Remembered Read Online Free

chuckle, but instead his face darkened.
    “Filthy little whoreson,” he growled. “Someone needs to teach him a lesson.”
    “No, they don’t,” Galia said, her voice far calmer than she thought it would be.
    When Strayke turned to her, she rested her hand on his bicep.
    “We’re no longer free,” she said. “If you act like you are, you will die. We all might.”
    Emotions flashed across his face, but ended with grim acceptance.
    “All right,” he said finally. “It can wait, but just until we’re free again.”
    The way he said it made Galia smile. “Until we are free,” she agreed.
    “Until we’re free,” Mina said.
    They came at last to a building with many levels and windows, but only one set of doors. In its courtyard was a large fountain. The slave master ordered them to clean themselves, words that made Galia ache with gratefulness. It had been weeks since they’d been allowed to wash. Still, she hesitated, and Strayke noticed.
    “I’ll make sure no one bothers you.”
    Mina’s grin was dangerous. “Let them try.”
    In the end, they watched out for each other. They claimed a space on the far side of the fountain, and stripped. Using the water and the handfuls of clean white sand in bowls close by, they could scrub themselves until they were clean.
    Galia found her eyes wandering over the bodies of her friends. Mina was slender to the point of pain. Her small breasts were topped with creamy pink nipples, and the floss of hair between her legs was as dark as the hair on her head was white. Even so, there was a spare beauty to her that Galia had never seen before. Strayke was beautiful as well. He moved with an efficiency of motion that was graceful. The water left his skin a glowing, gorgeous bronze. When he caught her looking, he grinned, winking.
    “You’re beautiful,” Strayke said, as if they were at a village well, passing the time of day.
    The compliment caught Galia off guard. She had heard them before, but something about the way Strayke said it made her heart warm. She wasn’t a tall woman, but her brown hair, when washed, was soft and glossy. Her breasts and hips were round and soft, and her belly flat, particularly after the long march. When free of caked dirt, her skin was soft in the fountain water.
    But she had been gazing too long. Hard hands caught at her shoulders, and she was pushed to the ground.
    “Filthy bitch, I told you to clean yourself!”
    Galia cried out in panic as the drover scrubbed her harshly with what felt like a bristle brush. She was bent over the fountain lip, and the brush was raked over her skin until it was pink and glowing. When he parted her legs to scrub her there as well, she thought she would die from the humiliation. She was dimly aware of men holding Mina and Strayke back.
    “There,” said the drover. “Get up. You’re not hurt.”
    Galia thought her tears had dried that terrible night the village had been destroyed. Now she could feel them filling her eyes again. Breathing deep, she blinked them back, and climbed to her feet. Mina and Strayke had been released, but there was still murder in their eyes. Galia tried to smile at them.
    “Well, I guess I shouldn’t be so slow,” she murmured.
    Mina wrapped her in a quick, hard hug.
    “I’ll kill him,” she whispered. “See if I don’t.”
    But there was nothing for it except but wait at the lip of the fountain. Mina kept an arm around her shoulders, and Strayke refused to leave her side. Despite her bravado, Galia was grateful.
    Their rags were taken away from them, and as the matron at the inn said, they would likely be burnt. Instead, they were dressed in the finest garments Galia had ever worn. She kept pinching the fine fabric, staring at how thin and lovely it was.
    “They call it cotton,” Strayke said, though he seemed as unused to it as they were. “It’s woven in the south, from fibers so fine they’re barely more than air.”
    “I feel naked,” Galia replied.
    “I think