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“That’s me!” Clem added, sending me over the edge.
I choked on the fruit juice gushing down my throat.
“Some are submissive, but not breedable. I would say—” Throwing my fist into the sky to silence him, I sucked down the juice until I could speak and growled at them both.
“Enough! Forget I asked…” I ordered, feeling faint from the ludicrous conversation.
“What is Sun?” Clem asked Bracken, ignoring my demand.
“Sun? Well, he’s untamed. Once I’ve tamed him, I’ll be able to categorize him,” Bracken murmured with a sly grin.
I rolled my eyes as Clem hugged me from behind.
“Would you like to be tamed? I promise it’s not bad at all,” he insisted softly. “And cave life is wonderful compared to out here. Master can rebuild a library, and he has even found a natural spring. It is warm and safe, and we can be together without having to worry about anything.”
I refused to humor him anymore. Clem was crazy but this was too absurd.
“No, I have a bigger purpose than getting my ass rammed by Bracken,” I said, much too crudely. My eyes shifted above us, trying to see into the canopy.
I couldn’t see him, but just like I had in the cell and during our journey up until now, I could feel Alhadya. And he was close.
Clem clutched my robes, forcing me to look at him.
“What bigger purpose?” he asked, a crazed look in his gaze again like he was about to break down.
I held him back, thinking how I should carefully word my next sentence.
“…Your purpose is serving your master, and my purpose is serving mine, and you cannot serve two masters,” I declared.
This seemed to disturb him even more as Bracken stopped plucking fruit and growled down at me.
“W-why not? You serve your god and your emperor, right?” he pushed two of his sticky fingers against my lips. “That’s one master too many if you were right, so you must be wrong! And I serve Bracken and well… Never mind. Why not add one more? It won’t be hard to serve a third.”
I blinked, his response bordering on philosophical for he was right but wrong and honestly it mattered little either way.
All of his babbling was Clem’s clumsy attempt to get me to see how wonderful having my ass split apart by Bracken would be. Like carrying out the Gods’ will, and their emissary in Naran, Emperor Gaulu’s command was comparable to being a sex slave.
Ridiculous! I made a noncommittal sound and I guess Clem took that as victory since he spun around.
“Okay well then, I have a new purpose! One you will be pleased with master!”
“Is that so?” Bracken said slowly, walking toward me.
Clem smiled, but this time it didn’t reach his large eyes as his hand rested on mine. Bracken came up behind him and I was completely sealed in by their combined presence, Clem’s moonlight casting an eerie glow on their faces.
“My purpose is to keep us together. You’re our light, and we’re your faithful shadows. If I can make it so we don’t part, I will feel fulfilled. And what is mine is master Bracken’s. So, we will all feel so fulfilled.”
It felt like a threat, but it held no weight coming from his soft lips with his delicate features, eyes upturned. Wriggling out of their hold, I made another noncommittal grunt, and we wrapped up the clown show to return to make camp.
I avoided Clem’s gaze as we walked back, still remembering the strength in Bracken’s arms as he protected me and Clem from his king all night long. The whole while his body hummed with rage.
It was faint at first, and I mistook it for Clem clicking, but he was in too much pain from the small tear in his wing to click at me. No, that strange downright feral sound was coming from Bracken. A clear warning directed at his king of all creatures.
Their bond, it seemed, had fractured. And I realized as I clenched my Blood Onyx dagger in my pocket that I needed to exploit this rupture.
As we prepared to rest for a while, I couldn’t help but shudder at the memory of my helplessness last night. How many times had I plotted Alhadya’s demise? Countless times since I was a child.
And yet, just like in Kovit’s chamber of hell, when he tortured me and then Atlan, my dearest friend, I was helpless to stop Alhadya’s abuse.
