Page 101 of Obsidian Throne

She deserved better. All of them did.

Not a life of wondering when they were going to eat again or whether or not the next storm was going to wipe out half of their camp.

I needed their help, but I also wanted to help them.

The girl led me to the outskirts of camp near a small section of trees where we collected sticks of our own to play a round ofGorodki. When we found what we needed, she taught me how to set them up the right way.

We soon had a few more children who were ready to join in.

Again, I considered who these people were. They wanted their lives back. More than that, they wanted to belong to something again.

I saw it in the way they banded together, the way their faces held wary hope when I brought up the possibility of a new start.

Instead of going back to the inn, I stayed and played with the children, sat and talked with the men, listened to the women and the horror stories of how hard they had to fight to survive.

On the fourth day, I didn’t bother sitting down.

“We are running out of time,” I told them.

Already, reports were coming of the soldiers marching this way to box the western side of Bear in. I didn’t know how far they would go, if we would be trapped on the other side, but it wasn’t a risk we could take.

“We’ve told you, milady, we’ll fight for coin,” Andrei said again.

“And I have told you that I want more than your skills,” I said definitively. “I want your loyalty.”

Andrei shook his head and a few of the others let out sardonic chuckles.

“You expect us to be loyal to a Clan that was never loyal to us,” Maxim spat.

“No,” I shook my head. “I expect you to be loyal tome.”

That gave them pause, but I continued on.

“Not to your Clan Wife,” I clarified. “But to the woman who wants something different for you.”

“It isn’t done--” Andrei began, but I saw the temptation on his face. The desire for something more.

I cut him off, speaking in a voice loud enough to carry.

“I know that Socairan traditions run deep,” I said. “In the past, you have not sworn fealty to women. In the past, you have been removed from your clan, some of you for something as simple as refusing to murder a child.”

My gaze wandered the crowd, meeting each of their eyes in turn.

“But that doesn’t have to be your future,” I told them. “You don’t have to be Unclanned anymore. You don’t have to beBesklanovvy.”

There it was. Hope, in several of their faces. It bolstered me to go on.

“Swear fealty,” I continued, “and from this point forward, you belong to me. Swear fealty, and we will forge a new path forward. Together.”

I waited the several heartbeats it took for them to respond, wondering if they would laugh at me, turn and walk away. If they would tell me what I already knew, that I had no idea what I was doing.

And then it happened.

One by one, the men dropped to a knee.

One by one, they becamemine.

CHAPTER SIXTY