Page 110 of Phoenix's Fire

"Oh, you think you know," she grumbled.

"Merienne was once my friend." I pressed the coldness to the wound, refusing to meet the woman's eyes. "She came to tell us about consummation. It was enough to have her punished. Ayla saw and decided she would rather die than suffer such a thing."

"It's not as bad as all that," Helah assured me. "It can be, but doesn't have to. The problem is these men..." She pushed out a frustrated breath. "They do not tell us what they want, then are angry because we didn't somehow know anyway!"

"We spoil them too much," I grumbled.

But she lifted her hand to take the cloth, then turned to see me. "What? What do you mean?"

"We bear their children, raise them as boys, heal them when they are hurt, clean for them, cook for them, and manage for them. We spoil them, Mrs. Porter."

She laughed once. "These men do not think they are spoiled, Miss Atwood."

"Callah," I told her. "I'm still a girl - for a couple more months - so it's fine to call me Callah."

"Helah," she said. "And Mrs. Hinton is Deenah."

I offered her a weak smile. "I gathered. You two seem to be friends."

"For many years and many children now," she agreed. "Six for me and eight for her. Sadly, the older we get, the less infatuated our husbands are. That makes it easier, you know. When you marry, make sure your husband isveryinfatuated with you. He'll forgive a lot because of it."

"How?" I asked.

She laughed once. "Smile at him. Touch him. Just his hand or shoulder is enough. Fawn over him a little, even if you have to make yourself. Men who feel important tend to be in a better mood. And if he hears you bragging about him?" She tsked at that. "Well, that's a good way to get out of a lot of things."

I laughed once. "I turn in November, and I'm nervous about it."

"Do you have any suitors?" she asked.

I took the cloth she had, then passed her the last clean one. As I headed to the sink to rinse those, I told her, "One, it seems."

"Which man?" she asked.

"Tobias Warren."

"The large boy?" She sounded surprised.

I turned on the water and carefully washed the blood out. "Yes. He says he will let me continue healing the same way Mrs. Worthington does."

"Oh, now that would be a good thing," Helah said. "Didn't I hear they made him a hunter?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Then maybe you'll be lucky enough to be widowed," she told me.

"That's what Ayla always said." I wrung out the cloths and headed back. "I figured that was the Devil talking."

"No." Helah traded me for a cleaner, cooler cloth. "Sadly, your friend wasn't wrong, Callah. The best most of us can wish for is to be widowed early. But not too early, because then we'll be remarried. Rarely does a hunter pick a widow, which means your second husband is likely to live a long and healthy life."

"Yeah," I breathed, aware she was right.

"Or," she said, "you could stab that boy with a fork. I'll call for you to be banished. I'm just not sure that would be any kinder."

"That's the problem," I agreed. "It seems there's no good option."

"Not for women, Callah. Sadly, not for women," she agreed.

Thirty-Four

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