And I grew up in that office until I started managing that office at fifteen. Now, at thirty-five, I still managed that office and the guys didn’t do their best to be appropriate around me. I was older; I’d been around awhile so I was one of the guys.
Though one of the guys with tits and ass that I caught some of them staring at on more than one occasion.
But I wasn’t sheltered.
That said, I’d definitely been sheltered from this. Then again, Pop didn’t know this existed. If he did, though, he’d have sheltered me from it. He’d take a slash from a warrior’s sword to protect me from it, as would any one of his boys. I knew it.
I wondered what he was thinking, being at home, me not there. He was probably going out of his mind.
“I know this is strange for you,” the woman said.
Right. Strange. Yeah, she hit that on the head. Strange.
Though, I might use another word for it.
Or several.
“But, you must care, kah Dahksahna,” she whispered on another squeeze.
“My name is Circe,” I told her quietly.
“Pardon, my dear?”
I sighed then repeated, “My name is Circe, not kah Dahksahna.”
“Circe, lovely,” she murmured. “But Dahksahna isn’t your name, it is just you. It means ‘queen’ and you are our queen.”
I decided not to reply. That had been working with the other women, no reply, eventually they’d go away.
Her fingers gave me another squeeze and I felt her bend closer.
“I remember feeling much the same as you. Seerim, my warrior husband, was different than the Dax, of course, but I remember this feeling, my dear. I know it is not a good feeling. But you will come to understand it is their way.”
“It sucks,” I muttered, forgetting about not responding.
“Sucks?” she asked, sounding confused.
“It sucks, it stinks, it’s for the birds,” I explained, rolling to my back again with my arm over my br**sts and I locked eyes with her. “It’s hideous, foul, vile, detestable… it sucks.”
Her eyes got soft and she said quietly, “It is their way.”
“Their way sucks,” I returned and rolled back to my side.
Her voice came back to me. “I understand you see it that way. But, they know of our way, of wooing and falling in love and waiting to claim your mate after your wedding celebration, not the peasants doing that but soldiers doing it, warriors, and they think that is strange. Laughable. Silly. They think it is ridiculous, not to face a challenge, best your brothers in order to earn a beautiful wife. You don’t believe me now, but I promise, as unbelievable as it seems, you will come to understand their way. I have seen, now, ten Wife Hunts since my own. There are girls like you, girls who settle in and enjoy their lives with The Horde. You will too. You just need to get up and face it, learn their ways, be amongst –”
I cut her off. “I’m not getting up.”
“You must.”
“Well, I’m not.”
I felt her get close, her mouth at my ear. “You must Dahksahna Circe. For your slaves, for your Dax, for The Horde and… for you.”
My body got tight and my head turned to her. “My… slaves?”
I watched her nod. “The women who have been seeing to you. Those are your slaves. The Dax has given them to you. It is very generous. Most warrior brides receive a slave, at most two. I have been with my warrior over twenty years and I only have three.”
I blinked then repeated, “Slaves?”