AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Irene, I hope with all my heart you don’t receive this message. If you do, it means thosebastardicaught you.” Fausto’s voice was a mix of grief and anger. “But I also hope you do hear this, because no matter what, you must not go to Earth.”
Irene forgot to breathe.
“I pray I didn’t make a mistake going to your Kalquorian friend to rescue you from that beast Nil.” Valentina wept. “I knew he’d followed you to the theater, and I panicked because who else could help you? I’m so sorry.”
“It was him or Nil and his Nobek,” Fausto comforted her. “Hopefully, it was for the best. Either way, it’s…oh, Irene! What they’ve done!”
“Nil was forced to return Gisele after several hours. They let her go, because she too was secretly married.” Gisele was a member of the company who often played smaller roles. Valentina broke into fresh sobs. “James Donald…he said…he arrested…”
When she couldn’t continue, Fausto resumed the tale. “They accused Gisele of being intimate with the Kalquorians. Against her will, of course, but when has a woman’s helplessness against men ever offered safety? She denied it, but since she was held for several hours and no one can say what happened, Donald took her into custody.”
“They sent her to Earth,” Valentina blubbered. “She’s disappeared!”
“I’ve sent message after message to the bishop, to any authorities who’ll accept my coms, but they say it’s in God’s hands.” Fausto’s eyes were bright as well. “I try, but I can do nothing, nothing, Irene! They believe the Kalquorians ruined her, made her sin. All I hear are rumors, but they say she is to be tried and probably executed. If the other women Nil kidnapped are recovered, they face this horror too.”
“Don’t come back, Irene,” Valentina begged. “Hide, stay far from Earth. If you go home, they’ll hurt you. You could die.”
“You must stay away,” Fausto agreed. “I can’t bear the thought of such a beautiful, talented girl with your voice destroyed. I don’t know how you’ll survive, but do whatever you must, mio predilette. Keep hidden and survive.”
“Be well, Irene. Be safe.” Valentina blew her a tearful kiss.
The com winked out.
Irene stared where their faces had been. Gisele had escaped Nil, but Donald had arrested her. He’d sent her to Earth to face trial. To be killed. Fausto, despite his connections and power, had been unable to stop him from doing so. The Church wouldn’t hear his pleas on Gisele’s behalf.
It meant Irene couldn’t go home. She couldn’t see her parents again. Ever.
“Irene.” Jemi sat next to her. “Would they really kill the women Nil stole? Would they kill you?”
“Yes.” Her reply came from a great distance, through lips gone numb.
“But…it isn’t your fault.”
“It doesn’t matter. Women are creatures of sin. Even when we don’t mean to, our weakness and nature falls on the side of immorality. It’s why men are sometimes driven to rape, why we’re at fault no matter what.” The evil words dripped from her, teachings imposed on her to memorize from a young age.
Rusp exploded. “That’s insanity! How can you be blame for what men do? What Kalquor did? How?”
“Because fanatics rule my world.”
“You can’t believe you do wrong.” Pleading filled Jemi’s tone.
“No. I have no faith in the Church or its teachings. I don’t believe in any of it.” Though she thought a part of her had absorbed some of those lessons. How could she have heard it since childhood and not have taken some of it to heart, at least subconsciously?
I can’t go home.
The thought burned brightest in her brain, a hot brand in her skull. She finally turned her attention to Sherv.
“I only did it in case we were caught. I did it to keep you from being given to a clan you don’t want,” he said in a rush. “I wouldn’t have insisted you to be clanmate if we escaped. I still would send you home.”
“I can’t go home.” She stared at him. “I may as well have let Nil take me for the good it did. If he’d gone to Kalquor without me, I could have proven I’d escaped. Fausto and Valentina wouldn’t have told how I did so. No one had to learn I’d run off on board your ship, but it’s on record I’m clanned. Earth will hear of it, won’t they?”
Her words were escaping in a flood, disjointed as her brain whirled around the inescapable fact: she couldn’t go home. She’d lost her parents forever. Sherv clanning her had sealed her fate.
“Irene, I try not to hurt you.” His expression was pure misery. “I swear.”
“I know. But right now, I can’t even look at you. Right now, I—”
Her stomach turned over. She bolted to the bathroom and locked herself in to be noisily sick.
