Born into a society tolerant of homosexuals, River Otter is confused by the white culture’s persecution of such men. As the war begins to wind down, Otter leaves the only home he has ever known to help Major James Morrow, commandant of Ft. Yanube, build a farm north of the fort. He begins a new life with the handsome major while coming to grips with growing hostility toward natives and rising danger from a local militia bent on eliminating all bloods from the territory.<br><br>As his physical attraction for the blond soldier slowly grows into a love perilous to both of them, Otter is distracted by personal challenges. As he struggles to survive the social and political upheaval sweeping the plains, can remain true to his own set of values?

River Otter

“It makes no sense, Otter,” he said to me the third day after the tragedy. It was Abel Brown who sent the militia to Trickling Water. If you must assign blame, he was responsible for killing Dull Lance’s wife and companions.”


I stared at him. “Brown, Smith…Hardcastle, even. They are the same snake in a different skin. Brown started it, but Smith pressed the issue. If they had eased off and allowed me to reason with Lance, maybe…”


“I’m no defender of the likes of Sam Smith, but it’s you I am concerned with. You are a logical man, but this is not logical. Dull Lance killed Brown and Pawley. Ambushed them. Of course, the militia had to go after him. So did the military, as you recall. While I was still in command.”


“Aye, but Smith is the worst of them. He is a hater. A hater of people of the blood, and a hater of people like us. He represents all that is wrong with the white man.”


Chapter 116