Ein: A Dark Fantasy MFFM Romance by Sorcha Black

Author:Sorcha Black [Black, Sorcha]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Belfry Publishing
Published: 2014-03-22T00:00:00+00:00

*

“You have to pick the babies to stay, Mama. I’ll go.” The earnestness on his sweet face made me lean down and kiss him repeatedly until he smiled and broke away. Protecting the babies had become a big part of Bael’s thoughts over the past few days, since the guards had come. He’d learned too young that adults were unreliable. “I’ll miss you. Maybe Web can take me. Could you give us some food?”

“All of you are staying with me, Bael. That law isn’t for you to worry about. It’s an adult thing.”

“You’re going to pay the guards and they’ll let us stay together?” Hopeful. Doubting.

I looked out across our waiting garden, colors muted in the morning light. We were ready for planting. It was going to be a busy day. If we were careful, the harvest would feed us for a good part of the year, and some of the other Dustfolk, besides.

Too quiet. “Bael, where are your biggest brothers?”

He shrugged one shoulder and made a silly face. “They told me I didn’t know.”

“That you didn’t need to know?”

“Yes, that. Then they went that way.”

Toward town. I frowned. They’d said they’d stay back and help me plow and plant. Boys. Although my oldest two were usually responsible.

We went back into the house and I put some water on to boil. If they weren’t going to be around for a while, I’d get some washing done. I cursed in my head. I’d really hoped to get most of the planting work finished that day. It was time; the morning frost had stopped coming a few weeks before.

All through the day I fed children, washed clothes, mended with Gran, and took care of the littlest ones. And stewed. Where had they gone? The other older ones wouldn’t say, although I got the impression they knew. They were all quiet. The strained levity in the cottage kept me on edge. Whatever it was, Gran was in on it.

Close to nightfall there was a knock at the door. Too polite to be guards, but my guts twisted anyway. A knock at the door was usually someone hungry and looking for help. Even knowing that, the very sound frightened me lately, although I hid it from the children. The idea that this would happen all the time soon – that I would be playing the whore in earnest, instead of just being beaten like an old rug – made me sick inside. I would do it for my children because they deserved to be safe. I would do it until my body was too old to pay our way, but hopefully before then we could come up with a different plan. This time it was only a young woman looking for food. She’d been by before, but her name escaped me. Gran gave her a hunk of bread and cheese – more gifts from Belith brought by her guard friend, Lanten.

If my history was any indication, lying with the guards would make me fall pregnant again, and quickly.

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