He'd been honest with me. It was the symbol of the Crowe Tribe, and he was their young heir. He'd even joked about bringing me back to be his mountain bride.
"Where's my cousin? And her boyfriend?"
"What did you do to them?!"
I whipped my head left and right but couldn't find either of them. Fear knotted tight in my stomach.
Declan had told me once that the people in his tribe were still stuck in the old ways. Because men outnumbered women, they practiced polyandry: one wife, multiple husbands.
Some of the tribesmen would even use the gold mines to lure women in.
But he'd sworn that didn't happen anymore.
So what the hell was going on?
"You mean the traffickers? They took their gold and left a long time ago. Off spending it somewhere nice, I'd imagine."
A bald man rubbed his chin, grinning at me like I was something amusing.
"Traffickers? What are you talking about?"
I scrambled to my feet and tried to push past them, but not a single one of them moved an inch.
The bald man shoved my shoulder, impatience flashing across his face.
"Sun's going down. Pick one, or we'll all take a turn."
"Ha ha Haha! "
The circle of men erupted in laughter.