Sioux Slave by Georgina Gentry Page B

English. “Don’t thank me yet. They were right, you know. A gelded slave is a more submissive, more docile animal to deal with.”
    Just a flicker of anger and defiance flashed through his blue eyes and he cursed softly under his breath. “If I ever get loose, you cold chit, we’ll see who’s submissive and who’s the master.”
    â€œWhat? What did you say?” She must have imagined his words. It was unbelievable that he might still be so arrogant and defiant when he was helpless in her power.
    He smiled ever so slightly. “I think you understand more English than you let on.”
    Maybe she did. Kimi didn’t question that. Many of her people had learned to speak a little. She took a deep breath to control her anger and brushed the hair from her eyes. “You’re filthy! I wouldn’t keep a pet dog as dirty as you. You will smell up my lodge.” She got a gourd of water and a little of the soap weed the tribes farther to the south had given her. Now she knelt by him and hesitated.
    There was pain in his handsome face, but a trace of defiant triumphant still. “Don’t be afraid to touch me. I’m tied down and harmless.”
    â€œI am not afraid of you,” she snapped. “If I were, I’d geld you. I still might.”
    A flicker of fear crossed his face although he struggled to keep it immobile. Men, she thought. What was it about men that made their manhood more valuable to them than their lives?
    She took the soap and a scrap of his ragged uniform and began to wash him. His skin felt warm under her hands. When she washed across his wide chest, his eyes closed, and he smiled ever so slightly and his maleness hardened. Kimi felt her face flush like fire. He was much bigger when aroused than she could even have imagined. She heard her mother coming, grabbed a buckskin garment that had belonged to Mato, threw it across his maleness to conceal it. She could only be thankful that the lodge was semidark.
    Wagnuka entered, stared at their captive curiously. “I brought some stewed meat as a gift to you from Gopher. I think he would consider taking you as a second wife when a little time has passed to make it respectable.” She gestured toward the captive with a sneer. “Do you intend to waste it feeding him?”
    â€œHe’ll hardly be of any value as either a slave or a hostage if we let him starve to death,” Kimi said carelessly as if it didn’t much matter to her one way or another.
    Her mother snorted in disgust and handed over a steaming gourd. “He doesn’t look like he’ll survive. No matter. I have told some of the other women I will help with the tanning of some hides.” She left the lodge and Kimi listened to her footsteps fade away.
    Kimi held the gourd and took a few bites with the horn spoon. The meat tasted hot and delicious. The soldier watched each bite that went into her mouth.
    â€œYou must learn to be obedient,” she said, seeing that he watched her. “If you beg nicely like a puppy, perhaps I will give you a few bites.”
    â€œGo to hell!” Only a muscle twitching in his temple betrayed his anger.
    â€œVery well, you may watch me enjoy it.” She answered coldly and continued to eat. The scent of the cooked meat filled the lodge and he sighed and turned his face away. He looked weak and she remembered he was wounded and really should be fed to give him strength, but she steeled herself. When this slave learned to obey his mistress, then she would feed him.
    She ate half the bowlful, waiting for him to change his mind and beg. She decided she could be as stubborn as he was. His face looked pale in the semidarkness, but he did not ask. Kimi hesitated. If she did not give him something to eat, in his weakened condition, he might die.
    â€œHere,” she lied, “I find I have more than I can eat after all.” She put her arm under his head, lifted him and held