Segun

"What?" I blinked. I hadn't thought about such a thing.

"Segun would not ask it of you, but I will for his sake. He believes you are his Yonsu and will love you for the rest of his life."

There was more commotion in the hallway, and a female servant, rushed in.

"Yonsu, I am so sorry," she said. "A woman at the door demands to see Yonsu Wren."

I nodded my head.

"That would be my wife, Sela."

"I see then Reverend Sharr's letter reached her. Ransee Yinsee, please see Yonsa Wren in the formal dining room and offer her tea. I will be down in a minute."

"Yes, Yonsu," she said with a nod, and she rushed off like a demon nipped at her heels.

"I will send up some fresh clothes and my house manager to help you dress," said Klath. Your clothes were ruined. And I will entertain your wife until you are ready, so do not hurry."

"My house thanks yours."

"Do not thank me, Aulkus Wren. I want you to take your time and consider my offer. House Klath is rich enough to settle a generous amount on your wife should you divorce her. She will want for nothing."

"Except a husband."

"I can arrange that as well if she wants. I know anyone worth knowing on Ostakis, and I understand your wife is comely."

I huffed. "She is. But she will not consent to a divorce. Sela is an extremely devout woman."

"Aren't they all," said Klath. "Still, instead of running a winery, you could, eventually, manage all trade on Ostakis, and the government, too."

"The government?" I said. Again, I'm confused. Ostakis had seven city-states spread out over the planet, and no unifying government exists.

"The Trademaster is part of a committee that governs all that happens on Ostakis. Admission is through power and connections, but we like to think we have the best interests of Ostakis at heart. I could, for instance, arrange for your father to join this committee. His business is just about influential enough to merit an invitation."

I thought about how my father forced me into a marriage with Sela for his business ends. I shook my head.

"No. He does not deserve that honor."

Klath cocked his head. "You do not regard your father highly?"

"I am sure, Trademaster, that should my father deserve admittance to your committee, you would have approached him. I should not be the factor that decides such a thing."

Klath shrugged. "If you so say."

"Besides, as I said. It makes no difference what kind of deal you offer me. My wife will not consent to a divorce, and I have no grounds to go before the church to request one."

Chapter Eleven

Segun

It is a most grievous sin to lay with the Cursed. Not only does it stains a Yonsu's soul, it perpetuates the line of the Cursed, who can not help but bear the fruit of their sin. If we want to erase their kind from our planet, then you must, must, put away all Cursed. Hide them, and do not allow them to lay with you.—Sermon before the Festival, Most Reverend Gyenn Sharr

I am a foolish man, but I must see the woman Aulkus married. This is wrong in many ways. First, it will do me no good. I should do as Father says and rest from my mating with Aulkus. Miscarriages were frighteningly common among us Cursed. Only half of the pregnancies make it to three months, and twenty-five percent to term. During birth, either the parent, child, or can die. We were not made to bear children in the same way women were, and death haunts our footsteps from the second we were conceived.

No wonder the Church thinks us evil. To love one of us consigns our loved ones to grief. My Father had to make a horrible decision to save Papa's life and thus deprived himself of the one benefit of loving a Cursed man, the driving heats that brought a man to the heights of ecstasy. He could easily buy the services of a Cursed for enjoyment only if he so wished. But for the love of my papa, he doesn't.

I should go to my room and let the serving women attend to my needs while my body nurtures the child. I see him now in my mind's eye. And I know it is him, or rather a Cursed like me, with my slender body, dark hair, and Aulkus' eyes. His name comes to me—Arlan and it is a song in my heart. Though he is smaller than a grain of sand, I love him fiercely.

I should listen to my father, but despite or maybe because of my love for Aulkus, I have to see this woman that joined him in marriage.

Father would order servants to escort Yonsa Wren to the public part of the house. There is no way my father would welcome her into our private abode. I considered how to explain my appearance there, and then a servant came behind me with a tea service on a tray.

"I will take that," I said and reached for it.

"But, Sid-Yonsu, you shouldn't in your condition—"

"Give me the damn tray," I said.

The girl swallowed hard and handed me the thing, and I proceeded as if I were a house servant to the dining room. A servant left the door open a crack, and through it, I saw the woman who enjoyed my yonsu's bed and board for the first time.

She sat with her hands folded and head down in the perfect attitude of prayer, then lifted her head and sucked on her lower lip. Sela. That is what Aulkus called her. With her dark hair that gleamed with a sheen of blue and her dark eyes and womanly figure, I could see where men might consider her a beautiful woman. How could Aulkus not prefer her over me?

I pushed open the door with my head bowed as a servant would.

"Forgive me, Yonsa Wren, Yonsu Klath sends his regards to your house and offers tea while you wait."

She glared at me, recognizing me for what I was.

"So, they employ sinners here as well?" she said sharply.

I set the tray on the table, and she watched my every movement as if I would steal the scarf from her shoulders.

"It is my honor to serve House Klath," I said. I fixed my eyes on the floor and waited for some sign from her to pour the tea.

"And their dishonor that you do." Her voice rang out razor-keen as if she had every right to insult a servant.

Per custom, I stood rooted to the floor, head bowed and silent. She had to dismiss me if she wanted me to leave, but she did not. Instead, she let me stand there while she shot daggers of disapproval from her eyes. Until this moment, I did not realize the tiny cuts of humiliation a servant had to face in the simple act of serving tea.

"Well," she said imperiously. "Pour the damn tea."

I should walk out and leave the nasty woman to pour her own beverage, but I was gripped with a morbid fascination. What about her was so holy that a man found sleeping with her a cleansing, spiritual experience? From my perspective, she seemed foul and unwholesome. To lay with her would result in a stain on any man's soul.

My Aulkus deserved better.

But then I'm prejudiced.

And jealous.

Every bone in my body declares Aulkus to be mine, and I cannot bear the thought of him with her. A feral emotion unleashed in my heart, and I wanted her dead, preferably at my hand.

I swallowed hard and stepped back.

"Forgive me, Yonsa. My Ransee Yansi waits for me."

"Who are you to dismiss yourself? Pour the tea and wait."

I stand frozen, unable to decide whether to break character, flee from my murderous thoughts, or stay and tempt fate. And then I decided. My father should arrive in a few minutes, perhaps giving me time to discover what was important. With a step forward, I griped the teapot's handle and poured it into the cup. Rage fills me, and the need to do violence gripped me, and my hands shook, spilling the tea on the saucer and the table.

"Look what you did, clumsy fool," she said. I raised my head and glared at her. This is not her house where she could abuse the servants or should care about the rare wood table carted from great expense from the home world five-hundred years prior.

"Is there a problem?" rumbled a voice from the doorway.

I looked up to see my father giving me a questioning gaze.

"Forgive me, Yonsu Klath. I have dishonored our house by spilling the guest's tea."

"And," said Sela, "you have dishonored me by presenting this sinner to serve me."

"Have I?" said my father.

I bowed my head. "I should go, Yonsu Klath."

His mouth formed a hard line. "No. Stay. Mop up the tea."

"Yes, Yonsu," I said. My Father is displeased with me and will make a lesson out of my deception.

He turned toward Sela. "Welcome to House Klath, Yonsa Wren. In what way may I assist you?"

She raised her chin, unafraid of the most powerful man on Ostakis.

"I want to know the meaning of this!"

She pulled a folded piece of paper from the inner pocket of her robes.

"And that is?" said my father calmly.

"A Most Reverend Gyenn Sharr's letter telling me my husband has committed no sin? Why would I get such a letter? And why is it my husband is here at your house?"

At that moment, I decide she is not only a pious idiot but a fool. No single man on Ostakis would challenge my father, not even Gyenn Sharr, yet this woman dared to.

I sopped the tea with a napkin while he walked to the furthest end of the table to take his seat. He sat and then gave a long hard look at Sela Wren that would have given any man pause.

"Yonsa Wren, please forgive any distress my house may have caused yours. I asked Gyenn Sharr to write that letter to spare your house the pain from what happened at the Shaming Post yesterday."

I stepped back to the wall and kept my head down in the servant's pose, my heart twisting. My father would smooth the situation, calm Yonsa Wren, and send my yonsu to live with her in marital bliss. I have no hope of ever enjoying my Yonsu's company again.

"I saw the holovids. I still don't understand why my husband would stand up for a sinner."

"And neither did the Church, which is why they arrested him. But yet, they compounded their folly by putting him in the same cell with my son."

"They what?"

"My son, you see, was in heat. That should have stopped the Shaming before it happened. But the idiots pressed forward with the ridiculous ritual despite the heavy tithe I paid for the church to treat him lightly. I am grateful your husband stepped forward to remind the fools of their obligation under church law."

Sela Wren's eyes widened at my father's open condemnation of the church while praising my yonsu for an act of true devotion to the church's teachings. In this, he declared Aulkus Wren, an irreproachable man in the eyes of God. The woman's face colored as she turned over the permutations of my father's words. If she were intelligent, she would have taken the compliment and ignored the blasphemy of insulting church leaders. But she was not.

"You speak ill of our priests?" she shrieked.

"No. I speak ill of the actions of our priests, which allowed them to arrest a pious man like Aulkus Wren. And that yielded another result, and I'm sorry to have to report this to you, Yonsa Wren, but you should have all the facts before you leave here with your husband. They chained him to the wall of the same cell they put Segun. Unfortunately, they underestimated Aulkus' or perhaps the wall's strength, and he broke free. And as I said, my son was in heat."

Sela blinked in disbelief.

"You mean...they engaged in sin?"

"No. They had sex. In this house, we do not consider that a sin."

I sucked in a quick breath and stole a glance at my father, who winked at me. I'm unsure what he's playing at, but it seems to have startled Sela Wren.

"I do not believe you!" she declared.

"I'm afraid their mating was rather rough, so we brought him here to clean him up and bandage his injuries."

My father could have made up a lie to explain my beloved's injuries, such as the Church guards manhandling Aulkus. But he did not. He spoke these words deliberately under the guise of truth.

Sela's face turned a bright red. She stood and, in doing so, bumped roughly into the table. Her tea to sloshed onto the table.

"Where is my husband? I want to see him now!"

Chapter Twelve

Aulkus

Her death ripped out my guts, and if not for Onikoah's supportive presence, I might have died too.

We became much more than friends.

Journal—Captain Winston Veller, Governor, Ostakis Colony

Every bone and muscle ached, and I stared at my hands that a servant rewrapped in gauze after gently cleaning them once again. Like a spilled drink spreading on a table after that moment of disaster, memories of the previous night seeped into my brain. I was horrified, but not that I took Segun. That was a glorious experience, and I no longer wondered why men bring Cursed into their homes. No, I was shamed by the violence of my act, evidenced on my body. I hope I did not hurt him.

Despite Segun's assurances, I must have.

The bed I lay in is an unimaginable luxury. The cullen silk sheets slid deliciously under my body, and if I were not so wrecked, I would have coaxed a stain from my cock, which twitched from last night's memories. Where was Segun, and why wasn't he in this bed with me now?

As impossible and inappropriate thought was, it was the only one that consumed my mind. I should concentrate on meeting with my wife and getting the wine cart to the church. We should set up and sell wine before the festival ends. Instead, I think about sinking my cock into the body of a Cursed man.

I will go to hell.

But not today.

In another room on the first floor, my wife meets with Segun's father, and I should not leave her alone with him.

I will not suffer my wife upon my lover's father.

This is the only thought that goads me from my bed. Every muscle ached, but I pulled my over-robe from the hook at the back of the door as if ready to walk out into the street. I stepped into the hallway and immediately became overwhelmed with finding my way through the house. House Klath, the most prominent household on the planet, was also one of the physically largest in Kiji-Ost and laid out in the traditional style. This meant the hallways were laid out as a puzzle to confound would-be thieves. I stood in the middle of the hallway at a juncture where a bank of tall panes of glass looked over a small enclosed garden. I see a Cursed man there, pulling weeds. He looked up, utterly surprised at me as I was of him, and he froze as if caught doing something wrong. Then he moved forward and pulled at one of the panes to open it. I stepped back, almost afraid this Cursed man would assail me with his mating pheromones, but then nothing. The man was not in heat, and I was foolish to fear him.

"How many House Klath assist yours?" he said. He spoke in the slight accent of my town of Kiji-Amst.

"Forgive my intrusion," I said. "I seek the Trademaster?"

I was a lying sack because I only want to see Segun again, but if Jabin Klath is a man of any sense, he will not put us in the same room together.

Incredibly the young man bowed.

"Yonsu Klath is in the public part of the house with a visitor."

"That would be my wife," I said.

The young man widened his eyes and quickly cast them to the floor. Of course, the servants would know all about what happened the previous night. They probably have severe judgments of me as all of Kiji-Ost would if they had the barest of details. The stories have probably grown incredibly wild.

"Please take me there."

I used a tone of authority as if this man was one of my servants, which was impolite. My impatience to find Segun surprised me when I should only think of my wife waiting for me in my lover's house.

The young man led me through the winding hallways until we descended a stair that led to a large domed atrium.

"Forgive me, Yonsu. I must leave you here. But through those two double doors on the left is the public meeting and dining room. I believe your wife waits there."

He bowed and went up the stairs with quick steps. But he wasn't wrong. I headed toward my wife's screeches erupting from behind those doors.

"Where is my husband? I want to see him now!"

Her impolite tone propelled me to those doors because her actions reflected badly on our House. My anger fueled my body, and I pushed the doors open so forcefully that the right-hand one smashed against the wall. A servant at the wall gasped, and I found to my surprise, it was Segun. I looked to him, then my wife, who whipped her head in my direction.

"What is this?" I said in righteous anger. "How dare you disrespect my host in his house, Sela Wren?"

"Me? It is not I who shows disrespect. You lay with a Cursed? You could not avoid sin?"

"Forgive my House, Yonsu Wren," said Jabin Klath. "I gave your wife the basics of what happened last night."

I stared at him. Why would he take this extraordinary action?

A small noise escaped Segun's throat, and I glanced at him to find horror written over his face.

"I'm sorry, Segun,"

"Segun!" Sela spat. "This is the filth you lay with?" Her face screwed up in anger and disgust, and she no longer appeared a godly woman.

My reaction was instinctive, swift, and not at all like me. I raised my hand to strike her, and her eyes widened, but another hand stayed my blow. Instantly, Segun came to my side and grabbed my arm.

"No, my yonsu," said Segun. "Any woman would be upset. You must not be angry with her. Our child or I want trouble between you two."

I froze. Segun touched me once again, and all I wanted was to fold him into my arms and protect him from my wife's rage. His words instantly calmed me, but Sela began trembling before me.

"Child," she gritted through her teeth. "You made a child with this thing?"

"That is enough, Yonsa Wren," said the Trademaster icily. "You will not disrespect my son in this house. He's been through enough."

"Child?" she said again. "When I have your child in my belly?" Her voice rose to a screech again, and I blinked.

"Child?" I said. "But you told me...? We bought the blessing...?"

"I didn't know," she said, her voice thick. "I miss my courses sometimes. You know this. I saw a midwife the hotel recommended this morning. Don't make me discuss this in front of these people."

My heart ached when Segun withdrew his hand from my wrist. He turned his head away, and I think I caught the glimmer of a tear in his eye. My throat grew thick.

"Segun," I rasped.

Jabin Klath cleared his throat.

"This is happy news," said the Trademaster. "My House congratulates yours."

My heart exploded with many things, but joy at the news of this child is not one of them. I glanced at my wife, who at this moment chose to affect the pose of a pious wife with her head down and her hands folded, and I wanted to smack this sanctimonious woman against the wall. But, of course, now she bears my child, and my life and fate were sealed. No. More than sealed. Buried in a rock slide inside the desert shield wall. My life is something I can never get away from.

I was crushed.

Segun does not look at me, and I don't blame him. Though Sela is my wife and in my bed long before I ever met Segun, I felt as if I betrayed him. I was confused about my entire life except for one thing.

I'm in love with Segun Klath.

I've heard whispers about how a yonsu fall in love with a Cursed and can countenance no other. Indeed, my every thought turns to Segun, and this woman before me that shared my bed for the past year meant nothing to me. I never possessed the flame of love for my wife, and our marriage is a sham. But there is nothing I can do. The law is on her side. And she bears my child.

"I am happy for you, my Yonsu," said my love. "The Lord of All has blessed your House."