Total pages in book: 127
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121146 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
“Truth,” she said at last.
“Okay—how did you end up in the Foster Care system?” Fierce rumbled. “Why did your government feel they had the right to take you away from your parents? Something like that would never happen on Twin Moons,” he added.
“Oh, well…my parents were Immigrants—they came to the US from Cuba,” Celia explained. “They were good parents—as far as I can remember—but they were in the US illegally. They didn’t have permission to be there. So anyway, my mom got sick, but she was too afraid to go to the doctor—afraid the authorities might deport her, you know?”
“Mmm-hmm.” Fierce nodded and she heard an assenting rumble from Hold as well. Both of them really seemed interested, which surprised her. Peter had never asked much about her past—he seemed to think it was distasteful that she’d been raised in “disadvantaged circumstances” as he put it.
“Go on,” the Dark Twin urged. “So what happened to your mother?”
“Well…it turned out that the sickness she had was…was cancer.” Celia was surprised to find she was choking up a little. She made an effort to steady her voice. “So she died. And then my father got caught and deported,” she added, trying to keep her voice dry and unemotional.
“That’s terrible, my lady,” Hold murmured sympathetically. “How old were you when all this happened?”
Celia swallowed hard.
“Six,” she whispered. She closed her eyes briefly, trying not to remember that first night in foster care. How small and frightened and lonely she’d felt…how she cried for her mother and father but they never came… “I…I used to think that maybe my father would come back for me or that he would send for me,” she said softly. “But, well…he never did. Later, I found out he’d been killed in an accident at his work after he got back to Cuba. Dios! I haven’t thought of that in ages.” She sniffed and lifted a hand to swipe at her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, lelka,” Fierce murmured and she felt his big hand cup her cheek again. “I didn’t mean to ask something that made you cry.”
“It’s all right.” Celia took a deep breath. “You didn’t know.”
“It must have been hard, being raised by strangers,” Hold said softly. “But you never told us why you went to so many different homes? Was that just how the system worked?”
Celia choked out a sound that was half laugh/half sob. The Light Twin had inadvertently asked her something almost as painful as the question about her parents.
“No, not exactly,” she said and took a deep breath. “Some of the homes were just temporary—I knew that going in. But in some of them, I…well, I got into trouble for defending myself.”
“Defending yourself?” Fierce asked, and she could hear the frown in his voice.
“You know—against…unwanted advances.” Celia couldn’t think of a better way to put it. “Unfortunately, the, uh Foster Care system lends itself to a lot of abuses,” she went on, trying to keep her tone dry. “But I wasn’t going to just take it, you know? So I fought—I fought a lot.”
“Wait…you don’t mean…” Hold began, sounding horrified.
“I mean I went around with a knife in my pocket,” Celia said shortly. “And I used it several times. Mostly on foster brothers—other kids that were in the same house as me who tried to take advantage, the pendejos. But once I had to use it on one of my foster fathers. I got moved out of that house in a hurry—not that anyone did anything to him for what he tried,” she added bitterly.
“You mean you were sexually assaulted?” Fierce sounded angry now—his deep voice dropping to a growl.
“I was groped a lot—I had several near misses,” Celia said, keeping her tone even and matter of fact. “But I was never actually raped. I was lucky.”
“That’s horrible that you had to live with that fear!” Hold sounded as upset as Fierce was. “How could the humans put a child into such an abusive environment?”
“What—you’re telling me that Kindred men never rape anyone?” Celia demanded. “Why do you think I freaked out when I woke up and found myself naked between the two of you? I was having flashbacks to several near misses I had back…back when I was a kid,” she finished in a low voice.
“No, we don’t force ourselves on women,” Fierce growled. “But now I don’t blame you for hitting me in the ribs,” he added. “Of course you were frightened, having been through all that!”
“To take a woman against her will is anathema to us,” Hold explained. “The Kindred worship the Goddess and we believe that every woman has a bit of her inside—an innate spark of divinity that makes her worthy of worship. To defile a female by taking her by force would be a damning act—the worst thing a male could do, and he would be shunned and punished severely for it. Possibly killed.”