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Worse, I had to rely on them, my nocturnal court to protect me back then and even now.
Then again, I didn’t think that so bad as I nibbled on the small fruits Bracken and Clem had gathered for us, taking turns forcing them into my mouth. After all, as of now, Kiar, Bracken, and Clem were mine.
Divide and conquer. Alone, I was helpless against their undead king. But with them by my side, maybe… just maybe I stood a chance.
By the time we returned to camp, all the adrenaline fled my body, the events of the previous night catching up with me. I collapsed against Bracken’s chest without a second thought, without relighting the fire, as we waited for Kiar to return, loaded down with enough fruit to keep our stomachs full for a while.
We were settling into a routine again, an unnerving regime that was all too familiar, like we were back in prison.
Glancing up at Bracken as he closed his eyes to rest, I wondered what was going through his mind other than sex and tending to Clem and I as “pets.”
Bracken always struck me as the least rigid of my court. Almost flippant to not only the war but allegiance itself.
Truthfully, I was awed he took any interest in me at all as he cradled Clem in his arms like a child would a precious doll. But as he tucked me more firmly in his lap, I realized he had marked me, imprinted on me in some strange way.
I was his, little more than a slave in his twisted imagination, but his, nonetheless.
And maybe, I thought ruefully, worried I would become too accustomed to his warmth, he could be more than my lover. He could be my weapon against Alhayda.
Bracken, Kiar, and I stood a chance. They were mightier weapons than any I could forge. If I could just draw them into a power struggle once I grabbed the stone… A power struggle that I hoped would be us against him… And if Clem could manage to rupture the bond with his former king…
Ideas swirled around my head, but the execution was fuzzy at best.
Alhayda was still above us, hidden in the trees. But I tried to ignore him when abruptly, Bracken awoke, radiating animosity.
I couldn’t tell why until I heard the heavy thudding above his wings. Their king was close, moving too close for comfort, and I pushed off of him to face the threat…
Only to be pulled back into his wings, Bracken forcing my face to meet his and Clem’s who had crawled up his chest.
“Don’t mind him. He’s preparing to rest,” Bracken said, and sure enough I heard branches snapping and tugging before my enemy leaped to another tree. Maybe he was constructing a nest of sorts with his web.
I nodded, thankful. Then it dawned on me that I should say so.
“Thank you,” I mumbled. Then I had to force out the rest. “Sometimes you’re quite annoying, but I’m thankful for your… protection.”
Bracken didn’t respond, so I thought my foolish attempt to win him over had fallen flat, but the pleasured rumble he emitted told me otherwise a moment later.
Satisfied, I peeked from under his wing, disappointed to not find Kiar nearby since I felt a little safer with the three of us against Alhayda. If he got it into his head to break our truce before we reached Yin Valley. There were ways to make us compliant without killing us, after all, a spider’s venom chief among them. He was the only arachnid noc I knew of, but like all nocs, they took on the traits of their animal ancestors.
I kept waiting, and watching, but it seemed Kiar wasn’t sleeping again tonight, almost obsessive with his need to scout. I wondered if he was just returning to his natural state. I was the only creature here that preferred to be awake in the light of day.
Bracken suddenly started petting my head.
“Don’t thank me,” Bracken said after too long, and I turned to stare into his brooding eyes underneath his wings.
“I’m your master, and I failed my most basic responsibility. Ahh… Protecting my bonded is hard work when they’re a human warrior. You must clean up after all of your pet’s messes, after all, but running around screaming in the forest during a battle… That’s not like a trained warrior, Sun.”
Instead of his usual brackish bravado, Bracken sounded truly forlorn. It was shocking. And he didn’t seem to realize he called me his “bonded,” whatever the hell that meant.
“Trust me,” Bracken said with a weary smile. “That undying loyalty to someone who doesn’t deserve it will get you killed someday. Remember to watch out for yourself first and foremost, Sun. Even before the weakling who rules your world.”
I bristled, glaring at him. He had no right to speak of the emperor with such derision. But then, I grasped the double meaning of his words. Had Clem not said that Bracken was the first to die in the coup? That he had been beheaded? How terrifying that must have been.
Bracken’s eyes landed on my neck, and he deflated. The bruises were minor in the grand scheme of things. I barely noticed them except when it hurt a bit to swallow. I honestly didn’t know why they bothered him so much, but it was obvious that they did.
But it was like a candle was blown out, and Bracken forced a smile, not wanting to deal with his volatile emotions directly no doubt.
“Enough of this. Since Kiar hasn’t returned, I think he is overdue for a reward. You were very brave, Clem,” Bracken said, stroking the fuzz on Clem’s head before yanking his head back by his antenna too violently, to the point I feared he had snapped his neck. “Such a good boy. But don’t be that damn foolish again. Let me give you a treat and maybe I’ll allow you to beg for Sun’s forgiveness some more. Maybe he’ll allow you to suck him off if you cry hard enough this time around.”
