He seemed delighted at her approval and gave her an open smile. One of the few she remembered ever seeing on his face. “And I meant what I said in Turkey,” he replied. “You were worth saving. Always will be.”
Their eyes locked for just a few seconds too long.
Cassie blushed and stood up hastily, not quite ready to admit where their friendship might be heading. Instead, she asked eagerly, “So when do I get to shoot a gun?”
Erik sunk his face into his hands in mock misery and groaned.
Chapter 6 – Wifely Demotion
Daniel sloped back toward his quarters in the compound, shaken by his conversation with Hannah. In his heart of hearts, he had known all along what her plans were. Why else would he have consented to meet her secretly and teach her everything he knew about the world of the Fallen? He just never expected her to act so soon. Of course, it hadn’t been her decision to act at all, had it? Like everything else that happened in the world of the Blessed Nephilim, it was the will of his father that drove events. Hannah’s pregnancy was his father’s doing. She never wanted to marry him in the first place. Didn’t Daniel have an obligation to help her escape if he could? He knew it was the right thing to do but if they were caught the consequences would be dire.
Gossip swirled around the compound about what happened to people who crossed the diviner. Wives who proved unruly were secretly shipped off to some asylum before their outspokenness became an embarrassment. There they were sedated into a state of quiet catatonia for the rest of their miserable lives. Incorrigible boys were banished from the community—“damned to hell” as the diviner put it. Daniel thought sardonically that if his father believed the Fallen Lands were hell, he was sadly mistaken. He was doing them a favor by casting them out. Adult males who incurred the displeasure of Abraham often found their wives reassigned and their children as well. Some men even disappeared altogether.
But what of young girls who defied the laws of the Nephilim? Daniel could never remember such an instance occurring. Perhaps because thirteen-year-old girls weren’t given a chance to think about their predicament before they were bundled into marriages with much older men. Once pregnant, their days were full until the children were all grown. After that, some of them became angry or eccentric. The talk among the women was that the change of life had scrambled their sister-wives’ brains. To Daniel, it seemed the change of life gave them a brief glimpse of their true plight. Who could remain placid after such a revelation as that?
Of course, his father wasn’t the originator of any of the punishments meted out to the rebellious. These had all been set down by Jedediah Proctor over two hundred years ago. Abraham Metcalf was merely following in the footsteps of diviners past. Daniel wondered at what point tradition first became a convenient justification for evil. He gasped inwardly. There, he’d said it. The ways of the Blessed Nephilim were evil. Why hadn’t God struck him dead for his blasphemy? He waited. Nothing happened. Still, he cringed at his own disloyalty. He’d spent just enough time in the outer world to question the customs of his people, but not enough time to lose his superstitious dread of damnation. Perhaps God was devising a worse punishment for him—to continue the relic quest—to see more innocent lives destroyed through his actions. That was surely worse than a quick death by lightning bolt.
His thoughts drifted back to Hannah. What was he going to do? Still grappling with this problem, he opened the door to his chamber only to be greeted by an unexpected sight. His third wife, Annabeth, sat waiting for him. She sprang out of her chair and hurled herself at him.
“How could you!” she beat at his chest with her frail fists.
Daniel felt completely taken aback. He had never seen Annabeth angry—weak, tearful, hesitant. Until this moment he never saw rage glittering in her pale, watery eyes. It was almost incandescent. She trembled with the force of it.
“Annabeth?” he asked uncertainly. “What is the matter with you?”
“The matter with me? The matter with me?” she practically screamed.
He disentangled himself from her flailing arms and hastily shut the door. Then he advanced to the middle of the bedroom where she stood.
“Shhh!” he cautioned. “People will hear.”
“I don’t care who hears me,” she hissed. “I know what you’re doing!”
“What I’m—” He cut himself off. It wasn’t possible. How could she know? Instead, he asked, “What are you talking about?”
She stood her ground—her face almost touching his. “I’ve been watching the two of you for weeks now. Sneaking about. Meeting secretly when you thought nobody was looking. I was looking, Daniel. Looking and finding proof that my husband is an adulterer!”
“A what?” He almost laughed in relief. “Annabeth, it isn’t what you think.”
She was still quivering with rage. “What else could it possibly be? Explain it to me! You already have three wives that you never see. Three children you hardly ever ask about. That’s more than some men have. Yet you turn your back on us for a girl who isn’t your lawful wife anymore.”
He noticed that the handkerchief in her hand was nearly shredded to rags. She must have been waiting for him a long time, working herself up to a feverish pitch.
She continued. “You have set her above us. Me and my sister-wives have been cast beneath the foot of this girl you had no use for just a few months ago. You only want her now because she’s forbidden fruit. I won’t lose my place, Daniel! I’ll tell you that much! I won’t have your father accusing me of being a bad wife because I’ve borne only a single child. It isn’t my fault. Nobody believes me, but it isn’t my fault. It’s your fault! All yours!
