Keltan's Gambit: Chronicles of the Orion Spur Book 2

by Michael Formichelli

  “Is he dead? By the Will! You killed him. You killed him. Zalor will destroy you for this. He was supposed to marry you two!” Hagus lurched, putting his eyes on his adopted daughter. “By the Will! He will kill you, too.”

  That got Cylus’ attention. His body spasmed as his mind saw Zalor Revenant laughing over Pasqualina’s body as an artificial choked the life from her. Behind the grizzly image he could see the faces of his family looking on, but they weren’t watching the death of the only woman he knew who supported him, they were staring at him. He felt their eyes plead with him to do something before their murderer killed another innocent.

  He trembled again, gasping in a deep breath. From deep inside his head a voice whispered to his conscious mind, “Leave no witnesses.”

  The eyes in Hagus’ lumpy face grew huge when Cylus turned towards him.

  “Don’t do anything rash, Cy. You’re already in enough trouble. The Abyssians will come, and they will take you away. If you go quietly, maybe Zalor will only take your barony.” Hagus backed away.

  It was obvious the fat man expected the door to open behind him. A shudder passed through him when his back pressed against its carbon-glass surface.

  He was right. The penalty for killing a baron was to be divested of one’s barony and the spoils offered up at auction. What had he just done? There could be no hiding this. He just murdered a member of both the Daewonist Temple and the Barony. There would be no clemency. Together, barons and common people would tear him apart. And what would Sophi do to him? Crossing her was never a good idea. This would be his death, and worse than that, the thought of having just lost his family’s barony to Zalor was too much to bear. He felt his knees going weak and he swooned.

  Pasqualina’s steadying hand pressed into the small of his back. With her eyes on her adoptive father, she leaned in close to his hear. “No one will know if Hagus dies, too.”

  The words were like a sweet kiss in his ear. He shuddered against her hand. Killing Scion Vargas was an accident, but if he ordered Hagus dead, it would be a deliberate act. He would be a murderer in his heart, just like his enemy. To let him live, however, would be to lose everything. Not only would he go down, but Sable would have no chance against Zalor alone—nor would Aurora, or Hephestia, or Sophi. What would happen to Lina then?

  “We have to be as hard as my father, or he will devour us. We have to be wolves.” Sophi’s words sprang from the depths of his mind. At the time he hadn’t thought that was entirely right, but now the plain truth of those words cut deep. The world they lived in allowed only two choices, to either be the predator or the prey.

  He took a deep breath, watching his uncle tremble against the thin barrier of the door, and swore that he would never be prey again.

  His body went still. When he spoke he was surprised by the strength of his own voice. “Ben, choke Baron Olivaar to death.”

  If Hagus’ eyes could have popped out of his head they would have.

  Ben was a blur of motion, arriving at Baron Olivaar’s side with a hand around the man’s throat in less than a second. Hagus wrapped his sausage-fingers around Ben’s hand, trying to wrench open the cold, silicon digits. When that failed, he squeezed Ben’s arm until his fingers turned white. He sagged, trying to draw the killing hand away with his immense weight, but Ben’s arm was like an iron beam, unmoved by the fat man’s attempt to free himself.

  Cylus heard Lina’s sharp intake of air behind him. He felt detached from himself, numb, yet still aware of the hammer-falls of blood beating the drums in his ears.

  Hagus tried to gasp for air. His pale fingers clutched and tore at Ben’s hand just as Cylus’ own clutched and tore at that of Zalor’s bartender. Hagus’ eyes grew bloodshot, the veins in them bulging, angry, and red. His whole face appeared to be darkening with trapped blood. He gave up trying to tear Ben’s hand away and started flailing his arms, striking the artificial about the head and shoulders. His feet kicked, leaving the ground to strike at Ben’s shins. Cylus heard the bones in his uncle’s foot snap, but he kept kicking. Each blow became weaker than the last, and eventually his uncle’s arms fell to his sides and his body sagged. A foul odor started to fill the room, but even that did not pull Cylus from his numbed state.

  “Ben, do something about that.”

  “I have taken the liberty of installing a worm into the city-wide navigation system. The official positioning records already show Baron Olivaar’s air-car en-route to his tower at this moment,” Ben said as he hoisted the sack-like mass of Cylus’ uncle on his shoulders without effort. “I will see to it that a critical flaw will develop in the car’s dark energy system, and both bodies will be partially atomized in the resulting explosion.”

  Cylus’ mouth fell open.

  “You can do that?” Lina asked.

  “With my baron’s permission,” Ben replied.

  Cylus nodded.

  “There will be less suspicion on you than there was on Baron Revenant when Baron Mitsugawa Yoji died,” Ben said.

  He nodded again.

  The door slid open and Ben headed out towards Hagus’ air car with the corpse. Wind cleared the room of its foul smell in seconds. He returned and picked up the dead scion’s body, pausing for a moment to release cleansing nanomachines from his fingers over the table. The blood on it and the floor vanished before Ben made it out the door.

  The numbness within Cylus evaporated now that the intensity of the moment was gone. His mind danced between shock, disbelief, and the strange power that came over him when he decided to be a murderer. Had that really been him? He looked at Pasqualina. Her blue eyes were wide, her skin was flushed and she was panting hard.

  “Lina? Are you all right?” Cylus stared for several moments before he noticed an odor in the air—a salty musk that filled his nostrils and sent the blood burning into his loins. She locked eyes with him and her nostrils flared.

  Ben would be busy rigging Hagus’ air-car for a while, he was sure.

  A switch was thrown in his brain. He was on her before he even realized what he was doing. He tore at her clothes, bunched her dress up about her waist, and yanked it over the slope of her breasts. It caught for a moment on her head, but she wiggled free and he sent it sailing through the air behind him. In the haste to continue their ruse, she hadn’t bothered to find a bra, and her substantial bosom heaved upward to his devouring eyes. He thrust his face between the curves of her breasts, planting sucking kisses against the taut skin. His heart continued to pound in his ears when he closed his eyes, giving himself over to the overwhelming rush of fear, power, and desire within him. His kisses became nibbles, moving up from her chest to her neck. He bit her hard on the side of her throat, and when she gasped and wrapped her arms around him, he bit her harder. She shuddered, holding him against her for several seconds. Then she put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him until he let go.

  He stood back, his vision blurry with lust.

  “Oh goddess, Cylus. Get out of those clothes.” Her fingers went to work on his shirt, fumbling with two buttons before she gave up and sundered its seams with a swift yank. Buttons bounced and clinked against the glass table.

  They parted just long enough to divest themselves of pants and undergarments, then lurched at each other like rabid animals. Skin met skin in a tangle of limbs and lips. Thoughts of consequences and worry became the fuel for the sexual fire within him, and he was all too happy to let it obliterate his conscious self. They twisted about each other, their legs tangled and they fell onto one of the sofas. He was on top, his hands wandered across the curve of her hips, up the furrow in her lower back, and down across her buttocks. Hers were equally ravenous to feel him, traveling down his back and across his sides. He felt her fingers stroke the crease between his buttocks. The sensation tingled and made him thrust forward against her.

  She whispered profanities that burned his ears as she wrapped her legs around him. He wasn’t even sure she was speaking Solan anymore until she moved against hi
m and it no longer mattered. Her whole body curled around his, and she enveloped him with a sultry aggression that dwarfed his own. Her fingers dug into the flesh of his shoulders, and she keened like a madwoman. Incited, he snarled like a beast and dug his teeth into her neck, using his hands to pull himself deeper into her with every plunge of his hips. She screamed again, her body convulsed, and the world spun about them. They landed on their sides, wedged between the sofa and the table, pausing just long enough to find leverage before continuing the mutual assault. Their tongues twirled around each other as he dragged his hand down the slope of her spine to the small of her back. His muscles flexed hard enough to make his calves spasm and for one, perfect moment in time the being that was Cylus Keltan was nothing but a pulsing entity of pure bliss.

  He came back to himself with a strangled cry. Embarrassed, he tried to roll away from her, but she grabbed him harder and moved with him, placing herself on top.

  “No, not yet.” Pasqualina reached down between them. He felt her fingers against his groin but she wasn’t touching him. A moment later she shuddered and her body vibrated like an electric shock had passed through her. She let out a long moan then fell forward onto his chest, almost smashing him in the nose with her head.

  “There, that’s it,” she said in a husky, sleepy voice.

  For a time they lay unmoving, panting against each other until it became too hard to breathe and he had to roll her off. They remained pressed against each other, wedged in the tight space between the furniture.

  He shuddered and closed his eyes, attempting to ward off the returning emotions at the fringe of his reality.

  “Thank you, Cylus. I’ve been wanting that for a long time.” She purred.

  Tears began to flow from his eyes. He turned away from her to hide them.

  “What is it?”

  He felt her cool fingers through the hair on his cheek, but he resisted their gentle pressure. His tears flowed unwanted, dampening his beard. The press of her body increased. The hand at his face moved behind his head. When he resisted its pressure again, she adjusted her position to put his head against her shoulder. Tremors ripped through his body like earthquakes. He yelped like bitten cerberai, and tried to twist out of her grasp but she would not relent. Eventually he gave in and let her cradle him while he cried in long wails.

  “They deserved it, Cy. They all deserve it.” She caressed his long, copper hair.

  He knew she was right. They all did deserve it, yet despite the rush of power he felt earlier it pained him now.

  “I do not want to be like them, but I am.” The tears dried after a time, but they left a dull ache in his throat.

  “You aren’t—” she started.

  “No, I am. I killed Vargas because he threatened you, but I wanted him dead. Ever since my family was murdered I’ve wanted to kill those responsible for putting them in Broghite hands. Now I have killed two. It hurts, but I’m also glad, and that hurts more.” He shook his head.

  “It hurts because you are a good person, Cy. They forced your hand. You were pushed. You pushed back, and that’s good. Good people forced into tough situations might look like bad ones, but they’re still good people.” She pressed his head against the rise of her breast.

  Killing the barons felt good, but it didn’t at the same time. Maybe that’s what she was talking about. She had to be right because he didn’t want to be bad. He wanted to be left alone, but they wouldn’t allow that. They forced him to fight back. Yes, she was right. He was still a good person. He had to be.

  They deserve it, the voice in his head assured him. They all deserve it.

  He pulled back and tried to show her a smile.

  “Oh shit, sorry,” he said when he noticed the deep, purple teeth marks and blood on her neck. He moved to touch them with his fingers but she swatted his hand away and checked the wound with her fingers. She stared at the blood on them for a moment.

  “If I’m lucky, it’ll scar so I can have a memento,” she said.

  He frowned.

  She gave him a curious look. “No, this isn’t the last time. I hope this is the first of many. I’ve had a crush on you since we were kids. I like that I’ll have a memento of the time you ravished me in front of the help.”

  “What?” He looked up.

  Ben stood by the outer door within plain view of them.

  “Oh.” He felt the violent urge to cover them up, but there was nothing handy with which to do it. He squirmed but Lina smacked him on the shoulder.

  “Stop it. Be proud. You were just every bit the baron I knew you could be and more. You got me so hot I would’ve done it in front of the whole Barony.”

  He blushed.

  “My apologies if I am intruding, master. I have seen your uncle and Baron-Scion Vargas off. In a few minutes there will be a tragic accident, but I do not believe it will be a problem. The safeguards I mentioned before are in place.”

  In his mind Cylus saw the scion fall away from him in slow motion. He watched Ben hold Hagus’ awesome mass up with one, unmovable arm while the fat man’s legs kicked until he expired. The thoughts should have frozen his blood, but they didn’t. Instead, it filled him with a sickening rush that made him both nauseous and excited. He felt himself begin to firm again.

  Lina drew her leg slowly up his. Her hand slid down his chest, over the plane of his stomach, and took him firmly in her grasp.

  She purred.

  “I shall leave you to this. Please keep in mind that Captain Daldon-Fukui is waiting for you both at the Intelligent Systems tower. I suggest you do not delay long,” Ben said.

  It was difficult to concentrate with Pasqualina’s slow, feather light touch on him, but he made himself do so. A thought surfaced in the forefront of his mind. It was something he had to act on now while he still felt so emboldened. He felt more powerful and alive than he ever had, but he couldn’t take the chance that a sickly feeling of guilt would return him to his old, sniveling self.

  This move would require all the boldness in the galaxy to pull off.

  “Ben, query the Confederate Treasury. How close to default are they?” Cylus squeezed Lina’s body to him, relishing the heat of her skin.

  Ben stood statue-still while his systems linked with those of the government. As a baron, Cylus and his representatives had permission to access any files of the Confederate bureaucracy at any time, though he never had occasion to before.

  “The Treasury database reports that it is one-hundred and thirty-five days from total default on its expenses and debts. Baron Revenant’s new law has ensured that this course is inevitable without major third-party intervention.”

  Earlier this year, Zalor put a bill through the Barony that ensured war spending would bankrupt the Confederation. Cylus was certain he assassinated Mitsugawa Yoji to insure its passage. Just before the murder, Yoji said that the bill would force the Confederation to borrow money to continue operations. Only the Mitsugawa, Revenant, and Keltan baronies were big enough to put together a loan of the required size. Everyone knew that Zalor would be the man to step in and save the Confederation from the crisis he caused. It was a blatant financial coup of the government, and the Barony intended to just roll over and take it—but not Cylus, not anymore.

  “Are you going to do what I think you’re going to do?” Lina’s eyes widened.

  “Ben, what would it take for us to make a substantial loan to the Treasury?”

  “Quite a bit of paperwork and political maneuvering. No doubt, Baron Revenant has put in safeguards against either you or the Cronuses outmaneuvering him. It will take some time to serendipitously determine what these are and defuse them. I do not think you could do it while traveling,” Ben said.

  “I don’t intend to. You will do it in my stead. I think I know how to beat Zalor Revenant. Ben, I want you to do two things. First, assign one of your iterations to find out what connections Zalor made to make this deal happen, then start working on how to dismantle them. Second, I want you
to transmit a message to Helix that I am wholeheartedly on board for a run at the seat of the Premier.”

  “Cylus, are you sure?” Lina’s hand tightened on him.

  He nodded.

  “I realized something—maybe it’s something you’ve been trying to tell me all along. If I sit by and do nothing, I’ll always be the whipping boy. I’ll always be the chump who gets killed in the end like—” He reached up and touched his throat. “But I actually do have the power to change things, don’t I? I just have to choose to do so.” If it was true, then he really could stop Zalor and avenge his family himself. He wouldn’t need Sophi and her schemes. If it was true, he wouldn’t have become a murderer for nothing.

  It had to be true.

  “You do have the power, Cylus.” A look crossed her face. It was half happiness, and half worry. She started to say more, but didn’t get past opening her mouth.

  “Ben, do it.” He pulled her against him. The feel of her bare skin shored up his resolve.

  “As my master wills,” Ben said.

  “Make sure the iteration that comes with us has combat programming,” Cylus added.

  “Very good, master.” Ben bowed.

  “Now leave us be,” he said.

  Lina slid down his body.

  “You’re finally the baron I knew you could be,” she said when Ben left. “And you know what else?”

  “What?”

  “It really turns me on.” She smiled.

  He could tell from her tone she only half meant it. She started to worry when he talked about taking on Zalor with the move on the Confederate Treasury, but she would soon see he could do this. Her labors with him, her caring, would bear fruit. A little worry was okay. He knew it was right to worry when going to war; soldiers talked about it in the news interviews all the time. It didn’t mean not to do it.

  She moved further down and kissed him.

  He sighed and let his worries vanish.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Ikuzlu City, Kosfanter

  41:2:24 (J2400:3151)