Ariadne Alderwyck and Mikhail Sorrenko seem especially comfortable with Alistair, more so than Richard Vale or Thomas Whitlock, who nonetheless get to enjoy this select circle of company.
As they settle into comfortable chairs, Ariadne kicks off her shoes and asks Mikhail, ‘When is Roman arriving?’
‘He will come with Vasily tomorrow.’
‘You’re bringing the little one too?’
Mikhail shrugs.‘It will be good for him to socialise.’
‘I’ve not seen your boys for years, Mikki,’ Alistair comments softly, staring up at the rain while it falls on glass.‘Have you been hiding them from us?’
‘I like to keep them busy and teach them what I can myself.’
‘And what do you teach them?’Vale asks, mimicking Alistair’s tone and pace but on him, it comes across idiotic.
Mikhail doesn’t even look at Vale when he replies, ‘Business.’
‘What business is there so far from the beating heart of the world?’
Whitlock snickers.‘Maybe he’s hunting Paranaturals in the wild.’
When a dedicated server comes inside the greenhouse to ask what he can bring for everyone, it’s no surprise that Vale and Whitlock order four bottles of champagne.Alistair requests bottles of sparkling water.
Ariadne, on the other hand, wants something else.
‘Bring a tray of white.’She looks at Alistair, rolling her eyes.‘God, but I forget howdullyou two are sometimes.Your son still remembers to have fun, I bet.’She looks at Jules, who ordered nothing.The drinks arrive alongside a small silver tray with pre-cut lines of cocaine.The server leaves it on the table when given a nod by Alistair to leave.‘Here we are.Can your pretty boy have some, Alistair?’she asks, stroking the back of Julian’s neck.
The old man parts his lips to speak, but Lachlan beats him to it.
‘He’s allergic,’ Lachlan flat out lies.No apology, it’s better just to say it and give Alistair the opportunity to style it out, which of course he does.
‘See what real money can buy you, Ari?Nicely caught, Lachlan.’
Lachlan might well be lashed for this, who knows?
But he doesn’t fucking care.
Jules iseighteen.
The last thing on earth he needs is a drug dependency.
For his part, Jules remains responsive to the attention he’s given, and he completely ignores Lachlan as the conversation between the elite drifts back to rhetoric about Paranaturals and politics.
‘Once we imprint the connection between the vanishing middle class and population spikes tied to Paranatural birth rates, we can—’
Mikhail interrupts Whitlock with open disdain.‘You never learn, do you?Same tricks over and over.Class consciousness is rising higher this time around, with neurodivergence rates skyrocketing to support it.This approach is arrogant and lazy.Pattern recognition is the death of every disguise.’
Whitlock snorts.‘The Delacroix twins would disagree with you.’
‘They always do.’
Alistair smiles at Mikhail Sorrenko with a strange degree of indulgent affection.‘You still cling to this ideology, Mikki?It is the same cycle over and over.Only the scenery changes.We know this.’
‘Cycles can be broken.’
‘I’ve yet to see it happen.’
Ariadne does another line.‘Sofucking boring,’ she drones, turning her attention to Jules.Lachlan tightens in anticipation.‘Pretty boy, look at you.Promise me you won’t end up like him?’She giggles to herself and then cups his chin, gaze sliding to the wall Lachlan is posted against.‘Do you like him?’she asks, slower, curiously contemplative.‘Your bodyguard.’
