Page 91 of Xerxes Ascendant
He was employing cheap tricks, but sex sold, and as intended it ramped up their excitement and that of the remaining onlookers. The murmurs grew louder, more interested, and no one seemed to notice when the old man and his daughter silently slipped away.
Akira gestured at Kyle, who handed the bottlecaps over to the two Carrions with the level of formal solemnity appropriate for exchanging rings at a wedding. They were accepted with equal gravitas.
“Don’t think you can tell your friends to present random bits of rubbish to House Epsilon’s front desk,” Kyle warned, to which the pair gave agreeable nods, shrugging him off. “These tokenshave been inscribed with invisible runes.”
Akira kept his face straight, with difficulty. But it seemed these Carrions were as ignorant as his boyfriend was about how runes really worked, for they didn’t question the ridiculous bluff.
“We can use these tonight?” one asked, rubbing his thumb over the edge of his cap in wonder. Akira wondered if they’d even realised how dirty and deformed the cheap metal was, or whether their greed and lust was making them perceive something else entirely.
“Of course,” he said in a low tone. In his peripheral vision he saw Kyle’s head snap his way, nostrils flaring as if he’d scented blood. “Spend the day imagining your deepest desires, gentlemen, so that you can request them tonight.”
And enjoy it while it lasts,Akira thought. It was bad for business to offer unlimited credit: in a week or two, this pair would experience an unfortunate and entirely coincidental mugging that would deprive them of their tokens of good fortune.
“I don’t know what makes me want to get you onto your back more,” Kyle murmured in his ear as the men pushed their way through the crowd, boasting to each other about the depravity they’d be enjoying later. “That come-fuck-me voice you just used, or that you saved a stranger you don’t care about. With House finances, no less.”
“You care,” Akira said, repeating their conversation from moments ago. “And that’s enough for me.”
“Stars, pet.” Kyle’s breath was hot and ragged against his ear. “Now we’re up to three reasons. Let’s go find a bed already.”
The sky cities are not a replacement of what we have here on verdant Earth. They are a continuation: of stewardship, of culture, of care for those below and above. Each of the seven cities is equipped not only with aetheric barriers and anti-grav engines, but with gardens, libraries, and schools. It is about forging our civilisation, not survival.
As they rise, let your hearts rise with them and the future we dare to dream.
May the stars know their names.
Aurelius. Nefertiti. Vespasian. Saladin. Charlemagne. Vladislav. Xerxes.
—Extract from the launch speech of President Wilhelm B. Richardson, 26 August 1992
CHAPTER 27
Kyle
Kyle wasn’t sure what was so difficult to understand.Bed, he’d said, knowing there was nothing better than fucking the absolute shit out of the man he loved, but instead he’d spent the last hour being dragged around Level C as Akira first took him to a clinic and paid for them to both be bandaged up and stabbed with needles – some nonsense about preventing infection following their fall into the sewage – and then to a poky little office whose entrance was hidden at the back of a laundromat and required a code to be opened. Cool spy shit.
The person they’d found inside had been seemingly only too happy to be handed two runepads, one of which was being potentially tracked by the Carrion, and the other which certainly was, their eyes lighting up at the challenge of removing whatever runes or technology had been hidden on the devices. Or maybe their joy arose from the amount they could charge for such a service, which to Kyle’s broke ass was an eye-wateringly large amount, yet thankfully well below the million credits threshold that Akira would have to seek his Sir’s permission to spend.
Kyle had been tempted to remind his boyfriend about that, if only for the way it would surely make those brown eyes flashat being teased, yet their new Engineer friend waved Kyle’s de-tracked runepad at him without looking up.
“Someone’s calling you.”
A dozen missed calls and unopened messages littered the display. Wincing, Kyle accepted the active call and his cousin’s scowl filled the screen.
“What’s up, Indy?”
“What’s up?” she repeated with incredulity. “Kyle, you’ve been out of touch for two days! I know you’re obsessed with that man’s pert ass, but-”
“Good morning, Indira,” Akira said smoothly, sidestepping into the frame.
The quality of the runepad’s camera truly was a marvel, for Kyle could clearly see the faint tinge of pink that blossomed on Indira’s cheeks.
“Oh. Morning, Master Epsilon.”
Akira cocked his head. “Are you going to threaten me again?”
“Do I fucking need to?”
His man wisely left the conversation after that, joining the Engineer where he was hunched over Akira’s own runepad with a runing wand.
