Page 113 of Xerxes Ascendant
“Why?” he demanded. “Why would you lie like that?”
“Greed, self-interest, and vengeful pettiness,” Akira drawled, settling gracelessly into his assigned role of villain. “Why else?”
The Coterie descended into disgusted murmurs.
“I don’t understand, Epsilon,” said Master Lambda sadly, seemingly unable to look at him any longer. “We trusted you.”
“You had to know such lies would ruin Theta,” Tau pointed out. “Did you notcare?”
“What else have you not been honest with us about?”
“We believed you!”
“Which one of us would have been next?”
The accusations grew in strength and number, thrown out so fast and indignant that Akira had no hope of responding to them all even if he’d wanted to. The Coterie had turned on him, and Omicron allowed each disappointed, furious Master to have their say before calling them back to order.
“Absolutely despicable conduct,” he muttered darkly to ensure he’d had the last word on the subject, and then slammed his open hand down onto the meeting table, palm first.
In the enclosed space, it sounded like a gunshot.
“You’ve confessed to intentional and malicious defamation of character, Epsilon,” Master Omicron declared next, “which put the reputation of both Master Theta and this entire Coterie at risk. Your baseless lies have not only wasted valuable time and credits, but demonstrate that we wholly misjudged your fitness to take a seat at our table.” Omicron exhaled, dark eyesnarrowing in on him. “Do you have anything you wish to say in your defence?”
Akira let his gaze wander to a crack in the wall above the seated Masters’ heads. “No.”
“Then you leave us with no alternative,” said Nu with a long, weary sigh. They pushed to their feet and the others followed suit a heartbeat later. “Akira Miyasaki, you no longer hold the title of Master, nor the House of Epsilon. The Coterie do not recognise you as one of our own.”
Akira kept still. It was all he could do, for channelling all of himself into maintaining unaffected, detached calm meant there was nothing left of him tofeel. Nothing that could grieve the loss of all he had worked for: the years of quite literal blood, sweat, and tears he’d given to earn his place in the Coterie, the House he’d built, the man he’d become as Epsilon.
“As restitution for the damage you’ve caused,” Omicron said, “House Epsilon and your other assets will be given to Master Theta.”
It was as expected, but the hasty, matter-of-fact way the man had apportioned Akira’s business and staff to his enemy made him seethe. But of course Omicron had a vested interest in gifting Theta shiny new toys to abuse, for House Theta itself was still under Master Omicron’s management. Did he think Theta would forget about that if he had enough to keep him distracted?
“Thank you, friends,” Master Theta said, still sniffling slightly from the over-cooked dramatics he was putting on tonight. He heaved out a lengthy, anguished sigh. “I’m relieved it’s over. Personally, I’m glad that this Coterie is beneficent enough to let Akira walk away free, and that he doesn’t have to go through what I did. To feel what I felt: the injustice, the helplessness, the raw terror of having your life ripped out from beneath you...”
By the fucking stars.
Akira wrangled his fury and disgust into impassivity, knowing what was about to hit him with the force of Xerxes’ impending collision with the Earth, and unable to do anything to stop it.
“Perhaps there is scope for also imposing a secondary penalty,” Master Omicron predictably suggested, “considering the lack of remorse. A period of incarceration, perhaps?”
Had Theta and Omicron planned this? Or was Theta just manipulating the other Master in ways so unsubtle even Kyle would have picked up on it?
“Prison?” Sigma asked, alarmed. It was echoed by Lambda. “You want to send Epsi...uh, Akira to the penitentiary?”
Their hesitance at the idea was reassuring. The Coterie was a ruthless organisation to its enemies, but it gave Akira some comfort that the men and women he’d worked with for the last five years did not seem overly eager to deliver him into the ruthless vice of the city’s justice system.
Althoughjusticewas the furthest thing from what Omicron clearly had in mind. It would be no trouble at all for the most powerful players on Xerxes to have Akira put away for whatever the Coterie wished, and his soul whined for the freedom he knew he’d already lost.
Theta had won. He had Akira precisely where he’d always wanted him: entirely at his mercy.
He could only hope that the man had enough honour to release Misha after the steel bars closed around Akira down on Level H. But what if the snake continued to squeeze? What if he used Misha against Kyle next?
Akira froze, suddenly uncertain.
“What are we talking?” Nu asked the room with a deepening frown. “Six months?”
Six months locked away, without Kyle. He’d go mad.
