“You will admit that you were part of the Regent’s plan to overthrow our reign.”
“Yes.” Shi’chen’s eyes didn’t leave En’shea’s, like he was watching a cobra waiting to strike.
A’bbni let out a soft whimper, then froze as Hi’jan’s fingers trailed down over his ass, feeling them sticky with his blood from the knife cuts.
“You will admit that you are a traitor to our empire.”
“Yes,” Shi’chen said again. The back of En’shea’s fingers stroked over Shi’chen’s cheek, and A’bbni shuddered to feel Hi’jan’s fingers do the same on the back of his thigh. He saw En’shea take the smallest step back so he was just out of Shi’chen’s range, his fingertips the last thing to leave the space from where they had been on his brother’s face, before he said, “But you would do that even if we stopped now. And we do not want to.” He turned away from Shi’chen, and his brother’s voice was drowned out in A’bbni’s head as Hi’jan suddenly grabbed his hips, and he felt Hi’jan thrust forward into him.
The unexpected pain jolted through him like he had been struck, and he couldn’t stop the scream that tore out of his throat, muffled as it was by the leather in his mouth. His teeth clenched around it as Hi’jan began to move, suddenly unable to catch his breath. He could hear his brother and En’shea somewhere beyond his vision, but he could not hear what they were saying. He felt a rivulet of blood from the cut under his shoulder blade slide down his ribs to land on the wooden table beneath him, his skin itching along the path the droplet had traced.
His eyes didn’t know where to focus as he struggled to find each breath in his lungs in between each thrust of Hi’jan’s hips against his. Finally, they roamed over their Father’s ear that was closest to him, his left, where, up in the tip of his ear’s helix, two tiny gemstones glittered side by side. Unlike the rest of the Regent’s jewelry that was yellow or rose gold, the barely-visible stud settings were silver and caught the flicker from the wall torches. One stone was a bright red ruby, the other a vivid green peridot. Red for Shi’chen, green for him, their favorite colors, and silver, because it was so rare in Hanenea’a. He remembered when their Father had commissioned those earrings, a set for himself and a set for his wife, when the twins had turned 12. Their Mother’s set had been removed before her body was cremated after she passed from the fevers, and they were stored in the vault with the other precious jewelry of the royal family, though he had not seen them in years. He vaguely wondered what would happen to those two shining stones in his Father’s ear. There was a drop of blood on the edge of the ruby, and he wondered if it was his or his Father’s. He thought it might be his Father’s, since it had already dried into rusty brown. Fresh blood was so much brighter. The smell of it was different, too, and he could smell fresh blood around his own skin, and the coppery tang of blood that had dried along where the Regent’s head sat, as well as the slightly sweet scent of the beginnings of decomposition.
His vision was starting to go black, and then white. He vaguely realized that somewhere he had stopped breathing, and when he tried to take a breath now, it was like trying to breathe through a pillow over his face, unable to get more than the tiniest bit of air into his lungs. Panic set in before he could stop it, feeling more than hearing Hi’jan grunt as he thrust against him, his pants rough against A’bbni’s skin, the fabric scratchy and stiff, probably from blood. Somewhere, as if from down a deep well, he could hear Shi’chen’s voice again, unintelligible no matter how hard he tried to listen, but everything had suddenly grown very hot, and all he could see was the flicker of white light in front of his eyes before everything went blessedly dark.
Chapter three
Shi'chen
Shi’chenwatchedhisbrotherslump against the wall, streaks of crimson blood gliding down and drying on his sides and legs. He felt sick, even more sick than he had seeing his Father’s head on the table. He hoped that being unconscious was helping his brother, but it worried him with how shallow A’bbni was breathing. He stretched out a leg, trying to reach him, but even straining against the cuffs, he could not get close enough to even brush his twin’s leg with his foot. “I-sha,” he said softly, trying to rouse his brother without getting the attention of the guard outside the door.
A’bbni did not stir. Shi’chen tried again, but still no reaction. “A’bbni!” he said, louder. A’bbni’s ears flicked, and his eyes fluttered open. Shi’chen let out a sigh of relief. “Hey. Look at me.”
A’bbni shifted against the wall, hissing softly as he got his feet back under him, several fresh rivulets of blood starting to flow down his dark skin, visible even in the torchlight. He coughed softly, his jaw moving stiffly as he drew in a deeper breath.
“I-sha. I am so, so sorry,” Shi’chen whispered, feeling hot tears run down his cheeks and drop off to hit the stone floor by his feet. A’bbni’s head drooped, his ears low, shaking all over. Shi’chen stifled a soft sob. He would have taken all that pain and hurt and humiliation, a hundred times over, if it would have kept A’bbni safe. “I understand if you cannot forgive me for not protecting you.”
A’bbni sniffled softly, turning his eyes toward Shi’chen in the dimness, and the look in A’bbni’s eyes hurt him more than an arrow to his heart. “You do not have to be sorry. You did what you could.”
“I should have told them something. I should have made something up to make them stop.” Shi’chen’s voice rose higher and louder, making A’bbni flinch.
“You know you’re terrible at lying, i-sha.”
“I know, but I am supposed to protect you.”
“They would not have stopped, no matter what you said,” A’bbni said softly, dropping his head again. “You would only have gotten others killed.”
He knew his brother was right, but that did not stop the guilt from surging in his chest like something was trying to get out. He could hardly hear anything over the blood racing in his ears as he watched A’bbni slump against the wall, the cuff bar the only thing keeping him on his feet. “I-sha,” he said softly. A’bbni grunted softly without opening his eyes. Shi’chen frowned. “I-sha,” he said more firmly. “You need to keep your eyes open.”
“Easy for you to say,” A’bbni mumbled, his head lolling downwards again, causing the restraints to dig further into his raw wrists.
“I know it hurts, but you have to stay awake.” It was the same advice he knew A’bbni would have given him if their positions had been reversed. He wished they had been. His twin forced open his eyes, and even that looked like more effort than he had in him. “Talk to me,” he prompted, trying to keep A’bbni’s attention.
“Wh… where did they go?” A’bbni asked.
Shi’chen swallowed hard. “En’shea said something about returning after you woke up.”
A’bbni shuddered, his fingers clenching, and Shi’chen felt his heart shatter in his chest. When they came back, they would torture A’bbni again, and Shi’chen was sure it would be worse. Much worse. “What can I tell them to make this stop?”
A’bbni shook his head slowly, a few of his curls falling over his face in limp tendrils. “I do not think you can.”
“I will not let them continue to hurt you,” Shi’chen replied, aware that his voice was much too high to sound convincing.
A’bbni’s flame-orange eyes met his own in the flickering darkness, wet and red-rimmed and heartbroken. “Do not make promises you cannot keep, i-sha,” he said softly. “I know you would if you could.”
Shi’chen gritted his teeth. “I would take all of it for them to leave you alone.”
“Which is exactly why they will not,” A’bbni said. “We are dead no matter what either of us says. Do not implicate others just to try to save me when it will do no good.”
