She had just gotten the stew cooking when Flanna entered the kitchen. As soon as she caught sight of Dawn, she issued orders for her staff to finish what Dawn had started and then she ushered Dawn outside.
“Did Cree do this to you?” Flanna demanded once away from the eyes and ears in the kitchen and pointed to her cheek.
Dawn sighed, though it was soundless, as if it was forever stuck inside her and she could never release it and that was how she felt stuck, captured like her sigh. Dawn shook her head.
“Colum did it.”
Dawn nodded.
“Why?”
It took some doing but Dawn was finally able to explain in gestures what had happened.
Tears sprang to Flanna’s tired eyes. “You lied to protect me.”
How did she explain to Flanna that she had lied to protect herself and in so doing had placed Flanna in danger which in turn had her lying again? In the end her lies were meant to protect and so she simply nodded.
“You know you have no choice,” Flanna said sadly. “You must couple with the monster.”
Dawn was pleased that at least Flanna had been kind enough not to tell her that she had to rut with Cree. It sounded more like what animals do rather than humans. She was certain that Lila and Paul didn’t rut and while they coupled, it was more like they made love. Dawn never expected to find a man she would make love with, perhaps couple but she doubted that she would ever find love. No one would ever want to make love with her let alone want her.
Dawn nodded reluctantly.
Flanna leaned in close to whisper, “Lie there and let him have his way and be done with it. It will hurt less and he will want you less if you don’t respond. Play dead beneath him and he will leave you be and you will have the scent of sex upon you to satisfy Colum.
The scent of sex was unknown to her and she wondered if she had ever smelled it on others and had not known what it was. Tonight she would find out, she had to or she would suffer for it.
Flanna placed her hand on Dawn’s arm and her face winced. Flanna was quick to push up Dawn’s sleeve to reveal a dark purple bruise going around her arm just above her elbow.
“Where else do you hurt?” Flanna asked with concern.
Dawn raised her skirt and they both winced though only Flanna’s was heard. Her left leg was scraped from knee to ankle with a purple bruise just below her knee.
“Go to your cottage and clean up and then rest,” Flanna ordered like a concerned mother. “I will let you know when the food is ready.” She almost turned to leave but stopped and looked to Dawn. “I have heard tell that once a woman tastes the devil’s son there’s no satisfying her. She returns to him again and again. Do not taste of the devil. Do not touch him. Do not become a slave to his evil passion.”
Dawn made her way to her cottage, her thoughts in turmoil. She had spent little time with Cree, though more than anyone else here. She certainly couldn’t say that she didn’t fear him. He was a man to be feared by the sheer size of him alone, not to mention his strength, which was something she sensed whenever she entered the small shack where he was imprisoned. She wondered how the weak structure could hold him.
Most of all she wondered what she had done that upset him so much that he had thrown her out. She worried that it was because she had touched him. She had meant no harm by it. She couldn’t explain why she had done it. She only knew that she could not stop herself. It was as if he needed her comforting touch.
She entered her cottage to find a crying Lila and Paul there.
“Are you all right?” Paul asked.
Dawn nodded. She could tell that he was upset and knew why. He had felt helpless to help her and had to restrain his wife from helping her for her own good and all of it did not sit well with him.
“I’ll leave you two to talk,” he said and stopped next to her to give her shoulder a squeeze. Then he whispered, “Thank you, Dawn; you are a true friend.”
She understood that he thanked her for shaking her head at Lila, warning her not to interfere and her eyes grew misty. As soon as the door closed behind him Lila flew at her and they hugged tightly.
“I feared greatly for you and for me, for I do not know what I would do without you,” Lila cried.
Dawn kept hold of her. She needed Lila’s comfort as much as Lila’s needed hers. Lila often spoke for Dawn especially when she had been taunted by others. Lila was always there to verbally defend her with remarks that struck as sharply as an arrow’s point. Dawn on the other hand had been there for Lila if anyone should attempt to physically taunt her. Being taller than most women had helped intimidate which usually resolved the issue. But there were times when they were young that they both got into scuffles, neither ever leaving the other to fend for herself.