Ynyr (Tornians Book 3) (33 page)

“Abby…” Tears began to run down Lisa’s cheeks, but Abby didn’t notice she was lost in the past.

“I don’t know how old I was then. Hell, I’m not even sure how old I am now… Mom picked the date and year… anyway they kept us in this tiny room with a boarded up window. We hardly knew when it was day or night, not that it mattered to us, all we knew was when it got dark the door would open and they would throw something in for us to eat. Girl would always make sure I got the first bite.” Abby’s smiled slightly at the memory. “It was never long after that when the yelling and the screaming would start. Sometimes there would be strange sounds. We would huddle into the darkest corner and wait for the light because that was when it got quiet again.”

“Girl?” Ynyr’s voice penetrated the memories long enough for Abby to answer.

“That’s what they called her. She was Girl. I was Little Bitch. So that was our lives until one night, Victor came in with another man. They grabbed Girl. I remember clinging to her screaming, I didn’t want to be in the dark alone. Victor just ripped me away from her and threw me across the room. The light was just starting to come up when he brought her back. She didn’t move, just laid where he’d dropped her. What she was wearing was torn and had something sticky on it. She never hummed to me again.”

“I don’t know how many times they pulled her from that room, I didn’t know how to count, but one night it got
really
loud and then it got
really
quiet and they didn’t bring Girl back and the door never opened again.”

“What?” Lisa asked in a shocked voice.

Abby looked at the screen surprised to see Lisa was in Grim’s arms, tears running down her cheeks. “The door didn’t open. No more food came. They left.”

“They just left you there?” Disbelief colored Lisa’s voice.

Abby just shrugged. “I was nothing to them. Just something to lock away. Out of sight, out of mind, right? Isn’t that the way it is with those you to Gehenna?” She looked at Ynyr who was pale and looked like someone had just sucker punched him. Her gaze went back to the portrait and she forced herself to go on.

“I don’t remember kicking out the boards on the window, but I must have. Someone found me walking down the middle of the street one night and they took me to the hospital. Ronnie Jamison was the nurse on duty that night. I didn’t know it until years later, but she stayed with me for forty-eight hours straight. She would bath me, lay with me. She brushed my hair and fed me. She hummed to me… she was so soft, smelled so nice, she didn’t yell at me, didn’t hit me.”

“It was weeks later, after they could find no records of my existence, that I finally told her my name. Little Bitch. It was the only time I ever saw Ronnie enraged, but it wasn’t
at
me it was
for
me.

“She named me Abby, after her mother because she said she knew I would be as beautiful and caring as she had been and then she gave me her birth date. Ronnie was the only person in my life that thought I was worth something, that who my parents were didn’t have to define me.”

Taking a deep shuddering breath Abby finished. “So now you all know the whole sordid story of Abby Jamison. The unfit. The unwanted. The one from a
tainted
bloodline.”

“Abby...” Ynyr started.

Looking to Ynyr she expected to see disgust in his eyes, the same disgust that had been there when he had looked at Brice. Instead, she found him kneeling at her feet, his eyes full of tears.

“What? Don’t worry Ynyr, you don’t have to beg me to leave, to not taint your fit and worthy bloodline.” She gestured to the portrait behind him. “You are destined for greatness Ynyr. You are going to do exactly as the Emperor has demanded and make
your
House the shining example it once was. It’s in your
blood
.”

“Goddess Abby stop.” Ynyr had never felt more unworthy or unfit in his life than when he listened to Abby reveal her secret. He thought he had suffered great indignities in his life. That he had been judged harshly for something that wasn’t his fault. But it was
nothing
compared to what his Abby had endured, what she had survived and yet she hadn’t let it harden her, hadn’t let it make her into what had tried to destroy her. Instead, she had chosen to love, chosen to care, chosen to be the exact opposite of what her blood said she would be.

“Did you find Brice?” She asked, her voice as lifeless and flat as her eyes.

“No.”

“I’ll go help search for him. The sooner we find him the sooner we can leave.”

“We will send the Raptor Abby.” Lisa told her.

“No!” Ynyr shouted, rising. “Abby is going nowhere! She is my Lady! She stays here!”

“No Lisa.” Abby’s firm but emotionless voice cut in. “I will not put you in such a position. King Grim has already expressed his feelings towards Brice and I will not divide your House. You have done enough. I will figure something else out, for Brice and for me. Give the girls a hug for me.”

“Abby! Abby!” Abby ignored Lisa’s plea as she walked out of the resting chamber.

“Lord Ynyr!” The command in Grim’s voice could not be ignored stopping Ynyr as he moved to follow her. “I’m sending the Raptor. You have three days to work this out with Abby or she and Brice will both become members of
my
House.”

“Do not threaten me
King Grim
! Abby is
my
Lady and
you,
Vasteri or not, have no authority to take her from me. Not unless
she
requests it and she has told you
no
!” With that Ynyr left an opened mouth King and Queen behind him and went in search of his Lady.

∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞

Abby ignored the shocked looks on the guards' faces when she pulled open the doors and walked passed them.

“Abby!” Ynyr came running after her. “Stop!” As one of the guards lunged to stop her Ynyr shoved him against the wall. “Do! Not! Touch! My! Lady!” Ynyr growled at him then followed Abby.

“Abby!” He called out again “Where are you going?” He asked matching his stride to hers.

“Brice is scared and hiding. He is not going to show himself to you. He may be young, but he knows if you catch him, he’s dead.”

Ynyr stumbled at her words, spoken so dispassionately, as if he wasn’t a male she had rested with, had Joined with, had loved. Could she really believe he was so cold hearted?

“He trusts me. He knows I won’t hurt him and that I will protect him. He will come out for me.” Her head turned towards him, but her eyes wouldn’t meet his. “But not if you are with me.”

“Then we do not find him, for you are right. He does not matter to me, but not for the reason you think.
You
will always matter more to me than anyone else or anything in this universe. More than any offspring, we may have. More than my manno. More than my mother. More than my brothers in blood or my brothers in arms. You matter more to me than my honor or pride. I would forsake all of that to have you at my side, to have you look at me as you once did.”

Abby’s steps faltered at Ynyr’s words because she wanted to believe them. Wanted to believe he meant them. When had she become so weak? So needy? Her mom and dad had done everything they could to help her build her confidence, to help her believe that she was worthy. How had she lost that? Was it when Luuken had struck her? Or was it when Risa had terrorized her? Abby didn’t know, but she refused to be that little girl again, the one that huddled in the corner, alone and forgotten. She was Abby Jamison and it was going to take more than some damn aliens to bring her down.

“Where was the last place you saw him?” She demanded refusing to let his words sway her.

“In the unused wing.” Ynyr followed as she navigated the maze of corridors, stunned as she led him to the Wing using a much shorter route than he had used to get to her. How had she known… then he remembered what she said on the Ascension, that when she saw something she remembered it.

Approaching the Wing Abby saw that its doors, while larger than the ones leading to their… no, she corrected herself, her heart aching… to the Lord’s Wing, they were still smaller than the massive ones they had used to first enter the House itself. They were also wide open. Stepping into the Wing Abby let her eyes travel over the space. It was basically identical to the first level of the Lord’s Wing with the exception that here,
both
walls contained floor to ceiling windows and doors. It must have once been amazing to walk into this room and have it be filled with your people, to celebrate alongside them, to share in their joys and sorrows, in their accomplishments and losses, to know they would die to protect you and that you would kill to protect them, to know that you belonged… Now it was just a storage room long discarded and forgotten. The late afternoon sun barely penetrated through the grime on the windows.

Pushing those thoughts away she looked at the Warriors were carrying energy stones in one hand and their swords in the other as they searched.

“What do you think you are doing?!!” She demanded storming into the room. “You are looking for a three year old not Daco himself. Sheath your swords!”

The males all looked to Ynyr. “Do as your Lady has commanded!” He ordered harshly and they immediately obeyed.

“My Lord,” Korin stepped forward. “We have searched but cannot find him.”

“Of course you can’t.” Abby said, walking deeper into the room, her voice so full of so much bitterness that it shocked every male in the room. “You have never had to hide in the dark, have never had those that should be protecting you, harm you instead. You have never had to survive when no one cared if you lived or died.”

Abby’s eyes scanned the room, taking in the discarded furniture she could tell had been moved as they searched for Brice from the streaks in the dust and scuffs on the floor. She let her eyes look into the deep dark corners of the room and knew which one she would have chosen. Walking towards it, she went as far as the furniture allowed, then sat cross legged on the floor.

“I’m here Brice. You can come out now.” She said quietly.

“My Lord?” Ynyr held his hand, silencing Korin.

“No one is going to hurt you. I promise. I won’t let them send you to Gehenna. You are going to stay with me. I’ll take care of you.” She paused, not really expecting an answer. “I didn’t hurt you before did I? I am not upset that you ate the food. It would have just gone to waste otherwise.”

There was no sound or movement from the corner.

“It’s starting to get late. Last meal will be served soon. What should we have? I’m still struggling with how different Tornian food is, some of it is really strange. Back on Earth, that’s where I’m from by the way, if I wanted to treat myself after a really bad day I would order an extra-large hand tossed pizza from this great place just down the block. I would get their special, sausage and pepperoni, then add mushrooms, onions and pepperoncini peppers. I would get extra cheese on it and last but not least I would add bacon because everything always tastes better with bacon on it. I would take that pie, sit down in the middle of the floor of my tiny little apartment and feast….” Everyone could hear the smile in her voice. “It always helped. Do you think there is anything like that here Brice? Because this has been a really crappy day.”

Silence continued to greet her.

“I vow to you Brice. They will have to end me before I let them harm you. I will make sure you are loved and cared for. That you’re safe. That you never have to be afraid and hide again. You matter Brice. You matter so much.”

Abby opened her arms and before anyone could take another breath a small dark shape separated itself from the shadows and Brice was in her arms.

Ynyr stayed close as Abby carried Brice through the halls of the House. He had wanted to carry the child, but Abby wouldn’t allow it and neither would Brice if the way he’d tightened his arms around her neck were any indication. Ynyr knew he had to be heavy for her, she was so small but he had underestimated her strength and determination. He had underestimated many things about his Abby.

“Master Paganus, I will need you to get a new mattress put in the chamber nearest the Lord’s resting chamber. It will need sheets, pillows and blankets. I also want its cleansing room filled with all the necessities.”

“Yes, my Lady.” Paganus looked at Korin, but said nothing, just lifted his comm to set things in motion.

“Also make sure a meal is sent there. Something Brice will like and find me some clean coverings for him.”

“Right away my Lady.”

“Lord Ynyr.” Dai’s voice had Ynyr looking to him. “If you no longer need us, we will return to the training fields.” He indicated himself and the other Warriors.

“That will be fine Captain.”

“Will you be returning soon?” He continued.

“No.”

“Yes.” He and Abby spoke simultaneously.

“I will be staying to assist you Abby.” Ynyr told her frowning.

“That won’t be necessary.” Abby told him. “You have those worthy of your House to take care of. Brice and I will take care of each other.”