Page 6 of A Cruel Kindness

It was always one of two reactions from people. Pity or scorn.

I was tired of people pitying me. It was misplaced and misguided. Though his scorn wasn’t great either, it was less stifling.

Through the small window, I caught a glimpse of the driver handing a gate officer papers. I watched as he took them out of the driver’s hand and peeled through a few sheets.

I knew the moment he read my name on that paper.

All the blood drained from his face and his eyes shot up, mouth open and gaping. He looked at the driver, then through the window. When he saw me looking, he took a stumbling step back.

I simply waved at him, nothing more than a small waggle of my fingers.

Someone scoffed, and I would bet half the gold in the Empire's treasury that it was General Iroko. From the moment he showed up with an entire caravan of the Guard in Cor, our capital city and the place I’d grown up, I could tell he thought I was nothing more than a prissy princess he would have to treat like a waddling toddler for the day-long trip through the Sicco Desert to get to the Bridge.

He could think what he wanted. I wasn’t responsible for explaining how nuance worked to him.

“We’re late,” he barked to the driver, which made him slam on the gas and the entire car lurch forward. I didn’t let my smile drop for one second, even when Adam knocked into me again.

The sun was too bright to get a good view of my surroundings through the small window, but soon enough we were stopping. Finally arriving after over seven hours crammed in this tight car, with nothing but minimal air flow and thick silence to bask in.

I breathed through the knot of fear in my stomach, trying to push it down and regain some control. It was important I maintained some sort of decorum around these people, and I had the distinct feeling that would be impossible when confronted with my paranima.

The bulletproof metal doors at the back of the car cracked open a second later, flooding the dark car with unobstructed desert light, hot and oppressive. My clothes, still the delicate, refined fabrics fit for the Emperor’s court, now seemed ridiculous.

I might as well enjoy them while I could, because they would be thrown away and swapped with tactical gear soon enough.

The soldiers filed out first, and I pretended not to see the hand extended in my direction, offering to help me down. It wasn’t because I didn’t want to accept the help.

Ever since my Mark had appeared a week ago, it felt … odd for people to touch me. Especially on my hands. Even the slightest touch felt like someone was squeezing my hand so hard the bones bent.

Once I stepped down onto the sandy, arid floor, I heard several gasps erupt around me. After a moment to blink and adjust my eyes to the light, I realized a crowd had formed, filled with equal parts soldiers and staff.

The Bridge was our last outpost on Vir, the closest point of connection from our world to Muliterra, the planet we were currently ten years into war with. Though Vir had been the one to find it, it was Muli who had taken advantage. It had been made clear that if we didn’t defend the Bridge, Muli would use it to take over our world.

Their attitude may have changed as of late, but I wasn’t supposed to know that.

Virterra and Muliterra were linked in every aspect, twins to one another in so many respects—save for the fact that Muliterra was closer to the sun, giving them an edge up in size and resources. Until the war, they were a distant star in the sky, nothing more than a mystical place that eclipsed our sun every so often. We shared the same religion, governed by two married deities, with God ruling Vir and the Goddess ruling Muli.

It didn’t mean the Goddess wasn’t present on our planet. The priestesses, the very ones that had pulled the Mark out of my soul, were her representatives here, tasked with protecting her interests where the Goddess couldn’t. Muli had priests to do the same for our God, but if they were anything like the priestesses, they were riddled with corruption and plagued by an insatiable desire to manipulate.

The Bridge was thought to be nothing more than a hopeful piece of lore, a mythical idea that our planets were linked by a path that cut through space and stars, letting a select few travel between the planets in seconds, instead of relying on technology. Technology that we had yet to master.

Turns out, it was quite real. When the Bridge was discovered, it was purely by chance, a cave in the middle of the desert hidden by a mound of sand. We’d sent a brave few volunteers through it, only for them to return to us riddled with sickness and dying within the month.

Apparently, in order to survive the effects of the magic that connected our worlds, you needed a partner to anchor you, drawing on each other’s strength.

Your Marks, in all their swirling, artful glory, were how you found your partner. The more similar your Marks, the stronger your connection and the less side-effects you suffered.

We’d outlawed Matches under sixty-percent compatibility years ago, when we realized that they weren’t immune to the effects, but it simply crept up on them later. I wasn’t convinced the same thing wouldn’t happen to those in the seventies—aptly called parasepts in the old language—in a few years.

The only safe bet was the paranimas. The Soul Mates. The select few who received the blessing of both deities and able to travel freely between worlds. They—though I guessed I should start including myself in that group—were a coveted, cherished group that were bathed in riches and fame to honor their sacrifice.

It was a shock Vir was evening paying them that much. We’d been notoriously stingy in doling out resources for this war. You’d think Muliterra’s insistence on conquering us for the fun of it, regardless of their wealth of resources, would warrant a higher investment on our part.

Of course, the fact that we didn’t throw everything we had at this war had absolutely nothing to do with keeping wealth for the Royals and everything to do with the fact that clearly God was a horrible Father who had forsaken us and the Goddess liked her planet better, happy to let us die out so she could focus her efforts on her favored child.

And now I would be going to that planet, to see how much better our mother treated her. To see if the story that had been spun on our planet was true.

I just had to get through meeting my Soul Mate first.