The Seer (Blood & Fire Saga Book 1) Read online

  The intimidating look faded, replaced with a flash of a smile that reminded him powerfully of her brother. “You take care of those. I’m not good at charming. I don’t think I can get you another pair.”

  He nodded. “I will.”

  “Good.” She dropped down beside him on the bale and dropped more stuff into his lap. This time, it was food. At the sight of it, Kaie’s stomach gurgled in longing. “Now eat fast, before time’s up and you have to go back to your shoveling.”

  ***

  The strange girl who hid beneath her hair was not wrong. Not about his role in the stables. By the end of the month, with heavy use of the goop she always brought, his hands were healed and Stephen ran out of stalls for him to clean and things for him to carry.

  She came to talk to him every day. He continued to use the bales, dreading the day they disappeared. Life was draining, except when he sat there and ate next to her. It was nice. So, he made efforts to keep it interesting for her. He found himself telling her all about Sojun. She was a great audience. The more she listened, the more he found himself wanting to share, until every detail of their lives together seemed to be spilling past his lips.

  “Do you still want the girl he loves?”

  She asked so few questions, he felt obligated to answer. “Yes. He’s probably dead now, anyway. Past caring. I’m not sure why I’m still fighting it.”

  She allowed the silence that followed, but only for a moment. “He’s not dead. I don’t know about the caring.”

  Kaie turned to look at her slowly, trying to figure out how he felt about that information. He should feel something. “You’ve seen him?”

  She nodded, brushing back some loose hairs that the wind kept blowing into her face. “Not as much as Vaughan does. He gets sick a lot.”

  He didn’t know what to say to that. So he said nothing. Just ate his pork, saving the stale bread to absorb some of the saltiness the meat would leave in his mouth. She let him, again just for a little while. Three bites.

  “Is it worse? Him being alive?”

  Kaie thought about it a minute. “Maybe it should be. I don’t know. I’m done caring.”

  Her head tilted and her lips pursed. Those big eyes of hers cut right through him, saw all the way to the center. “You’re giving up, aren’t you?”

  It bothered him. The words, her tone, the look in her eyes. He tried to block it out but it bothered him. “He betrayed me, too, you know. Sojun. He told things about me, things that aren’t supposed to be told.”

  “Yes,” she said as though he asked a question. “They all do. The ones who wear the collars. Some of them keep secrets for a while, but sooner or later they tell Luna Autumnsong everything. Secrets, lies, half–forgotten memories… everything. Vaughan says it’s the thing she puts into them. That they will do and say anything to make her happy, so that she won’t take it away. Some of them talked to him about it when she made them sick.”

  Kaie shrugged. He believed her. It just didn’t matter.

  “Are you giving up, Bruhani?”

  “Maybe.”

  She grabbed his chin and forced him to look at her, to meet her gaze head on. The intense blue eyes ripped at him, seeing too much. “Don’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “You see them everywhere too, don’t you? The ones with the dead eyes.”

  Kaie grimaced. “Yeah. I’ve seen them.” Every day, he saw one. She kissed him and urged him to give in to what he wanted. He tried to pretend he didn’t see, but he did. He knew exactly what the girl was talking about.

  “These people, the Autumnsongs and the others like them, they take everything that matters. For people like you and Vaughan, they’ll even steal your minds. But they can’t take our hope. No matter how they try, they can’t touch that unless we let them. Don’t you give it to them like it means nothing. Don’t you become another one with dead eyes. Don’t you dare.”

  “Why do you care? I can’t mean anything to you.”

  She scowled at him. It was a very unnatural look for her, making him wonder if she ever wore it before. “Because my brother cares. For the first time I can remember, he cares about something more than just me. Because you tell me stories and jokes. And because you never asked Vaughan my name. All of that matters and I don’t want to lose it.”

  The girl held him like that for a long time. Too long. He waited for her to release him. Despite everything, he didn’t want to risk driving her away. But she seemed content to wait forever. So, finally, he reached up and wrapped his hand around hers, tugging her grip loose. Her hold tightened and her face grew determined.

  “Let me go.”

  She shook her head. “Tell me you won’t give up.”

  The girl was strong but Kaie’s time in the stable was changing him, giving him power in ways a lifetime of wrestling with Sojun never did. It took some doing but he extracted her fingers from his face without having to break any of them. She was upset though. He could read it in her eyes. He struggled to think of a way to fix that without making promises he didn’t intend to keep.

  “Tell the truth,” he said. “You care because you think I’m handsome.”

  She snorted. This time, Kaie liked the sound. “You’re too skinny by half. None of those rippling muscles that I like so much.”

  “But?”

  Her tongue stuck out at him, giving her a truly comical look. He couldn’t help laughing. “Fine! You know I do,” she acknowledged. “Not that you need to hear it. Now you’re going to be all cocky and strutting, aren’t you?”

  He laughed harder. “Nah, I promise. I will laugh at you though. For at least a week.”

  She sighed dramatically. Stephen whistled, the signal that their lunch was over. The girl flipped her hair back into her face, the way she always did when their time together was up, and stood to go. Kaie caught her wrist before she could accidentally smack him as she scampered away. He squeezed it just enough to get her attention. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”

  She considered him from behind her curtain, and Kaie found himself wishing he could see her face and get a hint at what she was thinking. After a while, she nodded. “Peren,” she said. Then she tugged loose and was gone.

  It wasn’t until he was on his way home that Kaie realized she’d finally given him her name.

  Fourteen

  He never talked to the man who escorted him to and from the stables every day. They worked together, and if Kaie spent any time thinking on it, he probably knew the man’s name. But since that first day when the man wrapped a meaty hand around his arm, just like they did his first day as a slave, he didn’t like the guy. The man wasted no chance to make it clear the sentiment was mutual. Without one word exchanged, the tension between them grew thicker with each trip.

  Today, the man seemed determined to change the nature of that mutual animosity. The grip on Kaie’s arm was much tighter than necessary, and the glares sent his way were more frequent and intense than usual. He got the distinct sense that he was being provoked into a word of protest, one that would give the excuse for violence. Kaie didn’t intend to give it. For the first time in a while, he didn’t feel empty. He had the solution to a puzzle, one he cared about. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve Peren’s name but he didn’t care. It was a victory, and he meant to enjoy it.

  But the man holding him was spoiling for confrontation. They were just approaching the well when the pressure on his arm jerked and shoved, sending Kaie down to his knees.

  “Bastard!” The word flew out before he could stop it.

  He was answered with a blow to the side of his head that made the world lurch.

  Kaie scrambled to his feet, blinking against the dizziness from the hit. “What in the Abyss is wrong with you?” He needed to keep his mouth shut. Sojun wasn’t there to fight for him anymore.

  The man spat, splattering Kaie’s feet with saliva. “You ruined one woman already. You think I’ll let you break another?”

  He tried. Really
, he did. But he couldn’t stop himself. Not with what the man was implying about Amorette. “So that’s what we’re doing? Acting like idiots, because you’ve got a hard–on for Peren and don’t have the balls to talk to her?”

  The man blanched. It was all the encouragement Kaie needed to continue his verbal assault. “Does she remind you of a girl back home? Another one you didn’t talk to? Did you see her do dirty things to other guys, wishing it was you? Do you think, if it weren’t for me, Peren would be doing them to you? Maybe pulling you back behind the stable, getting down on her knees for you?”

  The man’s face went from bone white to bright red in an instant. Kaie saw the next punch coming, aimed for his head again. He twisted away, catching it in the shoulder. It hurt for a second, and sent him stumbling backward a step or three.

  “You won’t turn her into a slut like the other one!” the man bellowed.

  It was his turn to spit. There was blood in it, from where his teeth cut the inside of his cheek. “She doesn’t even know you exist, you sorry sack of shit. With or without me, it’ll never be you who sticks her. She’s got way too much self–respect to settle for filth.”

  There would be no avoiding the next hit. Kaie saw the promise of it in the man’s clenched teeth and tensed muscles. He didn’t flinch. Kaie smiled.

  “Stop.”

  The soft voice cut through the air like a knife. Both of them froze, eyes locking together in a shared panic that momentarily resolved the conflict between them. His hands fell open then squeezed closed again, the promised fight and need to flee twisting his body into a storm of vibrating nerves. Slowly, praying silently that he was wrong, Kaie turned around.

  She was just as plain as he remembered, and her skirts just as big. The sick, cruel smile playing on her lips was like a bucket of ice water dumped down his back. Her pace wasn’t hurried. She seemed quite confident that her presence alone was enough to hold them in place until she arrived. It was. The huge man at her side was superfluous. Luna Autumnsong was terrifying all on her own.

  Behind her, the hide covering his home fluttered. Kaie saw Amorette’s head peer out for a second, then dart back inside. That didn’t make any sense. He left before her and he returned before her. Dinner was always ready before she got home. Always. Amorette and Luna being here, when neither should be, couldn’t be a coincidence. But there was no time to figure out the implications. His nightmare was descending.

  “What is your name?”

  Kaie’s mouth went dry. His lips refused to move. She was going to punish him if he didn’t answer her. He was supposed to keep his head down and become invaluable. Instead, he was fighting in East Field, inviting another culling.

  “Keegan.”

  Kaie blinked, only then realizing that Luna was talking to the other man.

  Her lips turned down in a frown that still found a way to be mocking. “You hit my puppy, Keegan. That’s not very nice of you.”

  “I… uh… I didn’t know. Ma’am. Mistress. Lady Autumnsong.”

  “You didn’t?” Her head tilted to the left, as if she were considering this answer. Kaie knew better. This exchange was just a game.

  “No, Lady Autumnsong. I didn’t know he was yours! I would never… no one would… Please, forgive me! Mercy!”

  “Indeed? I suppose you do make a good point, Keegan. I can hardly hold ignorance against a person, else I would have to put down every slave in all of Lindel.” She laughed at her own joke before her face turned seriously again. “Very well. I will forgive you. This one time.”

  The man sagged in relief. Kaie almost joined the sentiment, until he saw Luna’s smirk return. “Puppy, tell me, is this East Field? I get so terribly turned around outside the manor.”

  His tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. He could see Keegan’s end coming. Kaie wanted to press his eyes closed until it all went away. Moments ago, he hated this other man. But that didn’t mean he wanted to be involved in what he knew was coming.

  Kaie nodded. There was nothing else to be done.

  She smiled and clapped her hands together. His stomach lurched.

  “It is? Oh my! I thought, surely, I was lost. No one would be so foolish in East Field. Not after my aunt made such a decisive proclamation about the punishment for fighting here. But if I’m not lost and this is indeed East Field, I’m afraid my mercy simply won’t help poor Keegan here.”

  The sob that came out of Keegan sounded like it was wrung loose. Now the man understood. Too late. It was too late the moment the overdressed bitch spotted the two of them.

  She snapped her stubby fingers. The sound vibrated through Kaie, echoing the click of a latch pressed into place. The flurry of movement that followed was all unnecessary. Keegan’s life ended with that snap.

  It all happened so terribly fast.

  Keegan was tied to a post he never noticed before. It stood a mere ten paces away from the well but somehow blended so completely with the surroundings that it was invisible. At least, until someone was strung up on it, arms encircling the expanse and bare back turned to the world. Then it was impossible to look anywhere else. The brute who was following in Luna’s wake tugged at the rope wrapped around Keegan’s hands. The man whimpered, and Kaie’s fists clenched in sympathy. The brute nodded and took several slow steps backward.

  The first lash of the whip hit the dirt at the brute’s feet. The whole of East Field seemed to hold its breath.

  “No!”

  Kaie charged forward, knowing it was pointless. If he couldn’t handle Keegan, he stood no chance against the brute. But he couldn’t let it happen.

  The brute didn’t even glance in his direction, just lifted an elbow at the right moment. Kaie tried to adjust his trajectory too late. Momentum carried him into the extended bone. It hit just above his left eye, splitting the skin like a ripe fruit and sending him sprawling.

  Blood spilled down his face, obscuring half his vision. Kaie pushed himself back up. He wiped at his eye, trying to come up with some way to make this stop. He took another step forward but hands jerked him backward.

  “Enough!”

  He stared up at the woman hissing at him. Josephine. East Field’s overseer. The whip cracked. Keegan screamed.

  “You have to stop this!” She could. She was in charge here. Boss Josephine spoke for the Lady Autumnsong.

  “I can’t,” she said lowly. “No one can. Poor sot is dead already. Keep at it and you’ll be strung up there after they peel him off. Then you’ll go off with Lady Luna to recover. Is that what you want?”

  It wasn’t. Another crack. Another scream. “I can’t just let him…”

  “You can. You have to.”

  It continued for nearly an hour. Kaie fought some. Not enough. Josephine’s grip was iron. He watched as Keegan was flayed. After a while, the screams stopped. Soon, it was nothing more than whipping dead flesh. Still, the brute kept going.

  “Stop.”

  The same word, the same voice, the same tone. It ended exactly how it began. Except now Keegan was nothing but a lump of bloody meat.

  Luna was beside him. Kaie didn’t know when that happened. She smirked and patted him on the head. “Good boy. See you soon.”

  She walked away just as slowly as before, the brute at her heels once more.

  A crowd milled around in her wake. He heard talk of taking the body down and figuring out something to do with it. The body. Like it was never a man. Kaie’s fists clenched. Stopping the brute hadn’t been possible but he could punish those left behind for their acceptance, for their apathy. There was no family here. No people. Only empty eyes.

  Josephine’s grip never loosened as she yanked him away from the crowd, toward the well.

  “Let me go!”

  She cuffed the side of his head. “Quit being stupid. One man died on account of that already today. How many more do you plan on getting killed before you do what Mistress told you, and quit drawing so much gods–damned attention?”

  “At least one
!” He spat.

  Josephine flashed all of her teeth in a predatory smile. “Lady Luna just declared her claim on you in front of the whole of East Field. That means every soul here is in danger of being used against you. How long, do you think, before these people start figuring that out? How many days before they get it in their heads to drive you away?”

  “Is that supposed to scare me?”

  “It would,” she answered lowly, “if there was half as much brain in that head as Mistress seems to think. No one will dare to touch you. Not after this display. So how, exactly, do you think they’ll chase you into Lady Luna’s waiting arms?”

  Kaie’s knees buckled. Peren. Amorette. Vaughan. Those were the tools they would use.

  Her message received, Josephine finally dropped her hold on him. “I’m putting East Field on lock–down tomorrow. No work. Go home, boy. Don’t do anything. Don’t talk to anyone. Keep your gods damned head down.”

  ***

  Amorette waited in front of the fireplace, arms extended for him. Kaie stopped the moment he was inside. He stared at the offered embrace, wondering why all he felt about it was a bit sick. “Don’t.”

  She blinked and dropped her hands. “Don’t?”

  Kaie scowled as he dropped to the floor, pulling his blanket up around his shoulders as he lay down. He laid facing the wall. “If you’re paying attention to me you’re trying to get me to do what you want. I hate myself enough already. You don’t need to make it worse.”

  A cool hand pressed against the back of his neck. After a moment her other hand was there too. Then they were massaging his neck and the back of his head. It felt good. He couldn’t make himself care enough to stop it.

  “I miss the hill.” Her voice caught him by surprise. “I miss everything, but I think about our hill the most.”

  Kaie closed his eyes. For a second, he could almost taste the sweet roll on his lips. “Me too.”

  “I’m sorry.” She sighed and pressed her thumbs into the muscles connecting his neck to his shoulders.

  He grunted his appreciation. “Don’t apologize. Feels good.”

  “I mean about the way I’ve been. It was wrong, what I asked of you. I know that. I knew it then. I wanted to hurt you. Both of you. I’ve just felt so lost…”