Page 28 of Xerxes Ascendant
The sky remembers what we know.
-Children's nursery rhyme
CHAPTER 9
Akira
Kyle’s palms pressed flat against the door as he clicked it closed behind the departing trainee. Then he stayed like that, not moving, and it was several seconds before he even spoke.
“Master...”
“I know. I fucked up,” Akira grunted, adding all the venom into his tone that had been missing from Kyle’s. He’d been expecting to receive an angry chastisement from his House manager – and rightfully so – but the blonde’s single word had instead bled with soft sympathy and compassion he didn’t deserve. “I failed to instruct Tyler on staff limits before I started his training.”
Because while their newest employee would be familiar with hard and soft limits set by clients, Theta, like many of the Coterie Masters, hadn’t permitted his staff to enforce their own limitations. House Theta’s whores, Akira and Tyler included, had been expected to be up for anything their clients might demand.
Akira had known that, having hired Tyler himself. He’d known that he was introducing the man to a House thatoperated very differently to the others. And yet he’d still failed to communicate the importance of fuckingconsent?
Kyle still hadn’t moved from the door. “Why?”
Akira’s answer was simple, yet shameful.
“I forgot.”
Kyle turned from the door, then, his blue eyes filled with a weary sadness as he took him in. “You’re dealing with a lot. I’ve heard from Indira and the staff what you’ve been doing for the city’s recovery efforts.” He was using his gentle tone, that patient kindness that Akira didn’t possess and didn’t care to.
Akira let himself slump down onto the fake leather sofa, not bothering to hold himself to the formality and properness he was careful to maintain in front of others. Kyle had seen him at his lowest, and he had no wish for further pretence with him.
“That’s no excuse. Someone could have been seriously hurt by my oversight.”
Kyle surprised Akira by drawing closer and crouching beside him, letting one knee drop to the floor. He rested a large hand on Akira’s own bent knee and gave it a reassuring stroke.
Warmth bled through the fabric of his trousers from Kyle’s palm, lighting an indescribable fire beneath Akira’s skin.
“So you forgotonething. Yes, it was important,” Kyle added, cutting loudly through his protests, “but not unfixable. It’s what the induction period is for, remember? I’ll get Tyler to define his own hard and soft limits and then ensure he’s memorised those of House Epsilon’s entire staff before his next training session.”
“And his,” muttered Akira. “We need to know his limits, too.”
Kyle continued to gently stroke his knee with a tenderness that made his soul ache. “That’s what I just said, Master.”
Akira faltered. So he had.
“...yes.”
Kyle’s slight sigh fluttered around him, heavy in what Akira’s own self-blame perceived as accusation, but knowing Kyle, was likely something far from it. “You’re distracted.”
He was. The distance Kyle was determined to keep between them was agonising, and while it was selfish and hypocritical to resent it when Akira had been the one to hold himself back all these years, now that he’d let himself be all in...
He was painfully conscious of Kyle’s presence and every movement. Knew exactly where he was in the House at all times, and was put alarmingly on edge whenever the blonde left in the morning for his cousin’s sofa. Akira felt out of breath when they passed in the corridor, a crackling live wire of frustration and longing and guilt.
And it wasn’t just that. The future of the city and House Epsilon also played heavily on Akira’s mind, as did whatever Mayor Mackenroth might be up to over on Upper Xerxes. There was Theta’s threat and the political manoeuvrings of the Coterie to navigate, and the million-credit debt that was now significantlymorethan a million as a result of the exorbitant interest being applied by whichever of the gangs Theta had callously sold it to.
Because the ex-House Master hadn’t been bluffing. Shortly after they’d spoken a few days ago, Akira had been sent an anonymous link on his runepad that displayed only the amount he owed his mysterious new creditor, and the account details for paying it off. Each night he dutifully transferred the credits earned from selling himself by the hour, disheartened when it barely covered the daily interest.
This was why everyone knew better than to get into debt with the Lower gangs. There was no way out of the trap once it had been sprung, and the only question was how long it would take before the burden grew large enough that more than money could be squeezed from the unfortunate soul. Servitude.‘Donated’ organs. Running drugs or weapons for them, or taking the fall for such activity to protect one of their own.
Akira was barely keeping his head above water, and he was fuckingCoterie. Stars knew how quickly the average Xerxian would succumb to the gangs’ ruthless chokehold over the city.
He couldn’t...he just couldn’t...
