Tansy of the Wilds

Chapter Thirty

Two days later

Tansy stared between her father and Tenzin with wide eyes. "Pardon?" Her voice was quiet. She was sure she hadn't heard what she just had.

"I have offered to stay on for ten years less a day if he were to provide me with a wife to bear my children." Tenzin's expression was bland as he looked at her. Her heart thundered in her chest, her stomach rolling. She felt sick, right down to her bones.

"I have offered your hand, Tansy. You are far past the time to be married and Tenzin is a good man." Her papa's words barely made it around the ringing in her ears and she swallowed convulsively. She wanted to be sick, her hands shook and she was so very afraid she would be sick.

Will you just shut up? The memory of Tenzin snapping at her made her want to flinch all over again. And her papa wanted her to marry him? She couldn't do it. She couldn't be married to him.

"She will be difficult for me to handle but I think I can apply some firm correction to get her up to my standards." Tenzin looked her up and down as if she were some sort of prized cow at auction. "I would have preferred Rose. She is a delicate beauty but I respect that you are not comfortable with our age gap, Ricktus. So Tansy will suit me fine once I make my corrections." Tenzin's voice was droning on and on and Tansy felt like she was going to be throw up as her stomach rolled unpleasantly inside of her. She knew she couldn't possibly marry him. How he spoke to her, how he looked at her, she couldn't do it.

"A week from now we will be getting the license and the priest, Tansy. Your mother will take care of the rest." Her papa continued, "You will, of course, remain in your position in the big house doing correspondence." That brought her no comfort as she swayed slightly, looking hopelessly between her father and Tenzin.

"I am not comfortable with her talking to the traders as you say she does. I want to minimize that. Keep her inside more often." Tenzin's arms crossed over his chest, his expression pinching into something unpleasant. Tansy couldn't imagine waking up to that every morning, allowing him access to her body. It made her want to shudder. She couldn't do it, she just couldn't.

Her papa shook his head, "We have to temper expectations, Tenzin. She is a great negotiator and we can't just cut off that avenue of trade agreements."

"You can teach Rose." Tenzin flippantly waved his hand and Tansy's heart sank even lower in her chest.

"Rose doesn't know the same amount of languages as Tansy." Her papa's voice was a touch sharper. "She is young but Tansy took to them easy, Rose doesn't have that talent."

"She can maintain doing the correspondence but the habit the workers have of getting her for elves or orcs should stop. I don't want her dealing with them. It's non-negotiable on my end." Tenzin's voice grew sharper, as did his gaze and Tansy swallowed convulsively to keep the bile from rising up in her throat. She felt pale, shaky. He was treating her like she was nothing more than an object, a dumb animal that couldn't think for herself.

"We will discuss this more. We have a week till the license is signed." Her papa looked at her. "You can go back to your duties." Her papa's words were a dismissal and Tansy nearly staggered from his office. She had thought Archibald had been joking but he had been serious. He had been warning her of the plan. She staggered outside, holding the door, feeling like her legs were boneless as she walked without thought.

Her papa was going to marry her off to Tenzin. There was no discussion, no talking about it. He was basically going to sell her. She knew Tenzin was important for the future of the lumberyard but that didn't mean she had to give up her future, did it? Her parents had always told her she could find someone she loved, that loved her back. And yet... her papa was demanding she marry someone who did not like her and wanted to change who she was.