People of the Owl(137)

The afternoon’s warm delight had turned cold in her bones. Her uncle’s warnings were spinning about in her head like bees. “No, I swear!”

She tried to recover her shaken confidence, smiling in what she hoped was a coquettish way. His continued silence, the chert-hard look in his eyes, indicated he was anything but fooled.

“You swear?” he finally said. “Really? That reassures me, little wren. So, did your uncle know that you were working for Saw Back when he mentioned this little tryst? Is he going to be happy when he discovers that you and Saw Back manipulated him like a leaf on the wind?”

“No!”

“And does your mother, the Clan Elder, know that you are using her position for your own scheming?”

“No!” Her desperation was growing.

“I think I shall have to extend Saw Back’s banishment for trying to trick me like this.”

She felt herself crumple inside, closing her eyes as she whispered, “No. It’s no scheme, I swear it.”

“Ah, swearing again? When I have caught you in the middle of a lie?”

“I’m not lying,” she declared, on the point of tears.

“Indeed you are,” he added smoothly, a glint in his eyes. “Either you are scheming with Saw Back, or you are scheming with me. If you weren’t in some sort of scheme, you would be home, tending your household and your duty to your clan.”

“This is my duty to my clan!”

“Then supposing we accept your desperate protestations and believe that you are not here for Saw Back’s benefit. That would mean that Mud Stalker had an ulterior motive when he mentioned that I might meet you here. I wonder what that could be? Hmm? Care to share it with me?”

“I don’t know,” she pleaded, rising, frantic to escape as his hand clamped on her wrist.

“No, stay. I’m not finished yet.” He nodded in triumph, a slow smile spreading on his lips. “You have made a mess of your seduction, my little wren. I have caught you in a botched attempt to wiggle your canoe around Alligator Clan’s internal business.” Satisfaction gleamed behind his veiled brown eyes. “What a story this will make in the Men’s House. Every lip will be telling of how Night Rain will part her legs for those who can do her a favor. The young men are going to be snickering and offering favors every time you walk past.”

“Dear Sky Beings,” she cried, bolting up. “You wouldn’t!”

He continued watching her, spiderlike in his intensity. “Wouldn’t what? Make you a laughingstock? It would depend. You know, don’t you, that you are already suspect in most people’s eyes. You’re married to that idiot Speaker. What would a little push do to you? Send you right over the canoe’s side, that’s what. I suppose I should tell you, the water is deep and cold.”

“Why?” she cried, hearing fear in her voice. “I am the daughter of Sweet Root, the Elder of—”

“I know who are,” he snapped. “That’s what makes you even more vulnerable. Don’t tell me you hadn’t figured that out on your own.” He raised one hand in a calming motion. “But it doesn’t have to work that way, you know.”

She swallowed hard, her thoughts scattered like a flock of frightened bobwhite. She could feel the tangling of his web around her.

“Let us say that what happened here today could stay between the two of us,” he mused, releasing his hold on her wrist. “There is no reason to destroy you, Night Rain. It would be unnecessarily cruel. All that talk, people laughing every time you passed. You’ve seen other women like that, living in constant shame, afraid to be seen in public. I can only imagine what the whisperings would be like in the Women’s House.”

Her breath shortened. It would be horrible. She was an Elder’s daughter. Her uncle was the Clan Speaker. All of Sun Town would delight in tearing her down like an old ramada.

“What do you want?” she asked with a shallow voice.

“Oh, let’s play this charade for a while.” His smile broadened, rearranging the lines in his old face. “I rather enjoy teaching you the arts of your body.” He ran his fingers down her side, along the curve of her hip and over the top of her thigh. “But don’t think I would be ungrateful for your cooperation. Quite the contrary, actually.” He studied her, seeing right through the front she put up, reading her souls. “What do you really want, Night Rain? Tell me the truth. I will know if you are lying.”

She swallowed hard, thoroughly defeated. “I want to be somebody. Not a second wife to an idiot. Not a younger sister to Pine Drop. Everyone knows that Pine Drop is going to be Clan Elder someday. Snakes, she already acts like she is! You should see her. The way she orders me around. She treats me like a slave taken in war rather than a sister.”