Unbound Read online

And with that, he stalked out of the room, leaving the girl with the long, black hair behind him, crying.

  * * * * *

  “He doesn’t know me! He can’t remember me at all.”

  Brynn looked at her new friends with wide, tearful eyes. She had come to Sophia’s suite on the Mother Ship because she had to talk—had to get some of the pain she was feeling off her chest. They were all sitting on the big couch in Sophia’s living area and Brynn was pouring out her heart.

  “I thought you said the bond between us would hold us together and help him remember me,” she whispered. “But it’s been a week and I’m still a stranger to him.”

  “I’m so sorry, hon.” Sophia looked truly distressed. “I thought it would.”

  “I thought so too,” said Olivia, who had been over visiting her sister when Brynn knocked at Sophia’s door. “How long were the two of you bonded before the surgery?”

  “Well…all my life.” Brynn ran a hand through her long, black hair distractedly. “My father gave Varin a drop of my blood when I was just an infant—only a few days old. We’ve been bonded ever since.”

  She saw Sophia and Olivia exchange a glance and Olivia said, “Uh-oh,” in a low voice.

  “What?” Brynn looked at them wildly. “What’s wrong?”

  “Brynn, honey…” Sophia laid a hand on her knee. “When Liv and I asked if you were bonded to Varin, we didn’t mean by a little drop of blood—although I understand that’s how the Vision Kindred form their preliminary bonds. At least that’s what Sylvan says—he’s been doing some research.”

  “What…what did you mean, then? If the blood-bond doesn’t count, what—”

  “What we were asking was if you and Varin had bonded,” Olivia said. “You know—if the two of you had had bonding sex?”

  “Bonding sex?” Brynn looked back and forth between them, completely mystified. “What is that?”

  “Well…” Sophia blew out a breath, obviously trying to think how to explain. “It’s different for every kind of Kindred. For instance with Sylvan, because he’s a Blood Kindred, he had to bite me while he was, you know, making love to me.”

  “And my husband Baird—the one who first guided you to the Mother Ship—is a Beast Kindred,” Olivia put in. “Beast Kindred have this thing called a, uh, mating fist at the base of their shafts. Baird had to get his, um, all the way inside me when we first made love.” She blushed a little and cleared her throat. “Anyway, it’s different with different Kindred.”

  “I guess what we’re asking is if you’ve made love in that special way that binds the two of you together?” Sophia said.

  Brynn felt her heart sink. “No,” she whispered. “No, we haven’t actually made love. I…I was deflowered in a very painful way to suit the needs of Sovereign X'izith when he bought me from my parents. After that I never…” She took a deep breath. “Never wanted anything inside me there ever again. And Varin…he understood that.”

  “Oh dear…” Sophia looked concerned. “So…you’re still a virgin?”

  “I have no maiden barrier,” Brynn said dully. “But no male’s shaft has completely breached my channel either.”

  She thought of the nightmares, which had started up again in the past few nights. Thought of the hissing voice of X'izith bidding her to come and be filled with his barb…of the burning, empty ache which was worse than ever inside her.

  She desperately longed for the sweet relief of Varin’s seed inside her. But now that Varin didn’t even know her, how could she ask him to help her ease the awful need?

  They lived in the same suite—it was true. He had even warmed to her, at least a little, and had apologized in a gruff and stilted way for the way he’d acted when he first woke from his surgery. But he didn’t know her and with every day that went by, Brynn’s hope that he might regain his memories of her and the love they had shared grew less and less.

  “So you were never really bonded in the first place,” Olivia said, breaking her train of thought.

  “Yes, we were!” Brynn insisted. “He dreamed of me and I dreamed of him. He even had visions of me—even when he wasn’t dreaming!”

  Sophia nodded. “Yes, Sylvan said that’s why they’re called the Vision Kindred—because they start dream sharing so early after they and their intended mate each get a drop of the other’s blood. And they have visions of each other right up until they complete their bond.”

  “Well maybe that’s it then—maybe you need to complete the bond,” Olivia said. “Can you get him to make love to you?”

  “But Liv…she said she had a, uh, ‘painful deflowering,’” Sophia said in a low voice. “That sounds…kind of traumatic. Don’t you think?”

  “Oh, that’s right.” Olivia bit her lip. “I’m so sorry, Brynn. That was insensitive of me.”

  “It’s all right,” Brynn said. “I appreciate any insights you have—no matter what they are. Do…do you think making love would help? Having what you called ‘bonding sex?’”

  “Well, bonding sex is a big deal,” Sophia said cautiously. “And it does tend to bring estranged couples back together sometimes.”

  “Only we don’t know what the Vision Kindred’s version of bonding sex is,” Olivia pointed out. “Or did Sylvan find that out too while he was doing research?”

  Sophia shook her head. “I don’t think so. There wasn’t much to go on. The Vision Kindred—at least the ones on this side of the Blind—have been extinct for hundreds of years. They, uh…” She coughed and looked at Brynn apologetically. “They died out because slavers and merchants kept kidnapping their children—their sons—to bond them to females of wealth and noble birth to act as bodyguards.”

  “Which is exactly what happened to Varin,” Brynn said dully. “The slavers killed his parents and sold him to my father so he could spend his whole life guarding me.” She gave a little sob. “Before this happened, when we finally admitted our love, I told him I was afraid he only loved me because he’d been forced to love me. But he said…he said…” Scalding tears pressed at her eyelids and she could barely hold them back. “He said he fell in love with me on his own—because I was different from all the other ladies at Court. He said…he said nothing could ever make him stop loving me.”

  And then she couldn’t hold back the sobs any longer. Burying her face in her hands, she lost herself in misery.

  Sophia and Olivia made sympathetic murmurs and put their arms around her, hugging her gently as she cried. Brynn was very grateful for the support and caring of her new friends but nothing could assuage the loss inside her. Nothing could erase the bitter taste of the love she’d had so briefly—the love that had been snatched from her before she could even begin to understand or appreciate what she had.

  At last she felt she had cried herself out. Wiping her eyes with a soft cloth Sophia had given her, she straightened up and gave a tremulous sigh.

  “Thank you,” she whispered to both her friends. “I’m sorry I cried all over you. I just…I just miss Varin so much.”

  “Of course you do, sweetie,” Olivia said gently. “And I know what you’re going through—well, a little bit, anyway.”

  Brynn looked at her with interest. “You do?”

  Olivia nodded. “Yes, it’s a long story but when I was first getting together with Baird, he sacrificed himself for me to a very bad guy. He…” Olivia cleared her throat and swiped at her eyes. “He gave himself in my stead, even knowing he was going to be tortured. And when he came back, well—he was nearly catatonic. I though he would never be himself again.”

  “How did you bring him back?” Brynn asked eagerly.

  “Well…by bonding sex.” Olivia shrugged apologetically. “I’m sorry, especially since you said you don’t want to do that but—”

  “No, it’s all right.” Brynn lifted her chin. “I…I need to consider every option.”

  “Just think about it for now,” Sophia said. “Don’t jump into anything too quickly.”

  “You never k