Page 30 of Souls of Steel
“Will this be a problem for you?” Knox asked after a small pause. “With your father, I mean?”
I thought about the last conversation I’d had with my father and grimaced. “When it comes to my relationship with my family, Selene isn’t in the top five reasons why we don’t get along. It’s fine. If my father gets any ideas, he won’t bother to come to the academy and I’ll come up with some excuse. He’s prone to thinking the worst of me anyway.”
If I hadn’t been the sole heir of the Chimera line, my father would’ve disinherited me long ago. He knew very well that I disagreed with the traditional rules that had been enforced for generations. But how could I not, when I’d watched my mother wither away into a shadow while carrying the burden of the world’s disdain and expectations? As a child, I’d been unable to do anything to help her, but I’d sworn that when I finally took the throne, I’d change things.
It was just taking a little longer than I’d hoped. If things kept going in this direction, I might have to resort to a method I’d tried to avoid so far. Not that I wasn’t prepared to try my hand at patricide, regicide and assassination, but that was a slippery slope, and if I failed or news of it came out, it would be a disaster. I had to wait for a while longer.
On the training field, Scylla sneakily tried to shove Sphinx and Charybdis out of the way. She was marginally successful, her tentacles slowing down the faster chimeras just enough to allow her to take the lead. But August and Selene didn’t give up. The tachyon emissions around Sphinx intensified, and the light grew so bright it hurt my eyes. Meanwhile, Charybdis slithered out of Scylla’s grip, far more graceful than a gigantic snake-like machine should’ve been.
I watched them and in the motions of each mecha, I could see my three companions engaged in a lethal dance.“You can have this for real,”Typhon reminded me.“You don’t have to throw your needs away.”
“Whose side are you on, Typhon? I thought you agreed with me. You yourself said that Selene needs to go, that she’s in danger here.”
“And I still believe that, but my priority is not Selene Renard’s well-being, but yours. If you want to truly add her to your brood, no matter how dangerous it might be, go ahead. There’s nothing more painful than discarding your own instincts and betraying your heart.”
I shook my head, frustrated with his cryptic statements.“You’ve been spending too much time with Sphinx, haven’t you? You used to be a little more straightforward.”
“I’m being perfectly straightforward. You’re just not listening.”
Grumbling under my breath, I decided I’d stayed out of the training field long enough. I could monitor Selene’s flight path from my chimera. I’d already determined the extent of her talent and needed to get my own hours in to make sure I received full credit.
As I headed to my chimera, Knox mimicked me. Cerberus’s cockpit opened up to let him in and he disappeared inside, swallowed by the metal beast that both protected him and often seemed very close to destroying him.
The same could be said about all of us, including me, but it was a burden I’d accepted, one I knew I had to live with so I could achieve my goal. Selene still had a chance to be free of this mess, a chance to leave it all behind. Typhon might claim I wanted her to be my broodmate, and he might be right. But I wanted her to be safe more.
Maybe one day, her descendants would come back to Chimera Academy and inherit the power of the Sphinx. On that day, no one would turn them away because they were Terran. No one would care about their gender. I’d make sure of it. No matter what I had to do, I’d build a world where every human being was safe, not just the ones The Grand Judiciary decided to choose using their arbitrary standards.
My fellow Chimera Warriors would have to sacrifice their futures on the altar of my dream, but that was our shared vow and our promise. For the sake of her sanity and her life, Selene couldn’t be a part of it.
“It will be as you wish it then,”Typhon hissed. For a few seconds, I could’ve sworn I heard a hint of uncharacteristic sadness in his voice. It disappeared into the icy fire of Typhon’s poisonous magic.
As my mind connected to Typhon’s, the weakness in my human body melted away, leaving behind only the determination and perpetual strength of the immortal beast. My plan would work. Selene was emotionally vulnerable because of what she was going through. It wouldn’t be very difficult for the four of us to seduce her. Knox had said that she’d seemed to respond to him when they’d been on the shuttle, but thinking back, he suspected she didn’t have a lot of experience with men. She’d be an easy target.
The Sphinx would undoubtedly try to warn her, but she couldn’t be there all the time and couldn’t keep us away from Selene.
After all, Selene was a woman and we were men. We’d been built to fall into bed with one another, to take pleasure in each other’s bodies. If nothing else, I certainly looked forward to that. I was sure her pussy would be as perfect as her flying.
Fraternization
Selene
After my flight practice, I felt far better and more energized. We hadn’t done much and in the end, I hadn’t been the one to win the race. Knox had, the cheater. Even so, after spending time with Sphinx, my fears seemed unwarranted. No matter what anyone else said, I belonged here. This flight session proved it.
But that didn’t change the fact that the academy was unsafe for me. Brendan realized this very well, because after the lesson, he pulled me aside, behind his chimera.
There was something strikingly intimate and clandestine about the gesture, even if the others were still in the hangars and Typhon was right there, next to us. Brendan’s eyes glinted in the dim light, their bright green reminding me a little of the verdant pastures of Earth. He blinked and a shadow swept over his face. No, nothing like a fertile field, I decided. A flawlessly cut emerald, with sides so sharp they could slice into one’s soul.
“I wanted to entrust you with a gift, Selene,” he said. “It’s a bit presumptuous of me, but realistically, I know we can’t be by your side during every single lesson. The gap between our education and yours is too large.”
He wasn’t saying it to be insulting, but even if I’d felt hurt over his blunt assessment, I would’ve changed my mind when he produced the gift in question. He brushed his fingers over the edge of his chimera’s foot. One of the snake-like heads detached and slithered to the ground.
The metal scales twisted and reformed, creating a smaller snake that easily wound around Brendan’s body. Brendan petted the black head of the creature and explained, “Typhon can detach some of his smaller heads, to send them as scouts and such. I want you to have this head as a guardian. He’s far more portable than your chimera and his sheer presence will act as a deterrent for anyone who might get the wrong idea.”
I gasped, the enormity of what he was entrusting me with rendering me mute in every other way. Sphinx was already so important to me and I’d only known her a week. The relationship between Typhon and Brendan was undoubtedly even closer. And yet, he was giving me a part of his chimera.
“Does the idea not appeal?” Brendan asked when I didn’t immediately speak.
I finally recovered my voice. “It’s not that. I’m just shocked. I didn’t expect such a generous offer.” I extended my hand, chastising myself when I saw I was shaking. Brendan’s snake left his comfortable spot and took me up on my offer. He crawled up my arm, winding himself around my neck and shoulders.
