Tears of the Neko (24 page)

They made their way to the slave yard.

The guard holding him seemed even more
nervous. "Sir, I believe Captain Brenner would want me to take the
boy to--"

"I'm in charge here!" Roman snapped. "This
brat just attacked my brother, and he's going to pay for it."

Nash froze in shock at the Marquis's
vehemence. The young lord was obviously very protective of his
brother.

As Arnett came out of the slave den to see
what the commotion was all about, Roman snapped at him. "String him
up and get me a whip."

Arnett looked at the young hybrid in shock,
exchanging a questioning look with the young guard, who looked
absolutely panicked.

"He attacked the Duke," Roman said in way of
explanation, and when Arnett looked to the guard for verification,
the guard nodded hesitantly. Arnett nodded dumbly as he turned to
get his discipline whip from its hook.

Kayden felt his wrists tied together and fear
pulsed through him. "No!" he screamed, finding his voice.

"And gag him," Roman commanded.

Kayden tried to wrench free, but he was much
too little to do anything against the much bigger men. He felt a
cloth pressed in his mouth and tied around the back of his head. As
his arms were lifted above his head, he felt the joints in his
shoulders strain unbearably as he was hitched to the hook on the
discipline pole. Tears streamed down his face as he shook in
panic.

He felt his shirt ripped from his back and
the shiver of the cool evening air was nothing compared to his
fear.

From the corner of his eye, he could see a
small crowd of slaves and servants gathering to watch his disgrace.
Suddenly the acrid smell of tobacco and lemons was right next to
him, the foul scent right next to his ear.

"You ruined my plans, you little shit," Roman
hissed in his ear.

Kayden whined in fear as he pressed his head
against the post.

Arnett arrived with the whip, and Roman
snatched it from him.

"Sir," Arnett began to protest, "Disciplining
the slaves is my job. You shouldn't have to--"

"I'm taking care of this one," Roman snarled.
"He attacked my brother!"

The sandy haired slave master backed away,
fearing slightly for the young neko in the face of the Marquis's
anger. The boy looked so little trembling against the post, and
Master Roman looked fit to kill.

"Sir, perhaps, right now you are too angry
to--"

"Get back!" Roman snapped.

And Arnett flinched himself when he heard the
snap of the whip searing across the boy's thin back. Kayden
screamed against the gag as the second lash cut across his back.
When Arnett saw the blood trickling from the wounds, he knew Master
Roman was wielding the whip too harshly.

"Fuck," he grumbled, unsure of what to
do.

****

Damien stormed through the kitchen out the
back door into the fading evening light, racing past his captain in
his haste. The sun was setting and any other time he would have
admired the beauty the rosy hues cast across the land. But he was
nearly running across the yard toward the guard barracks, with his
guard and youngest brother on his heels. When they heard a snapping
sound, they whipped around toward the slave den.

"Oh, god," he gasped as he froze at the sight
that met him in the slave yard.

Several slaves and servants had gathered
around the scene, shifting nervously on their feet. They all seemed
to be worried and upset by the harsh display of discipline.

"Shit," he heard Geoff curse next to him.
"What the hell? Nash!" he yelled wondering where the hell his guard
had gone and why he had handed the boy over to the slave
master.

"Sir!" Nash ran up to him, looking extremely
uncomfortable.

"What the hell is going on?" Brenner
demanded.

"I was told to by Master Roman to bring him
to the slave yard for discipline--" Damien vaguely heard the young
guard stammer.

Damien could barely make out the sandy hair
and strong form of the slave master, shocked at how harshly he was
wielding his whip. He'd never seen Arnett be so rough, normally the
man was a master with the whip--delivering careful strokes that
were strong enough to make an impression but never breaking the
skin.

But Damien's heart wrenched at the sight of
his beloved boy hanging on the post, barely able to reach the
ground with his toes. The boy's thin back was bloody from a half
dozen whipmarks already.

"Arnett!" Damien called out to stop the
punishment, pushing forward with Geoff behind him.

"Yes, sir!"

Damien and Brenner startled at the appearance
of the slave master from off to their side. Damien glanced back at
the man ready to strike again. "Who--?"

It didn't matter. They both raced forward,
and the captain grabbed the wrist of the man before he could swing.
He wrenched the whip away, throwing it across the yard.

"What the hell?!" Roman snapped in
surprise.

"Roman!" Damien exclaimed, shocked to see
that it was his brother flaying his boy's back. "What the hell are
you doing?" He glanced at the bloody back of the thin neko. "You're
killing him."

"He tried to kill you, Damien!" Roman
defended. "He could have ripped out your throat."

Damien shoved his brother back away from
Kayden and himself before he laid into his brother and left him
bloody on the ground in his anger.

Roman was only defending him, he tried to
reason, to forgive his brother for what he'd done, thinking the boy
had tried to kill him. He turned hesitantly to Kayden, unsure if he
should even touch him, not wanting to hurt him anymore than he
already was. He lifted the boy's chin carefully.

"Oh, kitten," he breathed as he looked down
at the tear-streaked face and pain filled eyes. Damien quickly
untied the gag, eliciting a whimper from the boy. Geoff helped him
to quickly lift the trembling body up to release it from the hook
on the post. The agonized cry that ripped from the boy's throat at
the movement tore at his heart.

"You knew, didn't you?" Damien whispered
against the boy's sweaty hair. "You knew my food was poisoned and
you reacted to keep me from eating it."

Kayden's green eyes glistened up at him, full
of love and worry. He lifted a weak arm up to touch the scratches
on Damien's cheek. "I'm sorry."

"Oh, kitten, no," Damien breathed harshly,
"I'm the one who's sorry." He gently kissed the boy's forehead.

He cradled the boy in his arms, heedless of
the blood staining his clothes. Kayden whimpered as he curled into
his master.

Geoff whipped out his dagger causing Kayden
to flinch violently when the boy saw it coming towards him.
Damien's hands tightened his hold, pressing his lips against the
sweaty forehead.

"Shh, it's okay," he soothed.

Although his captain's face was set in an
angry grimace, his brown eyes glistened as he slowly picked up the
boy's bound hands and sliced through the rope. The tiny wrists were
raw and bruised from his struggles during the lashings. Brenner
swallowed furiously, trying to temper is fury.

Damien could see the man trying to work out
what to say, what to do. He nodded to the captain, sending his
silent order for the man to find who had tried to poison him, who
had caused this to happen because his boy tried to save him.

He then cast a narrowed glance at his
brother, not sure what he could say at the moment, unable to focus
on anything but the whimpers of pain coming from the lithe figure
in his arms.

"Damien, what--" Roman protested.

But Damien resolutely turned away from his
brother. "Don't," he warned his brother away, not wanting to deal
with Roman at the moment.

And Damien turned from his stunned brother,
leaving Roman in shock at the bitter and caustic tone. Damien
rarely spoke to him like that.

"He didn't attack Damien," Harrison hissed,
angry at what his brother had done to the boy. "He
saved
Damien. Damien's food was poisoned."

"How do you know that--?" Roman
stammered.

"Another neko smelt the poison when cleaning
up. Kayden's quick reaction kept Damien from eating any of it."

Roman was silent for a moment as he watched
Damien cradle the little neko before turning back to the captain
and his younger brother. "Do you know who's responsible?"

Geoff glared at the young Marquis, his jaw
working furiously, grinding his teeth together. "No, but I'm going
to find out." The man stalked off toward the kitchen, intent on
questioning every single person himself.

Harrison stared after his brother who was
carefully carrying his little love back to the house. "Roman, I
suggest you keep away from Damien for a while. And away from
Kayden."

Damien stormed in through the kitchen,
kicking the door angrily in his wake. He heard the gasps of horror
at the sight of the bleeding boy in his arms. Damien did his best
not to jostle him any more than necessary. Damien was holding the
boy carefully, one arm wrapped around the highest part of his
shoulders almost to his neck, the other looped under his thin legs.
The boy's left arm and tail were hanging limply, drooping toward
the floor. His right hand was clutched in Damien's shirt, his face
buried in Damien's side.

"I need the doctor immediately," he demanded
without stopping. "I want towels, bandages--"

"Yes, sir!" came several responses, and he
heard several servants rushing around behind him as he stomped up
the stairs.

Kicking open the door to his room, he laid
Kayden on his bed. Carefully, he placed Kayden on his side and
watched as the boy rolled toward his stomach, trying to escape the
pain by curling in on himself. The boy tucked his torn wrists under
his chest protectively. Damien sat carefully next to him, as
several servants and slaves rushed in and around the room, bringing
in towels and lighting as many oil lamps as possible. He heard the
water rushing and towels and blankets dumped near the bed.

He leaned down, gently wiping at the boy's
sweaty forehead and kissing him softly. He felt tears slipping down
his face and couldn't remember that he'd ever cried before he met
this boy.

"Sir?" Ysmenia interrupted, hovering next to
him with a towel and bowl of water.

"Yeah?" he said wearily.

"We need to clean him up a bit," she said
hesitantly. "The doctor's on his way, but it would help if--"

"Yes, yes," he waved her closer. "Hand me a
rag."

"Sir, I can--" But she stopped when she saw
the look on his face and handed him one of the rags.

She tucked a couple towels gently on each
side of the boy to help protect the bed from being soaked by bloody
water. They both worked silently to clean away as much of the blood
as possible. Damien felt his stomach clench every time Kayden
whimpered or gasped in pain.

Damien swiped the length of Kayden's midnight
hair out of the way as he worked on the boy's shoulders. Kayden
shifted, bending his head to bury his cries of pain into the
mattress and exposing the long length of his neck. Damien
froze.

His fingers ghosted over the purpling bruise
now exposed from under the leather collar. "Fuck," he whispered to
himself. "How the hell did that happen?"

He heard the sharp intake of breath beside
him and looked over at Ysmenia.

"Do you know anything about this?" he
demanded of her.

"Well, sir, it, uh, I believe it happened
yesterday afternoon," she stammered. "I saw it earlier today."

His eyes darkened. "How did it happen?"

"Well, I don't really know, but I believe it
happened during the accident in the dining room," she stated.

It took a moment before Damien realized
exactly what she was implying, since she couldn't come right out
and make an accusation. "Fuck!" He jumped up from the edge of the
bed. "Goddamn him!"

He turned angrily to another servant. "Get
Arnett up here and get that damn thing off his neck now!" he
snapped. "And get Roman in here. I need a word with him. A few
actually."

There were several 'yes, sirs' as he paced
angrily over to the fireplace. He watched Ysmenia lay a soft towel
over Kayden's mostly cleaned back to stop any more bleeding until
the doctor arrived.

"Damien," Harrison started cautiously,
knowing his brother's angry mood was nothing to trifle with, "Be
careful. He is a Marquis--"

Damien shot him a dark look. "I am well aware
of that."

It was several minutes before Roman stormed
in the room ahead of the servant who'd summoned him.

"Damien, what--" Roman started, but Damien
cut him off.

"YOU are banned from this house," Damien
stated without preamble, eliciting a stunned look from his brother.
"You will get your things and get out immediately. You may move
over to the East Wing, but you are not allowed here unless
specifically invited."

"What?"

"Let me make this clear. I don't know what
you have against my kitten, but I will not tolerate you hurting him
in my home."

Roman scowled, casting a dark look at the
tiny figure curled on the bed. "I thought he tried to kill you! I
was just disciplining--"

"Fuck! You know that wasn't discipline,
Roman! That was torture! And it wasn't your job to do it!"

Roman glared back at his brother. "It's my
right to handle the discipline if I deem it necessary! I'm your
brother! And a Master of this estate!"

"Not anymore," Damien snapped back. "I won't
have someone lying to me like you have. Who knows what else you've
lied about."

"Lying? What--?" Roman stammered.

"I know about yesterday. You lied to me, and
I'm fairly certain it was because you actually did hurt Kayden in
the dining room like he said."

Roman's face flushed in fury. "You can't
accuse me of--"