Sen

  Sen dashed onto the front steps of her old farmhouse and flew through the door, Grady at her heels. They were completely soaked. The rain had started coming down harder on their way back. There were already small pools of water on the floor from where Geo must have come in before her and she looked up to see his cloak hanging by the fireplace, water dripping off onto the stones of the hearth. She followed suit and hung her cloak next to his. Grady shook off, sending droplets into the fireplace where the fire danced merrily. It hissed as the water hit.

  She stared at the flames for a moment, frowning. It had been months since they’d had a fire indoors. In the summer she’d taken to cooking their meals outside most evenings to keep the house from getting even warmer. The chill, damp air definitely warranted one inside today but the fact that it had already started gave her pause. She knew that they’d been gone longer than planned but it was hard to tell exactly what time it was when they emerged from the forest with the thick, dark clouds of the storm. If it were that late that her father started the fire.. Then she was in trouble.

  She turned, listening to the sounds of the kitchen. Sure enough, there was the sound of someone chopping something. She sucked in a deep breath and straightened her back. No use putting off the scolding she knew she’d get. She glanced at Grady who immediately lay in front of the hearth as if to say, ‘this is your battle,’ and then closed his eyes.

  “Lazy mutt,” she muttered under her breath as she headed for the kitchen. She almost swore she heard Grady huff in response as she stepped around the corner.

  Sure enough, her father stood at the table chopping vegetables and throwing them into a large pot. Two skinned rabbits hung off the edge of the table by a string. She grimaced as she came up behind him, realizing how late she must be if he already did the skinning too.

  “Father,” she said in greeting, holding out her hand for him to give her the knife.

  He relinquished it, wiping his hands on his trousers as he stepped out of the way. She took his place, not making eye contact with him.

  “You never brought the wire that I sent Rydan to get,” he said, and she saw him cross his arms out of the corner of her eye.

  “I know,” she said, focusing on chopping the various root vegetables. “He took me into the forest to see the carcass of one of their brocks that had been killed. It was deeper in the forest than we realized and time got away from us. I’ll bring the wire down from the barn first thing in the morning.”

  Her father grunted in response as he slid into one of the rickety chairs at the table and ran his hands over his face.

  “How were the fields?” Sen asked, hoping to deflect the conversation to another topic.

  “How do you think?” her father grumbled, leaning back in the chair. It creaked loudly under the movement. “Completely flooded. Equipment kept getting stuck. Had to call it early.”

  Relief flooded Sen as she nodded in understanding. It wasn’t as late as she had thought then.

  “I don’t like you traveling so far from the farm,” her father said, and she could feel his eyes boring into the side of her face. “You could’ve run into someone. Many people hunt in the forest.”

  “But we didn’t,” Sen said, dropping the last of the veggies into the pot and reaching for the hanging rabbits.

  “But you could have,” he shot back, voice starting to rise. “If anyone sees you-”

  “Then what?” Sen shot back, finally turning toward her father and cutting him off. It was the same thing she’d heard nearly every day since childhood. The only thing he really ever bothered to talk to her about. “Someone would’ve seen a simple farm boy and nothing more. You’ve made sure of that.”

  Her father’s face flushed red at that and he stood, pointing at her. “Everything I’ve done and everything I will continue to do is to protect this family.”

  “Right,” Sen said and a bitter laugh escaped her lips. She threw the last of the meat into the pot and hoisted it off the table to carry it to the fireplace.

  Surprisingly, her father didn’t respond. He just got up when she did and headed toward the back of the house and likely the back porch. As she rounded the corner she nearly ran into Geo and the pot shifted in her arms. Geo reached out and steadied it before taking it from her arms completely and turning toward the fire.

  “Uh… Thanks,” she said, following him.

  He turned back and glared at her before disappearing through the kitchen to follow their father. She stared after him, eyebrows bunched in confusion. Geo barely ever acknowledged her, never mind helped her. This day kept getting stranger.

  Shrugging it off, she returned to her task: dinner.

  She added a few sparse dried herbs from their garden and then some water from the stream they kept in jugs. Then, she stirred everything together with the long wooden spoon hung above the hearth. Within minutes the stew was bubbling and fragrant. Minutes after that, she heard footsteps on the stairs and she smirked. She turned as her younger brothers, Harlin and Ivan, came running down the stairs.

  She turned to them, holding the spoon out to point at them with a mock frown.

  “Whose turn is it for punishment tonight?” Sen said, moving the spoon from one to the other as they came to a stop in front of her. Ivan put up his hands, taking a step back.

  “It was me last night,” he said with a smirk. “Good luck, bro.”

  Harlin sighed, taking a step forward and putting a hand over his heart. “I’ll honorably sacrifice myself for the good of the family.”

  Sen snickered at their nightly joke: someone had to do the taste test. They relentlessly teased Sen about her cooking skills. Her mother had been an amazing cook, making their meager choices much better with herbs and spices. Sen, while having improved greatly, was still unable to master the craft. Her food wasn’t terrible and it kept them alive. The inconsistency of it spurred their nightly joke that one of the younger boys had to taste it to make sure it was edible.

  She reached into the pot and scooped up some stew, making sure to include some hearty chunks of meat. She blew on it lightly and turned to her brother, handing over the spoon. He took it, making a face like he was afraid. Sen put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot on the floor, faking impatience. Harlin blew on the stew a few times before dumping it into his mouth and handing back the spoon.

  “Well?” Sen asked, eyebrows raised expectantly.

  Harlin’s eyes went wide and he put his hands up to his throat and made a loud choking noise. Sen rolled her eyes and smacked him on the arm.

  He laughed. “Not your best work and not your worst, but it will fill us. Getting sick of the rabbit though.”

  Sen sighed and turned back to the stew. “Tell me about it,” she muttered under her breath as she set the spoon aside to wash later and grabbed the ladle from its hook. “Grab the bowls and bread,” she told the boys and they went to do as she asked, falling easily into their usual routine.

  “You should’ve seen the look on Father’s face when the goats got stuck for the third time,” Ivan said, chuckling. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen him that mad.”

  “We never should have gone out to the fields today,” Harlin said with a heavy sigh. “The goats knew the storm was coming and were restless from the start.”

  “You could’ve taken Ruz,” Sen said, spooning stew into the bowls. “She pulls the wagon easily and startles less than the goats in a storm.”

  “I suggested as much but Father won’t risk any injury to her unless absolutely necessary,” Harlin said with a frown. “He’s about as stubborn as the goats. They’re suited for one another.”

  “Ruz is our best milk producer by far,” Ivan said as he tore chunks of bread from the loaf, setting them next to four of the bowls. “She’s too valuable to use for tending the fields.”

  “She isn’t delicate,” Sen said. “She’s strong and loyal. She could handle the work and still produce the milk.”

  “I agree,” Harlin said. “But you know how Father is.”

  As he finished, the back door slammed shut and the three of them turned their heads to see their father and Geo returning.

  “And how am I?” their father said, looking between the three of them as they took their places at the dinner table.

  “Reasonable as roaring back at a river,” Ivan said and Harlin laughed. Sen grinned but Geo said nothing as they all slid into their seats.

  “Hmm,” their father grunted in response but said nothing. He picked up his spoon and tasted the stew. Sen watched his expression carefully. He never complained about her cooking. Never once. But she knew he missed her mother’s. He smacked his mouth a few times before taking another big bite. He noticed her watching and gave her a nod as he chewed. She smiled a little and picked up her own spoon. It wasn’t much, but she’d take it.

  They ate in mostly silence. Sen felt eyes boring into her, and when she looked up she was surprised to see Geo playing with his spoon, stirring his stew but not really eating. When their eyes met, he looked down., and her brows drew together in confusion. Geo had been staring at her, she was sure of it. Before today, he rarely paid her any attention. But he’d helped her once and now watched her eat.

  “Stew ok?” she chanced asking.

  Geo looked up again and gave her a curt nod before returning to his stew, taking a small bite before continuing stirring. She frowned at him for a second before returning to her own meal. Something odd was going on.

  She’d only taken a few more bites when their father cleared his throat from the head of the table. All heads snapped up, perplexed. They watched as he pushed back his half-finished bowl and put his elbows on the table, lacing his fingers beneath his chin. He looked around at all of them in turn but when he got to Sen, his gaze lingered a moment longer.

  “Your cousin Rydan is to take a wife,” he said, staring at Sen while he said the words before looking around again. Ivan audibly gasped and Harlin’s mouth fell open. Senna looked at Geo to gauge his reaction, but he was still looking down into his bowl, though he’d set his spoon aside when their father started speaking. Sen frowned at him again. Geo was never one for much emotion or banter. He was seven years older than her and nine and ten years older than Harlin and Ivan respectively. A lot of the responsibilities of the farm fell to him after their father, and from a young age he had been prepared to take over if anything ever happened. This only increased tenfold after their mother’s death. He was cold and stern, just like their father. Sen never blamed him for it but they never got close unlike her and the younger two. But tonight he was acting positively odd.

  Stolen story; please report.

  “What about Tris?” Harlin blurted, looking bewildered.

  “Tris is too weak,” their father said with a sigh. “Has been for some time and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. The medicine men in the village don’t seem to think he is likely to improve anytime soon, if ever. He has his good days and bad days and it's unpredictable. Tinctures and herbs seem to help some but not enough. Your uncle had been hopeful for a recovery but seeing as that doesn’t seem possible… He’s had to consider the next possibility. The responsibility has fallen to Rydan.”

  Silence fell over the table and three heads turned to look at Sen. She peered around, meeting each.

  “You knew,” Ivan said bluntly. It wasn’t a question, it was an accusation. His eyes hardened slightly with the betrayal.

  “Only since this afternoon,” Sen said, pleadingly. “It wasn’t my news to tell.”

  Harlin put a hand on Ivan’s shoulder and his expression softened once more. Harlin was always the most reasonable of her brothers. He matched their mother’s temperament the most along with his looks. His dark brown hair was the only feature he shared with his brothers that came from their father. None of them had inherited their mother’s dark blonde waves. But his face had all the soft features of their mother and his gray eyes were an exact copy of hers.

  “No, it wasn’t,” her father agreed, surprising her again. “Sen was right to let me tell you. This is a huge change for our whole family.”

  They all fell silent once more, waiting for him to continue. There was a long pause as he considered them again, chewing his cheek like he was unsure of how to say whatever was on his mind.

  “What about Geo?” Harlin asked, peering at their oddly stoic eldest brother across from him. “He’s two years older than Rydan.”

  “You’re right,” their father said, eyebrows raised in surprise.

  Geo finally looked up and glanced at Sen again before turning his head toward his father. Their eyes met and Geo nodded.

  “There is something I’ve been meaning to talk to all of you about for quite a long time now,” their father said, and he lowered his arms, placing his palms flat on the table. As he spoke at the table, eyebrows creased, Sen suddenly noticed how old he looked. As he spoke the words, his eyes looked tired and not just like he’d had a hard day's work. Like he had been sitting with whatever he was about to say and it had weighed on him heavily. Sen held her breath as he lifted his eyes and they landed on her once more.

  “Senna,” he said and his voice cracked on her name. The intake of breath from Harlin and Ivan was audible and then… complete silence. They all stared at their father with wide, fearful eyes. He had never called her by her real name. Not once, in Sen’s memory, had he uttered the name. Seconds ticked by that felt like an eternity and she watched as he blinked away unshed tears.

  “This is something that never should have been kept a secret from you,” he said, shaking his head sadly. “My love and respect for your mother has held my tongue all these years. Love is what kept you here and still keeps you here, seated at this table.”

  Love for their mother, but not her, Senna knew. She’d always known that was the case. Her father, the hardened, unemotional man, had loved their mother truly and deeply. She had loved him back. She convinced him to hide and keep their only daughter because she had loved her children so deeply. He hadn’t been able to tear Senna away, knowing that he’d lose a part of his dear wife in the process. And so they came up with a plan. One they followed to this very day. Senna had been told this countless times by her mother as a child and she had seen the love her parents had shared.

  She’d never seen that tender look her father got when looking at her mother directed at her until now.

  “I told her I’d keep you safe,” he whispered, eyes haunted like he was looking at his sweet Marilece again. “I have done that. I have.”

  “Father,” Sen said tentatively. “I don’t understand.”

  Sen’s voice seemed to break him out of his thoughts and he blinked rapidly, eyes hardening once more.

  “My greatest duty is to keep this family safe,” he said and even his voice sounded tired as he looked at all of them once more. “All of you. My love for your mother… it had blinded me. Not in a bad way but I still was blind. For too long.”

  “Senna,” he said again, pausing after he spoke it like he didn’t like the way it felt on his tongue. Senna flinched as her true name was spoken again for what felt like the hundredth time that day instead of the third. “You are not my daughter… Not truly.”

  The words cut like a knife and Senna gasped. She always thought her father resented the fact that he had to hide her. She could see the tension, the stress when the collectors would come for their dues. When a stranger would pass by on the road and look too closely. But she never expected him to say he didn’t think of her as kin.

  “What I mean is that you weren’t born into this family,” he explained. “You were found.”

  Senna’s mouth fell open, words escaping her. Found?

  “Found?” Harlin’s voice cut into her spiraling thoughts and she was grateful he could form the question her brain couldn’t.

  “Your mother and I were on our way to the market one day when we came across a wagon overturned on the side of the road leading into town,” their father explained. “Gods, it feels like a lifetime ago… but yes. Your mother wanted to check the wagon to see if anyone was injured. There were no horses, no goats, no ruks attached to the carriage. When we looked inside there was no one except a tiny baby swaddled and left inside, just by the door. Remarkably, the infant was alive and injured, sleeping even, as if it hadn’t been in the accident at all, just placed inside the overturned carriage.”

  “Your mother,” he continued after a pause. “The kind-hearted woman she was, wanted to take the baby into town to see if anyone knew anything about the carriage. I agreed, seeing as no one was around on the road. The infant likely wouldn’t be found for some time and I couldn’t imagine why anyone would leave a helpless baby alone unless something bad had happened to them.”

  “However, once we got into town, your mother became reluctant to mention the baby to anyone,” he said, eyes becoming far away as he recalled the memory. “I should’ve known then that she was up to something but I assumed she would just hand it over to the village physician. After our errands, I guided us toward the physician’s quarters but she stopped me, tears in her eyes.”

  “She wanted to bring the baby home,” he said. “I was, obviously, concerned. The baby was a female so, rightfully, this was not a child we would be able to take in. She reasoned that Emmeline, your aunt, was still nursing her baby and could nurse this one for a while. Then, when the child was about a year old, we could turn her in as required by law. I hesitated, unsure. But ultimately, her tears won me over and we took the baby home.”

  “That baby was Sen?” Ivan asked, eyes wide.

  “Yes,” their father confirmed. “But as you know, we never turned her over. You see… Your mother and I did have a daughter. A beautiful, healthy baby, born soon after we married, before we had Geo. We did turn over this girl child, as the law demands, on her first birthday. Your mother had affectionately called her Geneviena. She’d begged me to keep her. Cried. Screamed when they came for her. But there was nothing I could do. She had been registered at birth. Your mother saw the physician when pregnant so they knew she had a child. They came back to check around the time she was born to see how things went and to check the gender. There was no hiding it. The two times a year that the collection officers visit properties for the dues serves two purposes. One, to tally what is owed per family to the King. Two, to check the status of any women of childbearing age in the home. They bring a physician. Everyone is checked for signs of pregnancy and marked down. It is standard procedure.”

  “They don’t bring a physician out when they collect our dues,” Harlin pointed out, arms crossed.

  “Ah, you’re correct,” their father said with a nod. “But they did when your mother was still alive. You were too young to remember. Now, neither our home or your uncles have a woman of age so they don’t make the trip out. If they do, they don’t get out of the comfort of the carriage because there is no woman registered here.”

  Harlin and Ivan exchanged glances but said nothing.

  “It destroyed your mother,” he continued. “She was never the same. They say they train women to prepare for it. But there’s no amount of training that can prepare them for losing their children. The physicians will give sleeping tonics to help them get through the grief but it only helps so much. After about a year, she finally started to come out of her grieving but she was haunted.”

  “She got better after getting pregnant with Geo but was terrified of having another girl. If she had, I don’t think she would’ve survived it. Knowing this, I never should’ve let her take a baby girl home with us. But I did.”

  “What happened to Senna’s parents?” Ivan asked, eyes still wide.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I still can’t wrap my head around that scene. I’ve played it over and over again in my mind and I don’t understand how an infant could’ve ended up abandoned, unharmed, in that wreckage.”

  They were silent as they turned it over. Then their father began to speak again.

  “So we came up with a plan,” he explained. “We keep her, but tell no one. Your mother wasn’t pregnant with her so no one would know of her existence. We’d raise her as a boy and no one would know. Obviously, as she grew older, that secret was harder to keep. Children all look the same, round with baby fat. But now… It’s a different story.”

  “You’ve kept me thin,” Senna said, curling in toward the table and wrapping her arms around her middle. “Dressed me in Geo’s baggy clothes. Kept my hair short. No one had ever suspected.”

  “Because I didn’t allow anyone close enough to suspect,” their father said, his voice hard again. “Your aunt and uncle knew, carried the burden of knowing for us. They didn’t approve but your aunt understood and agreed to nurse you. But it was a strain on them as well. They have children to protect. After your mother and aunt died of the same wasting sickness, far too young, your uncle and I could’ve taken new wives. Or at least one of us could. But we didn’t. We were already too deep into our secret to risk someone new coming in. If we turned Senna in, we’d be prosecuted for hiding her so long.”

  Senna’s stomach turned. They’d considered handing her over.

  “But now…” he sighed heavily. “Things are changing. Geo and Rydan are old enough to take wives. Someone new will be coming into our families. I know that you think it isn’t obvious, Senna. But it is more than you realize. Your face, your height. You’re too… Soft. No matter how much bread I keep you from eating or how baggy your overalls, there will always be woman to you.”

  It felt like the world had been ripped out from under her. She swayed in her seat as the corners of her vision blurred with tears. No.

  “So what?” Ivan asked, voice rising. Harlin reached out a hand to steady Senna in her chair. “We just turn her in after all? Make her turn herself in? You think they won’t find out it was us and prosecute us all anyway? What choice do we have but to keep on going the way things are?”

  “We don’t,” their father said quietly. “Senna will continue to be a part of our family. We will report her as having come across her when Rydan and his father make their trip into Briarton to the auction. She will go with them. They will claim they found her off the coast. Senna will say she came by ship seeking refuge from Dracocia. That she was captured and escaped.”

  “No!” Ivan yelled, standing and toppling his chair in the process. “They will take her away. We will never see her again.”

  “Sit. Down.” Their father said through clenched teeth. “They aren’t going to take her. I haven’t finished.”

  “They won’t take her because….” he paused, looking to Geo. “She will be pregnant.”

  The room fell silent once more. Every face was shocked, even Geo’s. He looked surprised for the first time since their father began talking.

  “Your uncle will tell them that she is pregnant with Rydan’s child and would like to register them as husband and wife and that their family would pay the dues for her and take responsibility,” he explained.

  “Rydan will never agree,” Senna spat through clenched teeth, her anger rising. “I’m not some tool to be used by you.” Suddenly something wet bumped her hand and she looked down to see Grady’s yellow eyes peering up at her. He whined low in his throat at Rydan’s name.

  “No, Rydan won’t agree,” her father said with a frown. “You two have always been far too close for the circumstances. I know he’d never be able to force you into anything, he cares too deeply for you.”

  “Then what?” Senna spat. “You think that the officers won’t bring me to the physician to confirm your claim? You’re banking all of this on them believing a lie?”

  “No,” he said, sighing again. “They will take you to the physician to check. You will have to be pregnant. But it won’t be Rydan’s child. It will be Geo’s.”

  “You….What?” Senna whispered, eyes filling with tears again.

  “I didn’t know about the pregnancy,” Geo said, finally speaking. “You didn’t tell me that was part of this.”

  “It is the only way,” their father said, voice grave.

  The tears started to pour earnestly out of Senna’s eyes as she sat there, numb. Grady nudged her hand with his nose, sensing her emotions. She absentmindedly placed her hand on his head as her world fell apart. There was no other way. She could see that.

  Geo turned to Senna and for the first time in her life, she saw sadness and regret cross his face as he watched her. But just as quickly, it was gone. Replaced by his usual emotionless mask. He nodded once, “I understand.”

  “There has to be some other way,” Harlin whispered.

  “There is not,” their father said, voice hard. Final. “Senna has to be pregnant by the time the autumn harvest is complete to make the trip into town. They will fine them for not immediately bringing her in but it will be manageable. If, for some reason, they don’t, she will be taken and prepared for auction. They will be more likely to accept when there is already a pregnancy involved.”

  “Rydan won’t agree to be married to me,” Senna argued as her voice broke, tears flowing freely. “On paper or otherwise.”

  “He will,” her father said. “Because he won’t risk losing you forever. He won’t risk sacrificing you to the possible cruelty of another man. Even if you resent him, he will protect you and keep you in our family any way he can.”

  As much as she wanted to deny it, she wasn’t sure she could. Would he sacrifice their friendship to protect her?

  “What about the auction?” Ivan asked. “Who will they think they’re buying a wife for?”

  “Your uncle,” their father said with a shrug. “He may be older but there is no law against it. In reality, the woman will be for Rydan. Senna will remain here and serve our household as Geo’s wife. When the officers come for the dues, she will stay with Rydan’s family. They won’t question things as long as the women are in the houses they’re registered to. They won’t question who their children belong to. It isn’t uncommon for one wife to be shared amongst the entire household, though it is not explicitly encouraged.”

  “That’s disgusting,” Harlin said, glaring at their father. “There are men out there who see their wives as nothing more than a means for breeding and getting sons. Now Geo is supposed to treat Senna like that? Like she hasn’t been raised as our sister our whole lives?”

  “The fact is Senna is not your biological sister,” he said sternly.

  “I will do what I have to do to protect our family,” Geo said, glaring at Harlin. “You’ll never understand what father has risked by keeping this secret for so long. We won’t have to hide anymore.”

  “That’s right,” their father agreed, eyes softening as he looked at Senna. “You won’t have to hide anymore. You don’t have to skip meals. You can grow your hair, wear dresses that fit. You can be free.”

  Free. It was strange how just this morning she had thought of herself as free as she worked in the barn. She had always known that she was lucky to live this life, unowned, untrained. She could see now that it was always temporary.

  “It isn’t fair,” she said in a whisper.

  “No,” her father agreed. “It isn’t. It hasn’t been fair in a long, long time. Since before the war. Since before our woman started dying of mysterious illnesses that the Dragon King cursed us with. But the king saved us. Our people, all of Carsil, were supposed to die out. Our women infertile, our men sickly and weak. Our fields yielding little. But the King, Gods bless him, found a way to stop it. He gathered the strongest women and treated them, keeping them safe. Ever since, it has been law. Women are precious and there are so few left.”

  “He should have let us die,” Senna said, voice hollow. Grady whined again.

  “You aren’t going to make this easy, are you?” her father asked, closing his eyes.

  “I’m supposed to… What?” Senna asked, voice rising in anger. “Just smile and nod and slip into the role of Geo’s wife? And be gracious for it? What do you think?”

  “I foresaw this complication,” their father said, shaking his head. “Which is why I told you with plenty of time. You will come to accept it. You have no choice. None of us do.”

  “I won’t,” Senna said, glaring down the length of the table and standing. “I will leave.”

  “And go where?” he asked gently. “There is nowhere that will accept you. The closest land is Dracocia and going there is a death sentence if you could even make it across the narrow strait. That is if you could find a sailor willing to take a mysterious, lone woman with him. You’re more likely to end up dead or turned in.”

  “I don’t care,” Senna said, tears still dripping onto her stained cotton shirt and overalls. “I would rather take my chances than stay here and play wife for my brother.”

  “I thought it might come to this,” he said and looked to Geo, who nodded. Geo stood, going to the doorway and standing with his arms crossed to block it. Grady growled low in warning. “I didn’t want to do this but you’ve given me no choice. You risk everything for us if you leave. If they find you, they have ways of getting information out of people. If anyone finds out you came from here, you will be sentencing all of us to death.”

  Senna shook her head. “I’d never tell anyone.”

  “You can’t know that,” her father said, voice still gentle as went to stand in the doorway to the back of the house. “Geo.”

  Senna turned toward Geo, eyes wide and putting her hands up to block him but it was too late. He grasped her from behind, pinning her hands down to her side. She struggled but it was no use, he was much bigger and stronger, arms hardened from working the farm.

  “Put her in the cellar,” her father instructed and she fought even harder. Grady growled deeply but didn’t attack.

  “No!” Senna screamed, kicking her feet as Geo dragged her to the cellar steps. Suddenly Grady lunged, knocking Geo off balance and sending them both tumbling down the stairs into the cellar. They fell down the steps, Geo landing hard on top of Senna and her head smacked against the stone floor with a sickening crack. Geo yelled and rolled off Senna, kicking his leg as Grady bit and tore at his pants, growling dangerously. Senna blinked through, blurry, spinning vision.

  Geo managed to kick Grady off, running up the steps and slammed the door at the top, locking Senna inside with Grady.

  He circled her worriedly, licking her face. She tried to reach up and calm him but couldn’t make her hand raise enough to touch him. That was the last thing she remembered before her vision went black.