Page 41 of Seduced

“Touché,” he said, in much the same tone, “but I am not joking. Not this time. They will not stop until I’m dead.”

I know.

Alexei didn’t admit it out loud, but it made no difference. They both knew.

“Not if I have anything to do with it,” Alexei set his teeth, more determined than ever.

“What shall you do about it?” Nikolaos asked.

“Keep you hidden down here, for one thing, if you can still endure it.”

“I can,” Nikolaos replied. “Of course I can. It is no hardship. This place is a palace, and you an angel.”

“They call me Hades,” Alexei raised an eyebrow.

“Further proof that the world is full of criminally stupid people,” Nikolaos chuckled. His voice was hollow, and Alexei saw in the sudden turn of his head how deep the shadows under his eyes were. “What else do you propose we do?”

“What do you need?” Alexei asked at once.

Nikolaos shrugged.

“Everything. A revolution is a costly thing. Right now, I need two things: Gold from Europe. The Greek people, even the ones who have salvaged some of their own wealth, do not have near enough to purchase ships and weapons for a navy. Two: A friend of mine, Captain Vaughn, a Frenchman who lives in England, recently rescued a ship full of Greek children, all very young boys, babies, actually, off the shores of Cyprus. The boys had been kidnapped from their homes in Greece, in order to be sold as slaves or soldiers or both in the Ottoman Empire. I don’t know what to do with them.”

“Jesus,” Alexei said, fighting a sudden urge to vomit.

“Indeed.” Nikolaos looked as if he felt the same way. “It is a regular occurrence. Three-year-old boys snatched from their homes and then trained in enemy camps so that they can come back in a few years’ time and butcher their own families. They call itpedomazomain Greece. It literally means the gathering of children.”

“And the boys are abducted by Ottoman soldiers?”

Nikolaos shot him a dark look. “Not solely,” he said. “I am convinced, my lord Perlin, that there is no good or bad nation, after all. Only people and their choices. The oppressors, all oppressors everywhere, are aided by as many European men as Ottomans.”

“The reverse is true as well,” Alexei interjected. “The revolution is aided by many as well.”

“Thank God,” Nikolaos nodded. Alexei stayed silent, not sharing his faith or his sentiment. “But the Ottomans, you know, are hardly alone in everything they do. They are assisted greatly.”

“By?”

“England. France. Russia. Other countries as well, of lesser power.”

“Jesus,” Alexei said again.

“There is money to be made in slavery, and money to be made in the selling of young, strong, trainable soldiers as well. Children mean the future. Where they are exploited, wealth awaits.”

“And where wealth awaits, even kings and princes chase down the gold,” Alexei added.

“Not this prince,” Nikolaos said quietly.

“Or this one either. Although I am not a prince anymore. Exiled, to say the least. Kicked out, more precisely.”

“You have a prince’s heart, my friend,” Nikolaos smiled. “I never expected a man I barely know to risk his own livelihood, his wealth, and his very life, in order to save me and my revolution. Well, the revolution is not exactly mine alone; or it will not be as soon as I find more supporters. That’s why I need to be out of this lovely prison, rallying the rich intellectuals and the grecophiles of England and Austria. Now. The boy kidnappings must be stopped, that is a matter of urgency, and only a bill from the House of Lords can stop that. Or maybe not even that,” he mused. “I doubt that it is legal now, but every ship’s captain on the Mediterranean certainly acts as if it is.”

“You will be free,” Alexei vowed. “You will be out soon.”

“Not unless the spies are taken care of. We have to do something about that, one way or another.”

“Not we,” Alexei replied, getting to his feet, “I. I shall take care of that spy immediately. It shall be swift, and it shall be brutal. But even I have to curb my enthusiasm; I had better find out what she knows about you first, right?”

“She?” Nikolaos’ voice sounded interested for the first time.

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