Allie's War Season Four (195 page)

As he said it, his hand shifted directions in mid air, turning into a more eloquent expression of interest aimed at the main stage.

Revik followed his fingers, almost outside of his own will.

Once he had, his mind stopped working for a few seconds.

He watched her, frozen inside that timeless space, as she walked out on the largest stage. The clothes were only part of it. His body reacted almost before his mind knew what it was seeing, and even past the heavier currents of light in the room overall.

Even with that, even here, inside the Dreng’s construct, he felt her light.

He felt her real light, even as the construct tried to manipulate it in front of him.

His throat tightened until he almost couldn’t breathe when his eyes shifted down, and he realized what she was wearing.

“Holy shit,” Jax muttered from next to him.

Revik didn’t need to glance behind him to know he wasn’t the only one staring at that stage.

Fighting a sudden, irrational urge to snarl at all of them for gawking at his wife, given what she was wearing, or really,
not
wearing, he bit his lip until he tasted blood.

Still, his eyes remained on her, and on the lacey, black... well, essentially underwear... she wore, covered only in theory by a filmy, see-through top that shifted colors under the rotating lights. He bit his tongue harder when she began to move, until he could taste enough of his own blood to wince.

For a brief instant, he saw Allie’s eyes shift up towards where he stood.

He knew he was in the dark, that the lights in her face made it unlikely she could see him, but he froze anyway, fighting again to control the pain that wanted to take over his light. She continued her hip-swaying walk to the end of the long platform, what looked almost like a model’s runway now that he could see it from above, and then she slid smoothly into a crouch, following the music even as the seers and humans in the tables up front let out wolf-whistles and cat-calls. Revik watched her, his jaw loosening slightly as she glided back into a full stand and undulated her hips.

“Holy fuck,” Jax muttered again.

Next to Revik, Dalejem’s light had gone entirely still.

Revik followed his wife’s body with his eyes as she danced, leaning against a pole that suddenly appeared from the middle of the stage.

“Sit down, brother,” Terian said. “You can see very well from here... I promise you!”

An edge crept into his voice that time.

Enough of one, that Revik turned, staring at the amber-eyed seer.

“Don’t get any ambitious ideas, Revi’,” Terian added, smiling that time below the glass-eyed stare. Smiling wider, he inclined his head, again indicating for Revik to sit beside him. “You must know she required... persuasion... to perform this little show for you. I have a few backup security measures in place, as well. That collar she’s wearing, for one.”

Pausing on that, likely to make sure Revik parsed his meaning, Terian made another graceful gesture with his hands, that one more apologetic. “...I may have a flair for the dramatic, but I did not intend to die here today, brother Syrimne.”

Revik looked back at the stage, feeling his light spark around him a second time, almost more intensely than he could pull back. He watched Allie’s leg hook around that pole, right before she slid into a graceful arc around it. He couldn’t help but react, even apart from the realization that every male in the room was staring at her. Pain slid inexorably through his light, enough that the seers standing next to him, Dalejem in particular, stepped back.

Jax actually sucked in a breath, as if he’d been hit in the solar plexus.

“Holy fuck,” he muttered again, quieter that time.

“Shut up,” Chinja snapped at him.

Her voice sounded unsteady, like she was in shock.

“Revi’, my friend,” Terian said, his voice lower. “Sit. Please. I know this seems like a threat... but it’s meant to be incentive, too. There are things we need to discuss.” He smiled when Revik looked over, but that harder look never left his amber eyes. “I won’t hurt her. Don’t give me any reason to, brother, and I promise you I won’t. I simply needed to make sure you would talk to me. You understand, I hope?”

Revik was staring at the stage again, though.

He couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t seem to want to make himself look away, despite the conflict that crackled and sparked through his light, making it difficult to think.

His mind wanted to shift back to the last time they’d been alone, but he forced that out of his light as well, knowing he was already hard enough that they had to have noticed, no matter how dark it was in here.

He was still standing there when Terian clicked his fingers at two larger seers who had just joined them at the top of the chrome stairs. Both muscular, suit-wearing seers began to herd Revik and his small group towards the couch with thick hands, as if intending to bodily force them to sit down with the five Terians.

One of them actually did lay a heavy hand on Revik’s shoulder once he stood next to the couch, placing enough pressure there that Revik found himself acquiescing. He allowed himself to be guided, if only to give himself time to think, and within seconds, he found himself sitting facing the stage, between Terian on his left and Dalejem on his right.

Sinking his weight deeper onto the suede couch, Revik stared at where his wife leapt up and coiled her leg around the pole a second time, making another graceful circuit with her back arched and head tilted back, earning her another round of calls from the nearest... and likely drunkest... in the audience clustered by the stage.

Sickness coiled through his light and gut as he watched her, even as he felt his body reacting a lot more urgently in other, more specific ways. Even so, a dense flush of anger twisted through him, what wanted to turn into hatred... or at the very least, to violence.

“I’m going to kill you,” Revik said to Terian, his voice low.

Terian clicked at him, a gentle rebuke. “Come now, brother. A little gratitude would not be amiss. After all, she’s never treated you to a show like this before, has she?” His grin widened when Revik looked over with a clenched jaw. “Ah! Well, maybe she has. But you must admit, it’s damned sexy to see her doing it for an audience... and with such abandon...”

“Terry...” Revik said, his voice close to incoherent.

“She
has
done this before, though,” Terian mused, cutting him off as he leaned back in the couch, his eyes also on the stage. “Peformed, I mean. She lied to me at first, but I got her to admit it later, when I explained to her what I needed her to do. I find that so interesting, Revi’. Where, do you suppose? She was not specific about that end of things with me... I even asked her, and she acted very coy, your wife, when I pressed for details. A little spare college money, I wonder, back in the day? Or was this something she picked up after she met you, and learned more of your predelictions, my friend....?”

“Beijing,” the blue-eyed seer confirmed, from Revik’s other side.

Revik turned, staring at that version of Terian.

“Ditrini had her perform for us a few times,” the seer said, taking a sip of what looked like a vodka tonic. “...once he found out she could move.”

Revik felt that heat in his chest worsen. He fought it back, still trying to keep the worst of his reactions out of the construct.

He didn’t know why he bothered at this point.

Terian being here meant that Shadow was here, too... in some form.

Revik’s eyes returned to the stage, pretty much on their own.

He watched Allie slide around the pole again, and that time, he almost thought he saw her eyes on him as she pulled herself up it with her hands and thighs. Something about her looking his way, the contacts and the prosthetics that changed her face, along with the hair color that wasn’t really hers, worsened the pain almost to unbearable, making that heat in his chest flare.

At the same time, it gave him his focus back, too.

A near-calm fell over his mind.

“Revi’?” Terian said, looking over at him. “This was a present, brother. I am told your birthday was recent, and I had nothing to give you.” At Revik’s cold look, Terian burst out in a more genuine laugh. “Please, brother. Don’t be offended. I could not resist giving you a present of this. And anyway, I needed you to not... overreact... when you saw me.”

Revik let out a grunt. “You thought this would be the thing to keep me calm, Terry?”

“Calm?” Terian grinned. “No, brother. Not calm. But perhaps... motivated. To not do anything overly rash in regards to my person.”

Revik didn’t look over. “I hope you’re enjoying yourself, Terry,” he said. “You’ve got to know you’re going to lose every single fucking body you have in this room... so I sincerely hope it’s worth it for you, this little show of yours.”

Terian chuckled again. Sliding closer to where Revik sat, he slung his arm over the back of the couch, almost in an affectionate gesture. Ignoring the arm behind him, Revik leaned forward, placing his own arms on his thighs as he watched his wife.

“I didn’t touch her,” Terian assured him.

Revik gave him a cold look.

Terian held up his hands in mock innocence. “You doubt me?” he said. “I am hurt. Now that wouldn’t be brotherly of me, would it? Especially given the difficulties you two kids seem to be having...”

Revik clenched his jaw again, fighting not to rise.

“What do you want?” Revik said. “You called us here. Baited us with our own goddamned marital bond, and managed to whore out my wife. What do you want, Terry?”

Terian smiled, glancing around at the others now sitting amongst the different versions of him. When Revik followed his gaze, he saw Jax staring in some bewilderment at the Revik lookalike. Dalejem appeared to be studying the seer with the orange-colored eyes, but Revik felt the pain in his light again, even as Dalejem seemed to be fighting to hide it.

“That one wants to fuck you, Revi’,” Terian observed, also looking at Dalejem. “Gods, he’s hungry for you, brother. He’s so hungry it’s turning me on. Were you aware?”

“Yes,” Revik said, blunt.

He turned, staring back at the amber-eyed seer, even as he felt his impatience slide into a harder anger. “What the fuck do you want? Are you going to tell me?”

“I need your help, Revi’.”

Revik stared at him.

Then he let out a disbelieving laugh.

“What?” he said.

Terian held up a hand. “I am serious. I need your help. I am quite desperate for it, in fact. Thus the theatrics. I apologize for that, I really do... but I knew of no other way to bring you here. I knew my buying up the List seers and humans might not be enough. Not after what happened to you last year. I needed more, Revi’. I needed real leverage.”

Revik shook his head, clicking in open disbelief.

“So you went after my marriage?”

“It is only temporary, what I did! And I did not go anywhere near the structures that your darling Alyson built in you. The ones that keep you and your precious daughter alive.”

Revik grimaced at the mention of Lily, but not only because of that. Terian knew what Allie had done, disconnecting them from the light of the Dreng. Thinking about that, he clicked under his breath, shaking his head.

“You must know I came here to kill you,” he said.

“I know, brother, I know.” Terian held up his hand in another peace gesture. “It is why I took her right away. Don’t you see? I had no choice.”

“The trader was yours, too?” Revik’s eyes shifted, narrowing on where Efrail had once stood. He realized for the first time that the sheik trader was no longer there. “All of that was a set-up? On the docks?”

“Yes.” Terian’s eyes looked borderline puzzled, as if he didn’t understand why Revik felt the need to keep asking questions. “Of course. Well... sort of. He didn’t know. I pushed him to go find you at that pier. Through the construct.”

Revik continued to stare at him, fighting disbelief.

Eventually, he could only expel another humorless laugh, shaking his head.

“Gods, Terry.” He combed his fingers through the dyed-blond hair. “If you and your leash-holder want me dead so badly, there has got to be an easier way. There just has to be. Is the apocalypse proving to be overly dull, now that you’ve annihilated most of the world...?”