by Lyn Lowe
He cracked his eyes open to glance at Sojun for confirmation. The other boy nodded slowly. “Yeah, sort of. How does that help us out of here?”
Kaie grimaced again. “It can’t help us both,” he admitted.
“What do you mean? You’ve figured a way to get one of us free?”
“Yeah, but it’s no good yet. I won’t leave you to this, and they’ll stop it before you can kill us both.”
Sojun’s jaw clenched so hard Kaie thought he heard teeth grinding. Then he vanished. Kaie wanted to call to him but couldn’t figure out how. He knew he said something wrong but it was hard to hold onto what it was.
When Sojun returned it wasn’t his gentle friend that looked down at him. An intimidating scowl was in place and his eyes flashed with threats that made a chill run down Kaie’s spine. When the boy opened his mouth, the words were more growl than speech. “I won’t kill you.”
“I’d rather be dead than enslaved.”
“I won’t lose you. That’s not an option. Find another way.”
His friend’s expression stole the weight from the argument spilling past Kaie’s lips. “Jun, there isn’t –”
Sojun grabbed Kaie’s shoulder roughly and jerked him up. Pain exploded all through his back and stomach, nearly snatching away his grip on consciousness in one violent second. He gasped like a fish, struggling to get air in past the hurt. Sojun leaned so close to his face that he could smell the iron of his friend’s dried blood. “Find another way!”
The smart thing would be to agree. His head was cloudy right now but it would clear eventually. Then he could figure out a way to kill himself, if it came down to it. A way to kill Sojun too. But Kaie couldn’t lie. Not to Jun. “What if it’s the only one?”
Sojun let out a slow breath of air and some of the terrifying fury seemed to leave with it. “You have to promise me right now. No matter what, you have to find another way out of this. No death. Not for either of us.”
Kaie dropped his gaze. He couldn’t stand what lurked beneath all the anger and fear he saw in his friend’s eyes. There was an intense faith there, one he didn’t deserve. “What if I can’t?”
“You can. You’re the smartest. You’ll get better and then get us both out like it’s no more than skipping pebbles. Now promise.” Sojun smiled a little, looking just as nightmarish as previously. “Give me your oath that you won’t make me kill you. By Mother Lemme’s name.”
“Fine,” he sighed. “I give you my oath. By Lemme’s name.”
***
Kaie didn’t even remember falling asleep when his eyes opened again. It wasn’t Sojun standing over him this time. It was a woman he didn’t know. She grabbed his hair and jerked his head up. He cried out. With Sojun’s warning ringing in his ears, Kaie clamped it off immediately. Not quickly enough for the woman holding him. Her thin hand caught him in the mouth, making tiny flickers of light explode across his vision. For a while, Kaie gave serious thought to passing out again. But the ringing in his ears passed quickly and the sound of the woman’s voice pulled him back.
“You haven’t treated the hair then? This is the true color?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t cheat you.” He recognized the second voice. It belonged with dark eyes and olive skin. And cat ears.
The woman holding him giggled. It made her sound very young. When Kaie’s vision cleared, he was surprised to find her older than him. Not by a lot but definitely older. She was maybe twenty. She was also very plain, with stringy brown hair, washed out skin and lifeless hazel eyes. If she weren’t holding him by his own hair he might look right past her. He couldn’t bring himself to think of her as a woman, though. There was something about her that was profoundly not–adult.
“You wouldn’t cheat my mother, you mean.”
Kaie sought out the cat woman, catching sight of her out of the corner of his eye. She shrugged then said, “One’s the same as the other. Do you like him or not?”
She jerked his head back and forth, sending ripples of pure agony through every inch of him with each twist. “He’s quite damaged, isn’t he?”
“The boy put up a fight when we found him. More than most.”
His captor pursed her pale, thin lips. “Will he live?”
That got another shrug. “We let his friend patch him up some. None of my men were trying to kill him. He might survive.”
Those same lips turned up into a predatory smile. “I’ll send someone over to see he does. I’m curious as to what kind of breeder he makes.”
She dropped his head. Kaie fell backward, unable to stop the grunt that slipped past his lips at the impact. He nearly lost hold of the world again. The girl lifted an eyebrow but she didn’t hit him this time.
“Your aunt intends to take the lot then?”
The cat woman looked surprisingly normal out of her armor. Normal and even pretty. Her plain brown shirt, a stark contrast to the plain girl’s frilly pink dress, fit her well. Her pants fit better. But when he looked at her all Kaie could think about was Toman’s life and the way she flicked it off her blade. Like it meant nothing. Those rich chocolate eyes were looking at him now with that same expression.
Sojun was behind her, crumpled at her feet. He could only just see his friend, but the boy looked bloodier than before. Kaie wasn’t even sure Jun was breathing.
“Why do you even bother acting like there’s an alternative? She always buys the lots you set aside for her. Get the other one out of here. If he wakes up, my aunt will pick him up with the others tomorrow.”
“No!”
Kaie was as startled as the two women when the word burst out of him. The girl’s eyebrow arched upward. “No?”
Mistake. He was making a mistake. He could read the promise of it quite clearly on the girl’s face. She was practically licking her lips with excitement. Something bad was coming.
“Please. Sojun’s helping me. Making me better. You said you want me better.”
“I did.” She smirked at him. Plain no longer, the look on her face sent a cold terror settled to the pit of his stomach. “He’s important to you? This sniveling boy?”
He was giving her a weapon. “Yes.”
“Your lover?”
Kaie shook his head a fraction, regretting it when the world swam in response. “No. My brother.”
Her smile grew. She ran fingers through his hair, almost affectionately. He ached to pull away from her touch, feeling a sickness leak out from her fingers into his scalp. “Alright. My new puppy can keep his little toy. For today.” She patted his head before pulling her hand away. He nearly sighed in relief when he was free of her touch.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, puppy.”
A shiver went down Kaie’s spine. The girl walked out through an opening in the brown cloth that only appeared when she pushed through it. The cat woman was close on her heels. Their absence did nothing to comfort him. His fate was only delayed, not escaped.
Encouraged by the ability to move his head, Kaie tried the rest of his body. It was tiny, the reward he got for his efforts. The range of movement was minuscule and the pain blinding. But he kept at it, rocking back and forth. Smallest bit to the right, smallest bit to the left. After a while it started paying off. Each rock took him a little further, got whatever he was laying on moving a bit faster. Finally, it tipped over.
His world flickered and threatened to slip away as he rolled out of the cot. He didn’t even feel the pain, just found himself fighting a faint. Determined not to lose the battle now, Kaie clung to consciousness with every ounce of strength left in him. After a minute or two the danger passed. Mostly. Then be began the arduous process of crawling over to his fallen friend.
He pulled himself up against a pole driven into the ground, holding the tent cloth up. The support helped ease the ache in his back a little bit. He took several deep breaths, equal parts necessity after the exertion and gratitude for the tiny bit of relief. Still, his friend didn’t stir. Blinking back tears, Kaie tugged and wiggle
d the other boy’s upper body into his lap.
Jun was his brother, the only thing left. Kaie would not lose him.
Vaughan
“I have a task for your pet.”
Vaughan blinked the sleep away. The trips to the outskirts always threw him off. Peter kept the two of them locked away from the world, in the back of a carriage with all the curtains drawn. Without any glimpse of the sky or the scenery to watch, time was impossible to keep track of. The effect was worsened by the fact that Peter wasn’t one for conversation. Mostly, his master just wanted Vaughan to sit there quietly, doing nothing of interest, and be available at any moment. It wasn’t a bad arrangement, but enduring that kind of boredom was exhausting. It always made it difficult to be awake and prepared for the next day or two.
Peter set down the book he’d been reading on the desk. Vaughan had set it up for him in one corner of the large tent the night before. It had taken a long time to get it right. He required perfection. The interruption wouldn’t count as that. The lord grimaced, just for a moment, before turning to face the intruder.
Lady Luna Autumnsong was, in so many ways, the opposite of her cousin. She was all flounce and sinister dramatics, while Peter was obsessed with control and subtly. In another life, they might have been a balance to each other. But too much had happened between the two of them, even before Vaughan had been invited to play silent witness to their exchanges. The best they would ever be was grudging allies. Even her presence was enough to transform the man. Gone was the silent confidence, replaced instead with a sort of nervous energy that Vaughan felt an odd kinship with.
“I do not…” Peter frowned and dropped his gaze to the ground. “Please do not ruin him. I am not done with him yet.”
“Pfft!” Luna rolled her eyes and deposited herself onto the cot beside Vaughan with a plop. She twisted her fingers through his hair before he’d even managed to react to her closeness. The gesture was meant to seem affectionate, but he knew better. Even if he didn’t feel the fear trickling out of her fingertips and into his skull, he could not have missed the way Peter flinched and paled. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, cousin. I would never break your toys. Not unless you asked me to.”
Vaughan pressed his eyes closed and fought down the terror that threatened to come up as vomit. He had heard the stories about what had happened to the last man Peter had chosen to warm his bed. People had warned him, even before he’d pursued the spot two years ago. No one knew exactly what had led to the bizarre chain of events that had left Peter’s bed cold and a body laid out for the crows. It was all anyone could talk about whenever he was around, though. It was a fear that he lived with every day. He’d learned to function with the weight of it, and could almost forget it when Peter was in a gentle mood. Forgetting what it was Luna did to men was impossible. Not even if he was Hollowed. Those images were burned into his very soul. He’d rather die, rather throw himself at the Namers’ for mercy, than be given to the woman beside him. The thought that Peter might grow bored of him and give him to her was too much for him to deal with.
When Peter didn’t answer, she sighed dramatically and tossed Vaughan’s head away. He grimaced from the violence of it, but relief flooded him.
“It’s nothing so dramatic, you big baby,” Luna said with an obvious pout in her voice. “The Cat brought me an interesting prospect who needs some healing. That is why your pet is actually here, after all.”
Peter let out a small sigh that Vaughan thought sounded just as relieved as he felt. “Alright.”
“Good. They’ve got a small tent set up near the holding pens. Send him over there once he finds his clothing.” Luna stood back up, making a show of straightening her skirts. It was clear she wanted to be asked about the prospect. Peter didn’t miss the opportunity. If Vaughan didn’t know better, he would be convinced his master wanted Lady Luna to like him. He hadn’t quite sorted out what game they were actually playing, but it was infinitely confusing.
“What… what kind of prospect? An elf again?”
Vaughan stilled, trying to will himself to be invisible. He didn’t want to hear about any of her plans, but he wasn’t sure he could stomach hearing what she wanted with another elf. It seemed far too much like a promise of what she had in store for that day Peter grew tired of him.
“No. One with red hair. I think I’ll breed him. I’ve been waiting forever for one of these. They’re far too rare. If I can get a proper stock of them, I don’t have to worry about what happens with him.”
Peter’s frown deepened. “You are already planning to kill him?”
Luna flipped her right hand around, as though she were knocking the words out of the air. “No, no. I want him to wear the Lunin.”
All the air rushed out of the whole encampment with that word. Vaughan was certain he was going to be sick.
***
Every dragging step was harder to take than the last. Vaughan liked what he got to do with his training. There wasn’t much about himself to be proud of, but helping set broken bones and stitch up deep cuts was something worthy. It helped to offset all the damage he’d done to win his spot, and all the favors he took for Peren that were denied to everyone else. It made him feel good about himself for a while. The one, glaring exception to that was the work he had to do with the Lady Luna’s projects.
What Vaughan was about to do would be the end of the boy waiting in the tent. The red–haired slave wouldn’t know it. Vaughan would, though. He’d look into the boy’s eyes, probably filled with gratitude, and know that it was simply a matter of time before they had the telling purple rings. He’d seen them many times, in the shifting, broken gazes of the men who wore the Lunin. It would be more merciful to just let the boy drift away and die in relative peace.
He could do that. He wanted to do that. It would be simple. Lord Autumnsong would believe him, if he said that there’d been nothing he could do to fix whatever was wrong. But there would be consequences to that path, ones that he was not certain Peter would even attempt to shield him from. Vaughan couldn’t guess at all of them, but he was certain that it wouldn’t take long for the Lady Luna to decide to punish him by hurting his sister. There was no price too high to protect her. So, here he was, about to do something that he wasn’t certain he could live with.
The first hint that something strange was going on didn’t hit him until he’d nearly reached the tent. That was when he felt the tendrils of unfamiliar power. They wafted through the air like wisps of smoke or a strong scent. The touch of it made his skin tingle. Vaughan had never felt anything like it. It was like a link to the Jhoda – the source of power that the Empire called magic – had been opened up without any vessel to contain it, and now the power was leaking out across the world. It was all raw and chaotic, without any will or intention to shape it. It was also the strongest thing he’d ever felt in his life. Fighting against the need to drop to his knees and let himself get swept away took all the will he had.
Someone inside the tent could touch the Jhoda in a way that made everyone else look like children playing a game of kings and thieves. It might be one of the lost gods, born into the world with a mortal shell incapable of holding their essence, or a fai trying to hide among the people. Either way, it seemed impossible that he was the only one who could feel it. Sensing power was typically beyond the abilities of those unconnected to the Jhoda, but this was different. This was a star from the heavens nestled underneath thin brown canvas; he couldn’t fathom any way the sheer strength of it wasn’t overwhelming their senses the way it was his. Yet no one was even glancing in the right direction.
And, surely, if even one member of the Cat’s mercenary force suspected someone that powerful was among their latest acquisitions, the boy would not be on the verge of becoming one of Lady Luna’s projects. A Namer would’ve been called at the first suspicion, and there would never have been talk of a red–haired boy when she and Peter came to inspect the new slaves. No one would risk the consequences
of such a secret for a stranger. There were few enough in the Empire who would do it for people they loved. Extending any power out so far was an act of madness and self–destruction. It made him wonder if the boy knew what was coming for him.
The power did more than just set him on edge. It called to him. Every time one of the tendrils brushed against him, Vaughan felt the siren song pulling more. It was the normal compulsion to surrender and let the Jhoda swallow him like a river would a spring rain, though much stronger than anything he’d brought on himself. It wasn’t just that, though. This time, there was something demanding about it. It insisted that he do… something. Vaughan wasn’t even sure what. Only that he had to do it, and that he couldn’t let his fear or the Autumnsongs stop him. He felt like he’d woken up to discover the world had brightened with the light of a new sun, and that he was intricately connected to that force, tasked with caring for it. It was a heady feeling, making him feel both incredibly powerful and utterly out of control.
Both were dangerous. Vaughan knew he should cut himself off from it, and put up the shields in his mind that had kept him out of the Jhoda and undiscovered by the Namers for years. But it was intoxicating. He hadn’t even reached the source yet, and he was already buzzing, feeling better than he could ever remember. He could no more cut himself off from the power than he could chop off his own arm.
He pulled open the door to the tent, certain he was about to be facing the bright, beating heart of the Jhoda itself.
Instead, what waited inside was a young man with hair the color of fire. There was someone else in the red–head’s lap, and he was slouched over the other boy like he meant to keep the world away with nothing but his bloody, bruised body.
For the second time that day, Vaughan couldn’t breathe.
Eight
Time took on an odd shape. Each minute dragged on for hours. It didn’t take long for him to lose all sense of it entirely. His whole world became the shallow breaths slipping out of Sojun’s parted lips. The door to the tent opened and closed at some point in his vigil. Kaie hardly noticed until he felt a delicate hand drop upon his shoulder. He felt like a startled dog, hackles raised and teeth bared. His trip across the tent exhausted him and he couldn’t move, else he would launch into an attack. It wasn’t necessary. One look at the spindly blond boy let him breathe again. The kid was even smaller than him, staring with frightened rabbit eyes.
