of his words. Bach, after all, wasn’t human, but from another place or realm that had no name. All he told her was it was near the Jade Ocean.
His people had a problem with humans. She’d only met two of his people aside from him—Enric, who was his friend, and Felip, who had been Bach’s steward and also his cousin. Enric had treated her with disdain and had tried to renew her. The renewal was when a member of the Family brainwashed humans into serving and wanting to please the Family above all else. A renewed human, or a Thayn, had no will of their own.
Felip, on the other hand, tried to kidnap her and almost caused her mother’s death.
Maybe the trip to Jarthan had caused this mood swing of his. She suspected there was more to his trip than what he’d told her, but she was not going to push him for answers, as it would probably be something about the ways his people would torture her for corrupting him. Tired of pretending his words hadn’t hurt her, she wanted to leave. “It’s getting late.” Forcing a smile, she put down the guitar.
“No, do not go. It is not you. I love you.”
“I know.” She brushed him off. “I’m pretty in my own way.”
Whatever his problems were, he sounded remarkably like Steven Hindle when he mocked her about her shape, her hair, and how only vodka would ever make any guy even notice she was alive. And until Bach, that was nicest thing any of the boys in Smythe had ever said to her. Now he was starting to sound a bit like Steven and the rest and she didn’t want to hear anymore.
“You are beautiful, more than anyone I have ever seen, but my Family would come after you like you would not believe. I do not know how I can live without you.” He reached for her.
Getting to her feet, she heard shouting from outside.
Bach walked over to the side window and she followed. A few houses away, they saw a man and a woman arguing with two soldiers over what looked like a sheep.
“You’re a bloody thief,” the man yelled at the soldier. “You’ve no right.”
“You expect us to keep on eating rats?” the woman screamed.
“Shut up, both of you,” one of the soldiers replied. “You keep this up and I’ll make sure your rations get cut next week.”
“Go to hell, Janice.” The woman spat in the soldier’s face.
The female soldier laughed and slapped the woman across the face, causing her to stumble back. “If you want to eat mutton, you get it from the ration center and not the black market.” Taking out a knife, the Janice cut the rope the man was using to hold the sheep.
“We haven’t had fresh meat in three weeks,” the man protested.
“Mr. Saunders, either you get some rats from Clarkson, cross your fingers, hope there’ll be meat in next week’s rations, or become a vegetarian,” the second soldier derided.
The man lunged at the female soldier, but she tripped him, knocking him to the ground. “Don’t be stupid,” Janice said to Mr. Saunders. She muttered something else to the couple.
Wisteria couldn’t hear what it was. All she saw was Mr. Saunders and the woman stomping off without the sheep. She could tell from the hand gestures they made to the soldiers that the couple was still furious, but there was nothing they could do. “Everyone hates them,” she muttered to Bach as they watched the other soldiers with the sheep head in the opposite direction. She could feel the couples’ pain that there wasn’t meat in last month’s rations.
The town had long run out of tinned food, although occasionally the trackers or Bach were able to find something that had not gone completely bad. When they got some meat, it was normally dried or shredded, so it lasted longer.
Bach had suggested many times about him bringing food from his home just for her, as he was worried she wasn’t getting enough to eat. He couldn’t move large enough quantities for the whole town through the thresholds without his people asking a lot of questions, he’d
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley