“Gaius’ new second, Diego, is coming to India to discuss the particulars of this raid,” Raj replied.
Wang snorted. “You’ll have little chance of getting truth from that one. He’s more slippery than Gaius’s flesh-eating eels.”
Li Cheng turned away from Raj to offer a new, blood-infused dish to me. “Xin Yan’s dumplings—you must try them.”
“We must discuss the Thai properties, my lord,” the accountant alpha said.
“Not now.” Li Cheng waved him off and turned back to me. The elder’s face took on a thoughtful cast. “But it does concern your future, I suppose. Tell me Cedric, do you think this deal is a good move for me?”
Once more, I was taken aback by Li Cheng’s departure from form and chose my words with care. “My lord, I’m an artist. I know nothing of business.”
“Your lord has presented me with an enticing offer. If I accept, a very valuable tract of land will cede from my jurisdiction to Kalidasa’s, and your lord would become its steward.”
I swallowed hard. Enticing offer? Did this mean I’d be sold off to him? Raj’s comment about being worth my weight in gold worried me. “Raj would get his own territory, and you’d make a lot of money from it, am I correct, my lord?”
“Yes…a great deal of money.”
Relief flooded over me. They all waited for my answer. According it custom, I dropped my eyes and voice. “Then my lord, I think it would be a good move for both of you.”
Li Cheng broke into a bemused smile. “There we have it. The boy has better sense than the lot of you. Tomorrow night we’ll discuss the particulars. Tell Kalidasa I’ll travel to India in a month’s time to collect payment. There are many things I wish to discuss with him.” He got to his feet and beckoned. “Come Cedric, I feel the need for fresh air.”
I rose from the table. The elder didn’t take my arm this time, but strode with purpose toward his garden. I followed close on his heels. He didn’t stop until he’d reached the bridge over the pond. Sprinkling crumbs from his pocket, he bent down, watching the fish and ducks scramble for the food. “I’m sorry you had to witness all this…but you should understand how things really are.”
“That boy, Jiang…he was a favorite of yours?”
The elder’s eyes peered at the pond, as if looking for answers in the water. “I found him, starving…over a hundred years ago. A country lad, he’d lost his family in a famine and made his way to Shanghai, where I’d been doing business at the time. A boy of fifteen wasn’t considered a child then. I know better now. Too soon to take him…to give him the blood.”
“What will happen to him?”
“After I question him, Miyaki has the right to take his head. When a slave transgresses against an alpha or elder, it is within our power to take back that life which was given.”
“And the girl…will he kill her as well?”
“She’ll wish he had. When the code was written I pushed for better treatment of slaves, but I was shouted down. Rebellious slaves who aren’t killed are often cast out to the elements. Those who survive form packs…like feral animals. Add to them runaways and rogue dogs, which will sell their loyalty to the highest bidder. After centuries of this, we’ve created an underclass of discontented Immortyls running loose in the world. This situation has reached a crisis point.”
“So there is a revolution?” My head buzzed with questions. Normally it would be very bad form for an adept to question an elder, but Li Cheng had made it clear he considered me a friend. “And this one they call Loki?”
“His name is Kurt Eisen. He worked as his master’s unofficial second for over fifty years. I’ve dealt with him on numerous occasions and found him highly intelligent and resourceful, more than capable of leading this rebellion. No matter who killed Brovik, the rats think Kurt was responsible, and that kind of notoriety becomes legend among the disaffected.” Li Cheng turned back to feeding his fish. “Tell me Cedric, in all frankness, what is your opinion of the forbidden science?”
Slaves spoke of the forbidden science in whispers. My opinion could get me executed for heresy if Kalidasa got wind of it. I glanced around the garden and scanned for scent and sound. We seemed to be alone. “Li Cheng, such talk is dangerous.”
“You may speak candidly with me. Personally, I find it distressing that any knowledge is considered forbidden. As a child of this generation, what do you make of it?”
I took a deep breath. For the first time in a long time I said just what I thought. “I think it’s got right good sense behind it. It’s got to be some kind of virus or something that makes us like this. Believe me, from personal experience, I know a lot about viruses. They mutate constantly and muck with their host big time by getting in and ripping apart the DNA, because they’ve only got RNA and can’t multiply without it.”
Liu tugged at his goatee in a thoughtful manner. “I figured someone as bright as you didn’t buy into Kalidasa’s explanation that Kali Maa gave him the gift of immortality.”
Her grotesque form materialized inside my brain. I was almost afraid to speak ill of her. “It’s a bit silly, but before I slept—don’t laugh—I think I had a vision from her.”
He did laugh. “Have you by any chance been sampling the herbal concoctions in the little chest you all carry with you?”
“Uh—I might have—yes. Actually, I think I overdosed a wee bit.”
“You should be careful with those hallucinogens. Too much could kill you.” He sank onto a bench overlooking a waterfall that tumbled over rocks into the pond. “So, tell me about this vision?”
I sat beside him. “Kali Maa showed herself as the destroyer, going around and slashing down everyone in her path, like she was urging me to join her in her quest. I’m right put out by it. An adept takes a vow of non-violence and submission. I really don’t want to rise up like the sewer rats or anything. Still, sometimes, I feel so much rage inside. Sandhya says I need to pray to Kali Maa to conquer myself.”
His moustache twitched, as if he held back a laugh. “I’m sure she’s spent many, many hours in prayer asking for the same boon. It’s not Immortyl nature to be non-violent and certainly not in yours. I wasn’t joking about you making a swordsman. You would be absolutely lethal with a weapon in your hands. Here…I want to give you this.” He unfastened the chain bearing the carved jade dragon he wore around his neck and placed it around my own. I picked up the pendant, admiring it. His fingers brushed the hair back from my face. “It’s very old. I’ve worn it over two thousand years. It was a gift from my kinsman, a prince of the imperial house. It suits you.”
The gesture touched me. This wasn’t just some bauble. It meant an awful lot to him. “This is brilliant, Li Cheng. I don’t know what to say.”
Li Cheng raised his head and looked out over the pond, not really seeing it. He focused on some distant point. “The dragon symbolizes wisdom. With the knowledge of the mechanism of creation, blind faith collapses, superstition and its power evaporate.” He took my hand. “Let this token remind you that only foolish men fear knowledge. The wise embrace its fearsome power. No science is so dangerous that we shouldn’t pursue it…but there are those who stand to lose everything if our secret is revealed.” I nodded, only partly comprehending.
He rose from the bench.
Moonlight bathed him in silver as he surveyed his tranquil garden. His shoulders drooped. For the first time, he looked old to me, with the eyes of a man who’d seen two millennia of empires rise and fall. “The future is upon us Cedric. The old order is in its death throes, and you must be wary. Kalidasa’s court is the eye of a cyclone, and it is often the adept who is called upon to negotiate the rising tides.”
The forbidden science and the death throes of the old order—what on earth was he talking about? My poor ginger head spun. What did all this have to do with me? I was just an artist and wanted nothing to do with politics and revolution. I hadn’t signed on for any of this. I’d endured humiliation and prostitution for Raj’s sake, so that h
e’d get his own territory. Now everything was about to fall into place for us. Raj would finally obtain the thing that would allow us to live a modern existence again. We’d leave Kalidasa’s compound with its outdated customs and ridiculous court etiquette. I’d get my car. We’d be just Cedric and Raj again, having a wild time with all of his money. Well, I supposed there would be room in our new life for the others—especially Sandhya.
Storm brewing or not, I’d cling to Raj and be just fine. As much as I liked Li Cheng, I had to think that he was overreacting to this threat. What chance did a rabble of filthy rats stand against the chief elder’s well-armed soldiers? They’d be beaten back, and I’d have all of the things I’d ever dreamed of. I refused to listen, like a child sticking his fingers in his ears when things didn’t go his way.
NINE
Li Cheng sent a message, saying he would call once negotiations with Raj were completed. After several hours, he summoned me to his chamber. The elder didn’t talk anymore of revolution. Instead, he asked me to sing and play my guitar for him. Then he took me to bed. Just before sunrise, he sent me off to Raj’s room with a final tribute in the form of another poem, this one encased in a precious enameled container.
Li Cheng’s concubine still shared my master’s bed by the time I got there, so I simply took a seat until he finished and sent the girl hobbling off with some trinket.
“What’s wrong with her?” I asked.
“Wrong? She’s perfection. Beautiful, silent, and submissive.”
“She walks oddly.”
“Her feet were bound. It was the fashion in her time. You have no idea what she can do with them.”
“That’s just disgusting.”
He laughed and crossed his arms behind his head, leaning back against the headboard. “So, you’re released from his service?”
“Technically, I’m still his until sunrise.”
He glanced at the clock. “Only twenty minutes.”
“I’d think you’d be too tired.”
“I am. Besides, I want you to perform the ceremony just for me tomorrow night. We shall have our little holiday, just as I promised. I have the perfect house picked out for us near Bangkok. We will stay there this week.” He yawned. “Kalidasa is very pleased with my work here.”
His smug attitude annoyed me. How like him to take all the credit. “I had a little something to do with it.”
“And I am grateful to you.” He waved his hand toward me. “Go on, off with you. Get your beauty sleep. Trust me, you’re going to need it.”
* * * *
The house Raj leased in Thailand featured wide verandas. Situated on a sheltered cove ringed with palms, it felt romantic and secluded from all the madness of the Immortyl world. I donned the costume Raj had given me for the occasion and joined him outdoors, where lanterns blazed and a table had been laid for two.
He stood in a casual attitude, hands in the pockets of his trousers. A breeze lifted wisps of his hair. My master looked every inch the prince his name suggested, even in simple white cotton. The shirt gaped open at the throat, setting off his burnished skin to perfection, revealing the pulse. The throb cried out to be tasted. My heartbeat kicked up as his scent curled through my olfactory system. A pang rocked me. This longing between us had been denied for months. You can’t really compare the progenitor/offspring bond to any kind of human relationship. The very molecules of my flesh ached to mingle with his blood.
He smiled and held out his hand. “Look at you, a perfect god in gold. You shimmer in the moonlight, Beauty.”
“It’s just this powder Sandhya found for me.”
He drew me toward him. “No…it’s the color of your hair and eyes…the warmth of your smile.”
Home at last. Someone harrumphed behind us, and we parted. Beeshom waited with a tray laden with all manner of fragrant things sent in from a restaurant in Bangkok. The dog set down the tray on a stand.
“Leave it,” Raj said. “You’re dismissed.”
Beeshom made an awkward bow. He threw me a knowing smirk and withdrew.
Raj shook out his napkin onto his lap. “Henceforth, you will personally serve all my meals. It is an adept’s province. Upon our return to India, you will rank highest over all my household servants.”
I picked up a pitcher to fill his glass, remembering all my hours of practice perfecting the move. “What about Sandhya?”
His lip curled with disgust. “Why must you mention the bitch?”
“She’s my senior.”
“As a man, you outrank her.”
“Not in the ashram.” I set the pitcher down and presented the glass to him.
“My household is not the ashram. I make the rules. Understand?”
I couldn’t imagine giving orders to Sandhya. Her pride would be hurt—but Raj would no doubt enjoy it. Just what had happened between them to make them barely speak to one another? She never went to his bed. It mystified me that he hadn’t pressed her to accept one of the many offers she’d boasted of. You got the idea they somehow thrived on their mutual torture of one another.
Raj leaned back in his chair with a smug look. “Now, show me all you’ve learned.”
Clearly, I was meant to join him in the meal, but his assumption that I was somehow lesser annoyed me. Still, I wanted to please him. If playing the potentate turned Raj on, it was a small price to pay for his love and adoration. I served him with requisite grace and style and then took a seat across from him.
“Exquisite. Every move is perfection. It’s been torture sharing you with others, but soon we will be free to live as we please, Beauty.”
All pretenses fell away. He smiled and chatted with me about his plans for the house, the places where we’d travel, and the things we’d do for fun. Just like old times. All the weird scenes of the past months evaporated. We finished the meal. I led Raj into the cool, comfortable bedroom. He shut the door and turned to me. The street kid he’d picked up ten months before trembled under the veneer of paint. His hands stripped away the silk trappings and drew me close. Warm lips grazed my neck, searching for the pulse. His fangs pierced my throat, rendering me as helpless in his arms as a mortal victim.
I drank again from him. The complete blood exchange set this encounter apart from the others. Sharing essence is more intimate than sex. Ecstasy reverberated in my veins—until he ordered me to assume his preferred position.
“You’d think I was a cheap one off,” I complained.
“Are you going girlishly romantic on me again?”
“Kali forbid you should ever look at my face.” I rolled onto my back and grabbed his cigarette case from the night table. Lighting up, I took a long drag and gave Raj the silent treatment.
He reached down for the jade dragon hanging around my neck, examining it with a critical eye. “Liu gave you this? And did he ask for you to serve him instead of me?”
“Would you care?”
A bemused looked passed over him. “Of course, I would. Don’t be ridiculous. I’m more than happy to be your patron and protector, but we’re men and this emotion is unseemly.”
“You know I love you to madness.”
He laughed as if what I’d said was the most amusing thing he’d ever heard. Now I was angry. I rose from the bed, wanting to put as much space between our bodies as possible. “Heartless bastard.”
He pushed the hair from his eyes and sat there shaking his head. “You’re an Immortyl star now. You have every material possession you could ask for. What more can you want? Really, you are a very silly boy.”
I pulled on a robe. “Do you feel anything for me? After all I’ve done for you?”
His mouth pursed, like he was embarrassed by the question. “I have a certain… affection for you. Stop this ridiculous pouting. It’s spoiling everything. Your duty is to bring harmony to my household. God knows I’ve paid enough for it.”
“Lord Liu did offer suit to me, by the way.”
His brows came together. An encouraging spark bl
azed behind his eyes. “And…what did you tell him?”
“It all depends on where Kali Maa prompts me.”
Raj shot to his feet and jerked me down by the hair. I sprawled on the bed. He kneeled astride my body. “Don’t pretend to reverence something you don’t believe in. The Exalted Father decides where your duty lies. You belong to me, and you’re not leaving. I’ve laid out a lot to indulge your little whims. Just try to leave me you slut…” He reached down and grabbed my testicles, squeezing until I cried for him to stop. “…and I’ll make certain you have no more desire to try.”
* * * *
After that charming little display, I determined it was in the best interest of my manhood to put my feelings aside. Raj acted pleased with my sudden change in attitude and went back to treating me as his pampered pet. All that week, we literally tasted the nightlife of Bangkok. Raj spent vast sums of money on furnishings for the new house and presents for me. In a generous fit he even picked out trinkets for the others in his household. When I insisted on his buying a pair of black pearl earrings for Sandhya, he shook his head in annoyance, but handed over his credit card to pay for them. I wished I could have done so myself.
Honeymoons must come to an end as they say, and our week of relative bliss drew to a close. I’d heard no annoying talk of the rat revolution since we’d left Hong Kong and dreaded returning to the political cesspool of court. Only a month more to spend there, I kept telling myself. Thirty days and we’d come back. Our new life would begin.
On the night before our departure, Raj shook me awake. “Get up and dress. We’re going for a little ride. I want to show you something.”
I got out of bed and dressed in a new outfit, thinking he was planning to surprise me with a final treat. Maybe we’d go to pick out my new car. I tingled with excitement, wheedling Raj when we got into the dark sedan, “So, what exactly do you have in mind tonight?”
My Fearful Symmetry Page 15
