“Where have you been, Morgaine?”
“What?” Unbound hair ratted from a day thrashing in the mud, Morgaine shoved it off her sweating forehead. She darted her eyes from the dusty path to find her neighbor frowning mightily. “I was…”
Clucking, Hanna’s gaze lingered on the muddy dress hanging open at Morgaine’s bosom. “Cover your shift, you tramp. You didn’t even do up your laces after letting one of them tumble you in the grass. You’re no different than your—”
The coming slander wasn’t to be tolerated. Instant fury overshadowed any embarrassment, and Morgaine took a step toward the woman. “I would never let those pigs touch me!”
Hands to her hips, Hanna shook her head. “So you say, shameless girl. How many did you spread for trying to buy leniency for your mother?”
Ice went down her back, and all affront dissolved into stomach-gnawing anxiety. “What about my mother?”
“Elizabeta dared lie when you could not be found.”
“What lie? She didn’t know where I was.” Impatient for real answers, Morgaine made a grab for the plump goodwife’s arm. “Did they hurt her?”
“You should have accepted my boy when he offered for you!” Glaring down at the bit of exposed breast, she snorted. “You brought their anger on yourself with your trickery and sluttish ways.”
“What did they do to her?” The desperate question was shrieked loud enough to draw the eyes of those nearby. “Tell me now!”
It was easy for her neighbor to brush off Morgaine’s weak grip. Easier still for the old dame to taunt, “The rules apply to you as they apply to us all, you horrid girl. Go see for yourself what has been done. My Cassius was lucky to be free of you.”
Unsteady on her feet, Morgaine threw a frightened glace around for a hint.
The settlement was still in a state of uproar, baskets tossed about on the street after Alphas had laid claim to whatever valuable thing had been stored inside.
The muddy walks were littered with loose feathers, chickens and ducks having been snatched from their coops and carried off. Livestock ran wild after pens had been left open, the heartiest beasts gone to the Alphas’ ships.
Weeping, there was so much weeping.
The baker’s wife was beside herself
, sobbing over one of her twins. It was obvious why: his mismatching towheaded brother was missing. Beside her, her husband’s eye swelled shut as he stood there, dumbstruck.
Crops had been ripped from beds, bits of furnishings thrown about as if selected, then discarded when something better caught an Alpha’s eye.
Two male bodies swung from the gallows in the square. Morgaine knew them both, one of the corpses dressed in red cloth she had woven herself.
Sick to her stomach at the sight, Morgaine stumbled forward and clawed her way through the building throng. There was little time to sort out who else was weeping for their loved ones, what had been taken, for even from a distance, Morgaine saw a crowd had formed outside her small home.
Neighbors stood in the dusty road, several trampling the garden beds, ruining heads of lettuce almost ready for consumption.
Something was very wrong.
Fist pressed to the stitch in her side, Morgaine broke into a graceless run, rudely shoving those aside who stood in her way.
Over and over she heard settlers muttering her name with repugnance once they caught sight of her. It wasn’t the gaping, muddy dress, or the fact her long golden hair was free of a covering.
In their eyes, for some unknown reason, she’d committed a great crime.
It didn’t matter what they thought, or the slander they might toss at her back as she fought her way forward. The only thing that mattered was finding her mother.
With a great shove, she budged the last line of townsfolk apart and found... nothing.
Her cottage stood as it always did, the cheerfully painted wooden door shut.
Creeping closer, on the verge of being ill, Morgaine reached for the latch and froze.
A terrifying voice boomed behind it. “Her scent is abundant in this shack, old woman. Slick and fear, I can taste them in the air! There will be no more patience for your lies. Tell me where she is, or you will be tied up in the center of town and burned to death for the trouble you’ve caused.”