I looked back at her to see she hadn’t torn her frightened eyes from her husband. I also recognized her as one of the women in the pen who I thought was like me. She had been visibly terrified back then and she was no less terrified now.
She was, however, as Zahnin had described her, quite beautiful. Light brown hair, green eyes, a pixie-pretty face and very petite. Her ass and breasts were not much to write home about but her skin was peaches and cream all over and there was something delicate about her, something graceful even as she stood still. Something that many men, not Zahnin (I would have thought before that moment), would be drawn to in a protective way.
But clearly I was wrong about Zahnin.
Nevertheless, this would not help Zahnin. He was not as tall as Lahn but he was still tall and extremely muscled. Lahn dwarfed me and I was average height. This girl was small and Zahnin must seem like a giant to her.
I stepped forward and her eyes shot to me before going back to Zahnin.
“Hello,” I said quietly in English and her gaze moved quickly back to me, “I am Circe, Queen of Korwahk.”
She stared at me.
I took another cautious step forward and went on softly, “We’re here to help; you’re safe.”
I watched her swallow then lick her lips but she did not speak.
Another step forward and then I said, “Can you tell me your name?”
She blinked at me, bit her lower lip and then quickly she said something in a language I recognized with one of the words being, “Valearian.”
She was speaking French.
Shit.
I took French in high school for two years but that was high school. It had been ages. I recognized it but there was no way in hell I could speak it.
“She is Fleuridian, my dear,” Diandra whispered to me. “A language I do not know.”
Great, they didn’t call France France and Diandra didn’t speak Fleuridian (or whatever).
Shit again!
“Uh…” I began, pulling up my high school French, “bonjour,” I tried. “Je m’appelle Circe.”
Her eyes grew big, then they grew wet, then her hands came up clasped in front of her and she shot rapid fire French at me all the while her eyes slide back and forth between me and Zahnin.
I didn’t catch a lick of it.
Shit, shit, shit!
I smiled at her, lifted my hand, she stopped speaking and I turned my head slightly to Diandra, “Is there anyone in the Daxshee who speaks her language?”
“Yes, Circe, several and I know of someone who will be happy to help. She, like me, has been here many years,” Diandra answered and turned to Zahnin and said in Korwahk. “Have one of your slaves find Claudine, wife of Veenuk.”
Zahnin scowled at her but jerked his chin then slapped out of the cham.
As he did, I watched the girl relax.
Not good.
I took another step to her and asked softly, “Comment tu t’appelles?” and she looked back at me, her eyes soft, her manner relieved.
“Sabine,” she whispered.
“Okay, Sabine, ma erm… Fleuridian no c’est bon, uh… but we’re getting help.”
She blinked at me then she nodded in a way that I knew she understood what I said in her language but not in my own.
Boy, I hoped Claudine lived close.
Zahnin slapped back into the tent and grunted something to Diandra and Sabine grew instantly tense.
I approached Zahnin, his eyes came to me, he still looked pissed, that look was still scary but I sucked it up, stopped close to him and whispered in Korwahk, “Your wife’s name is Sabine, did you know that?”
His head jerked so slightly I could convince myself I didn’t see it, same with a flash that flared in his eyes. But I didn’t miss the angry look slightly fading from his face as his head turned toward his bride and he murmured, “Sabine,” in his deep, rough voice making a pretty name even prettier.
He didn’t know his wife’s name but he was clearly glad to know it.
I pulled in a calming breath.
I could work with this.
I turned to Sabine who had wary eyes on her husband. I waited until they flitted to me and I smiled. My smile didn’t alleviate the fear shadowing her entire frame and I knew this was because Zahnin was in attendance.
Then it occurred to me that in all likelihood Zahnin was doing the same thing to his wife that Lahn had done to me. That was, he’d raped her during the Hunt, she either had no idea what was happening to her (my guess, she too was “sheltered”) or knew about it and hated it. She took that hit then kept taking it as he kept using her body for the last three weeks as any warrior would feel his due from his wife.
I studied her. She was clean and clearly fed. There were no signs of visible abuse, no cuts, bruises or swelling. Her sarong, bandeau, belt and jewelry were very nice. She was wearing quite a bit of silver. Her hair was artfully arranged and her makeup was expertly applied which meant she had a girl or girls who were taking good care of her. The entire package saying that her husband was doing what he knew how to do to provide for his wife.
He was just not providing for her the way a woman needed to be provided for.
And he didn’t understand it but he’d been forcing her to live a nightmare for three weeks.
Okay, maybe I couldn’t work with this.
Not, of course, without reinforcements.
I turned back to Zahnin and whispered, “I need my king. Can you send a messenger to him and, if he is not too busy to attend me now, can you ask that he does? It is not urgent but I would look favorably on him granting my request.”
Zahnin examined me, clearly uncertain about how he felt about Lahn being called into our current situation.
Then he grunted and slapped out of the tent.
I took that as a yes.
I also took that as a sign that Zahnin wanted his wife to settle in her new life with him.
Then I turned back to the woman to see Diandra had gotten close and was talking softly to her.
Then I sucked in breath and waited for Claudine and, hopefully, Lahn.
* * * * *
Standing with my husband outside of Zahnin’s tent, I watched his eyebrows knit ominously and his eyes narrow dangerously before he whispered angrily in Korwahk, “My tigress wants me to do what?”
I moved in close (or closer, I was already pretty close), put a hand light on his chest (a chest that he had his arms crossed over), got up on my tiptoes and bent my head way back to reply on a whisper as best I could in Korwahk and I essentially repeated (with more detail), “You need to talk to Zahnin. He requested this favor of me but he needs to do his part. He must stop taking her against her will. He needs to back off, start wooing her, take meals with her, bring her presents, flowers, candy, jewelry. He needs to try to talk to her, teach her the Korwahk language. He needs to take her for rides and show her her new country. He needs to speak gently to her, look on her gently, touch her gently. And when he tries anything with her, he needs to do it like you did it with me and seek to give her pleasure before he takes his own. And I can’t tell him any of that, Lahn, you need to tell him all of that.”
Lahn stared down his nose at me. Then he asked, “My queen called me away from my warriors to ask me to tell another one of my warriors not to fuck his new wife,” there it was, I knew tooyo meant fuck, “but instead to bring her candy and take her for horseback rides? Do I have this right, Circe?”
I didn’t think this was going very well.
