“Why must you call us females? We’re women. Stop using all the Ealrian terms.”
“No,” Nuni quipped. “We’re Ealrians now too. I’m not clinging onto speech from Earth as that will only confuse the Maji. I’m happy to immerse myself into the Maji way … unlike you.”
The mood in the cookery turned from playful to tense in a matter of seconds.
“I’m gonna live up to the terms I agreed to and get with one of the Maji guys. I just don’t wanna do it yet. When I left New United Kingdom, I swore I would never have every minute of my day planned out by someone else, and I’m sticking to that here.”
“But you need to get out of the homestead more, Hilah. You need to make friends, see Royal City, attend lessons to find out which job you’ll be happy with,” I reminded gently. “Everyone works for the people here, remember? You want to pull your weight, right?”
“Obviously,” Hilah grumbled. “I just wanna … wait a while.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Are you scared of the males?”
“No,” she suddenly snapped. “Unlike you, Mouse, I’ve had sex with lots of men, but it was always for food or credits to buy food. I know you had a hard life, and while mine was different, it was hard too. The one person I trusted most in the world betrayed me back on Earth because of the Maji … I can’t accept this life as easily as you both. I just can’t.”
“That wasn’t what I meant, Hilah—”
She left the room, then the homestead, before I could finish my sentence. I looked at Nuni, who had wide eyes.
“I thought … All this time, I thought she was just lazy. I didn’t know it was deeper than that.” She touched her fingers to her lips. “I haven’t been a good friend to her.”
“Neither of us have,” I said. “That will have to change. She said someone betrayed her because of the Maji. What does that mean?”
“I don’t know,” Nuni answered. “And it’ll take some time before she tells us, I think. She has walls up like you once did, but she isn’t submissive like you. She has bite, and I’m worried that will get her into trouble here.”
“We’ll help her,” I said. “I don’t know how yet, but we’ll help her.”
Nuni nodded in agreement.
“It’s time I get back. I haven’t heard Ezah call for me through our connection yet, but I imagine he will soon.”
“Call for him to come and get you.”
“No need,” I said. “I’m going to ask one of the patrolling males to escort me back to the palace.”
When Nuni and I hugged, we made plans for her to come to the palace, hopefully with Hilah, in the coming days so we could spend time together, and I could show them both around my new home. I left the homestead, descended the steps, and abruptly came to a stop.
“Levi?”
I looked around and saw no one, then I looked at the darkened laneway between Nuni’s homestead and the homestead next door. I dug my eyebrows in tight, and though every muscle in my body was telling me not to go and investigate the source of the voice that said my name, I walked forward.
“Hello?” I said. “Hilah, is that you?”
I entered the laneway, walked forward a dozen steps, and stopped when I didn’t see much. Just as I was about to turn, one of the shadows to my right moved.
“Hello, Mud.”
Terror washed over me upon hearing his voice, and before I could try to make sense of what was happening, I found my back roughly pressed against the side of one homestead, and a large body blocked my view of the street. A mechanical hand covered my mouth as his hood was tugged back slightly, allowing me to see the face that had haunted me for years.
Master.
He stood like a shadow in the night. He loomed over me, looking like the bearer of pain and death. His normally light blue eyes seemed so dark they terrified me.
“Dinna call for that alien prick ye’ve been shacked up with. I know all about the mental link between men and their bitches here, and I’ll slit yer throat if he appears. D’ye understand?”
I bobbed my head, too terrified to disobey him.
“Did ye miss me, Mud?”
Slowly, he lowered his hand.
“You’re dead.”
“Do I look dead to you?”
I began to tremble.
“I saw you,” I said. “I saw you. You lay dead in the dirt. I saw.”
“Ye knocked me out.” A sinister smile covered his face. “You. A little runt bitch managed t’knock me out.”
“But … But …”
“When I woke up, me pen was fuckin’ near empty ‘cept for two bitches who were too scared to leave. One hundred an’ six pieces of me property gone, just like that. Who d’ye think I ’ave t‘blame for that, Mud?”