AMNESIA

by Canada Jackson

  “You have descended into barbarian hell today.”

  Staede still stared at Amber even though her beautiful form was now covered by Shihlo’s large cloak.

  “Staede.” Wrexel’s roar echoed around the room. Staede took off his jacket and held it off one finger for his restrained and violently angry brother.

  “Lucky bastard,” he murmured as Wrexel snatched it from him.

  The guards dragged Wrexel before his father and had the sense to bring Amber forward gently when both Staede and Shihlo raised their skeths in a show of protection.

  She had proved herself worthy and was soon to be their brother’s mate. They would not allow her to be disrespected by the Monarch’s guards.

  “I do not understand how this transpired, but I will have you know, I will not rest until she is dead.” The Monarch hissed the words quietly for only his eldest son and Amber to hear.

  His plan had been to demean Wrexel and win some popularity because of his actions, but he never once imagined he would be stuck with a human daughter-in-law.

  “We will brand them as joined,” the king declared.

  Wrexel looked at his father. “Imprinting is no longer a practice.”

  “Today we live by ancient laws,” his father said cruelly. “I decree how marriages are recognized in this room. She is your bride by the law of ages and will be branded as such.”

  “Anesthetic for Amber,” Wrexel demanded of the guards.

  “Why wait?” his father replied cruelly. “You have been in such a hurry; I shall give you what you want immediately.”

  Wrexel launched for his father but the guards held him back, lifting their stun lasers for protection against the angry heir. Amber was led aside but the guards soon scuttled away when Shihlo shoved them from her. He remained at her side but looked distressed. “Amber,” he whispered softly, “this will last no more than 30 seconds but it will be painful.” He reached for the corner of his cloak and bunched it. “Bite down.”

  She obeyed in confusion when Shihlo wrapped his arms about her and held her tightly to his chest. Wrexel cursed his father loudly and a fight erupted, but a burning sensation touched the nape of her neck and pain screamed throughout her body as the Monarch’s guards cruelly branded her as Wrexel’s. The last thing she remembered as she fell into unconsciousness in Shihlo’s arms was a vision of her mother crying out the final words of her favorite rhyme.

  She added a new ending and glowed in green anger, her hair flying out as if caught in a violent wind.

  “Free the Grand Wraith.

  and pray he does not fight.

  Cruel hands upon his kin….

  will not be taken light.”

  Amber awoke in Shihlo’s arms.

  He carried her down a hall she did not recognize.

  Her neck throbbed painfully, and she began to cry in agony.

  She heard Wrexel’s voice command the doors before them to open and saw that he walked beside her, along with Staede.

  He looked the worse for wear and her eyes widened in surprise but Staede grinned at her. “My father’s guards look worse, so don’t worry about him.”

  “It’s barbaric,” Shihlo said disdainfully. “Bringing back old century rules, branding.”

  Leyahanna burst from the bedroom crying, her hands all over Amber, bumping into Shihlo.

  She screamed threats, declaring she would find a Gweithi assassin for the king.

  They all ignored her as they entered a very grand sitting room. Shihlo placed Amber gently on one of the large couches, taking the cool cloth and medication from Leyahanna to administer to her himself while the she wept at Amber’s feet.

  “Leyahanna, go and prepare a bath for Amber, please.” Wrexel ordered her away, and she obeyed immediately.

  Amber stared into Shihlo’s beautiful eyes as he lay her on the couch. She saw both anger and regret in his gaze. “We are not usually a nation of ancient barbarians.” He soothed her with gentle hands and kind words.

  She couldn’t stop staring at Shihlo. He was flawless. Angelic in appearance and with a demeanor and manner so genteel, they calmed her.

  “Is that better, my sister?” he asked.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  Staede sauntered over, overconfident and brash, “Are there other parts of you recently hurt that need soothing?” he asked in a mockingly gentle voice.

  “Staede,” Wrexel hissed from the chair but Leyahanna was treating a cut on his cheek. She slapped his shoulder and held him in place when he moved forward.

  Shihlo put out a foot and stopped his arrogant sibling from coming closer. It collided with his knee.

  “Why don’t you go to the nuptial festivities, Staede?” he warned. “I’m sure you will find some eager Thromian women to spend the evening with instead of disrespecting your brother on his union night.”

  “I may.” Staede peered down at Amber over Shihlo’s head. “But none as beautiful as the woman who lies in my brother’s home.”

  Amber was beginning to understand Wrexel’s fear. Staede was outrageously flirtatious and handsome enough to avoid contempt.

  “I shall go now, find myself one… no three… Thromian females in order to forget Amber’s beauty.”

  Leyahanna helped Amber up from the couch to take her to bathe. She left without a backward glance at Wrexel, although she could feel his eyes following her every movement.

  * * *

  Shihlo watched his brother carefully. “I can’t believe your luck,” he said. “I can’t believe a woman as beautiful as she, has had no lovers. I abhor what you have done to her, but it gives me hope that you have been prudent in exerting your will on her in other devious ways.”

  “God, Shihlo, I’m not a fucking rapist,” Wrexel growled. “I planned to win Amber.”

  He looked away in regret.

  Shihlo stared at him with a frown of confusion. “You have never acted in this way with a woman before. What insanity is this, Wrexel? I was certain that your decision was political, but seeing the way you look at her… I’m not so sure.”

  Wrexel had never been predictable, but even for him this behavior was out of character. Shihlo had given up trying to understand either of his brothers a long time ago.

  They had all been raised as warriors from the age of six but while most Thromians saw it as part of their nature, there were others like him who fought only defensively.

  He could not hunt as his brother did, to kill for sport or to expend energy and anger.

  He admired Wrexel greatly. The halls were full of depictions of his violent conquests, victories and stories so bloodthirsty that he sometimes turned his head rather than judge the brother he loved. In Throm’s history there had never been a warrior more fearsome, calculating and unbeatable as Wrexel.

  But Shihlo believed his brother’s cruelty ended on the battlefield. He had seen bouts of kindness in him that others would swear did not exist. Wrexel wanted Throm to be free of the Monarch not because he wished to rule it himself but because he wanted the insanity of his father’s influence gone.

  This made him take disastrous actions at times.

  Like his new bride.

  They sat together, silent and brooding, until Shihlo poured them both a glass of Thromian wine.

  “I still don’t understand why you felt a monogamous full-term union was necessary.”

  Shihlo watched the myriad emotions upon his brother’s face.

  Anguish, confusion, desperation, and then hardened will.

  “Would it shock you if I admitted that pushing you to war had equal bearing to making her mine? From the moment she entered my scope, I could not take my eyes from her.” Wrexel sighed in regret. “There are times I think she is magic and has me bewitched. She has made me lose my mind. I want her with a ferocity that astounds me. The thought of her being with another is incomprehensible to me.”

  Shihlo could not believe these words came from Wrexel.

  “But to take her from her betrothed?” Shihlo sa
id bitterly. “You are known for your cruelty at times, but to force her to give up her life for her people…” he broke off, shaking his head.

  “An opportunity that ensured she would be with me reared its head and I took it.” Wrexel’s gaze did not falter. “You should have seen her with her ex, Shihlo; he treated her like a mindless pawn. The thought of her with him sickened me.”

  Wrexel ignored Shihlo’s raised brow; he knew his actions seemed similar, but his intent was different. “I regret the effect she has on me, but not the actions I have taken to secure her in my life.”

  “Then you should have properly and ethically seduced her.”

  “I didn’t have the luxury of time to show her everything we could have together, and letting her go wasn’t an option… so I made an alternative plan.”

  “I hope that this affair burns out, Wrexel. She seems delightful and is beautiful, no doubt. Perhaps now that you have had her and have rocked our voting as you desire, you can consider setting her free.”

  Wrexel drained his glass with a crazed laugh. “She offered for me to have her body on the night I struck a deal with her. But I don’t merely want submission; her lying beneath me in obedient compliance will never be enough.”

  “What do you want, then?”

  “I want all of her!” He said it with such vicious resolve, Shihlo felt a measure of fear.

  * * *

  Leyahanna helped Amber enter the huge bath that was more like a swimming pool in the middle of a steamy room. The atmosphere was relaxing. The bath was surrounded by hanging and large potted plants and because the air was warm that night the windows were open, showing the stars in the sky. Lavish glass bottles of soap and lotion decked the side of the water and she waded over to fill her hands, sinking beneath the scented, cloudy water.

  As Amber smoothed the soap on her body, she closed her eyes in heated embarrassment, remembering her time in the room with Wrexel. For a man beside himself with desire for her, he was painfully slow and very deliberate in all the ways he had made love to her. She was the one who lost control in the end.

  Control she would now have to claw back, even if it killed her.

  She’d had her wild desired experienced, but it was over.

  Allowing Wrexel victory over her body henceforth would be the ultimate defeat. All his mocking confidence that she would succumb came back to haunt her, and she became increasingly determined to conduct herself differently in the future.

  For far too long, those she loved had controlled her. She would not allow him the same liberty. She would deny him going forward.

  It didn’t matter that he was able to give her everything she had secretly longed for. It didn’t matter that one touch made her melt.

  Succumbing to him and admitting to this would be a betrayal of everything she had lost. Everything he had forcefully taken from her.

  She had to remain strong!

  He slipped into the water behind her and her heart lurched as he waded over.

  “Does it still hurt?” His breath against the top of her head made her shiver, and she prepared herself for the feel of his body against hers, but he kept a small distance and gave her space.

  “No, Shihlo’s salve really worked,” she replied with a shaky voice.

  Wrexel turned her around, and she flushed to be naked in front of him again, but his gaze remained on her face. “And the rest of you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  He looked at her mouth and she was sure he would kiss her, but he smoothed his hands over her hair instead, searching her eyes as he gently held her shoulders.

  He seemed conflicted and his words took her by surprise. “Thank you for the gift of your innocence.”She did not expect this, or the way he moved his fingers softly over her collarbone. “If I had known, Amber, I…”

  “My lord.” Leyahanna interrupted their conversation and Amber breathed a sigh of relief. The ache in her throat and his gentle hands did not help her resolve to keep him at bay. She had to be careful of his touch, which made her body fail her plans, but she had to ward off the way he made her feel when he was gentle and loving more.

  “Yes.” Wrexel’s irritation was lost on Leyahanna, who it seemed had no concerns barging in on the naked couple.

  “You have a guest in your reception room.”

  “Who allowed a visitor in without asking me first?”

  “He is a Yimmyrd Warrior and Shihlo’s guest in Four Wings.”

  Wrexel groaned. “Name?” he asked.

  “Revan, my lord.”

  Her gaze flew to him in anger. “You said he was dead.”

  “I said he was no longer with us.” He didn’t even look guilty for the blatant lie.

  She wanted to rage at him some more but he interrupted her.

  “Finish up, Amber.” He reached for the soap. “He’s here to check up on you, and be warned – unless you tell him not to, he will read your mind.”

  She began to move slowly to the side of the large bath but his final words made her slow her steps.

  “Amber… don’t bother asking him for ways to get out of our agreement. No matter how much the Yimmyrd claims he can help you, if you renege, so will I.”

  He sank under the water then, not even waiting for her reply.

  Amber jolted with anger. The cruelty of his obsession with her was chilling. Wrexel had a way of making her forget the truth of their relationship when he touched her or looked at her with unbridled longing. His words raised her up and then threw her down. He was dangerous to her mental well-being. She cursed herself as she dried and slipped on the robe and soft shoes that Leyahanna gave her, wishing that she were immune to the crazed man who would not let her go.

  * * *

  She entered the room with the Gweithi at her side and was surprised when Wrexel followed shortly behind. His look was guarded and brooding; it also held a clear warning. She had no doubt that if she begged Revan for assistance, she would wake up to news of Rheese burning.

  Leyahanna danced forward and dropped on one knee in front of the Yimmyrd. He smiled indulgently and placed a gentle hand against her cheek, asking her to stand.

  Amber eyed the alien with interest, once again awed by his ethereal presence and the glowing shadow of self that followed him.

  She remembered him from the ship.

  “Amber of Rheese.” He held out his hand. “I greet you in the way your people greet. I am Revan of Illohi, Guard and Warrior of the council of eight planets of Diogel. We met briefly before?”

  She shook his hand, surprised that he knew the human custom. “I remember.” She was entranced when their palms touched.

  Wrexel sat down, his eyes moving from her to Revan with veiled animosity before he sifted through a bowl of fruit that lay beside him.

  “She’s Amber of Throm,” he corrected before he took a bite out of the fruit.

  “I received allegations,” Revan began but Wrexel interrupted. “Our response has been sent to the Diogel Federation.”

  “I know,” Revan said without taking his eyes off Amber. “I have come to ask her in person if they hold truth. You’ll forgive me because Thromians are not always honest.”

  Amber flashed a look at Wrexel.

  He looked annoyed but not threatened.

  “I spoke with the leader of Rheese, Captain Travis Landmark, earlier and...”

  Amber launched herself on Revan, grasping his arm. “You’ve seen him, you’ve spoken to him?” Her words tumbled over each other.

  Wrexel scowled but made no move from the couch.

  Revan nodded and placed a warm hand over her own. She shivered at the feeling it once again ignited within her. Revan’s presence vibrated with intensity and yet the effect calmed her.

  “I spoke with him, and he lodged a complaint at the Diogel Federation as soon as they arrived upon Rheese claiming that Wrexel had taken you against your will. He has also lodged a case of rape or attempted rape. Are these allegations true?”

  Amber wrapped
her arms about herself in misery. “We have an agreement… and no, he did not rape me.”

  “Not only was she not raped on my ship,” interrupted Wrexel, “but my father holds with him the evidence of our marriage union today, which will prove that until this morning, Amber was a virgin.”

  Revan glared at him, but he continued.

  “Go and tell Travis that she is my wife. Amber of Throm, monogamous mate of the First Lord. I would appreciate him not asking about her anymore.”

  Revan stared at her sadly for a few seconds and then turned an angry gaze on Wrexel. “She doesn’t love you. How can you keep her from the man she wants to be with?”

  “I don’t want or need her love; as she told you, we have an agreement. So if you are done with the questions, I would appreciate you leaving.”

  Revan looked at Amber again, watched her icy glare directed at Wrexel, but then she turned to him without meeting his eyes and said, “I do not require help.”

  Revan breathed out with frustration but when she remained tight-lipped, he nodded and stepped back.

  “Call on me anytime… Amber of Throm.”

  He turned for the door when Leyahanna came forward. “Revan… Rix is here to speak with you.”

  Wrexel chuckled. “I forgot you spent a two-week vacation on Earth with my cousin.”

  Revan’s eyes flared with anger. “Holding me a prisoner while you took what you wanted from them was a crime against the federation. You are fortunate that I have not chosen to take it further.”

  Wrexel merely smiled. “Take your reunion with my lovesick cousin elsewhere.”

  Revan flushed and left as requested.

  * * *

  Later, Amber stood in front of the mirror in the bathroom that adjoined Wrexel’s room and stared at her reflection. She knew he waited for her… in his large, beige covered bed. She clutched the sink and set her jaw, planning all the things she would say. You’ve had me now, I hope you enjoyed what will never happen again. I hate your touch and you, so don’t even reach for me. Words and sentences designed to hurt him, make sure that he knew she loathed him.