Etti's Intended by Janet Lane

Author:Janet Lane
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: forbidden love, fortune telling, provence, arranged marriage, marseilles, virgin brides, gypsy culture, gypsy tribes curses customs, hedgehog pets, romani traditions
Publisher: Janet Lane

Chapter 15

The campfire had died down. Ruslo and Sandu sat close to it, poking at the coals with Ucho’s kettle hooks.

Ruslo stretched out his big legs, letting the warmth melt his bones. He was pleasantly drunk and being with his sister and her husband—it was good. “I haven’t seen your mother for almost a year.” He smiled. “She was always getting me into trouble when we were children. Did I tell you about the time she cut off my toes?”

Sandu laughed. “Va, and she didn’t cut them off. I got her story, and it was an accident, and you still have all ten.”

He grinned, and Ruslo enjoyed the sight. His nephew had his mother’s smile, with straight white teeth. He eschewed all facial hair, and why not? His clean, square jaw and thick hair had attracted Mary, their oldest bride this year, from the first time Sandu had traveled with his kumpania. She was smitten, but couldn’t turn Sandu’s head. Ruslo had hoped, but Sandu didn’t notice her flirtations, fcused only on wrestling. He didn’t even like horses much. He hardly seemed Rom at times.

But he was Ruslo’s nephew, and he wanted his sister’s son to succeed him. He’d talked with Darly about it earlier tonight, and she supported the idea. He would make a fine tribal chief, and she felt it would be good for Sandu to have his own tribe. A shadow crossed her face when she spoke of him leaving. Ruslo had tried to pursue it—she was guarding a secret, he knew her too well—but she closed the door with finality.

So be it. Tonight, he would plant the seed for Mary. “The marriage council is days away. The young men are already fighting over Mary. She is pleasant. Cheerful. Her laughter always makes me smile, and her big eyes are a lovely, honey brown.” He leaned toward his nephew. “I have seen the way she looks at you. It’s good.”

“It could be even better,” Sandu said.

“How so?”

“I remember your talk. How you’d like me to join your tribe. There is a way I would.”

Ruslo had brought it up weeks ago, but Sandu had avoided discussing it until now. “Va? And?”

“Mary is a nice girl. Pleasant. But I have had many Gadje girls who laugh and titter. A lifetime of it would make me grind my teeth. I want a woman who feels deeply as I do. A more sober woman.”

“Leyla?” She was the third young woman who would be considered at council this year.

Sandu shook his head. “There’s a woman I’ve had my eye on. She’s lovely to look at, nice, womanly hips, pretty hands. A bit strange, and sometimes sharp-tongued, but she has passion. When I saw her dancing, I swear, Uncle, she reached out to me and took my heart. I have thought of naught but her since.”

“You cannot have her. She’s dangerous. She has uttered a wicked curse that has come true.”

“She’s kind, and sensitive,” Sandu countered. What I want in a woman.”

“Kind?” A word seldom used to describe that one.

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