Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 64359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64359 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 257(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Three other soldiers come up behind him, flanking him. He swings me around and hands me to one of them.
“Clean her up and give her to the woman,” he says. “She’s small and pathetic. Matise will enjoy her.”
“Iwas given to his mistress,” I explain. “She had wanted to have a baby, but he couldn’t risk having one with her because he was already married. Numahns do not tolerate infidelity in any form. The penalty is death.”
“Why was he still alive then?”
“Because it’s the woman who dies, but only if she produces a bastard. It’s not illegal for a male to sleep with any woman he chooses, but a woman who sleeps with anyone other than her legal mate will be executed. So the only way for a woman like Matise to have a baby would be to be given one, but there are no unwanted babies because nobody dares have them to anybody who isn’t their husband.”
Altas, Emrys and Kronos all look at one another with inscrutable expressions. The inequality of numahn law is not unheard of. Almost all species and cultures have shitty customs associated with being female.
“Anyway, she was nice to me. She took me and she raised me as her own. I didn’t really see Sheriff much when I was growing up. He usually came over when I was already asleep. As I got older, he stopped coming around because Matise got older and he moved on to a younger mistress. But then, about six months ago…”
Iam standing outside on a cool numahn night. I can only go out at night when people can’t see me. I’m not supposed to be on this planet. When I was younger, I looked like a numahn child, but the older I got, the more apparent it was that I wasn’t numahn. First rumors started swirling, and then Matise told me I had to stay indoors now. She told everybody else I’d gone away. So, for the past year, or maybe more, I have only seen moonlight. If I want sun, I have to open a window and lie on the floor like a cat in the sunbeam. It is a depressing way to live, but as I have been told many times before, I am lucky to be alive at all.
“Well, well, well…”
I jump, gasp, and try to run, but the numahn enforcement officer who has me by the scruff of my neck is holding me firm.
“Don’t you remember me?”
He swings me around to look at him. At first, I am so afraid I don’t remember him at all. Then some very old memory comes rising up through me, a deep old knowing that comes from when I was so small I couldn’t do anything but form picture impressions of things. This is a very, very bad man. This is the one who found me in the human wreckage. This is…
“I’m Sheriff,” he says. “And you’re little Emily, aren’t you?”
I nod, wordlessly.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he promises me. “I’m even going to let you go. But when I do, don’t you dare run, and don’t you go making a lot of noise either now. Last thing we want to do is attract attention to the fact there’s an illegal alien in our midst.”
He releases me, and I freeze, just as he intended me to. I know I am in a lot of danger. Sheriff could kill me right where I stand, and not only would he not get in trouble for it, others would praise him for eradicating me. I am a human, and to these creatures, I may as well be a cockroach.
“You’re a very pretty girl for a human,” he says. “You know you won’t find a mate among the men here. You’re going to be burdened with virginity for a very long time. That’s going to be frustrating, isn’t it?”
I smile shyly, surprised by the compliment. “Maybe.”
In the moonlight, Sheriff has a certain rough charm. He’s handsome, I guess. The fear that spikes through me at the sight of him is not very far from excitement in some ways. He makes adrenaline flow through me. He makes my breath come faster, my pulse race. There is something in the way he is looking at me now, in the light nightgown I am wearing, that makes me feel like something important is about to happen.
I remember how excited Matise used to be when he would come around. In the wake of his visits, our food would be better, and sometimes we’d get new clothes. Once or twice, he even brought me toys that his children had grown out of or become tired of. He never wanted to see me. He demanded I stay out of his sight, but there were those small acknowledgements of my existence.
Now he seems to enjoy looking at me. I am fully grown, an adult in my own right. I am not as tall as Matise or any of the other numahn women, and I don’t have colorful hair or eyes. I am small and dark-haired and dark-eyed. I am simple and I am plain, but he is looking at me as if he wants to devour me.