.
Kavala froze when the menace grabbed at her wrist. His hand was like a manacle around her slender bones and she knew her wrist had to feel birdlike and fragile beneath his grasp. She yanked herself backwards only to be snagged neatly by his other hand that fisted itself in her sleeveless tunic, distorting the material. Her breath caught in fear as she met his eyes, noting the red-like haze across them. Her wrist stung, then burned, then felt like it was going to be crushed. Their locked gazes held for a moment as she dragged in a breath and her body warmed to the pain that her mind was slowly transmuting into pleasure. Her white skin flushed pink, ashamed, because she knew the damage that was wrought inside her. It should never feel good to be so roughly treated. It should never make her heart race from something other than fear. But she had no control over it, not until she gained enough knowledge to undo the damage the slavers had so neatly put into place. They'd christened her in violence and taught her body that pain was actually pleasure so that she could survive them. And they could be amused as she sometimes whimpered and begged for more.
She was well past the begging stage though. But the strengths of the mind were often betrayed by the weaknesses of the body. If Radris was any kind of perceptive he'd see it immediately - what his roughness did to the konti. But it was his words that tipped her over the edge. Temper flared, even more so now, and she all but spit words at him, like a cobra launching venom. "I've been down on my knees more than once in front of a man while hes held my head. I know what you men think women should do with our mouths. I've had it demonstrated over and over again." There was hatred there, but truthfully it wasn't directed at him. It was directed at herself. Only herself. And a combination of relief and disappointment when his grip removed itself. She gathered breath, slowly, and straightened the front of her shirt with the wrist he had been holding - a wrist that was already darkening with a bruise in the shape of his hand.
Kavala hadn't remembered Hatot being so big, so powerful, until Radris took over. It was so different, talking to either of them, like facing two different men. Even their facial features looked different and the feeling or sense of who they were their bodies gave off also transformed. The konti felt confused, disjointed, as if the scene and the events weren't truthfully real. The didn't seem so, suddenly, as if she were reading about someone else's life or just hallucinating. But the roughness left her breathless, with pleasuring coursing up her arm... and it disarmed her. She wanted it to end because it humiliated her, even if Radris didn't understand.
And she wondered, suddenly, if Hatot witnessed what his dark twin did while he was pushed aside. Radris claimed Hatot would be ashamed, hide himself away, but Kavala didn't think so.
"No. He won't hide himself away." She said suddenly, defensive of the other Akalak despite what his dark twin was doing or saying. "He will move on, get past it, and keep going because that's all he can really do." She said softly, not even trying to move away. His words indicated she was safe with Radris, safe because she was Hatot's student and he was somehow protective of them. And there was a fierceness in her now, a passion that was barely contained within the small woman's body, that Hatot had not yet witnessed in the girl.
She knew Radris was capable of killing. Any fool could see that. And like Navis, odds were Radris would not take Hatot's feelings into account near as often as he should. She wondered how close the two skinbrothers were. How much they really knew about each other. She followed him, stooping to pick up the white cloak and carefully fold it over her arm as she hurried. "No need to justify yourself? Then why are you? That sounds like a justification to me, Radris. By the way, I have a name, its Kavala, not little flower or little konti woman. I expect you to use it if your going to talk to me at all." She said, stretching her legs to keep up with the Akalak's long stride.
"How much of this will Hatot know about? Do you each see what the other does?" She asked, concerned now about how her instructor would feel when he came back to himself and Radris retreated. Would he know about the murder? About Radris's conversation? She had no idea when that would be, but she was going to take advantage of Radris being here to ask him some questions if the man himself is willing to talk.
"Will you slow down? You misjudge me if you think I'm willing to turn the other cheek. I'm not. I just don't like violence.... it causes people to get hurt. And that makes me feel obligated to heal them. Its a vastly different thing to pacifism. " Kavala said, almost at a jog now beside the Akalak. "Your hurt too.... I can look at them... especially the bruises and scratches on your hands." she said, almost irritated. | . |