My Kingdom Come book 1: The Saints We See

665 standard years after the signing of the Alliance

Isca untied the rope with one of his three sets of hands and let Mikhail down with another. Mikhail’s legs collapsed under him and he fell to the floor, trying to keep his sobs locked in his chest. Isca knelt next to him and untied the rope from Mikhail’s wrists. The skin on Mikhail’s wrists burned as it healed.

“Chentzo says you are never to lose control like that again. He’ll have me beat you twice as long next time. You’re lucky Illia didn’t complain, or it would have been much worse.”

“Y-yes, sir.” Mikhail choked out.

“Good, boy.” Isca said. “Clean up the mess and go to bed.”

“Yes- yes, sir.”

Isca left taking his whip and the rope with him. Mikhail curled into a little ball and began to cry as quietly as he could. He indulged for a few minutes, but then pushed his emotions down. If he took too long Isca might be sent back to beat him some more.

Mikhail got up on shaky legs and began to pick up the things Illia had scattered around the room in her rage. There was a soft knock on his door. He didn’t know how he knew, but it was Dachvinder. He quickly went over and opened the door, not caring that he was still naked.

Dachvinder was standing there, small, hunched in on daemself. Daer face blotchy and swollen from crying. Daer emotions were tightly bottled up, but Mikhail could feel dae barely had them under control. Dae looked up at Mikhail hesitantly.

“I’m so sorry.” Dae whispered. “I’ll go, I just needed to know if you were okay.”

Mikhail was suddenly desperate to be cuddled up with Dachvinder in the big bed upstairs. He pushed that feeling down with the rest of his emotions. “I’m fine. I just need to clean up here then I can come upstairs to bed.”

“You…you’ll still come up with me?” Hope warred with fear in Dachvinder’s eyes.

Mikhail swallowed. “If you’ll have me.”

The pinched look disappeared from Dachvinder’s face. “Of course! Of course I want you. Can I help you clean up?”

Mikhail opened the door wider and stepped back.

Dachvinder stepped through the doorway and paused. “Oh.” Dae looked around, daer eyes wide. Dae looked at Mikhail and swallowed. “She was very angry. Are…are you sure you’re okay? They both hit you so many times.” Tears began to spill down daer cheeks. Dachvinder took Mikhail’s wrist and made him turn.

How do you know how many times they hit me? Mikhail turned and let Dachvinder look.

Dachvinder touched Mikhail’s back softly. “It’s gone. All of it. It’s…” Dachvinder let out a muffled sob, the tension holding daer emotions close thinned a little. They let go of Mikhail, turned away and began to pick things up off the floor.

Mikhail shut the door and joined Dachvinder. Between the two of them they had the room straightened out in about ten minutes.

“I need to shower.” Mikhail told Dachvinder. “I want her scent off me.”

“Let’s shower upstairs.” Dachvinder tugged at Mikhail’s arm.

“Alright. Let me get some clothes.” Mikhail pulled his shorts back on and quickly pulled a set of clean clothes out of his closet then he and Dachvinder went upstairs to Dachvinder’s room. They went into the attached bathroom.

Mikhail stared dully at nothing while he stripped back out of his shorts.

Dachvinder turned the shower on. Dae let out a little sound of pleasure.

Mikhail looked over. Dachvinder’s clothes were in a pile on the floor outside of the shower. Mikhail blinked. A little smile pulled at his mouth. He walked around the wall that divided the shower from the rest of the bathroom.

Instead of having a normal shower head to spray water, the entire back quarter of the shower ceiling was lined with tiny nozzles that dropped water down on its occupants. The amount of water used in that bathroom was probably tremendous, but it was for Chentzo’s clients, his source of money. Nothing was too good for them.

Dachvinder was standing facing Mikhail, water streaming down daer body. Daer eyes were closed and daer head was thrown back. Utter sadness was beginning to leak out of daer emotional shield. Mikhail walked forward into the hot water and touched Dachvinder’s cheek softly. Dachvinder opened daer eyes and stepped forward. Mikhail moved back. “No. I don’t want her scent on you.”

Dachvinder gave an understanding nod.

Mikhail stepped out of the water and began to lather himself with soap. Dachvinder’s delicate hands were suddenly there rubbing soap across his back and gently lathering it. Daer sadness washed out of daem and through Mikhail. Dae sniffed quietly. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know why I could feel what was happening to you; I was up here in the room. I felt so awful about it. I couldn’t stop feeling your fear and pain and I couldn’t stop my fear from going into you. I tried. I tried so hard to make it stop. I just kept making things worse and, and…” Dachvinder began to sob quietly.

Mikhail turned around. Dachvinder’s head was bowed. Dae was holding daer sudsy hands out in front of daer body. Mikhail took daer hand and pulled daem under the water again. He quickly rinsed the soap off his body and out of his hair, then pulled Dachvinder close.

Dachvinder wrapped daer arms around Mikhail and rested daer forehead against his chest. The chain hanging from Mikhail’s throat draped over Dachvinder’s shoulder and lay against daer back. Mikhail swallowed. He hated seeing his chains against Dachvinder’s skin. He shut his eyes and let his sadness out to join Dachvinder’s and their combined sorrow washed through the shower in waves. Instead of feeling worse, sharing the heaviness inside each of their hearts made Mikhail feel comforted. He was not alone. There was someone who was willing to share his burden.

They both stood there for a long time. Not talking. Just holding each other. When Mikhail finally turned the shower off Dachvinder was exhausted both emotionally and physically. Mikhail helped daem dry off then he scooped daem up in his arms and carried daem to the bed.

“I’m so sorry that I hurt you.” Dachvinder mumbled, daer head leaning against Mikhail’s shoulder.

Mikhail kissed the top of Dachvinder’s head. “You have nothing to be sorry for, Dach. What happened was not your fault.” He laid Dachvinder in the bed and climbed in next to daem, pulling the covers over them both. The lights dimmed automatically.

Dachvinder let out a little sniffle and tears began to leak down daer cheeks again. “You’re so good to me.”

Mikhail lay on his side, close to Dachvinder, and wrapped an arm around them. “You’re good to me too.”

Dachvinder rolled onto daer side and cried softly into Mikhail’s chest.

Mikhail held daem gently, his hand rubbing daer back. The skin on Mikhail’s hand began to tingle the way it did when his body wanted to root into the soil. Mikhail frowned.

“What is it?” Dachvinder sniffed.

“Nothing.” Mikhail whispered. “Everything’s fine, Dach.”

He hadn’t rooted into the earth many times since he had been brought to Chentzo’s. The other Durweh Mikhail lived with didn’t root; Mikhail wasn’t sure Chentzo even knew they could root. They were all given plenty of opportunity to spend time in the sun, and Mikhail found that the time in the sun and the diet Chentzo provided them took care of most of his cravings. Sometimes when he was away being trained he had the time and opportunity to drink from the earth, but mostly the cravings to root were rare and easy to control. He had rooted during his last training and didn’t expect to feel hungry for that for at least several more months. He ignored the tingling.

The lights turned themselves off. Dachvinder’s quiet sobs slowly calmed to little hiccups then gentle breaths. Mikhail began to doze lightly.

“My back feels tingly.” Dachvinder mumbled against Mikhail’s chest.

Mikhail frowned again, realizing his hand felt hot. Before he could think anymore about it, his exhaustion pulled him into a deeper sleep.