She didn’t seem to let it bother her. She slipped away from him and lit the candles she had brought with her and then got busy arranging food on the sleeping pallet.
He watched her amazed by her graceful movements and the way she took pains to arrange the food for him. But then she was a servant and it was her duty to please him.
The thought struck him hard. Had she responded to his kiss out of duty? And if so why did it disturb him? She had been given orders and she had suffered the consequences of those orders when she had no information to give Colum. So had she been doing her best to please the man who could cause her great pain and not him?
Anger boiled up inside him, though it made no sense. Why should it matter to him one way or the other? She meant nothing to him, though… he felt a tug in his gut. She was a pawn in a dangerous game, being played by everyone around her and she was doing her best to survive. How could he fault her for that? Actually he had to admire her. She did what she had to do and spoke not a complaint.
She couldn’t speak.
It still astonished him that she could not make a sound, not even a grunt. He had seen others who could not speak but they at least were able to grunt or make some type of noise. He had never known anyone who had lost their voice entirely. And to think she had this since birth. He wondered if any children she birthed would be afflicted with the same horror.
It also surprised him how she had adapted so well to her affliction, though some would think it more a curse. She appeared to communicate with anyone who paid heed to her, though he doubted many did. They more than likely assumed her ignorant and cast foul words upon her rather than a pleasant word.
She smiled at him and pointed at the blanket, an array of food spread invitingly upon it.
He joined her sitting opposite from her eager to partake in the meal and perhaps conversation. Strange that he actually thought of speaking with her when she could not say a word, and yet it seemed that he had discussed things more with her than any other woman he had known.
She handed him a piece of meat and bread.
“Eat,” he said, though it sounded like an order to his ears.
She reached out and tore a small piece of bread off the loaf and nibbled on it.
He was about to tell her to eat more when he decided against it. With the day she had been having he wouldn’t be surprised if she had no appetite at all, and he would not force her to eat.
He reached for more bread and she quickly moved to help him, ripping several pieces off the loaf and placing them in front of him. Her duty was to serve him and she was seeing her duty done. The thought gave him pause and he wondered what else Colum expected of her this day.
“Is there anything else that Colum wants from you?”
She didn’t need to speak, the way her body turned rigid spoke louder than words.
“Tell me,” he said.
Dawn stared at him. How did she tell him that Colum expected the scent of coupling to rest heavy upon her? That she would be handed to another man if he did not mate with her this night. The thought of Goddard having his way with her caused her stomach to roil and she let the piece of bread fall from her hand before she pressed it hard against her stomach.
Cree didn’t care for the way Dawn paled or how her hand clenched at her stomach. Whatever Colum had threatened her with had sickened her to think about and that angered him.
“You will tell me,” he ordered firmly.
If she had to choose who she wanted to take from her that which should only be given to her husband, the man she would love with all her heart, then it would be Cree she would choose. She could not bear the thought of Goddard taking her like an animal in front of others.
“Now!”
Dawn jumped at his stern command. What choice did she have? Reluctantly, she pointed to Cree and then to her.
He saved her from going any further. “Colum expects us to mate.”
She nodded, though she knew she needed to make him aware of what would happen if they didn’t.
He seemed to understand the situation and asked, “And the consequence if that doesn’t happen?”
Dawn raised her arm high, hoping he would recall the last time she had referred to Goddard that way and then she pointed to herself and then to her raised arm.