Bound to the Commander

by Libby Campbell

  She studied the display screens on the dashboard that showed what was happening outside the ride. Two white paramilitary vehicles trailed behind them. Far below, the bright forest canopy quickly swallowed the road into Rosemoor.

  “Your records show you’ve been to Rosewyld once. As a child,” Quinn said, glancing at her.

  “Yes.” Pepper breathed in the smell of her leather seat, trying to figure out exactly what made it so comfortable. It molded to her body, supporting and pampering her all at once.

  “Yes?”

  “Yes, sir,” she muttered.

  He clicked his tongue. “One thing I’ve learned already, your records are correct. You do not have a great respect for authority.”

  Pepper had no answer to that, so she gazed down at the endless seams of gold and red that wove through the forest. She tried to imagine what Rosewyld was really like. When she’d been there as a fourteen-year-old, she hadn’t seen much of the city. It had taken a couple of days to get there and her attention had been focused on seeing the lighthouse.

  That year the Thornbacks had shared the winning ballot for a holiday at the Elsinania Lighthouse, along with three other families. A lighthouse getaway was one of the highest prizes awarded to ordinary citizens. There were two cottages on the island, each divided into separate sleeping and bathing quarters, one family each side, with a communal kitchen and dining-living room for shared meals and entertainment.

  Memories of the long bus trip, filled with singing and storytelling, filled Pepper’s head. They’d reached Rosewyld early in the morning and the bus had taken them along the edges of town, through the industrial areas only.

  From the dock on the harbor, it had been a short boat ride to the prettiest place Pepper had ever seen. The lighthouse and cottages sat on a flat island that was ringed by coral reefs. The reefs that protected the island were deadly for ships, but they created a safe bay for swimming. The vast sea had filled Pepper with simultaneous awe and dread, so she didn’t venture into the water above her knees.

  Memories of that holiday were a blur of endless days making castles in the golden sand with the other children while creating imaginary countries where good and evil fought for possession of a large silver rock they’d found. Their lunch sandwiches, made with fat white bread and thin slices of cucumber, always had the grit of sand.

  “Did you hear me?” Quinn’s tone was sharp.

  “Sorry, I was remembering Rosewyld.” More significantly, Pepper was trying to not think about the time, only three years ago, when her parents had won a special ‘renew your vows’ couples weekend at Elsinania Lighthouse. They’d gone swimming in the bay mere minutes before a rogue wave hit the island. Their bodies were found, bloated by the sea and disfigured by scavengers, a week later. Their coffins, nailed shut, arrived in Rosemoor a few days later. Pepper never laid eyes on either of them again.

  “I commented on your reputation for defying authority, Sister.”

  “Sorry, sir.” Pepper’s ample chest rose and fell as she prepared to say more. “I did have a bit of a temper when I was young. I also had a sense of justice that favored the individual over the good of the community.”

  “Would you care to elaborate?”

  “The boys seemed to have it easier than the girls and it made me kind of crazy sometimes.” She pressed her lips into a tight line before speaking again. “There was one boy in our sector, Russell, who said girls were only good for one thing and most of them weren’t much good for that. I didn’t even know what he was talking about, but it made me mad.”

  “Was he the boy you pushed into a drainage ditch?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And poured a jar of honey over his head at the farmers’ market?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “What were the consequences of your actions?”

  “The first time I had to stay behind after school and clean classrooms with the janitor for a month. I had to do all the toilets by myself.” Pepper shuddered. “The second time the sector captain let my parents set the punishment.” She smiled. “My father told me that he thought Russell was a smart aleck and was glad someone pushed back.”

  The memory of her father’s loving support warmed her at the same time the pain of his death cut her to the quick. She shouldn’t even be talking about her father. He was dead. Speaking of him or her mother, more than once a year on the anniversary of their passing, was forbidden by the Handbook.

  “The records say that you were given the switch.”

  Pepper squirmed uncomfortably in her seat, mostly from the embarrassment of the topic of the switch. “That was what my father reported to the captain. Papa said he didn’t believe in corporal punishment for children and what went on in our house would be our secret.”

  She wasn’t going to tell Quinn that her father often said the government tried to make too many decisions for citizens. Sometimes the right thing to do might not be what was described in the Handbook. In the privacy of their own home, Papa said, they could make their own rules.

  She pictured the text in the Handbook that decreed that the dead should only be remembered or mentioned one day a year. In between times, those who were gone should be forgotten, left in their eternal peace.

  But she was with the commander and wanted him to know that her father was a man of conviction. Papa had been an independent thinker in a nation where people followed the handbook with docile acceptance.

  Quinn hadn’t blinked at the mention of her late father. He was more interested in how she’d been punished as a child. “So you weren’t punished at all for the second offense?”

  “No, sir.” She’d never told anyone of her father’s duplicity before, but it didn’t matter now. It was Quinn’s word against hers and she suspected no one would want to defile her late father’s reputation as an outstanding inventor. He was the one who adapted the technology they used to heat and power their cities, also to fuel their hover vehicles and railroads.

  “So you know, Sister Pepper,” Quinn said. “I am a firm believer in corporal punishment for misbehaving ladies, young and old. If you defy me, lie to me, do something I expect you to know better than, you will be over my knee for a sound spanking.”

  Flames of shame at the tangled, wet, and delicious sensation he triggered in her burned up Pepper’s neck.

  When she’d first seen Quinn standing by Lily’s house, she tried not to be too shaken by who he was. The commander had a reputation for showing up anywhere, anytime, without notice. The viewing screens often reported his random visits to different communities, showing him as an everyday kind of a guy.

  One time, he’d arrived at a valley farm to help with the hops harvest. The footage showed him working as part of the field crew, cutting and setting the crops out to dry. Other times he’d added his confident baritone to the voices in the singing houses. He’d visited newly joined couples as they moved into their married quarters and presented them with generous gifts.

  The images flooded her mind so she closed her eyes and rested her head back, pretending to be absorbed by the quiet symphony playing on the sound system. She didn’t open them again until she sensed they had begun their descent. She looked down and saw a rest area, the first expanse of buildings and parking lots that she’d seen since they left Rosemoor.

  * * *

  Quinn had noticed the way Pepper had blushed the first time he’d mentioned the switch. Her embarrassment and carnal curiosity about corporal punishment was as clear as day.

  She was a fine filly, waiting for someone to train her to rein and bit. She needed settling, this one did. Already she was reputed to be a great healer, like her mother had been, but she had her father’s legendary temper and fierce independence. Those details in her records were proving as true as they were challenging.

  They didn’t answer the question of why Daedra wanted Pepper hauled off to a detention center, but Quinn was patient. He’d get the answers he wanted soon enough.

  As he guided the ride aro
und the perimeter of the park, he decided to test Pepper soon, to see how much he could trust her in the capital city, if at all. He’d give her a bit of freedom and then call her to heel. If she obeyed, they could build on that. If she failed, then he would train her to heed him.

  Complicating everything was his disturbing attraction to her. He’d had plenty of women in his life. He’d loved a lot as a young man, winning many hearts and having his own broken on occasion. Love was part of life, like work, rest, and play, but there had never been that instant spark that people raved about at their joining ceremonies.

  No one had ever sparked a visceral reaction in him like Pepper. Something in the way she moved drew Quinn to her, as though he was powerless to resist her magnetic force field.

  Even in her voluminous midi-dress, he could see the generous curve of her breasts. While seated, the outline of her well-defined thighs was clear. She was reputed to be a good athlete, who loved running. She was a top soccer player and a good skier, even while encumbered by the modesty clothing dictated by the Handbook. Her white porcelain skin would rest beautifully against his own blue tones.

  She shifted slightly in her seat and her dress stretched across her thighs. Quinn’s mouth dried as he imagined sliding his hand under the cotton folds and reaching the soft cleft that was the doorway to heaven. He wanted to stroke her pearl until she crumbled in ecstasy.

  Instead, he said nothing as he eased the ride into a parking spot that was marked Reserved for Official Capital Use. Grade One Citizens Only.

  Pepper didn’t move and Quinn knew she was waiting for him to tell her what to do next.

  He pointed to the clock on the dash. “We have no time to lose but regular rest intervals will keep us sharper and fresher. You may use the facilities. They are clean and well attended. Then we will go for a walk before lunch.”

  “I’m not really hungry,” she said. Her tone was sad, not defiant.

  “I didn’t ask if you were. We all travel on our stomachs. At times of great stress, the first inclination may be to stop eating. You will not give into this self-indulgence. I’m here to make sure of that. You will stay strong and healthy so you can help others with your gift.”

  Her mouth tightened into a sour frown.

  “There’s a face I don’t want to see from you again today,” Quinn said, accepting the challenge she was making by not shielding her displeasure. “If I do see it, I will reward it by turning your pale white bottom crimson red.”

  Pepper swallowed audibly. “You have no right.” she said bitterly.

  “I have every right. Have you forgotten who I am already? You will be punished if I decide you have earned it. No one questions my authority and if I tell someone you’ve had the switch, I guarantee you that the difficulty you will have sitting down will prove my words.”

  Silence landed between them for a few minutes. She blushed not just at the certainty that he could and would use the switch, but also at the statement he might tell someone she’d had it.

  When she didn’t reply, he continued. “While you’re in Rosewyld, you are my ward, even if you are of adult age and status in your town. You’re not in Rosemoor any longer, young lady. I’m responsible for you now and everything you do will reflect on me. Therefore, I will expect you to be on your best behavior.”

  “Is this all because I worked on Minister Mazrant?” she asked, staring into her lap.

  For a moment, Quinn thought of telling her of the arrest warrant that sat unsigned on the Lord Treasurer’s desk. Instead he smiled as warmly as he could manage. “Apparently your treatment of her was unprecedented. She has tried healers from Rosewyld to Littington to Berlis. You’re the only one who has given her relief.” He didn’t say that Daedra had whispered all that to her lover one night, unaware of the listening devices planted in her bedroom.

  “I’m pleased to serve my country,” Pepper said. “But I would be most grateful, Commander, if you could tell me how long I will be expected to remain in the capital.” Her words were guarded and voice soft. When she was like that, docile and sweet, hiding her wildness and fast tongue, he wanted to cover her mouth with his, to touch and tease her until her true fiery, inquisitive nature burned just for him.

  He almost didn’t have the heart to say again, “For as long as it takes.”

  “As long as what takes, sir?” There was a note of defiance in her voice that made him suppress a smile. She really couldn’t hide it long.

  “As long as it takes to stabilize the symptoms of the Tribunal,” he said.

  “All forty-one members of the Tribunal?” Disbelief and clear indignation sharpened her tone.

  “Those that have the illness. And their senior staff.”

  “Don’t I have any say in this?” Her voice rose with unchecked fury.

  “What does the Handbook tell us about our duty?”

  “From each according to their ability to each according to their needs,” she muttered bitterly.

  “Your tone of voice does not reflect the attitude of a good woman as defined by the Handbook, does it?”

  “How many good women are kidnapped from their homes? There’s nothing in the fucking Handbook about that, is there?”

  Her hand was on the door handle, preparing to bolt. He clicked on the safety lock.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” he said, “until I detect a serious change in attitude.”

  Quinn glanced at the screens. His bodyguards had parked a respectful distance away. As soon as Pepper had used the facilities, he would march her into the forest while the guards stopped anyone else from following.

  Then he would cool some of Pepper’s heat.

  Chapter Six: A Different Perspective

  Pepper’s temper was out of control. She shouldn’t have sworn at Quinn but he’d provoked her. Any fool could see that. She made herself study her surroundings. The rest spot had a large treed area with picnic benches. Most of the parked vehicles were commercial trucks, old-fashioned ones that ran on wheels and lithium crystals. There was a passenger bus and one other hover-ride, stopped far away from them.

  She took a long breath. “My apologies, Brother Quinn, I’m a little upset today. So much has happened in so short a time.” She forced herself to smile, to make the smile reach her eyes in what she hoped was a contrite expression.

  “So you lost your composure?” His amethyst eyes sparkled, and the corners of his mouth twitched as if he was fighting a smile.

  The color of both his hair and skin had darkened, indicating lust. Good. He should be tormented by some of the same feelings gnawing at her. Maybe he’d feel all sweet and protective of her, the way some men were with the women they loved. Such feelings could work to her advantage.

  For now, it was clear that she amused him. She could use that.

  “I did lose my temper. All this seems so unfair. Without warning I’m taken from my hometown. I had to leave my sister behind and had only twenty minutes to adjust to these crazy changes.” She gave a small, girlish laugh. “That’s why I’m apologizing. It won’t happen again.”

  “It will. A leopard cannot change its spots. You’re a popular person in Rosemoor, as were your parents before you, which makes people more forgiving of your behavior than they should be.”

  He turned sideways in his seat and lifted her chin, so she was forced to meet his eyes. “You’ll have to be much smarter and mind me much better by the time we reach the city. City people mask their emotions out of respect and duty. It’s considered the height of bad manners to make an outburst like yours just now. In this way we live by the book more than town and village people do. Do you remember what the Handbook says about temper?”

  More times than Pepper could remember she’d had to copy out those stupid lines. “People should own their tempers like they do their most prized possessions, by hanging onto them,” she recited.

  “Good. I wanted to make sure you were aware of that rule, that you have no excuse for breaking it.” The doors unlocked with a soft cl
ick. “I believe you’ve been to this rest stop before, on a childhood trip to the lighthouse?”

  “Yes. A long time ago.”

  “It has had many improvements since you were last here. You may check them out and then meet me at the trailhead.” He pointed to one at the far end of the parking lot. “Ten minutes. Remember your sister isn’t here to make excuses for you if you’re late.”

  Pepper forced herself to walk slowly, in small steps, not wanting to seem too keen to get away from Quinn. When she entered the brand-new amenities block, she tried to keep the shock off her face as she took in the interior.

  An attendant sat at a desk in front of a row of security screens. The woman’s hair was loose, spread around her shoulders with a modesty cap perched on top. It was such a flagrant violation of the dress code, Pepper almost looked away. But she wanted information, so she forced herself not to. The woman was embroidering a baby’s onesie with tiny yellow flowers. Between passes of the needle, the woman glanced at the monitors in front of her.

  “Hello, Sister,” Pepper said.

  The woman turned, revealing a well-advanced baby bump under a loose-fitting dress that did comply with the shape set out in the Handbook. At least some rules were being followed here.

  “Congratulations.” Pepper nodded at the swollen belly.

  The woman patted it. “Thank you. My baby will be the first Kedrant baby in Torpeth since my younger brother was born almost twenty years ago. Everyone’s very excited. We hope this baby might have talents like Crown Princess Gael of Senne.”

  With her hair hidden under her cap, Pepper’s Kedrant blood wasn’t obvious but she wasn’t going to mention it. While people admired Kedrant blood in celebrities, it was often despised in ordinary citizens like her.

  “My clinic manager in Rosemoor is from Torpeth and she’s part Kedrant.”

  “My great-aunt Anna!” the woman exclaimed. “I haven’t heard from her for ages, but I guess my gran will get her annual Harvest Feast letter any day soon.”

  “Sister Pepper Thornback.” Pepper held out her hand.