Page 85 (1/2)
The interior of the cellblock is a globe with a central communal area and the cells in three levels accessed by ays and a stairwell Sevro pushes past the warden “What the blazing shit…”
It’s not a prison It’s an improvised paradise Thick layers of expensive carpets cover the steel floors The walls are painted eggshell white Golden roses and ivy grow along the ays and crawl along the guardrails, fed by UV lights that hang fros The cell doors are open Three cells are filled floor to ceiling with books and datacubes, another with bottles of wine, another with caerator and a portable generator and a stove, another with a garden of to iron dumbbells and tension bands
The coe Hookahs stand like emerald scarecrows amidst a sea of pillows and blankets Two collared Pink prisoners, a slender wo their bodies Empty bottles and other casualties of debauchery litter low tables And ast all this, a powerfula violin with feverish huht of a UV lamp, naked but for the dull metal prisoner collar He skin is tawny, darker than that of his younger brother His golden hair is long and coiled and splays down his broad back Lost in reverie, he does not hear us enter
“Apollonius au Valii-Rath,” I say
Theand turns around If he’s surprised to see us, he doesn’t show it It’s as if weForthere twisted around, the equine nose, the sensual lips, the dark eyelashes and hot-coal eyes He is a twisted sier brother, Tactus—a liood But this is not my friend, no ht in this ry shadow inside him
“What’s this?” he says, eyes searching our masked faces His amused baritone smooth and quick as thick wild honey down a hot knife “A deputation of devils come to my acropolis with calamity on their heels? Have you come to kill me, fiends?” He twirls the violin to hold it by its neck like a weapon, his voice becoilistic “I venture you’ll not find it pleasant”
“He’s bloody mad,” Sevro says over our coms The man was always touched, a lover of violence and vice, but there is a mania behind his eyesbruised and proud before a Republic court
“Apollonius,” I say again “We’ve come to take you home”
The war criminal’s eyes narrow “At the behest of whom?”
“Your brother”
“Tharsus?” His eyes widen as he slides out of the chair like a grand saltwater crocodile and faces us without any sha white scars from razors cover the lean muscles of his torso The two nearest his heart are from me e met in the hallway outside my bedroom in the Citadel “Tharsus is alive?”
“He’s waiting for you on his flagship, my lord,” I lie “We’ve come to ferry you to your fleet”
Apollonius looks down at the ground and a shudder of boyish joy goes through hinificent Soon ill join hilides toward the warden Thraxa takes a protective step up to my side “Warden, warden, warden Recall for me, for myupon the genesis of my incarceration here?”
“I’ve done what you asked,” the warden says to ain”
“I speak to you, warden, not my brother’s minions”