Free Merchandise by Angelique Voisen Page B

sense of manhood. Forcing them to watch him
claim J in front of an audience would hurt more than any other kind of torture.
    Pushed forward, they were herded
past the crowd and up the stairs where more white-robed priests and temple
attendants were waiting by a stone ritual table. Seeing the table quickened the
despair growing inside Brale . While he wasn’t
familiar with all aspects of their religion, he knew this one well enough.
    In a Hadarian mating ritual, after the males and the females recited their pledges in the
eyes of their gods and their priests, they consummated their union in front of
witnesses. Farr and his men were about to mount J in front of an entire crowd.
They made sure Brale and Dyos were watching, helpless to do anything else as they ruined J.
    Rage swept over Brale like a fierce storm. He howled, fighting against his restraints, but blows
easily bought him down to his knees. Brale bled from
a dozen cuts and his ribs were probably cracked, but he didn’t care. He
would’ve fought more, but stopped at Dyos’s concerned
shout. He’d already been shamed and brought low, but his pride couldn’t take
another hit if Dyos was hurt, too.
    “Quiet down, Cobrini .
This is a sacred ceremony,” his captor hissed.
    Farr tossed Brale an ugly triumphant look, clearly enjoying their useless struggle, but Brale ignored him to stare up at J’s wide-eyed gaze. She
tore herself from Farr and Gael, but Gael grabbed her arm in a bruising grip
before she could reach them.
    “Who are they?” she asked Farr
uncertainly, pressing a hand to her forehead. “It feels like … it hurts to
remember.”
    “Hush, little one. They are insignificant
prisoners beneath your notice,” Farr crooned, settling her to the crook of her
arm. She looked impossibly small and lost as she looked up to him. “That’s right, you trust me and Gael with your life, don’t you? I’m
your master. Remember? We know what’s best for you.”
    J nodded slowly as if she was lost
in a trance, and it pained Brale to see her being
manipulated by Farr like that. How often did they inject the memory serum into
her?
    The J he and Dyos had fallen in love in wasn’t this sad and impressionable beautiful creature.
Their J was strong-willed and craved freedom. What Farr was offering her was
just another form of slavery. She just didn’t know that.
    “And you don’t want to displease
your master, right, little one?” Gael asked.
    She shook her head, her voice and
movements mechanical. “No. I serve to please.”
    “You know us, J. You just have to
remember. Deep in your memories, we’re still there,” Dyos said tightly, but the soldier beside him stuck him hard in the jaw, kicking him
again and again until he fell silent.
    At his pained cry, J’s head snapped
to Dyos again, but Farr took her arm and gently led
her to the waiting priests. The memory altering drug Farr had injected into her
was failing, Brale thought with some semblance of
hope, because J seemed less certain, less sure of herself.
    J looked dazed during the entire
ceremony. She snuck occasional glances at them, only stopping when Farr rested
his hand against the back of her neck. Brale hardly
heard the monotonous voices of the priests, or the primitive drums still
thumping somewhere nearby.
    He trained his eyes on the line of
J’s back, fervently hoping she’d come to her senses, but even if she did, what
could one helpless Terran female do?
    Too soon it seemed, the thumping
drums stopped, changing rhythm, and a joyous cry tore through the watching
crowd. Dyos let out a sound of protest beside him.
The priests had stopped speaking. The ceremony was finished. Farr and his
retinue were heading to the stone table. He lifted J by her waist so she sat at
the stone table, and then began unzipping the oversized flight suit she wore,
exposing her creamy skin.   

Chapter Nine
     
    The sound of the distracting drums
and the almost-fanatic cries of the crowd dimmed down once Farr