Chains Released

“You can’t do that,” Char stated, the growl still in her voice, although at a lower intensity, the hatred still flaring in her light eyes. “You can’t make the men change their minds when they get so much enjoyment out of holding women as slaves. There isn’t a reason strong enough—”

“But there is,” Risdin interrupted, drawing that blazing gaze away from

Tain. “Did you miss hearing that the drug works on men as well as women, or did you simply refuse to believe? No matter how much a man enjoys having slaves, getting a taste of slavery himself will make him change his mind. And the best part is that we don’t have to do it to all men, just the ones who have enough power to outlaw slavery.”

“But all men deserve to be enslaved!” Char spat, her anger increasing rather than fading. “They’re all the same, all of them, and they deserve to be hurt just the way we were hurt! Don’t you understand—”

“Stop it!” Tain snapped, her tone sharp enough to startle the irate woman.

“It wasn’t all men who hurt you, so don’t waste our time trying to claim it was. By ending slavery we’ll hurt just the ones who do deserve your hatred, men who’ll remember how ‘good’ they had it before the change. When they find that no woman will do for them once she’s been freed they’ll suffer, but they’ll also have to be watched. Some of them could decide to force women back into slavery without the drug, and then they’ll be fair game. But only for someone who helped end slavery and became a free citizen again.”

Char’s beautiful face twisted with i

There was no doubt that she’d been savaged more than once during her time as a slave, and all Tain could hope was that she’d been left enough … balance to let her achieve and enjoy actual freedom.

“Yes, if you can manage this then the ones like my owner will have to be watched,” Char muttered after a long hesitation, apparently talking to herself. “He’ll be one of those who tries to break the new law, and then I’ll be able to—Yes, I want it that way, and then I can stand there and laugh…”

“Now that that’s settled, let’s go and get all of you some coffee,” Risdin said to the others, all of them showing relief to one degree or another. Areen was there and so was Celene along with a third woman Tain didn’t know, and when Risdin touched Char’s arm to get her moving everyone followed. Char still seemed to be very involved with her thoughts, the smile on her face more than a little disturbing. Tain was about to go along with the others when there was a touch on her own arm.

“Tain, what’s wrong with her?” E

“I think it’s fear doing this to her,” Tain suggested after a moment’s thought, she and E

“Is it true that the men were enslaved but you got them free?” E

“There are a couple of things I’m not able to tell you, but that doesn’t really matter now,” Tain said, her own anger soothed by the realization that she didn’t have to get around Killen’s orders not to tell E

“You know, I think it does,” E

“Most times getting even feels really good, but there are exceptions to just about every rule,” Tain commented, keeping her own expression bland as E

E

Risdin and the others moved somewhat slowly ahead of Tain and E

“Wait for me here, please.”

Tain nodded to show that she’d wait, then watched E

“You can’t give E

The two men nodded, but their expressions had changed to ones that were almost identical. Both men were suddenly … concerned about what would happen, but neither looked actually worried. After all, Tain could almost see them thinking, it was E

It wasn’t more than a couple of minutes before E

“E

“Sure, Tain, glad to oblige,” E

“And don’t worry about me asking to go out with you three. I know I’m not up to something like that yet, so I’ll wait here with the others. And now I hope you’ll excuse me. I have some getting-even to do.”

Tain nodded and stepped back out of the way, making sure her surprise didn’t show on her face. E