“Oh my God! This room!” She walked into the echoing chamber on unsteady legs. “I dreamed this. I saw…” She whirled to Mother L’rin. “I saw him.” She stabbed a finger at Doby’s mottled pink hide. “He took Deep in here. And he…he…” She couldn’t go on. Mutely she went to the white obelisk, pointing like an accusing finger toward the narrow stone chimney above. The red streaks were there, just as they had been in her dream. But now she knew what they were. “Dried blood,” she whispered. “My God, he whipped Deep. Whipped him until he bled.” She turned back to Mother L’rin. “I saw it all in my dream. What does that mean?”
“Dream sharing you were,” the old woman said quietly. “Saw everything you did.”
“You mean what I saw was true?” She had a sudden mental image of the night before—Deep’s broad back, covered in a twisted pattern of white scars. “Oh my God—it was true!” Suddenly she felt so faint and dizzy she couldn’t stand up anymore. She started to fall and Doby put out a huge hand to catch her. “Get away from me.” Kat pushed away from the giant, feeling sick to her stomach. “You’re the one who did it to him.”
“No, you are.” Mother L’rin pointed a crooked finger at her. “Your pain he took.”
“But I don’t understand. How could he—?”
“The whip.” Mother L’rin nodded at Doby who opened the green lacquered wooden box he carried. Inside was a plain black handle which Kat found sickeningly familiar.
“I…I’ve seen that before,” she said weakly. Only last time it had long silvery tongues attached to it. With spikes on their ends.
“Transfers pain, the whip does,” the old woman explained. “Someone had your pain to take.”
“And Deep volunteered?” For some reason Kat found tears in her eyes. “Why?”
Mother L’rin put a hand on Kat’s arm and looked into her eyes. “Why do you think, child?” she said gently.
“I d-don’t know.” Kat sniffed and blotted her eyes against the long sleeve of her toga-dress. “I honestly don’t. He hates me. Or at least he doesn’t like me very much.”
“Himself he hates,” Mother L’rin said, releasing her arm. “Cleansed of his hate he must be before you bond.”
“But I can’t bond with him and Lock. Don’t you see? It would never work out.” Kat thought of her parents—the constant shouting, the cold silences, the ugly accusations and names. Her father calling her mother “a fat, lazy whore” and her mother telling him, “Every time I see you, I hate you more. I wish you were dead.” And all that was before the beatings started.
Up until they’d finally gotten divorced and her grandmother had taken her in, the only peace she had was when she went to Liv and Sophie’s house. Their parents had loved each other and it showed in the little acts of affection, the kindness and consideration they showed each other. But Kat’s home had been a war zone. And though neither parent had ever physically laid a hand on her, only each other, she still carried the scars of their many battles.
“You don’t understand,” she told Mother L’rin, aware that she was crying again but unable to help herself. “I can’t be with them. I can’t be with him.”
The old woman shook her head and put an arm around Kat’s heaving shoulders. “Child, come,” she said, leading Kat back to the green door. “If bonded you cannot be, then a journey you must make.”
“A…a journey?” Kat blotted her eyes on her sleeve. If this kept up, she was going to have to change clothes because her entire freaking dress would be soaked in tears. God, she hated to cry! “A journey to where?” she said, sniffing and trying to get hold of herself.
“The fifilalachuchu blossom you must seek.”
“The what?” Kat was convinced that her convo-pillar was acting up again but Mother L’rin repeated the name and she realized she’d heart it correctly the first time. “But what good will this uh, fi-fi flower do? Will it break the bond between us?”
“Seek it you must,” the wise woman repeated firmly. “Back to me you will bring it. Medicine I will make for you.”
“Okay.” Kat nodded. The strange sounding flower must be the only way to break the soul bond between herself and Lock and Deep. “Uh, where can I find it?” she asked, as they left the cave and walked back to the meadow with the golden brook.
“Find what?” Deep and Lock came forward. Clearly they had been waiting for Kat to come back.
“Some kind of rare flower.” Kat found she could barely look at Deep. Why had he taken her pain? Was it out of pride? A sense of responsibility? She knew that a Kindred warrior took his oath to protect any female in his care very seriously. Could that be why Deep had submitted to the vicious beating for her? She wanted to ask him about it—to thank him for what he’d done. But one glance at the scowl on his dark face told her now wasn’t the time.
“The fifilalachuchu blossom,” Mother L’rin said firmly, pulling her thoughts back to the present.
“You mean the Moons blossom? But those are just a legend,” Lock protested.
The old woman shook her head. “In some legends, truth lies. Find it on the continent you will.”
“The continent?” Deep raised one eyebrow at her. “You want us to cross the golden strait in search of a mythical flower that only blooms when both full moons are in the sky?”
Mother L’rin marched up to him and poked him in the chest with one knarled finger. “At once you must.”
Though she was so tiny she barely reached his waist, Deep took a step back and nodded respectfully. “All right, all right. As you say, Mother.”
“Very good. Enough time have I wasted with you.” She nodded at her giant, silent assistant. “Doby, come.”
“Yes, Mother.” He shambled after her. Before long, both the tiny figure and the huge one had disappeared into the long pink and green grasses that lined the far side of the stream.
“Well.” Lock looked somewhat nonplussed. “It seems we have a quest to fulfill.”
Deep snorted. “It seems so. Though what she expects us to find on the continent besides filth and ignorance, I have no idea.”
“You heard her—she said to find the Moons blossom.” Lock straightened his shoulders. “We’d best get going if we want to make arrangements to leave immediately.”
“Immediately?” Kat asked, startled. “As in tonight?”
“If we can,” Lock said grimly. “You heard Mother L’rin—she said we had to go at once. It may be a matter of life and death.” He looked at Kat. “What did she tell you?”
“A lot of things.” Kat studied the ground, afraid that if she looked up she would catch Deep’s eyes and see the silver whip reflected in their midnight depths.
“What did she say about you?” Deep’s voice was harsh. “Are you completely well? All healed?”
Kat thought of what the wise woman had told her. That if she didn’t touch at least one of the brothers—or preferably both—her pain and weakness would come back. She opened her mouth to tell them…but somehow she just couldn’t. Not after the fight they’d had. How could she ask them to touch her when she refused to bond with them? It seemed rude and wrong—like she was using them. Besides, she had her pride. She didn’t want to sound like she was begging.
“Are you well, my lady?” Lock said and she realized she’d been silent too long.
“I’m fine.” She shrugged, trying to sound unconcerned. “What you two did for me cured me. So…thank you.”
Deep raised one black eyebrow. “So you admit the soul bond was necessary. You’re not so quick to call us liars now, hmm?”
A sharp retort rose to Kat’s lips but she bit it back when she remembered what he’d done for her. Mother L’rin’s voice echoed in her head. “Himself he hates.” Lifting her chin, she looked at Deep. “I’m sorry if what I said hurt you,” she said, staring unflinchingly into his angry eyes. “But it looks like we’re stuck together a little while longer. So I’d like to offer a truce—no more fighting. No more backbiting. No more hurting each other. Deal?”
He raised an eyebrow. “For the duration of our little ‘quest’ as Lock puts it?”
Kat nodded. “Yes. Will you agree?”
Deep shrugged, a look of apparent unconcern on his face. “If you like. Though fighting with you is much more amusing than fighting with Lock.”
“None of us ought to be fighting,” Lock said in a low voice. “We’re going to need to stick together when we get to the continent—if we ever want to get off of it again, that is.”
That sounded ominous to Kat. Like we’re going to the dark side of the moon or something. It’s all on the same planet—how bad can the ‘continent’ be?
She was afraid she was going to find out.
Sixteen
“Kat! You look wonderful!” Liv was so glad to see her friend’s face on the viewscreen she nearly squeed with joy. Beside her, Sophie was practically hopping up and down with excitement.
“Kat-woman! We miss you so much!”
“I miss you guys too. You have no idea how much.”
“I’m so sorry we let you go alone,” Sophie said breathlessly. “We didn’t want to but pregnant women can’t go through folded space.”
Kat looked startled. “So you’re pregnant too?”
“No, no.” Sophie shook her head rapidly. “But at the time I thought I might be. Because Sylvan and I had been…you know, practically every spare minute and my period was late.”
“Well don’t worry about it, I forgive you.” Kat smiled at both of them.
“But you’re okay?” Liv asked her. “You’re managing, right?”
Kat made a shooing gesture. “Don’t worry about me, girls. There’s nothing on Earth I can’t handle if I put my mind to it. Or on Twin Moons, either.”
“You look good,” Liv said, not quite truthfully. Honestly she thought Kat looked tired and not quite herself. But at least she was up and about instead of passed out on the floor—which was the state she’d been in the last time they’d seen her.
“How do you feel?” Sophie wanted to know.
“Better than I did,” Kat said. “But still not a hundred percent. The headache is gone at least.”
“That’s a start,” Liv said firmly. “So when are you coming home? Just say the word and Baird will get them to fold space.”
Kat grimaced. “If it was up to me I’d be there yesterday but…unfortunately, I can’t come back for a little while yet. There’s something I have to do—have to get—before I can leave Twin Moons.”
“What?” Liv and Sophie chorused together.
Kat laughed. “It always cracks me up when you guys do that—say the same thing at the same time. Well, it’s kind of a long story…”
“And we’ve got nothing but time,” Liv said. “C’mon, Kat—spill.”
Kat sighed and raked a hand through her long auburn hair. “God, how do I put this without sounding crazy…?”
“Don’t worry about the crazy part—that’s a given when it comes to the Kindred,” Sophie ordered. “Just talk.”
“Fine.” Kat took a deep breath. “Apparently joining with Lock and Deep the way I did, to act as their focus, ‘fractured my spirit.’ And the only cure for a fractured spirit is to form a soul bond with a willing Kindred…or two. So…”
“Oh my God!” Sophie clapped a hand over her mouth.
“You mean you’re bonded to Lock and Deep?” Liv demanded.
“Not entirely,” Kat said quickly. “Only about halfway, if that makes any sense.”
“Not a bit,” Liv said. “But go on.”
“Well, with Twin Kindred the bond comes in two halves—the soul bond which is kind of a spiritual connection—and the physical bond. Which is what you get when you have bonding sex.” Kat made a face. “And girls, you would not believe how the Twin Kindred do it.”
“One at a time?” Sophie guessed.
“One in the front and one in the back,” Liv said.
Kat shook her head. “Nope. I met a new friend here by the name of Piper who comes from Houston. And as Piper so charmingly put it, they put ‘two poles in the same hole.’”
“No!” Both Liv and Sophie were aghast. “Jillian never told me that,” Liv protested.
Kat shrugged. “Well, it’s true.”
“But that’s barbaric,” Sophie protested. “Unless they have…do they have really tiny equipment?”
“From what I’ve seen and felt, they’re every bit as endowed as all the other Kindred warriors,” Kat said dryly. “Remember how we used to joke that all Kindred were hung like Clydesdales?”
“Oh no.” Sophie looked horrified.
“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Kat said, apparently worried by the way they were looking at her. “They have this stuff called bonding fruit that, uh, makes you more flexible in certain areas. If you know what I mean.”
“And that’s supposed to make it okay?” Liv demanded.
“I don’t know about ‘okay,’ but supposedly it keeps the whole process from hurting.” Kat’s cheeks were pink. “Not that I want to find out first hand.”
“Kat, that’s awful! You can’t let them do that to you. You have to get away from them!” Liv leaned forward, wishing she could reach through the viewscreen and drag her friend to safety.
“That’s what I’m trying to do,” Kat protested. “But first we have to find this rare flower—it only grows in a certain part of Twin Moons.”
“Seriously?” Liv raised an eyebrow at her. “You can’t come home because you and Lock and Deep are going to go flower picking together?”
“We have to. It’s the only way to dissolve the bond.” Kat sighed. “We’re going to bring it back to Mother L’rin and she’s going to make some kind of special bond breaking medicine or something.”
“Well,” Sophie said doubtfully. “I guess if that’s the only way you can get free of them…”
“It is.” Kat ran a hand through her hair. “Look, I told you it sounded crazy, didn’t I? But I have no choice. And I swear as soon as I get the stupid bond dissolved I’ll be on my way back.”
“Well, if you have to, you have to.” Sophie sighed philosophically. “Just try not to take too long. You do realize I can’t plan my wedding without you.”
“Or my baby shower,” Liv put in.
Kat shook a finger at them. “You’d better not!”
“Of course not.” Liv smiled. “So how are things otherwise? Are Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dee behaving themselves?”
Kat shook her head. “I just don’t know. Lock is a sweetheart, as always. But Deep…well, Deep is Deep. And I mean that both literally and figuratively.”
Sophie frowned. “Meaning what—that you two are still fighting?”
“We have what you could call an uneasy truce right now,” Kat said. She looked behind her and then leaned closer to the viewscreen and lowered her voice. “But I found something out about him. Something he did—”
“Kat,” a deep male voice said from somewhere off screen. “The ship leaves very soon. You need to hurry.”
“Just a minute!” Kat looked harassed. “We have to leave on the flower hunt tonight and the guys are waiting outside the shuttle so I can talk to you two privately. But I guess they’re getting impatient.”
“Forget about them,” Liv said. “Tell us what you found out. Is he an axe murderer? A gigolo?”
“No,” Sophie cut in. “She said it was something he did. What did he do, Kat? Was it awful?”
“Kat!” said the deep male voice again. “We have to go now.”
Kat sighed. “Sorry, I guess I’ll have to tell you later. But believe me, you will never guess in a million years. Love you both.” She blew kisses at the viewscreen and Liv and Sophie did the same.
“Kat, just tell us—” Liv started to say but then the viewscreen went blank as their friend’s picture flickered out.
“Crap!” Sophie sounded disappointed. “What do you suppose she was about to say? What did Deep do?”
“I have no idea.” Liv fr
owned. “But knowing him, I’m guessing it wasn’t random acts of kindness. I just hope Kat will be okay.”
Sophie looked troubled. “I hope so too.”
Liv gave her twin a comforting hug. “I’m sure she’ll be home soon and then we can get the scoop directly from the source.”
“I guess.” Sophie didn’t sound convinced. “But I think I’ll ask Sylvan what he knows about Deep…just in case.”
Liv nodded thoughtfully. “I’m going to grill Baird too. And we can compare notes later.”
She just hoped she didn’t find out anything too awful about the dark twin’s past. If Kat was already halfway bonded to him, there was no telling what might happen to their friend.
Seventeen
“So we’re actually going to sail to this continent place on a boat?” Kat eyed the green wooden boat with the pale pink sail doubtfully. It looked very picturesque rocking on the golden water—but not very safe. And despite living in Florida all her life, Kat had never learned to like sailing—she was always afraid she’d fall off whatever boat she was on, into shark-infested waters. “Why can’t we take the shuttle?” she asked Lock. “We could just fly there, find the fi-fi flower, and be back in a couple of hours.”
“It isn’t permitted to take advanced technology to the continent, my lady,” he said, shaking his head. “The natives who live there are very superstitious. They might take it for black magic and want to kill us for offending their gods.”
“Wait a minute—there are natives?” Kat’s heart skipped a beat.
“Angry, hostile natives.” Deep, who had been loading their gear spoke up.
“Not if you don’t antagonize them,” Lock said quickly. “And honestly, there aren’t that many of them. Hopefully we’ll be able to avoid them all together.”
Kat shook her head. “I don’t understand. Twin Moons seems like such a civilized place. How can you have a whole continent of superstitious savages?”
Brides of the Kindred Volume One: Books 1-4 Page 102