Saved by the Beast (Kindred Tales)

But Makenna knew the spreader only offered a temporary relief. For it wasn’t only a male’s shaft that a girl needed when her ripening peaked—she also needed a male’s seed filling her—preferably over and over again. If she couldn’t get the spreader out of her and convince Bard to change his mind and help her through her ripening, she was doomed.

Don’t think like that, she ordered herself. Don’t be so negative! Everything is going to work out. Didn’t it work out before? You were so scared at the Pleasure House—so frightened of the day that Biter would come for you. But you prayed to the Goddess of Mercy and she saved you—sent Bard to save you, anyway. She sent not only a savior, but the man your body craves—the only one who can help you through your ripening. Surely she won’t let you down now.

Closing her eyes tightly, she prayed, whispering the words under her breath.

“Goddess, please help me. Thank you for sending Bard to save me from the Trollox, but now I’m in trouble. My ripening is on me and he doesn’t seem to want to guide me through it. Please…please help me!”

Then there was nothing else she could do. So Makenna snuggled down in the middle of the vast bed and did her best to get to sleep.

11

In her dreams, she was back home on the farm she’d been born and raised on. The baby euwekins were bleating happily as they trotted over the rolling blue pastures at their mothers’ sides and the hawtha grain was standing tall and purple, near ready for harvesting. Yet, even among all this plenty, her older brother, Pinchu, wasn’t happy—wasn’t happy at all.

“Mother and Father left you on my hands,” he said, stabbing a thick forefinger at Makenna, his face twisting with anger and resentment. “They left me a damn dud to take care of and support!”

“It’s not my fault I haven’t ripened yet!” Makenna protested. “I will soon, I’m sure! And then I’ll be able to choose a suitor and leave the farm to you, if that’s what you want.”

Though she secretly thought her brother might miss her when she left—it wasn’t like she was lying around all day eating candies. The farm was hard work and Makenna had never been one to shirk her duties. She fed and milked the euweks twice daily as well as keeping the house clean and cooking and cleaning after every meal.

Anyone would think that Pinchu would be grateful to her but no—he just wanted her out of the house so he could have Blue Valley Ranch all to himself. Ever since he had agreed to help Trenda of Green Folds Farm with her ripening, he had been trying to get rid of Makenna.

Well, I’m not going anywhere until I begin to ripen and find the right man to help me, she told herself stubbornly. Until then, Pinchu is stuck with me!

But her brother’s next words chilled her to the bone.

“You’re never going to ripen—you’re already thirty cycles old and you’re as unripe as a girl of thirteen!” he exclaimed. “Which is why I’ve made an agreement with Prentor of Seven Hills Homestead. He’s going to take you off my hands. If you ripen—which I doubt—he’ll take you as a first wife. If you don’t, he’ll keep you as a second wife and a laborer and you can live in the Seven Hills bunk house with the other duds and workers.”

“What?” Makenna demanded. “But how do I know he’s the right man to help me with my ripening? Mother always said a girl should wait until she started to ripen and then listen to her body! I can’t just go marry him and hope he’s the right one!”

“Our Mother filled your head with a lot of nonsense,” Pinchu said, frowning at her severely. “All that ‘waiting for the right man’ is ridiculous. Prentor will do just fine for you, one way or another. I doubt you’ll have to worry about it anyway—you’re already at least five years older than most girls who undergo their first ripening. You’re clearly a dud.”

“I am not a dud!” Makenna cried. “Mother and Aunt Keena both ripened late. And you can’t just sell me off to get the farm all to yourself! What would Mother and Father think if they saw how you’re treating me now?”

“They’d say it was about time I got rid of my dud of a sister so I could get on with my life,” Pinchu snapped. “I’ve arranged the whole thing—Prentor is coming to pick you up this evening, after he finishes sheering his euweks. The marriage ceremony will be tomorrow and then—”

“What? You want me to get married before my ripening?” Makenna exclaimed. Such a thing was unheard of. A girl had to go through her first ripening before she could be wed. That way, if the man who helped her through it was somehow the wrong one, she had a chance to marry someone else—someone her body liked better—before another ripening cycle came on her.