“My father is a master of manipulation,” I explain. “I don’t blame you for anything you said or did, especially since you were driven by your love for your son.”
Her smile lights her face. It’s the first time it has ever been directed at me. “Thank you for forgiving me. I see now how special you are, and why Pace loves you so.” She looks over my shoulder at Levi, who has finished and gone back to the watching place, and then turns back to me. “Since I am his mother I cannot help but say this. Please don’t hurt him.”
“That is the last thing I would ever want to do,” I say it, knowing that I already have hurt Pace. But it is true; it is the last thing I wanted to do.
“You do resemble your mother,” Ellen remarks. “You have her face, and her brave heart.”
I rock back on my heels in surprise. “You knew my mother?”
“When Pace was a year old I worked as a governess to Sir Meredith’s brother’s family. Maggie worked for them as a maid. Once she caught William’s eye she didn’t stand a chance.”
“What do you mean?” This is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone talk about my mother and I am overwhelmed with curiosity, despite our circumstances.
“As you said, your father is a master of manipulation. I’m actually furious with myself for not remembering how he was with Maggie because I watched them quite a bit when it was happening. I hate to admit it, but I was attracted to him. Pace’s father died before he was born so I had been alone for a while. Your father still is a fine man, but when he was twenty he was so very dashing and quite charming.”
I listen to Ellen, caught up in her story, and try to imagine my father at twenty years of age.
She continues. “As I said, I was attracted to him, but he only had eyes for Maggie—the girl with the diamonds in her eyes, is what he called her. Because of the shine, like yours. And he was determined to have her.”
Ellen takes my hand. “Don’t blame her for giving in,” she says. “I’m certain he promised her marriage and everything that went with it. But his career was much more important to him than a woman ever would be. There was no way he could advance with a shiner for a wife. Your mother stayed until it was impossible to hide her condition, and I know she always thought he would marry her. She even confided in me, after she was dismissed for her immoral behavior, which wasn’t fair in my mind. She told me leaving might be what it took to bring him around, so certain was she of his feelings for her.” Ellen drops my hand and rubs her arms as if she was cold. “But he didn’t. I overheard him tell his brother that it was relief that she was gone, because he wouldn’t have to deal with … you.” She rolls her eyes. “I can’t believe I let him manipulate me, even after knowing all this.”
“She died in childbirth,” I say. “She never mentioned him to my grandfather once.”
“He broke her heart,” Ellen replies. “I’m sorry you never knew her. I know you would have made her proud.”
“Thank you.” I look at Ellen and smile. I am so very grateful for her memories. “You’ve told me more about my mother than anyone ever has. All I ever knew was that I look like her.” I have much to digest now and no time to do it. But I am very grateful for this brief glimpse of my mother’s life.
“She must have been very special,” Jilly says.
Levi crouches down next to us. “Should we have a look at your foot?” he asks Jilly.
“I think it is better,” she says. “I’d actually forgotten about it until you mentioned it.”
I stand up to give Levi room to look at Jilly’s foot. Ellen stands also. She smiles at me and extends her arms, and we hug, somewhat awkwardly, but still it feels good. We have made our peace. As I look over her shoulder I see Pace smiling. For the moment, everything is well with the world.
Regretfully, the moment does not last. In a matter of minutes, Ragnor comes for us. One by one we are called to the door, our hands are tied before us, and we are led to the platform. I am the first one out, and I watch my friends as they come forth, Jilly limping, Ellen and Tobias pale and nervous, Colm resolved yet steady, and Pace and Levi alert and watchful. I keep my eyes on them, in case they see something I don’t.
Once more the entire village is assembled. It is easier to see them in the early morning light. Men, women, and children, babes in arms and old … older than I have ever seen, with bowed bodies and wrinkled faces and toothless mouths. How old are they? Much older than the forties that are the limit of a shiner’s life. Sixty? Seventy? They are quieter this morning, chatting among themselves, some of them studying us, as we are paraded by their ranks.
We stop before the platform, which is empty except for Wulf’s chair. The sky opens before us, clear and so very blue. The air smells fresh, even with the press of bodies behind us. Dew covers the hilltops of green in the distance, and birds flit overhead, busily seeking out their morning meal. This world could be so beautiful, for every one of us. Why do tyrants seek to ruin it? Why is one person’s power more important than the good of the whole? When you come down to it, my father and Wulf are not that different. And even though the rovers live outside, they are just as trapped as the people in the dome. All of us are victims of self-serving, power-hungry mad men.
We wait for Wulf to make his appearance. And he does, striding up in his cape, with his men trailing behind. Two stop at the steps, and the other two follow him up on the platform, where his chair awaits him.
The crowd presses closer. Wulf nods his head; Janna points to Ellen, and two of Ragnor’s men take her arms.
“No,” she protests. “No.” She twists in their arms and tries to reach for Pace. She does not have a chance against their raw strength, and they haul her up the steps. The crowd grows louder as Ellen tries to shake off her escorts. The crowd laughs and jeers, yelling insults at Ellen and the guards. Pace bristles beside me and looks over my head at Levi, who shakes his head. Ragnor’s men stand around us, their guns ready. We can’t do anything to help ourselves now. We would not stand a chance.
Wulf lets the crowd work themselves up before he rises from his chair and silences them by lifting his large hands. When he is satisfied that he has everyone’s attention he speaks. “Who ah-bids on this woman?”
“What’s she ah-fit for?” Someone yells out.
“Ah she’s too old to warm a bed!” someone else yells.
Ellen cringes with humiliation. She lowers her head and bites her lip.
“Damn them!” Pace yells out and is promptly punched in the gut with the butt of a rifle. He bends over in reflex and curses again before he rises up with such a look of hatred on his face that I barely recognize him. I want such to help him, but I can’t. Ragnor’s man keeps a tight hold on me so that I can barely move, much less comfort Pace.
Ellen starts to cry, and I hear Jilly crying also. “Jilly, don’t give them the satisfaction,” I say. I don’t know if she can hear me over the crowd.
“I’ll ah-give a goat for the goat,” someone yells.
“Buying ah-wife to replace the one ye lost?” someone says, and the crowd laughs.
They aren’t much different from us, I realize. People are people no matter where they are. But we would never use people as slaves. We would never buy or sell them, even though we were given no more consideration than slaves. We, along with the rest of the workers in the dome, were slaves to the royalty of the dome, just as the rovers are slave to the whims of Wulf. And now we are to be slaves to those who are enslaved. And I have no doubt that Wulf will make sure this auction ends up the way he wants it to.