Khrull eyed him suspiciously for a moment before eventually giving in and toasting with his own ale. Khaul’s calm acceptance of his behavior helped and Khrull relaxed a little, allowing me to ease my way closer to Zoya and the other bondmates.
“So, Briar. We’ve all shared our stories about how we were sent here, but we haven’t heard yours yet. How did you end up a tribute?” Zoya asked.
I grimaced, and she and the other bondmates leaned closer, eyes alight with curiosity. Even Khrull looked curious. It wasn’t a pleasant story, but this was my clan now. It was probably important to share how I came here.
“I, uh… I was accused of murder and the mayor gave me a choice to either volunteer as tribute or face the noose. I chose to be a tribute.”
Everyone sitting close to us went silent and jaws fell open in surprise. I winced, wriggling a little closer to Khrull. What were the chances that they wouldn’t believe me like the people in my town hadn’t?
“Well, did you?” someone finally asked.
Khrull made an irritated sound and when I looked up at him, he was glaring in their direction. “Of course, he didn’t. My Briar would harm no one.”
Tears sprung to my eyes at his quick defense of me. I wished someone had done that in town, but even those who knew me weren’t certain of my innocence. My own mother seemed conflicted when she heard their so-called ‘evidence’.
Since I knew I couldn’t end the story there, I explained. “No, I didn’t. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I worked at the local bookstore and had been closing up for the nightwhen I heard a noise near the back. There was a stray cat that sometimes came around for food and I thought it was him, so I went back there to look. The thing was, the bookshop was close to the tavern, and two drunks had managed to stumble far enough away from the tavern to end up behind the shop. One of them strangled the other and shoved him away, and I just happened to be close enough for him to fall on top of me. The murderer ran away just before the guards showed up. The guy who was attacked never woke up, so he couldn’t tell them who his attacker was. Since I was the only one there, they blamed me.”
One of the bondmates made a face. “You’re tiny. Do you even have the strength to strangle someone?”
I shook my head. I tried to point that out during the trial, but because I was literally found with the dead guy on top of me, they didn’t believe me.
Voices rose as people demanded to know how they could convict without proof and who would believe that I’d done such a horrendous thing. Tears spilled over my cheeks as I listened to them. Not one of them believed I’d done it. I’d barely lived with them a few weeks and they knew better than most of the town I was raised in. I thought choosing to become a tribute was worse than death. It turned out to be the best decision I’d ever made. Because of it, I found Khrull, got a chance to meet all these wonderful people, and finally had a chance to be truly happy.
Thanksto some help from one of the bondmates, I was introduced to a group that traveled between clans and towns for trade. One of them agreed to pass on a letter to my mother. I wanted to let her and Ruth know I was okay. My mother had lostmy father only a few years prior, and my brother in an attack on the town the following year. She was all alone now, and I didn’t want her spending the rest of her life thinking I was being tortured or that I was dead.
People had the wrong idea about the clans. It felt wrong that a small few with bad intentions were ruining it for the rest of them. Orthorr, the clan leader, told me they made the deal for tributes because the clans couldn’t seem to produce females. All babies were born males. They needed to find love matches outside their clan to keep their way of life alive. Because towns refused to allow them to interact the normal way, the older clans were forced to kidnap women to continue their lines. The younger generation didn’t like that, so they offered a treaty to the heads of the towns. Gift them with tributes and the kidnapping would stop. That was why the good clans treated women so well. They were revered because, without them, their way of life would end. But because of how things started, people thought the worst about the barbarians and becoming a tribute.
I knew all about things starting the wrong way with the clans. I thanked the gods every day that I was given to Khrull, who refused to mistreat me even when his clan demanded it. He and every new clan member I’d met since we joined the northern clan made me want to change the way the townsfolk saw the clans. They weren’t as bad as people thought. And if people knew how good they’d have it, they wouldn’t have to be so terrified when becoming a tribute.
It wouldn’t be easy. Town leaders had started using the treaty to force out people they didn’t like from their towns. Anyone with power would be resistant to change. But I wanted to do what I could. So when the traders offered for me to join them so I could visit the towns and figure out a way to spread the truth, I agreed so long as Khrull came with me.
The clans deserved to be seen as they truly were. Good people just trying to live their lives as they’d done for hundreds of years. And the townsfolk deserved to know joining them wouldn’t be the end of their lives. They didn’t have to live in fear anymore.
“Are you ready to go?” Khrull asked, drawing my focus to him. I hadn’t left the clan since we first arrived here. Trade was halted during the worst of the winter months when travel was too difficult. This was my first journey outside the clan. I was a little nervous. The last time we’d been outside the safety of the clan, we’d been running from Khrull’s old clan who wanted to hurt me.
“Is it likely we will run into them?”
He huffed a laugh and shook his head, wrapping himself around me. “No, kolrav. Einar the Feral dealt with them. He took issue with the fact that there were more tributes we had to leave behind. He attacked in the night and anyone who stood against him fell. The rest of the clan scattered. The Fer’na are no more. You are safe.”
Stunned, I gaped up at him. “When was this?”
He tipped his head thoughtfully. “Near the solstice.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
The look he gave me said it all. There was no way he would have told me about such violence. He thought I was precious and refused to tell me anything he thought might upset me.
“I can take it, you know,” I carped, pouting at him. “I’ve seen violence before.”
He hummed, lifting my chin so he could capture my lips in a sweet kiss. When he pulled away, I swayed toward him automatically. Months of being together didn’t make his kisses any less potent.
“I know you have. But I am your bondmate. It is my job to protect you. You should not have to hear about things that would upset you.”
I could have pointed out that I wouldn’t be upset about the Fer’na being gone. If anything, it was a reason to celebrate. But I knew better than to argue with him. He was only trying to care for me. I learned quickly that if I wanted to care for him like he did for me, I had to let him. It made him happy. And I couldn’t be more grateful for that.
Volunteering to be a tribute was the best decision I ever made.
