Divided: Brides of the Kindred 10 (47 page)

Chapter Forty-four

“Far?
Are you okay? Where is he? Where’s Far?” Becca dashed into the suite almost
before the door slid open wide enough to admit her.

“He’s
in the sleeping chamber,” Truth growled. He had his arms crossed over his broad
chest and he was glaring at her in a very unfriendly way. “But why should you
care?”

“Of
course she cares, Truth—don’t be an ass,” Kat, who had come with her, said
sharply.

“Apologies,
Lady Kat, but her behavior for the past week says otherwise,” he snapped. “I do
not know many females who ‘care’ so much for their mates that they run off and
leave them without so much as a goodbye or a forwarding address.”

“But
that’s exactly why Becca did what she did—because she
cares
,” Kat said
quietly. “Look, sit down a minute and let’s talk. I don’t know why Becca ran
away but I
do
know she thought that by running she could save you two in
some way.”

“What?
But that makes no sense.”

“To
me either,” Kat said. “I couldn’t get much out of her on the shuttle up here
but I know that’s why she left. Not to spite you, not because she doesn’t love
you—because she felt she
had
to for some reason.”

Becca
heard Kat’s soft voice explaining everything to Truth and she was more grateful
than she could say. She still hadn’t been able to tell her friend about the
vision but Kat had seemed to understand her partial explanation of why she had
left in the first place. She was doing her best to make Truth understand as
well although he didn’t sound like he believed her. Becca was sorry for the
pain she’d caused the dark twin but right now his brother was her main
priority.

“Far?”
she called as she went into the bedroom with its huge bed built for three.
“Fa—?

His
name died on her lips when she saw him lying in the center of the bed, propped
up on a mound of pillows. All the way up in the shuttle she had been hoping
against hope that Kat was exaggerating the light twin’s condition but one look
at him told her it wasn’t so.

Far’s
pale skin had a grayish cast and there were dark, bruise-like shadows beneath
his eyes. His body was still big and strong looking but it was so still now
that for a moment Becca was honestly afraid she was too late and he was already
gone. Then she saw his broad chest rise and fall in a shallow breath and she
had a flash of hope.

“Far?”
she said softly, reaching out to touch his foot, buried under a mound of
covers. “Far, honey, can you hear me?”

The
lovely black eyes that reminded her of pools of midnight fluttered open.

“Mi’now?
Is
that you or is this just…just another dream?”

“It’s
me.” Becca climbed onto the bed, being careful not to jostle him, and curled up
at his side. “Hi,” she said softly. “How are you?”

“Oh,
pretty good.” Far tried to smile but she could see the effort it was costing
him. “Better now that you’re here.”

“I’m
so sorry I took off like that with no explanation,” Becca said. “I…I thought I
was helping you. Keeping you both safe. But…” She stifled a sob. “But it seems
like the opposite might be true.”

“Never
mind,” Far said, shaking his head. “I don’t care why you left. I only care that
you came back. I love you,
mi’now.
I have from the moment I met you.”

Becca
felt the tears pricking at her eyes and she didn’t try to stop them from
falling.

“I
love you too,” she admitted. “I love you and Truth both.” It was the first time
she had said it out loud—that she had really admitted it—and it felt
right
.
Right but also, tragically too late.

“You
have a strange way of showing your love.”

Truth
was suddenly in the doorway, his broad shoulders nearly filling the narrow
space.

“I
know,” Becca said, looking up at him.

“The
Lady Kat tried to explain before she left but I still don’t understand why you
found it necessary to abandon the Mother Ship and go running back to Earth.” He
was frowning at her, his black brows drawn low over his pale gray eyes.

“I
know you don’t,” Becca whispered. “And I wish I could explain but, well… I
can’t
.
Please, Truth…” She reached out a hand to him. “Can’t you please just forgive
me?”

“I
don’t know,” he growled, but he did come forward and sit on the side of the
bed. “That depends on why you came back. I suppose you’re here to help activate
the amulet.”

“I
don’t give a damn about the amulet,” Becca said fiercely. “I came because Kat
told me…told me about Far.”

“Oh?”
The dark twin raised an eyebrow at her. “So you’re refusing to help activate
it?”

“What?
I don’t know,” Becca said impatiently. “I don’t even know what’s involved in
activating it. I just want to spend time with you and Far before…I just wanted
to spend some time with you guys,” she ended lamely.

“It’s
all right, Becca, you can said it,” Far said softly. “Before I die.” He smiled.
“Although, I feel strangely better since you walked into the room. Just having
you near makes me stronger.”

Truth
frowned at his twin. “Strong enough to activate the amulet?”

Far
shrugged. “I don’t know. We could find out, I guess. If our lady will
participate.”

“What?”
Becca looked from one to the other of them. “What are you two talking about?”

“See
for yourself.” Truth got off the bed and left the room. When he came back, he
was carrying the metal amulet box. He opened it up and prepared to put it in
Becca’s lap but she scooted away quickly.

“Get
that thing away from me! What are you trying to do?” Far was already dying and
the last thing she needed right now was another guilt vision from Mother
Superior.

Truth
looked surprised. “Don’t worry, you don’t have to touch it—just look.”
Carefully, he lifted the velvety lining along with the amulet out of the box.
Then he held the box in front of her so she could see the now-empty bottom.

“I
don’t understand,” Becca said blankly. “What am I supposed to be—oh!” For
though the box had been blank a moment before, now glowing, curving script was
appearing on it as though it was being written by some invisible hand in fiery
ink. “What
is
that?” she asked in a whisper.

“Read
it,” Truth commanded.

“But
it’s some language I’ve never seen before. I can’t read…” Becca trailed off
because she found that she
could
read it somehow.

“If end you would the demons’ spell

And cleanse those whom evil does indwell

This amulet then activate

By those of the triumvirate

A drop of blood from each and all

Upon the amulet let fall

Only then will power within

Come forth that cleansing may begin

But ware the danger you may find

For if those of the true OneMind

Be not fully meshed within

The Evil will begin again.”

Becca finished and looked up from the burning words at last.
“Does this mean what I think it means?” she asked in a low voice.

“I’m afraid so,” Truth answered. “It needs a drop of blood from
each of us to activate it—but only if our OneMind is fully ‘meshed’ whatever
that means.”

“I think we all know what that means.” Far sat up in bed,
frowning. “It means bonded. We cannot activate the amulet until we’re fully
bonded.”

“Oh, but we can’t!” Becca protested. “I mean…”

“Why not?” Truth asked harshly. “Are you afraid you’ll be stuck
with us forever? Don’t be, Rebecca. Death severs a bond quite neatly so you
won’t have long to wait until you’re free again.”

“Don’t say that!” Before she could stop herself, Becca leaned
forward and slapped him hard across the face.

“Well…” Truth put a hand to his cheek and raised an eyebrow
sardonically. “Maybe you do care after all.”

“Of
course
I care!” Becca stormed. “And I want everyone
to stop talking about dying—that’s not going to happen. I won’t
let
it
happen.”

“I don’t see how you can stop it, Becca,” Far said mildly. “But
if you wish, we can shelve the topic of my imminent demise.”

“Thank you yes, let’s do that.” She took a deep breath, trying
to regain control. “Okay, about the amulet…”

“Yes, what about the amulet?” Truth growled. “Do you want to
help activate it or not?”

Becca thought about it—really
thought
about the issue.
It seemed she’d had so many reasons not to form a permanent bond with her men.
Fear of what her parents would say…fear that she would suffer the same loss
she’d had with Kenneth…and most recently, fear that they would both die if she
didn’t stay away from them.

It all seemed silly or irrelevant now. She loved her parents
and her family but it was Truth and Far she wanted to be with—they were the two
people she loved most in the world, the men whose bed she wanted to share,
whose children she wanted to bear. And her attempt at saving them by leaving
them alone had failed—it seemed she was destined to suffer the same loss again
no matter what she did.

It might hurt a little less if she wasn’t completely bonded to
them but Becca didn’t care about the pain anymore—she just wanted to spend as
much time with her men as she could. And if they could activate the amulet and
save the unmated males aboard the ship in the process, so much the better.

Truth and Far had been silent, allowing her time to think but
now Far said gently, “Becca?”

“I want this,” she said slowly, looking at both of them. “I
want both of you right here, right now. If…” She looked at Truth. “If you’ll
forgive me for leaving you. I don’t want to have angry sex—this should be
loving if it’s going to be…” Her eyes flickered to Far who was watching her
quietly. “I mean, I just want it to be nice.”

“What do you say, Brother?” Far asked when Becca finished her
little speech. “Can we forgive Becca for leaving?”

Truth scowled for a moment. “I’ll try. It’s simply that…” He
shook his head. “Never mind.”

“No, talk about it,” Becca urged. “Tell us what you feel.”

“Fine—I will.” He turned to her. “You taught me how to care for
my brother, Rebecca. And then when things got hard you left. I’ve never…had
this kind of relationship before and I didn’t know what to do when you were
gone.”

“Becca didn’t know I was still sick when she left,” Far
reminded him. “And you’ve been doing fine, Brother. You’re a surprisingly good
nurse.”

Truth scowled down at his hands. “I try. It’s difficult to know
what to do. I’ve never wanted to be close to another male before and now we are
bound together. I just…don’t know what will happen…”

“When I die, you mean?” Far asked quietly. “Sorry, Becca, but
this needs to be said.” He looked at Truth. “Our bond is still quite young and new.
I think you will survive without me. And I think Becca can help you—in time the
two of you could become a couple.”

“But I don’t want to be a couple!” Becca burst out. “I want to
be a threesome—a triumvirate or whatever it was Vashtar called it.” She reached
out and took their hands. “I want
both
of you,” she said earnestly.

The moment she touched both of them at once, the familiar warm
electric current started between them. Becca felt it tingle though her entire
body, running from the tips of her breasts to the tender V between her thighs.
Back before she had admitted to herself that she wanted both of them she would
have snatched her hands away. Now she held on tighter. She was beginning to
have an idea.

“Do you feel that?” she demanded, squeezing their hands and
looking at both of them.

“Of course we feel it,
mi’now,”
Far murmured
appreciatively.

“We cannot help but feel it,” Truth said.

“That’s energy running between the three of us—
life,”
Becca
said fiercely. “Why can’t we try to channel some of that into Far? I don’t know
if it will help but it’s worth a shot—and certainly better than sitting around
on the bed snapping at each other.”

“I don’t know if it will help either but I’m certainly not opposed
to trying,” Far murmured.

“I am willing to try it too,” Truth said grudgingly. He looked
at his brother.
“If you are up for it? I understand that bonding sex can be somewhat…vigorous.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Far assured him. “It can simply be a
long, slow, leisurely lovemaking session. And as for my energy level…” He sat
up straighter. “I feel healthier now than I have in days. I really
do
feel better with Becca nearby.”

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Becca felt a surge of hope.
Maybe they could bring Far back this way. She knew it sounded strange to think
you could screw your way to better health but she’d seen so many weird things
lately nothing surprised her anymore. And she had to believe there was at least
a
chance
to save the light twin. To let herself think otherwise was
terrible.