“What did my daughter have to say about this man?” Bran asked Belle. “[i]If[/i] telling me wouldn't violate any sort of [i]confidence[/i], I mean.”

Belle giggled like a young woman would when asked such a question by such a man about his daughter. “I don't know if I should tell you or not.”

The other two guards laughed about something they were discussing in whispers from their own guard posts. Belle wondered whether if it was about her and Bran, but a moment later she overheard some of the conversation and concluded it wasn't. 

She looked to her best friend’s father, again smiling. There [i]would[/i] be something that others from the village could talk about that involved both Belle and Bran, but that time was still months away, [i]if ever[/i].

“I informed Tyka of my choice this morning,” she whispered to Bran. He looked at her with an expectant expression. Her lips widened in a delighted smile. “I chose you, if you are willing…”

Belle didn't know what to expect from Bran, but she hoped for his acceptance of her offer to let him father her first child. Tyka, the Clan’s [i]matchmaker[/i], was the one to suggest Bran for the [i]duty[/i], despite him being not just her best friend’s father but also 5 years more than twice her own age of 19. 

There were plenty of younger men – from this village and others – who would have [i]loved[/i] the opportunity to be the first to fill Belle’s [i]garden[/i] with their seed. But for most of them, it would have been more about just wanting to fuck her. She was a beauty and a virgin, as was Annie, and men both young and old ogled her without shame. 

Bran was a healthy, fit, handsome man who had proven himself to be a successful breeder. Each of his children had been healthy, fit [i]stock[/i], and any woman in the Clan would be happy to bear his child. Additionally, Belle and Bran were well separated from one another genetically, with [i]no[/i] known blood relative shared by them back to the founding of the community which, correctly or not, called itself a Clan these days. 

“You accept,” Belle tempted Bran with a devilish smirk, “and I'll tell you what your daughter said about the stranger.”

She giggled again, knowing how badly the man wanted to know what Annie thought of King.