'You are mine!'
She felt the strength of these images in the quickening of her heart,
and the stirring of her womb. That the next day she would give herself
to a man for whom she felt nothing, and who might have feelings of his
own, she could not realize. It made it all too cold and sad. But this
cruelty was not HER doing. She had not wanted it, or asked for it. It
simply had to be done. She must think of herself first, be truly
selfish for once, and let the men work it out as they would. That Kalus
might hurt William, or himself, she refused to consider. That William
might try to hurt HER, was beyond her imagining.
Her eyes were hazy, her senses unaware. And she did not see the deadly
serpent that crawled towards her through the grass. She knew nothing of
it until the air beside her was rent by the sweep of some instrument
whirled in sudden violence.
Startled, she turned to find Rawlings standing, too close it seemed to
her, then bending down over a wounded snake, pinned to the ground
beneath his hoe. Without hesitation or remorse he drew out his knife,
and separated it from its head.
'You better wake your ass up, girl,' he said bluntly. 'Or
death will find you, even here.'
But surely he was being too dramatic. It was only a little snake.
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