Return by A.M. Sexton

Author:A.M. Sexton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: fantasy, alternate universe, gay, steampunk

I opted to leave my box of possessions with Lalo until Ayo and I figured out where we were staying. There was no sense in hauling it all over Davlova and back. We emerged from the whorehouse as the temple bells rang the dinner hour. We headed west, toward the plaza. The red rays of the sinking sun sliced across the mountain peaks, turning the world into blood and shadow. I had to squint to see at all.

Ayo reached out and took my hand. “Lalo? Was that his name?”

“Yes.”

“He seems nice.”

“He is.”

“He loves you, you know. Not like I do. But in some other way.”

He said it without a hint of resentment or jealousy. I glanced over at him, but his expression was unreadable. I thought back over our interview with Lalo. He’d hugged me when we’d walked in, and taken my hand once, and as we’d said goodbye, he’d held my hand again, and he’d kissed me. But the kiss hadn’t been romantic or evocative. Only a chaste token, planted gently on my cheek.

“We’re friends.”

“I know.” Ayo hesitated, biting his lip. “I’m glad we’re not staying there. Not because of them, really. Just because…”

“Because it’s a whorehouse?”

He glanced over at me, his eyes apologetic. “It scares me. I worry it would go wrong. That somebody would find out.”

I squinted into the blinding, slanted rays of the sun, trying to sort out what he was saying. “About your programming, you mean? About the pain?”

He nodded, but didn't speak.

“You’re afraid they’d force you to be a whore?”

“They’d force me to like it. My body would betray me, like it did with Donato.”

“That won’t happen.”

His cheeks flushed a deeper red. “I know. I’m being silly.”

“No, you’re not being silly at all. You’re being realistic. Lalo would never do that, but there are plenty of other people in this city who aren’t so honorable.”

“Will it come to that? You told Lalo you have money, but I don’t have anything, Misha.”

“We have plenty. And no matter what, you won’t have to whore for it, I promise.”

We were nearing Davlova’s main plaza now. The fire had done damage here as well, but there were more signs of recovery. The trenches themselves were still mostly a jumbled mess of fallen beams and collapsed buildings, but the avenues leading in and out of the plaza had been cleared. The businesses around the periphery were in various states of repair, and the plaza itself looked like the cleanest spot in all of Davlova. The cobblestones were still stained, but with the detriments of years of use as much as by the fire. There was no waste or litter. It was wide open, and it felt nearly deserted. The area that had previously housed scores of vendors hawking their wares, now held only a handful of carts. There were long lines at two shops — the butcher and a fish fry — but the rest of the peddlers sat with hunched shoulders and bowed heads next to their carts.

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