Prophet: Bridge & Sword

by JC Andrijeski

  Then, I felt the other thing.

  I felt someone else retract.

  I felt it. I felt the foreign presence there, even as it receded.

  Once I let the realization in, rage pounded through my light. Fear flickered there, briefly, but the energy that filled my heart and light was pure, unbridled fury.

  I felt others around the table noticing the same foreign presence I had. Not all of them, but enough of them––and enough of the right ones among them––that I knew I hadn’t imagined it.

  I felt the awareness on Varlan, first.

  I felt it on Balidor next, then a whisper from Dalejem. Then Jon.

  I felt it on Yumi a beat after those four, then Wreg. I knew I probably would have felt it on Tarsi before any of them, if I could feel her in the first place, which I couldn’t.

  By the time I could focus my eyes, I realized I still sat in Revik’s lap.

  We were no longer kissing, not in those seconds after he exploded the lights, but he still had a hand wrapped around my hip, and I sat flush against him, my hand on his cock, the only thing between us apart from our clothes. I was still breathing hard, and the pain, once I let myself go there, was bad enough that I had to bite my lip to stay silent. Revik was hard against my fingers and palm, pressing against me.

  His pain, if anything, hurt worse than mine.

  Even with all of them watching us, I found myself letting out a low curse, fighting my own light. Even there, with an audience, with that audience, with what I’d just felt leaving my husband’s light like a roach scuttling for the shadows, I had to remind myself why I couldn’t keep massaging him where I felt him wanting it.

  I looked down at his face, and saw conflict in his eyes, too.

  Then he averted his gaze, looking past me to the rest of the room. Only then did I turn my head, following his gaze to look over my shoulder.

  A few of them had nicks on their faces, hands, and arms from the shattered lights.

  The light in the room now came from the strip rimming the interrogation room floor, as well as another ring around the four corners of the ceiling. As I watched, someone raised those lights, restoring full illumination to the room.

  I still fought to breathe, to control the tendrils of my aleimi snaking around us.

  I felt the others start to recover.

  Despite the number of them watching us, the pain I felt from the group frightened me enough that I clamped down harder on Revik’s light.

  Embarrassed, I took my hand off his groin, but I couldn’t make myself let go of him entirely. I gripped his arms instead, through the long-sleeved shirt he wore, fighting to slow my breathing without looking any of them directly in the face.

  Once I had my body more or less under control, I forced myself to turn and slide off his lap. I felt him not liking that any more than I did, but he made no move to stop me. I landed on my rear on the padded bench next to him.

  I couldn’t make myself move any further away from him than that, even knowing all of them were staring at us, and why. My fingers wrapped around his thigh instead, and promptly began massaging the muscle there, even though I felt an immediate reaction in Revik’s body and light when I did.

  I blinked to focus my eyes, still concentrating most of my light on shielding us.

  Because of that, I couldn’t feel their lights very well.

  I could see their faces, though.

  Even as I thought it, Revik wrapped an arm around me, from behind that time. Pulling me flush against him, he gripped me diagonally across the chest, holding my shoulder firmly, holding my back against his side and part of his chest. There was absolutely no mistaking the possessiveness behind the gesture.

  More than anything, I found it a relief.

  They continued to stare at us, but now most of them looked embarrassed.

  I saw Chinja glance at Raddi, even as Poresh glanced at Neela. I knew the latter two were dating, but I’d also heard Chinja was dating one of the females in the crew, although no one had given me a definitive answer as to which one. Anale? Illeg? I had no idea.

  In any case, the heat in those stares didn’t really dim, even after the four seers looked away from one another’s faces. I saw a guilty, flushed Loki glance at Dante just long enough to turn even redder. Dante herself looked a lot pinker than usual.

  I didn’t feel anything untoward in Loki’s look at her, though.

  When I looked at Loki, all I could see was his new girlfriend, Gina, all over his light.

  Coupled with that feeling of entanglement between the two, I also got a lot more information about the current state of Loki and Gina’s relationship than I really wanted, including the fact that they hadn’t had intercourse yet, despite a number of close calls and some preliminary oral sex.

  Again, more than I really needed or wanted to know.

  More than that, the sheer level of frustration in Loki’s light hardly did my own pain any favors. I could feel that the lack of sex was still mostly to appease Dante, who both Loki and Gina, separately and together, had been trying to convince of the authenticity of their relationship. They’d done that in part by slowing down on the physical end of things, and by sleeping in separate rooms.

  I got the strong impression Loki didn’t think it was working, though.

  Moreover, Gina was getting royally pissed off at him about it.

  So, yeah, Loki’s sexual feelings weren’t aimed at Dante.

  Rather, Loki was deeply uncomfortable with Dante being there at all. His relationship with Gina confused the issue, making some part of him want to slide into the role of pseudo-parent. That same desire to protect the offspring of his lover made him struggle with whether he should attempt to order Dante out of the room, due to her age, her inexperience with sex––and the very clear direction this experiment had taken with me and Revik.

  He really, really wanted to order her out of the room.

  He wanted it badly enough that it was causing a kind of crisis in his light as he struggled with what a bad idea that felt like to him, in terms of his relationship to Dante herself.

  That probably came from the part of his brain that actually knew Dante a little.

  The whole situation might have been funny, but for the expression on Loki’s face, and the glimpses I got of his light. The pain he was in because of Gina and the confusion about how to handle Dante were all too real for him. He wanted to protect her without alienating her, and he didn’t know how to do either.

  Luckily, he didn’t have to be the one to do it.

  Vikram did it for him.

  “Dante,” Vikram said, his voice hard. “I thank you very much for your services, cousin, but we no longer need you here. I would like very much for you to go back to the tech room now and finish the work you’ve been doing to prep us for Dubai.”

  Vikram glanced at her, his expression neutral, despite that harder edge I heard in his voice and the pain I saw in his violet eyes.

  “…Now, please. Kindly take Jaden with you.”

  Dante, who normally would have pushed back, at least in my experience with the young comp-head, didn’t so much as open her mouth. Nodding, her cheeks still pink, she rose to her feet, the hand-held clutched to her chest. Once up, she glanced at Jaden, who sat behind her at the comp desk. She motioned with her head for him to follow.

  Jaden didn’t seem to see her, not at first.

  He was staring at me.

  I saw his eyes focus on Revik’s arm wrapped around me, right before they rose to my face, to whatever he could see in my expression.

  Unfortunately, as I caught that deer-in-headlights look, I recognized the rest of the expression there, above and beyond his obvious shock at whatever he’d seen after Revik and I went into that trance. I should recognize it; we’d lived together for almost six years. I’d seen him turned on before. I’d seen it when it was aimed at me, and I’d seen it aimed at other people. I’d seen it aimed at porn, and, more than once, I’d seen it aimed at Cass.

&
nbsp; Not like everyone didn’t look at Cass now and then.

  Revik had looked at her.

  Forcing the thought out of my head, I started to pull away from him, subconsciously that time, but he tightened his grip, holding me against him. I let him, willing that other pain to subside, to unravel around me as I let the echo of those thoughts fade.

  I focused on Jaden again, somewhere in that.

  Feeling the sexual desire emanating off his light, I realized I’d been noticing that for weeks with Jaden, and ignoring it. It’d been there when I’d stayed with Sasquatch, Frankie, Jaden and Angeline. I’d known that; I’d just refused to acknowledge it, especially with Revik.

  I didn’t let myself look at Jorag at all.

  Or Dalejem. Or Jon.

  It hit me then––my parents had been in the room.

  Looking around in a half-panic, I realized I couldn’t feel them anymore. My eyes found where they’d been seated next to Balidor and Tarsi. Both chairs were empty. I stared at the empty chairs, and felt a profound relief.

  Revik held me tighter. Your father left. Kali followed him.

  He sounded relieved. He also sounded nervous.

  It hit me in those few seconds that he was afraid of my father––meaning my biological father, Uye.

  The thought might have been funny under other circumstances, but after everything, it only brought back my anger. I remembered us all sitting together on the beach. I remembered Uye’s wariness around Revik. That protectiveness definitely hadn’t been aimed at me, but at his wife––and I didn’t get the sense Kali was the one my father didn’t trust.

  I felt a pulse of heat off Revik at that, but I pushed it away.

  That’s not true anymore, Revik sent anyway, ignoring my attempts to push him off. It may have been true once, but it’s not now. He’s worried about you now, Allie.

  I didn’t answer.

  My eyes shifted to where Dalejem had been sitting, only to discover he’d also left. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that––about all these people walking out because they hated the idea of Revik touching me.

  Allie. Revik sent it softly, blowing heat at me. Allie, I love you. I adore you, wife. None of that matters to me. None of it. I only care about your father because I strongly suspect you will care, once you get over being so angry at them.

  Forcing myself to exhale, I nodded.

  I could feel the glimmer of truth there, around Uye, at least.

  I felt it around Kali, too, and stopped, blanking my mind.

  Yeah, Revik sent with a sigh. I know it’s her you are really mad at.

  I didn’t answer. My eyes remained on the group in front of me, taking in faces. Hostility still whispered off my light; I saw eyes avoiding mine.

  I didn’t feel anything off Wreg.

  Jon felt deeply embarrassed, and like he wished he’d left, too.

  Even Varlan’s light had a charge to it I’d never seen before. That charge bled through his normally impenetrable shield, which was something in and of itself. Like with a few of the female seers, most of Varlan’s charge seemed to be aimed at Revik. Even as I fought a pale stab of jealousy from watching the older seer check out my husband, I saw Varlan’s attention linger briefly on Raddi, too, who sat on the other side of the brushed steel table.

  Then again, Raddi was also pretty hot.

  Feeling a dart of anger off Revik, I glanced up, smiling in spite of myself. Feeling his lack of returning humor, I merged my light deeper into his, closing my eyes and feeling his arm and body tense when it made both of our pain worse.

  You can’t seriously be worried, I chided him.

  He pressed a not-subtle erection against the small of my back.

  You really want to check out another male right now, wife? His words sent pain through my light. He held me tighter, his light flooding into mine. Right in front of me? That seems like a good idea to you? Really?

  I clicked at him from inside my mind. I don’t think you need to worry, husband. I can barely stand to be in the same damned room with you right now.

  His pain coursed higher. His other arm coiled tighter around my waist, his hand caressing my side as he murmured into my light.

  You were staring at Jaden, he accused me quietly.

  I grunted, frowning. You can’t be serious. You’re not really serious, are you?

  I’m serious that you’re asking for another fucking spanking, he sent, quieter still. Maybe a harder one this time. Maybe with more than just my hand.

  My pain worsened sharply.

  I wasn’t the only seer in the room to have that reaction.

  A few expressions shifted on the seers who remained seated in front of us, right after Revik sent that last string of words.

  I saw Balidor’s expression tighten, just before he averted his gaze, his face flushed down to his neck. A faint smile touched Varlan’s lips. Loki turned a darker shade of red even compared to before. I felt the Middle Eastern seer thinking about Gina then, thinking about her loudly, with visual aids, and I guessed she’d probably be in for a shock when he went to see her later today.

  I clamped down harder on the shield around me and Revik.

  Even in my embarrassment, my self-control didn’t exactly improve. I pressed deeper into his body, fighting the flush of pain that wound back through both of our lights. His hand tightened on my shoulder. I felt him thinking about what he’d said, even as he tried to keep it out of his light. He didn’t have a lot of success.

  You still want to watch me give one of them head, wife? he asked, his mental voice a murmur. Because I think we might get a few volunteers if you ask now.

  My face grew hot, even as I avoided a suddenly much more interested glance from Raddi, as well as a significantly less subtle one from Jorag.

  I glanced at Tarsi for the first time, even more embarrassed when I remembered she was still there, watching and listening to this. Being Revik’s only living relative and a sight mentor for me, Tarsi always functioned as a kind of grandmother or great-aunt figure for me. Something about seeing her also reminded me of Jon, who was now as bright red as Loki.

  The combination finally got me to pull my head together. For real, I mean.

  No way was I letting this turn into some kind of group sex thing with Jon and Tarsi here.

  Behind me, Revik let out a low snort of humor.

  He hadn’t been the only one to hear it.

  Jax snorted a laugh right after Revik. I saw Balidor smile and roll his eyes, and Pagoj and Yumi do the same, grinning. When I glanced around the table, I saw that humor reflected on a lot of other faces, including Tarsi’s––and Wreg’s.

  Thank god, I couldn’t help thinking.

  At that, Wreg laughed out loud in his deep voice, which prompted Vik and Neela to join in, until the whole table more or less busted up.

  I knew at least some of that was nerves and embarrassment. I didn’t care. Anything to end the awkward silence that preceded it. Watching them all smile, I smiled back until I remembered that foreign presence I’d felt.

  Immediately, my jaw tightened.

  “Well?” I fought to keep my voice clear. “Did you get anything off that?”

  Hearing a few more snickers, that time from my understatement and possibly my choice of words, I fought a smile, rolling my eyes.

  “Enough,” I said. “Can we talk about what everyone saw? Unless you feel like repeating the experiment and risking me or Revik blowing up the ship next time…?”

  Instead of making them smile, I felt their remaining humor evaporate at my words.

  Varlan and Balidor looked at Tarsi, nearly at the same time.

  Her clear eyes swiveled from theirs to mine and Revik’s. She made a vague, somehow dated gesture with one pale hand, poking out of the sleeve of an embroidered blue and gold robe.

  “Yes,” she said in her accented voice, giving me a level look. “We saw a few things, while you and your husband act like great big adolescents who didn’t just have loud, uncivili
zed sex an hour ago, where some of us can hear it.”

  Despite the edge of humor in her words, her eyes grew serious.

  “You sure you want to hear this, Bridge? Right now? Here?”

  My jaw hardened. I didn’t look back at Revik, but I felt his fingers tighten on my shoulder.

  When I didn’t speak after a few seconds, Tarsi let out a purring sigh.

  “I suppose you’re right,” she said. “No point in hiding any of this, now.”

  She glanced at Balidor. While I read nothing in his face, I felt him agree with whatever Tarsi said to him, right before she turned back to us.

  “You are fighting him,” Tarsi said, tapping a rhythmic pattern on the table with her fingers. “He is trying to pull you apart. Both of you are fighting him. You are fighting him very hard.”

  I stared at her. My light snaked around me in sharper currents, hotly enough that I knew some part of me already understood her words. Revik’s fingers tightened painfully, and I glanced up. His face was unreadable, but I felt understanding in his light, too.

  “Pull us apart?” I said, looking back at Tarsi.

  “Aye,” Tarsi said, giving us a seer’s nod. “He’s trying to unravel your bond. To interrupt it, at least. Maybe just testing the interdependence there––or trying to get your attention. Maybe it’s meant to be a threat. It’s hard to say, with that creature. Either way, he’s messing with the structure that keeps your life streams merged.”

  Behind me, Revik’s muscles hardened to rock.

  Tarsi looked only at me, eyes narrow. When I didn’t speak, she rapped her fist smartly on top of the table. Her colorless eyes reflected light.

  “You hearing me, Bridge?” she said, sharp. “He’s trying to unlock the bond. Maybe not all the way. Maybe not entirely. But enough. Enough to kill you, maybe. Enough to kill all three of you.” She gestured with a gnarled finger, then slid that same finger towards Revik, her eyes still locked on mine. “Maybe Shadow’s promised to bond your mate to War. Or to the Broken One. They might not want you dead, nephew. They still want the girl, too, I suspect.”

  She aimed that finger at me.