Jeanne G'Fellers - No Sister of Mine (19 page)

“Sorry.” She cracked open the door. “Family emergency. We’re closed this evening.”

“Wait!” Trazar Laiman stuck his foot against the doorjamb. “I’m looking for LaRenna. Is she here?”

“Nope. She took off at closing last night with some stocky man in baggy coveralls. No telling where she is.” Cance tried to push Trazar’s foot from the door, but he held his stance.

“I see.” The man Cance referred to was one of Trazar’s sentries and second to him in the squadron’s command. They had walked back to the housing compound together so he knew LaRenna wasn’t around. “You don’t know when she’ll be back?”

“She won’t be.”

“She quit?” Trazar’s unshaven cheeks sank.

“No.” Frustration crept into Cance’s tone. “I fired her for propositioning the customers. Once a whore, always a whore.”

“Oh.” Trazar masked his face into disinterest. He pulled his foot from the jamb, thanked Cance, and strolled toward the Commons. When the Waterlead’s doors swung shut, he backtracked to hunker under an overgrown shrub near the main entrance. He had been lied to more than once in the course of that short conversation and intended to find out why.

“Damn Aut men.” Cance climbed the stairs two at a time. “Always after a piece.” LaRenna stirred when her footfalls neared the top. “She awake?”

“Sort of.” Brandoff snapped at LaRenna’s bare legs with one of Starnes’s discarded towels. “I had to shove a rag in her mouth to stop her confounded moaning.” Brandoff aimed again at Bane. “Now, where was I?” She turned to Starnes. “Here?” Then she bounced back to his father. “Or maybe here?”

“If you must kill one of them then make it Starnie,” said Cance. “We’ll pour our own drinks tonight.”

“No!” pleaded Bane from his bed. “I’m already dying. Spare him and take me.”

“You served as a military medic, old man. I need you to treat this one’s wounds. Here, look her over.” Cance pulled LaRenna within his reach. Her underskirts bunched at the waist as she was moved, revealing a series of bloody streaks that stretched down her inner thighs. Seeing them, Cance glowered at Brandoff. “You idiot! Look at this! I told you not to be so rough. Dammit, you could have killed her!”

“I wasn’t that rough!” protested Brandoff, sounding more insulted than concerned. “And I didn’t do anything to cause that, not when I laid her, leastways. It must be from the knee to the stomach.” Apathetic at best, she aimed squarely at Starnes. “This is becoming tiresome. Any last words for your dah?”

“NO!” called Bane. “Murder him and I won’t treat the woman. She’ll bleed to death where she lies.”

“The old fool isn’t so foolish after all.” Brandoff’s high had worn until she squinted. “Well, Cancelynn?”

“Tie Starnes while I get some bandages for the not-so-foolish one to use,” she replied. “We can’t have our trophy dying before we have the opportunity to show her off.” She turned to Bane. “Aren’t we making a speedy recovery? Brought you medicine, didn’t she?”

“Does it matter?” Bane frowned, brushed the hair from LaRenna’s face, and quickly evaluated the extent of her most obvious injuries. “I need some hard liquor.”

“Sounds good to me but I suggest you try wine first.” Brandoff secured Starnes’s arms behind his back. “Your stomach is probably weak.”

“He doesn’t want to drink it, you half-wit!” Cance replied angrily. “He needs to cleanse the girl’s cuts. Go get some.”

“Uh!” Brandoff stomped down the stairs. “Do this, Brandoff. Now, Brandoff. Who the fuck named you Mother Maker?”

“I’m self-appointed so hurry before I choose to end that sorry excuse you call a life!” Cance watched Brandoff’s tangled mop of hair disappear then turned back to Bane, hesitant to hear his diagnosis. He’d removed the cloth from LaRenna’s mouth and was smoothing out the remains of her skirts. She groaned, fighting him weakly as he rebuttoned her shredded top.

“What did you do to this child? I heard her scream until her voice went.”

“More than I intended.” Cance stooped by LaRenna’s side. “She fought everything we did. Things became heated. Is she bleeding badly?”

Bane pushed on LaRenna’s torso until the touch provoked a loud cry. “I don’t believe she is, but a fair number of her ribs are broken. We’ll need to bind them.”

“Anything else?”

“Yes,” he replied. “Keep your maniac twin away from her. One more hard blow could drive one of those loose ribs into something vital. Remember that if you want her to live.”

“Oh, I do,” assured Cance. “And not just so I can use her like I already have. I like her spirit.” She pointed to the dried clots. “What about this?”

“Normal female cycle.”

Cance startled then stared at him. “Taelachs don’t have cycles. We’re sterile. Everyone knows that.”

“This one does. I’ve outlived two wives and have four daughters. That’s enough experience to know what the normal cycle smells and looks like.”

“Can you stop it?” Brandoff stood at the top of the stairs, a bottle of clear liquor and two wine crystals in her arms.

“Do you lose your senses every time you fuck while laced?” Cance absently fingered LaRenna’s hair. “Of course you can’t stop it. It’s a natural function.” She smiled down at LaRenna. “You’re more valuable than ever, my beloved. You’re breedable. Just imagine what they’ll pay to get you back—if I give you back at all.”

Brandoff handed Bane the liquor and took the crystals to the room’s only chair, settling into it and glaring at the object of Cance’s affection. Bane poured a little of the spirits on a cloth and gently cleansed the bloody patches on LaRenna’s face until she became alert enough to object. She coughed and gasped as the alcohol burned her open flesh, making her painfully aware of her broken ribs, her foot, her hurt all over.

“Where am I?” The question was no more than a rustle in her throat.

“With me, bitch.” Brandoff had dosed while downstairs. LaRenna struggled to find the location of her voice, found Cance first, and swung out with all her might, collapsing back against Bane when her ribs shifted within her.

Keep still.
Cance’s mental tone was as soft as the pain-relievingphase LaRenna immediately threw from her mind.
Very well, my love.
Cance pushed away. “Hurt if you insist, just let us treat you.”

Bane held her head firmly to finish cleaning the worst from her face and neck. “Shhh,” he whispered when she protested. “Let me clean you up a little.” Then he took her hand and carefully examined the broken finger. “What else did you find necessary to break on this child?”

“Just her ankle.” Brandoff sounded proud of the way LaRenna winced in response. “Cance did it and her finger. I’m the one who busted her ribs. In just one blow, I might add.”

Bane remained unimpressed. “Good for you. I’m sure you’re proud of your conquest over such a superior-sized enemy.”

Brandoff flung her boot knife into the wall above Bane’s head, skimming brittle white hairs from his scalp. “Bite your tongue, old man, or you won’t have one to chew.”

Bane ignored the threat. “I need splinting material for the finger and ankle.” LaRenna lay perfectly still in his arms, listening. She was too weak for an effective phase and too winded from her recent movement for anything more.

Cance nodded then disappeared into the next room, returning momentarily with a small bundle. “This should be enough. I even found a needle and gutting thread for that gash Brandoff left in her jaw.”

“It does need stitching.” Bane felt increasingly weak from the exertion but kept his pace. He had to look after LaRenna. She had, after all, done the same for him. “First the ribs. Sit her up and we’ll wrap them.” He pulled Brandoff’s knife from the wall and began to slice the light coverlet on his bed into long strips.

“I hope you plan on returning that.” Cance drew onto the floor beside LaRenna.

“I have an option?” Bane raised his head to look at her. “My only concern is for my son and the girl. Sit her up.” He handed the knife to Cance, handle first, who returned it to Brandoff.

Cance looped under LaRenna’s arms and pulled her to a sitting position.

“Gently!” snapped Bane.

“That’s as gentle as I get!” Cance snapped back. “Now what?”

“Help me wrap these strips around her gut. Snug but not too tight. She has to be able to breathe.” LaRenna’s expression pulled Cance’s attention from the task.

“Your eyes deceive you.”

“Do they suggest loathing?” asked LaRenna.

“No, my love, fascination. You are trying to figure me out.”

“Only so I can kill you.”

“Such anger so soon in the relationship?” Cance laughed. “It’s far too early for that. Relax, LaRenna, and let us treat you.”

“Why, so you can prock-lace me again?”

“Smartmouth.” Cance appreciated the argument. “You have an appealing edge to you.” She wrapped LaRenna in a hug, placing a pair of light kisses to the side of her head before LaRenna could wriggle away. “Next?” She looked at Bane.

“Set her finger.” Bane closed his eyes in concentration on his long ago training. “Feel to see if the fracture is at the joint.” Cance grasped the injured hand and pressed on the finger. LaRenna squirmed but couldn’t pull away.

“It’s the joint.”

“Good. It will be easier to set. Pop it into place and splint it.”

“Sorry, m’lady,” Cance soothed with a light touch to LaRenna’s face. “But this is going to hurt.” LaRenna yelped as the finger popped back into place.

“You bawl like a kicked animal, you stupid cunt.” Brandoff laughed between pulls from one of the crystals. “I think I heard that same sound when we were downstairs. Remember what I was doing when you made it? I do. I was—”

“Stop it.” LaRenna shook violently against Cance, quaking with rage and fear she could not contain. “She’s too bad off for your ranting.”

“Why should I care? She’s nothing more than a toy for us, or can’t you see that anymore?”

“She’s a hostage I plan to keep alive as long as necessary. I won’t have her dropping off because of your blasted mouth. Her heart all but jumped from her chest when she heard your voice.” Cance wondered how much of the shaking was actually from the mental attack and how much was Brandoff’s doing. “She’s terrified of you.”

“It’s the prock,” retorted Brandoff. “She’s crashing.”

As the panic subsided and her mind cleared, LaRenna discerned a sick sense of pride exuding from Brandoff’s warped mind. Brandoff honestly enjoyed the pain she inflicted on others. It soothed away some of the agony of her own complicated life. Like the drug she was so reliant on, it made her forget. Cance’s emotions were evident too, differing from Brandoff’s though just as intense. They were a disturbing mix of obsessive affection and erotic desires directed toward LaRenna. She found pleasure in hurting others, but not for the same reasons as Brandoff. Pain was a weapon, a means of effective discipline, a teaching tool. She even used it in the name of love.

“Forgive my sister’s shortcomings.”

LaRenna knocked Cance’s reassuring touch away. “Why should you care what she does to me? You did it, too.”

“A danger of the post you took, young Kimshee.” Cance splinted LaRenna’s finger. “And may I remind you that I held my pleasures to the traditional way between Kimshees.”

“That was not pleasure.”

“Really? Then what would you call it?”

LaRenna remained silent for a moment. “Rape.” The word tasted a thousand times filthier than Tynnes’s single kiss. “It was rape.”

“Oh, I believe you’ve been misinformed. This seems to be an ongoing problem with my lovers. It might prove necessary to leave you alone with my twin when you are better healed. What she does is far and away more the definition of rape than what I enjoy. Maybe then you’ll change your description of the pleasures I offer.” Cance put an end to the conversation by moving to LaRenna’s ankle. “All right, old man. Let’s finish up.”

“Undo the bindings first.” Bane slid into Cance’s former position, his open mind projecting tender sympathies for LaRenna, scathing hatred for those holding them hostage. “She can’t go anywhere in her condition. You’ve both seen to that.” Cance flashed him a scowl but conceded to his wish. LaRenna moaned and shook as the renewed circulation caused the foot to burn and throb.

“We can’t set her ankle while she’s shaking,” said Bane. “Let me give her some wine to dull the pain.”

“No. She’s lost too much blood.”

“She’s well on her way into shock as it is,” he objected.

Cance clicked her tongue. “Very well. But give her wine, not liquor. I don’t want her heaving with broken ribs. Brandoff, bring that second crystal over here. Quietly, mind you.”

“Why should I?” Brandoff’s voice rose to a level she hoped would add to LaRenna’s agony. “If she goes into shock, she goes into shock. What does it matter? I got what I wanted once, and I’ll do it again later.” Her eyes slitted in direct defiance of Cance’s wishes. “Hopefully, it’ll kill her.”

Cance crossed the room in two powerful strides, wrenched the chair from under her sister, and tossed it down the stairs, where it splintered against the Waterlead’s doors. “Are you touched or just plain stupid? This happens every time I let you get your jollies. Damn prock fiend, you’ve lost all concept of reality!” Cance snatched one of the crystals, flinging it into the wall when she found it empty. It shattered above Starnes, showering him in a rain of fine shards. “Belsas’s daughter has to stay alive! She’s the ultimate trophy of our triumph.”