“Oh, Trin…” Charlie shook her head sorrowfully.
“These awful priestesses here have really done a number on your head!” Becca exclaimed. “And that’s coming from a girl who almost got married to the church instead of letting myself love a man…or men, in my case.”
“I only know what I have been taught since I was an infant,” Trin whispered. “And I cannot bring myself to ignore it. Once I thought I could but then…” She flashed on her mother’s face again—on the rigid disappointment and disgust she’d seen in those dark eyes that were so like her own. “Then I realized it’s impossible.”
“Trin…” Charlie ran a hand through her blonde hair and sighed. Then she shook her head. “All right. If that’s how you want it.”
“What?” Becca looked at her friend in amazement. “You’re not just going to let her stay here, are you? Look at her! Look what they’ve already done to her hair….her skin! If we let her stay any longer…”
“As hard as it is, it’s got to be Trin’s decision,” Charlie said firmly. “The Goddess said she would have to make a choice—maybe this is it.”
“She’s not in any shape to be making choices right now,” Becca argued. “She’s brainwashed. She’s got the worse case of Stockholm syndrome I’ve ever seen!”
“I don’t know what kind of disease that is but I am completely sane,” Trin said softly, addressing Becca. “And I choose to stay here of my own free will. To complete the ritual. Anyway, I…” She swallowed hard. “I do not think it will be much longer. Tomorrow…tomorrow I have to make a sacrifice to the Goddess. Maybe then I will finally be completely cleansed.”
“What kind of sacrifice are we talking about?” Charlie asked, frowning.
“I must give something I don’t wish to lose.” Trin looked down at her hands. “A finger…or an ear. Or sometimes the high priestess says the Defiled One chooses to lose an eye.”
“Wait a minute…” Becca put a hand on her arm, being careful not to touch any of the raw welts. “Are you actually telling us that tomorrow you’re going to be maimed? And you’re okay with that?”
Slowly, Trin nodded. “It is…what I deserve.”
“For falling in love and getting a little nookie? Honey, no!” Becca shook her head. “Think about what you’re saying!”
“I have to side with Becca on this one,” Charlie said. “I had no idea they were planning on maiming you.” She shook her head. “That’s going too far—way too far.”
Becca snorted. “Too far? By any sane standards these people left ‘too far’ back in the dust a mile back! We need to get her out of here—now.”
Charlie frowned. “Maybe you’re right. This really is way beyond the pale. I just—”
“You will not be taking The Defiled One anywhere!”
The ringing voice of Betina made them all jump. Trin turned, her heart heavy, to see the high priestess standing there flanked by two lesser priestesses, both armed with hand-held destroyers. Behind them was the priestess with pale purple hair.
“I knew they didn’t belong here, your holiness,” she was saying to the high priestess. “I don’t believe they’re priestesses at all.”
“You did well to come and tell me, Lali.” Betina spoke without taking her eyes off Trin and her companions. “Who are you?” she demanded of Charlie and Becca.
“We’ve been sent by the Goddess of the Kindred—the Mother of All Life—to help and protect Trin,” Becca said, apparently deciding that honestly was the best policy.
“Yes—she’s been punished enough,” Charlie put in. “So we’re going to need to take her back with us now.”
“I think not. The Kindred goddess, you say?” Betina frowned. “I have heard of her. A misguided deity whose supporters advocate the forbidden practice of females and males mating and living together.”
“It may seem forbidden to you but it’s normal to us,” Becca pointed out. “Can’t you try and see anyone else’s point of view?”
“I see only right and wrong and what you are espousing is totally and unequivocally wrong,” Betina spat. “Not only that, it is blasphemous and disgusting!”
“Well, so much for talking it out,” Charlie muttered.
“There is nothing to talk about,” the high priestess said firmly. She pointed at Trin. “The Defiled One must be taken to a cell for security until the Ceremony of Sacrifice tomorrow. As for you…” She narrowed her eyes at Becca and Charlie. “You shall both be imprisoned in the dungeons beneath the temple while I decide what to do with you.”
“You’ll be sorry for this.” Charlie’s eyes were blazing. “We were sent by the Goddess herself to save Trin!”
“That’s right,” Becca said, also glaring at Betina. “She sees what you’re doing to this poor girl and she does not approve. Nobody would. You’re treating her like a war criminal just for falling in love!”
The high priestess looked at them speculatively. “You serve your own goddess with much fervor and determination—perhaps with a little retraining you might be led into the light to serve the true goddess—the Goddess of Judgment—instead.”
“Don’t hold your breath, sister,” Becca snapped.
“Yeah, I don’t think we’re interested in converting to the Nazi Germany of religions,” Charlie added.
“Well, you will have a night to think about it.” Betina snapped her fingers. “Guards—take them to the dungeons.”
Charlie and Becca looked like they wanted to put up a fight but with the muzzles of the destroyers pointed right in their faces, they didn’t dare.
“I’m sorry,” Trin whispered as they were led away. Though she hadn’t been able to agree with what they were saying, she was still touched that they had come all the way from Earth to try and rescue her. She only hoped her new friends would be treated more gently than she had been.
* * * * *
“So she refuses to come with you?” Thrace asked, staring at the viewscreen where the blonde haired woman, Charlie had appeared. He had spent a restless night, pacing up and down the length of the small ship, itching to invade the temple and take Trin out by force if necessary. Only the other males’ repeated reminders that the Goddess had said Trin had to make her own choice had held him back. And now to hear that she had refused to come…
“She absolutely refuses?” he demanded.
“Shhh—not so loud!” Charlie hissed. “We’re prisoners here. If anyone finds out we managed to hold on to our communicators we’re in deep trouble!”
“You’re in prison?” Stavros pushed closer to the viewscreen.
Truth and Far spoke at the same time.
“How in the Seven Hells did that happen?”
“Are you in danger?”
“Not right now,” Becca said, shoving in beside Charlie so that her face filled the other half of the screen. “We told them we came from the Goddess so they are showing us some respect. I think they think of us as misguided but possibly teachable.”
“She’s right,” Charlie said. “They want to convert us.”
“Convert you?” Truth scowled. “To a religion of fear and shame?”
“Not to mention a religion of no nookie,” Becca pointed out. “Don’t worry—we’re not going over to the dark side here.”
“Not a chance in hell,” Charlie agreed.
“I still don’t like this.” Far frowned. “Thank the Goddess you were able to hold on to a communicator when they took you!”
“Good thing we brought them in the first place,” Becca pointed out. “It’s weird how this temple is able to block our ability to think-speak to each other through our bonds. I wonder what kind of stone it’s made of? It’s so strange.”
“Strange and very lonely,” Stavros said softly. “I miss you, Charlotte.”
“I miss you too, honey,” Charlie said. “But we’re not the ones in immediate danger right now—Trin is.”
“What?” Thrace had been shifting impatiently from foot to foot, waiting to hear more news of t
he female he loved. Now his worse fears seemed to be confirmed. “I knew it!” he exploded. “I knew it—what have they done to her?”
“Well, they gave her a really bad haircut and scratched her up some,” Becca told him.
“Not to mention they shot her pet horses,” Charlie said softly.
“They killed Swift and Silk?” Thrace felt a stab of pain in his heart. “But Trin loved those animals! She spoke of them often…talked of riding on their backs and caring for them since they were young.”
“It was a pretty bad scene,” Becca admitted reluctantly. “They made her dig a grave to bury them, too. She was…pretty shaken up.”
“But not shaken up enough to leave?” Truth asked, raising an eyebrow. “What is she waiting for?”
“Well, she feels guilty,” Becca said. “Feels like she deserves all of this—they’ve got her completely brainwashed here.”
“She thinks loving Thrace is a sin,” Charlie added. “And she admitted that she still loves him—so she thinks she’s still sinning.”
Thrace felt like he was going insane.
“She still loves me and that’s why she won’t come to me? Oh, Trin…” He ran a hand through his hair distractedly. “What are they going to do to her? I have to get to her…I have to!”
“Well, that’s actually why we’re calling you,” Becca said. “We couldn’t get you last night because there’s no reception in the dungeons. But we’ve been brought up to a holding cell on the first floor. I think because they want us to see this ceremony that Trin is involved in today.”
“Ceremony?” Thrace felt an ominous twist in his gut. “What ceremony?”
“Well, it’s…” Charlie sighed. “It’s the Ceremony of Sacrifice. She, uh, has to choose how she wants to be maimed.”
“What?” A red curtain seemed to drop over Thrace’s eyes and he felt his hands curling into fists. “I’ll kill them,” he growled. “I’ll fucking kill them!”
“Watch out!” he heard Truth say. “He’s going into Rage!”
“Rage? I thought only Kindred could do that,” Becca remarked, looking alarmed.
“You thought wrong, apparently,” Far said grimly. He grabbed Thrace by the arm. “Thrace, listen—going into a killing Rage won’t help us get Trin back!”
“He’s right,” Becca said from the viewscreen. “Now that they know they have intruders, the priestesses have sealed the temple up tight. There’s no way you’re getting in here short of a battering ram or some kind of laser cannon.”
“Neither of which we have,” Stavros pointed out. He looked at Charlie. “Is there any way to get inside?”
“I’m sorry but not that I can see.” Charlie looked most unhappy. “You know what the schematics we pulled up showed—the doors in the front are only way in or out. Well, other than the back door to the garden. But that area’s all walled off and I think they sealed the back door as well—at least that’s what the guards who brought us up here were saying.” She sighed. “I just wish I could have brought my gun!”
“We went over that,” Far reminded her. “If you had been caught with a weapon inside the temple and had aimed it at the high priestess, your sentence would have been immediate death.”
“Yeah, well they don’t seem to have a problem with aiming guns at other people,” Charlie muttered.
“She’s right,” Becca said. “You should see the size of their weapons! You could take out an elephant with one of them.”
“Weapons aside, are you really telling us there’s no way to get to you?” Truth demanded in a low growl. “Because I don’t fucking accept that—Far and I won’t stand idly by and see you hurt, Rebecca.”
“Honestly, we’re not the ones you have to worry about,” Becca said.
“She’s right—we’re mostly worried about Trin right now,” Charlie said, nodding. “The ceremony is about to start any minute!”
“Gods…Trin…” Thrace put the heels of his hands to his eyes and pressed hard, trying to drive back the panic and Rage he felt creeping over him. “Trin.”
Stavros frowned. “Let us think about this. You say there’s no way into the temple without some kind of heavy weaponry.”
“Right.” Charlie nodded decisively.
“If we were to blow the doors open, would the two of you be safe?” Stavros asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “Could the blast reach you where you are?”
“I think the ceremony’s going to take place in the inner sanctum so we’d probably be okay,” Charlie said. “But I thought we didn’t have any kind of equipment like that?”
“We don’t,” Truth said. “But the Mother Ship does. We could fold space, get what we needed, and get back here very quickly.”
“But not quickly enough,” Thrace growled. “Not quickly enough to save Trin from being maimed. What…” He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. “What did they say they were going to do to her?”
“She, uh…” Becca looked intensely uncomfortable. “I’m so sorry, Thrace but she has to decide if she wants to have a finger or an ear chopped off or…or an eye poked out,” she ended with a wince.
“Gods!” Thrace put his head in his hands, his heart drumming rapidly in his chest. Oh Trin…oh baby, he thought, his breath coming in labored gasps. My love…my Mistress. I can’t let this happen to you…can’t sit by and let you be maimed and tortured like this!
But what could he do about it?
Suddenly he knew.
“Thrace? Brother, are you well?” Stavros touched him lightly on the arm, a look of concern on his face.
Slowly, Thrace nodded.
“Yes, I am well. Now that I know what to do.”
“What do you mean?” Far asked warily. “We already said it was hopeless to try to force our way inside until we go back to the Mother Ship and get the proper equipment.”
“Nobody is forcing anything,” Thrace said. Now that he had made up his mind about this, his heart beat was slower, his breathing less labored and the red curtain of Rage had receded from his vision. “I am going to walk in and they will admit me eagerly.”
“What are you going to do—dress up like a priestess?” Truth demanded.
“That’s not actually a half bad idea—they do have those formless gray robes that hide almost everything.” Far sounded thoughtful.
“They can’t hide the fact that none of the Daughters of Zetta grow to be almost seven feet tall,” Truth said flatly. “Sorry, Brother, but I don’t think subterfuge is the way to go.”
“Subterfuge will be unnecessary,” Thrace said. “They will let me in, knowing exactly who I am.”
“And how exactly do you think you’re going to manage that?” Stavros asked, frowning.
Thrace raised his chin.
“By telling them the truth—that I wish to take Trin’s place for the sacrifice.”
There was silence in the ship for a moment. Then Far spoke.
“Actually, I believe the Daughters of Zetta have a law that pertains to such a custom. But, brother…you do realize what you will be sacrificing.”
“I’ll be giving up a part of my body for Trin.” Thrace shrugged. “So? She already owns my fucking heart—what do I care about losing anything else?”
Truth made a sound of approval deep in his throat.
“You may not be Kindred but you act it—we feel the same way about our females. We would give anything to keep them safe and happy.”
“Truly the Goddess chose well when she put you and Trin together,” Stavros said softly. “And I know from personal experience that she rewards sacrifice. I think you’re doing the right thing.”
“I know I am.” Thrace felt a kind of peace now—a calmness had fallen over him like a cool hand soothing a fevered brow. He looked at Far. “Tell me more about this law and how I can use it to my advantage. I don’t care what it takes, I’m getting Trin out of here when this is all over.”
Chapter Thirty-six
“Stand here, Defiled One and do not move.??
?
Trin stood as she was told, directly in front of the statue of the Goddess of Judgment. As before, she was naked and the cold breeze swirling around the cavernous stone room made her shiver.
This time her shame was not private—apparently Betina wanted the lesser priestesses to see what would happen to them if they dared to commit the heinous crime Trin was guilty of. They stood in rows, waiting for the ceremony to begin like guests at a life-bond celebration. Only instead of two females waiting to pledge their love and lives to each other, there was only one lone female who had allowed herself to fall into forbidden love. One who had committed the ultimate sin and was now about to pay for it.
Far in the back, flanked by two burly priestesses who were armed with destroyers, she could see Becca and Charlie standing. Their gray robes had been taken and they had been given the white robes of visitors instead. Though they were being guarded, Trin was glad to see they appeared unhurt. They were both staring at her with worried faces and for a moment she wished she had gone with them while she had a chance. Wished she could have had the life with Thrace that they offered.
Then her eyes flicked to the other side of the room where her mother was standing near the back. She was also wearing a white visitor’s robe and her dark eyes were hard and unyielding—full of pain and shame. When Trin looked at her, she stared back coldly for a moment and then looked away, as if she couldn’t bear to see her only child so publicly disgraced.
Trin knew, from what her guards had told her that morning, that the recording of herself and Thrace, sent from Lady Tam-tam, had made its way to the temple. Everyone from the high priestess down the lesser priestesses had seen it. Which meant that her secret was officially out and her reputation was ruined.
Mother probably hates me now, she thought sadly. I’ve disgraced her—ruined her reputation as well as my own. Her eyes flicked to Charlie and Becca again, who were holding hands and staring at her anxiously. I don’t deserve the life they offered me. Don’t deserve Thrace’s love or a life of happiness. Not after what I did.