Yesterday, Caedes saw Rayne at those races. He came to Xelan first thing, asking for permission to pull the feed before it went too public. Still, the Co-Emperor was sure his security officer was hiding something more.
Today, the Shadow all gathered together for a fun, lighthearted evening of action movies and just look at how it was turning out.
Xelan and Korac were waiting outside of Cinderken’s cell for Sagan to arrive with Kyle and Andrew. In the sterile corridor, the General leaned back against a wall, ankles and arms crossed. He looked hard at the wall opposite, seeing through it into something which made him frown. Admittedly, it was quite a sight, trademarked with the fancy suit.
“What is it?” Xelan, not in a fancy suit, stopped pacing and quit biting his thumbnail to gauge his General’s response.
Korac wasted no time circling the issue and went straight to the point by asking, “Do you ever miss your brother?”
Xelan quirked a brow. Barely six days had passed since Xelan had told the world and Korac, specifically, how he felt about Nox. But this was a slightly different question. He considered their camping trips and pranks. The way Nox always encouraged Xelan’s experiments, even as they’d drifted apart—All the while knowing the baby Prince was a half-Tritan bastard in love with their personal guard.
Nox’s smile was a treasure to Xelan from early childhood, even into early adulthood. Rare and fleeting. His laughter was always so deep and full and almost always sudden, as if it had to escape some wall of self-restraint. The three of them together were quite the trio of mayhem and survival.
“Yes, I sometimes miss him.”
Even to Xelan, his voice was quiet, and he looked away when Korac glanced at him. Were they not passed this? Although they’d discussed their feelings about their brothers during Xelan’s Verse, it seemed Nox was never far from Korac’s mind.
A conduit opened in the corridor, cutting directly through the tension. Sagan announced, “We’re here,” as she, Andrew, and Kyle stepped through.
The latter tangled his fingers in his unruly hair, saying, “I suppose you need some memory and intention sweeps?”
Sagan leaned into the hug her husband had offered, and Xelan hid his small smile at the warm moment. Instead, he said, “Yes. Thanks for coming. We’ll get back to the fun as soon as we’re done here. Look for traces of interactions with Celindria or intentions to carry out any of her designs. We got this?”
Andrew nodded, ready to go.
Korac dropped the nacre shield on the other side of the door using his DNA print, and they followed into the cell.
Cinderken was a scarecrow of an Icarus, all long limbs and an ill-fitted suit. Hands laced together on the table, Xelan noticed they were long and thin like the rest of Cinderken. Even his hair was long and thin. But there was no missing the sharpness to his eyes as they’d glanced over each of his visitors.
Xelan straightened the front of his t-shirt and hiked up the comfy pajama pants he absolutely did not care he was wearing as he sat down in front of the Lord of Odds. He even held out a hand, saying, “Good evening, Cinderken. I’m a Concerted Emperor of Iona Pax. My name is Xelan. It’s nice to meet you.”
Behind him, someone snickered. Xelan put his money on Kyle.
Cinderken smiled, and there was something unnatural about it as he reached his hand out and took the one Xelan offered. “Your imperial majesty, I am honored by your presence in my humble cell.” Cinderken looked the others in the eyes, nodding. “And you, General Korac, Story Taker, Conscience.” He raked his gaze over Sagan. “Dare I say, dear Seamswalker, I can see how Razor met his initial end in you—”
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Xelan held out a hand to stave Korac, who’d begun to lean onto the table between them and the prisoner. This was off to a tense start. Xelan smiled. “Let’s keep things civil, Lord of Odds—Love the name, by the way. As you’d requested, you have my audience. How can we help one another?” Behind him, Korac went to stand in the way of Cinderken’s view of Sagan while Andrew and Kyle concentrated on the sweeps.
“I can feel them in my head. I don’t remember consenting to this invasion.”
With a little wave toward the Progeny in the room, Xelan said, “Hold off for now. There, is that better? I’d hate to make you uncomfortable.”
The unnatural smile returned as Cinderken bowed his head. “Thank you, your imperial majesty.” There was something odd about his eyes Xelan couldn’t quite place. He wondered if Korac had caught it, too.
Pressing on, Xelan said, “So, I hear you don’t like my vaccines.”
There.
The shift in the eyes. Like a flicker.
Cinderken leaned forward to press against his entwined hands, almost as if conspiring with Xelan. He gave a brief nod for Xelan to move closer. When he did, Cinderken said, “I don’t like you,” inches from Xelan’s eyes.
Without moving away, Xelan asked, “Whatever have I done to deserve your disdain, good sir? If you cooperate with us, you can keep your fiefdom on our planet under official terms. All you’d have to do is clean up your collection practices.”
In a shrewd tone, Korac added, “I actually think you’re brilliant.” Cinderken’s eyes flicked to the General, who continued, “Capitalizing on the popularity of the Verses and transforming one of the most romanticized elements of it into a theme park ride. All while exploiting the vacuum in the vice market. I might even offer a few celebrity appearances—”
Cinderken and Xelan’s brows both shot up.
“—Which you should know from my time in Razor’s fighting ring, I am not above it. For the price of your participation, of course.”
Kyle and Andrew both nodded approvingly.
From behind Korac, Sagan said, “I would gladly be in the stands to cheer him on.”
Cinderken listened to the proposal with an impressed expression before leaning back in his chair, hands still on the table. His eyes shifted… Hollowed? Something emptied out of them—
“I would love to accept your offer, believe me. But I’m not sure I have what you need. I told you Celindria resides in Paradise. If I were you, I would look for it. It’s all I know, and no matter how much you wave your ex-lover and his wedded slut in my face—”
It was over before it began.
Korac slammed Cinderken’s face onto the desk, bursting all those capillaries in the nose into a terrible splash of cobalt blood across the table. The General was already back with Sagan before Xelan could stop him. All the Aegis upgrades had really paid off. Still…
“Korac, leave the cell. Take Sagan with you.” Xelan hated using his Emperor voice, but his General’s misconduct was inexcusable.
Andrew offered, “Kyle and I will go, too. We got everything we needed.”
With a glare directed at Cinderken and meant to melt the sun, Korac warned, “We’ll be monitoring you from out here. Don’t try anything.”
Cinderken did nothing to stem the bleeding. He’d kept his hands laced on the table throughout the ordeal.
Xelan felt like he was being watched, which was silly considering this Icarus was staring right at him. But there was a tiny niggling at the back of his neck, as he looked into the other man’s eyes and said, “I’m sorry. We’ll take time off your sentence for the egregious mishandling of this situation.”
Cinderken said nothing. He only smiled through the blue ruin on his face. His upgrades were behind, judging by how slowly all the bruises were healing under his eyes and the swelling of his broken nose.
The hate in his smile…
It reminded Xelan of—
“I’ve confessed to inciting the protests, and I’ve told you the location of Amaryna’s trafficking ring.” Blue snot dripped from Cinderken’s face as he continued, “I only wanted to meet you in person and rile your General’s feathers a bit. There is no further reason to keep me in this holding cell. Try me and send me to your gentle rehabilitation center so I can finish my sentence and return to my estate.”
Cinderken had given up everything—risked the ire of his fellow vice lords and Imminent connections—to look Xelan in the eye and pick a fight with Korac.
“I’m launching a deeper investigation into your business, because I think you’re hiding something. You’ll stay here, close to me, until I discover exactly what it is. Until then, eat your Vittle supplements, use the tile over there to get some exercise, and feel free to request any reasonable amenities from our guards. Iona Pax doesn’t want your punishment, Lord of Odds. It wants your recovery into society.”
The look Cinderken gave Xelan was one of pure loathing.
It made the Co-Emperor frown and shake his head with incredulity before leaving the cell.
There were no parting taunts or last words.
There was only the horrible expression on Cinderken’s mangled face.