Divided: Brides of the Kindred 10 (45 page)

What
we did to get the coordinates…
Becca remembered the way she had pleasured
both men at once and felt a rush of shame.
What we did…what I should never
have done…

“You
took a grave risk, not leaving at once,” Truth said, breaking into her guilty
thoughts. “The
Rai’ku
could have come back at any time.”

“I
know, but I was certain we would never get a chance to dig among the elder
trees again,” Garron said. “I did the best I could while the three of you were
all unconscious for one reason or another.”

“You
did very well,” Far assured him. Becca thought his voice sounded strained and
she wanted to look up and see if the light twin was well. But she still
couldn’t drag her eyes from the glowing, shifting pendant in the box.

“Can
you…touch it?” she asked. “I mean, is it dangerous?”

“It’s
not radioactive, if that’s what you’re asking,” Truth said. “But I don’t
recommend touchi—”

Before
he could finish, Becca reached out a hand and lightly stroked the strange,
shifting metal with one fingertip.

Suddenly
Mother Superior was standing right in front of her.

Mother
of God!
Becca nearly choked with surprise. She looked around to see if
the twins or Garron could see Mother Superior but they seemed to be frozen
somehow.

“Don’t
bother—they can’t see me. I’m just here for you.”

“What…what
do you want?” Becca whispered.

“I
think you know what I want.”
Mother Superior fixed her with a cold
look.

“No,
I—”

“Very
well, I will show you.”

Immediately
she was flooded with the memories and emotions of the past several hours. It
was as though someone was replaying her life, but
not
from her
perspective—it was as though she was an outside observer, watching everything
that had transpired in the recent past.

She
saw the way she and Truth and Far had touched each other, the way she had
brought them both to the edge and made them come with her hands and mouth. The
way she had given herself to them and offered to give more…to give them
everything and bond with them completely.

Watching
the brazen way she’d touched them—and knowing that Mother Superior was watching
too—made Becca blush miserably with shame.
Just look at the way I’m
acting—at the things we’re doing. Two guys and one girl in a fur bikini—it’s
like the premise of a really bad porno movie. How could I?

After
showing every excruciating detail, the memory rushed on to show the Rai’ku mob
breaking down the door to attack and abduct them.

Becca
winced as she saw herself taken from the lodge and flown on the back of a
dr’gin
to the Ancient’s clearing. Even worse was watching the judgment and the
Y’grin
.
Seeing Far fall to his knees and later, Truth topple to the ground after Garron
stabbed him, was like feeling the horrible pain and loss all over again.

But
the vision didn’t stop there. It showed Garron carrying her back to his lodge,
showed him wrapping her carefully in the silver heat cocoon which was part of
the equipment Truth and Far had brought on the shuttle. Then she saw all of
them being transported in the hovertracker back to the shuttle.

Last
of all, Mother Superior reminded Becca of her dream.

She
gave a low gasp as she heard herself pleading for her men’s lives.

“Just
let them live—let them be okay and I’ll leave them. Please!”
she
watched herself beg.

“Very
well,”
she heard the little voice whisper.
“They will be restored
to life and health. But you must keep your word.”

“I
will,”
Becca promised fervently in her dream.
“I swear I will!”

“Oh,”
Becca whispered as the memories faded leaving only Mother Superior behind.

“’Oh’
indeed.”
Mother Superior frowned at her severely. Was it Becca’s
imagination or did she seem even more angry and judgmental than she ever had
back at the convent?

“Mother
Superior,
please…
”

“Do
you begin to understand why I am here? Truth and Far have both been restored to
health and yet here you are, consorting with them, acting as though nothing
ever happened. Do you intend to keep your promise or not, Rebecca?”

“I…I…”
Becca looked at her men, still frozen by some strange spell in this moment in
time. Far with his long mane of blond hair and Truth with his black hair cut
military short. Both so different and yet, in many ways, so much alike. Brave,
strong, kind, generous, handsome and so very, very dear to her. The thought of
leaving them, of cutting them out of her life, made her feel sick. As though
she was contemplating cutting out her very heart.

She
turned back to Mother Superior who was all sharp lines and angles, her black
habit and white wimple making her look somehow like a carrion crow, ready to
peck Becca’s eyes out if she gave the wrong answer. She opened her mouth again,
uncertain what she was going to say, but Mother Superior was already fading.

“Think
on it, Rebecca,”
her stern voice whispered as she
disappeared
.
“What has been given can be just as easily taken away…”

And
then she was gone and the little sleeping cabin unfroze.

“…touching
it. It seems to have a strange effect on whoever does,” Truth finished. But it
had been so long since he started his sentence that Becca had entirely
forgotten what he was talking about.

“Um,
okay,” she said weakly. She snatched her hand away from the amulet and curled
her fingers into a fist in her lap.

Truth
frowned. “You didn’t actually touch it, did you? Are you all right?”

“I’m
fine,” Becca lied. But she was barely hearing his words. She was still staring
at the glowing truthonium, wondering what had just happened.

It
was only a dream,
she told herself uneasily, staring at the
shifting pendant. But had it been? Had it really? Or was it some kind of a
vision—a warning of what was to come if she didn’t keep her promise?

She
could still see the stern look on Mother Superior’s face, could still hear the
disapproval in her voice. Becca had made a bargain that she had sworn to keep.
What might happen if she broke her word? Would Truth and Far…? But she couldn’t
allow herself to finish the thought—it was too awful.

“Seven
Hells.” The hoarse exclamation of pain came from Far.

Becca
dragged her eyes away from the shifting pendant and saw that the light twin was
doubled up, apparently in pain.

Mother
of God, it’s starting already!
whispered a panicked little voice in her
brain.
He’s dying again because you want to break your promise! Because
you’re too stubborn to learn from your mistakes and do as Mother Superior said.

“Think
on it,”
a stern voice whispered in her head.
“What has been given
can be just as easily taken away…”

“Brother?
Are you well?” Truth went to his twin and put an arm around his shoulders with
unusual gentleness.

“Fine.”
Far straightened up but his face was deadly white. “Just a few…lingering
effects of the
dr’gin
poison I’m sure.” He tried to laugh. “I guess I’m
not as tough as you.”

“No,
I was just inoculated with the poison as a child,” Truth corrected him. “Making
yourself safe around those with
dr’gins
is part of being
O’ahn.
”

“Are
the females inoculated as well?” Far was beginning to look a little better—at
least he had the strength to be interested in other cultures, which was more
like him.

Garron
shook his head. “The inoculation is difficult and expensive to make. Females
are considered of little worth to Rai’ku—yet another way they differ from
Kindred. Unless a female is chosen by a male and scratched during his
transformation, she doesn’t even receive the antidote.”

“That’s
horrible,” Becca said distantly but her mind wasn’t really on the conversation.
What she was thinking of was her vision—or had it been a visitation—from Mother
Superior?

I
have to leave them. I have to break our bond and go back home.

It
was a terrible feeling—almost as horrible as when she’d been sure her men were
dead. But inside, Becca knew it was the right thing to do, even if it made her
feel like some sadistic bastard was using their sharpest pair of scissors on
her heart.

“Becca?”
she heard Truth say and looked up to see that he and Far were watching her with
worried looks on their faces.

“Are
you all right?” Far asked. “I just felt…such a wave of sadness from you.”

“Sadness
and hopelessness,” Truth added. “What is troubling you?”

“Nothing,”
Becca lied. She shook her head and looked away from them. “I just…I’m really
tired and I’d like to be alone. Could you…do you think you could leave? All of
you?”

“Oh,
well…” Truth looked surprised and Far looked hurt. The feelings of concern and
worry that came through their bond made Becca feel horrible. But she knew what
she had to do.

“Go!”
she said, raising her voice at them. “Please, just go. I don’t…I can’t look at
you right now. Either of you.”

“Very
well,” Truth said stiffly, rising from the side of the bed where he had been
sitting. “We will go. We are already through the fold and we should be
approaching the Mother Ship soon.”

“We’ll
be back home before you know it,” Far added quietly.

“Good.”
Becca turned her head away, refusing to look at either of them. “The sooner we
get there the better.”

They
left the room without another word, filing out of the doorway silently.

As
soon as the door slid shut behind them, Becca turned her head to the wall and
wept as quietly as she could. Hot, bitter tears filled her eyes and slid
silently down her cheeks—it felt like some small, deadly creature was ripping
her apart, using its claws and teeth on her insides.

But
though the pain was horrible, there was no help for it—she knew exactly what
she had to do as soon as they got back to the Mother Ship.

And
it was going to hurt like hell.

* * * * *

Ur
the demon hummed contentedly to himself as he sped back to the Mother Ship. He
needed no conveyance to go through space though it did take a lot of
energy—energy he considered well spent.

Had
they really thought that by getting the amulet of the Orthanxians they could
drive him and his people out? What fools they were! The amulet was powerful,
true, and capable of all that three eyed idiot Vashtar had promised—
if
it
was used properly. And Ur had just made certain that it wouldn’t be.

The
amulet’s power was strong—strong enough to give visions to those who touched
it. It had been a simple matter to use the girl's dream to twist her guilt and
fear and shame into a vision of one she revered and respected. And an even
simpler matter to convince her she must leave her two males and never see them
again.

Ur
had looked within all of them and seen the eventual outcome. Without their
female, both of them were weak. The light twin physically and the dark
twin—Truth—emotionally. As soon as the girl was gone, it wouldn’t take long for
them to succumb to their frailties.

Once
that happened and the bond was broken—either by a priestess, as the girl was
envisioning—or by death, he, Ur, would be waiting. He would take control of the
body he had been so rudely cast out of and wear it like a new suit of clothes,
reveling in every moment of his long, permanent possession.

Chapter Forty-one

“No,
I will not break the bond you have formed with your warriors. It is wrong of
you to even ask this of me.”

The
priestess, a formidable looking middle aged woman with green streaked hair and glowing
green eyes, stared at Becca like she was something that had been scraped from
the bottom of her shoe.

Not
that she was wearing shoes—in fact, they were both barefoot since Becca had
come straight to the Sacred Grove the moment their shuttle landed inside the
Mother Ship. Overhead, the green and purple leaves rustled in the faint breeze
and the grass tickled her bare feet. It should have been a peaceful, relaxing
place. But Becca couldn’t ever remember feeling so tense in her life.

“I’m
sorry,” she said, lifting her chin and refusing to be intimidated. “But the
head priestess of First World told me—well actually, the
Goddess
told me
through her—that I could get this bond broken if I wanted to. And now, well, I
want to. More than that—I
need
to.”

“And
why do you feel this need?” the priestess demanded. “The breaking of a bond is
a serious thing. What could possibly cause you to abandon the males the Goddess
has given you to love and care for in order to pursue life on your own again?”

“I
don’t
want
to do it—okay?” Becca burst out. “I
have
to.” She was
beginning to feel like her bond with Truth and Far was some expensive purchase
that she had been assured she could bring back at any time but now the
saleslady was claiming it was too difficult to make the return.

“I
do not understand.”

No,
and I can’t make you understand. Not without sounding crazy!
Becca
thought of the strange vision she’d had of Mother Superior, of the promise she
had made and the threat that had been given if she didn’t keep that promise.
How else could she save her men than by distancing herself from them? What else
could she do but break the bond?

“This
is hard enough without you making it any harder,” she told the priestess. “Now
are you going to help me or do I have to call Nadiah myself? Isn’t she like
your Mother Superior or boss or something?”

The
priestess drew herself up to a regal height—not difficult since all Kindred
women were extremely tall.

“She
is my superior and the head of our order but each priestess is charged with
hearing the Goddess with her own heart. I will not agree to break this bond for
you until I have looked into you.”

“What
does that even mean?” Becca demanded but the priestess was already taking her
face in two large, cold hands and staring into her eyes.

Suddenly
there was a sensation of someone prying through her memories, looking through
her thoughts as though they were thumbing casually through a file folder.

“Hey!”
Becca protested—or tried to, anyway. But she seemed frozen to the spot—unable
to speak or move until the priestess finished.

“Hmmm.”
The priestess sounded concerned. “I see much…but much is also hidden.” She
released Becca’s face and frowned at her. “How are you concealing yourself from
me?”

“I
don’t know what you’re talking about,” Becca said. “I’m not doing anything on
purpose.”

Now
that the priestess was out of her head all she could think about was how
violated
she felt. Having a strange Kindred woman page though her memories was
almost worse than having the Mother Superior watch her have sex with Truth and
Far.
Almost
.

“I
saw the events that drew the three of you together,” the priestess said. “Most
notably I saw that you were able to rescue both of your males from the demons
which have invaded our ship.”

“Yes…”
Becca nodded.

“Even
then the beginning of your bond was strong. You were meant to serve as a bridge
between these two—to bring together and heal that which was sundered by their
separation at birth.”

“And
I
did
that,” Becca said. “Their Twin bond is strong and complete now
because of me. I did as the Goddess asked.”

“Not
quite.” The priestess frowned. “The demonic threat from the Black Planet still
hangs over this ship—it has not yet been resolved.”

“But
it will be soon! Right now Truth is bringing the truthonium amulet to Sylvan
and the Council. They’ll be able to get rid of the demon parasites and restore
the unmated males to their true selves almost immediately.”

“Nonetheless,
until everything has been settled I will not break the bond.” The priestess frowned
at her. “You will thank me for this later. It is only the partial bond that you
share with your males that is keeping one of them from death and the other from
ruination.”

“Are
you talking about the demon who said he would wait and get Truth later?
Shouldn’t he have gone into the Unmated Males area by now? Look, never mind,”
Becca went on before the priestess could answer. “If you won’t help me,
fine—I’ll get someone who will.”

“No
one aboard this ship will, I can assure you of that.” The priestess glared at
her. “And you may call on our High Priestess if you wish but a bond can only be
broken in person and Nadiah is bound to First World.”

Becca
felt frustrated enough to shout but somehow she kept her voice under control.

“All
right,” she said tightly. “Thank you for your time.”

She
turned on her heel and left the Sacred Grove, stopping just long enough to grab
her shoes. Even if she couldn’t get the bond broken, she could still keep her
promise.

She
had to leave the Mother Ship—to get away from here and go back to Earth right
now.