Divided Read online

  “What happened? Did the…the Skin Takers…?” But Becca couldn’t finish the awful question.

  “She died in labor,” Truth said shortly. “With Far still within her. Speaks Wisely, who had been my father’s brother, died defending her from the pirates who broke through the wall of defense the other Kindred had formed.”

  “Oh, no.” Becca put a hand to her mouth.

  “My father, Feels Pain—”

  “Wait,” Kat interrupted. “I thought you said your father’s name was Feels Deeply.”

  “He changed it to Feels Pain,” Truth explained, still staring straight ahead. “I’m sure you can understand why.”

  “Of course.” Kat nodded soberly.

  “As I was saying, my father saw his brother and wife die before his eyes. He had me in his arms and the escape pod was primed. Believing that Far had died as well, he took me and fled to the nearest habitable planet—Pax.”

  “Wait—Pax? You mean Pax in the Silverbeam System? The home of the Rai’ku?” Lock asked, looking interested.

  “The same.” Truth nodded briefly. “There was I raised among the Rai’ku and there also my father took a new mate—a Rai’ku female named Lixa. She bore him three more sons—my half brothers. I was raised among them as part of the pack.”

  “The pack?” Becca asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Truth simply nodded without explaining. “I never had a twin, believing him to be dead,” he said. “And I never felt the lack of one. Nor do I feel it now.”

  “Thank you, you couldn’t possibly make that any clearer,” Far snapped.

  “But what happened to you? Why didn’t you die like your father thought?” Becca asked him.

  “I was delivered only moments after my mother breathed her last,” Far explained. “One of the other Twin Kindred warriors saw her abdomen still moving as I fought for release. He cut me out and gave me to his mate to hold while he continued to fight the pirates who they eventually overcame. He and his brother and female had one other pair of twins—five years older than me. They wanted more children but were unable to have them so they kept me and raised me as their own.”

  “That was kind of them,” Kat said gently.

  “They are fine people,” Far said in a low voice. “But I never stopped wondering about my birth parents. And…about my twin.” He cast a quick glance at Truth who was still staring straight ahead. “Everyone told me he was dead—that all my people were. My adopted parents thought they had been lost in space. But I couldn’t help feeling that he was out there, somewhere, just waiting for me to find him.” He gave a bitter laugh. “Turns out I was only half right.”

  “As usual,” Truth remarked acidly.

  “As usual,” Far agreed and sighed wearily. “Anyway, when I came of age, I was able to access the restricted records of what had happened during the attack. I found that a single escape pod had been launched. I did some calculations and deduced that it must have landed on Pax. When I followed up, I found that my remaining father was dead, but Truth was living among the Rai’ku. I contacted him, asking if he would be willing to meet me aboard the Mother Ship.”

  “Which I never should have done,” Truth growled. “Far was all over me at once. Touching me as no male should touch another.”

  “What are you talking about?” Far demanded. “I only tried to embrace you—a perfectly natural act considering the circumstances.”

  Truth frowned. “Males do not embrace. They may clasp arms on occasions of great grief or great joy but nothing more.”

  “But that’s awful,” Kat burst out. “You never, ever touch each other? Never hug?”

  “What is a ‘hug’?” Truth asked, clearly mystified.

  “Where you put your arms around another person and hold them,” Becca said quietly. “Surely your father must have hugged you, Truth.”

  He shook his head. “My father, Feels Pain, raised me in the ways of the Rai’ku. I do not recall him ever touching me in such a fashion from the moment of my birth until the day he died. It would not have been right.”

  Becca felt her heart twist. “How could he raise you and never hug you even once?” she asked. “That’s terrible.”

  Truth lifted his chin. “It is the way of the Rai’ku. Males do not touch other males. I am proud to carry on the traditions of my people.”

  “All right, I think I see part of the problem,” Deep said, leaning forward from the other couch. “You don’t want to touch your twin at all?”

  “Of course I don’t want to touch him.” Truth looked offended. “What kind of perverted male do you think I am?”

  “The same kind we are, apparently.” Moving as one, Deep and Lock stood and put their arms around each other’s broad shoulders.

  “You must never refuse the comfort of your brother’s touch,” Lock said gently. “It’s natural to find solace in the closeness of your twin. That’s part of the bond. Especially before you call a bride.”

  Truth frowned. “Yet another reason I don’t wish to form a bond with Far.”

  “But don’t you see?” Lock asked. “The bond is already there—it forms in the womb. It may be starved almost to death by such a long separation between the two of you but it is there.”

  “And it would grow if only you would feed it,” Deep continued for his twin. “You must touch each other.”

  Truth shook his head. “I do not wish to.”

  “And I won’t touch him if he finds contact between us so distasteful,” Far added, frowning.

  Deep sighed. “Fine. Then let us test the limits of the bond you have now.”

  Truth looked at him distrustfully. “And how do you propose to do that, Commander Deep?”

  “For one thing, you should be able to feel each other’s pain and pleasure. Watch…” He produced a long, sharp straight pin and jabbed his own finger with it.

  Lock winced. “Ouch!”

  Becca watched with interest. “Will you bleed as well?”

  “No, but Lock does feel my pain as I feel his,” Deep explained. “It can be distracting in battle until you get used to it.”

  Truth shook his head. “I don’t understand—why would I want such a weakness?”

  “Because you feel your brother’s pleasure as well.” Kat stood and kissed Lock softly on the mouth but Becca noticed she was careful to hold Deep’s hand while she did so.

  Deep smiled and pressed his fingers to his lips. “Hmm…nice.”

  Truth frowned at the display, clearly disapproving.

  “Commander Deep, this doesn’t bother you? Seeing the female you have claimed being kissed by another male?”

  “Of course it doesn’t bother me. Part of the pleasure of being a Twin Kindred is seeing your lady being pleasured by your brother,” Deep said calmly. “I feel both Lock’s joy in touching Kat’s smooth skin and tasting her lips as well as an echo of her pleasure in returning his kisses.”

  Truth shook his head. “That seems wrong. Unnatural.”

  “It’s perfectly natural when you are a Twin Kindred,” Deep said. “It doubles and trebles your own pleasure.”

  “Of course, when your bond is weak, these sensations are lessened,” Lock remarked. “At the time that Deep and I were wooing our lady Kat, our bond was stretched very thin indeed. We were even able to touch her separately, though it still gave us pain.”

  “Wait—what?” Becca frowned. “It hurts if only one of you is, uh, touching her?”

  Deep nodded. “It’s a feeling akin to a low level shock running throughout your entire body if you touch your bride without your brother also touching her.”

  “Again, you are not making a very good case for me to wish to bond with Far,” Truth remarked.

  Lock sighed. “I know it may not seem like it, but there are so many benefits. When you are closely bonded to your twin, sorrows are halved and joys are doubled. You share a kind of communication so deep and intense it rivals any other bond in the universe. Truly, it is a beautiful thing.”

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