by Poppy Rhys
“Who knew,” Lu shrugged, glaring up at Val’Zun who ignored her.
They were at the end of the drive.
This is it. I can’t do this. I can’t.
Lucia took a step back. Her breath quickened. It was the furthest she’d been. Her feet were almost touching the stone of the street. A lump formed in her throat and she tried to gulp it down.
“You can do this, Loo-Sha,” Soren said at her back.
No, I can’t!
She stepped back again, her back hitting his chest. Lucia’s head began to shake back and forth, telling them she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t take that extra step. She couldn’t risk it. Her eyes darted along the sides of the road, seeing very few people walking the neighborhood. Some she recognized and some even waved to her and Nova.
They know. They all know.
News of what happened spread quickly after Quinton’s arrest. Words like ‘torture’ and ‘sexual assault’ surrounded her name on League One. Shame made her shake. Everyone knew. Even if they didn’t know what really happened, they would assume and make up what fit into the blank spaces of whatever info was made public.
Arms gripped and swept her off the ground. She struggled against Val’Zun and began screaming a raspy, whistling hiss and thrashing as he stood on the side of the street. They were outside of her boundary.
“Loo-Sha,” Soren said sternly, but softly. “Do not scream. You will damage yourself further.”
“Shh,” Val’Zun hushed her. Soren stood on the other side of her, his fingers running over her arms, her forehead and hushing her too. Her chest shook with exertion and her heavy breathing as panic continued to seize her mind.
“I can’t do this,” she sobbed and took a jagged breath. “I can’t, I can’t!” Lucia was trembling like a leaf as people on the other side of the street continued to walk on, some looking on curiously as they passed. “I’m afraid!”
“Calm yourself,” Soren said in that soft, stern voice again as he continued petting her skin. “You are safe.”
“No one will harm you,” Val’Zun said in a tone similar to Soren’s. Lucia felt his knuckles rub against her calf. They continued to stroke her skin and hair in an attempt to calm her down. Lucia’s wriggling waned as the panic she felt sucked up her strength. She swallowed, her throat hurting for the first time since her stay in the hospital. “Breathe,” Val’Zun coached.
“You are safe,” Soren repeated. His lips brushed her temple. Another sob shook her chest as she stopped struggling and her limbs slowly went limp. Lucia breathed heavily, trying to regain some semblance of peace.
I have to do this.
I can do this.
Slowly, Val’Zun set her on her feet, his hands and Soren’s rubbing up and down her back and arms as they tried to comfort her and keep her upright. Her knees felt wobbly and when Lucia looked around her, she saw her mother’s reddened eyes as she bit her knuckle.
“Mama, what’s wrong?”
Nova slowly approached her and ran her hands over Lucia’s hair, sighing and kissing her forehead. “Nothing dear. Are you ready to walk?”
Lucia was slow and only made it halfway down the street before the amount of transports drifting by set her back on edge. Soren and Val’Zun calmed her once again and an hour later, they had made it up the street and back to the drive.
By the time they got back to the house, Dr. Trex was soon arriving. Lucia was plastered to the polished stone floor in the den, nursing a glass of water and getting fanned. The stress brought on a hot flash and she was drenched in sweat, nearly ready to peel off her own skin in an attempt to get cooler.
“I don’t know if I can ever do this again,” Lucia gulped. “I hope you didn’t want a large family.”
“At least three,” Gi’Ren said this, as if it was the base number of younglings to any family.
“Unless I can carry them all at once, I think I’ll pass.”
“Oh goodness no!” Dr. Trex admonished as he made her drink a concoction for her throat. “Your body will be unable to carry more than one at a time safely. You are too small and the Melier are too large, for multiples.”
Gi’Ren grunted.
“There you have it boys,” Lucia waved her fingers in the air. “This lady is out of commission once this one drops.” She patted her belly and grimaced at the terrible flavor of whatever she was being made to drink.
“Unreasonable,” Val’Zun disapproved. Lucia could almost see his eye roll, but her face was buried in the glass.
“She will change her mind,” Soren laid beside her on the ground, fanning her. He paused to kiss the side of her head, nearly knocking the glass from her lips. “Once Val’Banca gets to be too much without a playmate.”
Lucia wagged her finger in the air as she gulped down the remaining liquid and shook herself of the nasty bitterness of it. “We are not naming her ‘Val’Banca’.”
All three brothers grunted.
Chapter 19
The days passed by and every day, Soren, Val’Zun and Nova took Lucia on strolls further and further from the house. Every day they rubbed her down whenever she got too nervous and as much as it made her feel like a pet, it actually helped. Her fear was ebbing away, being replaced by anger. She was mad about what the Treps did to her. She was mad about Quinton betraying a fellow being and serving her up on a platter. She was just plain ol’ mad and she couldn’t wait for the trial, when all of his nastiness came to light. Quin would no longer be the territory’s ‘golden boy’. Everyone would see his true colors.
Lucia’s eyes were still a fright, but the pooling blood had receded a little and some white was showing through in a couple spots. The skin on her wrists was starting to scab over and every time she moved, they would pinch and pull. It was disgusting to look at, but at least they were almost there. Her voice was a little bit better, but very scratchy and it often fell off into a straight rasp. She continued having to drink that terrible concoction from Dr. Trex, and she trusted him, so she’d plug her nose and guzzle. Still unable to eat any meat, but she’d graduated to non-mashed, softer fruits and vegetables.
Oh sweet meat. I plan to devour every cooked beast in sight whenever I’m cleared.
Lucia’s stomach had grown even more and she was officially halfway through the pregnancy. She felt like a boulder had taken up residence on top of her bladder. The fish odor was still lingering, much to every non-Melier, non-Ro’Catta person’s annoyance. None of the brothers had complained about her ‘pheromones’ since Val’Zun had blamed her win against him in moco was because her smell was distracting, three days ago. Three days of not being told she stunk or smelled. It was pleasant.
Lucia believed it was because of the trial. Everyone was being suspiciously docile and quiet in an attempt to keep her nerves calm in preparation for testimony and it was having the opposite effect on her. Her nerves jittered every time she thought about having to testify in a massive court that would be airing globally. League One had turned this entire situation into some kind of love triangle drama, turning the tide against Quin and the Assembly was in the majority for death as punishment if Quinton was found guilty.
Lu wasn’t sure how to feel about any of it. She wasn’t out for blood, just justice.
When the day drew near, the family packed and readied for the trip back to the capital. Lucia scurried around, making sure she had everything as the airbus was waiting. Right before she was about to grab Soren’s proffered hand, the call rounded its head. “Wait, I have to pee again.” Sighs made their rounds as she hurried back inside.
****
The trial began the next day. Lucia’s neck was stiff, she was tired, her back hurt and she was shaking something fierce. Soren tried calming her by massaging where he found knots in her muscles, but it was useless. Lu only continued to tense up again. She was just thanking the stars she wasn’t having a hot flash. Her dress was made of a thin golden fabric, sleeveless and cinched under her bust to show off the swell of her bump better. Its col
lar fit snuggly around her thin neck and snapped at the nape; the fabric gaped open in the back, displaying her shoulder blades. She’d swept her hair up into a bun atop her head to keep cool in case she did start sweating.
I can do this. I can do this.
The Assembly hall was large. The hall was round with the main floor in the middle. Stadium seating hosted all two hundred and forty seat holders, plus another two hundred civilians called to witness. All eyes floated between her and the proceedings. Quinton was there, looking pleased as punch as the chains hobbled him while he kneeled on the platform of the accused to the left of the floor. His smugness made her fingers clench into fists, which had her chanting her calming mantra. She averted her attention and watched as the seated officials for the proceeding questioned and listened to Dr. Trex’s medical care of Lucia.
Then the awful moment came. Lucia was being called up. For a moment, she sat there, palms sweating and chest rising. Soren and Val’Zun noticed her hesitation and did their rub down, which made Lu smile despite her nervousness.
I can do this.
Slowly, Lucia rose and made her way to the podium in the center of the floor. She tried not to think about all the eyes watching her there in the court, or globally for whoever was watching the live news feed.
“Hello Lucia,” the main speaker of the seated officials, Mr. Topla, greeted her.
Lu smiled and dipped her chin. “Hello.”
“Now that we have heard testimony regarding your medical care,” he paused. “We hoped you would tell us the details of the events that transpired after you left the garden.”
Lucia’s heart slammed against her chest and it was hard for her to unclench her teeth due to the amount of bouncing nerves defying her wishes to keep still. She nodded shakily, looking all around her at the many people who would truly know after this. Dor Nye would know. It wouldn’t be assumptions any longer; they’d have the truth. The silence was so thick it felt like her ears were going to pop. She exhaled and nodded again.
“I made the decision to go with Quinton, after he apologized for a previous incident, to a local shop for loyran. Kind of my weakness,” she laughed nervously and cleared her raspy throat. Her voice seemed to make some individuals wince. “When we went in the opposite direction, he told me of his plans to deliver me to Commander Ta’Ra’Enn in exchange for credits. When I tried to leave the transport, he hit me.” Lucia gestured to her still healing jaw. It had faded into a discoloured green-yellow-purple collage.
Lucia accepted the glass of water someone brought her and drank to help wet her drying throat. Some of the scratchiness faded and she prepared herself to talk about the worst part. The water glass jittered in her hold, rippling the water. She decided it was safer to set the glass down next to the microphone. If she was going to talk about it, she was going to bare it all.
“I was delivered to Commander Ta’Ra’Enn at the port. When he took me to his ship-” Lu’s voice cracked and she scrubbed her hands over her face, her exposed wrists in full, dreadfully disgusting glory. “Ta’Ra’Enn took me to a white room and chained my wrists together with a length hanging from the ceiling. They pulled until I was barely balancing on my toes and then they shred my clothing with their talons,” Lu took another breath. She was still mad about everything, but she was embarrassed most of all. The entire world would be imagining her tale in their head and it just made her feel dirty.
“A group of Trepnils surrounded me. I don’t remember if I ever counted the exact number, I just remember thinking more than ten, less than twenty. All were in a state of arousal…” her cheeks inflamed with anger and discomfort. She thought she heard the whisper of a growl from behind her, but she couldn’t let it distract her. “That’s when Ta’Ra’Enn began telling me what he was going to do to me. He licked my chest and said he and his men were going to sate themselves with my body repeatedly. They would keep me alive and cared for enough to continue to sate them.” Lucia paused to take another shaky drink.
“Ta’Ra’Enn said when he was tired of me, he would cut my young from my womb and eat every morsel while I watched. Morsel, that’s the word he used,” her voice shook so fiercely she wasn’t sure they could understand her. With that, she heard gasps around the hall and three distinctive growls from behind her and she knew Soren and his brothers were agitated. She began to chance a look back, but then stopped midway and slowly turned her head to face the officials.
“That’s when he licked over my stomach. It was so foul,” she whispered with disgust. “I couldn’t stop screaming and Ta’Ra’Enn and his men couldn’t stop laughing. I screamed until my vocal chords wouldn’t work anymore.” Lucia’s hand strayed to her throat and she absently rubbed the skin above her collar. “I couldn’t breathe without it feeling as if I was inhaling glass shards. So much blood,” she shook her head, her brows furrowing. “Every cough, more blood would spray over my chin and whenever it dripped onto my chest, Ta’Ra’Enn would lick it up. That’s when he and others began to masturbate themselves and one of his men began sticking his tongue in places on my body. When I kicked and tried to scream, another Trep held my ankles and the tongue… entered me.” Lucia took a breath, scrubbed her face again and hesitated before she told the next part. She huffed a laugh. “So I did the only thing I could do.” Her eyes examined the podium and she sucked her teeth once, loudly. “I pissed on him.” A bubble of hysterical laughter shook her shoulders and rasped through her throat. She covered her face again and shook her head. The noise rose in the hall as people spoke to one another about her outburst and unexpected actions.
Mr. Topla cleared his throat, quieting the hall. “Please continue, Lucia.”
Lucia took another breath, another drink and continued. “The Trep skittered away and that’s when I started laughing. Hysterically. If I didn’t laugh, I would’ve gone insane. Maybe I had, I don’t know.” Lu rolled a shoulder in a shrug. “On and on I laughed, gagging on my own blood and Ta’Ra’Enn got angry. A beam lash lit up my back and I just continued to laugh. It burned like I’d been set on fire, but I just hung there, laughing.” Lu nibbled on her lip as her eyes glazed over and she tried to remember why she didn’t respond normally to that situation. Was there a normal response to that situation? “They whipped and whipped until I didn’t have the energy to keep laughing. I just hung there and then they began ejaculating on my body.” Lucia took another drink and spoke over the grimacing of her audience. “One after the other, they kept taking turns, emitting these awful sounds. A few tried to get me in the face, but I barely avoided them. The smell was so terrible that it burned my sinuses whenever I would breathe. I heaved, but nothing would come up and the strain was painful.” Her hand gestured to her bloodied eyes.
Lu looked at the ground around her, almost visualizing the mess. “Then they left me alone. For a time. I kept slipping in the mess around me and each time my wrists would pull and strain, the skin scratching and wearing thin.” Her gaze fell over her exposed wrists again, gingerly touching the raw scabs in all their various stages of hardening. “I was almost asleep, with the peace and quiet and then they were back and tossing a bucket of cold water over my head to wake me up. A second bucket of cold water and then they were whipping me again. I slipped and ripped the skin of my wrists open that time. Ta’Ra’Enn laughed when I begged in between lashes and he licked up my arms, savoring the blood from my wrists.” Lucia’s fingers splayed against her cheeks and she lightly rubbed them as she got lost in the memory of it. “The group of Treps surrounded me once more and started ejaculating on me again. I don’t know if it was a different set or not. They all looked the same to me.”
“Another bucket of water was dumped over me and I was actually happy I could hang there in peace without the stench of their seed sliding down my body.” Her lip curled as her memory brought about the scent of them again to torture her.
“I was so spent,” she whispered, rubbing her knuckles under her chin in thought. “My ribs felt like they were going to expl
ode with each breath I took and I tried to lift myself so I could stand on my toes, but I just couldn’t. Ta’Ra’Enn watched me as I repeatedly failed to pull myself up.” Lu’s eyes narrowed at nothing in particular, blinked and glazed over again as her fingers played along her bottom lip.
“I remember earlier thinking that at least in a day or two my body would reject my youngling and I would hopefully bleed out with it, putting us both out of our misery.” At the horrified gasps, Lu startled and wondered if maybe she should’ve kept that to herself. “I have specific daily needs to keep my body from rejecting my youngling, and without it, well…” she curled her fingers through the air. “I knew it was bound to happen if Ta’Ra’Enn kept me alive that long. I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly.” Lu continued where she’d strayed.
“When I felt warmth along my thighs, I looked down to see blood and I sobbed, regretting it immediately. It brought on a mouthful of more blood that drooled from my lips. The bitterness that had coated my mouth for hours still didn’t taste any better at that point.” She rubbed her lips thinking about it. “I was ready,” she whispered. “I didn’t think I could cope if they took their violations further. No one knew where I was; Ta’Ra’Enn and Quinton made that clear.”
Lucia made a ‘hmm’ sound and fell into silent reminiscence as her fingers rubbed along her jaw while she stared into space. The silence stretched on and finally Mr. Topla cleared his throat, pulling Lucia’s attention back to the present. She felt heat beside her and curled knuckles tracing down her arm. Lucia turned and Soren sunk to his haunches, dark orbs watching her. His tail came around to brush against her cheek and she sighed, leaning into it and closing her eyes for a moment. Her fingers splayed over his indented cheeks, a smile tipping up the corner of her lips.
“Lucia, do you know what happened to Commander Ta’Ra’Enn?” Mr. Topla asked curiously.
Lu dragged her gaze from Soren’s. “When Soren and his brothers came for me,” she swung her sight behind her to see Val’Zun and Gi’Ren glaring over at Quinton. Focusing back on Mr. Topla, “I thought I was hallucinating, so anything that transpired, I did not witness.”
