Bode, Interrupted

[Nesrin Aziz]

His tone was lightly mocking, and she couldn’t decide whether she liked it or not. On the one hand the irreverence was like-minded, fully cognisant of the game that this was, but on the other she wondered if he was actually just supremely bored by whatever circumstance conspired to draw him here against his will. Indifference was harder to entice if he wanted this encounter done and dusted with as little inconvenience to himself as possible, not to mention disappointing, but what she was actually beginning to suspect was that Jaxen was simply too rich and too clever for his own good; the kind of man always looking to the next strange horizon, always hunting the next challenge. That was a far easier knot to pull tighter. It was probably how he landed himself in this mess in the first place.

She lightly scrunched her nose, faux offended. “Betrayal’s such a nasty word. I much prefer entrepreneurial instinct.

“Did your friend tell you it was the one who walked away in the middle of a negotiation? With the key quite literally left in my hands like a gift. I rather took exception to the resultant threats, and more so to the actual attempt to do me harm. It could have saved itself a lot of effort had it just asked me to return it nicely.”

Amusement glittered her eyes, though what had happened outside Manifesto was no laughing matter at the time. She didn’t bother to offer any assurances, which would have been a waste of air, and Jaxen never said he expected her to be the one doing the inevitable betraying anyway. “Entrepreneurial instinct” worked both ways after all, and whatever leverage the Emissary had over him he’d still be in this for himself. Fortunately trust wasn’t a requisite. If tipping Jaxen off to the key’s whereabouts got m’Antinomian off her back then that was more than enough value on its own, though it was all to the better if she gleaned something more for herself in the process. Her mind was already spinning the contingencies to inch towards what she wanted. She loved the thrill of that feeling; not quite knowing how any of it would play out.

“Who says playing with me means you’ll have to lose?”

He was leaned in close enough to maintain the illusion of interest, and she didn’t think Carmen would interrupt unless things appeared to be going badly, though she didn’t look around to check. She didn’t look away at all, though the gaze beneath her lashes dipped to roam him in his entirety like she was considering the measure of her price. Or simply using the excuse to look. The dramatic flourish of his hand was a temptation, but she didn’t take it; didn’t want the risk of that contact, even if it seemed less likely to be a threat to her now. There was still a sharpness to him, though; a tension at odds with his relative ease.

Bode was a mystery, spiralled from shadows to notoriety by a single act. There was no renown to her name, no obvious cause to justify the quiet confidence she projected. Neither was the face behind the moniker anything to note, and she’d be forgotten just as quickly when all this blew over. But Nesrin herself wasn’t the hook, nor the dangled bait she decided would motivate him most. “All I want is for you to prove you’re every bit as good as you say you are,” she said softly, leaning in past the offer of his hand to tap a gentle finger against the sticker on his chest. The rumours about Voxel were extravagant after all. “With a front row seat for yours truly, of course.”

Maybe the appeal to his vanity was a little on the nose, but it didn’t matter; by the tease of her smile and the spark in her eyes, she was quite aware she wasn’t being subtle. The invitation for temporary alliance was genuine regardless, but not the only means to her end. Jaxen was only here because something pushed him to it – she was willing to bet on that. Which meant he would seek out the key, and all she had to do was watch and follow when he made his move, whether he wanted her to or not.

“How do you feel about screwing with a god? Infiltrating a cult?” The words were spoken sultry and low, as befit the decadent club moving around them. Jaxen didn’t feel dangerous, but something in the act did; or so the little shivers all over her skin told her. “Because I gave the key to the Brotherhood.”