“Stop!” Naomi shouted. “Lady Darcy, stop! Or I’ll have him claw Lord Tardik’s neck. He’ll die and take Lord Sean with him. Don’t tempt me because I swear on my honor as a Beck that I will.”
I halted, but I didn’t take my eyes off the clawman. He looked at me, holding his freakish paw over Tardik’s throat. The creature’s eyes were wide in fear. In that moment I liked that he was scared of me.
“Take me at my word, Lady Darcy, because Lord Sean and Lord Tardik are spirit brothers. A clawman can do that. You’re not the only one around here who can kill.”
Though I wasn’t sure if I could believe her, I didn’t want to take the chance with Sean’s life. With a powerful force of will, I cooled my hands.
“Very good, Lady Darcy, you are not an animal.” Naomi flicked her fingers at the clawman. “Away with you.”
The clawman pulled down his sleeve over his horrible hand, never once taking his beady red eyes off of me. He clearly understood that while his claws were deadly, my hands were more so. He was out of the room before I took my eyes off of him. I went back to Sean and put my hands on his bare skin to try to take the pain away, but he didn’t seem to even be aware that I was there. I saw that Tardik’s scratches were wide but not deep.
Naomi watched Tardik and Sean impassively. “It’s the venom, you see, that’s burning the edges of the wounds as badly as lava would. That venom enhances the pain many fold. He will have to be watched so he doesn’t try to give himself to the lava or jump off the top of the palace. The clawman’s scourges are the worst agony known to our people.”
“What point are you trying to make?” I shouted.
“Our laws forbid us from harming Lord Sean, but there’s nothing stopping us from using Lord Tardik as a proxy.” She gave Tardik a look of mock sympathy. “Yes, the court whisperers told us that Lord Tardik’s older brother’s spirit energy was used to create Lord Sean, so Lord Sean can’t shield himself from Tardik’s pain.” Naomi smiled, her lips tight, her teeth covered. “The Discarded maid you call Circle is your spirit sister. A clawman would work the same way on you through her.”
Sean’s silent suffering made me frantic. “You’ve made your point! Stop this.”
“We can’t, my dear, but you can.”
“How? Just tell me how.”
“By remembering where you loyalties lie. By remembering what you are and why you’re here. You should be thanking me now. Had Lord Ramsey and Lady Leslie taken you back to the House of Picard, you would be the one on the floor now.” Naomi clucked her tongue in bogus sympathy. “If only you could change places with him. If only you could take away his pain.”
“How do I take away his pain? You know. Tell me now.”
Brave words, but I hated pain. Riley always said that I was a big baby and would mock me when I reacted in any way over an injury. She claimed I was overly sensitive and liked to call me a tender lily.
“But would you take the pain of your House’s Sworn Enemy? Would you take away the pain of the boy who will marry another? Will you save him for a different girl? Let’s see your humanity. Show me how human you are.”
“I will.”
“Then do it. Lay your hands on him and draw in his pain. Show me your human charity.”
“Watch me,” I cried. I knelt next to Sean, seeing the hot rays of energy that emanated from his skin over the places where the clawman had ripped Tardik’s skin. I touched one of those places on Sean’s arm, screamed, and jerked back my hand. It felt as if I had grabbed a hot curling iron.
“Oh, how sad.” Naomi got up from her throne and walked toward me. “You can’t do it, can you? You’re not strong enough.” She sighed deeply. “This is exactly what I thought. This is what you needed to know, that your feelings for Lord Sean aren’t enough. Your fickle human affection only went as far as his pretty face. Look at him on the floor. Not so pretty now, is he, when he needs you to give your all?”
I stayed Sean’s side. Naomi’s words enraged me. My rebellious heart formed a kernel of defiance. Who was this woman to tell me about my feelings?
“You don’t love him, not really,” Naomi went on. “What you have for him in an affinity brought about because the two of you are creations, and creations, especially those of Sworn Enemies, find each other irresistible. That’s why it’s better that Sworn Assets stay apart.”
“Make it stop!” I shouted.
Her face became fierce as she walked a circle around Sean and me. “If you want it stopped, you must take his pain into yourself. Drink it in like the missusan you are. Show me how you can do something for Lord Sean. Take the pain and transform it into something else.”
Sean lay quaking in silent agony. Could I transform it? Could I mold pain the way Sean had water? I took a deep, steadying breath and put one hand on his neck and the other on his wrist. A sensation of tongues of fire grabbed my hands like a wild thing. It climbed up my arms worse than anything I could ever imagine. It was like a savage snake of white-hot fire twisting and grinding itself into my hands. I thought I would lose my mind, and it took all my strength to will my energy into Sean and push out the venom. An ugly, black, misshapen energy bubble formed at Sean’s rib and lay on the tiles like an old balloon. As the energy left me, my hands started to cool. As the agony left Sean, so it did with Tardik. I started to become weary and very, very cold, as if I were clutching icicles. The ugly bubble burst and released something like a black fog. When it dissipated, a curtain fell over my eyes and I slumped over. I could hear Sean shouting in the distance.
“Why did you do this?”
“I thought you and the Lady Darcy would benefit from a demonstration that your feelings for each other are no more authentic than the actions of those plastic computers you humans carry with you everywhere. You are an artificial life form and the only reason you find the Lady Darcy so attractive is because you were made that way.”
“Don’t patronize me. I might be a Sworn Asset, but I know what I feel.”
Naomi sounded exasperated. “What you creations think you feel is pure programming. It’s not real.”
“Why can’t it be real? What do you know?”
“I know you creations. I know that when the first Sworn Assets were made, they were homicidal and dangerous. They killed both humans and Original People alike with a mindless blood lust. We found that when we imbued the creations with emotion, they didn’t harm their Earth tenders or each other. The quicker you understand what you are, the better.”
I felt Sean cradling me in his arms.
“We can’t risk you and the Lady Darcy not fulfilling your duties as Sworn Assets. She sacrificed herself for you not because she cared, but because she couldn’t do otherwise.”
“You give us these feelings like we’re some kind of organic robot and then you tell us that we have to stay apart because those feelings are inconvenient?”
“Yes,” Naomi said forcefully, then softened her words. “We don’t blame you, but it behooves us to take responsibility for those artificial feelings and demonstrate to you how they are a biological imperative—not true love. The Lady Darcy is an organic being no better than you—creations made to serve our purposes. But we aren’t completely blind to your difficulties. We will do what we can to mitigate the discomfort you and the Lady Darcy are feeling.”
“How well did that clawman mitigate our discomfort?”
“It’s kinder to the Lady Darcy to expose her infatuation now before it gets worse.”
I never did hear what Sean said in response. I drifted off into the sweetest, deepest sleep ever. The pain thankfully faded away with my consciousness, but I felt something growing inside of me, something new, something strong and dangerous. Whatever it was, it had been made by the clawman’s venom.
When I woke, I was lying in my sumptuous bed amid dozens of pillows. Circle was fluttering around me, dabbing my forehead with a cool cloth.
“My lord! My lord! She’s awake,” Circle called.
A moment later Sean came in, his eyes round with anxiety and angst. I tried to touch him, but he pulled away and told me to get my rest. Puzzled and confused, I drifted back off. When I woke later, Circle again summoned Sean. He came and carried me out of my apartment into the courtyard that was at the bottom of the steps. Being in his arms filled me with joy. Arlee waited by the fountain. Sean put me gently on a chaise lounge.
Arlee leaned over me. “My lady, the Lady Naomi has ordered that you take some of Lord Judah’s energy. Lady Naomi won’t let your ladyship fall through until you do. It’s imperative that you do as ordered because you are badly in need of the yellow sun.”
“Really? That’s what Naomi wanted you to tell us?” Sean’s voice was sharp. “First she almost tortures Darcy to death, and then she sends Judah to make her better. That was the plan, wasn’t it? To weaken Darcy so much that she would be forced to accept Judah’s energy.”
“I can’t speak to that, my lord.”
“Darcy won’t do it. She’s only ever taken the energy of people who have attacked her first.”
“I’m sorry, my lord, but it’s the Lady Naomi’s orders,” Arlee said firmly. “Lord Judah is on his way.”
Though I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, it was Circle who finally convinced Sean to let Judah touch me before I died. Judah arrived. I didn’t want his energy, because he was an innocent, and blocked him, but Naomi knew how to defeat me. She had sent a Mechanic with Judah, and the Mechanic put something that felt like a flat, warm stone in my palm. Judah took my hand, and the stone allowed his energy to flow into me.
“Stop it. Judah, don’t,” I whispered. His energy felt strange and intrusive flowing through my nerves and I didn’t want it in me.
“She told you to stop,” Sean said coldly. “She doesn’t want you or your energy.”
“So says the creation who is making this about himself,” Judah replied.
“What do you mean by that?”
“This didn’t have to happen.”
“Naomi ordered the clawman. I didn’t,” Sean snapped.
“Because you wouldn’t leave Lady Darcy alone. You approached her at the human school, you brought her here into a battle, and then you took her to the water.”
Sean drew himself up angrily. “You’re awfully full of concern for someone who doesn’t want to marry her.”
“Maybe you should be,” Judah shot back. “This didn’t have to happen to her or Lord Tardik. She took the clawman’s pain from you and Tardik because you wouldn’t leave her alone. This happened because of your selfishness. Leave Lady Darcy alone. You have Lady Leonie. Now back off before the clawman comes for someone else that Lady Darcy cares about. She won’t be able to withstand another attack without having a broken mind and body. I can promise you that.”
I tried to protest, but I didn’t have the strength. I drifted off again, and when I woke I felt the blessed yellow sun on my skin. Somehow Sean and I were on the surface. I lay still for a long time feeling the beautiful rays invigorate me as if I were a flower. Like sunflowers my palms were turned to the sun. The sun’s life filled my veins. As I watched, the terrible red energy that lingered over my skin from the clawman’s injuries faded away. Sean lay next to me with his shirt off.
“You’re an idiot,” he said. “You could have killed yourself with that clawman. I was fine. You didn’t need to interfere.”
“Yes, I did. Naomi made a power play. She used you to get to me.” I sat up, but the blanket I was lying on rocked like a ship on high seas. I lay back down again and fought a wave of nausea. “How did we get here?”
“A Mechanic who’s Circle’s cousin helped out. He fell through with us. For a Discard, Circle seems to have a wide circle of influence. No pun intended.”
“Where are we?”
“Guessing from the herd of Holsteins over there, I would say we’re out in the boondocks on a dairy farm.” Sean got up and put on his shirt. “Are you feeling stronger?”
“Yeah. How long have we been out here?”
“I can’t say for sure without my cell phone, but I’m guessing about half an hour.”
I sat up. The vertigo had faded and my body seemed to have reoriented itself. I got to my feet and tried out my arms and legs to make sure I felt like myself. The wounds had completely disappeared, and the only trace of the clawman remained in my memory. I pushed it far, far down. I judged myself to be fine, except now Sean wouldn’t look at me. I held out my hand for him so we could fall through together, but he acted like he couldn’t see it.
“They’re ruthless about getting us to do what they want,” he said.
“Yeah, I got that idea after meeting the clawman.” I shivered in spite of the sunshine on my skin. “How is Tardik?”
“Totally traumatized and incredibly grateful to you for taking away the pain. He thought that it was surprising to see so much altruism in a missusan and a Sworn Enemy.”
“I couldn’t let you die from the agony.”
Sean shook his head. “There’s an antidote. Ordinarily when the clawman scourges someone, they put a lot of bottles on a table. One of the bottles has an antidote. Others are worthless and some make the pain worse. The victim has to fight through the pain and keep trying to find the right one. And there’s one bottle that’s marked with a suicide drug. About half those the clawman slashes take it first.”
After what I had been through, I didn’t blame them. “Naomi and Sylvan didn’t expect me to take away your pain. The people there seem to have really low expectations of us. Especially me.”
“That’s because they don’t know you.” Sean kept his eyes on the Holsteins in the distance. Overhead a bald eagle soared in wide, lazy circles. The air felt very still here, unlike the constant breeze in Geminay. “What did you do with the energy you took from Martin at the movies?”
The question seemed to come out of nowhere. “Why are we talking about Martin?”
“I want to hear the story.”
“That night I was really hot, like having a fever without being sick. I swam laps in the pool and even poured ice water over myself, but I was still warm. I couldn’t sleep, so I finally went to the barn for an early morning ride. When I got there, I found a horse having colic. I went into her stall and hugged her to calm her down. I stayed with her until I heard the vet drive up. Then I went for my ride. I heard later that the vet was really mad for being dragged out of bed on a Sunday morning for no reason because the horse was fine. Why do you ask?”