Clara leaned back until her head rested on the back of the basin, the copper warm and alive, conducting and keeping the heat of the water easily. She spoke to the ceiling, “How long have I been unconscious?”
“Only but a few hours this go,” Olive said. Then added, “The men ask of you.”
“Which?” Clara asked, rolling her head to the side to look at Olive.
She blushed and responded, “Matthew and Bracus, of course. But there is a new one of the Band...Edwin. They hold another prisoner...” she trailed off.
Clara gripped the rim of the tub and lurched unsteadily to her knees, her vision streaming and distorted. She drew a deep breath. “Who do they detain?”
Olive shrugged. “It is one of the fragment. It matters not,” she said in a dismissive tone.
Clara stood, the water dripping from her body, the soap clinging to her, rivulets of water cascading back into the tub. “It does matter,” she said, her voice fierce. “If it be Daniel of the fragment, it is because of him and only him that I remained unharmed during my time with them. I must see him! I must make testimony of his worth. He is not as the others. And mayhap there is something else as well...”
“My queen,” Olive hesitated then put her palm on Clara's back. “Finish your bath, eat some food,” her eyes raked over Clara's form, noting the collarbone which threatened to escape her skin, every rib in stark relief. “You grow too slender, even for you.”
Clara allowed herself to sink back into the tub. Inside the turmoil boiled. She must find Daniel and make sure he was safe. She must find out what he and Matthew's connection was.
She must attend to the dead.
Her people would be properly buried, her lower lip trembling.
*
Clara had been almost rude suffering through the ministrations of Olive. The brushing of the hair, endless. The dressing, interminable. Finally, when she could bear no more, she fled. She realized she did not look royal, that her crown and pearl vestiges were not in place, she cared not. She swiftly made her way out of her chamber and down the hall toward the great Gathering Room.
When she entered, all conversation stopped and her face effused with heat, the attention causing her to blush.
“Queen Clara,” Bracus said formally and she flew into his arms as if they were alone and not surrounded by half the kingdom.
He smiled down at her with affection that was untainted with heat. He had found his mate in her mother and she was happy for him. Yet she cared for him deeply and was most glad to see him. There were gasps from the onlookers and murmurings but Clara did not care. She searched the faces that were near to her and saw Rowenna, Matthew and Edwin. They made their way to her side, each of the men taking a hand and Bracus released her, sliding his arm around Rowenna's waist.
Matthew physically checked her body for harm until she told him to stop. “I am fine, Matthew, do not fret.”
Edwin smiled, thinking himself having much restraint as to not paw her in public.
Clara smiled as she watched Edwin's expression. He did not know Matthew as she. He simply did not care who was about. When something lay on his heart, he was one to show it and did not embrace words readily.
Rowenna smiled and said, “I am so happy to see Raymond's home that he spoke of and to be with you, my daughter.”
Clara turned in the circle of arms which held her, her skirts twirling around her ankles. “How do my people fare?” she directed at Bracus.
His smile faded. “We have but half who remain, Clara.”
Clara staggered backward. “The fragment killed half of all who reside in the sphere?”
She grew dizzy and Matthew and Edwin held her up. Half?
Half.
She had not gotten to them in time. She must have made some sound for it was Charles who took her into his arms as she lay limply in his embrace. She had been shuffled from one man to the next and could not come to terms with the news. When would she ever?
“Clara,” Charles whispered into her hair, “I am so sorry.”
She pulled away, her eyes glossing with tears. “Who?”
His eyes met Bracus', then Matthew's, returning to hers. “Half our males, Clara. The fragment focused their killing on the males.”
“Our females and...children,” Clara gulped, barely able to form the question.
Charles shook his head. “Some are battered, but alive.”
Clara wobbled over to the nearest chair, taking a seat not on the dais and throne, her rightful position, but whatever was near and sturdy.
She looked up at the Band. “What of Daniel?”
Matthew looked away then back at her. “He is to be executed for what has transpired here.”
“No!” Clara roared, startling those around her. “I will not allow it!”
Edwin and Bracus looked confused but it was Matthew she turned to with an accusing stare. “He is more than fragment and you know this!”
Bracus looked at Matthew. “What say you?”
Matthew looked uncomfortable but answered, “I felt kinship recognition, Captain.”
Bracus moved forward. “What?”
“He is my...kin.”
“How is this possible?” Edwin asked and Rowenna frowned.
“He is fragment,” she scoffed.
Matthew looked at everyone and slowly shook his head. “No, he is Band. Somehow, we are kin.”
Clarence came forward. “I do not give a fig what he is. He partook in the murder of the subjects of the Kingdom of Ohio and as such he must pay for his crimes.” Charles nodded in agreement and Clara scowled at him.
Maddoc came between the men. “How is it that he rides with the fragment and battles at their side and now you say he is Band?” A blond head peeked out from underneath his arm and that was the first that Clara got a good look at Evelyn's face and her breath stuck in her throat. She had been woefully abused.
Before she could inquire, Matthew explained, “My mother and I were taken when I was but a wee boy,” he made a show of how tall he was and Clara thought maybe just two years. “I was raised by the fragment until Bracus and his father came upon me after I attempted to escape when I was but ten and two years.”
Distrust creeped into the expressions of everyone from the Band of Cape Cod. Bracus held up a hand. “Matthew is beyond reproach. But it was never learned what became of his mother,” he said meaningfully. “We assumed she had met a final end that was possibly unpleasant.” He gave a sympathetic look at Matthew whose stony face showed nothing.
“It may be that Daniel is somehow mixed up in a future we were unaware of. As it be, we know very little about him.”
Clara stood. “He may be one of the Band. Having lived amongst the fragment his whole life, thinking he was other than he was as we stand about here in conjecture. Let us go!”
The Band and Clara all but ran to the only cell in the sphere.
To Daniel.
To answers.
CHAPTER 32
Daniel had been beaten rather soundly and lay on the cot that was attached by knotted brass chains fastened to scaffolding that hung just inside the sphere wall. His lips were chapped and the hide of his knuckles shredded from beating his assailants. It'd taken three of the Band to subdue him and he'd gotten plenty of hits in before he could no longer stand, even now they may wear the evidence of his fists.
He looked about his strange environment with curiosity. The fragment had always seen the view of the sphere from the outside. It appeared as a great, milky globe which lay upon the ground in opaque form. But now that he was inside of it, his senses were struck with how homelike it was, a cocoon. He knew the walls to be impenetrable but they looked fragile, like soft clouds come to earth.
He folded an elbow behind his head as a pillow, wincing as the skin of his hand rubbed against a woolen blanket.
Far off in the distance he heard many footsteps approaching. He leaped to his feet, his hands moving in front of his body in a fighter's stance.
&
nbsp; The first face he saw was Clara's and he straightened, dropping his hands.
*
Clara rounded the corner and caught sight of Daniel's face.
His swollen and battered face. She knew the look of fists upon flesh and understood immediately he had been beaten. One eye was swollen shut, a cut prominently displayed on his nose and his knuckles as he dropped his hands were a bloody disaster.
She tore the key ring down from its hook opposite the cell door and in one smooth motion she turned it and flung open the door.
They stared at each other for a pregnant pause then she flew to Daniel, throwing her arms around him. “I will not let them kill you,” she said against his shirt.
*
Daniel felt Clara crash into him and fierce protection roared up from his belly and ignited his keen senses just as the Band pushed their way through the door.
His senses alive, he pulled Clara behind him and crouched in front of her protectively. His wounds dimming in the face of potential danger to her.
Bracus laughed and Daniel's eyes bored into his, never shifting.
“Definitely Band,” Edwin said, shaking his head in wonder. “How did we not see it before administering our affection upon him?”
Clara came from behind Daniel and asked, “As I lay unconscious you beat him? You beat him!” and she ran for Edwin, reaching him and slamming his chest with her small fists. “You do not decide who shall be punished.”
Edwin made no move to defend himself against her. Matthew grabbed her wrists. “Clara...he did not know. He had sport with who he thought was fragment. We did not know,” he shook her slightly and she met his gaze. “We did not know,” he repeated, his stare going to Daniel's
“Don't hurt her, or I'll bash your brains into my bed and sleep on your blood,” Daniel said as he moved to take Clara from Matthew.
“Definitely Band,” Maddoc said with a chuckle.
Matthew looked at Maddoc and he shrugged.
Matthew sighed. “We are not here to harm, but for answers.”
Daniel straightened then looked at Edwin. “Fine, but I don't have to answer to him,” he said pointing at Edwin.
Matthew released Clara and his hands lingered on her upper arms. She huffed out of the cell and motioned for all to follow her, Rowenna moving to her side.
“There seems to be much of the story we do not know,” she gave Clara a sidelong glance.
“ 'Tis true,” Clara said. “But soon we will make the most of the truth. As there seems to be much riding upon it.”
Clara left the area where the cell lay and went directly to Queen Ada's chamber, untouched for a year. It was there that she would make a queen's decisions, eradicating the ghost of her false mother forever.
****
Clara looked at the assembled, Matthew and Daniel each looking at the other with curiosity.
Finally, Clara turned to Bracus. “What do you know of this 'recognition of kin'?”
Bracus rolled his shoulders back, inhaling deeply. “It is but legend, really. It is something all the Band was taught. That savage blood calls to like blood. Those that are Band know other Band. Those that are blood-tied, feel it as fire in their chests.” He laid his palm over his heart in illustration.
Matthew spoke for the first time. “We are kin. I understand that.”
Daniel gave a reluctant nod and Matthew continued, “But how is that possible? I have not seen my mother since I was a small boy. I do not remember her,” he finished softly.
Daniel looked at him sharply. “I do not wish to be the bearer of ill news,” he said, walking to where Matthew stood.
It was at that moment that Clara saw the resemblance of the two so sharply, one with gills, one without, the same height, the breadth of shoulder, the intensity of expression. Only the eyes were different.
Matthew stood in icy silence, his stare never wavering and Clara walked to him, placing a palm on his back.
“She was passed along the fragment that she was traded to. My fragment. When she came to be with child, she had me. Then...”
He looked into Matthew's eyes. “She took her own life.”
Matthew's eyes became red, the vein in his forehead throbbing and his fists clenched. “My mother was your mother?” Are you certain?”
“I am now.”
“How do you know?” Matthew pressed.
“Because it was told to me that a female of the Band was taken with a small son who was a pureblood. The son remained in the fragment which captured him, but the mother was traded to the fragment I was a part of.”
“Who was your sire?” Clara asked.
He looked at her, his face devoid of emotion. “I don't know.”
“How was it that you were not in danger? They beat and starved me, treated me as a burden. How was it you were able to fare as one of them?” Matthew asked, rage the only expression he wore.
“My wet nurse told me when I was old enough. I didn't have throat slits. And neither did she. It was presumed that she was clan only.” He shrugged. “I am sorry. I never knew our mother. She was but a ghost of the past. Someone that was abused and I was a product of that abuse. But my wet nurse, she loved me. She told me what she knew so that I would know what I am.”
“What are you?” Maddoc asked and Clara saw Rowenna lean slightly forward to hear it all.
“I am like your queen, a half-breed.”
Silence filled Ada's chamber, the thick dust that lay over her possessions unmoving with the stillness of their bodies.
Charles broke the silence, “He killed our people, Clara. He must die. He is not the Band that you are allied with. He is part of the fragment. The people that rape and beat women, kill everyone, take all that is not theirs. He must be punished. And,” Charles paused for affect, “he knew what he was and said nothing.”
Daniel turned sharply to Charles. “I did what I had to do to survive, fool. I had all around me that were not of my blood. I was determined to kill Tucker, then make peaceable relations with the sphere. But it was just me, nobody else.”
“You talk as the fragment, the horrible dialect which hurts the ears. You fight like the fragment,” Edwin said.
Daniel narrowed his eyes. “I wouldn't fight fair when it is three to one in any event.” His eyes took in Edwin's, he didn't see the other two of the Band that had laid the abuse on his face. Edwin's face was lacerated and painful, but like all the Band, he was healing. Daniel healed more slowly but was known amongst the fragment for being the most resilient. They certainly know why now.
Evelyn came forward and Daniel saw her face as Maddoc reached for her. She turned and shook her head. “He will not hurt me.” He dropped his hand reluctantly and watched her as a lion watches a gazelle.
She approached Daniel. As she drew near, she reached out and squeezed Clara's forearm, smiling around the wounds on her face and Clara stifled a sob.
She remembered what it was to have her face look like that.
Evelyn looked up into Daniel's face. “I believe you. I remember exactly how you tried to protect the women. You reminded me of Band even then. He does not deserve death, Charles.”
Charles was disgusted and strode to Clara, tearing her away from Matthew, circling her upper arms with hard hands. He shook her slightly. “Do not give him fidelity. You cannot save everyone. Do you not see this? He does not deserve your sufferance and protection.”
Charles felt a hand on the base of his neck as it bit into his flesh. “I don't know what place you hold here in Clara's kingdom, but if you do not release her I will break your hands off and beat you with them,” Daniel said with quiet menace.
Matthew's met his gaze and smiled. He had been thinking much the same.
Charles disengaged his hold on Clara and shook off Daniel's hand. Turning back to Clara. But she saved him the trouble of speech.
“He does deserve my protection. He gave me his with great risk to himself. Protection is a sacred gift. I would know, Charles. I was without it fo
r years. I do not take the gift of protection lightly.” She crossed her arms and too late realized her careless words.
Charles face hardened before her eyes. “So soon, with your precious Band around you, you forget the protection I afforded you in those dire times.”
Clara opened her mouth to apologize. Of course Charles had been there but neither of them had been able to prevent Queen Ada and her tyrant's fists. And those of Prince Frederic alongside. She stood uncertainly before him.
He interrupted her before she could continue, “Why do you think he wishes to protect you Clara? Has that entered your head? Think upon it. Could it be what all males wish? He is fragment, it is all they think of. He does not think of your soul, Clara. He thinks only of what lay underneath your garments,” he said the last with sarcastic finality.
It left Clara speechless as if he had slapped her. In a way, he had. Even if it was the truest thing in the sphere, to say it out loud, with such lack of compassion told her where they now stood with each other.
Clara's heart was breaking but she stood strong. She felt Matthew's solid hand flatten against the small of her back where it cupped the side of her waist.
Charles saw the movement and smirked, as if affirming Matthew's intent.
Clara was instantly incensed. “I think it is time that we serve differently within the sphere, Charles. We will never agree with regard to the alliance. If you continue to see them as enemies whilst they seek mates, friendships and camaraderie... I cannot have that as an obstacle while I rule.”
He moved forward, his fists clenched and Clara automatically took a step backward into Matthew. His face showed the shock. “I would never hurt you.”
Clara's head dipped to her chest. “You already have,” she whispered.
Clarence came to stand beside Charles. “Let us go. This has been an emotional and violent ordeal. There are many things Queen Clara needs to decide and advocate. Let us give her that respite.”
The Savage Blood (Savage Series, Book 2) Page 23