Page 46 of Rotanev
I swallowed, my heart racing in my chest. Corban always put me on edge, his intimidating presence one that I felt every time he came near. And now was no different.
The first time I’d entered this building, it was with my mother under the guise of an internship. Alas, it was really her way of introducing me to her loan shark as potential collateral in exchange for more money.
Money she used to escape this city without me.
He’d phoned me a week later requesting a follow-up meeting, which I’d thought was to discuss a job because I hadn’t learned his true identity yet. I’d learned the truth that afternoon: my mother had used me as a bargaining chip, and I now owed him tens of thousands of dollars. If I couldn’t pay, he would find a useful way for me to work for him—on the street.
The memory scattered goose bumps down my arm just as we arrived at his familiar floor. Nero’s grip tightened, but his stance remained otherwise casual. He led us into the marble interior, glancing left and right at the windows at the end of each hallway. The reception desk before us was vacant.
Actually, no. The receptionist was asleep on the floor. Same with the security guard at the mouth of the darker corridor that led to Corban’s office.
I pointed toward it to tell Nero which way to go, but he was already moving in that direction. He released me, gesturing for me to walk behind him, and Morpheus took up the rear.
I have gods for bodyguards, I thought.This is my life. Like, what the actual fuck?
If it weren’t for our surroundings, I might have laughed. Because all of this was ludicrous. Yet, as we entered Corban’s office, his expression said it all.
No shock.
No curiosity.
Just pure, malicious enjoyment.
“Rotanev,” he welcomed Nero, his grin wide. “And I see you brought Morpheus with you. Why, it’s been several centuries, no?” He stood, his all-white suit giving him a falsely angelic gleam. “I honestly expected you a lot sooner, but apparently, my plan worked better than I could have anticipated.” He winked at me with that last part, cementing all of this as fact.
Which I already knew.
I just hadn’t wanted to fully accept it.
“I’m glad you’re amused, Dolos. That’s going to make this so much more fun.” Nero released me and clasped his hands before him. “Now, do you plan to fight this? Because I would love a reason to drown you right here, in the sanctuary of this shithole you call an office.”
Corban chuckled. “And ruin the endgame? Not a chance, Rotanev.” He refocused his viridescent irises on me, a whisper of secrets swirling in their depths. “How did you find him?”
“I didn’t,” I replied, my voice stronger than I expected. “He found me.”
“Interesting.” He glanced at Nero. “How?”
“Not that I owe you a single ounce of an explanation, but her photo came up in a search,” Nero added. “Technology has thoroughly improved in this realm.”
“Ah, yes, I hadn’t anticipated that when she joined JBI.” He shrugged as if to say,Oh well. “It was far easier to torture her prior to this feminist age. Take the eighteen hundreds, for example. I gave her a horrible husband who whored her out to all his friends. He beat her, too. Such a fun reincarnation, until he took it a step too far and killed her.” He sighed. “Mortals and their darker inclinations.”
Nero said nothing while I stood frozen.
He didwhatto me in a past life?
“Oh, but it taught me a valuable lesson—not to leave her life in the hands of others. I chose to mold her in the next life by controlling her mother, which has proven the best method over these last few renditions.” His resulting smile was cruel. “Your siren is used goods, Rotanev. And I do mean,thoroughlyused. For this isn’t the first lifetime where she had to whore herself out to appease me. I suppose, however, you could thank me. She’s quite well trained as a result.”
My stomach churned with his reveal. “How many lifetimes…?” The question came out on a whoosh of air, my voice trailing off as the world began to spin around me.
“This is version twenty-four. We had a few false starts in the beginning, where you died in infancy or at a very young age. Mortal bodies are so fragile. But your soul is immortal, allowing me to easily place you in new hosts.”
“H-how?” I demanded, not understanding how any of this was possible.
“Quite simple, really. Find a fertile female, hook her up with a male, and thrust your soul inside their inevitable creation. The downsides are waiting the nine months for you to be born and, more recently, keeping you alive through childhood long enough to torment you. I mean, I had fun with your child mind in the beginning, but you broke far too easily. So in the recent two centuries, I started playing with you in your later adolescent years and, eventually, your adult lives.”
I was going to be sick.
This man, thing,demigod,was a monster.
