Page 123 of Xerxes Ascendant
“Runepads and weapons on the floor,” he ordered, and wordlessly, Kyle and Akira both slid their runepads free from their pockets and placed them down onto the carpet.
“Where’s that gun of yours?” the disgraced ex-Master demanded of Akira, still hiding behind the teenager like the coward he was.
“I didn’t bring it.”
Theta narrowed his eyes, clearly unconvinced. At the man’s accusatory jerk of the head, Akira obligingly raised his suit jacket and untucked his shirt, turning slowly in place to show he was unarmed.
It took kicking off his shoes and tossing aside his jacket before Theta was satisfied that he was telling the truth, even though Akira’s tailored suit hugged his body in all the right, satisfyingly precise ways and couldn’t have concealed so much as a breath mint.
Theta eased out a long breath and adjusted his grip on the knife. Robby startled.
Akira was quick to offer his daughter a reassuring smile. “Look at me, honey,” he murmured. “Just at me. Nothing else matters.”
She gave a slight, stiff nod, neither able nor willing to move with Theta’s gun pressed to her temple.
“I’m here, Robby. Everything’s going to be fine.”
It made for a chilling sight. Such unconscionable and despicable violence, the blood, the weapon that threatened the life of a child…and all of it set in the dim, domestic calm of the Miyasakis’ living room. An Earth landscape stretched across one wall while a huge viewscreen hung opposite, gazing down on a plush sofa that, incredibly, showed no rips, no wear – not even a repatched seam. On the side table sat a collection of some extinct animal with large, flappy ears and stout feet, their glass trunks raised to the unseen sky.
Theta gestured sharply with his chin once more and both Kyle and Akira stepped aside without protest, allowing the man to drag Robby in the opposing direction. Facing each other warily, they edged around in a slow, tense arc until they each stood where the other had been. Now, Theta was between them and the only door, free to leave while the pair of them were quietly, unmistakably trapped.
“Get on your knees,” Theta snarled at Kyle. Robby’s eyes flickered to his, and amid the terror he found concern in their soft brown depths.
Bless her heart. She was worried abouthim.
Kyle sank silently down, the carpet welcoming him into its soft embrace with false promises of comfort. He would have preferred something hard and painful to kneel upon, something that felt appropriate for the horror unfolding before him.
“Hands behind your head, Randall.”
“Let Roberta go,” Akira coaxed his old Master, both gentle and commanding. He had one hand out, palm upwards, in the universal gesture ofjust give me the fucking gun. “This is between you and me. There’s no need to involve anyone else.”
“Oh, but there is.” Theta shot him a look of pure hatred. “You’ve takeneverythingfrom me, Akira. The least I can do is ensure I take something from you in turn.”
He tossed the kitchen knife to the floor between them, where the carpet muffled the sound of its impact. “Pick that up.”
Akira didn’t move.
“Pick it the fuck up!”
Robby yelped, the sound trailing into a whimper when Theta’s other arm tightened around her.
Akira’s expression turned stony as he glided forward and retrieved the knife from the floor. It looked natural in his hand, the blade catching the light filtering into the darkened room from the kitchen next door, but he kept it lowered at his side. He couldn’t bring a knife to bear on the man holding his daughter at gunpoint, and they all knew it. Bullets moved faster – infinitely faster – than people.
“Now,” Theta snarled, watching him closely. “You have a choice to make,darling. Let your precious Roberta die...or save her by slitting your boyfriend’s throat instead.”
All eyes turned to Kyle; Theta with vindictive pleasure, Robby with alarm. Akira’s expression was carefully contained, as neutral as though he was merely running the House’s financials for the month.
“I see,” he said.
“I thought you could be led by the dick,” commented Theta, despite no one requesting the extended villain monologue. “Turns out it was the heartstrings I should have been tugging on.”
He sneered when Akira failed to respond. “Oh, how ironic. It wasn’t you telling Randall about your family that lost you them. It was being weak enough to form such attachments in the first place.”
“I haven’t lost my family,” Akira said firmly.
“Is that your decision, then? You’ll do it?”
“Will I kill the man I love to satisfy your twisted desire for revenge?” He considered the knife in his hand, frowning down at it.
