Garden of Serenity (30 page)

At that moment something snapped. Later, Jahara would speculate whether it was Brenimyn’s telepathic prodding or her own belief in the new world order. Either way, she was pushed into action. The war had started and with absolute clarity, she knew where the next battle would happen.

“I’ve got Bresilee fooled. It never occurred to her that it was a two-headed snake.” Jahara looked down at Attika’s face, wrinkled in confusion.

“Wait, what?”

“I’m not going home, Attika. I’m fine, dear friend.” Jahara bent and kissed her damp cheek. “In my hour of greatest need, you’ve not deserted me and I will always remember that. But there’s still much to do.” Hadn’t Brenimyn said those words to her as he’d left? “Return to Zenick. You’ll know when I need you. For now, I have to go on my own.”

“Jahara—”

“Trust me, Attika,” she yelled over her shoulder as she ran into battle.

* * * *

“Of course there’s great cause for celebration.” Pulling the gold robe over her head, Gabriella stood naked. “Don’t be such a fool, Kylie. Everyone’ll want to rejoice the demise of the
new world order
.” Gabriella fussed with the bun at the nape of her neck. “I should’ve planned this ahead of time.” Threading a hanger through the neck hole of the robe, she placed it in the closet of honor. The other women on the Governmental Body had already left the building. She and Kylie stood alone in the ante chamber.

“The video was so much more than I could’ve hoped it would be.” Gabriella clapped her hands together like a joyful child with an unexpected gift. “Did you see their faces? Total disbelief that their guardian was such a villain? And how guilty did that breeder look? He just stood there, accepting his fate.” Gabriella stared through Kylie. “And Linsig? Well, that woman’s just a genius when it comes to acting. And you were just as delicious.” Pinching Kylie’s chin in her fingers, Gabriella shook it back and forth. “As proud of you as your own Dame would be, yes I am. If I hadn’t known any better, I would’ve thought those tears were genuine.”

Kylie swallowed hard, working to keep from puking. The tears had been real. They had nothing to do with the accusations of rape and everything to do with exiling an innocent man whose only crime had been falling in love with a woman.

“—and contact everyone on my usual list through the video system.” Gabriella looked up at the clock on the wall. “The dining commons should be able to deliver food within the hour. Ask the guests to arrive at 1900 with the usual wait staff in uniform. I will definitely want some of those lovely young girls with their perky little breasts there tonight.” She pulled on her yellow tunic, covering the scars she hid from so many. “Then arrange to have computer technology do a pyrotechnic display over the mansion at 2300.”

Gabriella didn’t think twice about what she asked of her. She knew Kylie would obey without question. The woman didn’t turn back as her clipped walk carried her from the room, leaving Kylie alone to doubt her own life path.

* * * *

Hopping from foot to foot, Jahara slipped off the cumbersome sandals and ran barefoot past the little shops and flowerbeds lining the main street. Their front windows were as dark as Jahara’s future without Brenimyn. No one was in this part of the Garden. She wondered if they’d gone home to celebrate or mourn.

What propelled her, she didn’t know. But Jahara’s next actions were as obvious as the false sun slipping below the horizon. Nothing in this place was real except her love for Brenimyn.

Her shadow danced along the hedges decorating the walks of the medical facility. Entering the building through a service entrance, Jahara skulked the murky hall and took a circuitous route to avoid the maternity floors.

Only the emergency clinic and the wings housing the pregnant women losing their fetuses would be occupied this time of night. The rest of the facility staff had left long before the trial began. Bresilee never intended for it to be a meeting. She’d planned the charade days ago when she kidnapped Brenimyn. Jahara never liked Kylie, but even this seemed beneath the woman’s usual conniving personality.

Pausing at the door of the well-check, Jahara listened for any woman having an unscheduled birth in one of the delivery rooms just down the hall. She heard nothing. No living soul knew what she intended to do and she wanted to keep it that way. Jahara crept into the waiting room, grateful for the portable holograms casting a feeble light on the chairs sitting in silent judgment of her actions. Ignoring the uneasy feeling, she hurried past them, through the arched door, into the exam room.

Though she was sure it was only a figment of her imagination, the red door at the end of the hall cast a sinister glow, increasing in size as she neared it. It beckoned her to tempt fate. Laying her palms on its smooth surface, Jahara was sure she touched the heat of Hades and wanted nothing more than to run from this most unpleasant task. But the thought of her true love being tortured on the other side of the door propelled her forward. She pressed the button and listened to the hateful hiss as it retracted. Adrenaline pulsed through her veins, preparing her to do battle with whomever was on the other side.

Only darkness greeted her.

Stepping through the portal, she let the door hiss shut behind her. Locks clicked in rapid succession and she turned, pounding on the exit, immediately regretting her decision. Bright lights flared, momentarily blinding her.

“Wait for the others.” A disembodied female voice blared down at her from the ceiling. “We will heal.” The last word dragged out until it became a high-pitched whine that pummeled her as if it were physically in the room.

She fell to her knees, covering her ears in a futile attempt to protect them from the pain searing through her head. Rising exponentially, the volume became a throbbing sound that blurred her vision and stole the air from her lungs.

The agony surrounded her until all that was left was a black vortex of pain, draining the life from her body.

* * * *

Kylie moved through the Ginia women, trying not to let the fear show. She had no idea so many would congregate in the bowels beneath the healing facility of the Garden. Perhaps this is where they always stayed, but she thought probably not.

“I don’t need anyone to accompany me.” Looking at the one in charge, Kylie hoped her voice sounded strong and self-assured. It had been years since she’d tried to deceive someone in authority. Even then, her Dame had seen through her machinations.

“He’s a prisoner. It’s for your own safety.” The guard stood two heads taller than Kylie. Her bulky arms folded beneath breasts that were not softly rounded like most females but fleshy mounds over hard-packed muscle. Only the oversized nipples gave any hint the guard was female. Her hair was braided in tiny rows of her clan, elaborately pulled back from the flat face staring down at her. The tattoo on the side of her neck danced as she flexed her thick neck, sizing up Kylie. The guards were much more intimidating when one was on the wrong side of the law.

She didn’t argue. No sense raising suspicions now. Besides, if she remembered correctly, the corridors of the complex were a labyrinth of hallways. It was better to follow the two guards who had offered to escort her.

The noise of the jovial gathering in the front room diminished as they turned the third corner, walking into the bowels of the building. Only the light padding of their bare feet slapping the cement floors echoed in the deep chambers where Brenimyn was held. The ghoulish orange lights did nothing to brighten the gloom.

It took them several minutes to reach the cubicles. The white glow of the electrical field around the opening cut through the darkness, illuminating the stark features of the guards. No wonder they had a tendency to remain in shadowed hallways.

At her first sight of him, Kylie had to bite her tongue not to cry out and give herself away. Naked and bleeding, Brenimyn lay on his side in a broken heap on the floor. Drool oozed from the corner of his bloated lips. His eyes were nearly swollen shut. One arm wrapped around the bruised ribs, no doubt holding the shattered bones together. The other lay on the floor at an odd angle. Never, until this moment, had she wished she was a healer.

“You’ve done well by your duties, I see.” Kylie held herself tall despite the nausea rolling cold and hard in her gut. “Dr. Bresilee will be pleased. Did he give you problems from the government building to this place?”

“No, but he harmed a woman. It is the worst offense. It was the least we could do for you, Kylie Devereaux.” Tipping her head down at Kylie, the guard could not hold back her smile.

They’d done it for sport—not her honor.

“Then I thank you for defending my reputation.” She bowed low to the woman. “You’re a great leader among the guard. Now, as a member of the Governmental Body and victim of the accused, I seek the right to face my attacker. I choose to be alone. Open the shield and leave me now.”

“We cannot let down the shield and leave him to run.” The guard let out a horrendous cackle. “Though I’m not sure how far he’d get like that.”

“Then open the shield and I will go in with him. You can close it behind me and leave us.”

“But he may harm you again.”

“You dare argue with a government official?” Kylie pushed out a laugh. “Besides, you said yourself he’s incapacitated. Leave me one of your communication devices and I’ll call you when I am done meting out my own justice. I’m tougher than I look.”

“But—”

“Shall I contact Dr. Bresilee and tell her of your defiance?”

“That will not be necessary.” The guard stepped forward and punched in the code. The electrical field dissipated.

She took the communicator the guard offered and stepped into the small chamber. Brenimyn had neither moved nor uttered a sound since her arrival. After the current hummed again, she spoke to them. “Go back to the other guards. You’ve all done well. They should be rewarded. When I’m finished here, I’ll talk to Dr. Bresilee about sending some food and spirits for a celebration.”

“Thank you.” The women bowed and Kylie held her breath until their laughter and congratulatory back slapping no longer echoed in the hall.

“Brenimyn.” She knelt next to him, still he didn’t stir. “It’s Kylie. Are you conscious?” She wanted to touch him, but the bruises on his entire body seemed to be aging into good wine before her eyes.

“Hrere to grloat?” His words slurred. They’d loosened some of his teeth. “Hraven’t you done enough hrarm?” One eye focused on her. The other was too damaged to work.

She pushed herself up and looked down at him with contempt. “I have a right to face my assailant.”

He tried to laugh but coughed up blood instead, spitting it on the floor at her feet.

“I demand you stand and face me. It’s my right.” She watched him roll to his stomach, fighting to bite back his cries of pain. Even in his brokenness, he maintained his air of nobility. The crowds had been right to believe in him. It took all her self-control not reach down to help him.

He shoved himself up on his hands and knees, the effort making him retch. He used his hands to haul himself up the wall until he was standing, albeit crumpled in the corner. His shaky knees barely held his weight.

“Wrhere am I?” he mumbled.

“In the isolation section of the healing facility in the bowels of the Garden where you belong. These cubicles were originally built as disinfecting units. I’m not sure they’ve ever been used to cage anyone.”

“Suchan honor. Grarden’s frirst prisoner.” He wheezed as he pulled air into his lungs. Kylie wondered how much internal damage had been done by the beating.

“Breeder, you’ve gotten nothing less than what you deserve.” She shot a glance up at the camera, feeling the mechanisms click beneath her unyielding gaze. “You’ve broken the first law and you shall pay.” The red light blinked one last time then went black. Satisfied, she flicked her gaze back to Brenimyn.

“Breeder, can you walk?” Her mind focused on the control panel for the electrical field. “I want you to stand before me so I may dispense my own form of justice. The guards aren’t the only ones who want a piece of you.”

* * * *

“You’re nothing if not predictable, Jahara.”

The words echoed in her head from a distant place. Jahara tried to open her eyes, but the bright light overhead brought back memories of the pain. Though it hadn’t killed her, the remnants of the agony it caused still throbbed in her temples.

“Wakey. Wakey. I don’t want you to sleep through all the fun.” Bresilee slapped her cheek several times. “If the light is bothering you, I can shut it off. I’d like you to see where you are.”

She dared open her eyes as the light dimmed. Bresilee stood over her, the woman’s features full of contempt as she tightened the restraints at her wrists and ankles.

“It’s no surprise you’re so desired, Jahara. You have a beautiful body.” Flattening her hand, Bresilee ran her palm slowly over Jahara’s naked flesh, from her knee, over her thigh, stopping to splay her fingers in the thick triangle of curls. “It’s really such a shame you prefer men. There’s so much we could’ve done together here at the Garden. My intellect and your healing power.” Bresilee’s hand moved over Jahara’s belly and she only hoped the woman wouldn’t feel the life growing within her. But the director didn’t pause as her fingers moved up to fondle Jahara’s breast. “You could’ve been part of something big, Jahara. A new era of women is about to begin. There’s so much more going on here. But you chose poorly.” Bresilee emphasized the statement by painfully twisting Jahara’s nipple. “Alas, it’s such a waste that I must eliminate you also.” Sighing, the woman bent over Jahara’s face.

The spit flew from her mouth, finding its mark just below Bresilee’s left eye. A hulking shadow moved into Jahara’s peripheral view but stopped when Bresilee lifted her hand. “Leave her.” Bresilee’s eyes never left Jahara’s. She swiped at the spittle running down her cheek. “I would’ve expected nothing less from you, honorable healer. Bound, stripped and held prisoner like your lover, still you waste the last hours of your miserable life fighting a battle you cannot win.”