Page 38 of Forge the Blade

Sevastyan smiled ruefully. He went back to the bar and returned with a non-alcoholic sparkling apple cider. He twisted off the cap with his bare hand and tapped the rim against Alexi’s glass.

Alexi leaned further back in his seat. Sevastyan resumed his.

“I left because I couldn’t stand their egos anymore,” Alexi said after a sip. “The lack of logic can be manipulated, if you get in front of it. Like you do with your mother. That’s how I know you could play the game, if you ever decided to try. In a way you already do, but you’ve been waiting to truly engage.”

“I haven’t felt ready,” Sevastyan confessed.

“Why?”

Sevastyan snorted. “You’ll think I’m sentimental.”

Alexi laughed out loud. “Boy! I flew across the world to check on a slave I knew very well was in the best hands possible. Spare me the false embarrassment.”

Sevastyan grinned ruefully. “My mother, then. She’s afraid of me outshining her. If I want to go above where I am now, she will stand in my way.”

“So you’re staying small to please her?”

“No.” Sevastyan dropped his eyes to his bottle and swirled the liquid inside it around, keeping it just below the rim. “I’ve been staying small so I don’t have to find out if I can commit matricide. It will be me or her, eventually.”

“Ah.” Alexi took a larger sip from his tumbler. “So you still love her?”

“Love is such a strong word. She’s my mother. I suppose that has meant something.”

“And now?”

“I have an excuse to make it sound like her idea. And if that fails, well . . .” Sevastyan dropped his eyes. “I suppose when I saw blood on Rei’s face, it clarified things.”

“You love him.”

“And you let Lisa run wild.”

“Guilty.” Alexi raised his glass, and Sevastyan tapped his bottle against it, both of them toasting their foolishness. Alexi took another sip. “Why even do the things we do, unless we can have what we want? Why even be alive if you can’t indulge?”

“If I fail, Rei goes to you,” Sevastyan said.

“And if I drop dead, Jonathan knows to find you first. I know you don’t want all my lovelies, but you’ll do right by them.”

Alexi held out his tumbler again and Sevastyan accepted the responsibility with another tap of his bottle.

Rei

Rei woke by degrees. There were voices in the room: his master and Master Alexi. A soft dream. He rolled towards the familiar warmth beside him in the blankets. Pain from his ribs radiated out. He choked on a gasp, curling inward, his head coming to rest against a warm naked body. Lisa.

“Precious.” Hands touched him from behind. Rei turned his head, blinking slowly. His master’s face filled his vision. He tried to smile through the pain.

“It’s just Master Alexi,” Sevastyan said. “You can sleep. I gave you medicine to make you rest.”

Rei blinked slowly. “Master?” His thoughts wouldn’t gather together clearly enough to know what he should do. So he offered up his confusion.

“No serving, not until you wake properly,” his master said. “Close your eyes.”

Rei blinked, trying to understand. He was supposed to be in posture. Master Alexi always meant postures. Maybe he was dreaming.

Sevastyan covered Rei’s eyes with his palm. “Rest.”

Rest Rei could do, but fall back to sleep completely he could not. His ribs hurt too much. He snuggled into Lisa and lay still, letting the sounds of the other men speaking above him soothe him. The drug faded by degrees. Eventually, he could track the conversation. They were discussing Sevastyan’s recent trip to California and the galleries he’d visited. Alexi wanted one of the pieces Sevastyan had examined. At the rate he bought art through Sevastyan, his collection had to be vast. Lisa stirred, his hands starting to come up to grip Rei as he always did when they slept together, and then falling away when they couldn’t grasp him. Rei registered the exact moment Lisa realized Alexi was in the room. His body tightened and he stopped moving.

Rei rubbed his face against Lisa’s shoulder. He opened his eyes. Lisa was looking back at him. His back was to Alexi. He couldn’t spy on his master. Rei reached for his friend, tangling their bodies together.