Broken Promises – Chapter 8

On December 15, 2018December 22, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing7 Comments

Chapter 8

It took every ounce of willpower Aden possessed not to seek out Kara the moment his feet hit the metal deck of the landing bay. When he had called in his approach, he received very specific orders from the emperor that he was to make sure the package was placed in the rooms he had been assigned and that he was properly taken care of by a healer. He was not to leave until he was certain Tanis would be able to walk on his own to the throne room later that day for the ceremony. It had taken forever for the healer to arrive and longer for her to assure him that Tanis would not die from his head injury or the malnutrition.

The second half of his orders was to report to the throne room once that was done. When Aden finally entered the throne room three hours later, the Emperor was standing where Aden had left Kara. A quick glance around the room proved she was not in her usual place, on the left side of the throne on a stack of pillows. Lower than her master, but close enough to touch. His stomach tightening further with fear, Aden strode up behind the emperor and bowed.

“I trust the package has arrived safely and as promised,” the emperor inquired calmly, not bothering to turn around. He had seen Aden’s glance at the dais in the reflection of the windows, felt his anxiety that Kara was not where she should be, and it infuriated him. When would the boy learn that Kara was none of his concern? That she was his to do with as he pleased. The small voice imprisoned in the back of his head screamed his objections. Caius ignored him.

“He’ll survive, if barely,” Aden answered straightening.

“Was there trouble?” Caius asked, turning just his upper body so that he could look at Aden with one eyebrow risen in surprise.

“He tried to kill one of her guards today. They almost killed him in return. The healer was able to keep him alive, but it will still be sometime before he has completely regained his wits.”

“Did you kill the guard?” Caius asked mildly, turning back to the window.

“I killed them both. I do not think the queen fully understood the power we hold. She does now.”

“Good, good,” Caius mused. Turning he slowly made his way to his dais. “Maura might have been one of the galaxies best thieves, but it was her arrogance that led to her being stranded on that little planet. I suppose she tried to coerce you into taking her with you. Using her body as a lure.” A foot was on the bottom step when he paused to look at Aden, a small smile playing around the edge of his lips. “I hear she is particularly well verse in the carnal arts. It would be a shame not to partake in one so willing when there are so few here to slake a young one such as yourself thirst.”

Their conversation had been civil, master to apprentice, but with this last question Aden had sensed the dangerous mood his master was in. A trap had been laid, and if Aden wanted to survive he needed to tread carefully. Still, he could not keep that disgust off his face at the thought of touching such a creature.

“She tried,” he scoffed. “I do not like my women power hunger or too eager.”

“No. You only crave the ones you cannot have,” Caius snarled.

The trap sprung.

Aden averted his eyes.

Sighing, Caius turned and continued up the three stairs to his dais where he turned and sat down, allowing the silence to drag to fill the room. Finally he spoke, his voice once more calm. That alone frighten Aden.

“You have only your weakness for what is not yours to blame for what was done.”

“What do you mean?” Aden breathed, his eyes locking with Caius. The tightness that had been constricting his heart since Tanis’s strange plea twisted.

“We have a celebration to ready ourselves for,” Caius answered, purposely ignoring Aden’s question. That part of him deep in his head clutched his head and moaned, dropping to his metaphorical knees. Like Aden, Caius could feel every touch, hear every thought, feel every emotion as the guards did their worst and then some to Kara. Where the part of him that sat glaring at Aden reveled in her misery, the part that tried in vain to break his bonds, to retake control, recoiled. That part would have never inflicted this kind or horror on the woman he loved.

You are weak, the demon sneered, for in many cultures that was what he was. A demon. It was not what he started out as, but for what he had become it was an apt description, and the end was near. He could taste it. Once the ritual was finished they could move forward, and he would finally have what he so deserved.

Complete domination of all those living and dead in every known and unknown universe. Then those who sought to control him, to keep him caged would learn their place. At his feet.

“Did you punish Maura for her failure?” he asked. Aden’s startled expression answered before the boy could.

“I was too concerned with the health of our prize. When I saw the condition he was in, I immediately brought him here,” Aden answered.

Liar, Caius snarled. Out loud he said, “It is to late to go back now. After the ceremony I want you to go down and make sure she never disappoints us again. Until then, go and ready yourself. The ceremony begins in a few hours.”

His face as blank as he could make it, Aden bowed, his mind racing with the implications of him being away from Kara when he knew the mood the emperor was in. “My lord,” he answered in acknowledgement of his orders, his voice empty of emotion. Turning, he started out of the room only to be stopped by Caius quiet voice once again.

“But first, I would like you to go down to the Red Guards garrison room.”

Aden stopped short, his earlier fear of what was happening to Kara twisting his stomach. There was something in Caius’s voice that turned Aden’s blood to ice. It was lower, more of a growl than usual. Sinister.

“May I ask why?” he asked as casually as he could manage, not daring turn around to face him. Where he may be able to keep his voice empty, he could not keep his expression the same.

“You will see when you arrive.”

“As you wish,” Aden said bowing his head before leaving the room.

Caius smiled knowing how hard it would be for Aden hold his temper and not kill any of his master’s personal guard once he saw for himself his fears were true. Caius thought for a moment about warning them Aden was coming but decided that seeing for himself what will happen if he harbored the same traitorous thoughts Kara had, losing one or two men was worth having his young apprentice once again under his control and focused on the end prize.

* * *

Once Aden was clear of the throne room, he broke out in a run, shoving people out of his as he raced through the hallway towards the Red Guard garrison. Once again he reached out for Kara again but was only able to feel bits and pieces. It was if something was blocking him. The glimpses he did received were still a jumble of fear, pain, and pleasure, only so faint he was afraid once he did find her he would be too late.

The closer he came to the garrison the clearer the feelings became and the more his own terror grew. He was almost positive his master would not stoop to Colin’s level and give her to his men to do as they willed. The thought that he did exactly that turned the part of Aden’s heart that had been warmed by Kara cold. If Caius had given her to the garrison just after he had left the ship, it meant she would have been at the mercy of upwards to twenty-five men for at least six hours.

Oh dear Gods!

When he burst into the garrison, the smell of sex, sweat and an underlining metallic tang of blood turned Aden’s terror into rage. Eyes blazing red fire, he scanned the nearly empty room. Two men who were laughing as they walked out of a side room tucking in their shirts stopped dead when they saw Aden and the murderous look in his eyes. Three others who had been sitting in various places jumped to their feet to stand at attention. The show of respect did not help his rage because it showed that they were naked and well satisfied. Eyes narrowed, Aden’s swept the rest of the room, falling onto Kara’s dress neatly draped over a nearby chair.

No!

“Where is she,” he snarled his eyes going back to the first two he had seen.

Their eyes darted to each other before they moved to the side clearing the way to the bedroom door they had just come through. Aden strode towards the closed door, bringing both hands up palms out as he passed between the men, sending them crashing into the walls on opposite sides of the room. If they were not already dead, he would finish the job once he had Kara safely in his arms. Anyone who had touched her would not see the next hour, consequences be damned.

Chapter 7
Chapter 9

Broken Promises – Chapter 7

On December 8, 2018December 22, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Free Write4 Comments

Chapter 7

Queen Maura sat on her throne glaring at the daze healer the two idiots she had assigned to keep him alive dumped at her feet. Said idiots promptly took five healthy steps back and stood closer to the door than their queen. Not that that would save them. No. Once their visitor had collected his package she would string them up in the healer’s place and teach them a lesson they would soon not forget.

Slowly, her hand gripping her staff in an attempt to stem her anger, electricity sizzling across the medallion at the top, Maura stood. Today for their special guest she wore her favorite outfit. The material was modest in cut. A halter style top that tied at the back of her neck and mid back, covering her small breasts while leaving her back bare. The skirt flowed around her, a silver belt holding it in place low on her ample hips, draping down around her legs with a small train. But that was where the modesty ended. The translucent white material left nothing to the imagination and set off her dark creamy skin to perfection. Holding her long shocking white hair in place was a circlet of red gold, twisted in an intricate design with a large white jewel set in the middle.

Immediately those who surrounded her, including the guards, dropped to one knee, head bowed. As befitting one of her station, she thought with an evil gleam in her grey eyes. She was a goddess after all. Dropped from the heavens the gods know how many years ago, when she stumbled out of the woods covered in soot and dirt the natives saw her exotic looks and the fact she had emerged from the place of The Great Release as a sign from the heavens that she was here to save them. What they didn’t know was that she was an interstellar thief running from the authorities and was shot down on this backwater little planet and left for dead. She had hoped to entice the handsome Lord Sahen into taking her with him and far away from this technological void she had been forced to live in.

As she neared the healer who lay crumpled on the floor, her dreams of escaping dwindled. She was not ignorant of who Aden Sahen or his emperor were. Rumors of their power and thirst for domination were the stuff of nightmares told to little children who did not obey their parents. Maura had seen for herself what was left of a world that refused to bow down to them. Now they were here, and what she promised them was half dead at her feet. With a tap of her rod on Tanis’s side, a small jolt of electricity shot through the healer’s body forcing him to turn over. When Maura saw the growing bruise on the side of his face her temper exploded.

“You fools!” she bellowed. “I cannot deliver him in this condition. He was to be broken, not damaged beyond repair.”

“We are sorry mistress, but if I hadn’t backhanded him, Tenan would be dead,” Reyal whined.

“Better him than the entire world,” she hissed. “Get a healer in here immediately. Maybe we can fix this before it’s too late.”

“Too late for what,” a calm authoritative voice asked.

The queen whirled around to see Aden standing in the doorway of her throne room, two men dressed in red behind him. Her first thought was how handsome the young sorcerer was. The second was she wondered what he would look like without his long black coat or the black shirt tucked into tight black pants. As he strode closer she realized he wore black boots that rose to just under his knees. How delicious it would be to strip those boots and pants slowly down those long legs, and lick her way back up to what she was positive was as impressive as the sorcerer himself. Those wicked thoughts were quickly replaced by apprehension when Tanis groaned behind her and Aden’s eyes narrowed, flashing red.

“My Lord Sahen,” she cooed swaying up to him. “So wonderful to finally meet you. I had not expected to see you until after the noon meal.”

Aden regarded the queen with indifference. Although a handsome woman, the clothes, or lack thereof, she wore disgusted him. It reminded him of the outfits Caius forced Kara to wear when he wanted to distract his enemies during negotiations with thoughts of Kara theirs for a night. It had taken every ounce of will power not to kill the bastards with every leer or carnal thought that raced unfiltered across their faces. Every one of those thoughts that Kara could hear, feel while she stood by the emperor’s side like some expensive toy the emperor had brought out to show and tell, but not touch. It had been physically painful for Kara not to act on those thoughts, a side effect of what she called her curse that the emperor took great delight in.

“We arrived earlier than expected. The Emperor wants to finish our transaction so we can move on to more important tasks,” Aden gruffly answered the queen. He wanted to be gone from this place as quickly as possible. Something was not right. He just could not figure out what it was.

“More important?” the queen repeated, unable to keep indignation out of her voice that she was obviously being dismissed. Pasting an expression on her face that promised Aden any desire he wished, Queen Maura sashayed towards him, placing a hand on his arm and sliding it up to his shoulder as she move so her body was a breath away from his. “But I thought you were to bring the girl here and they would both be trained by my men,” she pouted.

As if he would allow her men to touch Kara. Ignoring her obvious ploy to distract him with her body, Aden brushed past her to where Tanis lay groaning. Squatted down next to him, Aden studied the man. A large bruise covered the upper half of the left side of Tanis’s face. His dark shoulder length hair was wet and combed away from his face which was gaunt as was his body from malnutrition. Outward there was nothing special about this man. A simple healer that had led a simple life. Six months. They had given Maura six months to break this man, yet his mind was still whole. Still a threat. It spoke of an inner-strength that was as rare as the woman who waited for them up on the emperor’s ship.

So this is the man that will take Kara from me, Aden thought. A wave of intense jealousy had his hand up as if he were going to strangle Tanis before he could think of the consequences. Quickly Aden reigned in his powers before he did something very foolish. Bringing Tanis to his master dead would do neither him nor Kara any good. But before he could stand, Tanis grabbed Aden’s wrist with the strength that belayed his weaken state. His dark blue eyes flew open locking with Aden’s, freezing him where he crouched.

“Help her,” he croaked.

Images of arms and legs intertwined, bodies moving, skin against skin, rough hands, stings of leather. Moans of pain and pleasure, of cruel laughter and pleas for mercy that would never come. The sense of hopelessness and loss of will to go on as a life force slowly diminished.

Gasping, Aden stumbled backwards, his eyes wild as the world spun around him. As his eyes darted around the room, the images in his head slowly fading as the room around him came into focus. The first person he saw was the queen, who stood frozen with one hand on her chest and eyes wide. The rest of her people looked at him with more than a little fear. The two men he brought with him watched with dispassionate eyes, used to the oddness that was ever present in their world.

“Are you alright, Lord Sahen?” Queen Maura asked taking a step forward, a worried frown on her beautiful face.

Was he alright? The images filled his vision again along with the confused emotions of unbridled pleasure and despair. The emotions cut through him, piercing his heart and driving him to his knees. One hand on the ground while the other clutched the front of his shirt over his heart, he looked at Tanis who was watching him and gasped, “What have you done to me?”

“You have to save her,” Tanis whispered hoarsely, reaching for Aden. “She will not last much longer.”

With a sudden clarity that drained the color from Aden’s face, he knew who Tanis was talking about and what those images meant. “He wouldn’t,” he breathed in horror.

Tanis’s only answer was a stricken expression and a slight nod of his head. Those dark blue eyes that shone with deep knowledge and intelligence dimmed and became confused, dazed. Glancing around him, his hand going to his head as he winced in pain, Tanis mumbled, “Where am I? What’s going on?”

The terror that consumed Aden at what was being done to Kara squashed down the questions that rose about Tanis’s sudden change in behavior. He had to get back to the ship. Now.

“The deal has been altered,” Aden announced in the quiet as he lurched to his feet. With a motion of his hand, his guards started for Tanis. As they hauled him to his feet and began to carry him out of the room, Aden turned his murderous glare to the Queen who blanched. “I hope the Emperor is not too displeased with his condition,” Aden snapped.

“Two of my men claimed he tried to kill them. They acted in self-defense,” the queen explained quickly.

“Are they still alive?” Aden followed the queen’s gaze to the two guards who were kneeling by the wall vainly trying to be invisible. With a flick of his wrist they both fell over, dead.

The queen gasped at the sheer power it would have taken her to do such a thing but seemed so easy to this Sorcerer. She looked back at Aden wide-eyed, realizing that the rumors were true and maybe she would be better off staying on this backward little planet. Especially with the mood the foul mood the sorcerer was now in. Without even so much as a glance at her, he strode out of the throne room.

Aden ignored the queen, who was calling out to him, desperate to get back to the ship. Never in his wildest dreams did he thing Caius would do something so vile. They had talked many times about going back and killing Colin for what he forced on Kara, and now….

Closing his eyes Aden sought Kara out with his mind. When he finally found her, the images and feelings that came back to him were a jumble. The fear and pain he felt before slammed into him again. Staggering, he grabbed the wall for support. Shit! Racking his brain trying to figure out what they had done to upset the emperor enough to warrant this kind of punishment, Aden ran for his cruiser, desperate to return to home as quickly as possible to prove his fears wrong.

Chapter 6
Chapter 8

Broken Promises – Chapter 6

On December 1, 2018December 8, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Free Write5 Comments

Chapter 6

Kara stared out of the window of Caius’s immense spaceship onto the planet below, the cowl of the rich green silk cloak that covered her from neck to foot lying against her back, highlighting her deep auburn hair that reach down to her lower back. Under the cloak she wore a white dress made of sheer silk. The material was layered so there was only a glimpse of the pale skin that lay beneath. At each shoulder was a delicate silver clasp that held the dress in place, so with a click it would fall away from her body. The deep V neckline exposed a pale line of skin down to her bellybutton. Just below that a silver belt delicately engraved with vines and flowers rested low on her hips. The piece was beautiful, and if Kara had been less exhausted, less numb she would have admired it.

Caius had always lavished her with gifts like this after a conflict where the nightmares she inflicted on their enemies were particularly gruesome. It was his way of apologizing for forcing those images into her own head, because what the victim saw, so did Kara. Yet on the times she had fought him, refused to do his bidding, he used those same nightmares against her. Forcing her to relive them as if they were her own. It was as if two different people lived inside of him. One who care for her, was gentle with her, maybe even loved her in his own way. The other used her, forced her to do things for the only reason that it would hurt her, and he enjoyed her pain, was viscous in his punishments, a monster in every sense of the word.

When they first arrived on the ship, she had caught a glimpse of the man who cared for her well-being even though she was his to command, to use. That glimpse had been fleeting. Once she and Aden refused to break their bond the monster roared to life. When Aden told Caius that they could not break something magical when they did not know how it was forged, and that even if they could they would not, the monster exploded.

Kara did not know how long she spent in that small white room with no windows or doors screaming. The short coarse shift she had been given to wear lay in shreds on the cold floor, her pain so intense, unrelenting, that she had shredded the thin material to reach her skin. Praying that if she spilled enough blood the pain would bleed out with the precious fluid. She begged, pleaded, promised things she would have never conceived of doing, just to stop the pain. Nothing short of her denying Aden would suffice. The one command she could obey.

On the other side of a wall size two-way mirror that looked like a blank wall on Kara’s side, Aden was trapped in his own room, helplessly watching. With Kara’s screams echoing around him, unable to reach her, to help her in anyway, he too had promised things that had made him cringe in revulsion. Begged Caius to punish him, not her, but the emperor had refused.

There was a time when Aden thought his power rivaled Caius’s. Now he knew different. With barely a thought, without any effort, Caius bound Aden’s powers completely. Bound them then left him unable to stop the torturous pain Caius inflicted with gleeful abandonment on Kara, laughing as he watched Aden break in front of him. All because Aden dared to love her. He had asked Caius who he really was, because the man who stood before him was not the man he had grown to respect, to love as a mentor.

“I am someone more powerful then you could ever imagine. As powerful as the gods themselves,” Caius had seethed. “And you will do well to remember that Kara is mine to do whatever I wish. She will obey me. As will her mate. As will you.”

“I cannot give you what you want,” Aden cried desperate to make Caius understand that he asked the impossible. On the other side of the mirror Kara’s screams intensified. Aden tightly closed his eyes and looked away, the agony that sound caused him threatening his sanity.

“Cannot, or will not,” Caius quietly hissed, his own rage barely contained at Aden’s refusal to do as he was told. Aden could not meet Caius’s eyes, his silence an answer on its own. His voice squeezed down to a whisper in his rage, Caius repeated, “I will ask you one more time. Break your connection with Kara, or you will both wish for a death that will never come.”

“You have taken everything from us,” Aden agonized whisper filled the sudden silence. Eyes filled with defiance, he glared up at the monster before him and hissed, “You can do your worst, but we will not give you the only thing that makes our existence bearable.”

For a long moment they glared at each other. Aden on his knees, his conviction and determination etched in his expression. Caius looming over him, his rage mounting with every second Aden refused to bow down to his authority.

“So be it,” Caius hissed into the silence.

With a swish of his cloak, Caius turned and left the room, the metal door whooshing shut behind him. The moment the soft click of the door sounded Kara’s screams began once again. Closing his eyes, Aden slowly bent over until his forehead touched the cold metal floor, agony washing over him. Nothing short of total obedience would stop their torment, and that was something neither of them could give.

Then, suddenly, it stopped.

Kara felt gently arms lift her from the floor of her cell. Exhausted, her mind clinging desperately to what little sanity she had left, the only thing she remember in those next hours were flashes of light from the ceiling as she was carried back to her rooms. Of gentle hands washing the blood from her already healing body, each ragged gash tended to so it would not scar. Of her tangled hair being carefully brushed out, each tangle handled with care not to hurt her as they were pulled apart. Of being laid on a soft bed and being tucked under warm blankets. Of blessed pain free, dream free darkness.

Now, as Kara stared down at the innocent planet, she wondered what had changed. Why had the torment ended when it was obvious they had not given Caius what he wanted? It had something to do with this planet, but she had not the opportunity to ask Aden and she was too afraid to ask Caius. His anger was there, just under the surface, so she made it her life’s mission to be as invisible as possible so she would not bring his wrath down upon her again.

A calm soothing presence drew near her, enveloping her with a love so warm, so deep she felt the lingering pain of the last weeks subside. Closing her eyes, Kara allowed herself to fall into that warmth if only a moment. Then, very gently, she began to pull away.

Aden, her mind breathed into his. You take a big risk doing this out in the open. If Caius found out…. She let the thought finish itself. Opening her eyes, Kara fixed them on the planet before her as Aden came to a stop next to her, his eyes also on the offending planet.

Down there was the man who would take Kara from him. Down there was her destiny, his destruction If he had been given any wish he desired, it would be to take her as far away from here as possible.

It is a risk I am willing to take if it gives you a moment of peace, he countered. He projected a mental image of him wrapping his arms around her, pulling her back against him. So real was the image they both felt the heat of each other’s bodies. His love, his need for this woman defied logic. She was his drug he could not get enough of. He was addicted to her and he never wanted to be cured. Feeling her shiver against him, he mentally nuzzled her neck. Again this was a huge risk he was taking, because if Caius caught them he would punish them both. Aden was not sure either of them could survive another round of the last two weeks. When he thought about how long they have been trapped in their never ending cycle of torment, he shuddered.

“I will not allow him to deny us this one pleasure,” Aden vowed adamantly yet quietly as he gazed down at her. He took a step closer.

“Aden,” Kara began, but before she could turn towards him or assure him that she would not give in to Caius’s demand, that she loved him too much to lose him, she hissed in pain.

The pain in her lower back that radiated up to her lungs and outwards was so sharp it took her to her knees. Because they were wrapped around each other in their minds, the pain leaped into Aden. Gasping, he grabbed onto one of the steel girders that held the windows in place before his knees could collapse from under him. Quickly backing his mind away from hers so he could think clearly, Aden stared at her in horror before looking towards the doors, feeling his master’s murderous glare from across the room.

The black cloaked figure moved slowly across the room, his pale blue eyes gleaming from under his cowl. Raising hands twisted with arthritis, showing the blue veins just under the grey skin, he pushed his cowl back to show a face that looked every inch of his two thousand years. Shoulders hunched with age, his true height was hidden, although he did have to look up slightly as he narrowed his eyes at his young apprentice.

“Must she spend more days in agony because you refuse to heed my wishes?” Caius growled, his voice gravelly as if it had been used too much. “Have you learned nothing? Do you not care for her well being?”

Aden bristled at the last comment knowing that after those torturous hours of watching Kara writhe in pain, Caius knew exactly how he felt about her. “My lord,” Aden bowed before walking towards him. “I only asked how she faired. Nothing more. You know I would not risk her health any further.”

Caius looked from his most trusted servant to the girl on her hands and knees doing her best not to scream because she knew he would enjoy her pain. Frowning, he knew under normal circumstances he could trust Aden to do anything he asked of him. Yet when it came to this girl Aden refused one simple request.

The part of his brain that he had kept under lock and key from the moment he ordered Aden to retrieve Kara whispered, What did you expect? That they would bow down and grant you your every wish? You have taken everything from them. Their family, their freedom, their will. All they have is each other. Besides, no matter how powerful you may think you are, you cannot take what they cannot give.

Scowling at the unwanted reminder of that little known fact, Caius mentally put a muzzle on his prisoner. I do not need advice from weak love sick fools. I will have what I came for, prophecy be damned!

With a flick of Caius’s hand towards Kara, her pain subsided and she was able to breathe again. As much as he enjoyed seeing her suffer, there was no time for small pleasures. Noting how Aden made it a point not to look at Kara, or go to her side to help, Caius watched as Kara slowly climbed to her feet using the wall for support. Although Caius could tell it cost Aden a great deal to stay where he was.

No matter, Caius thought to himself. After tomorrow she will not even care if he is in the room.

The muffled humph in the back of his mind that spoke of a naivety Caius had lost long ago did nothing to cool his irritation. Well two could play that game.

“I have a job for you, my friend,” Caius announced in his gravelly voice as he walked over to where Kara stood, reaching out to gently stroke her hair. Inside his head, his prisoner slammed himself against the bars of his cage, desperately trying to escape so he could stop Caius from touching her. A few steps away, he could feel Aden’s desperate need to yank her away from him. Caius was impressed with the amount of willpower it took for Aden to stay his hand. Two men who were desperate to protect one small woman from her destiny. Fools. “I want you to go down to the planet and retrieve the package.”

“I thought the original plan was to bring Kara to him so we would know for sure he is the one we seek,” Aden frowned. Watching his master study Kara as if she was some prize possession, a pet, threaten to tear down the fragile walls he had built around his rage. Attacking the emperor would do neither of them any good. Looking away, he forcefully shoved the unhelpful emotion back into its box. Closing his eyes, fisting his hands in frustration, Aden realized that was exactly what Kara was to Caius. A prize possession, and soon he would have the matched pair. That thought had Aden gritting his teeth again. Kara was his.

“It was,” the emperor answered. “However, I have recently learned he is not as well trained as our young pet here. I will not risk losing all I have worked so hard for because of someone else’s incompetence.” He turned to Aden, who was now looking at Caius with neutral eyes. “You will go down and inform the queen since she could not break him then she leaves me no choice but to do it myself. Something that displeases me greatly.”

“And if she gives me trouble?” Aden asked.

“Dispose of her,” Caius ordered coldly.

“As you wish,” Aden bowed. With one last worried glance towards Kara, that unfortunately the emperor did not miss, Aden left the room.

Caius looked at the door pondering what he should do about Aden’s refusal to heed his wishes concerning his pet. It didn’t matter their connection would be severed this time tomorrow. What concerned him was it had occurred in the first place. Kara should not have been able to bond with anyone aside from the one who would father her children and one of two who had been connected to her through the prophecy for more lives than he cared to count. It was the way it had been since the beginning of time. What was different this time? The scrolls he had in his possession yielded nothing he did not already know, which frustrated him to no end. His gaze went to Kara who stood quietly staring out the window, doing her best not to be noticed. Maybe there was something new in the ones he had discovered just before he brought Kara home.

Home. This metal city was far away from her home or even his. It was a means to and end, and once they finished with this next step of his plan then, maybe, they could think about going home. Before that could happen, there was the small matter of the continuing disobedience he needed to attend to.

“How much more must you suffer before you heed my wishes?” Caius’s voice hissed through the room as he turned and walked towards his throne.

“You ask the impossible,” Kara answered not taking her eyes off the planet. There was something down there. Something familiar, but for the life of her she could not remember ever being here.

“I only ask for what is mine!” Caius bellowed, slapping his hand to his chest in emphasis.

Jumping at the sudden sharp anger, Kara’s eyes snapped to Caius. He had reached the three stairs to the dais where his throne sat. She had no real excuse for what she said next. Maybe it was the fact she was exhausted, or that she could feel Aden as he moved further away from the ship, like taffy being pulled thinner and thinner, threatening to snap in half. Or maybe it was whatever was drawing her attention down to the planet. Pick one. None of them explained her sudden stupidity.

“What is yours? What you ask for has never been yours because it belongs to Aden therefore I cannot give it to you,” she snapped in frustration.

Caius froze as he placed his foot on the last step. The stillness in the room, for there were the ever present elite guard watching over their emperor, was deafening. Wide eyes regarded Kara as if she had lost her mind, and maybe she had.

It was when the emperor began to move that the room began to breathe again. Eyes filled with horror, Kara watched him slowly turn and carefully place himself on the large black throne, making sure that his robes were just so. That the long sleeves hung just right as he gently placed his hands on the arms of the throne. He was moving with that controlled carefulness that spoke of a fine burning rage. One that would consume everyone in its path with white hot flame. When he finally spoke, his voice was the calm before the storm. A deceptive controlled emptiness that with one breath would break, destroying everything in its path.

“Maybe I have been too lenient with you. Maybe I should take a page from your past, from before I found you and you begged me to save you from the bastards that abused you. Maybe I should and give you to one of my garrisons for a few hours. Remind Aden how the touch of a man, any man, fills you with hunger and lust. Then maybe he will see you for the worthless whore you are and sever your bond as I have commanded!” his voice growing louder as his anger grew.

Kara shuddered at the thought of being raped repeatedly. Because that was what he was suggesting. It had been Colin’s favorite form of punishment. Watching as his men used her. Knowing if she did not perform to his satisfaction he would turn her over to them again the next night bound and gagged, leaving her to the mercy of the men. Knowing that once her appetites were appeased that the horror of what she had just done would eat away at her soul.

“No,” she breathed. Taking a step towards him, Kara pleaded. “Please, my lord. I beg of you. Don’t do this! We cannot give you what you want.”

“It’s the ‘we’ in that sentence that displeases me,” Caius snarled slowly rising off his throne, his eyes narrowed on Kara with rage. “There should be no we!” He began descending the steps of the dais, one after one, his voice raising as his rage did. “There should only be Aden and then you. You do not belong to him. You belong to ME!” yelling the last word to emphasize it.

“Please,” Kara whispered, her eyes locked on some far point, arms stiff at her sides, her body trembling as Caius stopped close enough to her his robes brushed her cloak.

The small voice locked away in the back of Caius’s mind broke the gag Caius had put on him and screamed his outrage. He could not do this to Kara. She was precious, she was all he had. Everything that he had done, every sacrifice, every foul act was for her, for all of them. If the bastard that stood glaring at the trembling woman forced this vile act on her it would be the one thing that would break the strong vibrant woman he loved.

Ignoring that small voice, Caius leaned down, his lips close to Kara’s ear and hissed, “Break the bond, or so help me gods I will carry out my threat.”

The movement of her head was so slight Caius barely saw it, but it was enough. She would not, or could not, obey him.

“Very well,” his voice sounding as dead as his heart was. Louder, “Captain Hiram!”

Kara jumped at the sudden loudness, her eyes snapping to the emperor, wide with terror and disbelief. Hiram had been Newell’s second in command. He had worshiped Newell, followed him blindly. Hated Aden and Kara as much if not more than Newell did. The chance to avenge his mentor’s death was a dream he thought would never come true. And now the emperor was handing her to him to do with as he wished. Hiram stopped in front of them, his red robes swishing around his ankles as he saluted his emperor and gave him a small bow.

“My emperor,” he replied sharply.

“Take her to the Red Guard’s garrison,” Caius ordered as he very slowly pulled Kara’s cloak from her shoulders uncovering her to the men’s stares, his eyes locked with hers the entire time. Draping it over his arm, he took one step back and turned to his captain. “There should be on a few who are off duty. Take care not to tear her clothing. She will need the dress when Aden returns with his package. As for her body,” he hesitated, watching the hope in Kara’s eyes spark to life as she thought maybe there would be limitations to what they could do to her. “As long as there is no permanent damage and she is able to heal adequately before tomorrow’s festivities, do with her as you will. You have until this time tomorrow.”

Kara paled.

“You promised,” she whispered. When Caius only stared at her, his expression impassive as if he did not know what she was talking about, she took a step towards him. “When you rescued me from Colin, when you brought me here, you promised you would never force me to endure his form cruelty again.”

There was a flash of compassion in Caius eyes. Just enough that Kara thought maybe the man who had made that promise was still in there, somewhere.

“You can stop this,” he said gently, reaching up to touch her cheek with the tips of his fingers. A feather light touch with eyes full of sorrow. His next words crushed that hope. “All you have to do is break the bond between you and Aden,” he smiled. That smile did not reach his eyes. Those had bled red and held a malice that Kara cowered away from.

“I can’t,” she whispered hoarsely.

“Then you leave me no choice,” his smile dimming. “Captain.” With that one word, Caius turned away from Kara and walked towards the dais, dismissing her.

“With pleasure, my lord,” Hiram smiled, the heat in his eyes turning them darker. With lightning speed, he reached out and grabbed Kara around the neck, yanking her to him. “I am going to enjoy teaching you your place, witch,” he sneered. There should be at least four men in the garrison at that moment. Four to one sounded like one hell of a party.

Chapter 5
Chapter 7

Broken Promises – Chapter 5

On November 24, 2018December 2, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing4 Comments

Chapter 5

What day was it? What time? As he pried his eyes opened, Tanis did not have an answer to these questions floating through the pain filled haze that permeated his mind. He did not even know how long he had been unconscious. Minutes, hours, days. What he did know was that once again he was lying on the filthy floor of his cold dark dank cell.

At least the pain has subsided, for the most part, he thought, his body screaming in agony when he tried to move. Panting Tanis decided he did not have the energy to move. Did not have the energy to chase the rats away that scampered over him, or even the energy to wonder for the thousandth time why he was here in the first place.

The queen definitely had not been forthcoming with answers. Instead, she took a great deal of pleasure torturing him. Endlessly. Before this last session she seemed anxious about some piece of news she had just received. Something to do with him. Whatever it was, she had stepped up her attempts to break him. When her own exhaustion finally set in and she ordered him back to his cell, Tanis was not sure he would survive the night. There was nothing left in him to heal himself, and to be honest he did not want to. He had done that once. Once was enough. When she had found out what he had done, she took great pains, mostly his, to make sure he did not attempt to heal himself again.

Every once in a while, when her anger was high and she had been particularly vicious with her torturing, she would force some sort of sleeping draught down his throat so she would be sure his magic would heal him while he slept, like it had since the day he had been born. How she had known this piece of information was lost on Tanis. It was something only his parents and his wife knew about him. If the villagers knew exactly how powerful he really was, then he would have come to the attention of the queen far sooner than this. Queen Maura was a jealous queen. Anyone she felt was a threat to her reign or would be useful she either killed or forced to serve her. Maybe that was why he was here. Someone had figured out his secret and told her.

Groaning, every muscle screaming as he carefully rolled over onto his back, Tanis wondered vaguely how his family was fairing without him, or if they even knew he was still alive. Usually when someone was dragged off to the castle they were never heard from again. The thought that his wife and child would be left alone to fend for themselves with no place to call home tore at his soul.

Why. Was. He. Here?!

The Queen’s Guard had come into their small village mid-afternoon looking for The One of the Prophecy. A man of great power, whoever the hell that was. Saying that their mistress had determined he resided in Amulree. Since magic was not uncommon on Krynn, no one knew what the soldiers were talking about, and as far as the villagers knew there was no one of great power who lived in their small village. When they had called out Tanis’s name everyone had stood in shock. Luckily his best friend had retained enough wits to run to Tanis’s office where he was busy healing a broken bone and warn him of the danger. The friend had just taken his wife and two year old daughter out the backdoor into the forest when the guards broke through the front door.

Maybe that was when they figured out his secret, when he stepped out of his house and saw what was waiting for him, something inside of him shifted. As if another consciousness that he did not know existed within him took over. With a wave of his hand he had leveled most of the guard the moment they rushed him. The ones who were still standing took a moment to gawk before they rushed him. Then he had done something that even surprised him. He fought them hand to hand. Being a healer, Tanis had never practiced hand to hand combat. It was against his beliefs. But on that day he fought as if he had years of practice. It was disorienting while at the same time familiar. It wasn’t until someone had managed to come up behind and hit him in the back of the head that they were finally able to subdue him. It left Tanis barely conscious, bound and gagged on the ground outside his house while the guards took great pleasure in burning it to the ground. Then everything faded into darkness.

The next thing he remembered was being woken by a bucket of cold water thrown onto his half naked body as he hung in chains from the ceiling by his wrists. When he focused on the queen who stood before him, his fear grew tenfold. She told him of a thousand year old prophecy that depicted two powerful beings separated by time and space, each living their lives not knowing who they truly were. Once brought together, everything would become clear and their powers would rival that of the gods. She informed him he was one half of that pair, and once he gazed into the eyes of the other he would be lost to her forever.

Tanis had tried to tell the queen that she had the wrong person, that the magic he wielded was nothing compared to what she had described. He was a small town healer, not some prophesied demi-god.

The queen had asked if he was as he said, a small town healer of no consequence, then how had he knocked six men unconscious with a wave of his hand? How had he fought like a warrior as if he had spent his life training as one? Tanis did not have answers to her questions. That whole episode seemed like someone else’s memory, not his.

The queen had not allowed him time to think about it any further because she had brought out a strange device made of a shiny black metal and started to explain what it did. It was about twelve inches long, thick on one end so it fit comfortably in the queen’s small hand, narrowing at the tip like a wand certain witches in their world used to wield magic. He had never seen anything so beautiful, nor had he been so afraid. When the tip of the metal wand touched his skin, it felt as if every muscle tore into a thousand pieces at once. When she took the wand off and the screaming stopped, he realized that he was still in one piece. That his muscles in his fingers, his legs, his neck had not shredded. That he could still move. With a delighted giggle, the queen began to…experiment with the wand. First it was with range, finding she could shrink the area of pain down to a pinprick before slowly radiating it out until it encompassed his body then back again. Then there was intensity. From a small hum that grew into that muscle tearing searing, not stopping until one of his bones broke from the tension.

Drifting in and out of consciousness, he was not sure how long she had tortured him that first night, throwing more water on him when he passed out from the unbearable pain. When she grew tired of the game, she left him hanging, barely conscious, only to come back far too soon for Tanis’s sanity to start the cycle all over.

He wasn’t sure how long he had hung in that accursed room before her guards had thrown him into this dark rancid cell. When he finally fell into a fitful sleep, it had only seemed like he had just closed his eyes before the door opened again, streaming light onto his face. Two guards hauled him off the floor and dragged him out of the cell, laughing at him as he cried out in pain, so the nightmare could begin again, and again, and again.

Blinking up at the dark ceiling, he tried to breathe through the pain, to relax so he could assess the latest damage the queen had done to him. Tanis was sure a couple of ribs had been re-broken and maybe a couple of the bones in his feet. Not as many as last time. Tanis did not know whether he should be grateful or worried that she had gone easy on him. The moment he thought that he began to laugh, which turned into a cough that left him groaning in pain.

As his body finally settled down to something more manageable, a sudden sharp pain sliced through his head. A voice that sounded far away cried for help. Holding his head between his hands, Tanis grimaced. This was not the first time in the last hours he had felt something…someone pushing against his mind. Even though he had never felt anything like it before, the presence felt somehow familiar. It had been curious before. As if it was not sure if what it felt was real, like he felt. This time the presence was in distress. There was a part of Tanis, that part that he did not recognize, that desperately wanted to find that presence and save whoever it was. It was overwhelming. So much so that he was starting to rise off the floor, the pain forgotten when the when the door banged open again. Blinking against the sudden light, the confusion of what was and what was going on in his head left him unable to fight as someone grabbed an arm and dragged him into the light.

“You’re to be cleaned up for some special guest Queen Maura is expecting,” the guard Tanis had learned was named Tenan announced in his gravelly voice as he and his flunky dumped Tanis into a tub of cool water. Tenan’s voice was due to an injure that left a nasty scar across his neck. It looked like the thirty something warrior had his head almost decapitated, but with the help of a healer, the only tell-tale signs were the scar and his voice. The injury was enough to grant him the privilege of becoming one of the dungeon guards. Something he was not too happy about. That sour mood translated in the treatment Tanis received whenever the man had drag him from his cell to the throne room.

The second guard was very young. Tanis thought he had heard someone call him Reyal, but he was barely conscious at the time so could not be sure. Barely twenty, if Tanis’s assessment of the boy was correct, being a new soldier, Reyal won the luckily detail of being down in the bowls of the castle until he proved himself. Like Tenan, he was unhappy about his lot in life.

Eyes lowered, two barely clad slave women stepped next to the tub and began to remove what was left of his pants. Quickly and methodically they scrubbed his body and hair clean, being extra sure to clean any open wounds. When they were done, Tanis felt even more battered and bruised, even though they had been as careful as they could. At the nod of one of the women, the guards hauled Tanis out of the tub setting him down on the cold stone floor. The guards continued their conversation, ignoring them as the women dried and dressed Tanis.

“I don’t see what the big deal is,” Tenan sneered. “The only power I’ve seen this lowlander do is basic healing. You should have heard the queen when she found out he had been healing his own wounds.” His laughter filled the room, grating on Tanis’s nerves and making the women cringe in fear. “She almost killed him then forced him to heal himself so she could do it all over again. I’ve never seen her so angry.”

“I don’t understand the interest in this one either. Healers are a dinar a dozen, and from what I’ve heard he’s not anything special,” Reyal scoffed from where he sat with his arms crossed, tipping the chair onto its back legs. “Have you heard of him doing anything else?”

Tenan regarded Tanis. The women were combing out the snarls in his shoulder length brown hair. Tanis did not dare look up to meet the guard’s eyes, knowing it could earn him a kick in his already sore ribs.

“There was something when they went to get him. I guess he leveled a half a dozen guards with just a wave of his hand. Then he fought the rest with moves I had never heard of.” Tenan walked over to the group huddled on the floor, shoving one of the women away so he could grab Tanis by the hair, yanking his head back, sneering at the defeat in his dark blue eyes. “Rendering three more useless until someone managed to knock him out. Now he won’t even heal his own wounds without queen Maura’s permission.” With a shove, he pushed Tanis face first into the ground.

“Doesn’t sound like someone who can defeat our best warriors,” Reyal sneered. “Maybe that’s why he allowed his family to burn with his home. To scared to fight for their lives, only concerned with his sorry hide. Selfish bastard.”

“After today it won’t matter,” Tenan said, stepping towards one of the women who sat trying to be invisible. “He’ll be out of our hair and someone else’s problem.”

Someone else’s problem? A scream broke through Tanis’s puzzlement. Looking up he saw Tenan had grabbed one of the women by the hair and was dragging her over to the only table in the room. Reyal was chuckling that masculine chuckle when they are thinking sinful thoughts as he watched the woman struggle, a gleam in his eyes that said he was more than willing to join Tenan in his fun.

When Tenan slammed the woman’s upper body onto the table hard enough to stun her, leaving her legs over the edge, and ripped what little cloth covered her body, something in Tanis broke. That other foreign consciousness that Tanis now realized had resided in the back of his mind for as long as he could remember boiled to the surface. Along with it came an emotion his gentle heart had never felt before. Hate. Hate because he was tired of the pain, tired of the abuse from people he had done nothing to. Hate because he did not know if his family was alive or dead and their lives were worth much more than his. Hate because there was nothing left in him to feel anything else.

Suddenly he knew that if he could heal, then he could kill. It wouldn’t take much. A bit of concentration and he could mend a broken bone or steady an uneven heartbeat. It would stand to reason it would only take a thought to stop a heart from beating, or lungs from breathing. One thought, one flick of his finger and the bastard that had tormented him and these women would be on the floor dead, but Tanis did not want it to be that easy. He wanted the guard to suffer as much as they had. As Tenan began to work the ties on his pants, Tanis struggled to his knees, leveling his gaze at the unsuspecting man.

Suddenly Tenan clutched his neck, his pants falling to his ankles as he struggled to breathe. It took a moment for Reyal to realize something was wrong, then another to realize who it was that was slowly killing his comrade.

With a yell, Reyal jumped to his feet, closing the distance between him and Tanis in two strides, the woman beside him scrambling out of the way. With a vicious backhand, he knocked Tanis onto his back, breaking the eye contact. Tenan dropped to his knees gasping for air.

“Are you all right?” Reyal asked kneeling down next to Tenan. All Tenan could do was nod his head. “I’ll kill him!” Reyal hissed, grabbing the hilt of his sword as he made to stand. Tenan grabbed his arm stopping him.

“No,” he ordered hoarsely. He swallowed hard a few more times before going on. “The queen said not to harm him. Whoever is coming wants him in one piece or the alliance will be broken. She dare not anger this person or he will destroy our world.”

“Is he that powerful?” Reyal asked, eyes wide, his voice barely above a whisper. Everyone knew Queen Maura was the most powerful sorceress on their world. To know there was someone even more powerful, even more dangerous, was frightening.

“Yes,” Tenan answered as his friend helped him to his feet, pulling his pants up as he went. “Now help me drag him up to the throne room. Whoever is coming is supposed to arrive any minute.”

They walked over to where a dazed Tanis lay. Each grabbed an arm, pulling him to his feet. The world spun around him, leaving him unsure which side was up. Tanis had not missed a single word of their conversation. Evidently his predicament was about to become worse, if that was possible. What he wasn’t sure of was what frighten him more. This new threat he was about the face, or the fact using his magic for something he considered evil had felt good. So very good.

Chapter 4
Chapter 6

Broken Promises – Chapter 4

On November 17, 2018November 27, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Uncategorized2 Comments

Chapter 4

Kara dropped to her hands and knees, not on the wooden floor of the house, but the lawn outside. How did she get here? She remembered thinking there was no fighting what was about to happen. That the consequences were too great.

Time grows short and I grow impatient with the theatrics. You are mine and you will remember your place, a voice that sent a shiver of terror through her growled in her head.

Her place. Kneeling before the man who called himself emperor, her forehead to the cold metal floor between her hands, waiting to do whatever he commanded, no matter how vile or how painful, without question. To live in fear of that one wrong movement, that one wrong glance or stray thought that would bring her master’s wrath upon her. As if her heart had a mind of its own, the image of Aden’s brilliant blue eyes filled with love for her, the gentle caress of his lips on hers, his hands on her body as he made love to her filled her inner vision.

The pain was sudden, intense, as if every nerve ending in her body fired at once, stealing her breath away, bowing her back, collapsing her onto the grass. Just as suddenly it was gone and she could breathe again. A small reminder of the one demand that neither she or Aden could ever full fill. Break the bond that had been forged between them the moment their eyes met. The trouble with that request was, how do you break something you have no idea how it was forged? It was also a reminder that her thoughts were no longer her own. That neither she, nor Aden, could hide from their master. Not for long.

Lying on her side gasping for air, trying to gather her wits and bearings, Kara slowly opened her eyes to find she was surrounded by red boots. Careful not to make any sudden moves, she rolled onto her back. Surrounding her were twenty figures dressed from head to toe in red leather that molded to their bodies like a second skin so their movement was unhindered during a fight. Over that each wore a red long coat that she knew held many pockets in which to hide weapons along with covering those the warriors wore on their bodies. Mustn’t scare the natives with the alien toys. Although, they all had high-powered rifles trained on her that would render her a burnt husk if she so much as twitched a finger at them.

The emperor’s elite guard were some of the most lethal, ruthless men in the known universe, except when it came to her. They all knew who she was. What she was. That with a single thought she could force them to relive their worst nightmares over and over until they were a quivering pile of flesh curled on the floor. With a twitch of her finger she could bend them to her will, find those few lines that they have yet to cross obliterate them. With a caress, a kiss, she could show them their greatest pleasure, leave them craving more, following her every whim if only for one more touch. Or she could stop their heart. They had all witnessed her power. Mostly against those who defied the emperor in some form, a few of their own. Which ever it was, it had left a good deal of wariness when she walked into a room. Only the emperor leash on the beautiful seductress kept these ruthless men from running screaming in the opposite direction.

After watching Lord Sahen’s reaction the moment his feet touched the ground on the small planet, they feared that Kara too might be…out of sorts, and after being away from her master for so long they were not sure her leash was firmly in place. None of them wanted to chance even the smallest glance from the witch lying quietly on the ground before them. Even with the emperor’s precautions put in place. Because they knew, even as loyal as they were to their master, she did not want to go back to what even some of them understood as her hell.

As tempting as it was to try fight back, to run, Kara knew she was not strong enough to endure the consequences. Colon had seen to that. So until Aden arrived to make sure they did not do anything stupid, like shoot her, she would stay very still and pray there wasn’t anyone in that group who may have forgotten over the last five years what the consequences of physically harming the emperor’s prize possession without his permission entailed. Although, there was always that one who had difficulty remembering the small details.

“My, my, my. Not within our presence for more than a millisecond and you have already earned his wrath,” an all too familiar grating voice sneered. “Have you forgotten your place so quickly, witch?”

And there he was. Closing her eyes, Kara silently counted to ten. She was never sure what it was she did that angered Newell, but for some reason he festered a deep hatred for her. Aden thought the reason Newell went out of his way to torment Kara was because it was the safest way to punish Aden without actually touching him. By reporting every wrong doing, no matter how minute, Newell was only doing his job, was he not? Kara wasn’t so sure Aden’s explanation was the entire reason. There was only so much that Caius was willing to tolerate when his men disrespected either Aden or herself. Newell had managed to keep his treatment within those boundaries when the emperor was nearby, and his men would never report their captain’s cruelty. They either respected him or loved the comfort their position afforded them to jeopardize losing it.

“I have been looking forward to this day for a long time,” Newell continued in the all too familiar sneer in his voice. Squatting down in front of Kara, he said for her ears only. “I do hope my little present was everything I expected. Wouldn’t want you to forget exactly who you are.”

Kara frowned. Why would she forget. The knowledge haunted her waking dreams.

“Especially when I went to all that trouble to make sure the details of where to send it were not discovered by those who would object in its giving. Tell me, how were those long dark nights when your demons came out to play?”

Kara’s eyes shot to the captain’s, realization of what he was talking about first widening them before hatred burned bright. He was the reason Colin had found her, had tortured her every sleeping moment, and some of the waking.

“You bastard,” she hissed, careful not to move. No matter how much she wanted to rip his throat out with her bare hands, the backlash of hurting one of the emperor’s prize guards was not worth the lapse in judgement. But then again, Newell in his need to gloat over his cruelty had forgotten one small detail. What Kara knew, so did the emperor.

“I would rather be a bastard than a backstabbing whore,” he snapped, his condescending tone turning into one of loathing.

“He will kill you for what you have done,” Kara snarled. In her mind she was begging her master to allow her the pleasure of returning Newell’s little present. To force him to live his greatest terror until he lay at her feet, foaming at the mouth, his mind nothing but a screaming pile of mush. Caius acted as if it was of no consequence that she had been tortured night after night when he had promised that no one would touch her, physically or metaphysically, including himself. She had done everything he asked and still he denied her this one small pleasure.

“Who will he believe? His trusted captain or his witch who has lied to him time and time again.”

“I never!” It was a small movement, the need to kill the bastard in front of her greater than her common sense, consequences be damned. When those consequences slammed into her, she regretted her lack of judgement, because not only would she pay for her disobedience. So would Aden.

Before the soldiers could react, pain as if someone had shoved a red-hot poker into her brain seared Kara’s head. Screaming, she clutched her head. The captain stepped back with a curse. Where Kara’s intent may have been murderous, it was not until she acted on it that she was usually punished. It meant that he had come very close to feeling the full wrath of the witch. Watching as she was ordered to unleash her unwholly power on one of the emperor’s enemies, he was in no hurry to be on the receiving end. However, he also had not thought she had the backbone to attack him. It seemed her time away from their master had changed things. The smile at the thought of how delicious it was going to be watching as the emperor taught his two puppets their place was pure vindictive anticipation.

As Kara lay on the ground writhing in pain, Newell was suddenly reminded that their time was running short. They needed to return to the ship, or the two abominations would not be the only ones the emperor would punish.

Looking at one of the soldiers, Newell snapped, “Go. Find out what is taking Lord Sahen so long before we all feel our master’s wrath.” With a sharp snap of his heels and a short bow, the soldier turned smartly around and stalked towards the house. He did not have to go far for the screen door to the screened in porch that led to the house slammed opened and Aden ran out, jumping the four stairs to the ground in his haste.

“You bastard,” Aden snarled, his voice carrying in the quiet.

A shift in metal and suddenly have the guards moved their weapons to Aden in an attempt to guard their captain from the irate sorcerer. With a wave of his hand half of them went flying through the air. More rustling and the rest were suddenly more interested in Aden then Kara, so they did not notice that her pain had suddenly stopped.

Newell had, though. The smile slipped from his face as he started to realize what this meant. It was a fleeting thought because suddenly Aden’s hand was once again wrapped around his neck and he was lifted into the air. What he saw in Aden’s eyes drained the color from his face, for those startling blue eyes bled black.

“Did you think you could hide your betrayal from us?” Aden snarled, but it wasn’t his voice. Not truly. Laced within was another more frightening voice. One that the captain truly feared.

“I was only following your orders. That she was to be kept weak, ready for your return,” the captain wheezed anxiously.

“I told you no such thing,” the emperor hissed. “She was to be left alone, untouched. You have betrayed me for the last time.”

If there had been color left in Newell’s face it would have disappeared along with his arrogance. He had thought he had been careful, kept his treatment towards Kara a secret or that the emperor had silently approved of it. He had been wrong.

“Master,” he gasped weakly still struggling with Aden’s hand on his throat. Very slowly Aden pulled him closer until Newell’s vision blurred.

“I should feed you to them,” Caius sneered.

“No!” Newell squeaked struggling harder.

“Kill him.” There was no inflection in Caius’s tone. He had given an order no different then if he was ordering someone to close a door, or to leave the room because he was done with them.

Aden’s eyes bled back to blue and the impassive face turned into a smile that was happy anticipation. “With pleasure,” he sneered. When he looked down at Kara, that expression soften just a bit. “Kara?” That one word asked many things. Was she willing? Did she want the pleasure of helping Aden kill the man he held? The smile she awarded him answered and he lowered Newell so she could reach his ankle. Using their power together was intoxicating. Touch made the experience so much…more.

There was a commotion in the distance. Someone yelling her name, begging her to stop, but Kara did not hear. Her attention was all for the struggling man above her and the sorcerer who held him.

The moment Kara wrapped her hand around Newell’s ankle he still. Everything, everyone around them held their breath, both in anticipation and fear. Together they released their power, and it felt so good. That was the seduction of this amount of power. That when released completely it washed through her, through Aden, bringing them closer, feeding the unrelenting pull between them, easing the constant ache. His power hot, hers cool. Together soothing as it was invigorating.

As their poured into the captain she thought of how good it felt to finally let go, to be able to relax and breath without the fear of repercussions. It was seductive, that feeling of freedom. Of having no misgivings of what she was doing, of having her power fill her up, spill out to those around her to cause pain, suffering. Caius had taught her that there was a small part of her that like giving others pain. That liked showing them their deepest fears, their nightmares, leaving them huddled on the ground unable to think or speak. It was a part of her she kept securely locked in the deepest part of her mind, until times like this one.

Newell had caused her and Aden so much agony over the years, that she felt no regret for what she was doing to him now. Bringing his deepest fear to the forefront of his mind and making it real. Newell’s father had been an abusive bastard to both him and his mother. He would have parties where he would offer up Newell’s mother to his friends to rape. Sort of a part favor, or the nights entertainment. When Newell was old enough, he too became part of the entertainment. It took seeing his mother’s lifeless eyes after a particular brutal night to snap Newell’s fragile sanity. The first person he killed was his father. A slow torturous death that encompassed years of his mother’s abuse. After that he meticulously sought out those that had been his father’s friends, that had abused them both and killed them all. It was when his mission was done and he was huddled in a dark alley on some backward filthy den of a planet contemplating his own death to stop the nightmares that Caius had found him and took him in. He taught him to take that rage, those nightmares, and channel it into his fighting skills becoming the ruthless captain of the elite guard. Fearing no one, not even the emperor’s wrath. Today he would learn his how his arrogance was misplaced. No one was above the emperor’s law.

Time seemed to be suspended as they tortured the man they held. Such small touches, such delicious screams of terror.

Stop playing and end it, Caius voice growled in their heads. Along with that command there was a short slap of intense pain. A reminder that the freedom they were feeling at that moment was not real. That the chains of their imprisonment were still firmly in place.

Aden closed his eyes, gritting his teeth riding out the sudden pain. Kara’s eyes widened as she gasped, her body convulsing. They almost let go of the captain, their power receding giving him a small reprieve. Just as the thought that maybe he would live through his torment flashed through his eyes, Kara and Aden shoved their power into him. His eyes widened then just as quickly went dead, his body limp in Aden’s hand. With a sound of disgust, Aden threw the corpse on the ground. Kara let go, her eyes closed as she pulled her power back into her, putting it back in the box where she kept it carefully locked away.

When she opened her eyes, Aden was standing over her, looking worriedly down at her. But it was not him that small part of her that never shut down sought. It was the one whose horror and revulsion beat at what he had just witnessed that she sought.

Brynn stood, his eyes wide as he stared at her as if he did not know her. Two of the elite guards were standing in front of him holding him as if they were keeping him from going to her, but he stood utterly still, giving them no resistance. The secret was out. The woman he had fallen in love with was someone, something, he did not recognize. Not anymore, and by the look on his face at that moment, he did not want anything to do with her.

Kara did not have time to mourn the loss of his respect, his love before Caius reminded her that her life was not her own. The air around her grew warm, caressing her skin as a lover would. Touching intimate places all at once, overloading Kara’s senses, closing her eyes with obvious pleasure. It was both a godsend and a curse that the touch of anyone in a sexual manner sent Kara’s lust into overdrive. Kara had never been a causal sex person. Her upbringing had taught her that sex should be something special, something for someone she loved. It did not mean once she gave into that lust that it was not a heady overwhelming thing she craved as one would crave a favorite food. That over the years she had realized that her desires had ran towards the rough. Pain mixed with sex just did it for her. It was that small discover that had saved her time and time again when Colon had used rape to try and break her. Then she would give in to her desires in order to survive the brutality he would demand. Crave it because any pain was better than the pain of helplessness she had felt, still felt.

The wind gained in strength and lifted her into the air, her legs and arms hanging limp as her long auburn hair whipped around her face. The magic envelope her, caress her body with a light touch that was unusual for the one who wielded it. Rarely was there gentleness in anything Caius did to her. What had changed?

When the wind died down and her feet touched the firm earth, the grass tickling her bare feet, Kara opened her eyes to find herself now standing in what was left of the elite guard pointing their guns at her. Although they had taken a step back, their eyes a little wider as that rare fear showed through. The others were coming too with groans and curses of pain. When they saw her standing in her new attire, felt the unnaturalness of the magic in the air, they quickly retrieved their weapons and assumed their positions around her.

When her eyes opened, once more locking with Brynn’s, the look of outrage on his face lessen the sting of his earlier horror a little. She did not have to look down to see what she now wore. The tightness of the straps, the now cool air that was outside that caressed her skin in places it should not be able to told her enough.

A two inch thick strip of red leather circled her neck like a choker with two thin strips that attached on each side wound around under her arms, crossing at her shoulder blades to come around in an intricate design that managed cover those intimate areas and hold her chest firmly in place while leaving most of her pale skin visible to everyone around her. The thin strips continued around her ribcage to tie at the middle of her back. The symbolism of the leather straps was not lost on Kara. A sign of her bondage.

Resting low on her hips was a belt about three inches wide covered with precious red and black jewels along with delicate links of gold that arced downwards over ten pieces of sheer red material that fell down the front and back of her legs, leaving her hips and the side of her legs bare. The material was attached to the low belt by clips and draped to her bare feet like scarves, bunching just enough that the material did not look sheer, but one wrong move would show exactly how exposed Kara really was to those who dared to look at her. One small tug and all would be laid bare. She had other outfits that Caius had given her, all but a few revealing, teasing, testing those who swore loyalty to him, making examples of those who failed, and they knew when they failed because Kara would respond to those lustful, sinful thoughts. This particular outfit was the most daring and was usually only worn when she was in the emperor’s inner-sanctum. There was a cape with a deep cowl that matched for when she ventured outside it.

Now she wore the revealing outside, in front of those who feared her, despised her for what she was, lusted after her, completely exposed. Her hair unbound hair hung loosely around her face, hiding the terror that was slowly consuming her. Why this show of dominance? Why risk exposing her family, her children, to the horror that was her life outside the once safe haven? Could this be really happening? Was she going back to her hell, to him?

Kara’s manner of dress left the guards with a small dilemma. She was the emperor’s witch woman, his propriety, and he guarded his property zealously. To look upon her, especially dressed the way she was, was to ask for torture not unlike their now dead captain. To touch her without express permission from the emperor was instant death. When she walked into a room all eyes were to be averted until she took her place on the left side of her master’s throne wearing a voluminous silk cloak with a deep cowl to hide her face in shadows. Even then, when they looked up at the emperor they had to be very careful of where their gazes landed, and where their thoughts strayed. They had all heard the stories of what her former master had forced on her. How she had come to…crave her punishments. To fantasize about what they would do to the beautiful scantily clad woman if they had a moment alone with her was just as bad as touching her. It was why during certain important delicate negotiations Kara would be uncovered, her dress, while not this revealing, sheer enough to cause a gaze or two, a lustful thought or three. The emperor seemed to enjoy the distraction she imposed, watching his enemies struggle to keep their eyes off her or their straying thoughts.

So the dilemma of the guards surrounding her were having at this particular moment was they needed to keep their guns trained on her to keep her from escaping, and that meant they needed to look at her. At least until the last piece and most important part of her wardrobe was firmly attached around her slender, flawless neck.

There must have someone new, someone who did not understand the rules or the consequences. Images appeared inside Kara’s head. Of her shoved against a nearby tree, a man’s hand on one of her breasts kneading as his mouth sucked on the other. The sensation of the bark grinding into her back as he plunged inside her. Forbidden thoughts. Deadly thoughts.

Very slowly, her hazel eyes darkening to an emerald green, they sought out the intruder. When she found him, he looked like all the rest of the men, except for his eyes. His dark brown eyes filled with a heat she was all too familiar with. She took one step towards him and shouts of “Don’t move!” “Stop!” rang out. Kara ignored them, oblivious to the sudden tension surrounding her. Only the male before her, the only one that had not said a word and eyes were now wide with fear, drew her attention. Too late he understood what everyone had warned him about. Too late he realized his fatal mistake.

“Kara,” Aden’s cool deep tone breathed through the air. That one word, her name, held a warning. She was not to go near the man. But the recent unrestrained release of her powers suddenly made it difficult to show restraint against this cursed side of herself. It was another who stopped her. Not because he held more sway over her, but because if he was here, then so were her children, and the last thing she wanted to show her children was how far into the abyss she had truly fallen.

“Stop,” Brynn commanded.

Kara froze. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to think past the lust, past the desire and to what would happen if she gave into that desire. It was a slippery slope into the abyss that was her deepest darkest desires where her hunger ran unrestrained, but the thought of her children witnessing their mother giving into them was enough to help her hold on to her sanity, if only by her fingernails.

There was a swish of cloth, a grunt of pain, a sharp snap and then a soft thump, and still Kara kept her eyes closed. Someone stood before her. Aden. His scent hit her like a battering ram, warm and inviting, safe. She swayed on her feet, the need to reach out to him overwhelming. Still she kept her eyes closed. If she did not see, then she could control the hungers. That was the theory she was going for. It had worked in the past. She prayed it would still hold true.

“Get away from her,” Brynn snarled. More rustling of metal and cloth, some curse words. “Let me through!” he demanded. The guard must still be keeping him from entering the circle. This was good. He needed to go back into the house where it was safe. Back to their children.

“Go back into the house, Brynn. There is nothing you can do to stop me from taking her,” Aden snapped moving away from Kara. The sudden loss of his warmth shuddered through her body. Reaching up, she rubbed her arms to chase away the chill.

“You are not taking her,” Brynn growled. “She does not belong to you. She belongs with her family. She belongs with me.”

Those words washed over Kara, soothing her fear that she had done irrevocable damage by showing Brynn what she was truly capable of. The side of her she thought evil.

“What the hell is she wearing,” Uncle Cas snapped with a fair amount of disgust.

Suddenly Kara wore cape, the deep cowl covering her head, shielding her face from the others. The twenty men with trained guns on her visible relaxed, their delicate dilemma of where their eyes should be trained solved.

“She belongs to neither of us,” Aden answered Brynn’s question, ignoring Cas’s.

There was so much sadness, so much loss, in those three words that Kara opened her eyes and turned towards Aden, wanting to soothe his pain.

“Aden?” she whispered.

“Stay where you are, Kara,” Aden commanded glancing at her. The sharpness of his voice stilled her, a frown on her face. He could not look into those eyes knowing what he knew and lie to her by telling her he was alright, because he was far from alright. He was about to lose her, forever.

For as long as Aden could remember, Caius had been obsessed with an ancient set of scrolls that told of a prophecy that dated back to the beginning of time. In it, it spoke of three deities, one female and two males, who had been battling for centuries for the fate of the universe. That every two thousand years they came together as mortal beings to make a choice which would determine which path the universe would take for the next two thousand years. Whether it would be in peace and harmony, in total chaos, or, if they came to a standstill, somewhere in between. Then their mortal bodies would die and the process would begin again.

During their mortal life, they found mortal spouses, their preordain soulmates, to have off-spring and guarantee that in two-thousand years they could be reborn again. Caius was convinced that the female deity the scrolls spoke of was Kara. Just recently Caius had found a man on a planet in another solar system light years away called Krynn that he was convinced was one of the males. According to the scrolls, once they looked into each other’s eyes, their mortal life would fade into the distance as their memories of who they were, what their mission was and all the memories they shared from the beginning of time to that point would surface. All else would be forgotten, including Kara’s memories of how she felt about Aden. This Tanis would rip apart the bond between Aden and Kara, making her his own. Then Caius would use that bond to control them, because what one felt so did the other. He would use the fact that to be separated great distances would cause them pain and weakened them, so he could bend them to his will.

The Gods only know the agony Aden had suffered without her. But for now, Aden had to follow his very strict orders. Orders he hated almost as much as love the beautiful creature standing still before him.

Grinding his teeth at the impossibility of the situation, he turned back to Brynn. “Take them back to the house,” he ordered the guards who had stopped Brynn from entering the circle. “Make sure they do not interfere again.” He turned his ice blue eyes to the nearest guard so he was sure he had the man’s attention. “Do not harm them in anyway. Do you understand me?” enunciating each word carefully.

“Yes, sir,” the guard answered with a short nod. Turning to Brynn, he said, “Make this easy for you and for her and come quietly.”

Startled by the quiet and calm request, Brynn allowed himself to be escorted towards the house. That was until Kara screamed.

Dismissing the group, Aden turned to face Kara. She stood where she had stopped, quietly watching, careful to keep her thoughts to herself as he was careful to keep his to himself. The emperor had already shown he was listening. No need to anger him further.

I grow tired of these games. Bring her too me as I asked, or I will come to take her myself!

Aden paled. We will be there shortly.

See that you are.

“Turn around,” he ordered gently as he walked up to Kara. After a moment of hesitation, she did as he asked. “Lower your hood.” This time the hesitation was longer. Slowly she reached her hand up and removed the hood from her head, resting her hands once more at her sides.

Resting his hands on her shoulders, Aden felt the fine tremor of fear coursing through Kara’s body. Not for the first time, Aden desperately wished he could take her somewhere where they would be safe. Somewhere they could lose themselves in the tangled heat of their bodies. Where he could grow drunk with the scent of her skin every second she was in his arms. The sharing of their power along with this small touch was already soothing the ache in his soul he had been forced to live with these last six years. Closing his eyes, he slid his hand down her arms, pulling her back against his body, his grip tightening, the unwanted thought that he would lose her after this filling him with dread. But there was no place they could run to. No place to hide. Not from their master, and once caught…. Aden bowed his head until his nose rested in her hair, his grip tightening on her arms. For the first time in five years he finally felt whole. He did not want to lose that. He could not lose her.

“I’m so sorry,” he breathed in her hair.

Don’t torture yourself over something neither of us can escape, her voice drifted lovingly through his mind, her essence caressing his, intertwining.

Aden silently moaned in pleasure. It had been so long since he felt her presence in his mind, in his soul. It was taking every ounce of willpower not to turn her around and kiss her senseless. Something that would insure they both suffered once they returned to the ship. His master had made it abundantly clear he was to forget about Kara. Forget his love for her. As if he could. Nothing could wipe the connection they shared. At least he prayed that was true.

I can’t just sit by while he rips you away from me. Not again.

You will not lose me, Kara promised leaning back against him. I won’t allow it.

How can you….

Power lashed at them, stealing their breath. A growl so menacing it rose goosebumps on their skin shivered over them. The message was clear. Caius’s patience was at an end.

Feeling the air change with the emperor’s anger, the guards shifted around them, tightening their grips on their weapons, setting their feet firmly apart, reading themselves for the battle they were sure was about to ensue. Glaring at them to be still, Aden raised the necklace in front of Kara so she could see it.

When Kara saw the necklace in his hand, her knees gave out from under her and she sagged against him with a small whimper. Sliding his arm around her waist, holding her close to him, the constant pain of their separation lessened a fraction more. Closing his eyes, knowing that he was being carefully watched not only from the soldiers but from far above, Aden slowly loosened his grip around Kara’s waist until he was sure she could stand on her own.

No, Kara begged. Aden, please! Don’t do this! I won’t….

Shhh, he soothed. You know I have no choice. He felt Kara tremble in fear under his touch.

“He promised,” she whispered.

“I think there will be many broken promises before he is through with us,” Aden whispered unhappily. Closing his eyes against his own pain for what he was about to do, Aden gently placed the necklace around Kara’s neck. Just before he snapped it into place, he whispered, “I am sorry.”

The moment the clasped clicked into place, pain exploded in Kara’s head and ran down her spine permeating every bone, every muscle, every cell. She screamed in agony before collapsing into Aden’s arms, unconscious. Aden reached down picking up her legs with his other arm cradling her to his chest.

“What have you done to her?” Brynn yelled once again fighting with the guards who were escorting him back to the house.

Now that the threat was neutralized, the guards around Aden relaxed their stances, the weapons lowering. A few more went to help those push the Llassar’s towards the house.

“As I was ordered,” Aden answered his face the mask he wore when dealing with people he was about to destroy. But he would not destroy this family. It would kill Kara, he thought. Then he breathed through Brynn’s mind so no one else would hear. When it is time, I will return and show you why Kara is no longer yours. Until then.

There was a blinding flash. When the spots left their eyes and they could see again, the Llassars stood in their empty front yard.

* * *

Chris glared at the regal woman standing in front of him.

“You could have stopped him,” he accused.

“You know I cannot interfere,” the woman who stood beside him in the oak grove replied haughtily as she rearranged the white shawl she wore. It matched the white dress she was wearing. The material draped around her perfect body leaving one arm bare. There was a gold clasp of some design that Chris did not recognize, and really did not care to at the moment, at the shoulder. Her auburn hair was piled high on her head, a gold circlet wrapping around the thick tresses, holding them in place. The regal air that permeated the air around her did nothing to clear that rage that tried to consume Chris. A goddess down to her very core. Selene, the queen of the gods.

“It’s because of your interference that we are here,” he snapped. Ignoring her narrowing eyes, he continued as if the imposing woman did not scare the bejesus out of him. Truth was, it didn’t. He was too pissed to care. “You need to fix what you fucked up.”

“Watch your tone, boy,” the woman snapped ominously. “I do not have to tolerate your insignificant presence.”

Chris snorted. “Yes, you do. It’s because of you I have the knowledge of what you have done, what everyone in this mess from the beginning of time has done. I am fifteen years old! I should be out chasing girls, obsessing over cars, but no. Here I am trying to clean up your mess, Grandmother.” he sneered the last word as if it was distasteful in his mouth.

“You grow too bold in your young age, boy,” the woman snarled. “We don’t need you. We have your sister.”

“You will stay away from Jamie,” Chris snarled. “I know the rules. I know the prophecy, and you have royally screwed it up with your meddling.”

“What is about to happen must happen,” the woman retorted regally.

“What is about to happen should not be happening! He should have not been able escape!” Chris yelled in frustration.

Selene sighed, her shoulders sagging as she leaned against one of the five massive oaks that surrounded them. There was a reason Caius had put Kara here. This was a place of great magic, and with it she would survive the separation from one of her mates in relative peace. Aden had not the luxury. His pain had radiated throughout them all, making those who usually were benevolent and slow to temper, like herself, irritable and quick to lash out. It was part of their world. Every living thing connected through an interactive web of life and death. Some more, like Aden and Kara, than others, such as herself and this boy, her great-great-great-great – it really hurt to think how many eons separated her and her current grandson.

“I am tired,” Chris sighed. “Mother is tired, the universe is tired, the powers that have been playing this game far longer than the existence of this universe are tired.” He looked up at his grandmother, his eyes showing her that exhausting that he was speaking of. Not just his, but the very fabric of time itself. Chris continued, allowing that weariness to fill his voice, “This was not what I was created for. All this knowledge, this power, was not meant for me. It was meant for them,” he pointed at the now empty yard where his mother and Aden once stood. He then pointed to Selene. “It should have been yours, but you let him in and disrupted everything. You cannot allow it to continue. This time must be the last or it will all be destroyed. There will be no do overs, no more chances for redemption.”

Selene paled, her hand going to her heart as it stuttered in her chest. Deep inside her soul she knew that Chris did not mean no more chances in this particular universe. There would be no more chances…ever. A flash of a room with shelves stacked ceiling to floor, heavy with white globes filled her mind. Suddenly the shelves gave way from the weight and the globes crashed down, shattering when they impacted with the floor. Voices, so many voices, screaming for help, for one last chance, one last breath filled her head. Screaming with them, she covered her ears with her hands, collapsing to her knees. Just as suddenly the image, the screams were gone, leaving Selene disoriented.

“You have this one chance to make it right. Don’t let us down. Don’t let them down or they will end it,” Chris warned as he looked solemnly down at her.

Swallowing hard, Selene nodded she understood.

Chris looked back at the house. In his head he could feel his father panicking because he could not find his son. “I must go back to the house.” He looked down at Selene. “Fix this.”

Turning on his heel, Chris headed back to the house, leaving Selene alone and for the first time in a very long time, afraid.

Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Broken Promises – Chapter 3

On November 10, 2018November 17, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing8 Comments

Chapter 3

It was her son’s, Chris, fifteenth birthday. The party was being held at the Llassar’s, ancestral home. Many generations had been raised in this small farmhouse located almost ten miles from the nearest town called, Bow. A very simple name for a planet in a galaxy far from her own. Brynn, Kara, their two-year-old daughter Jamie, Uncle Cas, who owned and lived in the house, along with Brynn’s cousins Gavin and Delia were all present to celebrate Chris’s birthday. They were a very close-knit family, never straying far from their country farm. They were the ones who had helped Brynn raised her son into the thoughtful, strong, confident young man he was today. A luxury Kara envied them.

Leaning her shoulder against the window sill, crossing her arms, Kara watched everyone laughing and telling stories, most of them taking place when she had not here to witness them. Even though at times it made her feel as if she were an outsider looking through the window of a stranger’s house, she knew that this was where she belonged. That this was her family, and the peace she felt here was something precious, not to be taken for granted. Even though that peace had cost her a large part of her soul.

Even as thoughts of peace and contentment crossed her mind, she knew them for the lie they were. There would never be any true peace for her. No contentment. Not when the restlessness she felt deep within her, that need to find him, to hold him, was an ever constant ache in her soul. There were also the chains of her slavery that lay dormant, quietly waiting for the one piece of the spell that would waken them to their full binding potential. A…gift from the man who called himself Emperor to remind her who she was, what she was, and that she was never truly free. That these last five years were an illusion. Where those chains had become a part of her as her own blood coursing through her veins were, something that you knew was there just not thought of until they gave that unpleasant pulse to remind her of their presence, it was nothing compared to the ache deep in her soul that was Aden.

Shaking herself from a pain that she could neither control or do anything to alleviate, she concentrated once more on the room and the people before her.

Even though there were many similarities on Kaladria to Kara’s home world of Earth, time on this planet ran differently. People aged slowly. Uncle Cas was upwards to six hundred years, yet he looked sixty to Kara’s eyes. The other adults around her varied in ages of one-hundred fifty to two hundred. When her daughter had hit the terrible twos, Kara asked if because she was from a different planet, which would mean Jamie’s DNA was a mix of two worlds, could it affect her maturity rate or would she age slowly like her husband. Where they did not know for sure, they had told her that the children’s aging slowed down when they reached puberty. Since Chris has aged and matured at his father’s rate, it was a good bet that Jamie would do the same. It was both a relief and a worry. It meant the terrible twos would last around a year but the angst of a female teenager would be much longer. The sheer horror of that almost sent Kara running, but Brynn reminded her that Chris had been a model child, so he did not think Jamie would be anything less. How little he knew of a female’s psyche when her hormones were in full chaos mode and suddenly boys were the most important thing in the universe. Just the thought of the look on Brynn’s face when he realized how wrong he was put a smile on Kara’s face. Just as quickly, the pain of loss at missing Chris at the tender age of two stabbed at her heart, tearing a little more from its already ragged edges. Chris had told her many times that it was okay she had not been here. That it wasn’t her fault, but no matter how many times he reassured her, she still felt as if she had failed him.

Where Kara herself was closing in on thirty-eight, the youngest here by far, she only looked twenty. It was a mystery why her aging had slowed. She had not been born here and only spent a short period of time here, so theoretically she should have aged at the rate of her own people. If Caius’s fanciful story of who she really was was true, then Kara knew why her aging had slowed, but that was a question for another day. Today was her son’s birthday and she was determined to make sure the past did not ruin what should be a happy occasion.

As she watched her son show his father his new remote-control hovercraft, to Kara, Chris seemed older than his fifteen years. There was something special about her children. Their existence was a piece of a puzzle that was ever changing as it was inevitable. But even on this planet where magic was common, their special abilities were different from the others and they had to be careful to keep their secret safe unless the wrong people found out, and in turn found Kara.

It wasn’t anything in particular that drew her attention away from the laughter around her. Just a feeling. A presence that filled her, starting in the pit of her stomach and slowly wound its way through her body, gently, lovingly intertwining with her heart, her soul. A feeling that set her blood boiling while at the same time making her knees weak. Her entire body exploded with a need that tightened things low in her body bringing a soft moan from her lips as she grabbed the window sill to keep herself from sliding to the floor. Yet that same feeling, that presence that felt like a warm blanket soothing the ache that would never quite go away, that set her body on fire, could only bode ill.

Gavin was sitting on a chair that was facing Kara when he saw the smile slip from her face and her eyes roll into the back of her head as she grabbed for the window sill, her long auburn hair shielding her face, her head fell forward. Gasping for air, her head snapped up as her hazel eyes darted around the room in confusion and what he could only call longing before dissolving into fear.

“Brynn,” Gavin warned quietly as Kara’s head snapped towards the window before her, desperately searching for something outside.

Brynn looked at Gavin then to where he nodded. Frowning, he put down the drink he was holding on the coffee table and rose to his feet. When Kara’s eyes moved to his, the terror in them confused him more. There was nothing on this planet that could harm her as long as she stayed within the wards Emperor Caius had placed around their farmland and the nearby town. Thirty miles in all. A big enough circle that Kara could have space to live without going stir crazy within her prison confines. Yes, he knew the reason for the wards, that they were meant to keep her safe from Colon and his bastard son, Anthony who wanted her for his own uses. But a prison was a prison, and this one kept her right where Caius could find her. Kara had assured him that she was free, that Caius promised he would not be returning for her, but Brynn feared that promise was a lie. From what she had told him, Caius was not one to easily give up something as important as Kara was to him. Dropping her at his feet one morning five years ago was too easy. There had to be a catch, and every day he woke wondering if this was the day Caius would prove him right. That he would be back, and he would rip their newly healed family apart once again. By the way Kara was acting Brynn feared today would be that day.

“Kara?” he asked walking towards her. “What is it?” Then she said the one thing that confirmed his worst fears.

“He promised,” she whispered grabbing his outstretched hands to steady herself. “He promised,” her faint whisper desperate.

The chaos inside her the moment Aden broke through the wards was too much. It was five years ago all over again, except instead of Aden being ripped from her, he was suddenly there, bombarding her with his emotions, his longing, his presence, just as he was being bombarded with hers. As if she was there in the shade of the five Oak trees, she saw him on his hands and knees, gasping for the same air she was having trouble drawing into her lungs. What was torn apart was suddenly whole and it sent the world upside down, inside out and sideways all at the same time. Digging the fingernails of the hand clinging onto Brynn’s arm into his flesh, drawing blood, and the others into the window sill, Kara closed her eyes trying to bring the world into focus, but it was useless.

Arms encircled her, holding her close, keeping her upright because her legs would not hold her. A voice whispered soothing words in her ear, trying to reassure her, but it wasn’t enough because it was not the arms she wanted to hold her. Not the voice she wanted to hear, and the part of her that loved Brynn knew that was wrong. He was her husband, the love of her life, her soulmate, yet the male that was coming towards the house to claim her held more of her soul than any living being in the known universe. She had to step away, had to separate herself from Brynn’s touch before Aden stepped into the house or she would surely be torn in two. At the same time, she needed to go to Aden, to feel his arms around her. To finally be able to take a full breath without pain, and yet she needed to run, to get away. She could not go back. She could not….

“No,” Kara whispered desperately trying to pull free of Brynn. She managed to put a few precious inches between them, but she could not stand on her own.

“Who promised? Kara,” Brynn asked sharply, grabbing her forearms as her knees buckled. The chaos and panic Kara was wrestling with poured through their contact into him and he needed to snap her out of it before it rendered both of them useless. Even though he had asked who, he knew who was coming and why, and he needed to be strong enough to fight or he would lose her again. That could not happen. He would not survive. “Kara!” Brynn snapped giving her a small shake. With a gasp her hazel eyes snapped to his light brown ones, the color of milk chocolate. That contact seemed to quiet her, if only for a moment.

“I won’t let him take you?” Brynn vowed pulling her back into his arms.

“You can’t stop him,” she whispered hoarsely.

A soft moan escaped Kara’s lips, her eyes closing as she felt Aden’s caress as if he hands touched things that no human hands could touch. It was his power, his longing to pull her from Brynn’s arms into his, to finally hold her, touch skin to skin, sink inside her along with his fear of what their master would do to her once he had her. What he would do to them if he gave into those feelings.

“Kara,” his unsteady voice called gently, as if her name were a sacred prayer only to be uttered in the darkness of the night.

Everyone froze.

Kara did not need to look into his sky blue eyes that could be as cold as ice and reveal nothing, yet warm and unguarded for her, or his see curly sandy-blonde hair that touched his shoulders and felt like silk when she ran her fingers through it. Did not need to look to know how full and soft his lips were, or how toned his muscular body was. A body she knew as intimately as she knew her own. Did not need to look because for the first time in five years she could finally take a full breath. Overwhelmed, Kara could not hold back a soft moan as she collapsed against Brynn, her legs refusing to hold her any longer.

Catching Kara against him, Brynn turned his glare to the imposing figure clad in black who had one hand on the wall, a fine tremor in his body giving away the knowledge that he too was having a hard time staying upright. Brynn knew Kara had not told him everything that had happened in those missing years, and he never pressed her for information, knowing she would tell him when she was ready. Now, as he glared at the unwanted visitor who was staring at Kara with an intensity of a man dying of thirst stared at a cool glass of water, Brynn wondered if he should have pressed harder.

“You are not welcome here,” Uncle Cas growled reaching for the gun that resided next to the window nearest him.

Delia grabbed Chris pulling him back as Gavin picked up Jamie, handing her to Delia before placing himself between the unwanted visitor and his family.

“It will do you no good to fight,” Aden sighed wearily as he slowly straightened.

Brynn thought it took more effort in that one small movement than it should have. What was going on that would weaken both him and Kara this much?

“There is nothing you nor I can do to stop what is about to happen.” The last was said so quietly Gavin was not so sure they were meant to hear it.

“You act as if you’ve given up,” Gavin observed, the confusion evident in his voice at the way Aden was acting. “You’re on their side. I would think coming here to take her would make you happy.”

“If the circumstances were different I would be, but I haven’t come to take her for myself.”

Brynn tightened his hold on Kara, taking a step away from Aden, who seemed to ignore the show of possessiveness. The only person in the room he was interested in was Kara. Locking his eyes with hers, he did something Brynn was sure was beneath Aden. He begged.

“Don’t fight him, Kara. You know what it will cost you if you do.”

“He promised,” she whispered. “He promised it was over.”

“He lied, to both of us. What is happening is bigger than either one of us. I’m as helpless as you are.”

Staring into those eyes that hid nothing from her, Kara saw the truth. While she did not know the how or why, the strong and extremely powerful sorcerer that stood before her was now terrified. That knowledge did nothing to help Kara’s panic, but she knew if she did not do as Aden asked, she would not be able to live with the consequences. Caius was nothing if not merciless in his punishments.

“Why should we believe you?” Uncle Cas spat. “You’ve lied to us before.”

Taking a deep shuddering breath, Kara gently pulled herself from Brynn’s arms. Her knees immediately buckled. Before Brynn could catch her, she was gone. Frantically looking around him, his eyes finally landed on Aden whose eyes were now looking out the door, his expression grim.

“Where is she?” Brynn demanded

Aden slowly turned his head so Brynn could see the rage that now simmered just below the surface of those eyes. Whatever he had seen outside, the male before him was not happy about it.

“She’s outside surrounded by the emperor’s guards. If she moves they will shoot her,” Aden answered his voice flat as he attempted to control that rage.

Delia gasped as Jamie began to cry. Chris pulled away from Delia to stare at Aden. Sensing he was being watched, sensing another’s power gently wash over him, through him, something that should have been impossible, Aden looked at Chris.

When their eyes met, Chris knew everything about this man. Who he was, how he came to be in Caius’s power, all the things Aden had done, the things he kept hidden. Everything was laid bare to the fifteen-year-old. Yet something was not right.

Carefully hidden behind Aden’s anger and frustration lay an emotion that Chris felt from his father every time he looked at his mother. This strange man was deeply in love with his mother and being apart from her was physically painful, and not in the metaphoric way. Actually, physically painful. So painful that at times it made breathing difficult. It would explain the times he caught his mother suddenly gasping for air when all she was doing was hanging the laundry or reading a book.

What confused Chris the most was that this man’s magic was intertwined with his mother’s somehow. Where his and his sister’s ability to do magic was linked to their mother’s, this powerful sorcerer’s magic was an integral part of her survival. Without him, his mother would cease to exist. This was not right. It wasn’t time.

Suddenly there was another presence, one far more potent and dangerous then this strange man in front of him. With one glimpse everything became clear.

“No!” Aden snarled slamming metaphorical steel doors down between himself and Chris.

But it was too late. Chris felt the intent of that power and it terrified the fifteen-year-old. Even more than the men who kept trying to break the protective barrier he had put around his mother’s mind to keep them out of her dreams.

Clutching his head with both hands, Aden cried out in pain, collapsing to his knees. Outside Kara screamed. Chris stumbled backwards into Gavin, shaking and white as a sheet.

“Chris!” Gavin called worriedly as he caught him.

“What the hell!” Brynn growled heading for the door.

“No!” Aden commanded lurching to his feet into Brynn’s way.

“She’s in pain,” Brynn snarled. “I will not allow you to….”

“It’s not me,” Aden gasped falling against the wall. Everything was blurry and doubled. The pain felt as if someone was taking an axe and trying to hack their way out of his head. Swearing vehemently, he tried to blink his eyes clear. Shutting the boy out had not been easy. The little bastard was strong, but that was not what was causing the excruciating pain that sliced through their collective heads. It was cutting out his master that was costing him and Kara. One did not stop the emperor from obtaining what he wanted without a cost. “I would never hurt her,” he whispered.

“Then who,” Brynn snapped moving so he was nose to nose with Aden. “You need to start answering our questions. Now!”

Suddenly Brynn found himself flying through the air. Crashing high up on the far wall, he landed on a small table which broke under his weight.

“Brynn!” Delia yelled.

“Daddy!” Jamie cried.

“Don’t assume just because I’m disorientated and in pain that I am weak,” Aden snarled pushing himself off the wall to stand as straight as he could. Where his vision was not fuzzy around the edges, he was still seeing double. “Your boy may have just jeopardized all of your safety by digging around where he was not wanted.”

“He doesn’t want me,” Chris responded as bravely as he could. “He has what he wants, or at least half of it. If he wants it to work he can’t touch us.”

“What are you talking about, Chris,” Uncle Cas asked. Delia and Gavin were next to Brynn who was still on the floor dazed. Jamie sat next to Brynn, clinging to him, sobbing.

“Chris, don’t,” Aden beseeched weakly.

“No,” Brynn said moving to a half sitting position with some help, his arms automatically encircling his daughter and pulling her to him. “Answer the question, Chris.”

Chris looked from his father to Aden, who suddenly was too tired and in too much pain to argue. Nodding and vaguely waving his hand at Chris to go ahead, he slumped against the wall and closed his eyes. The closer he and Kara were, the tighter the chains that bound them became. Once he put the final piece in place there would be no more peace, only pain.

Taking a moment to figure out what he should tell his family, Chris looked towards his father. Sometimes knowing what he knew and being trapped in a teenage body that no one outside his family took seriously was an inconvenience. Now he was about to reveal just how much he did know about his mother, Aden, and possibly the fate of the universe. Still, some little voice inside his head cautioned him about revealing too much.

“All I can tell you is that the balance of the universe is dependent on Mom and one other,” Chris finally answered. “Not Aden,” Chris added when is father’s eyes narrowed on Aden. “But he is an important piece of the puzzle.”

“How important?” Gavin asked.

Looking at Aden, who shook his head slightly, Chris sighed. “That I cannot tell you. Not yet.”

“Why not?” Delia asked taking Jamie, who was starting to quiet, so Gavin could help Brynn to his feet.

“When the time is right I promise will answer all your questions,” Aden answered before Chris could, his narrowed eyes telling the boy that he had revealed enough. Chris pursed his lips shut, clearly not happy with the request but heeding it. With a slight nod in thanks, Aden turned his attention to the others. “Only then will you truly understand. For now, just know that I will keep Kara as safe as I can.” Gritting his teeth, Aden pushed himself off the wall and started for the door.

“If you so much as touch her,” Brynn growled stepping forward.

Gavin stepped in front of him, barring his way. As much as he hated what was happening, he knew they could not stop it without losing both Brynn and Kara, and the children needed at least one of their parents to survive.

Aden paused in the doorway.

“Brynn don’t,” Gavin warned gently bring his cousins angry eyes to him. “The kids have already lost one parent today. Don’t make it two.”

Brynn glared at Gavin until Chris moved into his sightline.

“Aden won’t hurt, Mom,” Chris assured. “Even if he wanted to, he physically can’t.”

“What does that mean?”

Chris looked down, trying to figure out the best way to answer his father’s question without making things worse and realized only the truth would work, painful as it was. He looked his father in the eyes, face as neutral as he could make it. “There are reasons why that I can’t explain because I don’t totally understand them myself, but the most important one is because he loves her as much as you do. Maybe even more.”

Brynn looked at Aden to see if this was true. The look in the other man’s eyes said it all. Aden was in love with his wife. The thought of Kara in love with this man tore at Brynn’s heart.

“And Kara?” he whispered not really wanting to know yet needing to.

“You were the one destined to be her husband, Brynn. The one to help her bear her children, her mortal soulmate,” Aden answered wearily, as if his answer took the last of this strength. “She never stopped loving you, but like Chris said, what is between us is difficult to explain. All I can tell you is that the moment I looked into her eyes I was irrevocably hers. I am sure you understand.”

The thing that infuriated Brynn the most was that he did understand. The same thing happened to him all those years ago when Colin kidnapped them. Just one look into Kara’s eyes and something snapped into place. A missing piece of himself he never knew was missing. In that moment he would do anything, say anything, be anything to be hers.

“But that will soon change,” Aden added absently, looking once more out the doorway.

“What do you mean by that?” Uncle Cas asked.

Aden shook his head. He already angered his master, he was not about to pull the full force of his wrath down upon him and Kara. Plenty of time for stupidity later. He needed to finish what he was sent here for and return to the ship. Having to sit by knowing Kara was with Brynn was one thing. This new man…. Aden fisted his hands at his side in an attempt to control the sudden burst of intense jealousy. He didn’t even know who this person was, and he already wanted to rip his head off at the thought of him touching his Kara. “If he is successful….” Aden let that thought finish itself in their own heads.

Aden looked towards the door as if listening to something. He nodded then turned back to the Llassars.

“We have to leave.” He turned to step out the door.

“Wait,” Chris called stepping forward.

Dropping his head, Aden took a deep breath and prayed to the Gods for a few more moments of control. The last thing he wanted was to hurt Kara’s son, but the need to hold her, to breath her in, was taking a toll on him. There was also the fact he could feel his master’s thin grasp on his patience slipping.

“You need to know that Colin found her.”

It was the last thing Aden thought Chris would tell him. His eyes narrowed in anger, he looked at Brynn, who seemed to be just as in shock as he was by the news before turning back to the fifteen-year-old. “That should have been impossible? Unless she stepped outside the ward’s boundaries, she should have stayed hidden.”

“She never left,” Brynn assured. “If we could agree on one thing, it is that Colin and Anthony would never touch Kara again.”

“I don’t know how they found her,” Chris said looking from one man to the other. “I just know they did.” He stepped closer to Aden. “They kept haunting her nightmares. We…I wasn’t able to block them until recently. I just wanted you to know because she is more fragile than she lets on.”

Aden did not miss Chris’s slip and glanced at the now quiet two-two-year-old in Delia’s arms whose eyes were suddenly far wiser than they had been a moment before. What was more worrisome than the secrets the children were obviously keeping from their family was the fact he was taking Kara back to his master without the rest she so desperately needed. Covering his face with his hands, Aden rubbed it before burying his fingers in his hair, his eyes once again turning towards the door that led outside. If only they could escape what was to come.

Suddenly there was shouting and the sound of metal shifting.

“I have to go,” Aden announced, keenly aware of the rising tension outside. If any of those idiots harmed Kara, he was going to skin them alive, consequences be damned. Suddenly he was seeing through Kara’s eyes, hearing what she had heard, and he knew there was no force in the universe that would stop him this time. This time the bastard was going to die. With a growl and few choice obscenities, Aden raced out the door.

“Stay here,” Uncle Cas told Delia and Chris as he, Brynn and Gavin followed Aden.

Chris looked at his aunt for a moment, indecision warring inside him. He knew who could stop this, but he was not sure she would. Still, he had to try.

“Chris! Where are you going!” Delia yelled as he raced for the backdoor.

“To get help,” he yelled back. “I hope,” he added to himself.

Chapter 2
Chapter 4

Broken Promises – Chapter 2

On November 3, 2018November 16, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing2 Comments

Chapter 2

When Emperor Caius informed his young apprentice he was to go down to the planet they were orbiting to collect a very special package, Aden Sahen neither asked questions nor cared. When the emperor’s own elite guard was commanded to accompany him, Aden did not even raise an eyebrow in question. This had been his life for the last six years. No. Not six. Five. The first year the reason for his existence had been ripped from his arms, he was nothing more than a seething, raging shell of a man, unfit to be in the presence of the living. Non-living barely had a chance. Deep down in the bowels of the ship was a small cargo bay and its entire contents that had been completely destroyed.

It was only when the emperor grew tired of waiting for Aden to retain control of his raging emotions that he informed Aden that if he did not pull himself together, the emperor would bring Kara back kicking and screaming, making her last…visit seem like a lullaby. The threat to Kara was enough to shock the unhinged male into sanity. It took everything Aden had to rise to his feet and walk out of that bay. Ever since then he had been going through the motions of living.

Until his feet hit the soft ground of the planet he had been sent to and his knees buckled. In that one instance everything within and without turned upside down, sideways and inside out all at the same time. As if every cell was being ripped apart and put back together millimeter by millimeter. Pain and pleasure, elation and terror all mixed together, ripped through him leaving him disoriented, lost. And then he felt it, felt her, and he could not breathe. NO!

The reaction of the guards told Aden that, unlike him, they knew exactly where they were and why they were here. As Aden huddled on his hands and knees, his fingers digging into the dirt desperately trying to find balance, there was a rustle of metal and harsh words as their weapons trained on him afraid that finite control he held on his temper would break.

Two well polished black boots stepped into Aden’s view.

“I have a message to you from the emperor,” the captain of the guard announced curtly.

At least that was what Aden thought he said. It was hard to tell since his hearing was going in and out. Since the captain’s eyes were a little too happy to see him suffering, he thought maybe he should hear what the bastard had to say. Gritting his teeth, Aden tried to rein in his chaotic emotions. With the overwhelming need to find her, pull her into his arms and never let her go, it was damn near impossible.

“Commander!” the captain snapped, his loathing for Aden and the weakness he was showing evident in that one word. “Get control of yourself. We have a mission to finish, and you acting as if your world had evaporated out from under you is unbecoming of an officer,” he sneered. “Get to your feet now!”

There was some unease among those surrounding Aden at the captain’s obvious disrespect, but for the life of Aden he could not care. Not with the light so close in what seemed like a lifetime of darkness.

Very slowly so the world would not spin out of control, Aden pushed himself up until he sat back on his heels. For the moment that was all he had. With a sound of disgust, Captain Newell squatted down in front of him, a sneer firmly placed on his thin face. Strangely it was the only thing that was thin, all sharp edges and shadows, as his body was stocky and well maintained. The contrast between body and head would have made him look out of proportion, but his startling blue eyes and extremely short spiky hair and sheer malevolence somehow made it all work. Aden had made many enemies along the way and unfortunately Newell was one of those enemies. So it was no surprise that the man was taking advantage of the emperor not being present and Aden’s current weakness to show his contempt and outright hatred for him.

“You have one job and one job only. Retrieve the witch and bring her to your master,” he sneered, the delight of the pain this news would cause Aden dancing in his eyes.

Aden could not have heard right. Yet why would he be here if not to retrieve Kara. Two emotions raged inside him. Each one as equally strong as the other. The first was something between an overwhelming joy and relief. Joy because the one being in this entire god-forsaken universe that made his existence worth continuing was only a few yards away in the house he could see through the legs of the men surrounding him. Relief because for the first time in five years he could finally take a full breath.

The other was darker, more terrifying than the day he was forced to leave Kara here. The next step of the prophecy that Caius had been obsessing over must be close. If that was true, then Aden would only be finding peace to lose it again. Forever.

“Do you understand your orders?” Newell growled, enunciating every word as if Aden was slow to understand.

Up until now, Captain Newell would have never treated Aden with so little respect. When Aden was healthy, everyone knew the power he wielded. Knew it would have been a death sentence if not handed down by Aden, then the emperor himself. In the last four years while he was unstable, it was enough to invite death just to stand too close to Aden. The only explanation Newell felt bold enough to talk to Aden with so much disgust is because he knew Aden could not retaliate without consequences he was not willing to pay.

Outside the wards, Aden could not feel Kara, nor she him. They were completely cut off from each other, so whatever Aden did magically to the emperor’s troops had no effect on Kara. Now that he was inside the wards if Aden lashed out at any of the men standing around him with his powers, the pain he caused them would rebound on Kara tenfold. It was the last link put into place by the emperor in the chains that tightly bound them as a way to keep him and Kara under control. There were only a choice few who knew about the new addition, Newell being the captain of the emperor’s guard one of them. What the captain failed to remember was if Aden used his bare hands, Kara was safe.

“He seems struck dumb,” Newell laughed cruelly. “Maybe the stores are true.”

Others joined in in the captain’s laughter when Aden hung his head seemingly in humiliation. Although they were not as enthusiastic in that laughter as their captain. They seemed to remember Aden’s hold on his sanity had been fragile at best, near non-existence at worst. Best not to poke the injured tiger for fear of having their throat ripped out when it finally became pissed enough to forget its injuries.

“Is that right, Commander?” making that one word sound vile. “Is she that good of a fuck that this close to her you lose all control? I heard Malvado’s men boasting how many times they took her to their bed. That she could not resist them. I’ve seen for myself what one lustful thought directed at the whore does to her. How she….”

Newell never had the chance to finish his taunt.

In a movement so fast no one saw what was happening until Aden had his hand tightly wrapped around the captain’s neck. Slowly Aden stood, the ever present rage that simmered just below the surface clearing the chaos muddling his mind, helping him focus, steadying his body. The men around him found no humor in his actions and immediately resituated their weapons with a rustle of cloth and metal, yelling orders for him to release their captain immediately or they would shoot.

Aden ignored them.

“If you ever speak her name or call her whore again. If you so much as look at her, I will end you,” Aden snarled, his face inches from Newell’s slowly turning red face. Very slowly, in the exact condescending tone the captain had asked his question, Aden snarled, “Do I make myself clear, Captain?”

Newell struggled in Aden’s grip, his fingers pulling at Aden’s fingers at his throat, feet dangling a foot above the ground. The look of pure loathing he was directing at the sorcerer resulted in Aden tightening his grip around the captain’s neck.

“Answer me!” Aden roared.

“Yes!” Newell wheezed nastily. A little tighter and Newel rephrased his answer with a little more respect. “Yes…my lord.”

Where he was not pleased with the tone, Aden was quickly losing his strength and did not want to show anymore weakness in front of these men. With a growl of disgust, he opened his fingers, dropping Newell who crumpled to the ground gulping in air.

Turning away in dismissal, ignoring the men still holding their guns on him, Aden started for the edge of the ancient oak grove they stood in, the men surrounding him parting as if he were a viper in their midst they did not want to draw attention to. Just as Aden was about to step into the light of the planets two suns, the captain spoke.

“There is more,” he wheezed hoarsely, the glee in his voice unmistakable even through the damaged throat.

The tone of his voice stilled Aden’s feet and chilled his blood. There could only be one thing that the commander was referring to with such gleeful pleasure. One thing that would seal his and Kara’s fate, making them once again pawns in a game they no longer wanted to play. Praying he was wrong, Aden turned towards Newell.

Newell was on his feet, the malice once more firmly planted in the grin on his face as he held out the last thing Aden ever wanted to set eyes on. Doing his best not to recoil from the evil in the bastard’s hand, Aden calmly looked into the captain’s eyes.

“He wants you to put it on her.”

Aden could not stop his sharp intake of air. The thought of putting that foul piece of metal around Kara’s neck literal tilted his world once more.

“If you refuse and he has to come down here himself, he will kill every adult in the Llassar family, destroy the wards and leave her brats to the wolves that hunt them.”

This time Aden was unable to hide his response and stepped backwards in horror. He would have liked to say Caius would never put Kara’s children in danger because they were too important, but he knew better. The madness of living two thousand years had been slowly eating away at Caius’s sanity. In his obsession of twisting the prophecy to his will, he would jeopardize everything to have Kara under his control, even if it meant breaking her completely. Aden had no choice but to do what was asked of him.

Silently cursing when he saw his hand was shaking, Aden reached out and carefully took the necklace from the grinning bastard. There was a weight that had nothing to do with the delicate piece of jewelry and everything with the evil that infused it. An unsuspecting recipient would think it beautiful. It was how the owner managed to enslave the object of his desire. Present their intended victim with the obviously expensive gift with the pretense of love and warmth, only to find once it was clasped around the victim’s neck they were prisoner to the owner’s every whim. Caius made no airs of hiding what it was. A cursed necklace that had the power to enslave gods, and he had enjoyed forcing it on Kara.

Sliding it into his pocket, feeling the weight of evil that permeated the delicate gold surrounding the many jewels filling his veins, Aden turned without another word, stepping into the sunlight and the next chapter of his living hell.

Chapter 1
Chapter 3

Free

On October 29, 2018October 29, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Poetry3 Comments

Have you ever wanted to be free?
Free of burdens,
free of choices
free of morality
free of consequences?
Have you ever wanted to let go
fly with the wind
go wherever
however
with whomever you please?
Have you ever not wanted to worry
about the choices you make
the way others see you
think of you
judge you?
Have you ever wanted to just be
who you are
feel how you feel
do what you want
without fear of condemnation?
Have you ever wanted to be
free?

Broken Promises – Chapter 1

On October 28, 2018November 16, 2018 By HeidiIn Creative Writing, Free Write4 Comments

In everything,
there is a beginning
and an end.
Even great mountains rise and fall
as time continues to roll on.
Within that time,
a delicate balance must be maintained
or all will fall into chaos
and ruin.
The universe is no different.
Among the chaos of creation
there is still a semblance of balance,
or nothing would be able to form,
to grow,
to endure.
But what keeps that balance?
Is it divine force,
or just chance?
Is it strong and sure,
or just holding on by a thread
ready to break at any moment?
Do we have centuries,
years,
or days
before the life we know ends
as suddenly as it began?
Is it as simply as a choice between
good or evil,
right or wrong,
love or hate?
Or is it as simple as choosing to embrace both,
because without one the other
does not exist.

Chapter 1

It had been five years since they released her physically, only one year since the nightmares finally stopped. For eleven years before her release, they had done everything they could to break her. Physical torture, mental abuse, rape. All because of a moment of stupidity. A moment that would completely change her in ways that she was still trying to understand, and even though she was now free, there was a small voice in the back of her mind that kept whispering that freedom would not be forever.

Thirty-eight-year-old Kara Conner was born with a special ability. The ability to make people bend to her will. She could never bring herself to use it on anyone for her own needs. Instead she would see someone bulling someone or another stealing and gently push them into a different direction. The right direction.

In a rush to get home, or was it to school? It seemed so long ago that her nightmare began Kara could not remember, but patience had never been one of her virtues. She was in a hurry so decided to take the shortcut through the woods. One that stories were told about people walking in and never walking out. Of boogeymen and witches. Of vengeful ghosts who were either searching for their lost loves or looking for the one who betrayed them. As far as Kara was concerned it was all hogwash. The woods were not haunted by ghosts or witches or boogeymen because they did not exist.

What she realized too late was that the woods were haunted by something far worse. Something that was looking for her.

Before she knew what was happening, Kara was being dragged kicking and screaming into a reality she did not know existed. A reality where the people came from other worlds far from her home planet, Earth. Who traveled in metal cities called ships from galaxy to galaxy, making allies and conquering enemies, bending those who resist their rule to their will. People who had powers to enter her mind, cause her pain or pleasure with a single thought. Show her that the strange things she had always been able to do did not make her crazy. They made her special. Special enough that there were those hunting her who wished to use her for their own objectives.

In order to survive those eleven years, Kara had done things she would never tell her family. Acts she was not sure her husband who she deeply loved could ever forgive. Acts she never wanted her children to know their mother was capable of. Horrific, vile, degrading acts that even though the nightmares had stopped still haunted her. Acts she would do again if it meant those she loved remained innocent of the evil that marred their universe. Evil that went by the name of Colin Malvado.

Colin was the one who captured Kara in the forest that fateful day. He had technology at his disposal that Kara had only seen in movies and television shows, and his power she thought far outweighed hers. Why he needed her and her paltry magic was beyond Kara, but no matter how much she pointed out that fact, how much she pleaded for him to let her go, he refused. The one time she managed to escape with her now husband, her freedom was short lived. When he caught her, dragging her back into her living nightmare kicking and screaming, she found out just how sadistic Colin could be. The only solace she had was that her husband and child were safely hidden away.

Kara’s only refuge from Colin’s cruelty was his son Anthony. As much as the thought of giving herself to the monster’s son repulsed her, Anthony was the only one in her living nightmare that did not want to hurt her. All he wanted was for Kara to be his and that she never left him. Ever. It was an obsession Kara would learn to regret fostering.

Then new players entered the scene. A powerful sorcerer who called himself Emperor Caius and his apprentice Aden Sahen. A young man who would prove to be not only Kara’s savior, but something much deeper that they could not begin to understand or stop from happening.

When Aden and his master rescued her from Colin, for the first time in a very long time Kara felt safe. The power these new beings held guaranteed Colin and Anthony could never touch her again. She expressed her want to go home, to be with her husband and now three-year-old son. Caius warned her if she did she would only be putting them in danger, for there were others just like Colin who hunted her. Better to stay and learn how to wield her powers, keep the knowledge of her family safely hidden until she was strong enough to protect them. Reluctantly Kara agreed.

During that first year with her new protectors, Kara was taught how hone her powers, control them. She was surprised by how strong she really was. Once Emperor Caius was satisfied with her expertise, he informed her she must now earn her keep. At first she agreed, but soon she began to balk at the things he asked her to do as they became increasingly malevolent.

It was then the pain began.

In all her years with Colin, he never came close to what the emperor did to her when she refused to do as he asked. Colin’s form of persuasion was mental and physical. Part pain, but playing heavily on using her as the ships whore in an attempt to break her. The emperor was able to get into her mind, weave spells around her that set every nerve ending, every muscle, into a pain so excruciating Kara could not even begin to think about breathing.

Aden tried to protect her from the worst of it, but even he with all his power could only do so much. And they had to be careful. If the emperor knew of the strange bond between them, of how being apart from each other was physically painful, he would use it to his advantage. Kara found out rather quickly she could hide nothing from him. Furious at what he called a betrayal he could never forgive, Caius ordered them to break their bond. What Caius did not understand was even if they wanted too; the binding of their souls could not be broken. A binding that also made them stronger.

In order to control them, Caius weaved a web of spells around Kara, making it impossible for either she or Aden to outright attack him. It also made it impossible for Kara to use her magic on any of his men unless she was directly ordered to. Aden had no such restrictions, but if he were to attempt to thwart Caius from punishing Kara, his actions would rebound on her tenfold. This threat did not stop Aden from masking her pain when she lay in his arms sobbing. A kindness Caius could never seem to understand. Kara was a tool, a weapon to use against his enemies. Weapons had no feelings. Weapons had no feelings, and when they disobeyed they were punished. Severely.

When Kara thought she could take no more, Caius suddenly decided to release her. Although release was a relative term.

Promising he would leave her alone to live out the remainder of her life in peace, Caius took her to the planet where her husband Brynn and now ten-year-old son Chris lived. A planet very similar to her Earth with one exception. It was full of magic. A perfect place to hide someone of her extraordinary abilities without drawing attention to what she was. A being that when Caius explained to her what she was even Kara did not believe.

To keep her safe from her enemies, Caius put protective wards around the small county where Brynn, his Uncle and cousins resided. With the wards her enemies would not be able find or hurt her. However, if she wanted to remain free, she could not step outside the boundary of the wards or she would be lost to them.

Knowing the agony it would cause them, as one last punishment Caius ordered Aden to be the one to take Kara down to the planet surface. They materialized outside the farmhouse in the shade of five ancient oak trees.

“Stay with me,” Kara begged clutching Aden’s long coat desperately, the thought of being apart already tearing into her soul.

“You know he will never allow it,” Aden reminded his voice breaking as he held her tightly to him. “We’ve become too strong. He knows what the separation will do to us. That it will weaken us.” He moved back only enough to tip her head so he could look into her eyes. “Brynn is here. He will help you through this.”

Saying the words aloud was almost as painful as the thought of not having Kara at his side. Caius had explained why Kara needed to be here with Brynn. What she needed to do before the next step was taken, but it still did not make sense to Aden. Kara belonged to him, was bound tightly to him, just as he was to her. There would be no other for him, so why did she have to return to Brynn when in her soul she no longer belonged to him? It was as if Caius knew something they did not.

“Brynn?” Kara whispered.

It was as if saying his name gave her soul permission to call to him. The sudden pull made Aden gasp as pain radiated through his chest. What the hell? Then another more persistent, sharper pull sucked the air out of his lungs. Caius was calling him back, and every cell in his body was screaming in protest.

“No!” Kara whimpered holding onto him even tighter. But they both knew Caius would not be denied. Could not be ignored.

“I love you,” Aden whispered just before his lips touched hers.

And then he was gone.

Kara could not breathe. Falling to her hands and knees gasping for air, she struggled to stay conscious. Gods, the pain. Just as she was slipping into oblivion strong arms pulled her into an embrace, a voice she thought she would never hear again called her name frantically. Then his power breathed through her and she was able to suck in precious air.

“Brynn,” she whispered just before she slipped into the welcoming darkness.

For the next five years Kara was able to reconnect with her husband and son, Chris, have another child, a daughter they named Jamie. But the ache in her heart, in her soul, that was the absence of Aden was never far away. Where Brynn’s love and presence did lessen the pain, it did not completely eradicate it. There was always a part of her that reached out searching for her missing piece. Searching for Aden.

When Colin finally found her, the wards kept him physically out of the county Kara lived in, but they could not keep him out of her mind. There were many nights she woke in a cold sweat screaming. Brynn would hold her until she cried herself to sleep. He asked her once what her dreams were about, only once. To know what she had gone through, what they had forced her to do when he was helpless to stop it was more then he could bear to hear. So he held her, loved her, was there for her to try and help her heal. They had two children who desperately needed their mother whole and he would do everything in his power to see that happen.

Vows, even ones made with conviction as strong as steel, can be broken as easily as promises made with a passing breath or with evil intent.

Chapter 2

A new story…Broken Promises

On October 28, 2018 By HeidiIn Blog, Creative Writing, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I know it’s been a while since I have posted. Life has been busy and my muse has been quiet. It seemed that trying to write anything was a chore. I have a book that needs to be be written, the third to my Destiny series, and I did start it last year, but I just did not seem to have the gumption to continue. I think I have figured out why and now have started to think more about it, figure out what path it will take. In the meantime I have made a decision about whether or not I will start publishing another story on here.

Broken Promises is based on the very first story I ever wrote. The one that was was started with a writing prompt from my 8th grade home room teacher. The original was all fan-fiction. Mixing and mashing TV shows and at least one movie together to make an original story. It was easier for me to use the characters and places of those shows because I had them firmly in my head. The story line was all my own though. I have that first part because my mom typed it up for me and I turned it in to my teacher in place of another project we were suppose to do. You see, I was too busy writing to do the project. lol. Luckily my teacher was more than happy to support my fledgling writing. She also wanted to know how it ended.

750+ handwritten pages later (yes you read that right) and it still wasn’t done. I won’t be using that first part (15 year old teenage writing is a bit…scary). What I will post sort of jumps in the middle of that story. Don’t worry, it should make sense. I will have to heavily edit a few chapters. This is not a PG-13 story, so I will tone down some of the more…sexually intense scenes. Kara’s life is not an easy one.

I will see how it goes, how you respond. I would like friendly feedback whether it is positive or negative. It will help me figure out what works and what doesn’t. Like Forever Lost, I will have a page for it under random writing with links to each chapter and links to the chapters on either side at the bottom of the posted page. Part of me sort of thinks this may be a continuation of Forever Lost, even though the character’s names are different as are the places and genre. Let me know what you think.

I will post the first chapter shortly.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend. 🙂

Heidi

To See What I See

Category: Creative Writing

Broken Promises – Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Broken Promises – Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Broken Promises – Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Broken Promises – Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Broken Promises – Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Broken Promises – Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Broken Promises – Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Free

Broken Promises – Chapter 1

Chapter 1

A new story…Broken Promises