Page 49 of Prima
“I’ve been in touch with him since. Five months ago, I finally rotated off the Secretariat. When I still served, I couldn’t do anything to help you get out of Dawan—it would have been considered an abuse of office. But now I’m a private citizen again. I went to see Eighteen off the Southern Continent.
“Prince Six was already making waves but his divorce was still months in the future. Eighteen was pulling his hair out over the logistics of Five’s exit. You know most of the rest. I did go before the Secretariat because I needed special expedited sanctuary status for you, permission for three Dawani vessels to briefly enter New Ryukyu territorial waters, and limited one-time authorization to deploy off-duty border patrol boats and personnel. The last of which you are paying for, by the way, from your royalties.”
Half of him wants to thank her profusely; the other half is still completely distracted by the collar and won’t be able to concentrate on anything else until she has removed it and put it out of sight.
She looks to the east. “The sun is rising.”
The sea is still an inky color, but there is a glimmer of scarlet on the waves. He glances at her. There’s a frown on her face. She is strained, more strained than she has been at any point since she boardedThe Blue Sampan, which only unnerves him further.
He pivots to the north right before she cries out, “Look, it’s Old Friend!”
At the sight of the orca in the distance, joy wells up—a similar emotion, minus the shock, to what he felt upon first seeing her face, except at the time he wasn’t able to recognize it as joy because he’s felt it so seldom in his life.
Yet even that surge of buoyancy isn’t enough to dispel his misgivings. It seems too much of a coincidence that they should meet Old Friend, who could be anywhere in the world, right here, right after he escaped the clutches of the new Potentate.
He sets the manga aside—he’s destroying the cover with the force of his grip.
When the orca and the raft at last converge, the woman next to him vibrates with tension but pastes on a big smile. “Hello, Old Friend.”
She kneels down at the edge of the water and touches her forehead to the orca’s. And then she stands up. “Let’s high-five.”
The orca shoots up. He can’t believe his eyes: On Old Friend’s right fin, there is a nerve gun.
Nerve weapons have been banned. Banned!
“No!” he yells.
His beloved glances at him, as if to say,What’s the matter? Everything’s okay here.And then she collapses to the raft, shuddering.
His first instinct is to jump with her into the waves, but the orca is still there, standing up at the edge of his vision, as if waiting for more high-fives. He falls to his knees and pulls her up. Her head rolls back. Her pupils have lost focus. Her limbs twitch involuntarily.
He cradles her nape in his hand, lifts her head up and presses their foreheads together. Immediately pain slices through him, a white-hot edge prying open his skull to liquefy his cerebrum. It scalds his nerves, down through his spine, then out into every limb, every muscle, every fingertip. He is being burned alive, staked alive, flayed alive. His eyes are scraped out with broken glass, his gut corroded with acid, his flesh torn apart fiber by fiber, tendon by tendon.
He wants to scream, but can’t open his mouth; wants to pant, but can’t breathe. He can only hold on, shaking convulsively, trying not to die.
Don’t look back. Don’t come back.Do you hear me?It is bright and sunny, but his mother and Nin shiver. They are frightened of what would happen if he were to fail—and if he succeeds. He speaks now to their loyal maid.I’ll try to get them into the sub if I’m still conscious. If I’m not, have Old Friend help you. The course is already programmed. The motor is on. And you’ve practiced how to close the hatch and take the sub to cruising depth. You’ll be fine. We’ll meet again someday.
It is dark. The girl and her raft have disappeared into the shadows.Lanzhou, he murmurs,Lanzhou. There is nothing but pain where his heart used to be. All he wants is to relive every moment of the last few days, but he has to think about the future.We might have enough time to move the sub out of the way and sink it to the ocean floor, he says to Old Friend.Nobody else knows it’s there.If we can hide it from the rescuers, we can come back for it another day, before too long. And then I won’t have to steal the prototype for Mom and Nin.
Let me go to him. Let me go to Eighteen!he shouts. His mother cries.Are you sure, sweetie? Are you sure?He’s on the verge of crying too.I don’t know. But I have to go to him. I can’t let him die. He’s my brother.
Lump purrs. How he loves the sound of Lump’s purring.Let’s go see Nin? Yes, let’s go play with Baby Nin.Wait, is that Nin crying? ItisNin crying, her chubby little hands tugging uselessly on the hem of Mom’s tunic. And Mom is lying on the ground, convulsing, foaming at the mouth.
Someone is pushing him. It’s Lanzhou—her name has come back to him!These have been such long years without you, Lanzhou. Take me home. Ever since I first saw you smile, I’ve wanted to?—
But why is she pushing him away?
He holds on ever tighter.I won’t cling. I’ll cook. I’ll garden. I’ll occupy only a small corner of your house. But I must see your smile once in a while.
The next thing he knows he’s splashing into the waves, falling, falling.
ChapterFifteen
Ren wakes up to the sight of a woven straw mat overhead, acting as a canopy to shield him from direct sunlight. It looks familiar, this mat. Then he remembers. When Lanzhou invited him to lunch on her raft all those years ago, they sat under such a canopy, while she undressed him eagerly with her eyes.
He…remembers?
He dares not move. But he does remember. He remembers staring into the pond in his mother’s garden with Lump at his side. Playing hide-and-seek with Eighteen. Combing Nin’s hair and braiding it into a whole crown of plaits. Blushing as his mother slides a wrapped volume toward him, telling him,If you’re going to read erotic novels, at least try something that teaches you whatgirlslike.
