Sooner or later, I was going to need to learn their words. I refused to live the rest of my life in ignorance of what was said around me. That included the rest of this world, so I read a bit more about vegetables, then flipped a few pages further back in the book just because I was curious.

For the first time in my life, I didn't need to worry about how long I read. Wanting to enjoy this one little blessing, I thumbed through the pages, trying to get an idea of what this book was about. Unlike the ones I'd found in the compound, this book was filled with pictures. It showed the world. Dozens of birds, trees, insects, and animals. I kept going until I got to the part about venomous creatures.

This might actually be useful. The land outside looked nothing like what the books in my forbidden library had shown, so the more I learned, the better off I'd be when I was on my own. I started on the first page of this section, reading about snakes. Many were not poisonous, but some were. I took note of how to tell the difference, wondering how I'd check the scales on their tails without being struck, but I still committed it to memory. After that came bugs.

Some were small. Most, actually. The idea that a thing no bigger than my pinky nail could kill me made me thankful I'd decided to read instead of run. With bare feet, I could easily step on one of these! Then there were the plants that would make me itch or cause a rash. However, it seemed the insects were definitely the most dangerous thing in the world above.

When I swallowed the last bite of my tuber breakfast, I put the book back down. The Dragons still weren't back, and who knew how long they'd be gone? I had no idea what I was expected to do, but my filthy clothes were still in a pile in the bathing room, and at least those underthings fit properly.

Not that I'd wear them in the state they were in, but the bras and underwear the men had given me hung on my body, clearly designed for a bigger woman. Then again, there was a tub in the bathroom, and I'd seen at least two different types of soap, so I could wash my old things.

The water wasn't warm when it came out of the tap this time. It was cool, and there wasn't any obvious way to heat it, but that didn't matter. I tossed my filthy underthings and chemise beneath the stream, tucked the front of my knee-length dress between my thighs, and bent over to get to work. The liquid soap I'd used for my hair lathered nicely. The water coming off the fabric was brown and dingy.

This actually reminded me of home. There, the washing room had a basin high enough I didn't need to bend over quite so far, but the washing was almost the same. Scrub, rinse, lather, repeat. I'd expected my chemise to be the most disgusting piece, but they were all pretty bad. Sweat, dirt, and little bits of plants were attached to the fabric. The herbal scent of the soap was nice, though. Much better than what we had in the compound.

I was so focused on getting my things back to their natural white color I forgot to listen. There, with my rump up and my dress in a rather indecent position, the last thing I expected was to hear a man chuckle right behind me just as his hands closed on the sides of my skirt. He tugged, yanking the fabric down, and I yelped.

Jerking straight up, I spun to find myself face-to-face with the Wyvern.

Twenty-EightAyla

The Wyvern tried to make a gesture, but I didn't give him the chance. I knew what he was thinking! For as long as I could remember, we girls had been warned about the threat of men. I'd been bent over with my dress hiked up. Most of my legs had been exposed and my bottom had been pointed at him!

This man wouldn't be able to resist the temptation, and I knew how this would end. I'd already suffered so much to avoid it, and I wouldn't simply give in now! So I pushed, needing space. The effort didn't even make him budge, my pathetic struggles useless against him.

Fear was starting to set in. I wasn't strong enough to keep him from having his way with me. He was between me and the door. My posture had been tempting, and without any words between us, he had to think I'd been offering myself. He'd take me, rape me, and shame me. I only had one option left.

I swung as hard as I could, my open palm connecting with the side of his face. The resulting crack was loud, but the shock on his face was even more impressive. Immediately, the Wyvern stepped back, giving me plenty of room, and I took it. Bolting, I made for the door, hit the hall, and kept going.

Pain lanced up my feet, but I ignored it. All that mattered right now was fleeing, yet as I raced through the rest of the house, I saw yellow and brown at the edge of my vision. Kanik and the vividly-colored man were standing at the edge between the kitchen and the sitting room, but I didn't give them the chance to stop me either.

I needed out of here. I had to get away before one of these men took me, because I didn't want to get married. Not with the consummation before, after, or anything else!

I didn't care about my feet. It didn't matter that my dash through the house was loud and impossible to miss. No, I'd been warned about what men would do, and the pain it would cause. I'd seen Meri after she'd married Gideon. Even worse, this really had been my fault. I'd been the one with my rump in the air. No one would care if I'd thought I was alone. They'd blame me, giving him permission to do what he would. After all, he was the man.

Which meant I was now out of time. I hit the main door of the house and kept going, out into the blinding light of the day, aiming for the forest path that had brought me here. It was all I knew, and I would not suffer the torture of marriage. I'd already escaped it once before. I could do it again.

"Rymar!" the Wyvern bellowed his voice carrying even outside.

I didn't dare stop or look back. My legs were pumping as hard as they could. I crossed the grass and hit the hard-packed road, hoping I was far enough ahead - then the air rushed out of my lungs as an arm hooked me around the middle. A scream burst from my mouth. I struggled, but the man was just too strong. Lifting my feet from the ground, the yellow Dragon growled something and hauled me forcefully back towards the house. A glance showed I'd barely even made it out of the yard.

"No," I begged. "Please don't give me to him."

He said nothing, merely heaved me against his side and kept walking.

Tears were building in my eyes, but I wouldn't give up. Pounding a fist on his arm did nothing. Flailing with my feet hit nothing. The Dragon simply carried me back into the sitting room, using his red-and-turquoise tail to hook the door and slam it behind us. He didn't slow until he reached the place I'd been sitting the night before, and then he tossed me into it.

Kanik and the Wyvern moved to plant themselves on either side of me. With the yellow one in front, I was effectively blocked. Terrified and desperate, I looked between them frantically, trying to read their strangely-colored faces, wondering how bad the punishment for this was going to be and praying it wasn't marriage.

Then Kanik grabbed the book I'd been using and pressed it into my hands. I took it, lifting the hardcover like a pathetic shield between myself and them, but that seemed to be the wrong thing to do. Snarling like a monster, the brown dragon forced it open.

That wasn't what I'd expected! Not at all. I'd been prepared to fight them off, not look at a book. Standing at my right, Kanik flipped a few pages, then a few more before finding what he wanted. His finger stabbed at the image of a large cat.

"Ca-ow-gar," he said, tracing the description beneath. Then he pointed at something else. "Bier!"

It was the third one that made sense. "Walf!"

That made the Wyvern thrust his arm out and point towards the forest while rambling off more of his foreign words in an angry voice. Then the yellow one joined in, and all three of them were bellowing at me in words I couldn't understand and at a volume that made me want to shrink into myself.

But the last picture was of a very large canine and that one word was so close. I ignored them, replaying the strange sound in my mind over and over, trying to figure out if I was right.

So I looked at Kanik and pointed at the picture. "Wolf?"

My word was soft, but the silence that claimed the room right after was even softer. Orange eyes, turquoise, and dark purple all stared at me. The men didn't twitch, didn't shift their weight, and I was pretty sure they didn't even blink.

Until the Wyvern slowly pointed to the image again. "Waulf?" he tried.

The sound made tingles flow across my skin. It was so close. I desperately tried again. "It's a wolf."

And Kanik's mouth fell open. "English?"

"Anglas?" the Wyvern asked.

Which made the yellow one's mouth fall open. "Sa fakon spiks Anglas?"

But Kanik had just said one word I knew, and it shocked me enough to forget all about my need to flee. This man knew my language? Never mind how the others were saying something close enough it had to be some atrocious attempt at English. Plus, throwing me into a chair and giving me a book was the least aggressive thing I could think of.

These Dragons were trying to communicate, and I actually knew these words.

"You know what English is?" I asked, my eyes hanging on Kanik.

His breath fell out in a rush. "Spee-yak thees?" he asked, pointing at something else. Did he mean, Speak this?

"Coyote," I said.

"Coyote," he repeated slowly. "Not koh-yo-tay?"

"No, it's pronounced kie-oh-tee." But I felt a shock race across my skin as his words sank in. Words I knew. "Is that why you can't understand me? Your accent is different?"

"Orin," he said, squatting down beside me, "eet is bekaze no one speeyaks these words. English is a deeyad langooage. We read it, we do not speeyak it, but Vestrian - our langooage - cowems fram eet." His accent was thick, making me focus hard to make out what he was saying.

It took me a little longer before the meaning actually sank in. "English is a dead language, and no one speaks it anymore, but you can read it? Your own language came from it?"

He nodded, then tried again - this time clear enough I could understand him through his accent. "And I think I can make the words enough for you to listen now. Hello, Orin. It is nice to meet you."

"You know English?" I asked again, just needing to hear him confirm it.

Which was when the Wyvern dropped onto the couch beside me with a pleased groan. "Well, this makes things easier," he said. The words were twisted oddly, the vowels not quite right, but I could definitely make out what he meant. "That book is mine, so yes, I know English."