“A month?” Kaiden bellowed. “You couldn’t write?”

“I didn’t want to risk the letter being intercepted!” I shot back. “There’s too much information flowing back and forth since Quade has been writing Draven and you. Ryne is on the lookout for treason anywhere. He’s itching for any reason to cry foul and try to rally people to his side. The Elders of this village giving us trouble have given him an angle to work with. If he can convince enough masters that our tribe is at risk of extinction because we don’t have women to father children on…”

I trailed off. None of them needed me to finish the rest.

Years ago, Ryne had been able to rally the citizens and masters around the idea of a single ruler because we were at risk of dying out. We needed to act as a whole, and the best way to do that was under one leader. It was easy to do back then, but now that leader had corrupted himself so much with power it was putting us all at risk. Unless we acted to remove him, there would be another catastrophe and our tribe might never recover. It would be endless war with each other and not even the gods who’d borne our people into the world could stop it.

“He’s sent men down here,” Umber said. “Soldiers to ‘assist’ us in trying to get the Elders back under control. Between those bastards trying to undermine what we’re doing and the Elders putting more strain on the people in this village, it’s been chaos. We need the men Quade is sending to us to keep control until he’s ready to act.”

“I agree,” Kaiden said. “His letter says they’re on the way. We can check in with Frayne, tell him to send word when he’s spotted them so we’re ready.”

“Maybe he’ll pass it through Aria,” Zander added, smiling to himself. To my surprise, Kaiden frowned, turning his back to us as he walked to the table. Zander narrowed his eyes, but my hand on his chest stopped him from speaking.

“What about the girl, Kaiden?” I asked.

“What about her?”

Umber frowned, glancing at Zander and me before he spoke. “What are we going to do about her? You know she won’t stop sneaking through the fence, not if it means the children and her fellow maidens going hungry because the Elders—”

“I can’t worry about that right now,” Kaiden snapped, whirling around on Umber. “My loyalty is to my tribe, Umber. We can deal with the villages later or if we’re kicked out of these ones, we can find others.” He dragged a hand through his long hair, rattling the beads threaded into his braids. “Ryne will tear the city apart before he leaves that throne, and no amount of women from these villages will save us if that happens. We have to focus on the tribe.”

His chest heaved, and when Umber offered a consoling hand, he shoved him back. “Kaiden, no one doubts your loyalty. You don’t need to prove it.”

Kaiden hissed a curse. “I do. That… bastard… raised me. Kept me in the dark for years about the truth. I’ve seen the way Edvall and even Niall look at me. They expect me to be just like him. I’m not. I won’t be. I want nothing to do with that fucking chair. Quade can have it. Or Draven. Or Klev, or any of you—”

“I would not take power from you,” I said, moving away from the wall to put my hands on Kaiden’s shoulders, already knowing where his thoughts were going. He carried guilt for the things he hadn’t known about Ryne for so long, and he truly believed it sullied all his good deeds, tainted everything he did with a sourness. He held himself to far too high a standard, one he would never meet, even as he exceeded every expectation the other masters in our tribe set for him.

“The fact that you are so opposed to wielding power is why we bow to your command,” I reminded him. “It’s why Quade, and Draven, and the others would insist you sit by their sides and rule. Everyone knows you did not choose to be under Ryne’s thumb for so long. You were just a boy.”

“I was just a boy who saw his greed, his lust, and his violence toward the women he was trying to breed and said nothing.” Kaiden swallowed, his fists clenching at his sides. “Niall’s woman… I knew what was happening. I tried to stop it and Ryne’s soldiers dragged me away. I was powerless and… I have to atone for that. If that means never taking a woman to breed—”

“You don’t mean that,” Zander snapped, moving forward and grabbing Kaiden by the back of the neck, pushing their foreheads together. “We’ve talked about this. You’ve dreamed of holding a babe of your own. Of watching a woman’s belly grow from your seed, to see her devotion develop under your care. You’ll have that. You deserve that.” Zander slapped Kaiden’s chest before pointing to the door. “And that woman will be it. Do you hear me? I want her. Umber wants her. Dex will too. And you… you want her. Don’t deny it.”

“She hates our tribe. You heard her say it.” Kaiden swallowed, and his eyes narrowed at the door and the villagers beyond it. “The Elders here have poisoned the alliance we’ve tried to foster, and Ryne hasn’t helped. I wonder some days if it’s worth the fight. They all hate us, and I don’t blame—”

“So did my mother,” Umber interrupted, a soft smile tugging at his lips. “She’s told me many a time how much she hated my fathers at first. She was starving, her village had been ravaged and there was nothing left, but she still hated them for taking her away from what remained. It wasn’t until well after they’d claimed her, when their bond had solidified into something unbreakable, that she came to love them.” He folded his arms, still smiling. “When I ask any of them about it, they say she was worth the fight. And I would not be here if they’d put their desire for her aside for loyalty to the tribe. You can do both, Kaiden.”

“You will do both,” I said, glancing at Umber before I looked toward the door. “And believe it or not, that maiden might be the key to ensuring our tribe has an alliance with this village not just for protection, but for everything.”

CHAPTER 5

Aria

I stalked across the village, unable to get the words out of my head. Words scrawled on the bottom of a piece of parchment, written in soft sweeping letters I knew instantly.

Please, Master Kaiden, look out for my Aria. I miss her terribly.

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