Page 63 of His to Worship
“Okay, maybe I can do jumping jacks,” Sabrina concedes, raising her hands in surrender.
“Yeah, no way in hell I’m that comfy with y’all,” Meghan agrees, standing up and stretching out her body.
“If it’s for the plan, fine,” Samra says, getting to her feet. “But never ask this of me again.”
For the next several minutes, the girls are jogging in place, doing burpees—anything they can think of to get sweaty. By the time Tiqii comes back, we are all seated again, but they are each covered in a light sheen of sweat.
When Tiqii enters the hut, her nose crinkles. She turns to the two women beside her and says, “Are all human females this terrible smelling, or is it just these?”
A charmer that one.
THIRTY-SEVEN
- sedona -
“I feel like a decorative display,” Renata says with barely concealed disgust as she flicks at the beads looped around her locs.
“I kinda like it to be honest,” Xo retorts, smoothing her hands over the leather and fur dress she wears.
Preparation for the Rites went fairly well. Tiqii and the other women pretty much just dropped everything and left, overpowered by the sheer funk in the hut. I won’t lie, that sweat smell is still stuck in my nostrils, but it’ll be worth it in the end.
“Just pretend you like it and remember to stay girly and weak until I give the signal.” We’re talking quietly, though no one but Kuvier and Enikk can understand us anyway.
As a part of our plan, Kuvier and I purposely have not seen each other all day. We have to walk a careful line here, and unfortunately, the bias towards him would mess up that tightrope walk.
Finally, Tiqii moves aside the hut’s front flap and barely pokes her head in. “Come. It is time.”
The flap closes behind her and we all share a look. It’s now or never. I lead the line out of the hut, with Amari directly behind me and everyone else following singlefile. There aren’t many other people out of their huts and I’m grateful for that. I appreciate the respite from harsh glares and wide-eyed stares.
When we reach the pit, it’s mostly empty save for a few stragglers who are setting up small bone drums with ultra thin leather stretched over them. Tiqii points us to eight stones set up in a single line in front of Junq’s hut and on the edge of the pit.
“Sit.” She doesn’t wait for us to follow directions, entering the hut without a backwards glance. We all sit on the hard makeshift seats.
From the corner of my eye I see movement, and when I look I’m relieved that it’s Kuvier. Enikk is not with him, though I am not surprised. He must be preparing for Amari’s Rite. We didn’t include him in the plan, only because if it goes wrong, Kuvier didn’t want him implicated.
Kuvier gives me a heated look and mouths our word, Mine. I mouth back, Always. And then the drumming picks up. The beats are heavy and stilted, and like sailors led by sirens, the clan begins to fill in the outskirts of the fighting pit.
My eyes are scanning the crowd, searching for signs that any males have caught the other women’s scents. Besides hungry gazes from some and hesitant stares from others, I don’t see anyone who looks how Kuvier or Enikk looked the first time they realized they had mates.
I hear movement behind us, and a second later, Junq moves around our place to enter the circle. Let the games begin.
Junq steps into the fighting pit, his presence commanding immediate silence. He stands as tall as he can, his eyes scanning the gathered clan.
“May the Great Mother see you,” he intones, his voice carrying over the hushed crowd.
He launches into his monologue, and I feel a mix of anger and anxiety bubbling inside me.
“As your atan,” Junq begins, “it is my duty to ensure that everyone in our clan is cared for, that our traditions are upheld, and that fairness prevails.”
His words feel hollow to me, especially after what happened yesterday.
“Yesterday’s Rite of Challenge left much to be desired,” he continues. “Today, the rules have changed. The fights will be conducted by two people at a time. The winner will then face a new challenger until there is only one man left standing.”
Of course.
Of course, he would come up with a way to make it harder. If this Rite took place, Enikk would be forced to face challenger after challenger, growing exhausted as each fresh-faced competitor took him on. And he’d have to do it all without Kuvier’s help. My eyes find Enikk in the crowd and the hard look on his face tells me he knows this too.
Junq continues his one-man show gesturing and going on some pompous tirade about the importance of customs. It’s not until he gets to the end of his speech that I realize he is setting up for my ‘apology.’