Conceived in Blood, A Post-Apocalyptic/Dystopian Novel Read Online Free PDF

he wanted, their 'Vider sought Belle out four or five times a week to bathe his 'son' in his seed.
    "I've heard we're heading into lean times. I plan to make him pick me over you if it comes to that." Ann finger-combed her long honey-colored locks. The wind picked up the strands and lifted them from her shoulder.
    The hair on Belle's nape rose. The girl learned quickly and had adjusted to life as a 'Vider's personal property all too easily. Pregnancy was as close a guarantee to living another day as female tributes received.
    But it wasn't an absolute.
    With the birth of her sixth child, Belle knew the 'Viders would value her over the girl. Especially since four of them still lived. Especially since the new head Provider had been watching her so closely. "Who says we're heading into lean times?"
    "Everyone." Ann shrugged and crouched by the fire. She held her hands near the flames before rubbing them together.
     "I've been with the 'Viders ten winters, I have never encountered lean times." God help her, she prayed they would happen. Practically offered her soul for them to happen. But there was always another village to demand tribute from, then when the townspeople balked at yet another offering, the 'Viders raided and took what they wanted.
    "But 'Vider Stake offered his sister-wife to the congregation." Ann daubed at the saliva at the corners of her mouth before breaking a branch in half and feeding it to the fire. "Why would he do that if we were not in the lean times?"
    Sister-wife. The girl was delusional. They were nothing but property to be used and abused as their 'Vider saw fit. Everyone learned that lesson sooner or later. Most had only minutes to digest it before their lives ended.
    "Mandy was sacrificed because she had not carried a child in the four years she'd been here." Even Nattie's herbs couldn't overcome the sterility left by her breeder's cancer. If 'Vider Stake had learned that the woman knew of her barrenness when she'd been claimed, her death would have been prolonged and painful.
    A lesson for everyone to learn.
    Ann wrapped her arms around her knees and rocked. "I'm sure I'm pregnant."
    Belle swallowed the lump in her throat. Her daughter did that when she was scared. But Ann wasn't her daughter; she was a rival. A deadly rival. "I would wait for a new moon before telling our 'Vider."
    Ann's brown eyes narrowed. "Why?"
    "He doesn't like to be disappointed." Hated it just as much as he hated everything else. Belle tugged her tattered sleeve over her scarred wrist. He'd found out she was pregnant the day before she miscarried. That lesson, he boasted, had toughened her up enough to carry their five children to term. She stroked her belly.
    And the sixth looked like it would make it, too.
    "I'm going to have a boy." Ann jumped to her feet. Her top lip curled. "I'll never bear any stupid, weak girls like you."
    Keeping her gaze down, Belle stirred the coals under the pot. Girls were a blessing. They didn't have to become warriors. And so far, her youngest two hadn't wanted to learn the Warrior Way. Please, God, let them never want to.
    "Maybe I'll ask to be trained as a 'Vider. I can do it."
    Belle bit her lip. She shouldn't help the girl, shouldn't but... she was so young. "I wouldn't ask if I were you."
    Ann's hands fisted at her side. "I'm not weak like you. I'd be a good 'Vider. The best."
    The hide snapped. From the corner of her eye, Belle watched her 'Vider saunter out. His green gaze skimmed Ann to land on Belle. Blunt fingers trailed down his coarse, woven shirt and he adjusted himself through the dark blue trousers. Her attention shifted to the white stripe on his shirt and her stomach cramped.
    That patch had been her first time weaving human hair into cloth.
    Her dead parents had provided the material.
    Ann skipped to his side and plastered herself against this chest. "I have something to tell you."
    Pushing the girl away, he focused on Belle's stomach. "Later."
    Apparently, this morning's