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“Roberd!” I glare at him, knowing I am poking a dragon with a hot poker. He hasn’t had his Edetraxi Java yet, but I refuse to let what he did last night not be addressed.
“Don’t!” he puts his hand up, walking past me to his addiction. I grab his shoulder, spinning him around to face me. Not an easy task considering he is a hair taller than me and a few marks heavier.
“No! Now! You know Akiyra doesn’t feel that way about you! I have never seen you be so callous with a woman, even those we hated when on the job.”
He turns away from me, his shoulders falling, dejection in every fiber of his being. “I know,” he whispers.
My anger drifts away as I see the pain in his eyes. “I want to blame drinking, blame it on the fact that she just bought us. But that isn’t it at all.”
Walking over to the java brewer, I pour us each a cup, adding a healthy dose of cream to mine, and just a drop to his. He always jokes he likes it as dark as his soul. Handing the coffee to him, I motion up to the bridge. I have a feeling that this is going to be a heavy conversation and we need privacy. Might as well get that and a view.
Once we are settled in the nest, looking out at the stars, I turn to him. “Talk to me.”
He is silent for so long I think he isn’t going to talk, then he starts. His voice is distant. “Did I ever tell you how I came to be at auction?”
I ponder his question for a minute, realizing that he never did tell us why he was at the auction. His anger always seemed so close to the surface it was easier to not ask. “No, I don’t think you did.”
“I was sixteen when I was forced to the auction block. My crime, loving someone that I shouldn’t have.” His harsh laugh breaks the silence between us. “Zoni’s sun she was gorgeous and out of my league. Long blonde hair, blue eyes that I swear you could see the stars in.”
“Where did you meet?” I ask him, curious to know this side of him.
“We were in school together, the same year.”
“Wait, you attended school?” I look at him as if he has grown a second head (oh wait, he is male and already has that) or a set of bunlap ears. Nice long white ears that flop down to his chest. I envision that to get the other image out of my head. Seen it one too many times to have it seared into my memory again.
He looks a little sheepish as he nods his head. “Yeah, but I was so angry when I was auctioned that I didn’t say anything and by the time my head had cooled it was easier to let everyone believe that I was nobody.”
“So who are your parents?” To receive any form of schooling on Xistrosie your parents have to be on the more well-to-do side of things.
“To them I am dead. At least that is what the news outlets have told the galaxy. Xistrosie cannot be seen as having an issue with their youth misbehaving and if they go against the wishes of Dolores, then they have an even bigger issue.”
“You went against Dolores? How?” My voice is filled with awe at the thought of anyone brave enough to go against the Empress of Xistrosie. The white blond, orange-tinged skin dictator rules with an iron fist. She is always perfectly put together, her lips in a prunish smile as she rants and bullies like a warehouse worker. Anyone who dares to go against her is either ridiculed as hearsay or thrown into the auction and declared dead.
“Did you ever hear about Dolores’s niece?”
“Yes, but didn’t she die? I remember hearing something about that, you had just arrived the month before and flew into a rage, Umbri forced you into the basement and refused you food or visitors for days.”
“Yes. It broke me more than being a slave. But our story begins long before I was sold. SUPPOSEDLY, her father and mother were killed when Bronwyn was a baby. I don’t know the truth to that, but she was raised by her aunt. My mother was Dolores’s best friend, so I spent plenty of time at the castle. How couldn’t I help falling in love with Wynn?
She was everything to me and I to her. The other kids would shy away, afraid of her aunt. But I had the chance to see the softer side of her aunt, so didn’t understand their fear. I should have listened, even mother warned me. But we were young and foolish. They caught us together, ripped her out of my arms. Dragged her down the hall screaming. Then they pinned me down, while the castle guard branded me.”
“Wait, I have seen every inch of you more than once. You don’t have a brand.” I say, not quite believing him. He instantly stands up, pulling his pants down to his thighs, his spouter on proud display. I quickly turn my head, “Hey! That ship sailed when we were given our freedom!”
He cuffs me on the head, “Quit it. You don’t believe I was branded. I want to prove my story to you and what lengths they go to hide what they do to those that displease Dolores.”
I turn back to look at him, trying not to focus on his not so small member. Good thing I am not self-conscious. He holds himself to the side and pulls off a patch that covers the side of his pubic bone. It perfectly matches his skin. Underneath the patch is a mess of white lines that form a D with an X in the middle. The whole thing is surrounded by small birds in flight. I shiver at the pain he must have endured.
“How did we never know of this?” I ask, tearing my gaze from him.
“Umbri forbid me to let anyone see it. This is only one of them. The same is on the other side.”
I look at him in horror, “The pain. Why did they do that? Why brand you?”
“Why? Dolores stood watching the whole time. She smiled, that cruel little smirk and said, “be thankful I didn’t take your spouter and make you pee with a straw. Instead, every time a woman comes to be with you, she will recoil in horror at your disfigurement. The only way you will ever have physical enjoyment from now on, will be out of pity or as a job.”
That was my last memory of the castle. .I passed out from the pain. Next thing I knew I was in the cages waiting to be auctioned. I spent a month there before I was healthy enough to be auctioned. The sentence for my crime of loving someone... I was freely given to Umbri, to never be able to pay my debt. Though in all the records on Xistrosie, my debt was 100,000 bits.”
“I’m so sorry. Did you ever hear anything of Wynn? Did she truly die?”
“I don’t know. When I came out of the cellar, Umbri told me to lose myself in the job. Only by doing that and doing it well would I be able to live. If I caused any trouble, then my parents would be punished.” He turns to me, his eyes full of sadness and unshed tears. “They told my parents that I had contracted some disease and died. It was so contagious that they had to burn my body without them even saying goodbye.”
“Now, the only way I know is the job. Without it, I feel lost, and then the emotions, the anger, the pain boils up and I want to make others feel how I feel.”
We are quiet for a few minutes. I don’t know how to respond to him. What he did to Akiyra was out of line, but he knows that. I know that her heart has been encased in stone and each of us is chiseling it away, she will forgive him. But—
Roberd interrupts my thoughts. “Don’t tell the others of this. I’m not ready to see their pity or deal with their questions. Akiyra is right in sending me away. I am not good for anyone here and I need a purpose to my life.”
I don’t argue with him. A part of me agrees with him, though I will miss him like crazy. We have lived together, been closer than brothers in many ways for 11 years. “Where will you go?”
“The rebels have a strong base here. I want to help them however I can. Things have changed in eleven years, but the castle never changes. If I can in some way make Dolores pay. . . Maybe I can even find my parents.”
I clap his shoulder, squeezing gently, “promise to stay in touch? I know Akiyra will be there in a minute if you need us.”
“Of course.” We sit in silence for a few more minutes. A long sigh escapes him, “I’ve never spoken of any of this before. I didn’t realize how much it weighed on me.”
A throat clearing has both of us jumping and turning around, but no one is there.
“Excuse me, but I couldn’t help overhearing,” Tiri’s voice is softer somehow, not as snide. “Roberd, I am sorry for your past and how I have behaved towards you. This can no way make up for any of that, but I have some news for you. First, your parents are not dead but alive on Xislunia.” Roberds gasp interrupts Tiri. “They have a small shop of exclusive handmade items. Your father also has a small shipping business that runs between the moon and Xistrosie. You have two sisters, both coming of age soon.”
“Sisters?” Roberd’s voice quivers. I have never seen or heard so much emotion from him that is not anger.
“Yes. Also, Bronwyn did not die as her aunt announced. She was renamed Winnifred and goes by Winnie. She was relocated to here on Xislunia. If you would like the relevant addresses I can have them for you. I have arranged for all five of you to have communicators implanted if you would like.” Tiri’s voice almost sounded indecisive or nervous at the end.
“Thank you, Tiri,” Roberd replies, “On both accounts. Now, I think I need to go apologize to Akiyra and get a hot cup of Edetraxi. Mine is cold and no one should ever drink cold java.”
I nod to him, “I’m going to stay here for a while. The stars are peaceful.”