Episode 7 #2
“Not for you, not for Rei, not me. Not until they’re dead. I’d rather go down fighting than looking over my shoulder. Now that I know there’s a fight to be had.”
He pressed a bandage across the wound and tapped down the edges with a firm touch.
“I’ll give you what I never gave Alexi: my willing submission.”
Sevastyan pushed himself to a seated position. Lisa didn’t move from where he remained kneeling on the floor. “Lisa.”
Lisa gritted his teeth. “I get it now, why Rei is like he is with you. It didn’t make sense. He’s your willing slave. That’s why he can go so far with you. Why he trusts you. I don’t know if I’m as good as he is. But I’ll try. If it will take them down, I’ll give you whatever you need.”
Sevastyan reached out, his fingertips touching the edge of Lisa’s hand. Lisa pulled his gloves off and grabbed Sevastyan by the wrist. He lifted Sevastyan’s hand and settled his palm against his throat, looking up at Sevastyan.
Sevastyan wrapped his fingers around Lisa’s neck, feeling the pulse points on either side.
They had both killed today. He’d always known it was in Lisa, but now it had been done.
And here he was offering Sevastyan real submission.
Not broken surrender like before, but the use of an awake and aware tool.
Sevastyan swallowed, waves of cold passing through his body that had nothing to do with the lack of blood in his veins.
He raised his eyes. For some reason, they were still alone. He looked back to Lisa. “I don’t expect to survive. Rei doesn’t know this.”
Lisa’s eyes stayed steady.
Sevastyan waited.
But Lisa never faltered. He reached up, covering Sevastyan’s hand on his throat. “When I laid down with the dogs and the wolves, I didn’t expect to wake. But if I lay down with you, maybe Rei will wake up in the end, whether or not I do.”
Sevastyan swallowed past the lump in his own throat, tears running down his cheeks. “That’s why I needed Ellisandre.”
Lisa squeezed Sevastyan’s hand. They both dropped their grips.
There were footsteps. Ellisandre entered the room with a plate and a mug of warm water. They pushed an ottoman over with their boot and set the plate of food and the mug on its surface. “Vast, eat.” They gestured at Lisa. “You, clothes, on.”
Lisa gave Ellisandre a short nod and pulled himself to one foot, hopping towards the bedroom. Ellisandre sat on the upturned end of the broken coffee table. Sevastyan started in on the water first, holding it with both hands.
Ellisandre leaned forward, elbows on their knees, hands clasped together. “I’ve ordered antibiotics and pain meds along with the blood. I’ll have to go out to pick them up soon. Or you can trust me to have someone deliver them.”
Sevastyan tensed. “Who?”
“Ash, Richard Reevesworth’s pet hacker. I won’t have him come past the door. I’ll hang a sheet over the end of the entrance. He’s already been on one mission with me. Him and Alice.”
Sevastyan’s eyes widened at the mention of his half-sister. “She’s a kid.”
“She’s the same age you were when we met and already tangled with the Merchari. She’s good. Unlike your father, she’s worthy of sharing your blood.”
Sevastyan winced. “Have her deliver it.”
“No. She’s guarding Dana right now. But you will meet her. Your course with her will have to be chosen soon.”
Sevastyan shook his head. “She and Collin are better off thinking Anton is dead. I should never have said what I said to Jun. I hope he forgot.”
“He didn’t. He repeated it.” Ellisandre grimaced. “Collin knows. Alice does not.”
Sevastyan’s shoulders sagged. Then he straightened up. What was done was done. “At least Collin doesn’t know we’re brothers. It’s better if he doesn’t.”
Ellisandre gazed back at him for a long moment. “I will not tell them. Be warned, Alice is intelligent. She found Jun’s father’s home herself, without help from myself or Richard’s investigator.”
Sevastyan grimaced. Of course his half-sister had to be extraordinary, just to complicate things.
He pushed the problem aside and drank more water.
His thoughts were still too slow and his emotions too high.
The sooner the last of the drugs left his system, the sooner he would be back to his normal level of control.
“Do you have a plan to get rid of the bodies?”
“The ones who were killed in the staircase can be taken out as baggage. We need to establish video footage of the three killed in here exiting. You and I are most similar to their builds, in height if not girth for the last one. We can take the largest one out in a wheelchair. Bundled up,
no one will know he’s dead. We’ll wear his friends’ clothes.”
“Have anywhere that’s about to get covered in cement?”
“No. Just an acid vat outside the city.”
“When did you acquire that?”
Ellisandre tilted their head, pretending to think. “About the time Linda decided to try dating again.”
Sevastyan shook his head. “I’m not asking how many times you’ve used it.”
Ellisandre smirked. “So now would be the wrong time to tell you I’m technically still on the rolls of Europol, then.”
Sevastyan raised his eyebrows. “You are?”
Ellisandre nodded and motioned at the plate. “Eat.”
“I thought you were done.”
“I made them a deal. I do what I want. I take assignments if I want. They can’t control me, but they have access, as do I.”
“The Merchari have informants there.”
“Do you have names?”
“Several. Not all. We can’t take this to them or it’ll fail like every other time I tried.”
“We won’t.”
Sevastyan nodded, shoving food into his mouth.