Page 19 of Phoenix's Fire

"Long after," Kanik added. "She'll be nursing for months at least."

"Fuck," I grumbled, realizing that was a problem. "And the child isn't tailed, so she won't get immunity that way."

"Nope," Kanik agreed. "But the bigger question is how that girl got here. Clearly she was married. How did she get out, and do you thinkshecan get back in?"

"That's exactly what I'm hoping to find out," I admitted.

Rymar simply leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "There's something even bigger you two are missing. This is the secondwomanthe Moles have sacrificed. Why?" He looked between me and Kanik. "We now know they're taking our women to breed, not eat. So have they decided it's easier to kill off girls who are difficult and simply abductmore?"

"Shit," I muttered. "Which means we need to make sure the women and girls are secure before the next raid."

"Mhm," Rymar agreed. "Ayla says we have a few weeks, but theywillcome again. When they do, what's this new girl going to do?"

"Jeera lives on the north side of town," I reminded them.

"They'll still come," Rymar countered. "The townsfolk will talk about it. The gunshots carry all across Lorsa, never mind the alarm bell ringing."

"So we make sure she knows before it happens," Kanik said. "Then all of that will do nothing but prove Ayla right. We make sure Meri is kept safe, guarded, and out of sight."

"Huh?" Because I wasn't quite following Kanik's thinking with hiding the girl away.

He huffed at me like I was a moron. "She has a husband, Zasen. From what Ayla said, that man thinks Meri is his property. Plus he's a hunter, so he will come here eventually. He might want her back!"

"Oh." Well, fuck.

I didnotlike the idea of someone hurting her - or hunting her. I still remembered the look on Ayla's face when I'd caught her in the bathroom alone. I'd tried to pull her skirt down so she wouldn't be embarrassed and it had backfired. She'd slapped me - and while that had hurt, the panic on her face had gutted me even more.

No one should ever know that kind of fear. Dying was bad, but ever since we'd found Ayla chained out as a sacrifice, I'd come to realize some things were even worse. The lives of the women in the underground compound? They definitely counted.

"Ayla's going to need money," I realized.

"Huh?" Rymar asked. "Where did that come from?"

Letting out a grunt, I gestured to show I was backtracking to catch them up. "Meri is her friend. Ayla clearly feels protective and responsible for this girl. That means she's going to want to help Meri, and most of that help will be getting her things. Clothes, stuff for the baby, or anything else Meri needs, Ayla will want to gift it the same way we gave her things."

"Okay..." Rymar canted his head like he wasn't quite following. "But we have money."

"You two do," Kanik grumbled.

"You will in a couple weeks," Rymar assured him. "And what's mine is yours. You know that. The two of you helped me buy the bar."

"And you're giving Saveah our shares," Kanik countered. "Means we're spending our own money."

"What I'm saying," Rymar told him, "is that I'm not counting bucks, so you shouldn't either. Fuck, man. When I was broke, you covered me. You were the first of us to make a decent living. Now that the bar's pulling in money, as far as I care, half of it's yours." Then he looked at me. "So why isn't the same true for Ayla?"

I leaned back, letting the tip of my tail twitch beside my feet. "Because she didn't invest in the bar when you were trying to buy it?"

Rymar gave me a dry look. "She's one of us, right?"

"Mhm..." I agreed, struggling to keep my face smooth and calm.

"She helps us too?" he pressed.

"She does," I agreed.

"She cooks, cleans, and helps with the city defense," Kanik added.

I gestured at him. "That. She also doesn't have any verifiable skills yet. Nothing that could get her hired."