"I know!" Meri agreed. "But if I say no, he'll just hit me and tell me to do it again. So, I..." She quickly glanced between the pair of us, her face heating up. "He had me put it in my mouth. When he finished, it... spurts."
"Spurts what?" Callah asked.
"The seed," I answered, knowing this part.
"And when he's between my legs, it spurts down there," Meri went on. "The seed feels like our monthly flow, but it's white. It just comes out and gets on my legs, but he doesn't like me to get out of bed when he's done. He wants me to tell him how good it was."
"His penis?" Callah asked.
"The act!" Meri hissed. "I'm supposed to praise him for being good at putting his penis inside me and bucking until he spills his seed!"
"So lie," I told her.
"But that's a sin," she reminded me. "Ayla, I don't know what to do. So far, I've told him he must be amazing because he's my husband. I told him I'm sure he will impregnate me quickly. With as many times a day as he wants to fornicate, he must, right? But I don't want to sin and have him report me to the Elders!"
"So tell him he's the best you can imagine," I said. "it's true, since you will only be with him. Tell him he's your best lover. He's also your only one. If you can't lie, then tell the truth he wants to hear. Maybe he'll stop hitting you."
"No," she said, sounding dejected. "He doesn't always hit me for sex. Sometimes it's to train me."
"Spare the rod and spoil the wife," I grumbled, having heard that phrase from far too many wives.
Meri nodded. "I need to learn my place. Gideon expects me to worship him just under God. He is my husband, the holder of my life and controller of my future. I know this is what the Bible says we women should expect, but I'd hoped..."
"For something more like Ayla's stories," Callah finished for her. "Yeah, me too."
"But those stories are all fantasies," I reminded them.
"I still don't know what a fantasy is," Meri admitted.
"A lie," I told her as I finally figured it out myself. "One big, fat lie that is like a daydream. A lie you wish could be true but isn't. That doesn't make it true or real, though."
"No," she agreed. "It doesn't. Just..." She sighed. "I don't know. I just hoped telling you the truth might help you two pick your own husbands when the time comes."
"It will," I assured her, but across from me Callah's eyes got big and the girl sat up straight.
That was the only warning either of us got before a hand landed in Meri's hair and pulled.
"My wife should be at home," Gideon growled, making it clear we'd been caught.
SixAyla
Using nothing but the strength of his arm, Gideon pulled Meri to her feet. She didn't resist, following the hand in her hair as she stumbled and staggered over the seats to get away from the table. Then Gideon shoved.
Meri tripped backwards, slipping on the hard floor to fall on her rump. It all happened so fast I barely knew what to do. Out of habit, I spun off my own chair, intending to help her, but that was the wrong decision.
My bottom was barely off the seat before Gideon backhanded me right across the mouth. "Stay out of this!" he snapped.
I could taste the rust of blood on my tongue. I could feel the burning of the impact on my cheek. I knew the pain would hit soon enough, but my concern for Meri pushed it away. And yet, he was right. There was nothing I could do. I had no way to stop this.
Meri had come to have lunch with us to warn us, and now this was her price? Scrambling backwards on the floor, she was shaking her head as if denying any of this could change it.
"I just wanted to wish them well in their own marriages," she lied. "Gideon, I only came here to let them know a good husband is a blessing. That's all. I swear!"
"And I told you not to leave our rooms until your face heals," he growled, bending down just to grab her hair again.
Those silver-blonde locks came free from the bun they were in, giving Meri a wild look. The terrified eyes and parted mouth only made it worse. But when she dared to reach up and clasp the arm pulling her to her feet, Gideon made a sound that made my blood run cold. It was like what I imagined an animal would make.
"Gideon..." I begged, pushing to my feet with my hand out, desperately wanting to fix this.
He shoved at Meri, letting her go so he could turn to me. "That's Mr. Kobrick to you!"
"Mr. Kobrick," I corrected, realizing marriage meant he deserved the honorific. "She didn't mean to."
"To what?" he asked, turning to face me with pure rage on his face. "To disobey me? To come to the dining hall when I explicitly forbid it? To leave me wondering where my own meal was? Wondering where my wife could be while I sat hungry in our suite?" He stepped closer, his eyes boring into mine. "Is that what you mean, Ayla?"
But as he moved, I could see him favoring his side. Maybe his clothes covered his wounds, but I had been the one to sew them all. I knew how injured this man really was. That had to be why he wasn't punishing Meri worse.
And somehow, I had to make this better. I wasn't sure how, but his wounds were all I had.
"Are you healing well, Mr. Kobrick?" I asked.
He didn't respond the way I expected. Gideon simply swung. The solidness of his knuckles collided with my temple in a backhanded smack. My head snapped around with the force of the hit. My feet forgot which way to move, and my body tumbled.
I hit the ground the same way Meri had, but Gideon wasn't close to done. Pulling back his foot, he kicked, catching me in the belly. The air rushed from my lungs.
Again, then again, he kicked, grunting with the effort he was putting in, and all I could do was take it. This was the price of being a woman. But when he stopped, his rage still wasn't gone.
"Stay away from my wife," he yelled.
