Tonight, I will bathe. And then I will sleep.
Or perhaps, I should visit,Ra’Sa’s voice returns.
I let out a long sigh.
Fine.
Chapter 31
RA’SA
It takes longer than usual for the giants to count the logs. We wait there, listening as they call out numbers and make notes. In the last week, nearly a hundred men have been executed in front of us. We've gritted our teeth and bore the back-breaking weight. Tonight, the air is tense as we wait for them to call out the ones who will be sent to die.
Instead, one of the warriors steps in front of us and cracks his neck.
“No racks. Now get back to the slave pens."
For a second, everyone stood there, frozen.
"Now!" he roared.
The men around me start to run, and I follow.
Melisa,I say excited.
I feel her listening.
No deaths tonight.
Melisa’s shock and pain skitter across my skin… Did she know how bad things were?
I… thought that would stop with Eneko gone. How many were killed?Her question is tentative as she braces herself.
I remain silent for a moment, opening the wound in my chest.
Perhaps a hundred.
And the poisonings, do they continue?she asks. I feel… anger on the other side of the bond. Hatred.
Yes, though not as frequently.
Melisa’s presence slips away, leaving behind the metallic taste of her rage. I let her go, grieving the events of the last few days myself. As we pass the halfway point back to the den, Nicolás appears at my side.
"Can you believe it? They realized they still need men to chop," he says excitedly.
I nod, still feeling uneasy. After a long day of work, I can only think about Melisa. There's been so much death and loss, the only place I wish to be is at her side.
Nicolás seems to take the hint that I'm not very talkative because he starts to drift away. I didn't think it would take so little to sink into my old habits, but I am a sullen creature.
The night drags on, through dinner, and then as I wait for the others to sleep. When the snores begin to sound all around me, I rise and prepare to go to see my woman.
Stepping silently through the rows of men, I make it outside the door only to be restrained by a pair of hands.
My cry of surprise is silenced when a tall human wraps his hands around my head, covering my mouth. I break free, but four men latch on and hold tight.
One of the men at my side punches me in the gut. I bend forward. I thrash against them as they haul me behind the den and into the forest.
"Cálmate,"?1 Rodrigo commands, stepping out from behind one of the massive elms. His head tilts to the side as his lips pull back into a sneer. "Or do you not understand that word?"