Linked

by K. R. Fajardo

  “Like I was about to say,” Aziel continued, speaking to her as if nothing had happened, “you have had it entirely too easy. Why, you have been here for nearly six months and we haven’t gotten any use out of you at all.”

  “I am sorry, my lords. I am trying, I promise,” she managed to say between gasps of air. “I will be happy to do anything you want me to do.”

  Kai pulled her head back so she was forced to look up at him. “Good,” he said, smiling, “because we have decided since you have taken it on yourself to prevent her from doing her job, then you must be interested in doing it for her.”

  Suddenly Jade’s eyes shot up from the floor, and though she could not see her through the blinding tears, Maya could feel them landing on her.

  “If that is what my lords wish, then so be it,” Maya replied, doing her best to suppress the anxiety building within. “However, it seems a waste of my other skills.”

  “Your skills?” Kai snapped, releasing her hair and shoving her to the floor. “What skills do you possess that we need?”

  “I know my lords are aware I possess certain talents, isn’t that the reason you spared me in the first place?” Maya answered, slowly picking herself up off the floor. For a brief moment her eyes locked with Jade’s, but the expression on her face was nearly unreadable as she swiftly averted her gaze back to the floor.

  “Yes, but what good is a tracking talent that requires you touch someone prior to finding them,” Gaia commented while inspecting her perfectly done manicure. “Seems like a backwards way of doing things.”

  “Agreed,” Aziel seconded.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Kai grabbed her by the arm and pulled her in close. Maya cringed internally as he ran his hand through the open back of her dress, snaked it around her waist, and up to her breast. Now suddenly very grateful for Patches full torso wrapping, Maya did her best to stay calm, willing herself not to panic. “This little girl will never be of any use to us except in one way.”

  “Well she isn’t any use to me in that way either,” Gaia huffed. “I would prefer it if she could track down whoever it is that has taken a fancy to snooping around my personal chambers.”

  Kai, not paying a bit of attention to anything his partners were saying, instead focused every bit of his attention on his helpless victim. She could feel his hot breath against her neck as his soft hand continued to move roughly over her body; steadily creeping down lower and lower until it came to rest on the inside of her thigh.

  “I can,” Maya blurted. Taking a deep breath, she continued, trying to suppress the panic in her voice, “What I mean is, if you have something that belongs to the intruder, perhaps I can use it to track them.”

  “What do you think, my love?” Gaia asked, looking to her husband for guidance.

  “I don’t see the harm in trying,” Aziel answered.

  “Oh come on,” Kai groaned. “Surely you don’t believe this foolish girl’s lies? She’s only trying to save her own ass.”

  Gaia reached in her pocket and pulled out a small object. “Still, I think it is worth a shot. Now release the girl and we shall see what she can do.”

  Kai removed his hands from her body and pushed her away. “You better hope you get this right, little girl. For your sake and hers,” he snapped, nodding his head toward Jade. “After all, we don’t need both of you, do we?” Kai continued smiling wickedly, his attention now fully focused on the battered woman. “Don’t worry, doll, I am sure the men of the Black guard will find a use for you.”

  Jade remained with her gaze dropped, but began nervously wringing her hands in front of her.

  “Take this,” Gaia commanded. She held her hand out to Maya, placing a small object in her palm. Turning her hand over, Maya found it contained a shiny metal charm shaped like a heart.

  “I found that in my room the other night and it doesn’t belong to me,” she stated angrily. “And it isn’t the first time I have returned to my room to find something that doesn’t belong or something out of place. So I want you to tell me who the fool is that has the audacity to go nosing through my room while I am out.”

  Maya studied the small object in her hand. It was hard to believe such a small thing held the power to change both her and Jade’s fate in an instant. It definitely wasn’t much to work with, and the fact that she had never tried anything like this before left her feeling overwhelmed and frightened. But as she looked back over at Jade, beaten and molested, it was never more clear to her the fate that she would suffer if she failed to pull this off.

  Taking a deep breath, Maya closed her eyes and concentrated everything she had on picking up some sort of trace from the tiny object. She searched deep into her core, allowing herself to dive deeper into the light than she ever had before, desperate to find a way to make a link with the charm. Meanwhile, the Shadows watched her without a word, and after several tense moments had passed, she was finally able to extract a faint trace. The only problem was, it made no sense.

  “Well?” Gaia asked impatiently. “Can you do it or not?”

  Maya continued to clutch the charm, searching it for some sort of answer. “It doesn’t make any sense, my lady.” It was the truth. For some reason, no matter how hard she tried, the only location she could pull from the tiny object was the throne room they were standing in.

  “I told you she couldn’t do it,” Kai laughed smugly. “Now let’s be done with this foolishness.”

  Strutting over, he grabbed her, and whispered coldly into her ear, “You belong to me now.” She felt him move his hand onto her back, pressing firmly against the wrapping as he slid it the full length of her spine, up to her neck.

  In a last ditch attempt Maya sank herself as far down as she could into the calming light. Somehow she had to do this. Not just for her, but for Jade and Jarod. Please, she prayed to the stars, don’t let me fail us all.

  Suddenly the image she was searching for flashed in her mind. “Wait!” she pleaded.

  “Let her go, Kai,” Aziel reprimanded his brother, then turned to her, glaring. “You better have something for us, because there won’t be any second chances.”

  With a frustrated huff, Kai released her and stepped back sulking. Ignoring him, Maya turned her attention to the room behind her. The charm had insisted that the person she sought was inside of this room, so in those last moments, she had tried something different. Instead of a location, she attempted to pull out an image. It was something she had never tried before and she had no way of knowing if what she had seen was real, but it was all she had. Turning around, Maya walked the length of the room, scanning over the dozen guards standing post around them, before finally coming to rest on one near the door. “My lords, if I may,” she said, turning to them, “I would like to speak to this guard?”

  Aziel shrugged. “Both of you come back over here.”

  The terrified man reluctantly left his post and followed Maya back to stand before the Shadows. When he was only a few feet away, he dropped into a low bow. “My lords.”

  “Rise,” Gaia commanded. Then, addressing Maya, she asked, “What do you want him for?”

  Maya turned to the man as he rose to his feet. “I need you to remove your glove please.”

  Confused, the guard studied her intently before turning to the Shadows to see if they were going to back her request.

  “Well, go ahead,” Aziel snapped.

  Maya immediately felt a twinge of guilt when she watched the guard’s hands shake as he nervously removed the glove from his right hand. But fear of what would happen to her and Jade if she screwed this up swiftly overrode any guilt she felt and she continued to address him. “Now let me see your hand.”

  Once again he obeyed, holding his naked, shaking hand out to her. Maya took it into her own, pressing the charm between their interlocked palms, and closed her eyes. Using the charm as a catalyst, she linked with the guard, using it to search for the information she was seeking. It took only a moment before a completed image flashe
d inside her mind of the guard and a young girl meeting in Gaia’s room. The pair wrapped themselves around each other in a frenzy of passion, pulling and ripping at the other’s clothes, and in the melee of arms and hands she watched as the small charm she held in her hand broke free of the girl’s bracelet and fell to the floor unnoticed.

  “It was him,” Maya said, stepping back. “He was in your room, the charm is from the bracelet of the girl he was there with.”

  “He was in my room? With a girl!” Gaia snapped, infuriated. “What girl?”

  “Your handmaiden, my lady,” Maya answered quietly. She had seen the girl before during one of her many visits to Gaia’s chambers. A lovely young Full-blood with dark auburn hair and a pair of the lightest brown eyes she had ever seen. “If you check the bracelet she wears you will find the broken clip the charm fell from.”

  “Guards, fetch the handmaiden,” Aziel yelled at the two standing closest to the door.

  The pair took off running. As he watched them leave, the accused began to proclaim his innocence. “My lords, I don’t know what she is talking about.” He looked back and forth over their expressionless faces, pleading for his life, then turned to glare at Maya. “She is just randomly picking people in an attempt to save herself.”

  The anger on his face and venom in his voice caused Maya to gasp and step back. Unfortunately in doing so she found herself backed up against Kai and flinched as his arms once again snaked around her waist.

  “We shall see,” Gaia replied calmly, narrowing her gaze at the pleading man. “If the bracelet isn’t missing a charm, then you are both safe.”

  Minutes later the guards returned with the handmaiden in tow. She was extremely young-looking up close, and appeared younger in age than Maya looked. Blissfully ignorant to what was happening, the naïve girl strolled into the room as if she didn’t have a fear in the world. She came to a stop next to the trembling guard, not once looking at or acknowledging him in any way.

  “Do you know this man?” Aziel asked calmly.

  She turned and looked at the guard, then back to the Shadows, her disposition not once wavering. “No my lord.”

  “Are you wearing a bracelet?” Gaia asked, her expression cold.

  “Yes, my lady,” she conceded, a hint of confusion crossing her features. “It was a gift from my mother.”

  “Let us see it,” Kai barked, not happy at having another distraction to delay him from taking his prize.

  Obediently the girl held out her arm and pulled up the sleeve of her dress, revealing a thin gold bracelet with multiple charms dangling from it. All three of them studied it carefully, but it was Kai that made the revelation she was waiting for. “Did you know one was missing?”

  Surprised, the girl pulled her arm back. Maya watched as the guard suddenly appeared ill and quickly turned away. “Let me see the charm,” Gaia barked at Maya, who handed it over without comment.

  She lined the charm up with the others, looping it into the missing slot. “It matches,” Gaia snapped. “So it is true, the two of you have been having your fun in my room?”

  The handmaiden, now realizing why they had summoned her, panicked. “Of course not, my lady! The charm must have fallen off while I was straightening the room!”

  “She makes a good point.” Kai pulled Maya back against him. “She is in the room every day. How do we know it didn’t fall off then?”

  “May I?” Maya asked, holding her hand out to Gaia. Gaia handed the small charm back to her without question. Maya jerked herself free of Kai’s grasp and walked over to the young girl. The girl watching her every move, didn’t even resist when she pressed the charm into her hand and closed her eyes. Once again Maya’s mind filled with images of the young couple holding and kissing each other in Gaia’s chambers.

  “Around her neck she wears the guard’s promise of marriage, a golden band with both their initials engraved inside …” Maya hesitated, knowing what she was about to say next would clinch the fate of the young lovers.

  “Is that it?” Aziel asked, seeming to realize that she was holding something back. “Tell us everything you know or you will become our brother’s newest plaything.”

  Maya glanced up, meeting the gaze of the young girl, her eyes pleading with her to stop. I don’t have a choice, she told herself, shutting her eyes to avoid the girl’s desperate stare. I have to do this to keep us safe. With a deep breath, Maya finished, “Also, on her neck, she bears the mark of where he has recently fed off her.”

  When she opened her eyes her gaze was met by the terrified look of the girl to whom she had just sentenced to death. In a flash Gaia had pushed her to the side and ripped open the front of the girl’s dress. Just like Maya had predicted a thin chain was revealed with a gold band dangling off of it, along with the freshly made bite.

  “Why you tramp!” Gaia shouted, backhanding the girl and knocking her to the floor.

  The guard made a move to protect his lover, but was immediately caught by Aziel, “Feeding on blood behind our backs.” It wasn’t a question as much as it was him thinking out loud. The guard’s eyes widened, but before he had a chance to respond Aziel twisted his head around in one swift motion, ending his life.

  A terrible heart wrenching scream filled the room as the girl watched the body of her betrothed hit the floor. Tears streamed down her cheeks while she crawled to his side and threw herself on top of his lifeless corpse.

  “And what are we going to do with her?” Kai asked, his expression turning primal. It was clear the girl’s fate would not be as merciful as that of her lover’s.

  “She wants to be a whore, then let her be one,” Gaia snapped. “She is yours, brother, do with her what you want.”

  Kai, elated to finally have his prize, grabbed the crying girl up off the floor by her hair. “And what of Jade?”

  All of their attention turned back to her as she remained silently awaiting her fate.

  “My lady,” Maya stepped forward. She knew speaking up would put herself back into the danger she had just managed to get out of, but it didn’t matter. There was no way she would ever have been able to forgive herself if she didn’t do something to help Jade after all she had done for her and Jarod. “If I may be so bold, perhaps she can take the girl’s place as your handmaiden.”

  Gaia looked from Maya to Jade, studying each of them carefully. “She was the best handmaiden I have had over the years. And I wouldn’t have to worry about her visiting the Enforcer any more since he has replaced her.” Jade kept her eyes on the floor, while Gaia moved in close, brushing a piece of hair from her face. “So what do you say of the girl’s idea? Would you like to work for me once more or would you prefer to keep the men of the Black guard company?”

  Jade remained emotionless and as rigid as a statue, never once removing her eyes from the floor. Even her voice as she answered revealed no signs of what, if anything, she was feeling. “I would be honored to serve you, my lady.”

  “Wonderful,” Aziel said, clapping his hands together. “Everyone is happy.” He walked over to Jade, motioning for a guard. “Take her and get Patches to heal her, we can’t have her looking like that and serving my wife.” He then turned his attention to Maya. “And as for you,” he walked over and wrapped an arm over her shoulder, “you have finally proven yourself useful enough for a trip outside. Go back and tell the Enforcer that the two of you are to leave tomorrow morning to search the farming towns to the west of Lidas. We have been receiving reports of Full-bloods organizing and speaking of rebellion. It is your job to find their leaders and put an end to this foolishness before others get similar ideas.”

  “Yes, my lord,” Maya said with a bow of her head.

  “Now go,” Aziel demanded, releasing her and wrapping his arm around Gaia’s waist. “We have had enough of this business.”

  Maya curtsied and turned to the door. Walking down the long entryway, she managed a passing glance at the poor girl crying in Kai’s grasp. Overwhelming guilt weighed down
on her as she imagined what horrors this girl would be forced endure at Kai’s hands, but there was nothing she could do to help. It had come down to a choice between the girl and herself, and she chose to protect herself. Quickly she averted her attention back to the doors ahead, willing herself numb to the terrible weight pressing down on her. It wasn’t until she reached the other end and the doors closed safely behind her that she truly allowed herself to process what had just happened.

  What have I done? she thought, waving off the guard who had wished her luck when he offered to walk her back to her room. Did I really just hand two people over, to save my own skin?

  Slowly she trudged down the hall and climbed the stairs to the top floor, her mind in shock, her body moving on its own. Each step she took felt more heavy and leaden than the one before, but she pushed forward. Her one and only desire was to get back to the safety of her room and Jarod’s presence.

  As she continued to wind her way through the bustling hallways, people all around her fell silent. Servants, guards, and even high ranking government officials stepped to the side, watching and waiting until she passed. Their stares took note of her disheveled appearance and ripped open dress, but no one would dare say anything, partially out of pity but mainly out of fear. No one wanted to get involved.

  Arriving outside the door to the room she shared with Jarod, she paused, trying to straighten herself the best she could before pushing her way inside. When she entered she saw Jarod pacing back and forth across the floor near the windows like a caged animal. Looking up and seeing her, his face brightened for the briefest moment. But once his gaze fell to the ripped dress, she watched as his black eyes turned flaming red.

  Unbridled anger surged through his veins as he stormed across the room in her direction. “I’m going to kill him.” His voice was a deep growl with every inch of his massive frame tensed, ready for a fight. But Maya remained silent, her eyes locked on the floor at her feet, her mind blank, and body numb.