Imprisoned Read online

  The big Kindred sighed and dropped his hand.

  “Never mind for now, but eventually you’ll have to let me see to that cheek of yours. I’m afraid you have a zygomatic fracture.”

  “A zygo—what?” So he had just been trying to examine her? Was that really all?

  “Your zygomatic arch—your cheekbone—may be fractured,” he explained and frowned. “How did that happen anyway? I didn’t see it.”

  “Tapper punched me.” Ari kept her voice low. “I…I’ve never been punched in the face before,” she admitted. “Not even during a combat match. We, uh, used to compete in Ton-kwa—my brother and I.”

  “I see.” Lathe nodded gravely. “I’m afraid being punched in the face is the least of your worries at BleakHall. You’ll have to be careful if you want to get along here and follow the code of conduct.”

  “Code of conduct?” Ari frowned. “What do you mean? No one has mentioned any kind of code to me.”

  “And they won’t either—it’s something you’re expected to learn quickly or already know.” Lathe shrugged. “Some of it is easy—you have to be polite and deferential to the other prisoners. If you bump or brush someone or step on their foot, apologize immediately to avoid a conflict.”

  “Got it.” Ari nodded. “What else?”

  “Well…” Lathe counted them off on his fingers. “Don’t piss in the communal shower—that’s disrespectful to everyone. Keep your cell clean and your bunk made up. No unopened food containers in your personal area—that draws insects and the Goddess knows this place is hellish enough as it is without an infestation.”

  “I agree.” Ari nodded. “Okay, I can do all that. Anything else?”

  “The most important thing is to stay out of gang territories unless you have permission to be there. For instance, the Serpents—whom you’ve already met—” Lathe spoke dryly, “Claim Cellblock S, table 30, and run the hovercar parts work-hall. The OhNos run the library, sit at table 8 and claim Cellblock N. The Spice Lords claim Cellblock D, sit at table 11 and run the pornography ring.”

  “Wow, that’s a lot to remember,” Ari murmured. “Uh, pornography ring? The prison officials allow that? I thought BleakHall was owned by Mistresses from Yonnie Six. Doesn’t porn objectify women?”

  “They have to allow it—they’d have a riot on their hands if they tried to take away the porn,” Lathe said grimly. “You can’t lock over a thousand hardened felons away for life with no access of any kind to females and not give them some outlet. Males have urges—hungers—that have to be met somehow. That’s why they don’t allow any female staff at BleakHall at all—not even female Horvaths as guards and you can imagine what their females look like.”

  “Pretty much like the males?” Ari guessed.

  Lathe nodded. “But even that would be too much temptation for some of these desperate bastards. If a female—any female—somehow got into BleakHall she’d probably be raped to death in the first fifteen minutes.”

  His words, spoken in that matter-of-fact tone, sent a chill like ice down Ari’s spine.

  “That’s a horrible thought,” she whispered, putting a hand to her throat, unconsciously checking the projection bead of her look/touch, imbedded in her ID. She was glad she was getting out of here today. The power supply for the little bead wasn’t infinite—in fact, she estimated she had less than a week before it ran out. But of course, she didn’t need that long since she planned to be floating off in her transport bubble with Jak just after lunch.

  “It is horrible,” Lathe admitted soberly. “But you have to remember, most of the prisoners in here are misogynistic bastards—they hate females.”

  “Because they come from Yonnie Six where women rule?” Ari said.

  Lathe nodded. “And most were sent here by their Mistresses for one reason or another. Mostly rape and murder,” he added darkly.

  “And you…” Ari cleared her throat. “Do you feel that way about women? Do you hate them?”

  Lathe looked shocked.

  “No, of course not—I’m a Kindred,” he said, as though that explained everything.

  Ari shook her head. “Wheezer told me that was the name of your race when he was helping me get processed yesterday but I’d never heard of them before. What does being a ‘Kindred’ mean?”

  “We protect and revere females,” Lathe explained. “We are a race of genetic traders—our DNA makes our people 95% male, so we are always looking for new females of different races to bond with.”

  “That’s fascinating.” Ari couldn’t help being interested despite herself. “So you can mate with any other race you find?”

  “We’re compatible with many races,” Lathe admitted in a low voice. “What people are you from, Ari?” he asked.

  “Me? Oh, I…my people come from Phobos. It’s not a very big planet but we believe in the equality of males and females—we believe they’re two sides of the same coin,” she said, wondering why she was telling him all this.

  “Two sides of the same coin,” he murmured speculatively and the way he was looking at her made Ari nervous.

  “So, if the Kindred love females so much then why are you in here? I mean, what did you do to be sent to BleakHall?” she asked, trying to change the subject.

  Lathe frowned. “That’s another unwritten rule here—you never ask another male his crime.”

  “Oh…” She looked down, feeling suddenly abashed. “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s all right.” He sighed. “The charge on my official documents says ‘murder’ but it wasn’t true until I got here. I swore an oath as a physician to protect life but BleakHall has made a killer out of me.”

  He sounded so desolate when he said it that Ari almost wanted to go to him and comfort him. But she checked the impulse hastily. Firstly because she didn’t need to get any closer to the big Kindred than she already was. And secondly because her wish to put and arm around him and hug him was a female impulse.

  Males didn’t comfort each other that way, she knew. She had seen Jak with his friends before—they punched each other on the arm or slapped each other on the back. But they never embraced and held each other the way she suddenly wished she could do with Lathe.

  “I’m sorry,” she said instead, truly meaning it.

  He shook his head.

  “Killing…torture…pain—they’re all part of life here. Before you came through processing yesterday, I thought I’d become inured to it—desensitized. But I was wrong.”

  “You…you were?” Ari wondered why her heart was suddenly beating harder and her face felt hot and flushed.

  Slowly, the big Kindred nodded.

  “When I heard your voice pleading with that bastard Mukluk yesterday, something seemed to…to break inside me.” He sighed and clenched one big hand into a fist, studying it intently. “I just wish I knew why I…why I feel what I feel.”

  “I thought you didn’t like other males,” Ari said quickly, her heart hammering faster. “You said—”

  “I know what I said and I don’t like other males,” he interrupted. “I just…” He ran a hand through his hair in a gesture of frustration. “This is just really bad timing, that’s all,” he said roughly. “Look, are you hungry? It’s time to go down for First Meal.”

  “I am hungry,” Ari admitted. “But…” She bit her lip. “But I’m scared too. I feel like it’s safe in here—in your cell. Outside…well, anything can happen.”

  “You can’t live your life in fear, little one,” Lathe murmured, taking a step closer to her.

  Ari had the feeling that he wanted to put an arm around her—to touch her in some way and comfort her—the same way she’d had the impulse to comfort him earlier. But he didn’t come any nearer.

  “You have to be brave,” he told Ari. “And believe me when I say that I’ll protect you—with my life, if necessary.”

  “You will?” She could hear her pulse rushing in her ears and her whole body felt warm and flushed and tingly. Why was that? “Even…