Sevastyan

Sevastyan swam up towards consciousness with a familiar ache in his body and a sick feeling in his stomach.

He was still in the cardboard. The lights were as they had been, bright and directly overhead.

He pushed himself up. There was no sound, except for the distant hum of the store operating and the hum of people walking the Pedway beyond that.

He eased up, checking his phone for the time.

There was still no service. He’d been asleep for just under an hour.

At least his resistance was still high. He hadn’t known if it would be.

It had been years since he’d last let Raska drug him for amusement.

It was weird to be grateful for something Raska had done for once.

He dragged himself to his feet. There were coats in the inventory with return tags on them.

He found one that fit and swapped his coat for the new one, then rolled up his old garment and stuffed it into a bag to take with.

Finding the rear exit was easy. There were signs.

And no alarm went off as he eased himself out into the corridor on the other side.

He was still sick from the drugs, though.

His thoughts moved sluggishly. Now and then sleep crept back towards him.

Whether it was because his head was injured or the drug was still moving through his system, he didn’t have the capacity to decide.

He followed the way back to Rei by rote, doubling back on himself now and again out of habit.

He reached the lobby of his own building, still struggling against the urge to sway.

In the elevator he remembered he had a second phone. He took it out.

There were multiple missed calls from Ellisandre.

He swallowed. Any other day and he’d be glad to see their name on the screen.

But he was already drugged. He needed to know if Rei and Lisa were safe.

And if they weren’t . . . Then the Merchari were going to meet him in a way they’d never seen him before.

He couldn’t take the risk of Ellisandre cracking him open tonight.

He needed to sleep for a week, but that wasn’t going to happen.

Now that there had been an attack, it was time to abandon the condo and find a new base of operations.

He closed his eyes against another wave of nausea.

It wasn’t going to leave until he got water and then food into his stomach.

The nights Raska had drugged him when he was young had always been worse until he’d learned to keep food hidden in his room whenever he was around her.

Fuck, there was still too much of the drug in his system. He’d come straight to level eight without realizing it. He should have gone up a level of two and then walked down.

It didn’t matter. He was going to have to move soon anyway. Feet heavy, he approached the door. It opened under his fingers. The smell of death hit him in the face. All of his senses snapped into focus. He slid the door shut behind him and drew his gun, sliding off the safety.

“Sevastyan.”

Ellisandre’s voice.

If they had killed Rei . . .

He rounded the corner, weapon ready.

Rei wasn’t dead. He was bent forward over Ellisandre’s lap, kneeling in front of them, while they sat on the couch, bracing him. Lisa crouched beside Rei, needle and thread in his hands, stitching a cut closed over Rei’s shoulder.

Rei.

The strength went out of Sevastyan’s joints. He crashed to his knees. The gun fell from his fingers. Rei. Ellisandre. Ellisandre. Rei.

Ellisandre already knew.

Rei pushed up to his feet, pulling the needle out of Lisa’s hand and stumbling across the floor. He dropped into a kneel right in front of Sevastyan, his hand hovering just above Sevastyan’s coat. “Master.”

Thoughts crashed through Sevastyan without organization. He reached for Rei, noting the blood. His eyes scanned the room, finding the bodies. Someone had started cleaning up but there had been a fight. Lisa’s face was darkening with bruises. His lip was split and his forehead bandaged.

He’d failed. Rei had gotten hurt. Lisa had gotten hurt. And Ellisandre . . .

Ellisandre was here. Rei must have called them. Or Ellisandre had discovered them. Either was possible.

Sevastyan grasped an unbruised part of Rei’s arm. Rei pulled back the scarf around Sevastyan’s face. He didn’t gasp, he just looked, concern and pain filling his eyes.

“You’re pale.” Ellisandre stood. “Where else are you hurt?”

Sevastyan shook his head. He pulled Rei in against his chest, feeling the thump of Rei’s heart, the sound of his breath. He might never touch Rei like this again. He needed to do it now.

It would never be enough.

Rei clung to him, his face hidden against Sevastyan.

Sevastyan pressed his lips to Rei’s forehead. “El, whatever you’re going to do, don’t make Rei watch.”

“This was what you couldn’t tell me.”

“Yes. And no.”

Ellisandre stood over Sevastyan. They drew off his hat and scarf and pushed back on his coat, carding their fingers through his hair. They were gentle. So gentle. But he knew what their hands could do. How fast they could move.

“Tell me, Vast, what you came to ask me at the gates of Assyria, at the feet of the lamassu. Tell me the words that then you did not speak.”

The hair on the back of Sevastyan’s neck rose. He held Rei tighter against his chest. Meeting Ellisandre’s eyes was impossible. He looked away, finding Lisa’s instead.

“A life for a life,” Sevastyan whispered. “I will give Richard Reevesworth what he needs to protect Jun if he will protect Rei. The way I cannot.”

Lisa’s eyes widened. In his arms, Rei’s fingers gripped back and that was what he needed, the grounding that let his throat open and say the words that had to be said.

“Anton is false.” It felt like a confession.

Perhaps he had said that before, perhaps he had not.

He couldn’t remember and it didn’t matter.

“But the Merchari will never let us go. Not alive. Not Jun either. They don’t deserve to live. But I can’t do it alone. Piece by piece will never work. It has to be sudden. It has to be complete. It has to be ruthless.”

“Armageddon,” Ellisandre said, their hand on his head like a benediction. And perhaps that was the only benediction he deserved, the blessing of an end, of bloodshed, of erasure.

Ellisandre went down on one knee. “We will bring them Armageddon, Vast.”