Page 13 of The Danger Kiss

Father stepped forward. "Get up, Blanca. You are no longer a child to sit there and whine."

“Yes, Father.” I struggled to my feet, brushing debris off my face. "Forgive me. This will not happen again.”

"No matter." He waved my apology aside with a casual hand. "However, you are now to go to Asphalt City to join the black market auction in three weeks’ time. There is a very good chance The Danger Kiss might turn up there, as there will be a tournament in the Diesel Dome. The corporations will be very busy behind the scenes. There are no others more suited to this task. The initial pay is fifteen billion each. More when the task is done."

"Yes, Father.” I lowered my head, giving in. There was no other choice.

"In all likelihood, we might be sending Timur to train in the Dome whilst you are in Asphalt City. You would do well to watch out for your brother, while you are there.”

I swallowed and nodded. So many years of careful control, isolation and routine. Of Bindings so secure they could never be undone. So easy to just let them go, as if they had meant nothing from the very start.

It hurt.

I heard my father clap his hands twice. The doors creaked open in automatic response.

"Gudo, we are ready to eat."

"Very good, my lord."

four

The Blossom

Iwas thirteen years old when I started my tutelage with Yuri, a few years after Rukko started learning.

Yuri lived in a cavern a quarter of a mile deep at the icy Tundra Borderlands.

He was an ancient-looking man with impossibly long white hair, a thick white mustache, an even thicker white beard and the thickest white eyebrows imaginable. Yuri had also been our father’s Manifestation tutor, a master amongst the meta-humans whose wisdom was sought after and whose skills were deeply feared.

The first time I met Yuri, he had looked at me with colorless, almost transparent eyes, saying nothing for a very lengthy interval.

He had then stepped forward, holding out one gnarled hand.

“My last blossom in the winter wind. Welcome, my lady Blanca."

I had stared, trying to recall myself and my bearing. The proper address.

"Well-met, Master."

His gnarled hand had drawn closer.

I had drawn back, suddenly too afraid to speak.

"Take my hand, my lady Blanca."

"I..."

The colorless eyes had blinked. "It is all right."

"The last time I...I touched someone I..."

"Yes. I know all about you. Go on."

”But I'm..."

"Do not be afraid. There is no need to be."

I had stepped forward, then my own pale hand had found its way into the gnarled hand.

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