Vengeance (32 page)

Ever so slowly the
pains fade completely, leaving me exhausted but able to breathe
again.  I look up at her and smile my gratitude.  “You
stayed with me.”

“Of
course I did.  No one could have left you in such a state.”
 She tsks and rubs a cloth across my forehead.

“Bastien did,”
I mutter, knowing that he should have been here.  Not out there.
 Not with those strangers.  Her fingers stiffen against the
cloth that rests on my forehead and I look up at her.  “What’s
wrong?”

“What did you
call him?”

I frown.  “Bastien.
 That is his name.”  Lurime’s lips purse
tightly enough for them to turn a royal blue.  I try to push up
to my elbows but she easily overcomes me.  “Why do you
look so surprised?  Don’t you know his name by now?”

The
lavender tint to her eyes darkens before she can look away from me.
 A ripple of unease settles over me.  “Lurime?”

“I cannot
say,” she whispers. Slowly she rises.  I turn my head to
the side to watch as she slips into the bathroom and begins to clean
out the bowl.  She dips the rag into fresh water and wrings it
dry.  She is methodical in her duties.  So much that I
begin to suspect that she is attempting to delay.  

“What do you
know?” I ask.  I can hear the pleading tone in my voice
but don’t try to mask it.  Nor do I feel a need to excuse
it.  Not after what I just went through.

“What did you
eat?” She asks without turning to look at me.  Her
shoulders shudder with another cough.  This one seems more of a
tickle against her throat rather than a full on cough.

“Some meat.  A
drink.  Some bread but it tasted a bit off so I only had a bite
of two.”

Lurime leans over
the sink, her palms pressed hard into the silver bowl.  Her
gossamer hair falls about her face, concealing her from my sight.
 “You must not eat anything unless I bring it to you.”

“No.”
 She turns, wide eyed with surprise at my flat refusal.  “Not
unless you tell me what is happening.  I have a right to know.”

She rushes back to
my side, dipping down beside me.  “Do not test me on this
one, Illyria.  If you do you will face grave consequences.
 Remember what I told you last night.  The Duturi are not
dead.”

With the utmost of
care, Lurime helps me rise, careful to fully support my stomach as
she helps me to the edge of the bed.  Instead of risking the
walk around to the side of the bed, she helps me to scoot backward
until I am resting against my pillows once more.

As she places a hand
upon my wrist, closing her eyes to listen to my pulse I notice a
black stain around her nails, seeping under them.  I frown,
confused by its presence.  I just watched her clean her hands.
 How could she still have dirt under her nails?

“Where did you
get your cough from?” I ask.  “You seem perfectly
healthy apart from that.”

She shrugs, not
opening her eyes.  “Strange planet.  New illnesses.
 You pick up a thing or two.”

I’m not buying
it.  Her explanation seems too smooth.  Too practiced.

“My friend
once told me about the mines, about the slaves that are sent deep
into the layers of earth.  He told me of the way the soil would
leach into your skin, a permanent stain.”

“Mmm-hmm,”
she mutters, reaffirming her grip on my hand.

“He also told
me about how that same sediment has a tendency to settle in people’s
lungs. Horrible stuff.  Makes you get this hacking cough that
just never goes away.”

She opens her eyes
and stares at me.  Her expression is unreadable but her eyes are
not.

“I saw him
die,” I whisper as she turns to gather her things and starts to
leave. She pauses, her hand outstretched toward the door.  “He
was knelt down before me, trying to change out my bandages.  I
don’t even remember what we were talking about.  I just
knew that I felt safe with him.  Then I saw something shift in
his eyes as he fell forward into my lap and I knew that he was gone.
 Even before I felt the blood soaking through his shirt and into
mine.  I knew Hyde was dead.”

“Hyde?”
 Her voice sounds so small I barely hear her question.  Her
entire body seems wound as tight as a coil.  “Hyde is
dead?”

The pain ripping
through her voice makes my eyes close shut with regret.  “I’m
so sorry for your loss...Thesa.”

The
girl falls to her knees, her wings droop low to the floor.  The
contents of her bag spill out, rolling in all directions.  She
presses a hand against the solid metal surface of the door as her
shoulders quake. Her whimpers tear at my heart and I know, without a
doubt, that she is the one Hyde was searching for.

She wipes her nose,
fighting to still her cries.  I wish that I could go to her, to
help her, but I am incapable of moving.  “He came for me a
few months back.  Found me in the mines.  I wanted to go
with him, to be free but he begged me to stay just a little longer.
 At the time I wondered how he could turn his back on us, but
now I know.”

Thesa looks at me
from over her shoulder.  “He sent me here, told me to call
myself Lurime after my mother.  He figured if anyone ever
questioned my lineage too deeply they would see that she was a healer
and leave it at that.  We are a rare commodity in this part of
the galaxy.”  She pauses, sucking in a calming breath.
 When she speaks again she sounds slightly more in control.
 “Hyde sent me to these people for one reason: to ensure
that you escape if you should ever be taken.”

I blinked, surprised
by her blunt admission.  “I don’t understand.  Why
would I want to escape?  Bastien says these are good people.”

Thesa snorts.  “You
have seen only what he allows you to see.  It’s easy to
pull off because you are confined. If you were free to walk about I
suspect that you would be confined to chains, chained to some wall
where you could be watched at all times.  Perhaps if they had
found you a couple months ago that would have been your fate, but
Hyde hid you well.”

She rises onto her
knees, turning to look at me with pleading eyes.   I can
see her pain, see the torment I have caused her by speaking of Hyde’s
death, but there is also great strength in her.  “Hyde is
not who they said he is.  He is a good man.  Surely you
know this if you spent any time with him.”

I nod.  “I’ve
always known.”

She smiles and blows
out a sigh of relief.  “Good, then I need you to listen to
me.  You must do everything that I say, for the sake of yourself
and the lives of your children. While they remain within you, you are
safe.  The moment you give birth they no longer need you.  In
fact, they fear you.”

I raise my hand and
run my fingers along my neck collar.  “There’s
nothing I can do to protect myself with this collar on.”

“You won’t
need to,” she says, rising from her knees.  “That is
my job now.”

Bastien’s gaze
narrows as he enters my room to find Thesa sitting beside me on the
bed.  An open book lies in her lap and her sweet voice rises and
falls with a soothing rhythm.  My head lolls back against the
pillow, somewhere close enough that if I reached far enough I could
easily grasp sleep but I force myself to wake when he enters.

He
looks about the room.  There is nothing out of place.  No
fallen bottle from her bag nor any sign of the towels she used to mop
my brow, and yet I get this feeling that he expects to find something
out of place.

“Everything
ok?” He asks, looking down at the blue blanket that covers the
bed.

“Yep, Thesa--”
I cut off as her fingers stiffen on the edge of the book.
 “These...uh, these sheets got a little sweaty so Lurime
was kind enough to help me get changed.  I think I prefer the
blue.  Reminds me a bit of home, don’t you think?”

Bastien’s
narrowed gaze softens as he moves toward me, setting down a food tray
on the side table.  Thesa rushes to get out of his way, choosing
to slip along the wall and then settles on the couch instead.  I
can tell it annoys Bastien that she has remained but he says nothing.
 He presses the back of his hand against my cheek and smiles.
 “You feel cooler today.  Are you feeling better?”

“Yes,” I
nod, happy to be able to say so.  “Lurime has been a
wonderful nurse.  She’s been helping cool me down and she
reads to me.  She has such wonderful tales from her land.  You
should listen to them.”

“Another time,
perhaps.”  Bastien rises and retrieves the food tray.  “I
brought you something to eat.  I thought you might be famished
after the way you tore into your meal earlier.”

He
sets the tray down on my lap.  I stare at the array of food, an
amount far more than I could ever possibly consume.  The water
looks a bit murky and has a slightly earthen scent to it.  A
covered bowl reveals a thick creamy soup with small chunks of meat in
it.  On the side is some sort of a root vegetable in a deep
pink, reminding me of a cross between a squash and a beet.  The
bread is sprouted bread and dark in color.  Much like the loaves
that I love back on Calisted.

“Thank you.”
 I smile up at him and lay my hands beside me.  “I’m
afraid I’m a bit too tired to eat right now.  Would you
mind setting it on the side for me?  Lurime can help me when I
get hungry.”

Bastien casts a
glance behind him.  “I’m sure Lurime has other tasks
that she can see to at the moment.  I’ll stay with you to
keep you company.”

“No,”
Lurime speaks up for the first time.  “Hendrix assigned me
to her care.  I must be here at all times. She is too near to
the birth.  Too many things could go wrong.”

“Go wrong?”
 Bastien casts a worried glance back at me.  “Is she
in danger?”

Lurime fixes her
gaze firmly on the floor.  “Not at the moment.”

“Good.”
He blows out a deep breath.  “Well, it looks like you are
in good hands then.  I guess I’m going to run out and
check on the patrol.”

I brace myself
against the mattress and lean forward.  “You’re
leaving me again?”

“Unfortunately.
 Rumor has it we will be on the move again.  There have
been several eruptions in the region up ahead.  We are going to
have to go around.”

I frown but try not
to let him see it.  “You sound worried about that.”

Bastien offers me a
weak and admittedly pathetic version of a smile. He lifts my hand to
his lips.  “Not at all. I promised to keep you safe and
that’s exactly what I intend to do.  I’ll just go
take a look around.  I’ll be back later to check on you.”

I lean back, sinking
into the pillows and look up at him, feeling empty and cold. “I
think I might like to rest for a bit, if that’s ok.”

“Of course.”
 He pats my hand as he places it beside me on the bed.  He
turns to leave but I call out to him.

“Bastien?”
 He glances back over his shoulder.  “I had a dream
earlier, about your home on Murilian.  Do you think you will
ever go back if we make it make to Calisted?”

“Sure,”
he smiles.  “Someday.”

I nod and wave as he
disappears out of the door.  The instant the door lock hisses
closed Lurime is on her feet.  She darts across the seating
space and dips her finger into my soup.  She places a tiny bit
onto her tongue and winces, spitting it out.

I close my eyes
briefly as a tear slips from my cheek.  “You don’t
have to say anything,” I say as she turns.  “I know
it’s been tampered with.”

“How did you
know?”

I wipe the tear from
my face and look up at her, seeing her concern.  “Murilian
is the red planet that circles around Calisted.  It is a barren
place of horrid storms and monstrous creatures that live in the
oceans.  It is uninhabitable.”  

I look to the door,
feeling a chasm open within my soul where pain and despair flood in.
 “I don’t know who that man is...but he’s not
Bastien.”

I am sick of
resting.  

Thesa has warned me
about moving around too much, especially with the babies coming so
soon.  By her best guess I may be able to extend my labor by a
day or two if I remain bedridden, but I know that it’s only a
matter of time.  Whether I want them to or not, these two are
going to make their appearance on their own time schedule...not mine.

If only Eamon could
be here. He deserves to be.  Not for my sake or for any thought
to my safety, though I would admit that having him close by would
make me feel a heck of a lot better.  No.  He needs to be
here to share this moment with me.  

I close my eyes as
tears begin to well up.  They come so easily nowadays.  I
used to pride myself in being tough, in not letting emotions control
me.  Emotions were dangerous, especially when I was around
Bastien.  He had a way of bringing out the best and the worst in
me.

Curling up into as
tight a ball as I am able, I can’t help but wonder where
Bastien really is.  Did he truly die in that fire?  Did he
manage to escape?  Is he still out there searching for me?

I
can only hope that he is alive.  The real Bastien would fight
till his last breath to find me. He would never leave my side, not
for an instant if he thought I was in danger, and probably even if he
didn’t.  

Placing a hand on my
swollen belly, I feel ill at ease.  Am I in danger?  Thesa
seems to think so.  Judging by what little I have seen of
Hendrix, he appears to be a man on a mission, willing to do whatever
it takes to get ahead.  I do not want to be caught in his path
but I am still in the dark as to exactly why he wants my children.
 Why anyone does for that matter.    What do they
know that I do not and how is that they came by this knowledge?

And Thesa...I no
longer doubt her loyalty to me.  Not after I watched her suffer
through eating some of my food.  It didn’t take long for
the pains to come, forcing her to lie on the couch.  From time
to time she would cry out and I would rise in bed to stare at her in
the dark.  Each time she would tell me to stay, to think of
myself first.  Never have I spent such a long night, wondering
if the poison intended to induce my labor would steal her away from
me.  Obviously Hendrix does not wish to kill my children.  He
just grows impatient.