Page 58 of Rauf: Minotaur Mates

“Teresa will accept me.” That I knew for certain.

“I’d like to hear that from her, just to be sure. But you can fill out the paperwork anyway.”

Nezara opened a drawer and pushed a stack of papers across the desk. She placed a pen beside it.

The first page was easy enough. My name. Where I lived. What work I did. I wrote farmer in the space for occupation and tried to remember the last time I’d put it on a form. There had been plenty of years when no one needed to ask what I did for a living.

I turned the page. Household members. Available sleeping space. I listed the men and counted the rooms. I put down the number of bedrooms and moved on.

Nezara worked on something of her own while I wrote. The scratch of our pens filled the office. I began to think I might finish before Teresa woke.

Then I reached the question about how many times a week I expected to have sex.

I read it twice. They’d provided a small box for a number, as if this was something I could order in advance and have delivered with a wife. What if Teresa wanted more? What if she wanted less? Were we supposed to come back and amend the fucking form?

I left it blank.

Farther down, they wanted me to list any gambling debts. I wasn’t handing Nezara an account of every coin I’d won or lost. If Teresa wanted to go through my accounts, I’d put them in front of her.

Nezara could make do with the fact that I worked and had a roof over my head.

I skipped that question too.

Some of the rest were reasonable. I wrote down the sort of work that went on at the farm and the distance from town. I didn’t make the roads sound better than they were. Teresa had already traveled them often enough to know.

I signed where indicated, put the pages back in order, and slid them across the desk. Nezara set aside her pen and took them.

“I’ll bring Teresa to you later to finalize things.”

“Send her on her own.”

My hand stopped halfway to the arm of the chair. “Excuse me? What are you suggesting?”

Nezara shrugged. “You can come with, but I will speak with her privately. I cannot ignore your reputation, Rauf, and I will not send another of my brides into danger.”

There it was. I’d sat in her chair, filled out her papers, and apparently I was still a danger to any woman foolish enough to want me. I wanted to ask if she’d given every other male in town the same warning.

Then I thought of Zarcal. Chloe had been his bride before she married Lorkin. Whatever had happened inside Zarcal’s head that night, he’d nearly hurt her. Lorkin had stepped in, and Chloe had gotten out.

That didn’t make it easier to hear her say it about me.

“She is in no danger from me.”

“And then I’m sure she’ll say that. I’ll see you soon.”

Nezara drew my papers toward her and opened the folder.

I got up.

Outside, the street had grown busier. A delivery cart stood across from my truck, and someone was sweeping dust off a doorstep into the road. I stepped around a pair of males talking beside the office and headed for the driver’s door.

I wanted to get back to the farm. I wanted to tell Teresa I’d done what she’d asked, that she’d find me waiting whenever she was ready to come into town.

I reached for the handle.

“Rauf!”

Korfas was coming down the street fast, weaving around the cart instead of waiting for it to move. I let go of the door and turned to meet him. He stopped close enough that he didn’t have to raise his voice.