I turned to face her, folding my hand on hers still at my elbow and whispered, “I’ll do my best. Tell me what you need.”

She was looking up at me again and I saw pink tinge her cheeks.

Then she spoke quickly in somewhat broken Korwahk, “He doesn’t er… he has been… for some time, he has been… changed.

At first, he was, it was… not good. I was, you know, I’ve told you, I had no idea what was happening. But, I got to the point where, I don’t know, I decided… er, since it kept happening, I knew it wasn’t going to stop. So, uh, anytime he touched me, I just,” her face flamed deeper pink and she whispered, “got to my knees, pulled up my nightgown and put my face in the bed, like he always took me so he would just… get it over with. ”

Oh God. How hideous.

I let her hand at my elbow go, grabbed her other one, held it to my chest and whispered, “I’m so sorry, my sweet girl.”

She nodded and bit her lip. “Thank you,” she whispered back then she drew breath into her nose and kept whispering, “He was my first.”

Oh God. She was a virgin.

I squeezed her hand. “Oh Sabine, I’m so sorry.”

“I… didn’t like it,” she shared what I knew was an extreme understatement.

“You wouldn’t,” I told her. “Of course not. I understand that.”

She nodded again and then moved an inch closer. “But, he has not done that to me. Not for weeks. ”

It was my turn to nod but I kept quiet.

Sabine kept talking. “And he has been, like I said, changed. Er…

greatly changed. His tone has gentled and for some time, except to stroke my face or shift my hair off my shoulder, he didn’t touch me at all. Not even in bed.” I nodded again when she stopped talking to urge her on so she took a deep breath and continued. “Then he, er…

started to chat with me. I didn’t know much of what he was saying but he would come to our tent at night and talk to me… quietly.

Then, one night, when he left… um, he started always to leave to give me time to prepare for bed,” she explained then went on, “he, er… kissed my forehead before he left which felt,” she squeezed her eyes shut then opened them and breathed, “nice. ”

She stopped again. I squeezed her hand and prompted, “Go on.”

“Well that started… it started, er… then he started to change again but not to go back to how he was before. He just kind of, um…

kissed me. Not my mouth or anything. My eyes, my forehead or when he would sweep the hair off my shoulder, he would bend low, you know…” she paused and her eyelashes fluttered a little in a very cute way before she whispered, “he’s very tall.”

“I know he’s very tall, Sabine,” I whispered back when she didn’t go on.

“Well, he would bend low to kiss… er, my neck. And then…

then, one night he pulled me into his arms when he got in bed with me and I was terrified he was going to… you know.”

I nodded again and held her hand tight. “I know.”

She leaned further into me. “But he didn’t. He just held me. And I… I… slept with him like that. ” Her eyes grew round. “Like a baby. ”

I smiled. “This is good.”

“I… is it?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” I answered without any hesitation at all. “Has he continued to –?”

She nodded. “Yes, every night, he holds me. But… um… the other night… er…” her eyes slid away and she went quiet.

“Sabine, you can tell me,” I whispered and her eyes came back to me, her face now aflame.

“He touched me,” she whispered reverently, her eyes warming, she leaned in and went on quickly. “He was holding me then he turned my back to him and his hands moved on me and they did this awhile, soothingly, then I relaxed because it felt rather… nice and then he started using them in ways… such ways…” the look in her gaze drifted faraway and a small smile played at her lips as she breathed, “such ways. ”

Well, good for Zahnin. Well done warrior!

I squeezed her hand and her focus came back to me then I stated,

“It was good.”

Her eyes got huge. “No, Circe, it was beautiful. ”

All right! Zahnin was definitely the man!

“Then this is definitely good,” I informed her and her face fell. I felt my brows draw together and I asked carefully, “It isn’t good?”

She shook her head, looked to the side and said softly. “He hurt me.”

Oh man.

“Yes, he did,” I confirmed softly back and her eyes again came to me.

“But I want it again,” she breathed her admission and I blinked but she carried on. “He just hasn’t… done it again and I don’t know how to… er… ask him to.”

I stifled a giggle, released my hold on her but lifted both hands to cup her jaw and I dipped my face to hers.

“Okay, then, my sweet girl, I will give you my advice. If you want this, if you know in your heart you want this change, then my guess is, your husband has shown you a hint of the beauty he wishes to give you. Now that he has done that, he is waiting for you to give him a sign that you liked it and wish for him to give more.” I actually felt her face heat under my hands but kept talking. “So, the next time he kisses your forehead, tilt your head back so he will

instead kiss your lips.” I watched close up as her eyes got wide again and carried on. “Or, if you have the courage, touch him as he holds you when you’re in bed. All you’ll have to do is glide your hand across his chest or find his and move it to your body. He will take your hint and then your part will be done and he will lead the way.”

She stared up at me and whispered, “I… Circe, I don’t know if I can do that.”

I smiled at her. “You can, Sabine, if you want what he can give you and I promise you,” my hands tightened on her jaw, “you have my word that, since he knows how to give you the gift he’s already given you, he knows other ways, better ways to give it to you again.

And if you liked what he’s already shared, I promise, you will like even more the bounties he has yet to offer.”

“Really?” she breathed, clearly astonished but liking that idea.

“Oh yeah,” I whispered.

She studied me and whispered back, “Claudine says that you enjoy, er… this, um… greatly and, er… often with our Dax.”