"The electricity allows us to have refrigeration," she went on. "That's how we keep food good for longer. It makes the stoves run too. They have bars that get so hot they turn orange. Not all the lights are good, but when a bulb burns out, they take some from the unused parts. You see, there used to be more Righteous, but the Devil is winning, so many of us have died."
"Ayla?" Zasen asked.
She lifted her eyes, the blue color even brighter against the red-rimmed edges. "I'm trying to tell you everything I know," she explained. "I don't really want to die. I did. I mean, that's why I stabbed Mr. Saunders with a fork, because I thought it would be better to die up here than from his child killing me. And I wouldn't even know how long it would take! It could be the first, or the next, or the tenth! And the longer it took, the more time he'd have to torture me with breeding." Her eyes were streaming faster now. "And some men don't care if a woman should get nine months off while pregnant and six more for the baby!"
"Nine months off from what?" Zasen asked.
"From sex!" she whimpered.
"From rape," I grumbled, crossing the room to claim the spot on the couch beside her. "Ayla, it's okay."
"No, it's not!" she insisted. "Kanik, I don't know what he needs to know. I'm trying to help. I want to prove myself! I like that you don't punish me, and I really like reading. I want to do more, but I heard him! He only wants me here because of what I know, so I'm trying to tell him what I know!"
"Fuck," Zasen growled before turning away.
"Light the rest of the lamps," I told him as I twisted to see Ayla better. "Did you hear the part he said about what you know is worth its weight in gold?" I ducked my head, making her meet my eyes. "Gold, Ayla. He is the Wyvern, and they hoard gold, right?"
"In stupid fantasies," she mumbled.
"And in the real world, gold is still valuable. That makes you his gold. It makes you valuable."
"But I'm a Mole!"
"You were a Mole," I told her.
She just huffed, unimpressed. "I'm not a Dragon."
"No, you're not," I agreed. "Not yet, but what if you could become one?"
"Kanik!" Zasen snapped.
I turned to give him a warning look. "I think you've fucked this up enough. She's clearly not a spy or an assassin. She's just a young woman trying to survive, and she has done every single thing you've asked."
"Except tell me what I need!" Zasen roared.
Ayla flinched beside me, clenching her book tighter. What she didn't do was look at him. Her eyes were back on her lap, her head was down, and she looked like the most submissive thing I'd ever seen.
"It's okay," I promised. "I won't let him hit you."
"But I made a mistake," she whispered. "I know I did, because that man was so mad." Her eyes flicked to me, then back down quickly. "Was it the book? I know you said I could read it, but if I'm not supposed to, I understand. I don't want you to break the rules either."
"It wasn't the book," I promised. "It was your hair."
"My hair?"
"And skin," Zasen said from the kitchen where he was lighting the lamps. "Orin-colored."
"Mole-colored," I clarified. "And Moles are our enemies."
"Why?" she breathed.
Yeah, that was not a subject I was willing to tackle yet, so I gave her a half-assed answer. "Because they made sure of it." Then I rubbed her arm, aware she flinched first, then tensed against my touch. "The cruel things your men do? They don't just do them to you. The difference is that we don't lower our eyes and take it. We fight back, Ayla."
"When I tried, I got chained to a tree," she reminded me.
"And now you're here," I said gently. "Now you have the chance to help us stop them from hurting more people."
"Like Meri and Callah?" she asked hopefully, daring to lift her head just a bit.
I caught her chin, encouraging her to actually look up. "Which ones are they again?" I couldn't keep track of the Mole names she tossed out so easily.
"Her friends," Zasen said. "The only ones she had, and they weren't even supposed to be friends."
Letting go of Ayla's chin, I twisted to see him. "And you fucking thought she was a damned threat? Did you shove your tail up your ass, or just your head?"
He stormed out of the kitchen to glare at me. Once again, Ayla pulled into herself, and I was done with this. Shoving to my feet, I crossed the room to stand before him.
"Do you fucking see what you're doing to her?"
"Did you hear Saveah?" Zasen shot back. "She's pissed. I tried to be nice to the girl, and now I might not get to see my godson because of it!"
"Like she'd stop you," I countered. "She just doesn't want Tamin around her!"
"And?" Zasen thrust out both hands in Ayla's direction. "That's my fucking point. I have to watch her. I have to make sure she doesn't wander out and get into another stupid mess because that girl is so damned naive about everything! She doesn't even know what a fucking sunset is!"
"Which is why we're showing - " I stopped as the door opened.
"Everything okay?" Rymar asked as he slowly made his way in. Seeing us, he looked over at Ayla, then back. "What happened?"
