Dark Secrets (6 page)

I could do many things, but going willingly to this was not one of them. I let the muzzle of the gun bite into the flesh between my shoulder blades as my feet stalled.

End
it
now
, I prayed. I’d rather have the instant kiss of lead than the coming heat and the lingering pain. I wouldn’t heal that fast. Maybe days instead of weeks, but I didn’t want to find out. Metal clicked as the gun was cocked. I took a shallow breath.

What would happen to my staff, my friends and Anisa? I tightened my grip on the blood-stained ribbon. I had to get through this to get her out of his hands.

Brixen Saw wouldn’t hurt anyone again. I swore this by the Hunter, the Arcane and the Smith. I would take him down and make him pay. Sparks flew out of the brazier, swirled over the cobbles and turned to ash at my feet. I took that as an acceptance of my vow. But it could’ve been the hope of a doomed man.

The Lawman made me kneel, facing the crowd. Son of a mangy cur. The man and four women who called the Red Lust House home joined me on their knees.

Gylla moaned quietly. Noromon wouldn’t meet my gaze. Reena and Mallo had their eyes closed, their lips moving in a silent prayer. As if any of the Lords would listen to the likes of us. We’d never sworn to any Union, so no Lord would hear us. Yet I lived with a small part of my heart dedicated to hope.

The crowd was growing as word got around. There was an air of frenzy about them, like a dog on a hunt baying for blood. But the prey was already quarried and trapped. Silk-ears to the slaughter.

The smith in charge of the branding had that look on his face that a man got when he realized he had to do something totally unpalatable. I knew because I’d seen it in the mirror more and more frequently.

Brixen straightened his white hat and raised his hands for silence. I still heard the murmurs in people’s minds. Everything from
they
deserve
it
to
the
Lawman
is
a
sun
-
touched
bastard
. I tried to shut them out and think only of breathing and remaining motionless. That did take a lot of concentration; facing a bullet might have been easier simply because there was no stigma attached to a bullet wound, unlike the brand.

“For too long the law breakers have been allowed to operate freely, thumbing their noses at the Lords.” Brixen’s words were full of smug self-satisfaction.

I forced myself to breathe even though my ribs were like bands of iron around my chest. My heart was striking my ribs at a frantic pace. I couldn’t watch. I couldn’t close my eyes and not know what was happening.

“No longer. I will not tolerate it in Reseda. This city is no refuge for those too proud to kneel before a Lord.” Brixen glared at me. “Haidyn Mast, you own and operate the Red Lust House, whoring yourself as well as others. How do you say?”

You’re
a
lying
,
abusive
,
good
-
for
-
nothing
,
corrupt
Lawman
who
should
hang
.

“True.” I choked on the word. Everyone knew who I was so denying it would achieve nothing.

“These are your loose-skirts?”

I nodded, unable to speak and condemn them.

“How do you say?” Brixen pressed, enjoying the spectacle.

“True.” I managed to speak loud enough to be heard.

The Lawman turned to the smithy, who then put the brand in the fire. I focused on the hiss of the coals, anything to drown out the crowd and Brixen’s glee.

Then the crowd went silent. A collective gasp as the brand was pulled free. It glowed like the red eyes of a bastard-horse. No doubt its bite would hurt just as bad. I swallowed.

The Deputy placed his hands on Gylla’s shoulders. He leaned down and spoke to her, but she was too deep in her own apprehension to do anything. He opened her dress and exposed her right breast. The Lawman took the brand and pressed the heated metal to her pale flesh. She screamed and the scent of burning skin filled the air.

I closed my eyes.

But I knew what was happening. I could sense it, feel it in the changes of emotion. Pain overtaking apprehension. I tried to soothe Gylla and give her an illusion of peace; in exchange, her pain invaded me as if my skin were melting beneath the metal. It was all I could do for her. Gradually her cries subsided to a whimper. And the process repeated—the rustle of coals as the brand was placed in the brazier, followed by a pause as the Lawman gloated before placing the brand.

Noromon merely grunted.

Korene hissed as the brand touched her flesh.

I heard Reena begin to cry.

Mallo fainted.

Then it was my turn. The brand was heated. Coals scraped the metal. The Lawman reached for the brand. A metal hand, the size of a child’s, glowed, pale and threatening.

The Lawman stared down at me, lips drawn into a smile. He wasn’t just enjoying this. He was hard. His mind opened to me and in that moment I saw Anisa through his eyes. I saw her fear, the belt marks on her back, the way he took her so he could see the damage.

I flinched and almost went to rise. I considered naming him as my lover…but that would be his word against mine and would only enrage him into hanging me. I had to be smarter. I had to use the only skill I had. Magic.

Ideas tumbled through my mind. I could humiliate him in front of everyone. Make Brixen piss his trousers. But even as I thought it I realized I couldn’t use magic in front of so many people. The Arcane present would know what had happened, and then branding would be the least of my worries. If I was a breath without a body, I couldn’t help Anisa.

I looked up and glared at Brixen. Even if she no longer loved me, I couldn’t let her suffer.

Brixen’s lips drew back in a feral grin best suited to mad dogs as he brought the hot metal to my chest. Heat caressed my skin like a lover’s breath before the searing heat struck my flesh. A few seconds of blinding pain—all I could see was white—then it stung like the poisonous bite of a desert skitter.

I drew in several sharp breaths, glanced down and saw the hand print that marked me as one who traded in flesh. The life I had known was over. The freedom the Lawman had granted us at the Red Lust House was gone. We’d be treated like any other loose-skirts, and he’d pay less and demand more from me. I couldn’t do it. Not anymore, but I didn’t know how to break free of the cage I’d built around myself.

Around me the Decihall smelled like the meat-sellers had cooked up a feast. I wouldn’t be eating meat for a while. The thought made my stomach heave. I swallowed, unwilling to give the Lawman any sign of my discomfort.

He dropped the brand. “If those at the top can fall, then those at the bottom should tremble.”

But those at the top hadn’t fallen yet. I looked at Brixen with eyes that burned with tears of agony I wouldn’t let spill. I didn’t know how I was going to get free but I’d make him suffer before I did. I would free Anisa from his grasp. Even if she would never be mine again, she deserved a better life, a better husband than Brixen. But the look in her eyes when she’d seen me and the way she’d spoken kept a flicker of hope alive, and that was all I needed. The magic may have laid claim to my mind, but my heart was untouched.

The crowd shifted, and a man in Arcane black stepped forward. He looked at my staff and then me. There was a flicker of recognition. We knew each other from a long time ago. Master Cog was in charge of the Arcane Union in Reseda. It was he who’d rejected me. Not enough magic to be of use to the Union; so weak I could go back into society and be no threat. If it had been stronger they’d have apprenticed me or put me on the wheel, depending on how useful I’d proved. The Arcane Union has more dirty laundry than a lust house. I wondered what Cog would think now and prayed he didn’t know the truth. But his gaze continued on to Brixen without pausing.

Cog put his hands on his hips, a move that showed both his guns. The gold lightning strikes gleamed in the morning sun. Was he really going to challenge the Lawman over a few whores? No one was that bold or that stupid. Not even the Arcane Union.

My breathing was forced between my teeth as I tried to get a hold on the pain still scorching through my body, but I didn’t dare move and draw more attention to myself.

“You call these
skirts
the top of the lawless pile?” Cog paused, but when Brixen opened his mouth, Cog spoke first. “Reseda is overrun with Rogue Arcane. They have banded together as the Free Arcane Association, yet you spend your time rounding up and branding women and their master?”

“They broke the law.” Brixen’s words were clipped. He was furious. Cog was raining on his celebration and public personal victory.

“The Red Lust House has been trading for three and half years without a single gunshot fired. Blue Balls down Brewer’s has a fight every other night. Will you be branding them too?”

The cold of the cobbles seeped into my knees, but didn’t dull the throbbing in my chest. I didn’t want to be caught in a battle of words between these two because it would lead to violence. Cog was attacking below the belt. He knew Brixen came to my lust house. But had Cog been watching me or the Lawman?

“All who break the law will be punished accordingly.” There was a dangerous edge in the Lawman’s voice I hadn’t heard before.

A trickle of cold sweat ran down my spine. I was feeling very exposed and well underdressed. No guns, no shoes, no shirt. I winced at the thought of fabric rubbing against the fresh burn.

“I want the FAA members hanged before the end of the month.” Cog didn’t add,
or
I’ll
have
you
replaced
. He didn’t need to. The whole of Reseda would know by noon that the Lawman was out for blood. Cog was starting a war that couldn’t be won. Reseda was going to tear itself apart.

I kept my gaze on the grey cobbles in case I accidently looked up and made eye contact with any of the FAA standing in the crowd, dressed in the colors of another Lord.

“You’ll get your hanging,” Brixen assured Cog.

The FAA had pissed the Arcane Union off really badly by acquiring the no-longer-mythical Dead Heart Gun out from under their noses. I knew because they’d celebrated in my lust house. But I also knew what the Union didn’t. The gun was useless, and the FAA was looking for the female creator, who’d vanished into the northern wilds.

Every Arcane, Rogue or Union, was feeling twitchy.

Myself included.

Taking FAA coin was becoming riskier by the day and yet, like the Lawman, if I refused I’d get shafted. I needed a career change. But with the brand fresh on my skin I knew that was a longshot. Maybe my only shot. Plans began to form, wild and dangerous. Would Anisa be willing to listen to me or would she stand by her vows until Brixen killed her?

Lords, I hoped not.

The Deputy unbound my wrists, and I forced my hands to unclench. The ribbon I’d given Anisa was still wrapped around my fingers, but I was aware there were nail marks in my palm. That pain was insignificant when compared to the hot, sharp agony in my blood. Voted in by the people, the Deputy was harsh, but generally did things by the law. No doubt he’d stopped Brixen from hanging me from my own roof.

With the show over, the crowd broke away. No one wanted to be too close to Cog and Brixen—and yet everyone would want to know what was going on. No doubt this morning’s branding would fill the taverns with gossip before the hour was up.

I risked a glance at Korene. She would have been able to cut through the words to what was truly being said. A talent a little like mine, but she couldn’t affect people’s minds. If she’d been a man, the Union would’ve hired her out to find liars and troublemakers.

Lawmen usually relied on truth-seekers to determine guilt. I was so well known it hadn’t mattered.

Cog looked at me again, giving a small nod, then walked into the Decihall. I suspected it was so he didn’t have to turn his back on Brixen. I wouldn’t have either. Brixen was like a razor eel, all slippery with a jaw that could swallow a man’s fist and teeth so sharp that it could sever the limb, bone and all. The only good razor eel is dead and in a pie.

Brixen spoke to the smithy, who’d had the misfortune of being involved, and paid him. Then the Lawman walked away. The militia followed like trained dogs, but I knew their faces, and they wouldn’t be allowed entrance to my lust house.

I decided then to hire a gun for security. Until now I’d never felt the need. But it wasn’t for me. It was for the people I’d failed, for the people I’d leave behind. As I got to my feet I knew there was only one way I could make it better.

* * *

After walking home—without being accosted—I sat at the kitchen table to wait. I’d sent a boy with a message to the Arcane Union for a healer. It was going to cost me a lot of gold coin, but it was all I could do for my staff. I would have to play along to keep up the ruse, but how long would I have before the brand faded and my skin was unmarked?

I opened an expensive bottle of wine then drank a few long slugs to clear my head, take away the rawness of the wound. The pain of betrayal and blame fell away. They were close to hating me on one hand yet were glad to work in a safe and well-off lust house. Beneath it all, they hoped I’d know what to do. How had I ended up responsible for these people when I could barely take care of myself? When I’d failed Anisa and was still failing her?

Korene glanced at me and ushered the staff away to their rooms. Then she sat opposite me, grabbed the bottle and took a drink that was anything but ladylike. “Are you going to tell me what’s going on?”

I stayed silent. That was the only way to avoid a truth-seeker unraveling your words. However, it could also be construed as an admission of guilt. I felt the weight of the ribbon wrapped around my fingers, like a damn noose choking out my life. I let the silk go and placed it on the table between us.