“Kat told me I might find you here. Hello, Lorelei.”
Lorelei looked up, shading her eyes against the dying glare of the green sun. It was getting on towards evening so the artificial light was dimming but it was still bright. The man standing over her was so tall she had to crane her neck to see his face but she recognized him at once—Torn.
“Oh, you’re finally up and around!” she exclaimed. “Yipper didn’t tell me you were being released today.”
“Well, he did all he could for me and said it was time to let me go.”
Torn sighed and sat down beside her in the grass. He was wearing the tight black leather trousers and tall black boots all Kindred warriors wore as well as a dark green uniform shirt which brought out the vivid emerald of his eyes.
Lorelei felt suddenly shy. The Dark Twin was so big—so handsome. His hair had been cut and he was clean-shaven for the first time since she’d met him—had it only been a week ago? He seemed somehow like a different person.
“Well it’s good to see you’re getting better,” she said lamely. “What exactly did Yipper do for you? Besides fixing your broken arm, I mean.” She nodded at his left arm, which was working just fine. The silver of his metal right arm was hidden but the shiny black hand coming out of his shirtsleeve proved it was the same—or was it?
“Not much he could do, to be honest,” Torn said roughly. “He couldn’t remove the nanites—tried like hell but the little bastards are a part of me now. Still…” He sighed. “I control them, not the other way around. So there’s that. And as for this…” he held up his right arm, “He offered to replace it with a prosthetic that looked more natural but I don’t see the point. This one served me well—especially against those fucking Genoshians. If I can’t have my own arm back, I might as well keep this one as get used to another.” He shrugged, his broad shoulders rolling. “I’ve never given a good Goddess-damn for what things look like as long as they get the job done.”
He certainly had “gotten the job done” against the invading aliens. Lorelei shuddered when she thought of the blue beetle-like creatures, twitching in their death throes after Torn had finished with them. The silver metal arm was like a lethal battering ram—a deadly weapon indeed.
“I can see how you’d feel that way,” she said. “If it works, why not keep it? And…how is Bound?” she asked hopefully. Maybe if Torn was so much improved, the Light Twin might be as well. She had been to visit both of them while they were still in Yipper’s care, but Bound was almost always out of it when she came.
Torn ran a hand over his face.
“Bound is…about the same. Doesn’t know me—doesn’t know where we are—barely knows himself. But you know that—you’ve been visiting us both every day since we all got back here.”
“I…didn’t know you knew,” Lorelei faltered. “I tried to come when you were asleep—I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“You could never disturb me…Mistress.” Torn reached for her with his left hand and Lorelei gave him her right, feeling a shiver as the familiar sexual tingle passed between them. The nanites at work, no doubt. But it felt wrong to be touching the Dark Twin without his brother. Without Bound, they simply didn’t fit together.
Torn seemed to feel it too, or maybe it was just painful for him to touch her without his twin, because he withdrew his hand after a minute and sighed.
“Yipper told me Bound can come home too—back to our suite,” he said, plucking a blade of the greenish-purple grass and twirling it idly between thumb and finger. “He said he might be able to make new memories, eventually. But his past—all his old memories—are gone forever. He looks at me and he doesn’t…” His voice grew low and husky. “Doesn’t even fucking know me.”
“Oh, Torn…” Forgetting her shyness, Lorelei turned to him. Getting to her knees, she pulled his head down, pressing his face to her breasts, comforting him the only way she knew how.
The huge warrior let himself be comforted, wrapping his muscular arms around her and holding on tight. He didn’t say anything but his broad shoulders shook and Lorelei felt like her heart might break for his pain.
“It’s all right,” she murmured, carding her fingers through his thick, dark hair. “I remember Bound felt the same way about you—he was so upset that you didn’t know him. He loved you so much—and he loves you still, I’m sure he does. He just has to remember it somehow.”
Torn pulled back from her, his green eyes red-rimmed.
“You know,” he said in a low, rough voice. “If I’d been paying attention those fucking Genoshians couldn’t have gotten the drop on us and stolen his memories. They boarded the ship and I didn’t even notice before they were in the fucking room with us! I should have heard them! I should have—”
“Now you sound like Bound,” Lorelei interrupted him. “He felt like it was his fault you were taken by the V’radors. But you never blamed him.”
“Because it wasn’t his fault,” Torn said in a low, intense voice.
“And what happened to Bound wasn’t your fault,” Lorelei emphasized. “He wouldn’t want you to blame yourself. You did everything you could, Torn. You saved us—even with a broken arm.”
“I wish they’d broken my fucking neck instead,” he growled savagely. “I’d rather die than be without my twin like this. With him but without him at the same time.” He sighed deeply. “I haven’t even told our parents yet—I can’t fucking stand to think of the look on our mother’s face when she finds out.”
“You’ll have to tell them eventually,” Lorelei said gently. “Is Yipper going to release Bound too?”
“He will as soon as I come to get him.” Torn ran a hand through his hair. “I’m going to get him from Yipper and bring him back to our suite. Show him around, see if it jogs anything loose. You know…” He barked out a laugh. “I even thought about getting him a tinda, although I don’t fucking know how I’d get one shipped all the way from Twin Moons.”
“A what?” Lorelei frowned.
“It’s a little feral animal native to our world,” the Dark Twin explained. “They’re kind of like a cross between a fox and a cat from Earth, I guess.” He scrubbed a hand over his face wearily. “When we were young—only about nine cycles old—Bound and I found a nest of them in the woods behind our house. The mother was dead in a trap nearby. And there were four of the little tinda kits, no bigger than your hand, all crying their heads off for food.”
“Oh my—what happened?” Lorelei asked, interested in this little piece of her twins’ past.
“Well Bound insisted on taking them home, of course.” Torn laughed, his green eyes misty with recollection. “Then he was dead set on raising them until they were old enough to be let go. Which meant feeding the little bastards every two hours with a tiny milk syringe and rubbing their furry little tummies to make sure they didn’t get sick.”
“He took care of four kittens—er, tinda kits—by himself?” Lorelei asked.
“Oh, not by himself—hell no!” Torn exclaimed. “He made me help. We were up all hours of the night for weeks. Good thing it was during a school break or our marks would have been shot to the Seven Hells.” He laughed again, ruefully. “I used to get so mad at him when he woke me up to go tend those damn tindas but it’s something I’ll never forget about him—my twin always did have a tender heart.”
“That sounds like Bound.” Lorelei couldn’t help smiling. “You know, he told me stories about you, too, when we were coming to Femalah to get you.”
“He did?” Torn raised an eyebrow at her. “Uh-oh, this can’t be good. What exactly did he tell you?”
“Just about Kilji and how you set fire to the cart that hit him,” Lorelei said quietly.
“Oh Gods, Kilji…” Torn sighed and ran a hand over his face. “I loved that animal so much. Thought I would die when he got hit.”
“Bound said you grieved for weeks,” Lorelei said softly. “I think he was trying to let me get to know you, in a way. So I wouldn’t be frightened when we finally met.”
“You were frightened of me?” Torn shook his head. “No, don’t answer that. I suppose I was pretty fucking scary before you helped me tame these damn nanites.”
“I’m not scared anymore,” Lorelei told him. “And I think your idea of getting a, uh, tinda for Bound isn’t a bad plan. You know, the temporal lobes aren’t the only place memory is stored. I’ve been doing some research and long term memories can be stored in different areas in the brain. Maybe something is still in there somewhere. And maybe his senses—touch and smell and sight—can help bring it out. Do you have any pictures you could show him of the two of you together?”
“I have a few holo-pics back at our suite…I just don’t know if they’ll bring back anything or not.” He shook his head. “I’d cut off my other fucking arm and give him that, if it would help. Anything, just to get him back.”
The Dark Twin’s pain tore at Lorelei’s heart. She wanted to hold Torn again, but she knew it wouldn’t help. She couldn’t heal this hurt, no matter what she did.
No, but maybe I can help him bear it.
“Torn,” she said hesitantly. “Can I…would you mind if I came with you to get Bound and bring him back to your suite? I know he doesn’t know me anymore but well…I’d really like to be there. If…if you don’t feel like it would be intruding.”
“Intruding?” He shook his head incredulously. “How could having the female we both love in our suite be intruding?”
Lorelei felt a blush rising to her cheeks.
“Oh, Torn…”
“I’m sorry…” he said roughly. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said it out loud that way. I know we haven’t known each other long. It’s just, when you’re between Bound and me it feels so fucking right.”
“It feels right to me, too,” Lorelei murmured. She reached for his hand again. “Come on—let’s go get Bound. You can show him some of your, uh, holo-pics. Maybe that will help him remember.”
“Worth a try.” Torn squeezed her hand in his much larger one. “Thanks, Lorelei. Bound did well when he chose you for us.”
“Well…” She cleared her throat. “Your brother didn’t exactly pick me out to be your, um, girlfriend. He was looking over my qualifications as an AI shrink at the time.”
“That and the fact that you’re an Elite, I bet,” Torn rumbled, raising an eyebrow at her.
“That too,” Lorelei admitted. “He, uh, thought I might appeal to you for that reason. Thought it would make it easier for me to bring you back to yourself.”
“He was right.” Torn squeezed her hand again. “But you’re not just beautiful—you’re honorable and loyal and intelligent too. I admire that in a female.”
“Well…thank you.” Lorelei blushed again. “But you don’t have to say all that, Torn.”
“Yes I do—it’s fucking true,” he growled. “Besides, I want you to know I feel the same way for you that Bound does—if he can just remember it.”
“Let’s do what we can to jog his memory,” Lorelei suggested, rising and tugging at his hand. “I think the idea of stimulating his senses is a good idea. Come on.”
Torn rose, towering over her. But the Dark Twin’s great height made her feel protected rather than afraid. Protected but incomplete—she felt the lack of Bound keenly. If only the Light Twin was here, walking on the other side of her.
Maybe we won’t be incomplete forever, Lorelei thought. Inside she heard the voice of the Goddess, whispering…When the time comes, you will know what to do.
Had the time come? Lorelei didn’t know—she only knew she wanted to be there for Torn and for Bound, even if the Light Twin didn’t know her.
Please Goddess, she prayed, let me find a way to bring him back to himself. Let me be the bridge once more so that the three of us can be together.