A Reluctant Companion

by Kit Tunstall

  Briggs was shaking, but still defiant. “I wo...won’t need them in a few days.” He even managed a wobbly laugh.

  Stepping back, he nodded. “That’s true, which leaves me no choice. We both know I can’t kill you, or it would usurp the authority of the tribunal my mother worked so hard to establish. You obviously see yourself as some kind of hero for enduring the torture, so it appears we’re at an impasse.”

  With a nod, Briggs flexed his remaining fingers on the injured hand. “There’s nothing you could do to me that’ll get me talking.”

  Tiernan nodded. “For the first time, I think you’re telling me the truth. So, what do I do? Something distasteful that you wouldn't hesitate to carry out if our situations were reversed.” He hesitated for a second, allowing the other man to sweat as he considered what Tiernan had planned. “How’s your mother, Briggs?”

  Briggs swore and strained against his restraints. “You bastard.”

  “Did anyone tell you her fate? The tribunal determined she was guilty of assisting with the rebel cause, but had a little mercy on her. They do hate to order the execution of a woman in her sixties.”

  “If you touch her—”

  “You’ll do what?” He forced himself to sound bored. “Right now, your mother is simply being incarcerated at a rehabilitation facility in Redwood-Saporo. That’s temporary, and she’ll either be shunted off to a labor camp or exiled in the near future.” With disdain, he kicked one of Briggs’s fingers out of his way. “How do you think she’ll manage at her age doing hard labor, especially with some missing fingers?”

  Hatred shone in the other man’s expression, and it bordered on madness. “I wish I’d gutted your bitch the moment Cam took her, instead of letting her idiot brother think we were trying to convince her to join us. If I could get my hands on her, I’d flay her alive, peeling the skin off in quarter-inch sections with a dull knife—”

  Tiernan couldn’t stop his fist from connecting with the other man’s face, even as his mind reeled at Cam’s name. He didn’t really try that hard to control the impulse though, as he was too busy fitting the pieces together and understanding why she hadn’t tried to explain or defend herself properly. “Enough. Every threat you make against my companion can be delivered as a promise seven-fold to your mother. Is that what you want?”

  With a sullen glower, Briggs shook his head.

  “So, you have a choice, Briggs. Start talking, or when your mother gets here—and she’s en route—I’ll start lopping off her fingers. If you aren’t talking by then, and she doesn’t know anything, I think I’ll borrow a page from your playbook and skin her alive.”

  “You’re a sadistic bastard, Archer.”

  “So are you, Briggs. Now tell me what I want to know.”

  After a brief hesitation, everything he knew about the rebellion spilled from his shaking lips, while also confirming Cam was the man Madison had foolishly protected at the expense of her own freedom. Tiernan listened in angry silence as Briggs shared his plans, including his decision to kill Madison and leave her body somewhere easily found. It took everything he had not to turn the snips into a makeshift knife and stab it through Briggs’s jugular.

  When he was convinced Briggs had told him everything, he walked away, dropping the tool in the case and packing up.

  “Wait,” said Briggs.

  “What?”

  “My mother…what’ll you do to her now?”

  He looked up from the toolbox. “Oh, she’s still in Redwood-Saporo, where she’ll stay until the center decides if she can be rehabilitated. Since she’s your mother, I doubt that. It’s unlikely they’ll send her to a labor camp at her age, so she’ll probably be banished from the Federation and dropped in California Prime or California Minor.”

  Briggs paled. “Those places are lawless. How could she survive there?”

  Tiernan had a twinge of conscience, but pushed it aside. “That’s not my problem, Briggs. You brought her into this mess. You’re lucky she won’t be executed along with the rest of your sorry bunch of cohorts.”

  “How can you be so cold? She’s an old woman.”

  His mouth turned down, and Tiernan had to hold himself in-check. “How could you be so cruel as to kidnap a pregnant woman and plan to kill her? You started this, Briggs.”

  Briggs spat on the floor. “You’re the big man finishing it, aren’t you, Archer?”

  He cocked a brow. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect my family, Briggs.” With a glance at the two fingers on the floor, he said again, “Nothing.”

  After leaving the room, Tiernan sent in a doctor to bandage the prisoner. The irony of patching up the man before his execution wasn’t lost on him, but it was protocol. After returning the case to the interrogator, he went into the nearest bathroom and threw up repeatedly. Adrenaline had faded, and he crouched on the floor as he waited for the bile to settle again. He couldn’t take back what he’d done, and he wouldn’t, because it had led to important information and clearing Madison of all charges. Still, he hoped never to be in such a position again and could embody Catherine’s ideals in future, instead of resorting to Joseph’s methods.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Madison was unsurprised to see Tiernan at dinnertime, though she’d half-hoped he would stay away. What little appetite she had seemed to disappear when he sat down beside her. Blood on the cuff of his white shirt caught her attention, and she almost reached out to touch him as she asked, “Are you hurt?” Only knowing how ruthlessly he would rebuff her held the impulse in check.

  He glanced at the shirt, grimaced, and began unbuttoning it to toss it over his shoulder. “It’s not mine,” he said with a haunted expression.

  If things had been different between them, she might have probed gently for an explanation. In their new reality, she was no confidante, and she shouldn’t care about him appearing to be upset. It wasn’t her place to get him to talk. Let whoever was warming his bed now deal with his tender emotions. With that in mind, she didn’t try to make conversation, and dinner passed in silence.

  Sheer stubbornness helped her overcome nausea, and she managed to choke down a decent portion of green beans, new potatoes, and venison steak. As soon as she had finished, she pushed away from the table to stand up, having no interest in lingering while Tiernan enjoyed a glass of dessert wine. She stiffened when he reached out to take her wrist. His hold wasn’t rough, and she could have broken free, but she remained still. “What?”

  “Please sit.”

  After a moment’s hesitation, she pulled her wrist from his grasp and returned to the chair she had just vacated. “What?” she asked again.

  He regarded her with sorrowful eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  She blinked. “You’re sorry? For what?”

  “Everything.” He waved his hand as if to encompass the room. “I should have listened to you.”

  “Which time?” she sniped.

  He winced. “Every time. I most certainly should have paid attention when you swore you were innocent of the charges. I should have known you wouldn’t betray me, contrary to any evidence presented.”

  “Yes, you should have.” She folded the napkin on the table into eighths. “You showed you have no trust in me.” Engrossed by the white linen, she refused to look at him. “It’s better to know where I stand, I suppose. I just wish I had realized how little I meant to you before getting pregnant.”

  “Please, Madison.”

  She lifted her head. “Please, what? Please don’t speak the truth? We both wish this baby didn’t exist, don’t we? I will take care of it and love it as much as you’ll let me, but I’m not happy to be having your child. You can’t pretend you’re happy to have a suspected rebel as its mother.”

  “There’s no one else I’d rather be the mother of my child.” He tried reaching for her hand.

  With a scoffing sound, she drew away. “Sure.” Madison leaned back, out of easy touching range. “If you had just let me go back to my family and
hadn’t followed me, we wouldn’t be in this mess. I missed a few cups of tea, and here we are.”

  He scowled. “If I hadn’t followed you, you’d be dead by now, after being raped.”

  Madison held onto the ice lodged in her heart, refusing to bend at all. “After the last three weeks, that fate wouldn’t have been half-bad. I think I’d prefer it to a lifetime connection with you.” She tossed aside the napkin. “Or however long you let me be in my baby’s life.”

  He held out a hand, giving all appearances of being sincere. “I want you to stay with us forever. The baby is going to need you. I need you.”

  Madison shook her head. “No, you don’t. Our baby is the only thing between us. You and me—us—that’s over. Go find your current whore that’s kept you company for the past few weeks if you’re horny. This whore is done.”

  His mouth tightened. “You aren’t a whore.”

  She laughed harshly. “Funny, but I sure feel like one. You used me for everything you could get, and I let you. I willingly gave you everything you asked for, and some things you didn’t.” Like her heart and the baby. “That’s a good definition of whore, but I’m retiring.”

  “I haven’t had a new companion,” he said softly. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you long enough to even consider the idea.”

  At one time, his words would have moved her, but now, she was inured to them. Even if she had wanted to soften to him, she honestly didn’t think she could. There was a block inside her, one keeping her separated from him and the illusions of happiness he spun. Knowing how gossamer they were, how quickly the dreams could shatter, she couldn’t bring herself to trust in them or bridge the gap. “I’m going to bed.” When she stood up this time, he didn’t try to stop her. “I’d like to have my own room again please.”

  “No,” he said in hard voice.

  She shook her head. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to run away. How could I, with a guard at the door?”

  Tiernan frowned. “Look, you aren’t going into another room. That will just set us back even more.”

  A hard laugh left her. “More than what? Do you think we’re making any progress, that things will ever be like they were before? Excuse me, I mean as they appeared to be? All that time, you didn’t trust me or care about me. You were just waiting for me to screw up and give you a reason to run.”

  He threw down his napkin, and it landed near hers. With the scrape of his chair, he stood up, towering over her. Anger emanated from him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “I know what you did. You believed the worst of me, had me imprisoned, and would have let me be executed if I hadn’t been pregnant. You didn’t care a thing about me. I was nothing more than a convenient bed warmer.”

  Tiernan’s lips thinned. “I love you, Madison.”

  She froze, and then blinked. Staring at him, she looked for a trace of artifice and found none. A few weeks ago, she would have been ecstatic to hear that declaration. Now, it was as hollow as she felt. “And I loved you, but I don’t anymore. Too much has happened.” Straightening her spine, she said, “Now, may I please have my own room?”

  His expression slammed shut, and his shoulders stiffened. “Hell, no. You aren’t going anywhere now that you’re finally back where you belong. Get used to it.”

  With a long sigh, she turned away from him. “Have it your way. It won’t change anything.” With those fatalistic words, she walked away from him to take care of nightly tasks in the bathroom. When she came out, she didn’t even glance at him as she slid into the spacious bed, deliberately turning her back to him.

  He joined her a few minutes later, his body a solid warmth pressed against her back. For a second, she weakened, but then her resolve firmed. If she gave in and turned to him, she would be a willing participant in her own heartbreak once again. There was no love without trust, and neither of them had the necessary trust in the other to build any kind of future together. She had believed differently in the past, but her eyes were open now. He would reach the same conclusion soon enough. Once he did, he would grant her request for a room of her own and move on to his next conquest. The idea brought an empty sort of comfort that she hugged to her like a pillow as she drifted off to sleep, praying her body didn’t betray her in the night and turn toward her ex-lover. It would only prolong the time it took him to accept their relationship was dead if she gave him even an unconscious bit of capitulation.

  *****

  As she had feared, her body had betrayed her, and she woke lying against him for the fourth morning in a row. He was hard with desire, and his erection against her hip felt so right that she almost forgot everything that had happened. Almost. It was a daily struggle to pull out of his arms and pretend as if she hadn’t been sleeping in his arms just as intimately as she had once done, without the sex.

  Madison wiggled to put some room between them and started to slide from the bed. She froze when he grasped her wrist, slowly stroking his thumb across the underside of her arm. “Stop that.” She tried to tug away, but he held fast, though his grip wasn’t painful. “Let go. I need to use the facilities.” That was no lie, but it was a good excuse to slip away too.

  He let go of her hand with obvious reluctance. “Go and get ready then. I have a surprise for you.”

  She arched a brow. “Oh? I don’t care what it is. I don’t want anything from you.”

  With a long sigh, he rolled out of his side of the bed. “I have a feeling you’ll want this, so please get dressed without an argument or sulking.”

  Glaring at him, she got out of the bed. “I don’t sulk.”

  He snorted, but didn’t refute her claim. Barely resisting the urge to stick her tongue out in his direction, she spun on her bare feet and padded down the hall. Fine, she’d play his game, get dressed, and go wherever, but just so she’d have the pleasure of tossing his “surprise” back in his face. She wanted no gifts from him, except maybe her freedom. That was one she would happily accept.

  *****

  They didn’t have to venture far. Apparently, her surprise was on one of the floors of the lower level of the capitol building. She had a bit of letdown to find out she still wasn’t going to be leaving this place, even for a short time. After her stay in the cupola, she yearned for the outdoors and sunshine, which she had so far found only on Tiernan’s balcony.

  When they were on the bottom floor, he led her to a door with a guard. She frowned, wondering what kind of surprise warranted an armed guard. Well, it didn’t matter. Even if she loved it, she would reject it. Taking gifts might encourage him to believe she could eventually forgive him and move on. That was never happening.

  She changed her mind when they entered the room. Cam sat in a chair, his hands cuffed together on his lap. He was dirty, with his clothes torn, and his dark-red locks a tangled mess of greasy hair, twigs, and mud. “What’s he doing here?” she asked Tiernan in a high-pitched voice.

  “My men found him in the wilderness two days ago, Madison.” He stepped up behind her, whispering in her ear, “I know.”

  She jerked backward with surprise. “Know what?”

  “Briggs sold out your brother. I know everything about his involvement, including he was the idiot who delivered you to the rebels.” Tiernan stepped around her, his posture revealing his anger. “I should have let the tribunal deal with him. He deserves the same punishment as the rest of the rebels.”

  “We’re doing the right thing.” Cam’s eyes glowed with anger. “You have to be stopped.”

  “I would guess your brother doesn’t know Briggs’s plans for you,” said Tiernan.

  Madison frowned, annoyed with her brother despite her worry for him. “He was going to kill me, Cam.”

  Cam’s eyes widened, and he shook his head. “That’s not true. I told him you could be trusted, that we’d convince you to assassinate him.”

  “I love you, but you’re an idiot, Cam. He used your naiveté to trap me with the intent of sending a ruthles
s message to Tiernan.” Sadness overwhelmed the surge of anger, and she shook her head. “The tribunal will probably execute you for this stupidity, Cam.”

  “No, they won’t,” said Tiernan, putting a hand on her shoulder that seemed to offer comfort and reassurance.

  She gritted her teeth not to shrug it off to show him she didn’t want his comfort. Only Cam’s fate kept her enduring his touch. It had nothing to do with the way her skin flared to life under his palm, or the racing of her heart at the slightest contact with him. “They’ve sentenced all the others to death on punishment day.”