Kwin

by Trudie Collins

  “Alright. Drake, please take care of the three servants in the other carriage. Tell them nothing of the truth of this place. For now, Kwin has control of them. Between you both you can decide when they are ready to be released.”

  She didn’t wait for a response; she didn’t need to.

  “Luka,” Drake called after her as she started to walk away. “I should warn you that you have a visitor. He’s waiting for you in the lounge. I have already warned Henna and Kail to keep away.”

  “Thank you,” Luka said. She had no idea who the visitor was or why Henna and Kail had been warned of his presence, but she didn’t ask. All she cared about was getting her sister’s body settled; the visitor could wait.

  Kwin lifted Fain’s body out of the carriage and followed Luka into the house. He cradled her against him and positioned the blanket so it was covering all of her body, other than her head. Anyone seeing him would think he was carrying a sleeping young woman instead of a corpse.

  Luka led him directly to the room that had been set aside for Fain and pulled back the covers on the bed. Flowers had been placed on the threshold and scented candles were already burning. She had taught Drake the proper protocol for honouring the dead when her father died and she was pleased that he remembered.

  Luka instructed Kwin to place Fain on the bed, on her back, and once the body was in position she crossed her arms so her hands were on the opposite shoulders.

  “Sleep well my beloved sister,” she said and kissed her on the forehead before covering her over.

  Kwin followed her from the room and she shut the door behind them. “Nobody will enter this room again until the burial ceremony,” she said.

  “Do you want me to magically seal the door, just to make sure?”

  Luka shook her head. “There’s no need. Drake will let everyone know.”

  “Can I ask you a question?” he asked her. Luka nodded. “Why are Fain’s slaves still alive? Shouldn’t they have died when she did? Or was that a lie as well?”

  “No. Usually that is the case, but Moda took dual control of them. It meant she could make them do anything she wanted, without Fain’s permission. It also meant they stayed alive when Fain died.”

  Kwin nodded. “You look exhausted,” he said gently. “Do you want me to take care of your visitor for you?”

  Luka shook her head. “No. Go and see to the latest recruits to my household. After all, you do control them now.”

  Kwin winced. Being in control of someone like that obviously made him feel uncomfortable. Then his face softened again. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “For not fighting against me. For letting me deal with your mother.”

  “It was the right thing to do. But this doesn’t change anything. What I said this morning still stands.”

  “I know,” he said. “But I will change your mind.”

  Luka couldn’t take her eyes off him as he went to find where Drake had taken Fain’s slaves. Once he was out of sight, she took a deep breath. She had a visitor to see.

  She opened the door to the lounge and stepped back in surprise when she saw who was inside.

  “Jona? What are you doing here?”

  Chapter 32

  Jona jumped up from the sofa and rushed over to her. “You have to go to your mother’s estate,” he said. “You have to collect Fain’s body. You can’t leave it with that woman, you just can’t.”

  “Sit down,” Luka said and sat down beside him when he obeyed her. “I already have. That’s why I wasn’t here when you arrived. I was too late though. Moda had already taken her hair by the time I arrived.” She purposely used her name; she couldn’t bear to admit to their blood relationship any longer.

  “No she hadn’t,” Jona said and took a brown paper package from his jacket pocket. He handed it to Luka, who gasped when she opened it. Inside was her sister’s hair.

  “Why?” she asked, her voice trembling with emotion.

  “Because I trust you to bury Fain properly. She meant a lot to me.”

  “Thank you. I’ll be back in a moment.”

  Luka found her legs were trembling when she stood up. She went to the room her sister was in and placed the bundle of hair beside her.

  “A present from Jona,” she whispered as she stroked Fain’s cheek. “He finally did something right.”

  When she returned to Jona she was more composed. “Will you come back for the funeral?”

  “Can I stay here until it’s over?” Jona asked. His eyes were pleading with her.

  Luka nodded. It was the least she could do.

  The conversation was interrupted by a knock at the door and Drake entered. “Koal says that food will be ready soon and wants to know if your guest will be staying.”

  “I’m not hungry,” Luka said absently. Her mind was on other things.

  “I found the uneaten sandwiches in the carriage,” Drake said. It was a reprimand. He was not happy that she hadn’t eaten.

  “Jona will be joining us for lunch,” Luka said meekly. Then she looked at the time piece in the corner of the room. It was later in the day than she had thought. “Or whatever you want to call it. And he will also be staying here for a few days so please have a room made up for him.”

  Drake did not look pleased, but bowed and left the room without voicing his opinion.

  “I presume you are hungry,” Luka said to Jona.

  “Starving. I haven’t eaten since the evening meal last night. I couldn’t face food this morning. I just wanted to get out of the house as soon as possible.”

  “When will you return?”

  “I won’t. I’ve left Moda for good.”

  Luka took Jona to the dining room. They continued to talk while they waited for food to be served. Jona explained how Moda had caught Fain in his bed. He and Fain had been secretly seeing each other for a while and he was seriously considering leaving Moda for her. It was one of the reasons he purchased a sex slave. If Moda thought he was getting regular sex from his slave, she wouldn’t be suspicious that he was sleeping with anyone else.

  “If that’s true, why did you want me to take you back last time we met?”

  Jona winced. “This isn’t going to sound good, but at the time, while I thought Fain and I would have been happy together, I would still have left her for you.”

  Luka quickly changed the subject. “So you weren’t sleeping with Henna?”

  “Of course I was. Just not as often as Moda believed. I had to. I couldn’t risk her letting any of the other slaves know if I didn’t in case it got back to Moda. Speaking of Henna, how is she?”

  “Settling in well. She and Kail are sharing a room.”

  “Really,” Jona said, his eyebrows raised. “I didn’t see that coming.”

  “Then you should open your eyes more.”

  Luka felt more comfortable being with Jona than she had been expecting. She had gotten over his betrayal a long time ago, but an underlying distrust had still lingered. Now it was gone. Maybe time had healed all of her emotional wounds, or maybe it was their shared grief that did it. Whatever the reason, she was glad that he was there.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  “What do you mean Jona is staying for a few days?” Kwin exclaimed when Drake gave him the news. The last thing Luka needed was to have him hanging around.

  Drake shrugged. “Luka seems to have no problem with it.”

  “Well I do.”

  Kwin stood up, but Drake grabbed his arm. “Leave her be. He might be what she needs right now.”

  Kwin grunted. “If he hurts her, I’ll kill him.”

  “You’ll have to join the line.”

  Kwin stood up once more. “Where are you going?” Koal asked. “Food will be ready soon.”

  “I’m going to see Kail. He needs to warn Henna. I don’t want her being upset if she sees Jona.”

  “She’s tougher than she looks.”

  “That�
��s not the point.”

  “No,” Koal murmured as Kwin walked away. “It’s not.”

  Kwin found Kail in the forge, fixing a broken pot. He watched the man work for a while. He had always found watching a blacksmith strangely calming.

  “You’ve heard that Jona is here,” he said once Kail had finished what he was doing. Kail nodded. “He’ll be staying for a few days.”

  “Thanks for the warning,” Kail said. The way he was brandishing the newly mended pot made Kwin a little nervous.

  “You had better let Henna know. Please also let her know that she is safe. I won’t let anything happen to her. If Jona steps one foot out of line, I will make him suffer.”

  “Thanks but I can take care of Henna.”

  Kwin followed Kail’s gaze to a set of kitchen knives on the far wall. He was making them for Koal and would hand them over to the chef once the collection was complete.

  “Do I need to remove all sharp objects from the vicinity?” Kwin asked, a touch of amusement in his voice.

  “No point. Not when I can easily make more.”

  Kwin smiled and slapped Kail on the back in a friendly gesture. “You just take care of Henna,” he said. “And leave Jona to me. If anything happens to him, Luka might be pissed and I would rather she was pissed at me than you.”

  Kail nodded his head, but Kwin had no doubt that he would attack Jona if he so much as looked at Henna in a way he didn’t like.

  Kwin left him alone and returned to the house. He was about to enter the dining room when he heard voices inside and he decided to listen in. Luka and Jona were talking like two old friends, which, he supposed, they were. Sort of. He could wait to have his conversation with Jona. He would rather Luka wasn’t around when he did it anyway. And maybe Drake was right; maybe Jona was who Luka needed for the moment.

  He headed to the kitchen, where Koal was just serving up stew to some of the servants. Drake was one of them.

  “What’s the big deal about Fain’s hair being cut off?” he asked as he took a seat at the table, nodding his thanks to Koal when he handed him a steaming bowl.

  “It’s part of the traditional burial ceremony here,” Drake said. “The funeral can’t be held until five days after death. The body has to lay in a room filled with burning scented candles with flowers just outside. Don’t ask me why, I have no idea. During the ceremony, the hair is burned and the ashes used to make a paste, which is then applied to the dead person’s face. It makes no sense to me, but that’s the tradition.”

  “Sounds stupid,” Kwin said. In Tippet, the dead were simply wrapped in cloth and buried in the ground. He had buried many a fellow soldier. The bodies of the enemy were simply left for wild animals to eat.

  “You should ask Luka if you want to know more,” Drake said.

  “Something tells me now is not the right time,” Kwin said and took a mouthful of the stew. “This is really good,” he told Koal.

  “Flattery won’t get you another bowl full,” the large man said and chuckled. “Volunteering to wash up will though.”

  “My hands are all yours,” Kwin said and took another mouthful.

  Once the meal was over, and washing up duties were finished, Kwin went in search of Jona. He found him alone in the room that had been assigned to him, reading a book while lying on the bed.

  “I just have one thing to say,” Kwin said when he was given permission to enter. “Well two actually. Firstly, stay away from Henna. If you so much as speak to her, I will remove your tongue.”

  “You have my word that I will not bother Henna in any way. Believe it or not, I was glad when Luka took her away. She deserves better than being owned by me.”

  “Well at least we agree on one thing.”

  “And secondly?” Jona asked. If he was afraid of Kwin, he wasn’t showing it.

  “Secondly, I have no idea what your intentions toward Luka are, but if you hurt her in any way, I will dismember you. And you will still be alive when I do.”

  It was a threat Kwin had no intention of carrying out. He would make Jona pay if he did anything that upset Luka, but he wouldn’t go that far; he just wasn’t that sort of man.

  Jona paled but nodded his head. “I believe you,” he said. “I have no intention of hurting her. I am here for the funeral, nothing more.”

  Kwin smiled at him. It was not a friendly smile. “In that case I hope you enjoy your stay here.”

  Jona breathed a sigh of relief when Kwin left the room.

  ————————————-∞————————————-

  Time passed slowly for Luka. While she enjoyed Jona’s company, she missed Kwin. It was her fault he was staying away from her, as she had ordered him to, but not seeing him was worse than seeing him.

  Jona had told her about Kwin’s threat and it gave her a warm feeling inside. She didn’t believe Kwin would actually carry it out, but was pleased when Jona assured her he would not give Kwin a reason to.

  Luka had also been spending time with Nonah, her sister’s pleasure slave. She now understood enough of his language for them to communicate, though she had no idea what some of the things he said meant. She did not misinterpret his meaning when he offered his services to her and he looked almost disappointed when she turned him down, explaining that Kwin was her pleasure slave and she had no need of anyone else.

  Kwin was still staying in his room in her suite so nobody knew they were not sharing a bed. Except for Canis, who started off sleeping on Luka’s bed each night, but whenever she woke up in the middle of the night, he was no longer there, having gone to Kwin’s room.

  Luka and Nonah talked a lot about Fain. Nonah had liked her; sharing her bed had never been a chore. Moda was a different matter and he was grateful to Luka for having saved him from her. He did, however, want to know what his future held, seeing as Luka had no use for him. He was yet to be told the truth about Luka’s ‘slaves’; Kwin and Drake would decide when the time was right. She assured him that she would find other work for him to do, but he wasn’t satisfied with that answer.

  The next day, he told her he had spoken with Kwin. Luka had no idea what he had said, but he had eased Nonah’s fears.

  The day of the funeral arrived and Luka set about preparing the body. The funeral could not happen until exactly five days after death, so it would happen at night. There was an area not far from the house that had been set aside for her father’s funeral and she decided to hold Fain’s in the same place. Drake set the men to work, surrounding it with torches, which would be lit at the right time.

  It fell to Luka to prepare Fain’s body. Both Henna and Shelby offered to help her, but this was something that she had to do alone. Tradition dictated that only blood relatives could perform the necessary ritual.

  First she washed Fain’s body with scented water, then she dressed her. She hadn’t thought to bring any of Fain’s clothes with her, so Luka chose one of her own dresses, one that Fain had often said she liked. Then she placed Fain’s hair in a large wooden bowl and used a candle to set light to it.

  Once the flames had died, Luka poured a little of the scented water into the bowl, then dipped in her fingers. She traced the correct symbol on her sister’s forehead with the water and ash mixture, then did the same to her cheeks.

  Once she had completed her work, she took the bowl down to the pyre, which Drake had arranged to be built, and placed it inside.

  It was time for Fain’s body to be carried to her final resting place. She considered asking Kwin to do it, but decided Jona was the better choice. He was, after all, more or less family.

  “Thank you,” Jona said when she requested his help. “I was not certain you would let me take part.”

  Luka smiled at him. “I know you cared for her.”

  “I loved her.” Luka stared at him in surprise. “But I wasn’t in love with her,” he added. “Not like I was with you.”

  “Jona−,” Luka started to say, but he interrupted her.

 
“I meant nothing by what I just said,” he said. “It was merely a statement of fact. I’m not asking us to try again. I know that can never happen.”

  Luka accepted that he was telling the truth and let the matter drop.

  While Jona gently picked up Fain’s body and carried her from the room, Luka blew out the candles and collected the flowers; they, too, would be burned.

  Jona carried Fain down the stairs and out of the house. He placed her on the pyre and Luka sprinkled the flowers over her. Then she stepped back, allowing Jona some privacy as he spoke his last farewells.

  The torches had been lit, their flames casting enough light for the two mourners to see what they were doing. Nobody else was present. Only family members were allowed to attend funerals in Wayvern so Drake had made sure all of the servants were inside the house, even Kwin.

  When Jona stepped back, tears were streaming down his face. Then it was Luka’s turn. She told her sister how much she was going to miss her and that she would always be in her heart. She promised to take good care of her slaves for her and would light a candle for her each year on her birthday. She raised Fain’s cold, dead hand to her lips and kissed it on the palm before placing her arm back across her body.

  Having said all she needed to, she stepped back. It was time for the last part of the ceremony. She took one of the torches and used it to set fire to the pyre.

  As the flames began to take hold, she knelt on the ground and held her arms out, palms facing the sky. Jona knelt next to her and assumed the same position.

  Luka then spoke the words that were known as the ‘rites of passage’. She spoke them loudly and strongly, despite the tears flowing down her face. They were words to guide her sister’s soul out of her body and into the heavens. As she orated the last line, she raised her head up and looked at the stars.

  “Goodbye Fain,” she said. “May we meet again one day.” Then she dropped her head to her chest and crossed her arms across her body, the same as Fain’s were. Jona did the same.