Page 79 of Forge the Blade

Sevastyan stood and cupped Lisa’s cheek. One of the things he had to focus on with Lisa was the slave’s natural discomfort with being touched by him. It was acceptable if Lisa was twitchy with others in public. Sevastyan was famous for not sharing. And Lisa was famous for being trouble and coming from the dog fighting pits. But what they could not display was any sort of resistance from Lisa to being handled by Sevastyan.

Lisa braced himself and closed his eyes as Sevastyan touched his face, then muscle by muscle he relaxed and turned into the touch, nuzzling Sevastyan’s palm.

“Good Lisa,” Sevastyan murmured. “Let’s get your spanking done.”

Sevastyan looked back at the bed. Rei was right in the middle of it, in the way. Sevastyan shook his head and smiled. Rei had never tried to get out of morning discipline. Not a single lie or attempt at distraction or seduction. The fact he was sleeping through this was telling. Seeing Jun and the others the day before had been heavy. Sevastyan still didn’t know the details, though he suspected Ellisandre had gone beyond what they had discussed. Rei had been too dirty when he returned to have just sat and watched from a distance. He had feelings about that. But seeing how at ease Rei had been with Ellisandre afterwards muted them. There was an air of care and affection in Ellisandre towards Rei that settled something in Sevastyan’s chest. He wasn’t the only one protecting his beautiful light anymore. And if Ellisandre had done something to bring that level of ease to Rei, then he was going to trust that. As much as he hated some of Ellisandre’s decisions, their reasoning held true.

He herded Lisa out to the living room and sat on the couch. Lisa stretched himself over Sevastyan’s lap. Sevastyan ran his hands over Lisa’s body, checking for soreness and injuries. The ribs were healing, though still tender. His ankle was much improved, though after the work of the day before, he planned to keep Lisa off his feet once they arrived at the new condo.

“Just ten this morning,” Sevastyan said softly. “And we’ll train later today.”

“Yes, Master,” Lisa said.

“You don’t have to keep count,” Sevastyan said. He laid one hand on Lisa’s upper back and set about Lisa’s discipline with his bare palm. It was over in less than a minute but Sevastyan kept Lisa lying there, rubbing the barely pink skin of his slave’s ass and keeping him close until he felt that give in Lisa’s body again. And then he kept him there longer, letting them both settle into the space that had been created. It was peaceful, quiet, even safe.

And only broken when Sevastyan’s stomach rumbled, followed by Lisa’s.

Sevastyan chuckled and tapped Lisa to rise. “Let’s check your leg and get breakfast. I fear our sleeping beauty may not wake until we’re at the new place.”

“Put him in a suitcase again?” Lisa asked, mischief in his eyes.

“Hm.” Sevastyan raised an eyebrow. It wasn’t a terrible idea.

Sevastyan

The new condo had a few features that had not been in the last one. Sevastyan let Lisa show Rei the basics. There were three bedrooms instead of one, a laundry room, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a large living room. One of the bedrooms had been significantly larger, but Sevastyan and Ellisandre had installed a false wall and hidden entrance. Inside was food, water, extra cell phones, batteries, and weapons. There were cameras throughout the condo, but the cameras in this hidden room were on a separate feed. One could be hacked without there being any jumping point to the other. And even though it had cost a significant amount of space and some money, the walls were padded and thick. If bullets made it through, they’d be slowed down, at least from most handguns.

Only once Rei and Lisa had proved they could get themselves in and out quickly did Sevastyan let them return to the rest of the living space.

“We’ll keep at least three days of food and water in there at all times,” Sevastyan instructed. “Next time someone tries to break in, that’s where I want you. They can tear the rest of the place apart, but as long as they don’t find you, you’ll survive. We’ll keep sensitive records and electronics in there when we’re not working with them.

The condo itself was painfully modern, done in whites and parchment. The light-colored wood floors were adorned with the weakest shades of tan and cream rugs. He’d picked the place for the building security, not for the austerity. The windows were tinted, so it was hard to see inside from the sky or another building, and they were on the eighteenth floor this time. He’d taken the place furnished, which included a white baby grand piano and white canvas couches.

There really was too much white. But this wasn’t home. The warehouse back in Korsakov was more home than anywhere, and even that wasn’t home.

Sevastyan sat down on the couch and signaled Rei and Lisa to kneel in front of him. “It’s very likely that I’ll be called away again. I’ve agreed to allow Ellisandre to assign one of their security to stay in the condo when I’m gone, but they will not see either of you. You’ll stay in the back rooms behind the door in the hallway, and the security will stay in the front.” This was the other reason he’d chosen this unit. The layout made separating one section from another possible. Not easy, but doable with a single door. One bathroom, bedroom, and the kitchen would be accessible in the front, but Lisa and Rei would have the other bathroom and the second two bedrooms. With a hotplate and a second fridge, they would be able to care for themselves for a few days.

Rei was still trying to smother yawns and only looked half awake, though he was giving it his best effort. Sevastyan reached out and tousled his hair. “Go back to bed, Rei.”

“My tasks, Master,” Rei reminded him.

“One hour. Just the basics. Then back to bed with you until at least two.”

Rei bowed his head and pulled himself to his feet. Lisa reached out and helped him up. Technically, that meant Lisa had broken form without permission. Sevastyan let it go. Lisa would always be allowed to help Rei unless specifically instructed otherwise during a scene. That was his rule. The Merchari could go fuck themselves.

He gave Lisa instructions to start lunch and settled in to handle his own business, legitimate, illegitimate, and subversive. At the top of his Merchari email was a missive from a new address. He opened it. It was a formal invitation to the party in New York, the date set for mid-March. Sevastyan glanced at his calendar. That gave him roughly four weeks to get ready. He accepted the invitation, shot off a message to Alexi, and then texted Ellisandre the dates.

Rei

Rei set aside his work, his head aching. He’d spent the last four hours untangling a web of agreements, comments, manifests, shipment requests, and documented appearances, amongst other data, to nail down exactly who was covering for Merchari activities in San Paulo. At the rate he was going, he was adding Spanish and Portuguese to his list of languages. But he didn’t have time to learn two new languages, hence hours of carefully translating texts using digital translating apps. There were certainly some words and phrases that he was starting to recognize. He did, however, have a list of texts he did not understand. And he also had a set of documents that he hoped Ellisandre could translate. If they couldn’t, perhaps they could get Émeric to translate them without revealing why. Everything would be easier if they were actually working together. He’d already started sorting information into sections and marking them in code for who he thought could handle which parts. What they didn’t have was anyone with deep ties to South American governments. Not in the Residency, and not in Ellisandre’s contacts. At least not that Rei was aware of.

The Residency would help. After spending the day with them filming, he trusted his sense of safety around the men at the core of their community, and the people they were keeping close. It was time to bring them in. Except he didn’t know how to convince Sevastyan to make a move. He’d only brought Ellisandre and Lisa in when Dirk had forced his hand.

Rei pulled his knees up to his chest and pressed himself into a ball in the corner of the couch. Lisa and Sevastyan were training in the one bedroom they weren’t using for sleeping or for the secret room. They wouldn’t be out for at least another hour. Now that Lisa’s leg was more than half healed, Sevastyan was training in earnest. Mostly forms, proper walking, kneeling, holding posture. The details that separated an artist from an amateur in the criminal underground of masters.

Rei balled his fists up and rubbed his eyes. He’d been following the fallout inside the Merchari over Sevastyan’s execution of Dirk. For the most part, it had been positive. Dirk had made enemies and left bad will, especially amongst the European sections. Alexi’s casual remarks two days later about how badly the men had injured two well-behaved slaves had also gone far. Plenty of the upper level members of the Merchari had witnessed both Alexi and Sevastyan’s slaves in public settings and considered them a credit to the power of the organization. The fact that Dirk’s men had needed to rough up compliant slaves was the equivalent of dropping an expensive painting and ruining it while trying to steal it. They would have cared less if Dirk had abducted the slaves.

But the chatter in South Korea continued. Rei bit his knuckle and then immediately stopped, remembering to not mark himself. The wife of the client Jun had killed was not giving up on revenge, and the Merchari agents interfacing with her and the Yadro and whatever other shadow parties were involved were fanning the flames. There was a great deal of money at stake. The debts Jun had been sold for were large. Jun’s sale price would only have covered part of the interest that Bak Gyeong owed the Merchari. The Yadro and others wanted their money back.