Divided: Brides of the Kindred 10 (3 page)

* * * * *

“Ahh!”
Becca came back to herself yelling in terror. She sat up
so fast she almost knocked Far, who was leaning over her anxiously, in the
head. He sat back just in time and she was able to launch herself up off the
grass.

But standing up so suddenly made her head
throb and the world whirled giddily around her. Becca stumbled and almost fell
but Truth caught her arm.

“Easy, Rebecca.”

“Leave me alone.” She jerked away from him
and stepped back, putting distance between herself and the two of them. “Just
don’t…don’t touch me for a while.”

“We’re sorry.” Far really
did
look
completely remorseful. He still knelt on the grass where he had been cradling
her head in his lap, looking at her as though he thought she hated him now. A
glance at True showed a similar look. Their expressions made Becca feel bad.

“Look, I’m sorry, guys,” she said, taking
a deep breath. “But that was…what was that, anyway?”

“I don’t know but I’ve never had a clearer
vision,” Far said quietly. “I’m sorry if it scared you,
mi’now,
but it’s
probably just a passing dream. Half my visions are, you know.”

“No,” Truth said flatly. “No, this is
going to happen. I don’t know how, exactly but I could feel it.”

“But…how could such an awful thing really
happen?” Becca protested. “I mean, did you see them? Their faces were running
like wax and their eyes were
glowing…
They…they looked so
evil.”

“I don’t know how it could
happen,
I only know it’s going to.” Truth raked a hand
through his black hair. “We have to alert the Council. The Unmated Males area
isn’t safe—we have to sound the alarm.
Now.
”

Chapter
Four

“Tell me the circumstances of this vision
the three of you shared,” Commander Sylvan said, frowning.

“The, uh, circumstances were, uh…” Becca
found herself stammering and her cheeks heating up. She liked Sophie’s husband
a lot, really. He was usually very patient and understanding and she knew from
watching him with his twins what a wonderful father he was. But that still
didn’t mean that she wanted to explain how she’d suddenly found herself trapped
in another hot and heavy sexual fantasy with two men at once—a fantasy that had
somehow turned into a nightmare.

“Becca was hit in the head in the
parklands around the Sacred Grove,” Far said, taking up the story to her
relief. “Truth and I were both trying to tend to her and suddenly we fell into
a type of mental joining.”

“Which caused us all to be subjected to
his
insane vision,” Truth growled, frowning at Far.

“I noticed you didn’t object to our
earlier shared vision,” Far snapped. “The one where you were finally able to
get your hands on Becca as you’ve been itching to do for six solar months.”

“As if you haven’t
been trying to get your filthy hands on her too!
Don’t lie,
Far—
I know your true
intentions.”

Becca sighed mentally.
And here we go
again.
They had worked together so much better in the strange mental fugue
the three of them had shared. Though it had been horribly embarrassing, she had
to admit she had been relieved not to hear their bickering for a while. Why
couldn’t they get along in real life the way they did in the weird dream state?

“So they both had their hands on you at
once?
On your bare skin?”
Kat, who had been visiting
Commander Sylvan and Sophie when they came in to talk, spoke up.

Becca’s cheeks got hot again. “Well…yes, in
a manner of speaking. I mean, Far was cushioning my head and Truth was down at
my feet, propping up my legs. So I guess…yes. Yes, they did.”

Kat frowned. “That’s the way Deep and Lock
and I do a joining when we want to do a Seek and Find, but we usually have to
be touching a lot more, ah,
intimately
to get such strong results.”

“But we weren’t!” Becca protested
,
feeling like her face was about to catch on fire it was so
hot. “I swear! I mean…”

“Easy, doll…” Kat levered herself off the
couch and came to put a hand on her arm. “Nobody’s accusing you. It’s the most
natural thing in the world to be between your men when you’re with Twin
Kindred.”

“There is nothing natural about what we
saw,” Truth growled.
“Or in having the lady Rebecca between
us.
She should be with one of us only—with
me.”

“I didn’t notice you complaining when we
were all in bed together,” Far growled back. “It didn’t seem so wrong to you
then to have her between us.”

“That was in a dream state only. In
reality I will not share her with anyone—least of all
you.”
Truth’s pale
gray eyes flashed fire at his estranged brother.

Far’s black eyes flashed back, filled with
a mixture of hurt and hate.
“Then good luck forming a
complete bond with her,
Brother.
Everyone knows a Twin
Kindred can’t manage that on his own, without his twin.”

“Not true,” Truth said shortly. “My father
managed it and so will I.”

Kat frowned. “Don’t you mean
fathers?
If
you’re Twin Kindred, how did you have only one father, Truth?”

“It’s a long story.” The dark twin turned
away. “And it is not what we are here to talk about, anyway.”

“Yes. If we could please get back to the
subject at hand,” Sylvan said dryly. “You say you saw everyone in the Unmated
Males section turning into some kind of…”

“Demons.
They looked like some kind of
demons.”
Becca
shivered and crossed her arms over her chest protectively.

“All right.
And what makes you think this vision was completely and
utterly true this time,
Far
?” Sylvan asked, turning to
the light twin. “I know you sometimes have doubts…”

“It was true,” Truth said, unexpectedly
backing his brother up. “I felt it as I always do. This vision
will
become
reality.” He glared at Far as though it was his fault.

“Don’t look at me like that.”
Far glared back.
“I don’t
cause
the visions to
happen—I only see what the Goddess sends to me.”

“Well, did she send you
how
this is
supposed to happen or
when?”
Sylvan sounded exasperated. “Because I
can’t lock down the Unmated Males section indefinitely—there would be a riot. I
have warriors going about their business, doing their jobs, calling Earth
females as mates. I can’t just ask them to quit everything and stay quietly in
their rooms for the foreseeable future.”

“Of course you can’t,” Becca said. “But
Commander Sylvan, if you had seen what we saw…”

“The Goddess…” Sophia came out of the
bedroom where she had been tending to her twins. “Did I hear you say your
visions come from the Goddess, Far?”

The light twin nodded, his longish, blond
hair brushing his broad shoulders. “I do believe she is the source, yes.”

“Well then…” Sophia looked up at her
husband. “Sylvan, who else do we know who has visions from the Goddess?”

“Of course.”
Sylvan snapped his fingers.
“Nadiah.”

Becca frowned.
“Who?”

“She’s Sylvan’s younger cousin,” Kat
explained.

“And she has the gift of the Sight,”
Sophia said excitedly. “She has visions like Far. Maybe she could help us.”

Sylvan sighed.
“Maybe
so.
I’m not exactly sure of the time on First World
right now but perhaps we should give her a call.”

“Good idea, I haven’t talked to her in ages.”
Sophia looked excited. “I’m so glad we have a viewscreen in our suite now—it
makes things so much easier.”

“Indeed,” Sylvan muttered. He walked over
to the far wall of his suite, opposite the fireplace and began punching a call
sequence into the keyboard below the large viewscreen mounted there.

“I don’t understand,” Truth objected as
they waited for a pick-up on the other end. “Why are we calling some relative
of Commander Sylvan’s about the vision Far subjected us to?”

“Oh, so now I
subjected
you to it?”
Far glared at his brother.

“Hush you two,” Kat said, frowning. “We’re
calling because Nadiah is gifted with the same kind of visions Far has—maybe
she can verify what you’re saying.”

“She’s also the mouthpiece of the Goddess
on First World,” Sylvan said sternly. “So you
would do well to listen to what she has to say.
Both
of you.” He glared
meaningfully at both Truth and Far who shifted uncomfortably and had the grace
to look ashamed of themselves.

Finally, just as Becca was sure that the
call wasn’t going to be picked up, the viewscreen flickered and a sleepy
looking girl with blue-green eyes and a halo of blonde hair appeared.

“H’lo?” she murmured, pulling a white robe
around her shoulders. “Sylvan, is that you? What do you want—it’s the middle of
the night.”

“Forgive me for waking you, Nadiah.”
Sylvan gave her a formal little bow. “But we have a disturbing situation here
on the Mother Ship I was hoping to consult with you on.”

“All right.” Nadiah yawned and ran a hand
through her wild blonde hair. “But just keep it down—Rast is still sleeping in
the next room.”

“We’ll be brief and quiet,” Sylvan
promised. Quickly, he explained the situation—the vision Becca and Truth and
Far had all experienced together and the predicament it put him in.

Nadiah frowned. “So you want to know if
what they saw is true and if so, what you can do about it?”

“Essentially.” Sylvan nodded. “Do you have
any thoughts on this?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. Let the ones
who had the vision step forward.”

“He’s the one.” Truth planted a hand
between his brother’s shoulder blades and pushed him forward, none too gently.

Nadiah frowned and for a moment, Becca
thought her blue-green eyes got a whole lot greener.

“Even if this male is the one with the
Sight, he is not the only one who received the vision.”

“Fine.” Truth stepped up beside his
brother. “Apologies—I too witnessed it.”

Nadiah raised an eyebrow. “And…”

Becca swallowed hard and stepped up,
making sure to keep plenty of distance between herself and the two huge
warriors.

“And me,” she said quietly. “I saw it
too.”

“All right.” Finally Nadiah seemed
satisfied. “Now, I can sense the tension between you. Are you mated, the three
of you?”

“No!” Truth’s eyes blazed.

“No,” Far echoed and Becca thought she
heard bitterness in his voice.

“We’re just…we just happened to be
touching each other when the, uh, vision came upon us. Or, I guess it came to
Far here,” Becca nodded at the light twin. “And we happened to share it.”

Nadiah frowned at Truth and Far. “But the
two of you
are
twins, right? Twin Kindred?”

“We are but we were separated at birth. We
grew up…alone.” Far’s voice was soft…almost longing but Truth appeared not to
notice.

“Not that we need each other. We are both only
staying aboard the Mother Ship until my lady Becca here picks one of us.”

“Picks
one
of you?” Nadiah’s face
was grave. “Truly, warrior, do you intend to try and take a mate without your
brother? To desert the bond the Goddess has given you and disregard her will?”

“There is no bond,” Truth said shortly.
“Nor do I wish one, Lady.”

“And you…” Nadiah turned to Far. “Do you
feel the same?”

Far looked away. “I do not wish to be
bonded to someone who has no wish to be bonded to me.”

“I see.” Nadiah nodded and looked down.
She was quiet for a long moment—so long Becca was almost tempted to wonder if
she had gone back to sleep. Then, suddenly she looked up and her eyes were a
deep, burning green. “I see much, warriors,” she said and her voice had an
authoritative ring that had been lacking when she had first answered the
viewscreen, her eyes heavy with sleep and her hair rumpled and sticking up. “I
see a rift between you that must be healed—a bond that must be formed—a wound
that must be sealed.”

“What? But I don’t
want
a bond with
Far,” Truth growled. “Him or any other male.”

“Be silent!”
Nadiah’s voice cracked like a whip. “I am speaking what
the Goddess has shown me. You and your twin
must
form a bond if this
situation is to be resolved. The fate of the Mother Ship and all those aboard
rests upon it.”

“Truly?” Far looked at her uncertainly.
“But…how could the fates of all aboard be tied to me and my…to me and Truth?”

“Your visions hold the key. When you are
bonded they will reveal more than passing shadows,” Nadiah said. She looked at
both Truth and Far. “Will you receive this onus the Goddess herself has placed
upon you?”

“I will if he will,” Far said, casting a
sidelong glance at Truth.

Truth scowled and looked down at his boots
for a long moment. At last he looked up. “I will obey the will of the Goddess,”
he growled. “But I do
not
like it.”

“Very well.” Nadiah nodded, as though she
was finally satisfied. Then she looked at Becca. “And you—what is your name?”

“Rebecca Malone,” Becca said softly.

“Do you realize, Rebecca, that in
attempting to choose between the two of these brothers you are subverting the
will of the Mother of All Life? Do you understand the harm you are causing to
her children?”

“I…I’m sorry.” Put on the spot, Becca felt
tongue-tied and hot all over. “I just…I was supposed to become a nun. And even
though I’ve given that up I still can’t…can’t abandon all my beliefs just like
that.” She snapped her fingers.

“A…nun?” Nadiah frowned.

“Like a priestess—a celibate one,” Sophia
said helpfully.

“I see.” Nadiah nodded. “You serve another
deity and I perceive that your service is honorable and true.”

“I hope so,” Becca said. “I…thought it
was, anyway. Until I met Truth and Far. Now I’m just…confused. The only thing I
do
know is that I can’t be married to two men at once. I just
can’t.”

“Very well.” Nadiah nodded. “Know this
then, novice of another deity, I will respect your attempt to honor your
beliefs. The Goddess must ask for your help in bonding these brothers together
but when everything is said and done, if you wish to be released of your
bonding, she will see that it is done.”

Kat gave a little gasp. “But…you can’t do
that! I mean, you can’t promise that. When Deep and Lock and I were trying to
break our bond, we had to go all the way to the Scourge home world and use that
horribly painful Psychic Knife thingy. It was awful!”