them, and no one has handed me a fucking list to even figure them all out so I could know before I broke one!”
Lucian threw her towards the bed, blocking her way to the door. “That’s because almost no one here can read, or write. So getting them on paper would be both difficult and useless, but our rules are incredibly important.”
“Believe whatever fiction you’ve created that lets you sleep at night.”
“You have no idea what it was like when I was exiled!” Lucian shouted, raw emotion ripping at his voice for the first time, and the sight of him turning away from her to hide his face stalled her ranting. “All those stories of the raiders, the terrifying ones that you’ve heard, likely the same ones I grew up with – they used to be true. Six years ago these woods were full of scared people willing to kill to live one more day. A woman, or one of the elders, or a young one who was exiled was lucky to survive a week before something gutted them. We had a war of our own making out here, and each day was a question of whether or not we’d see the next sunrise.”
He turned around and kicked something across the floor, his hands finding their way into his hair again.
“I was seventeen when I was exiled, with no skills, but somehow I scrounged and kept myself alive for an entire month before I stumbled into Mathias’ camp. If I hadn’t been half-dead already, they would have probably killed me on the spot, but Mathias stopped them. He saved me that day, and he had a vision. A way to bring all of the exiles together, in safety and peace, to have a place for new exiles to come to so that the council’s ruling was no longer a death sentence.”
Lucian walked over to his chair and dropped into it, staring at the ground in front of him as he spoke, and Emmie found herself too curious to interrupt.
“It took us years to build this place. It started with Mathias’ camp. We made the shelters sturdier, and he taught me how to hunt. Whenever we encountered someone else, we talked to them instead of attacking them. We asked them to join us, to hunt with us. More hands, more spears, more food. Several of the men we found had already chosen a woman to protect, and she had chosen him too – and they were all welcome.” He laughed quietly. “The rules weren’t all written at once, they were built, one on top of the other as we needed them. And we did need them. Not every man we found wanted to respect the boundaries of another’s relationship. A woman was a woman, and if they wanted one…”
“They took them,” she finished for him, and he nodded. “That’s where the idea of mates came from, isn’t it?”
Lucian looked over at her, a wrinkle appearing between his brows before he nodded again. “Yes. There had to be boundaries that everyone understood, there had to be some structure, or none of the women would stay. And if they refused to stay, if they took the children, the men would leave too, and it would all fall apart because we are stronger together. We need each other.” He took a breath. “So, Mathias and I made rules. Once a woman was mated to a man, if they had both freely accepted the other, then both were forbidden to be with anyone else. It kept the woman safe, and it meant the other men had one less competitor for any free females. The penalty for breaking that rule is, and always has been… death.”
Emmie swallowed, her head spinning. It was not a rare occurrence to hear of both men and women breaking their marriage pacts in the city. In fact, it was so common that it was some of the favorite gossip among the few friends she and Gabrielle had. Who was sleeping with who? Did the wife know? Did the husband know?
How different would it all be if a marriage pact was taken as seriously as the exiles took the idea of a mate?
Lucian’s voice rose up again. “New female exiles are free women. They have no mate, and so —”
“Any free man can have them.”
“Yes.” Lucian
Lucian threw her towards the bed, blocking her way to the door. “That’s because almost no one here can read, or write. So getting them on paper would be both difficult and useless, but our rules are incredibly important.”
“Believe whatever fiction you’ve created that lets you sleep at night.”
“You have no idea what it was like when I was exiled!” Lucian shouted, raw emotion ripping at his voice for the first time, and the sight of him turning away from her to hide his face stalled her ranting. “All those stories of the raiders, the terrifying ones that you’ve heard, likely the same ones I grew up with – they used to be true. Six years ago these woods were full of scared people willing to kill to live one more day. A woman, or one of the elders, or a young one who was exiled was lucky to survive a week before something gutted them. We had a war of our own making out here, and each day was a question of whether or not we’d see the next sunrise.”
He turned around and kicked something across the floor, his hands finding their way into his hair again.
“I was seventeen when I was exiled, with no skills, but somehow I scrounged and kept myself alive for an entire month before I stumbled into Mathias’ camp. If I hadn’t been half-dead already, they would have probably killed me on the spot, but Mathias stopped them. He saved me that day, and he had a vision. A way to bring all of the exiles together, in safety and peace, to have a place for new exiles to come to so that the council’s ruling was no longer a death sentence.”
Lucian walked over to his chair and dropped into it, staring at the ground in front of him as he spoke, and Emmie found herself too curious to interrupt.
“It took us years to build this place. It started with Mathias’ camp. We made the shelters sturdier, and he taught me how to hunt. Whenever we encountered someone else, we talked to them instead of attacking them. We asked them to join us, to hunt with us. More hands, more spears, more food. Several of the men we found had already chosen a woman to protect, and she had chosen him too – and they were all welcome.” He laughed quietly. “The rules weren’t all written at once, they were built, one on top of the other as we needed them. And we did need them. Not every man we found wanted to respect the boundaries of another’s relationship. A woman was a woman, and if they wanted one…”
“They took them,” she finished for him, and he nodded. “That’s where the idea of mates came from, isn’t it?”
Lucian looked over at her, a wrinkle appearing between his brows before he nodded again. “Yes. There had to be boundaries that everyone understood, there had to be some structure, or none of the women would stay. And if they refused to stay, if they took the children, the men would leave too, and it would all fall apart because we are stronger together. We need each other.” He took a breath. “So, Mathias and I made rules. Once a woman was mated to a man, if they had both freely accepted the other, then both were forbidden to be with anyone else. It kept the woman safe, and it meant the other men had one less competitor for any free females. The penalty for breaking that rule is, and always has been… death.”
Emmie swallowed, her head spinning. It was not a rare occurrence to hear of both men and women breaking their marriage pacts in the city. In fact, it was so common that it was some of the favorite gossip among the few friends she and Gabrielle had. Who was sleeping with who? Did the wife know? Did the husband know?
How different would it all be if a marriage pact was taken as seriously as the exiles took the idea of a mate?
Lucian’s voice rose up again. “New female exiles are free women. They have no mate, and so —”
“Any free man can have them.”
“Yes.” Lucian
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