Cruel Union (Brutal Universe #1)

45. Aurora

45

AURORA

T he next few weeks were torture—there’s no other way to describe it.

Of course I ran to my room and tore open the box as soon as I could, hoping for a note from Slade or anything at all to let me know he still cared. What I found instead was a small, fake phallus with smear of gold on its tip. Clearly it was one of the kind that he’d told me widows used after the death of their Brute husbands. It would stave off The Need and keep me healthy—physically at least—but it was no substitute for Slade himself.

I stayed in my room crying for days— I hadn’t grieved so hard since my father died. Poor Patsy was beside herself. I couldn’t bear to tell her what had happened—how the baby-stopper pills she’d given me had ended my marriage. So she hovered around me, not knowing the details, but worried sick about my apparent collapse.

I tried everything to pull myself out of the hole I was in. I told myself I was being ridiculous— Slade and I had only been together a week. There was no way I should be so upset about ending such a short relationship. But there was no denying the emotions I felt for him. They became deeper and more vivid with every passing day until missing him was like a physical ache in my chest. It literally hurt whenever I thought of him…and yet I couldn’t stop thinking of the big Brute , no matter how hard I tried.

Eventually I had to come out of my room…and then I wished that I hadn’t. I felt like everyone at Court was staring at me and whispering behind their hands and I knew why. I was now a fallen woman with a failed marriage—a marriage to a Brute , no less—one of the “ Tainted Ones .” I was a disgrace—a blot on the face of the Royal Court .

To everyone around me, it appeared that Slade had used and then discarded me. It would be useless to tell them I was still technically a virgin—not that I could broach such a delicate subject in good company. None of them would believe me, even if I swore it in the middle of the Chapel of the Goddess of Mercy herself. I was lower than dirt and seeing me made them ill at ease and disgusted.

At night, I used the small widow-phallus that Slade had left for me. It in no way satisfied me—not that I was in the mood to be satisfied—but it kept The Need in check. Though I longed for Slade’s arms around me, I didn’t go into Need Fever again. Instead , I just drifted around the palace like a ghost, feeling alienated from everyone I knew and wishing for a merciful end to my existence.

Things came to a head one day, three weeks after Slade had banished me back to my own home world. Pansy came to get me up in the morning and informed me that my brother, the King , wanted to have a word with me in the Throne Room .

“ What does he want?” I asked listlessly. “ If he expects me to plan the next state dinner for him, tell him I’m busy.”

“ I don’t think that’s it, my Princess .” She gave me a worried look as she helped me into a court gown. “ He looked very serious. I think you need to go see what he wants.”

Her words broke though some of the numbness I was feeling and I felt a shiver of unease run down my spine. Still , it couldn’t be that bad, could it? What could my brother want?

Feeling anxious, I finished getting dressed and went down to the Throne Room where Roderick was sitting on the throne. He had a frown on his face and it only deepened when he saw me approaching.

“ Pansy said you wanted to see me,” I said. I had been trying to avoid this room—it bore too many memories. I couldn’t help remembering that the last time I had stood here was when Slade had been bargaining for my hand in marriage.

“ Yes , I did. Er , thank you for coming.” Roderick seemed ill at ease, not that I cared.

“ What is it?” I asked bluntly.

“ Well , it’s…” My brother cleared his throat and shifted on the throne, as though he couldn’t decide what to say. “ It’s about your future, dear sister,” he said at last.

“ My future? What are you talking about?” I asked, shaking my head. “ I have no future.”

“ Yes , you do!” Roderick exclaimed. “ That is, I believe you could have a very, er, productive future with the right man.”

I stared at him blankly.

“ Roderick , what are you trying to say?” I demanded. “ Out with it.”

“ I’m saying that I’ve arranged a marriage for you, dear sister,” he said.

“ A what?” I stared at him. “ What are you talking about? I’m already married.” At least I thought I still was. Slade hadn’t actually divorced me. Not on paper, anyway. But then what did I know? Maybe the Brutes did things differently.

“ A marriage,” my brother repeated. “ One I think will be beneficial to all.”

“ Who is ‘all?’” I demanded. “ Do you mean beneficial to you? Because I can’t think of how it would benefit me.”

“ It will get you out of the palace, at least!” Roderick exclaimed, letting go of his “kind brother” act at last. “ I can’t have you drifting around like a ghost while everyone whispers about how the king’s own sister is a fallen woman who sold herself to a Brute ! It’s scandalous .”

“ I ‘sold’ myself to save our people when you gambled away the tribute money!” I snapped. “ I’m so sorry if having me back again is ruining your day, but I can’t help that!”

Roderick lifted his chin.

“ Be that as it may, dear sister, I feel it would be to your benefit to be married again. And it happens that I have had an excellent offer for your hand.”

“ What ? Who are you talking about? Who offered for my hand?” I demanded.

“ I did, dear Princess .” The horribly familiar voice made me turn my head and I saw none other than Duke Hornsby striding towards us. He looked normal enough…until I saw his hands.

He was wearing metal gloves—they gleamed a dull silver as he walked. Most of his fingers were now metal too—except for the right index finger. That one was black…black and rotting, I thought, as the stench of corruption reached my nose and made me want to gag. He must have tried to have it reattached…but clearly that surgery wasn’t holding up.

I turned to my brother.

“ Roderick , you can’t be serious about this!” I exclaimed. “ You can’t give me to Hornsby — Slade cut off his fingers for insulting me. He only wants me so he can hurt me to get back at him!”

“ Why , my dear, you wound me.” Hornsby put the hand with the rotten finger to his heart and made a sad face. “ I have no wish to hurt you— I have long admired you from afar. When I heard that your brother had decided to break with tradition and allow you to wed, I decided to ask for your hand.”

“ You’re lying ,” I snapped. I turned back to Roderick . “ I won’t marry him—you can’t make me!”

“ Alas , the marriage contract is already signed,” Hornsby said smoothly. “ And so you and I have nothing to do, dear Princess , but go off on our honeymoon.”

“ How much did you pay for me?” I demanded, glaring at him. I looked back at my brother. “ Well ? How much did you sell me for this time, Roderick ?”

My brother squirmed on the throne uneasily but didn’t answer. From the shifty look in his eyes, I knew it must have been a lot. Hornsby must have paid a monstrous bride price to get me in his clutches and there was nothing I could do about it. Still , I tried— I wasn’t going down without a fight.

“ Give it back,” I said to Roderick .

“ I beg your pardon, dear sister?” He frowned at me.

“ Give …it…back,” I repeated, glaring at him. “ Whatever Hornsby paid you for the pleasure of taking me away and torturing me somewhere, give it back right now!”

Roderick cleared his throat and shifted again.

“ Er , unfortunately, the sum has already been spent,” he muttered.

“ What ?” I nearly shrieked. “ Did you gamble it away already?”

My brother got a sulky, petulant look on his face.

“ You will not speak to me that way! I am the King !”

“ You’re an awful King ,” I said bluntly. “ Gambling and whoring instead of watching over the kingdom. Father would have been ashamed of you. I’m ashamed of you!”

Roderick’s face went red.

“ I will not be spoken to like this! Hornsby , take her away— I don’t care what you do with her but I don’t want to see her in Court ever again!”

“ You won’t, Your Highness .” Hornsby bowed and the grabbed me by the arm. His new metal fingers bit into my flesh, making me gasp with pain. “ Come , my dear—we must leave now.”

“ No — NO !” I shouted, pulling against him.

Hornsby tightened his grip.

“ Come along, dear Princess ,” he said through gritted teeth. “ We mustn’t be late—we have an appointment.”

And then he dragged me away.