"Just some kissing, some feeling her up, and a little oral sex," Zasen said. "My talons are a little too long for hand stuff, but she did get off. She also admitted afterwards that she had a moment of fear, but she pushed through it because she trusts us."
"Which means," I said, looking between the two of them, "we need to make sure she doesn't feel like it has to be hidden. If she decides to do it again, I don't care if I'm in the room, okay? Or if I'm the one picked, or anything else."
"Me either," Zasen said. "She's made a few comments about us kissing differently, so I can see her wondering about the rest. I also think we should initiate a little more."
"Not sex," Rymar said quickly. "Oral or otherwise."
"Kissing," Zasen agreed. "Holding, cuddling, and maybe a little platonic hand-roaming. We need to stop treating her like she'll break, because that one?"
"Ayla will never break," I agreed.
"No, but she might manage to fix the three of us," Rymar said. "One honest little conversation at a time, she's doing it."
"Yeah," I breathed. "Because she was taught to talk about nothing. We've had to teach her everything. She's thrown out the idea of being ashamed and is just..."
"Perfect," Zasen finished for me. "That woman is absolutely perfect - for us."
Rymar and I nodded in agreement, because Zasen had just put my feelings into words. Ayla was the thing we'd been needing this whole time. We'd just never realized it until she fell into our lives. Now, none of us wanted to risk losing either her or this thing between us, because my partners? That was one rank higher than friends, and I fucking loved how it felt to have them.
Fifty-Five
Callah
I'd told Felicity about fighting back with the words our God had given us. She'd mentioned it to others. That had led to a meeting in the laundry, and somehow, I'd ended up being the one to tell them how this should work. Even more surprising? The women had embraced the idea.
It had started small. Little comments mumbled under a wife's breath when her husband was out of line. Then they'd stopped mumbling. Within two days, those rebuttals were no longer saved for their husbands, but rather handed out at every injustice we saw.
And we saw far too many.
The youngest wives were the first to speak up, or so it seemed. Puah, the girl who'd been slapped to the ground on my wedding day? She recited book and verse far better than I ever could've. Zuriah, the one who had spent the night in my suite instead of her own? When she quoted a Bible verse, it always sounded like an epiphany instead of a correction.
By the second day, Ms. Lawton began using those same tactics against the children she was responsible for. Once, I heard her chide the boys that way, reminding them we were theRighteous, and to deserve that name, we needed to follow the word of God above all else!
Then there was Felicity.
As a widow, she had no husband to answer to. With her marriage date quickly approaching, she was becoming desperate. And so she'd let it "slip" that she and Sylis had made a mistake. Wisely, she'd gone to Mrs. Myers for advice and absolution, saying she'd tried to hold him off, but as a hunter, he was too strong.
I knew about this only because Mr. Myers had asked Tobias about it. Tobias had claimed ignorance, but he'd admitted Sylis joked often about how the benefit of marrying a widow was that waiting wasn't necessary, so he believed it was possible. Then he'd told me all about how that conversation had gone.
Sylis wouldn't care, he'd assured me. The lie was no worse than the ones hunters told the rest of the Righteous, like hiding what our meat was. More importantly, if it could spare Felicity - or get her banished to the surface - then even better.
He was right. I knew he was, but Felicity was growing frantic. Sadly, I couldn't tell her he was alive. I didn't know her well enough, or trust her that much. If Tobias's ruse got out,he'dbe the one punished, and likely with a bullet. That was simply not a risk I was willing to take.
But I did tell her not to fear banishment. I promised her she'd be happier up there. The smile that had put on her face? It was the sort Ayla had worn right before she did something stupid - like refuse her intended with a knee to his genitals.
But on the fourth day, Felicity took it too far. Mr. Saunders pushed into the line for our lunch, forcing her back. Tobias and I were ahead of him, but when Felicity gasped in surprise, quite a few people looked over.
"Deliver from the hand of the oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless, or thewidow," she said.
Not mumbled. Not grumbled. She didn't even whisper it. Felicity said those words boldly, and loudly enough to make it clear she was chiding him.
Mr. Saunders slowly rounded on her. "What was that, Mrs. Baldwin?"
"That was Jeremiah 22:3," she replied smugly. "I have been reading lately, Mr. Saunders. I hear it is a good hobby for a widow."
He grunted. "And pray tell, how exactly are you oppressed? What have you been robbed of?"
"The mourning period for my husband, to start." And she lifted her chin, all but taunting this man. "My meals, my dignity, and even the respect I am due as a mother of Righteous children. What else does a woman have?"
