Inherent Cost

by Alicia Cameron

  Isis whimpered and dove closer to Jere, nearly hiding under the chair. He turned, prepared to defend her with his own body, if needed. He wasn’t sure it was the best decision, but letting her be placed in a holding cell was absolutely out of the question. Her behavior would revoke any conditional pass that she might have earned. He wasn’t sure if that would be worse, or if his being put in jail for assault would be worse

  “Can’t I purchase them here?” Jere tried, stalling. “Or... I could keep her in a mind-bind while I go to purchase them?”

  “That will not be acceptable.” The team clearly wanted to get on with their day, not argue with an overprotective slaveowner.

  Jere could feel Isis panicking next to him, and he struggled to come up with anything that would allow him to stay with Isis. He had gotten as far as considering paying a random person in the waiting room an exorbitant sum to leave and purchase the item when one of the certifiers spoke up, looking confused.

  “Sir, I believe the bag you checked when you arrived today has the requisite items,” the woman said, a little hesitant. “I saw it when I was walking by the bag inspection area—that was your bag, wasn’t it?”

  Jere was startled. It was his bag, but he hadn’t packed it. In fact, Wren had been kind enough to pack up all of the paperwork and everything else that he and Isis would need.

  “I... I must have forgotten,” Jere stammered. He felt stupid, but he certainly didn’t want to admit that his other slave had packed the bag, and purchased the items inside of it. “You know how things can build up in there. Purchases you forget.”

  The woman gave him an odd look, then glanced at a slave who was waiting nearby. “Go get Doctor Peters the bag, please.”

  The bag was brought quickly, and Jere was allowed to take out the collar that he and Isis had become familiar with, as well as a sturdy leash that neither of them had ever seen before.

  He was glad Wren had thought ahead, and he nodded to Isis, who quickly moved to kneel in front of him, bowing her head slightly as he fastened the collar around her neck and attached the leash. Remembering the caution about having it securely locked, he rummaged through the bag further, pleased when he felt cold, heavy metal against his fingers. As though it was normal, he pulled it out, twisted the key inside, and attached it, complying with the requirements.

  Silently, he reviewed the documents, signing where necessary. In addition to the leash requirement, she was on some sort of probationary period. Any sort of violation could result in removal or re-training, and the certification would only be good for one year, instead of the typical five years that was usually granted to a master after certification.

  Still, Jere was pleased. They had passed and they were able to go home. Further, they would be able to go and visit Isis’s parents, and they would look better during the audit.

  He waited until they had cleared the certification center before asking her anything, wanting to be out of the watching and judging eyes. Finally, a few blocks away, he glanced at her and smiled.

  “Congratulations,” he told her, utterly sincere.

  She burst into tears. A few more blocks passed before she was calm enough to speak.

  “I almost failed, Jere,” she mumbled, horrified. “They could have taken me away, taken Wren away, and for what? Because I got scared and panicked? They could have kept me there. They could have kept me there or taken me away!”

  “They didn’t,” Jere said firmly. “You passed. We passed.”

  “It was too close,” she muttered, her breath coming short and stilted, as did her words. “I could have ruined everything.”

  “You didn’t. You did okay. And if you want to try next year, I’ll be more than happy to take you again.”

  Isis glared at him, but she looked more relieved than anything else. Glaring was normal from Isis, reassuring, almost. When she was angry and glaring, it meant that she was capable of rational thought.

  “How did he know?” Isis asked. “Wren. How did he know, and why didn’t he tell me? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “About the leash thing?” Jere checked, watching as the girl nodded. She looked at him like he had been expecting it. “I didn’t know, that’s why. Do you think I really would have sat there and tried to figure out where I could come up with a leash and collar if I knew that there was one in my bag?”

  “I guess not.”

  “Wren... my guess is that he just thought it might be necessary, but he wouldn’t tell you because it would worry you, and he wouldn’t tell me because I would have tried to object. But we know he’s always right. I just trust him at this point.”

  “He’s good at details like that,” Isis admitted. Her hand came up, tentatively fingering the collar. “Is it weird that this isn’t really that uncomfortable? I mean, don’t think I like it or anything, and the second we get home, this thing is coming off and I’m never leaving the house again, but he picked a nice one. I’ve had a lot worse things around my neck.”

  Jere smiled. “Like you said, he’s good at details. And next time we try this, maybe it won’t be a problem.”

  Isis cast a skeptical look in his direction. “Did you think I was joking when I said I’m never leaving the house again?” she retorted.

  Wren felt Jere’s presence in his head far before he and Isis reached the house, and just the presence calmed him.

  “We passed!” Jere informed him, the second the connection was strong enough to make out actual words. “We’ll be home soon.”

  Wren let out the breath he had been holding for hours. “Give Isis my congratulations!”

  He waited, too impatient to sit, too fidgety to stand. He cleaned things that were already clean, rearranged some supplies, and tried to wear his nervous energy down. It was difficult for someone with a speed gift. Finally, he settled on playing with his fire gift, boiling some water, charring some scraps of paper, things like that. He was getting so much better at it; using it for well over a year had made him much more able to use it with ease. He doubted he would ever feel as fluent with it as he did with his speed gift, but then, he had been using that for so much longer, and he got to use that in public as well. The firesetting gift was so restricted as to be a novelty, even to him, and more often than not, he forgot that it was even an option.

  It was his little secret, his and Jere’s. So dangerous, so powerful, and a secret just for the two of them. Jere was supportive and encouraging, and Wren’s skills with his firesetting gift flourished in that support. He just hoped that his fluency with the gift wouldn’t prove to be a liability; the difficulty he had holding it back at the veterinarian’s office terrified him. He was more worried about the upcoming audit than he even wanted to think about.

  When Jere and Isis arrived, Wren was surprised that a sturdy strip of leather connected them.

  “Hi—oh.” Wren took in the sight, realizing what it meant.

  Jere ushered Isis inside quickly, digging around in his pocket. He rushed to unlock it, but Isis seemed relatively unbothered.

  “We passed!” she exclaimed. “I can go and see my parents, and I’m not going to get taken away or anything and neither are you!”

  “Thanks.” Jere turned to face Wren once he finally had the collar off. “I never would have thought of this... even if I had, I never would have agreed to it.”

  “You could have told me,” Isis added, but she was smiling.

  “Yes, so you and Jere could have suffered through you being even more anxious than you already were,” Wren said dryly. “Besides, I didn’t even know if you’d need it.”

  “They told Jere to whip me! That wasn’t fair.”

  Wren raised an eyebrow. He didn’t remember any part of that from his own certification.

  “There was some sort of special note on my file, not to mention on Isis’s, so they were more than thorough,” Jere told him. “I liked it better when all people knew about me was that I was a doctor.”

  Wren shuddered. A more than thorough certificati
on process most certainly couldn’t have been enjoyable for either of them.

  “Now I know what a mind-bind feels like from you,” Isis mused, looking far less upset than Wren had imagined she would.

  “A mind-bind?” Wren was shocked that Jere had been allowed to do that.

  “They insisted I punish her ‘as usual.’” Jere explained. “What the hell was I supposed to do? Show off how uncoordinated my efforts are and give her the chance to panic? The mind-bind worked better. Apparently I impressed them with my mind-bind abilities.”

  “And you scared the fuck out of me,” Isis added. She glanced at Wren. “Has he ever told you that he can stop somebody’s heart with a mind-bind? And they were worried about me being dangerous!”

  Wren laughed. He knew that Jere was perfectly capable of ending someone’s life with his healing gift, but he didn’t realize how. Wren glanced at his lover, who was looking bashful and ridiculously harmless, given what he was capable of.

  “I wouldn’t have really done it,” Jere muttered. “But I can. I’ve made people’s hearts beat, so I assume I could do the reverse. It scares me to do mind-binds, especially outside of the context of medicine. I’ve used it mostly to stop seizures, or to sedate someone for a procedure when other methods don’t work, but never as a punishment. That’s malpractice!”

  “It’s fine,” Isis insisted. “I passed, and now I pretty much know never to do anything that would make you put me in a mind-bind again. Definitely worse than being whipped, except I guess it was done and over sooner.”

  “It puts on a good show,” Wren pointed out. “Hojer wouldn’t want to lose a healer as powerful as you are, not with the threat of disease. I think it’s good that you showed that skill off.”

  Jere frowned. “I won’t do it again.”

  Isis shrugged. “You’ll do what you need to,” she said, matter-of factly. “My job is to not panic and fuck things up, yours is to deal with me if I do. And it if makes you look powerful, good! Maybe they’ll leave us alone in the future.”

  Wren grinned. Sometimes he felt like Isis was the most reasonable of all of them.

  Isis glanced at Wren. “Oh, and I’m on some sort of probation thing, so if I fuck up again in the next year, they take me away for retraining or something. So... I’m not leaving the house. Maybe I’ll be okay with going outside, maybe. At night. When nobody else is around. But definitely not leaving the property.”

  Wren smiled at her. He sort of agreed with her plan. “How do you think this is going to impact the audit? They didn’t say anything about it, did they?”

  Jere shook his head. “Not a word. I don’t even think they know about it. Maybe it’s too new, or maybe the communication isn’t too open, or maybe they had enough things to lecture me about.”

  Wren nodded, relieved. That would be the last thing they needed on top of everything else.

  “I didn’t mess that up, too, did I?” Isis asked, clearly concerned.

  Jere just shrugged, giving Wren a clueless glance.

  “Probably not,” Wren told her. “They are technically separate things. The certification was for your behavior and safety if you’re taken out of state, the audit is going to be for how Jere conducts his house according to Hojer laws. Getting certified, even provisionally, proves that Jere is a responsible slaveowner who does things like take his slaves for certification.”

  “Should you go for certification?” Jere asked, clearly inspired.

  Wren shook his head. “I wouldn’t push for it, now. Scheduling one for me will just make it look like you’re trying too hard. Or like you’re seriously about to leave Hojer for another slave state. One day, we should probably get it done, and maybe I can go somewhere out of state with you.”

  “Like a vacation?” Jere suggested smiling at the very thought.

  Wren nodded. “Something like that.”

  “And I’ll be...?” Isis prompted, sounding not at all thrilled at the idea of being left behind.

  “Locked in your room for a week or so,” Wren replied, not missing a beat. He smiled at her outraged look. “Well, you aren’t planning on leaving the house ever again, what’s the difference if you’re just safely locked away in your room?”

  “Very funny,” she replied.

  “We’ll all go somewhere together,” Jere told her. “Or get someone to stay with you. You know I’d never do anything like that to you.”

  Isis actually managed a smile at that. “Again, Jere,” she teased. “You’d never do anything like that to me again. You locked me in my room for weeks, remember? I didn’t forget, you know. Memory gift and all? I always remember.”

  Chapter 19

  Something to Remember

  Kieran arrived a few days after the certification to stay with Wren while Jere and Isis were in Redmont. They spent some time reviewing safety measures, making sure that everything in the house and the clinic was in perfect shape.

  “You’re sure it won’t look unusual that I’m leaving?” Jere checked.

  “Taking a vacation is normal, Jere,” Kieran reminded him. “Besides, this is supposed to be a business trip. It’s good for doctors to stay current with new treatments, even if it means that you’re gone for a while. Hell, it might even send a message to the town.”

  “In what way?” From what he could see, he was leaving, as planned. It showed that he wasn’t scared, but that wasn’t much of a message to send.

  Kieran gave him a conspiratorial smile. “Have you announced your reasons for taking time off at the clinic?”

  “I put my notice in when we made the plans months ago.”

  “Public announcement, Jere,” Kieran prompted. “What do you think of making a very public announcement that your ‘business trip’ is also going to entail interviewing in a few other cities? After all, your practice is being limited, here. It makes sense that you would seek better employment.”

  Wren smiled. “And you can show Hojer exactly how unfortunate it will be if they’re out a doctor for a few days. It would be quite a pity to have to deal with sickness, mild injuries, or hope the speed trains are working to get to the emergency clinic.”

  “Exactly,” Kieran agreed. “Last time, before you came? When Doctor Burghe died, Hojer was left without a doctor for a few weeks. Nobody wants to come here and be a doctor, at least, nobody good. It’s a way to fight back against that ridiculous shutdown notice.”

  “That’s wildly unethical,” Jere mused. “I think I’m okay with that.”

  “I can help you draft a letter to send as a press release,” Kieran suggested. “Get it sent to the newspapers. Word will spread fast—people are paying more attention with the upcoming elections.”

  Jere gave Wren a questioning look. “Is this a good idea?”

  Wren nodded. “People here like punishment. They’ll be expecting something like this. It shows that you’ll fight back.”

  Jere nodded. It was unethical, but he could justify it. He wasn’t really doing anything different than what he had already planned, and as he watched Wren and Kieran draft the press release, he started to feel a little vindicated. He had been threatened; he was backing off from Hojer for a few days.

  He hand-delivered the press release, feeling better once it was gone. He could enjoy his last night in Hojer, spending time with Wren before they left.

  “I’ll miss you,” Jere said the night before he left, leaning closer to brush his lips against Wren’s. “I miss you every time I’m not with you.”

  “Afraid you’ll forget about me?” Wren teased, tightening the grip he had around Jere’s body, letting his fingers move around of their own accord, feeling Jere’s back, the strong muscles there.

  “Don’t think it’s possible to forget you,” Jere admitted, giving him a smile. “But, if you want to give me something to remember you by....”

  Wren grinned. He could think of lots of good things for Jere to remember him by. He gave Jere’s ass a playful squeeze. “And what might you be thinking of?”


  “Maybe a few things I can look at while I’m gone,” Jere said, blushing a little.

  “Should I get a pen and write my name in a little heart on your ass?”

  “Not like that! I was thinking... maybe some bite marks. Maybe some handprints. Maybe some things I can’t see, but I can feel.”

  “Like a tender ass from getting fucked so hard it hurts?” Wren suggested, squeezing hard at Jere’s ass with his hands.

  Jere nodded. “And I was thinking...I mean, if it’s not too weird....”

  “Jere, just say it before I get tired of waiting and shove my cock down your throat,” Wren whispered in his ear, pleased when the threat made Jere shiver. Some of the lines that people had said to him in the past were actually quite sexy when repurposed with Jere.

  “I used to play with fire sometimes, back in Sonova,” Jere admitted. “Nothing crazy, that would last forever or anything, but a little bit. Enough to leave a little bit of a mark for a day or two.”

  “You’re asking me to burn you?” Wren considered it. He wasn’t nearly as opposed to it as he once would have been; he had scratched and hit and poked at Jere with knives, and he enjoyed slapping him hard enough to leave handprints on his face. Jere liked pain and Wren liked giving him that pleasure. Sometimes he took his own pleasure in it, more often than not.

  “Just a little?” Jere asked, looking hopeful. “I’m not talking third-degree burns or anything. More like a sunburn. A little red spot.”

  “I’ll think about it,” Wren decided. He wasn’t sure he could actually summon up the ambition to do so, and more importantly, he wasn’t sure whether he’d be able to do so safely or not.

  “Okay,” Jere replied, a satisfied smile on his face. “Oh, and I also want the bite marks. And handprints. And the sore ass. And a lot of fucking. And I want you to kiss me. Now that you know what I want, will you do it to me? Fuck me? I want to feel you.”