Page 16 of Mastering their Maiden

“Has she ever tried to run?” I asked, genuinely curious.

Frayne paused his cutting, glancing at me and Kaiden both before lowering his eyes again. “The first time I spoke to her was a few weeks after Esme left. She’d found that loose slat in the fence around the village and taken off in a rainstorm. I’d found her wandering the woods, drenched through, nothing but skin and bones.” He frowned, wiping his carving knife on the apron tied to his waist. “I gave her a satchel and clothing to run away with, but she took it back to the village and gave it to another girl. Came back a few days later asking for more.”

“And eventually you taught her how to hunt and forage,” I filled in when Frayne paused. He nodded, not looking at Kaiden or me when he spoke again.

“I have no issues with your tribe. Never have had, but even with your soldiers there, the Elders make it hell on those girls. I still lived near the village after you came, for about a year, and I watched so many of those girls, Esme and Aria among them, wither to almost nothing. Esme managed to make her way sewing and watching other children so she could feed and clothe them, and now I think Aria sees herself in the faces of those hungry children. And she sees Esme in the faces of the other women waiting for you to claim them.”

I pressed my lips together, looking at Kaiden, whose expression was stoic but there was a storm in his eyes. The Elders in that village were a problem, more so than the other two we had arrangements with. Our pact said we would not interfere with how they ran things, but there were times I’d had to hold Kaiden back, and since Dex arrived, he’d been furious with how our supplies were being distributed. But without cause, we could not interfere. The Elders had made the women so afraid to speak up that on the outside things looked fine.

All of the women save for Aria, who I hoped would hold up her end of the bargain and say something. Give us a reason to look closer, even if it meant ‘punishment’ for her.

“Running around the woods like that puts her in danger,” Kaiden said, changing the subject. He was hoping Frayne would talk to Aria, but it was clear the man had no intention of stopping her excursions into the woods. “She mentioned killing a Skepna. A Skepna, Frayne.”

Frayne stopped working on the boar to wipe at his forehead, frowning again when he looked up. “Yes, she has. Foolish girl.”

“You’ve seen her take one down?” I demanded. We were almost twice her size, and those beasts were just as large. I pictured Aria’s bloodthirsty snarl and knew in my head it was possible, but there was an ache in my chest at the idea of her tangling with one of those monsters. One wrong slip and it could tear her in two.

“She panicked the first time it happened. Came running to me covered in blood and I dragged her to the lake, told her to wash before her skin started to peel off.” Frayne threw his carvings onto a drying rack, then wiped his knife again. “After the second or third beast, she got better at killing them, but she tries to avoid it. You two have seen her.” He gestured to the Kaiden, then to the empty space beside him. “She barely comes up to your chest, and even with the weight she’s put on in muscle, she’s a tiny little thing. Those monsters could tear her limb from limb if they wanted.”

“Which is why you have to stop encouraging her,” Kaiden said. “She’s going to get herself injured or killed. You can’t accept the kills she brings or let her wander around the woods. If you see her, send—”

“If you think I haven’t tried to discourage her, you’re mistaken. It’s better to have her hunt nearby so I can hear if something happens and get to her quickly, isn’t it?”

Frayne fixed Kaiden with a challenging gaze when he let out a sigh. “She won’t stop. She cares too much for the other girls. Like I said, they remind her of what she used to be.”

Kaiden looked at me, and I shrugged. “He’s got a point. She’s safer hunting close by than she would be miles away.”

My oldest friend scowled, folding his thick arms over his chest. “I don’t like it. It’s risky. If she gets hurt, Quade’s maiden will be upset. And if she’s upset, Quade will be upset.”

If she gets hurt, you’ll be upset.

I’d let Kaiden believe for a while now that he was keeping all our battles separate. The upcoming conflict with his surrogate father, the struggles with the soldiers Ryne had sent down as spies, the Elders using every manipulative tactic they could to undermine our pact.

And Aria. Her defiance, her rebelliousness, and her need for someone to take her under wing. To care for her like she deserved, with stern discipline followed by gentle hands.

So many problems, but I knew where Kaiden’s thoughts were. They were on the last one. On Aria. On her beautiful hair, her gorgeous body, the way her lips had closed around him when she swallowed him down. How those rage-filled eyes had softened, filling with need underneath her anger.

I’d seen the way Kaiden’s head fell back when he climaxed with her lips around him, the way his hand curled around her head. So firm and controlling, but so careful. And this was nothing compared to the way his eyes followed her around the village.

The way all our eyes followed her around the village. She was mesmerizing. None of us were immune. Zander had given up fighting it and I knew Dex would soon. Kaiden expected me to keep my head on straight, and I would for his sake.

But I would be laughing with glee the day he finally gave in and the four of us claimed that girl.

“If she’d let us go with her into the woods, we could find out if more Skepna are lurking close by.”

Kaiden held his horse’s reins tight, his face stoic, focused on the task and not on his feelings. “Dex told me about what Kolka and Hal’s maiden said. The one who was kept captive with Daya. She said the Elders were plotting with the beasts—”

“They wouldn’t be that stupid,” I scoffed. “It makes no sense. Those monsters will slaughter—”

“Do you think that concerns them?” Kaiden asked, and I couldn’t deny he was right. “They plan to throw people at them in return for taking us out. That’s what Draven’s Daya told him, and Kolka and Hal’s girl backed the story up. If the beasts attack in force, it could end up being a massacre like it was when we first took the village.”

I pursed my lips, recalling how the Elders in this village coerced the few men they had to fight us. Stand up against our ‘occupation,’ even though we posed no threat to them. Kavari law dictated that we would not claim women bound to a human man, not unless man and woman both submit to a master. But the Elders manipulated and lied about our rules and while we were fighting them, the Skepna attacked.

We lost so many of our tribe. Quade, Lavan, and Viggo lost their fourth partner. So had Niall, Cyrus, and Devon.

And I lost one of my fathers. The man who found my mother in the ruins of her Skepna-ravaged village and brought her to our home in the mountains. I’ll never forget how my mother cried after his death, and how my two living fathers wept with her.

I didn’t want something like that to happen again. Especially now when we were as close to peace as we were to war. I knew which way I wanted the pendulum to swing, but the choice wasn’t mine. It wasn’t any of ours.

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