Page 22 of Xerxes Ascendant
“Cut me off. Hah.” Something of a laugh erupted from Miles’ chapped lips. “Financiallyandphysically, right? ‘Cos now I’m trapped on this shithole with you.”
“I don’t...understand. I thought the two of you were close?”
Perhaps that was Kyle making assumptions, but Benedict Mackenroth had been willing to fork out a hell of a lot of credits to purchase Kyle for his younger brother to torment – first by attempting to buy him outright, and then by way of threats, manipulation, and force. Was that something one did for a family member they weren’t very fond of?
He voiced the thought aloud and Miles’ drunken expression veered towards wry.
“That wasn’t about me, or you. It was about your slut of a House Master thinking he had any say in things on this city. Benny wanted to put him back in his place.”
“Speak about Master Epsilon like that again, and I’ll walk away without giving you a single credit,” Kyle said coldly.
It was Miles’ turn to stare. “What? You’d give me...why wouldyougive me anything?”
“Because you need help,” Kyle reminded him, bemused. What did he mean,why?
He held up his runepad as he had for the woman a few minutes ago. Miles fumbled frantically for the pocket of his once-fine trousers, grabbing his own device and greedily waving it towards Kyle’s. There was a single confirmatory beep.
“I don’t-”
“That’s all I have,” said Kyle. It was. He’d now fully drained his account, first for a stranger and then an enemy, but at least neither would go hungry today. “You can pay me back when you make up with your brother,” he added, knowing he’d never see the credits again.
“Not going to happen, Randall,” Miles predictably retorted. He spat on the ground.
Yet the contemptuous gesture was surprisingly not aimed at Kyle, nor attempted to be.
“Fucker,” the man added, with vicious bite drenching each syllable. Then he screwed up his face as if in pain. “How could he do that? How could Benny want to kill nearly two millionpeople?Children!”
“I don’t know,” said Kyle softly.
“I didn’t believe the rumours at first. Thought it was just Coterie propaganda. And then I remembered how he’d told me to stay away from Lower Xerxes that night, as if he’d known something was going to happen. When I confronted him about it, expecting him to deny it all and be as horrified about what had happened as I was…he laughed.” Miles drew in a shuddering breath, his fingers trembling where they clutched his runepad tightly. “We were talking about senseless mass murder, andhe laughed.”
Kyle’s heart went out to the man. How would it feel to know your own brother was responsible for the suffering of so many? To realise he was capable of such immeasurable evil?
It was easy for Kyle to hate the mayor for what he’d done. But for Miles, caught between familial loyalty and the sheer horror of his brother’s plot to save the privileged Uppers by sacrificing the rest of the city…there was no wonder he’d sought solace at the bottom of a bottle.
Rubbing his temples, Miles Mackenroth groaned and stared blearily at Kyle through his splayed fingers. “Why the stars are you still here, Randall? You gave me your credits. Now fuck off.”
“Those credits won’t last you forever,” Kyle pointed out. “When you need more, come on by House Epsilon. I can give you some work.”
Miles dropped his hands from his face and sneered at him. “I’m not some filthy whore-slut like you.”
Kyle swallowed his retort. “Right. Well, you know where to find me if you change your…”
But Miles was already whirling away, throwing a rude gesture over his shoulder as he staggered down the street.
-
“You’ll never believe who I ran into today,” Kyle said over the meal he shared with Indira and Bensen later that morning: their breakfast and his dinner. He’d been yawning widely throughout but had insisted on staying up to cook for them in return for being allowed to sleep on their sofa until he found an apartment of his own. Yet from Bensen’s badly disguised grimace and Indira’s open disgust, he was guessing they wouldn’t be asking him to use his culinary skills – or rather, his complete lack of them – again anytime soon. “Miles Mackenroth.”
Bensen blinked in surprise. “On Lower Xerxes?” he said in that rolling, slow drawl of his, taking the opportunity to politely push away his plate.
“Did he hurt you?” Indira asked sharply, cutting in. She was bouncing in her seat from worry, and it was only her husband’s hand settling over hers that made her loosen her grip on the butter knife. “If Miles touched you, I swear I’ll-”
“There’s no need for your fierce, sexy vengeance today, love,” Bensen assured her with a fond smile. “Kyle would have raised the issue with us earlier if there had been any trouble.”
Indira snorted loudly, and without grace. “He wouldnot.Have you met my stupid, brain-dead cousin? It would be just like him to burn us a meal and then casually mention how he got shot through the skull and oh, by the way, is three seconds away from dropping dead.”
“I think you meant cook you a meal,” Kyle offered helpfully.
