Free The Anathema by Zachary Rawlins Page B

aren’t too observant, are you, Alex? Take Anastasia, for example. She has four siblings, and only her older brother is an Operator, and not much of one at that. My parents figured on the same odds, and they wanted to make sure the family business would be secure. Most people don’t show the potential for activation until they hit puberty, more or less. So, my parents had a bunch. And, as it turned out, six of the seven were Operators, a great many more than they needed.”
    “Wow.”
    “A man of few words,” Katya observed coolly. “Anyway, that used to mean fights over succession. Back in the old days, we probably would have tried to kill each other off fighting over potential inheritance. Fortunately, the Black Sun has a system to prevent that’s sort of thing. My parents pledged my brother and myself to the Black Sun’s service when we were twelve, freeing them from the need to pay Academy fees or find jobs in the cartel for us, and in return, their own standing was enhanced. It was a good deal for us, too, because we have a better chance at advancement and prestige in the Black Sun. Everyone knows that Anastasia will take over in a few years. All the precognitives swear to it, I hear even her father thinks it’s a foregone conclusion and plans to step aside. All the subsidiary cartels are trying to get on her good side.”
    “That does seem to be the usual reaction,” Alex agreed ruefully, poking at his numbed arm. “What about her brother? You said she had an older brother.”
    “He put his claim aside. Anastasia had a couple cousins who have tried to challenge her position as heir apparent once. Nobody ever heard anything from the entire family, ever again.”
    “Are you supposed to be telling me all this stuff? I’m not part of the Black Sun or anything.”
    Katya shrugged, tossing her hair. In the fluorescent light of the examination room, Alex could see that her hair was actually dyed in very fine streaks of red and dark brown, intermingled so that it appeared auburn from a distance. Alex wondered how it could have taken him this long to notice that she was cute, in a quiet way. Something about how Katya carried herself, the lines of her body beneath her uniform – she gave off a general air of indifference, as if she wasn’t concerned with being seen as attractive.
    At least, not by him.
    “None of this is a secret. Besides, Anastasia told me that you would join eventually, that it was inevitable.”
    “I bet she did,” Alex said sourly. “Look, no hard feelings, but I don’t need a bodyguard.”
    “Are you sure?” Katya asked, slowly standing up from the plastic chair, her expression hardening. Alex followed her eyes to the open door of the examination room.
    “You don’t look like a doctor,” Alex said.
    It was true. Grigori Aushev looked nothing at all like a doctor. He was solidly built, but not like Michael; it was as if he had the frame to be tall and skinny, but had managed to pack a bunch of muscle on in defiance of nature’s intentions. He moved gracefully, like a dancer, belying his size. He looked unhappy; however, the face beneath his uncombed dark hair did not seem capable of expressing happiness, so Alex wasn’t sure. He had Slavic features, three days worth of stubble on his cheeks, flat brown eyes that refused to acknowledge the light, a thick accent and a voice so deep that Alex had to lean forward to hear him.
    “Alexander Warner? Grigori Aushev. We need to talk.”
    “Oh, for God’s sake,” Alex muttered, his head in his good hand. “Can’t any of you people at least wait until I see the doctor?”
     
    * * *
     
    “You’re going to have to explain that to me.”
    Anastasia was brushing her teeth at the time, so she did not hear him approach. It wasn’t like Renton to come into her wing this late in the evening, and it wasn’t like Donner and Blitzen to ignore the intrusion. She was surprised; surprised enough that her she poked herself in her gums with her