“This creature put a spell on him. He is not—”

“Hush, or you will be beaten for your defiance,” the mamsa said sternly. “The promising is broken.”

“But I would have been first wife of the camp,” Vika protested. “I was to be over all the women and one day sheda—” The mamsa gripped her by her thin shoulders and shook her hard. “Must I cut out your tongue to silence you? That is over.”

“But I love him!”