Page 53 of Forge the Blade

He met her eyes. So that was what she wanted from this. Not exactly a secret. A seat on the council, if not one of the directorships, was her long goal. But now she thought the time was ripe. Every timeline in Sevastyan’s head tightened. “You would do Russia proud.”

She smiled, still tapping her nails against her sleeves, gaze calculating. “Bring me Anton’s head, his physical head,” she said. “Then I’ll know you’re ready.”

He blinked slowly, once. “Done.”

Rei

Rei lay with his head in Alexi’s lap, the older man absently playing with his hair and petting his back as he read a hardbound book. Lisa sat between Alexi’s legs, his head against Alexi’s inner thigh. Rei and Lisa’s faces were so close together they could have kissed. Sometimes Alexi moved from petting Rei to petting Lisa. It had been a quiet twenty-four hours since Sevastyan left. Jonathan was mostly out or sleeping, as Alexi had him on night guard duty. Alexi had made almost no demands on either slave since Lisa’s meltdown in the bathroom. He fed them both by hand, letting neither of them feed themselves, and he supervised both of them in all hygiene and body care. Lisa’s hands were still wrapped. He had mostly dozed, slept, or stared silently at a wall, obedient and pliant, but withdrawn. For Lisa, this was him trying, turning to face Alexi whenever Alexi returned after a moment away, softening into Alexi’s touch, never attempting to shy away, even when he’d reached his limit. But more than once Rei had seen silent tears running down Lisa’s face when he was left alone and at least once Rei had turned and inadvertently caught Alexi’s eye, confirming that Alexi also had seen Lisa’s state.

Whatever Lisa was bottling up inside was wearing him down. His eyes fluttered and closed and his body grew heavy in a way that could only mean sleep. Alexi tightened the muscles in his legs, keeping Lisa in place. His hand stilled in Rei’s hair.

“The tired fox is asleep at last,” Alexi murmured. He sounded pleased, for all that a slave was not supposed to sleep without being given leave. Or perhaps he was experiencing satisfaction that Lisa was showing so much trust, that at least on the level of his body, even with his hands bound, he felt safe enough to rest.

“Lift your head, little one,” he said to Rei.

Rei obeyed. Alexi eased up and braced Lisa, turning him around and lifting him from the floor. He carried him into what had been Sevastyan’s room. There were sounds of pillows and blankets being moved, and then the older man returned, closing the door behind himself. Rei held himself up as Alexi resumed his seat.

Alexi tapped the floor, signaling Rei to take Lisa’s place. “Legs out in front of you, no kneeling,” Alexi said absently. He held Rei by the shoulders, bracing him, as Rei found his place. It was awkward, with his injuries, and he bumped Alexi at least once. Rei ducked his head. He didn’t have leave to speak, so that was the only way he could apologize.

“You’re injured, little one,” Alexi said softly. He stroked his fingers through Rei’s hair. “Like a little deer, learning to walk again.”

Rei ducked his head more, just to show he had heard, then nuzzled into the V of Alexi’s legs and the side of the couch.

Alexi didn’t pick up his book. Instead, he continued playing with Rei’s hair and tracing lines on Rei’s bare skin. Rei waited for him to speak, breath after breath, but he never did. In the end, Alexi picked up his book but the pages didn’t turn. Rei lay there, feeling the gulf between them, the words that seemed to swell inside of Alexi’s ribs but never left his mouth.

Eventually, he rose, leaving Rei on the couch, and poured himself a brandy. Then he stood by the window and drank it.

Sevastyan

Sevastyan stared out the window of the plane. Halfway across the Atlantic and still his mother’s touch, the feeling of her ass on his lap, the way her fingers lingered on his collar and sleeves were crawling across his skin. Two full showers and throwing away the clothes he’d been wearing were not enough to get rid of it. He had her attention now, and perhaps even her respect, but he was a man. Not even being her son was going to save him. He’d planned for many things, but her lust had never crossed his mind. He’d been her prince, her obedient sycophant, her whipping boy, but . . . never the object of her lust.

He’d played the role he knew would work, the fawning and the loyalty, but never considered this one last boundary of propriety would fall.

He couldn’t even close his eyes. It was just a window with clouds above endless ocean blue and yet he felt like he was staring down the eyes of his enemy, even in the white noise of the plane engines and several hundred souls breathing inside recycled air.

Bring me Anton’s head.

She hadn’t been joking. This was his one and only possible betrayal and she wanted to set it right. Despite everything else he’d given her: His virginity at fifteen to an older woman in service of one of her schemes. His childhood friends never lasting more than a year or two as she moved him from school to school. The very sound of his voice changed to match the classes in which she wanted him to move.

Russia is mother and mother is Russia. Those words had protected him over the years. He had always been able to make himself believe one side or the other, his gateway to lying to her with impunity. A touchstone between them, it meant different things to each of them. To her, it was an oath placing her on the throne of his existence as if she were Catherine the Great, the progenitor of culture and power. And to him Russia evoked long tracks of forest and empty land, covered in snow and wrapped in cold like her heart. There was a world within the country of his birth that was rich and vibrant, with a history and culture worthy of pride, and yet that was not the Russia he knew. His mother Russia was Raska, and Raska was the Russia that had him by the throat. Without her hands, he might have fallen through the cracks into a normal life, never noticed by the Merchari, disappearing into the millions in the great cities, a fatherless son, supported by a government pension until he was of age, and then left to carve his own way. She was the one who had crafted him, used him, and paraded him. Sold him, even, to the Yadro itself as part of her tithe. That one act had settled the noose of the entire organization firmly around his neck, and yet it had also bought him an edge of freedom from her direct command. She no longer owned his time and his body because she had sold him for power as clearly as Lisa had been sold to Alexi.

Now she was coming back for one last piece of his soul. The instant she sniffed out a bit of new potential in him, she’d come for it.

He closed his eyes, finally, against the vision. Not playing the token she’d placed on the table was more dangerous than taking it. The price of saving Gang Junseo’s life was climbing higher with every day. And yet Gang was only the ignition point. It had always been coming to this.

This or something worse.

This or failure. This or coming to the end of his life never having kept his oath, never having taken down the Merchari, never having forged Rei’s freedom, or his own.

Sevastyan

Sevastyan texted Ellisandre from the plane as it touched down in O’Hare outside of Chicago.

His goddex answered almost immediately.

He typed back as passengers around him stood up and started retrieving their luggage.

Customs was easy. He hailed a cab from the sidewalk outside of arrivals and sat in silence in the back seat. The driver dropped him off near an entrance to the Pedway and he made his way through several buildings before breaking out on the street wearing a different overcoat and hat, his hair completely up and out of sight. Ellisandre wasn’t yet there when he made it up to the Bolthole and past the two doors. It felt different now, empty of Rei and Lisa. Almost all signs that they had stayed there were gone. He sank down on the couch, head in his hands, gaunt and empty on the inside. If only Rei were there, and yet it was good that Rei had not traveled with him. Raska could never lay eyes on his slave. It would drive her mad, the fact that he showed affection to another. If Rei was anything but terrified and subservient, she wouldn’t rest until the threat to her ownership was erased. Touching him now, knowing that she was out there, that she was even thinking Sevastyan’s name, felt too close to putting Rei at risk of her machinations.