Branded

by Clare London

  “And what happened to those sisters?”

  Eila’s face was studiedly blank now. For the first time, I felt compassion for her. “She had them killed, Maen. She had her own ways, and her own men, and her overriding lust for her position. The women vanished overnight, and their Guard was redeployed, the Queen taking the best for herself.” She must have caught the expression in my face, for I was becoming less adept at hiding my emotions nowadays. “Do you know any of the current contenders, soldier? Do they have that hunger for the position? If so, is it likely they’d accept anything but victory at the battle as a result? There’s no life for a failed Queen-Elect.”

  I thought of Seleste, and I wondered how she might act if she lost. I couldn’t imagine it. Or rather, I could, but my mind shied away in fear from such an image. I wouldn’t relish being in her vengeful path if things went ill for her.

  Eila was watching me. Her hand tightened on my thigh. “You’ve learned more about me in your brief time here than Takk has in years,” she said softly. “I can see that in your face too. You have that way with you, an empathy with a woman’s needs. Don’t fight it, Maen.” She smiled down at my lap, and I wasn’t surprised to find I was half aroused, my cock swelling the coarse fabric of my trousers. Her smell was always exotic and sensual, but then, I grew aroused far too easily nowadays, just from a hand on my leg and the bittersweet memories of my lost life. What was happening to me?

  “You’re a very fine man,” she said. “I want you. You know that, don’t you?”

  The other workers were in another part of the tent by now, and she put her hand farther down between my thighs, knowing she couldn’t be seen. Knowing I couldn’t protest. “After all, any of us would like the chance of your bloodline among us.”

  “You’d want me for breeding purposes?” I asked coldly. “Are you no better than the city for that?”

  She looked surprised I’d say such a thing. “You seem to be absorbing a little more of the Exile way of life than our construction dirt under your fingernails. Would you have said such a thing a month ago? Questioned the rules like that?”

  The stab of remembrance was sudden and painful. “Men are not meant for independent thought against the rules of the city. Men are for the disposition of the Mistress…. Men are….”

  Eila looked mischievous as I struggled to remember the rules and all I’d lived by. How could things have changed for me so deeply, so swiftly?

  “Think of me as your Mistress, then,” she murmured. “I could command you to open your trousers and let me take you in my mouth. I could command you to lie down behind the rest tent and let me use you until I felt satisfied.”

  “And Takk? Your partner, the relationship you put such store in? What respect does that show for him?”

  “You sound far more passionate than I’d have expected of such a perfect soldier,” she snapped back at me.

  I was challenging her, and yet I was still only a prisoner. I wasn’t sure what made me so reckless. It may have been my anger and frustration at life here, or the reawakening pain in my leg. Maybe the anticipation of crisis, when Takk returned. It may just have been the confusion between my old and new life, or the sweet, sharp smell of a woman with her hand on the cloth above my aching groin—

  “You’re shedding the city, Maen, though you don’t want to admit it. I expected you to scorn my relationship, to be confused. You’ve never been allowed the idea of relationships, of fidelity toward another person other than the Mistress. But you sound almost jealous.”

  “I’m just tired,” I said. “Tired of the work, of your games.”

  She was wrong too. I was far from jealous of her and Takk’s relationship, of their love. I didn’t dare imagine she knew where my real confusion lay. “What happened to you, Eila? After the battle?”

  There was silence from her for a while. I could hear the sound of the other workers returning to their duties. A couple glanced curiously at us but would never have dared to question Eila, even though she was keeping the despised prisoner from his fair share of the toil. “I was hiding at my favorite sister’s,” she began slowly. “She was wounded, and angry at our new Queen for her tricks during the battle. She told me we’d both have to flee. She’d have the Guard distracted at the far gate of the Royal Household, and she’d meet me there at midnight.”

  “Is she here too?”

  Eila wasn’t meeting my eyes. “She never met me. I waited for a long time. The Guard had, indeed, been distracted away, so the coast was clear. But my sister never arrived.”

  “She was one of those—?”

  “Yes. One of those taken by the Queen. I never saw her again. In the morning I was almost too cold and scared to run, but when I heard the Guard discussing the work of the Queen during the night, against her supposed enemies… well, I knew which side she’d count me on. I rolled down the hills outside the gate, and I ran for cover. I found the Place a few days later, or rather, some scouts from the Place found me. I was young, only twelve years, and obviously on the run from the Household. They were pleased to accept me.”

  Twelve, I thought. What chance would such a child have had in battle? And yet it was in the rules. When a Queen was due to be succeeded, all her grown daughters must join the battle. And only the victor was ever talked of again.

  “Did they search for you?”

  “Yes. For a while, or so the Exiles told me. There was talk of handing me over for a ransom or some other bargain. But Takk was here then, and the leader at that time was his elder brother. He persuaded him to give me sanctuary. And so I’ve been here ever since.” She smiled gently. “The city didn’t consider me enough of either a threat or a prize to keep up a search beyond a few miles of the Household’s gates. Unlike their opinion of you, Gold Warrior.”

  “They’ve been searching for me? To find me?” I was astonished, perhaps flattered. I tried to swallow such thoughts as unworthy, but it seemed easier to admit to a little personal pride nowadays.

  “They tried. They failed.” She laughed. “They have no idea of the geography of this Place, Maen. You’d agree with that, I think? Your lives revolve around the city and its defense, not attack in the outside world. Whereas we roam wherever we please, wherever will support us.”

  “You have people already in the city!” I didn’t know why I was so sure, but something about her manner alerted me. There were already spies in the city, it was obvious, and it was a fierce shock. Maybe they were in the Remainder population. I couldn’t believe that treason lived unmarked in the Guard or the Households themselves.

  She shrugged. “It’s not for me to say. You can discuss that with Takk, perhaps, when he returns. There are many things he wants to discuss with you.”

  “Your people here, the Exiles….” I had more questions of my own, but I could tell from the pressure of her hand that her mind was straying from matters of strategy and rule. For that matter, so was mine, but I wouldn’t miss a chance to understand more. “Isn’t that what they all want, in their hearts? To go back into the city?”

  “You’re a fool. City-bred see no further than their beds, it’s said, and it seems to be true. Always the city, the city. Why do you think some of us left? We weren’t all driven out. We aren’t all refugees. Some chose this life because it was better, more equitable.”

  “No, the best is within the city, that’s always been the way. The rest of this planet can’t support us all—”

  “But it can!” she exclaimed, very animated now. She gripped my leg, and moved her mouth close to mine, almost as if she’d force her words and her will into me through it. “That’s another clever tale, Maen, a convenience to keep all the population under the city’s control. The planet has never been as hostile as it’s described, but it needs more work, more support to maintain. And it’s we who need that support! It’s never been offered, not even by the cities that are more tolerant toward Exiles. But aren’t we entitled to the spoils of this world too? To share the planet equally?”

&n
bsp; She kissed me then, as I knew she would. Her mouth pressed hard and fierce, but the moistness of her lips was very pleasant. I was in no position to resist her, and if there was one thing I was expert in, it was knowing when a woman wanted sexual attention. I’d never known a woman to restrain herself when she did. And Eila was, if nothing else, a true woman, whatever her loyalties to Place and partner.

  “You’re no different from the Mistresses,” I said, as she dropped to her knees between my legs, fumbling with my trouser fastening. “Don’t you see? You’re asking the same of me, here and now, in your supposedly new world—” I gasped as her hands slipped in to cup me, to slide possessively up and down my arousal.

  “It’s you who can’t see the difference,” she replied, urgency in her voice. “I want you for what you are, for your strength and your intellect and your very masculinity. Don’t you see? This is how coupling should be. We should both want it equally—both enjoy it, seek it out, and savor it.” She bent her head over my lap, her hair brushing my skin. She licked at me with her hot, wet, woman’s lips and sucked me deep into her mouth. I shuddered, completely lost to her desire. I hadn’t felt a woman like that for weeks, since my Mistress had last called me. Every exhausted nerve in my body told me that I needed the touch, that I needed satisfaction, even though I was ashamed to admit such lack of self-discipline. But I felt the agony rush through me in a way it hadn’t since I was an untrained boy. I felt the animal need to thrust into her mouth, to take her for my own pleasure. I’d never felt such a way before! Was this what it meant to be outside the city, free of the Devotions? Like beasts, experiencing such urges and passions that you could scarcely control them?

  When I felt myself coming, I pushed her forcefully away, her mouth open in a surprised O, her lips moist with my leaking seed. I groaned and spilled out onto my hand, the excess dribbling on the ground. I didn’t want to be in her when that happened. I didn’t want that connection with her and her kind.

  She just smiled, her eyes very bright and sharp, as if she’d seen and understood every confused, sensual thought I’d had. She trailed her hands away from my legs, teasing at the hot, sweaty skin as they went, tugging at the barely opened cloth. She was panting slightly, and I knew she’d have me again, as soon as she liked. She saw through me as my Mistress never did. Her world was turning me into another kind of man, one that responded almost against his will—one that she coveted.

  It was a different kind of fear that consumed me now.

  THE END of the day was dark and silent. We’d eaten our meager supper a few hours earlier and been dismissed from our work when it became too dark to see our steps. As we collected our blankets for the night, the girl Veli called for Dax, but to my surprise, he didn’t go with her this time. Together we made our way back to our isolated tent, and I settled on the ground outside, not yet able to sleep. Occasionally I shifted the shackles to get comfortable, but although the day’s work had exhausted my body, tension tormented my mind. Takk was expected to return the next day. I’d listened to many whispered conversations and seen the preparations in the camp, clearing away in time for the raiding party to return. Eila was at her most officious, and the gaze of other Exiles slid guiltily away whenever we passed.

  Tomorrow they’d decide how far to go to get the information they wanted from us. Then they’d kill me, at least. I could only hope Dax was genuinely accepted by them and they’d let him live. To live—that was all I wanted now for him. For me, there were no expectations. I understood that too well, for it came with my position, I’d always been at someone else’s disposition. The best I could hope for was courage and loyalty at the last.

  I had tried so many times to understand what was happening to me. It had only been a few weeks since they’d taken us from the city, but my body felt as if it were entirely new. I found it difficult to bring my Devotions to mind, and difficult to recall the pure, certain confidence of my life as a trusted Gold Warrior. I remembered Mistress Luana, of course, but with feelings that were decidedly more mixed than before. I remembered Grien, and wondered what he might be thinking about me now, if anything. I seemed to be thinking of the people far more than the city, the personalities rather than the duties. And I thought of Dax almost constantly. It was like a deep wound that itched for recovery, yet I couldn’t reach it to soothe myself.

  I gave up trying to sleep, picked up my blanket, and crawled quietly to sit at the mouth of our miserable little shelter. The ground was just as cold there, with nothing but the calling of night animals to distract me while I sought something to settle my mind.

  Whatever was happening to me, it was nothing compared to the effect on Dax, for he was thriving in this world! I couldn’t help but be pleased to see it, even as my distress about our situation grew. His body had recovered quickly from any injuries he suffered on capture, and he seemed to have grown in stature, even in this short period. The food we ate was rough and sparse, but I supposed the hard labor and the struggle back to the camp over the rocks each day had challenged his young body rather than broken it. His borrowed shirt tightened around his torso as his muscles strengthened, and his hair had grown longer than would’ve been allowed in the city.

  I looked back into the darkness of the canvas, where I could see only his silhouette under the other blanket. We shared the tent because none of the Exiles would trust themselves with us. We were both shackled at work, though Dax’s bindings were often removed at the end of the day when we’d join the others to collect our food and to learn the arrangements for the following day. However much they shunned me, the people of the Place seemed to like him. As someone had once pointed out to me, he had a charm of his own that flourished here.

  There was movement; he stirred. “Maen?” He didn’t ask why I couldn’t sleep. He’d also grown in intelligence and maturity over the last few weeks. We worked well together and supported each other in the midst of the Exiles’ hostility. He seemed to understand me a lot better. Not that there’d ever been the need before now, nor the encouragement. I tried not to let it give me too much pleasure, for I knew we’d soon be apart again.

  With a quiet groan, he threw his blanket aside and crawled over to join me. His shackles were still off, an oversight on the part of the Exiles, maybe. Or part of his increasing familiarity with them.

  “We must escape, and soon,” I said tersely. I felt him tense up beside me.

  “I can’t see how, Maen. They’d kill us before we could get back to the city.”

  “There’ll be a chance sometime. At least for you.” He was silent. “Don’t you want to get out, Dax? You had the beginnings of everything at the city.”

  He hissed a sound into the darkness; I didn’t catch its meaning.

  I drew another deep breath and spoke as low as I could. “Are you a spy for the Exiles? You can tell me. I believe they’re infiltrating the city, putting their own people in among us. What better than to have a Bronzeman spying for them! This whole capture is very unusual for them. It makes me suspicious of their motives, for they had no need to take us in the first place. And the way we’ve been kept alive when I’ve refused to offer the information they need… I’m of no use to them. I won’t talk. Both of us, we’re nothing but a burden to them.”

  His hand gripped my arm sharply, forcing me to twist around to face him. He looked furious. “You think I don’t know that? But how dare you accuse me of treason!”

  I shook my head, still confused. “Of course. I never thought… I shouldn’t have. Forgive me, Dax. I’m frightened for you—”

  “They’re frightened of you, Maen!” His voice broke through mine, also low and very urgent. “They should never have taken us, true, but they were caught unawares and thought to use us. Now they do want us dead, but Eila has shown interest in you, and Takk has been away. They’re confused, but I’ve convinced Veli on a daily basis that they should keep you safe—” He bit off his words sharply, but not before I realized what he meant.

  “You? You argue for my
life?”

  “Of course,” he said. The emotion in his voice was restrained, as if he were scared of me hearing it. “She has influence with Eila and the others. She’s some kind of cousin to the original founders of this camp. I… she’s willing to listen to me, when I ask such favors. Besides, you’d do the same for me.”

  Would I? But of course I would, and much more. I turned my head away from his searching gaze. “You can’t save me, Dax. Takk will have no further tolerance for me after tomorrow.”

  “He doesn’t know about you and Eila.”

  I shook my head. “That’s not the issue. I have nothing for him, and I represent danger to the Exiles. I’m a disturbance, a potential threat, alien to everything they have here, everything they believe. I have a day or so to make my move, maybe less, to have any chance of escape. I must confirm the location of the Place with regards to the city and find the quickest way back. I’ll cause a distraction and break these shackles somehow. Yes, I’ve made my plans already.” I took a breath and tried to avoid his wide, shocked eyes. “But you… you have the chance to survive, especially with the girl’s patronage. You can bide your time here when I’m gone, and plan your own way.”

  “We must be together.” He pulled at me, trying to get me to turn to face him again. “We stay or leave together.”

  “No!” I said sharply. “Don’t take me for a fool! I know you might never go back. You’ve got men here you respect, women who will care for you. Dax, I know you never gave everything to the city—to me. You were always resistant, always out of step. You could have been one of my finest men, but you’ve admitted as much to me, that you seek something else in your heart. You’re finding something here that the city couldn’t give you—that I couldn’t give you!”!”

  “You can!” He sounded distraught. “You could. Maen, for Devotions’ sake—”

  I was angry as well, and I needed him to break away from my support. I suspected it was the only way I’d save his life. He must no longer be associated with me! I pushed at him, but his hold was surprisingly strong, and all he did was rock back on the ground beside me.