Suddenly a new voice rang in the cave. “It’s all right. Deep—Kat—don’t worry.” Lock suddenly appeared behind the armed natives. “It’s all right,” he said again. “They’re just moving us to the guest hut.”
“The guest hut?” Deep sounded skeptical. “Why are we going there?”
“I convinced the chief that we’re not going to run away.” Lock reached them at last. Then he nodded and said something to the natives who grunted back and began to lead the way out of the cave.
“So are we stuck here?” Kat started to head for the entrance but her foot slipped on a loose stone and she nearly fell. “Whoa!”
“Be careful!” Deep caught her by the arm. “Are you all right?” he asked frowning. “Still weak?”
“A little weak but I’m fine,” Kat assured him.
“Perhaps I should assist you, just in case.” Lock came up on her other side and took her hand.
“A good idea, Brother,” Deep said, letting her go at once. “Be certain she doesn’t trip—the ground here is treacherous.”
“Yes, it’s very dangerous.” Kat reached for the dark twin and took him by the hand. She saw Deep’s startled look as she entwined their fingers and she gave him a tentative smile in return. “So dangerous that I need both of you to help me.”
“If you’re certain…” Deep looked down at their hands as though he couldn’t believe she was touching him when she didn’t have to.
Kat could scarcely believe it herself. Now that all three of them were touching skin-to-skin, she could feel the familiar tingle of sexual electricity traveling through her body. But strangely enough, she had no urge to pull away and end it as she always had before. Instead she held both brothers’ hands tightly and smiled at both of them as they exited the cave.
It wasn’t far from the rocky cave in the hillside to a small village of grass huts, enclosed by a high wall of sharpened green stakes. Their captors led them past the gates and through the middle of the native town.
Kat tightened her grip on the twins’ hands and tried not to notice how people were gawking at them. Apparently having strangers in town was big news—especially if they were aliens from another land. She saw family units, all with two males and one female, and numerous pink children running around and playing in the lush belsh that carpeted the ground. The women stopped drawing water from the well and the children ceased their chatter as Kat and her men walked past. Well, I always did want to be a show-stopper, she thought wryly, smiling at one of the many children who were staring gape-jawed at them.
At last they reached a circular grass hut near the outskirts of town and their guards motioned for them to go in.
“Thank you.” Kat ducked inside, grateful to be out of the public eye. She wanted to explore the grass hut they found themselves in but she was already tired again. “So what kind of deal did you make with the chief?” she asked Lock, as she sat on a straw-stuffed cushion covered in the same velvety belsh as the ground. “God, I’m wiped.”
“Are you all right?” Deep, who had been checking the hut, his eyes narrowed for possible threats, looked at her with concern.
“Fine.” She waved a hand at him. “Still just a little tired, that’s all.”
“You mean weak.” He came to sit beside her and nodded at his brother. “Lock, come. Kat needs both of us now.”
“With pleasure.” Lock settled himself on her other side. “Is there a problem?”
“Kat’s weakness and pain will come back if we don’t touch her enough,” Deep explained.
Lock looked worried. “Mother L’rin told me that might happen but I had hoped she was wrong.”
Deep frowned. “When did she tell you that?”
“When we first brought Kat to her. While you were being—” Lock seemed to catch himself just in time. “When you weren’t there.”
“It’s all right, Lock,” Kat said in a low voice. “I know about what Deep did for me and he knows I know it.”
“You do? Good.” Lock looked relieved. “I’m glad not to have to hide it anymore.”
“I think the three of us should stop hiding a lot of things from each other,” Kat said firmly. “For instance, I notice that you still haven’t answered my question—what kind of deal did you make with the chief?”
The light twin looked uncomfortable. “Tomorrow night is their full moons festival. I had to promise that we would make a sacrifice to their gods.”
“A what?” Deep frowned. “Brother if you think—”
“Not a sacrifice of blood,” Lock interrupted. “Don’t worry about that—no one needs to get hurt.”
“Then why are you feeling so upset about it?” Kat asked. “Just tell us, Lock—how bad can it be?”
Lock blew out a breath and raked a hand through his dark blond hair. “I’m upset because I know you’re going to be upset, my lady. I…I had to promise them a sacrifice of pleasure. We’re going to be acting out the courtship of the sun and the moons for the, ah, private edification of the chief.”
“Lock!” Deep looked angry. “Couldn’t you offer them anything else?”
Lock turned on his brother. “Not without spilling blood! We trespassed on their holy meadow—we’re lucky we’re not all dead right now.”
“Okay, all right you two.” Kat held up her hands. “Look, it’s a lot more comfortable being between you when you’re not angry with each other.”
“I hope you’re willing to be between us in a much more literal sense then, little Kat,” Deep growled. “Because that’s what my brother has promised these savages.”
“What?” Kat went cold all over with apprehension. “What do you mean?”
Lock sighed. “It has to do with the legend of our sun, Nyra, and her two lovers the moons, Dakir and Lanare. She had to choose between the two of them.”
“Oh?” Kat raised an eyebrow, her heart pounding. “And which did she choose?”
Deep gave her a level look. “Both.”
Nineteen
“I want to hear more about your home world. More about Earth.” The words were demanding but his tone was soft and his blazing red-on-black eyes were almost gentle.
Lauren was so relieved to see him again, to hear his deep voice, that she didn’t care what he asked her. As long as he talks to me. As long as he comes back.
For a time the tasteless nutra-wafers had been brought to her by strange, emotionless creatures that scared her. They had flesh and gray skin like Xairn’s but they reminded her of robots out of a science fiction movie. Their eyes were dead—both the white and the iris were bottomless black pits and when she looked into them, she saw nothing. Nothing at all.
Pushing away the awful memory, she concentrated on the man in front of her. “What do you want to know?”
“Tell me about your life, your…family.” He frowned. “Is that the correct word for the people you live with?”
“Well I don’t live with anyone right now,” Lauren said cautiously. “And I don’t have a whole lot of family—really it’s just me and my mom. But we’re very close.”
“You…love her?” He said “love” as though it was a word in a foreign language that he didn’t fully understand. It probably is, Lauren told herself. I’m lucky he speaks English at all.
“Yes,” she said softly. “Yes, I love her very, very much.”
“And she feels the same for you?” He was leaning forward now, a look in his strange red-on-black eyes that was hard to define. Hunger? Need? Longing?
“My mom loves me more than anything else in the world,” Lauren said with unshakable certainty. “She would die for me without thinking twice.” And she’s probably dying a little every day right now, wondering where I am.
She could imagine her mother’s frantic, worried face, could picture the way she was probably searching everywhere to find Lauren. Everywhere but in the right place. Because how could she ever suspect what had happened? Oh Mom, I miss you so much! A sudden longing to see her mother, to hear her familiar soft
voice and know that everything was okay, came over Lauren so strongly that tears rose in her eyes.
“If she has so much love for you, why are you crying?” He still pronounced “love” like a foreign word but the look he was giving her was one almost of concern.
“Because I miss her. And I know she’s probably looking everywhere for me. She’s probably frantic with worry and I…I’ll probably never see her again. ”
“It would hurt you that much to be forever separated from her?” He sounded curious.
“Of course it would!” Lauren blotted her eyes on his cloak and took a deep breath, trying to slow the tears. She knew from past experience that crying was a sure way to drive any man away and she wanted Xairn to stay. “I’m sorry, but wouldn’t you be upset if you were never going to see your father again? I mean, I know he’s really scary and weird but he’s still your dad. Right?”
Xairn looked away. “I feel nothing for him. And he feels nothing for me.”
“Oh.” Lauren bit her lip, uncertain what to say. “I…I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.” He shook his head. “It has always been so.”
“But don’t you…” Lauren hesitated, uncertain of how to phrase her question, afraid she might drive him away again. “Haven’t you ever had anyone love you? Or had anyone to love?” she asked at last.
“Once.” His deep voice was remote. “It doesn’t matter now.”
“It does matter,” Lauren said earnestly. “My mom always says that everyone just needs three things to be happy—something to do, something to look forward to, and someone to love.”
He laughed tonelessly. “Why would you think that happiness is a priority aboard the Fathership?”
“I guess it’s not.” Lauren twisted her fingers together. “But don’t you want to be happy?”
“I don’t want anything.” His voice sounded dead. “I merely exist.”
Lauren wanted to point out that “merely existing” was no way to live but she sensed this was no time to trade philosophy with him. If I want to keep him with me, I have to keep him interested. It made her think of Scheherazade, the heroine from The Arabian Nights, which she’d read as a little girl. Scheherazade had been married to a king who took a new wife every morning and killed her every night. But she told the king stories every night, stories that led into other stories and kept him too interested to kill her.
I have to be like that, Lauren told herself. I have to keep him interested.
She cleared her throat and smiled at Xairn. “Let me tell you something else about Earth. Have you ever heard of ice cream?”
Xairn listened to her speak, her soft, harmonious voice rising and falling as she told him about her world. She talked on and on, about the strange foods the humans ate and the soft white sands and warm waters of the beaches in the place where she lived. She talked about entertainments called movies and plays and explained that they read stories called “books” for pleasure.
The concept was foreign to Xairn. He knew how to read in two hundred different languages and dialects, including her own English, but the idea of reading something for anything other than information was a novelty to him.
Lauren answered his questions about books and then spoke about her childhood, growing up alone with only her mother for company. Much as Xairn had had only his father—the AllFather. But it soon became clear that their childhoods had nothing else in common. She spoke with love and tenderness about her mother, talked about how she had taken care of Lauren even in difficult circumstances. As far as he could tell there had been discipline, but nothing like the kind of punishments the AllFather could devise. Lauren had never known cruelty or hatred from the one who was supposed to love and care for her.
Xairn wondered why his heart throbbed while he listened. It was a weakness, he supposed—the same weakness that had caused him to come see her again, even though he had sworn not to. But still, he lingered and he listened, unable to pull himself away.
At last he realized the time. It was late—much later than he’d intended to stay. Already he had missed some crucial tasks for which he would doubtless be punished.
“I have to go.” He rose as he spoke and her eyes—lovely and golden in her light brown face—followed his movements.
“Do you have to?” Her voice was soft and pleading. “Can’t you stay a little while longer?”
Xairn shook his head. “I’ve already neglected several of my duties too long. I will probably be whipped—my father will order it done.”
“Oh no!” Lauren put a slim hand to her mouth. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.”
Xairn shrugged. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does,” she insisted. “You’ll hate me for it when you’re being punished. And then you’ll never want to come see me again.”
“That’s not true.” Not knowing why he did it, Xairn stooped and placed a hand awkwardly over hers. “I take responsibility for my own actions,” he said softly. “I wanted to stay with you and so I stayed. I don’t hate you.”
She looked up at him with uncertainty and fear in her eyes and suddenly he saw how he must look to her. He was huge, hulking—monstrous. His shoulders were fully twice as broad as hers and his skin, which had seemed normal to him until now, was rough and discolored next to her smooth, creamy brown. And his eyes…his eyes were the worst of all. He had studied some Earth mythology and he knew what they must look like to her. A demon—isn’t that the word? She must think I have a demon’s eyes.
“You’re not a demon,” she said softly and he realized he must have spoken the words aloud. “I don’t think that about you, Xairn.”
The momentary lapse startled and troubled him. “That’s because you don’t know me,” he said roughly. He stood abruptly. “I must go.”
“Will…will you come back?” She looked up at him, hope shining in her amber eyes. “Please, you’re the only one I have to talk to. Please don’t leave me alone again with those…those things.”
“They are Scourge, the same as me,” he said, frowning. “They’re simply grown in the artificial wombs we call vats.”
“No.” Lauren shook her head. “They’re not the same as you. They’re nothing like you. I can see it in their eyes—they’re empty inside. Soulless.”
“So am I.”
“No,” Lauren said again, more softly this time. “You’re not soulless, Xairn. You’re just locked up tight inside. So tight even you don’t know how to find the key.”
“I have no time for your Earth metaphors,” he said harshly. “I must go.”
“Go on, then.” She looked at him appealingly. “But please…please come back.”
“I make no promises,” he said. The disappointment in her eyes made him add, “But I will try.”
“Thank you,” she said simply. “I’ll look forward to our next conversation. Maybe…maybe you can tell me something about your life.”
“I could.” Xairn laughed humorlessly. “But I doubt you’d wish to hear it. I have no pretty little stories of when I was young, Lauren. The only tales I could tell you—” He broke off, shaking his head.
“What?” she urged softly.
“Nothing.” He turned for the door. “I’ll come back again if I’m able.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
And though he knew she was only acting out of self preservation, he could have sworn that she actually meant it.
Twenty
“Tell me again what we have to do,” Kat said, wishing she felt a little less weak and nervous. She’d spent the night cuddled between Lock and Deep, in a nice, nonsexual way. The contact should have boosted her energy, but somehow she still felt off her game. At least the headache hadn’t come back, though—she didn’t think she could stand to go through what they were about to do with that rusty iron spike in her brain.
They had spent the day being feasted and stared at by the natives. Then, as evening drew near, all of them had bathed separately in
the sacred golden waters of the holy stream in preparation for the night. Kat had been avoiding the thought of the coming ceremony, but she couldn’t help thinking of it now as she arranged the ceremonial outfit she’d been given to wear.
Her native haute couture appeared to be made mostly of leaves and flowers and was tied on by vines. It made her feel like Jane from the old Tarzan movies and not in a good way. She was nervous because she didn’t have on anything under it. So any strong breeze was likely to equal a wardrobe malfunction of epic proportions.
Deep and Lock had on leafy loincloth things too, but on them the leaf look was somehow hot. Their broad, sculpted chests and long, muscular legs seemed made to be exposed. They looked like Greek gods that had come to life right down to the strategically placed fig leaves. Of course, pretty soon she was going to be looking under those fig leaves. Don’t kid yourself, Kat—you’re going to be doing more than looking, whispered a little voice in her head. Kat tried to push it away but it wouldn’t go. She couldn’t quite believe what she was about to do, but it seemed to be their only way out, so she had no choice.
“We’ll be reenacting the courtship of the sun and the moons,” Lock said, interrupting her nervous musings. He patted her shoulder comfortingly. “The chief will be reciting the legend in their common speech so hopefully your convo-pillar will be able to translate. Just do exactly as the chief says and everything will be all right.”
“Yes, but what exactly is the chief going to say?” Kat asked, vainly trying to rearrange her leaves for maximum coverage. God, this is ridiculous! I feel like I’m wearing a salad—I’d get more coverage from a g-string bikini.
“We discussed this last night—you know the legend,” Deep growled. “It’s mainly going to be a lot of kissing and tasting but there’s likely to be penetration too. It just depends on these people’s version of the tale.”
“Will we…” Kat swallowed hard. “Is this going to seal the bond between us?” The prospect wasn’t as frightening as it had been. She and Deep seemed to be on better terms now, though she wished their talk in the cave hadn’t been interrupted. But she still wasn’t sure about the idea of being tied to the brothers for life.
Brides of the Kindred Volume One: Books 1-4 Page 105
