“You got my attention, Luxarn, but if you want any more than that, I’ll need to see more than some old mine.”
The bot poked two glasses of whiskey into his hands with its spindly arms, and he sauntered back over to her, a hop in his step. She’d honestly expected him to be more somber. That was why she’d bought into this idea in the first place. She could manipulate that.
“Kale Trass has taken too many things I care about,” Luxarn said as he approached her. “Now he’s threatened my life, personally. It’s time to end it.”
He presented the glass and didn’t leave Jamaru much choice but to take it. She hated putting anything in her body that blunted her wit.
“PerVenta Corp,” Luxarn ruminated. “Has a nice ring, doesn’t it?”
She took one whiff of the vile liquid, which devoured the souls of weak men, and recoiled. “I’m not in the mood for your games,” she said. “He killed my biological sons, Luxarn. Not clan-children. They came from my belly, and he torched them like kitchen meat. Now I’m not agreeing to a thing until you tell me what this plan of yours is.”
“First, we show Red Wing what happens when you side against your own kind,” Luxarn said.
“How?”
He put on a wicked grin, took a long sip of his drink, and then gestured to the door. Madame Venta turned to see a young offworlder standing in the doorway wearing the white armor of the Children of Titan, an orange circle printed on his chest. At first, she shuddered, thinking she’d been betrayed and sold out to the Ringers; then she noticed his vacant expression.
He looked like one of Luxarn’s Cogent agents, only the eye lens covering this one’s right eye wasn’t only an apparatus; it was part of him. Shiny synthetics covered half his face, extending up over his skull so that hair only grew on one side, and down his neck toward his collarbone. The other side of his face was covered by sallow, veiny skin, with a calloused white human eye that didn’t work. He was more machine than man, and as he faced blankly forward, Jamaru felt a very human chill run up her spine.
“Kale Trass may have taken your sons, but it’s time for him to meet mine,” Luxarn said as he wrapped his arm around the man’s shoulders. “Thank you for that last bit of research that made this possible, Jamaru. Now Zhaff can finish what he started, and together, we will take back the Ring. Kale Trass will pay. For everything.”
Thanks for Reading!
To all you wonderful readers out there, I hope you enjoyed this book. Even if you didn’t, please consider leaving an honest review wherever you prefer to leave your bookish thoughts online. Reviews are the lifeblood of newer authors like me, and they help more than you could possibly imagine.
And if you enjoyed this story about the growing rebellion on Titan, you'll be able to continue on to the next book this August! In Book 4, Titan’s Fury, the tension between Titan and Earth comes to a head.
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About the Author
Rhett C Bruno is the USA Today Bestselling and Nebula Award Nominated Author of The Circuit Saga (Diversion Books, Podium Publishing), Children of Titan (Aethon Books, Audible Studios), and the Buried Goddess Saga (Aethon Books, Audible Studios); among other works.
He has been writing since before he can remember, scribbling down what he thought were epic stories when he was young to show to his friends and family. He currently works as a full-time author and publisher in Stamford, Connecticut, with his wife and their dog, Raven.
You can find out more about his work at www.rhettbruno.com
You can find out more about his work at www.rhettbruno.com
Titan's Rise: (Children of Titan Book 3) Page 29