Secrets of the Starcrossed

by Clara O'Connor

  “It’s too late.”

  “Too late? Too late for what? We can find her, we can bring her with us.”

  Devyn paused before opening the fire exit that would lead us to freedom.

  “She’s dead,” came a grim voice from the darkness behind us. My heart stopped. We had been caught.

  We both turned to face the shadow behind us. It was Marcus.

  “Dead,” I echoed. What did he mean, dead? My mind couldn’t process what he was saying. We had been caught. It was all over. Dead. Anna was dead. What? How?

  “They executed her for helping you get away,” Marcus informed me stonily.

  I gasped, a sob welling inside me.

  “What? They barely even reprimanded me. Why would they do that?” My grip on Devyn’s hand must be cutting off his circulation. He was the only thing grounding me right now. I felt like somebody had taken a giant cleaver and split me in two. Kind, gentle Anna, who had never stepped out of line, never done anything against the Code except help me. They had killed Anna for helping me.

  “They need you. You can give them something they want. Anna crossed them. They eradicate all chaos in the Code. You know that,” Marcus elaborated coldly, his handsome face outlined by the neon red of the fire exit light.

  I leaned heavily against Devyn, his body warmth the only comfort in a world that was so much colder, so much darker than I had ever imagined. Anna had been a good person and they had killed her. Now they would take Devyn.

  “They’re going to have to kill me too then,” I said throwing my shoulders back and lifting my chin I held Devyn’s hand and stood tall. “Because I’m never going to give them what they want.”

  “Really?” Marcus asked. “What happens when he lets go of your hand?”

  I felt the pulse of fear and dread through the connection.

  “What?” I stalled for time. Though really, at this point I was starting to wonder why the hall wasn’t packed with sentinels. Why was it just Marcus?

  “I figured it out.” He nodded at our hands. “It’s his touch, isn’t it? That’s how you manage to break the compulsion, why you stop being compliant and just wanting what the city has told you to want. Me. Marriage. Babies that they can use.”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t know what to say. He had figured a lot of it out – at least the part about Devyn’s touch – but he didn’t seem to recognise his own thought process was less clouded than it had been before I gave him the wristband, but I wasn’t going to educate him further when there was a risk that information could be used against us.

  “What do you want?” Devyn asked. Like me, he also had to be wondering where the sentinels were.

  “I want to help you,” Marcus replied, shocking both of us.

  “Why?” Devyn asked quickly.

  Marcus looked at me before looking back at Devyn. “It’s not right what they’re doing, what they did to Anna.”

  “Really?” I asked softly, not sure what to believe.

  “Really,” he replied. “I don’t like being used. I’ve been pushed around all my life. I’ve spent my whole life trying to please, doing what I was told, working within the boundaries of what my father permitted. I thought it would be enough. But it’s not. It’s not enough. You’ve fought, really fought. Why shouldn’t you get to be free?”

  I nodded but I could feel Devyn’s reservation. He was less willing to believe Marcus had merely had a change of heart.

  “You won’t say anything?” Was this how he was going to help, by not raising the alarm?

  “Not say anything?” he echoed. “I’m coming with you.”

  This was the last thing I had expected. Devyn’s reaction was also surprising: he wasn’t as pleased as I’d thought he would be. His suspicion was almost tangible, even without the connection. He was right to be, but I also knew Marcus better than he did. Marcus was more than a party boy; he felt responsible for people. What happened to Anna would not sit well with him. Perhaps he even felt a little to blame since he was the one who had raised the alarm. I’d given him the wristband for a reason, for this reason. Now that he was seeing clearly, now that he was helping us, I had to trust him.

  “You want to leave the city? Devyn questioned. “I don’t believe you.”

  “You don’t have any choice.”

  “I think you’ll find we do,” Devyn responded, moving towards the door and taking me with him.

  “Not if you open that door,” Marcus warned him. “Every exit is covered by sentinels. They’re not stupid. They know there’s a chance you’ll try to get to her tonight. It’s your last opportunity.”

  I looked from Devyn to Marcus. We were trapped.

  “Why should we believe you?” I pushed, hoping he had a good answer.

  “That there are sentinels outside that door? You’d be idiots not to.” Marcus rolled his eyes. “Look, if I’d wanted to out you both I could have done so the minute you touched her in the club. He does make your heart go pit-a-pat, Cassandra, and when your pulse races… well, by now I know what it means.”

  Of course. I’d forgotten in my delirious joy at seeing Devyn how we’d been caught before. I turned to Devyn who was looking to me for an explanation.

  “Marcus and I… the handfast bond has some interesting elements we weren’t aware of.” I picked my words carefully; given the intimacy of my connection with Devyn and how seriously he took that, I didn’t want him to think for even a nanosecond that the handfast bond connected me to Marcus in a similar way. “When I’m with you and we uh, kiss and stuff…”

  One furious eyebrow rose practically to Devyn’s hairline.

  “He can sense our emotions?” he demanded.

  “No, no,” I rushed. “That is, not exactly.”

  “Oh, for the love of the gods,” Marcus snapped. “When you guys get it on, I start feeling the heat. Though the effect was barely noticeable tonight,” he mused. “I thought I was mistaken until I saw you both slip through the door.”

  I could feel my cheeks lighting up. Anyone looking from as far away as the moon would be able to see the blush on my face.

  “That’s how you knew I was in the hospital?” Devyn asked, the tic in his jaw moving.

  “Yep.”

  “That doesn’t explain how you caught us so fast in Richmond,” Devyn observed.

  “Ah, I’m glad you brought that up,” Marcus said. “Reason number two why you need to take me with you. It appears that the cuffs start to react when the handfasted couple are too far apart. They don’t just make us feel like we need to be in each other’s company all the time. They start to cause physical pain when we are too distant.”

  I recalled the discomfort I had felt as I made my way to Richmond.

  “It’s not that bad,” I dismissed.

  “Maybe not for you sweetheart,” Marcus grimaced, lifting his arm to show me Devyn’s wristband. So, he’d figured it out. “I’m presuming these little accessories may have suppressed the worst of it. Our homes are in the same neighbourhood so the furthest apart we ever are is when I’m at work which is where I was on the night you decided to head west, in the opposite direction to the hospital. Once you passed through the gate at the outer wall, my arm started causing me a lot of pain. It took us a while to figure out which direction you’d gone in, and far too long to get me on a boat so we could follow. By the time we started after you, I couldn’t stand. I spent most of the pursuit on the floor of that boat writhing in agony.”

  I stared at him in horror. He wasn’t exaggerating. His breathing had shallowed, his skin greying as he spoke of the remembered pain.

  “I had no idea,” I gasped.

  “Yes, well.” He leaned against the dark corridor wall. “I think it came as rather a shock to the authorities as well. I’m not sure anyone has ever separated that far before. Most couples would pull back long before it got that far. Their first instinct is to seek comfort from each other, thereby ending their pain. I presume that pendant Alvar took from you protected you someh
ow.”

  “I didn’t know,” I repeated horrified. Devyn had posited before that the handfast connection would somehow manage to bring Marcus with us. It had never occurred to me to wonder how exactly.

  “I didn’t think you did,” he assured me. “They wanted to know how you did it. Luckily you gave me your backup before they took your necklace. It gave me a chance to think about things.”

  Clever Marcus had figured out the wristband and then everything else.

  “And you decided to join us,” Devyn finished for him.

  Marcus smiled his broad smile. “Well, if I can’t beat you…”

  Devyn stilled, looking down at me thoughtfully. He’d been told to get Marcus out, and now he could get me out too and obey his orders. Win-win.

  “…he should join us,” I finished and Devyn nodded his agreement. It wasn’t like we had other options, anyway.

  Marcus hurried us back along the corridor. “For the guests of honour, we’ve been gone a little too long. We need to get back.” He cast a sideways look at me taking in my messed-up hair and distinct lack of lipstick. “Anyone looking at you, at least, will assume we snuck away to do what handfasted couples do.”

  I could feel Devyn tense protectively. He didn’t like Marcus talking about me that way. Marcus stopped and looked back at us as we approached the door leading back into the club.

  “I had a plan to get us out of the city”—he looked at Devyn—“not one that included having the city’s most wanted man along with us. Unlike the sentinels, I didn’t plan on you being stupid enough to come back for her.”

  It was Devyn’s turn to smile at Marcus – a cocky grin that said he was more than happy with the title and didn’t really care if that was causing Marcus any extra difficulty.

  “How much do you remember when you aren’t touching him?” he asked me.

  I frowned.

  “You know I remember everything,” I said. “You’ve heard me telling Alvar what happened.”

  Marcus looked at me assessingly. He’d been there for the first round of questioning. He’d been there after the hospital incident too.

  “You don’t tell everything,” he said. “You missed out certain things. You didn’t tell them you’d given me the wristband.”

  He was right. I did manage to hold things back. Relevant things that the authorities would want to know but where they hadn’t asked the question I hadn’t offered up additional information. Was that enough though? I wasn’t willing to bet all our lives on it.

  “I’ll tell them this,” I assured him. “Trying to get us out of the city is the epitome of noncompliance. It goes against everything the handfast is programming us to do which is for us to be together and do what the city wants.”

  Marcus rubbed the back of his neck. “You can’t maintain contact with Devyn. They’ll be watching us as we leave. I don’t suppose you have another one of these handy charms with you?”

  “I didn’t know they had taken Cass’s from her.” Devyn shook his head. “We don’t have to be touching, exactly. It seems as long as we’re no more than a few feet from each other the interference with the handfast bond holds.”

  “We’ll have to work with that. I can’t give you the wristband, as I’m likely to give you both up.” Marcus stepped closer and looked deep into my eyes. I could practically feel Devyn bristle through our connection. “I think you’ll go along with it if I ask you to.”

  He was going to risk all our lives on the hope that I would stay quiet about Devyn if he were with me. Was he mad?

  “It’s the only way,” he said as I opened my mouth to shoot down his crazy idea. He turned to Devyn. “I’ll get us out. You’ll have to find another way.”

  “No.” I wasn’t going to be separated from Devyn. Not again. I couldn’t bear it. I also didn’t believe that Marcus would be able to keep me from spilling the beans if Devyn wasn’t around. “He stays with me.”

  “Caesar wept,” Marcus exclaimed exasperated. “Fine. We’ll need to disguise him or something.”

  His eyes lit up as inspiration struck. “Maybe tonight won’t be a completely fun-free night after all. Stay here.”

  He pushed out into the club, leaving Devyn and me alone together, the noise and heat momentarily invading the dark where we stood,. I tucked myself into Devyn’s chest and his arms went around me. I needed a minute to steady myself, I needed this moment of comfort with him.

  “Can we trust him?” Devyn asked quietly in the dark.

  “I don’t know,” I confessed. “But it doesn’t feel like we have any choice.”

  He grumbled into my hair.

  I smiled up at him and took the chance to kiss him. I loved kissing him. I loved his lips, so firm, so soft against mine. I missed this when he wasn’t there. His kisses made me feel warm. Alive.

  “Can you two bloody stop that?”

  The door opened and the noises of the club invaded our space again. Devyn and I pulled back guiltily from each other. It was somewhat discomfiting to know that a third party was affected when you kissed.

  “Here you go, lover boy.” Marcus threw a white cloth at Devyn.

  Devyn caught it in the air and shook it loose. It was just a white cloth and he looked up at Marcus in confusion.

  “What’s this?”

  “It’s your outfit for the party.” Marcus looked inordinately pleased with himself. “I’ve just hired some traditional entertainment for the next part of the night. You’re one of them.”

  Devyn looked at me for an explanation. I didn’t have one; I was just as bewildered as he was. What on earth did Marcus mean, entertainment? The white cloth was his costume?

  “What tradi—” I started to ask when enlightenment dawned. “Oh.”

  I swallowed. Was Marcus really proposing what I thought he was? He was going to hide Devyn in plain sight, right there out in the open, the centrepiece of our decadent prenuptial revels. The one night where innocent girls like me could play in front of everyone, and nobody batted an eyelid because it was all in fun.

  “It’s not much of a disguise,” I pointed out, at which Marcus pulled a chestnut-haired wig from his pocket and threw it at the still none-the-wiser man at my side.

  Devyn’s annoyance at not understanding was loud and clear; no need for a connection for that one.

  “I’ll be back in our area. Hurry up.” Marcus threw over his shoulder as he left us.

  I explained quickly to Devyn as he changed and five minutes later we followed, my lover boy trailing along behind as I tugged him towards the VIP area where our party was congregated.

  Catcalls and whistles followed us as the crowd parted to let us through. As we made our way up the steps, I noted several other entertainers strewn about the party. It was camouflage for Devyn, and good thinking on Marcus’s part. Having boys and girls of this type at a revel was going to raise eyebrows. It was licentiousness on a huge scale, especially if we were going to exit the club with them in our company. I couldn’t help but shudder at Camilla’s reaction when she saw this all over the gossips in the morning. At least I wouldn’t have to face her. If this worked I’d be long gone.

  I pulled Devyn up the stairs after me until we reached Marcus. I then trailed my fingers down his bare torso while I laughed up at Marcus.

  “Why thank you, darling, he’s perfect.” I pecked Marcus on the lips in full close-up view of everyone.

  Marcus met Devyn’s eyes in devilish delight at the sight of my Briton attired in an old-fashioned waist toga and wig. If I was to have a lover boy on a string at the party, he had to look like my soon-to-be husband – it was all part of the fun. The fun was a little taken out of it for me as my friends and acquaintances cooed and ran their hands all over Devyn’s well-shaped broad chest, not recognising the handsome, sharp-featured, toned version of the unremarkable Devyn Agrestis they had known.

  “Oh, my.” Ginevra cast me a sideways look as she ran her hands along his six pack. “He’s delicious. I’ll have to hire him when my
day comes.”

  I wanted to tear her fingers off. One. By. One. I couldn’t do it now, so I pushed Devyn away onto a seat between us, sending him my deepest apologies along our connection. He was furious, repelled by the pawing at his body, and loathing every minute of this. When was Marcus going to make his move?

  Ginevra turned Devyn’s face up to her. The fingers she was soon to lose traced his features, turning his head from side to side.

  “Does he remind you of anyone?” she asked. Yes, the last man you will ever touch before you die slowly.

  “Uh… no. No one comes to mind.” I smiled mischievously as I ran my hand down his chest, lower and lower, distracting Ginevra with his muscles as I made my way down, tantalising her with the potential of where I would stop. Or fail to stop. It was working; Ginevra was mesmerised as she followed my fingers.

  “That’s enough,” Marcus said as he snapped my hand away, and I turned dilated eyes in his direction. He shook his head. “Time to get out of here, my love. Why don’t we bring the entertainment with us?”

  I took a deep breath to steady myself.

  Marcus jumped up on a table and announced to the delighted group that it was party boat time. The crowd roared, and we surged towards the door. The entertainers came with us as our decadent trophies. I wondered if anyone ever did more than look and touch. I supposed they might – there was a reason my father didn’t like me to come to this part of town. There was also a reason that this tradition had mostly died out, belonging to a much freer, more debauched past. The old Romans would roll in their graves if they could see us using this as the disguise that got us out of the city.

  As we exited the club, Marcus took my hand firmly in his grip, nodding at Devyn to back off as the sentinels approached us. I felt a pang as I unhooked my arm from his and he stepped back as far as he could into the crowd behind us.

  “Do as I tell you.” Marcus glared down at me. “I’ll speak to the sentinels and you will do as I want.”

  Why would I go against what Marcus wanted? I was put out at his tone; it was very unfair of him to speak to me that way.

  “Dr Courtenay.” A praetorian I recognised blocked our path. Kasen was Alvar’s right-hand man, the one invariably left in charge of the sentinels when Alvar was away. They no longer trusted the sentinels alone to keep an eye on me without supervision.