Chapter 3

’One, two, three ... One, two, three ... One,’ Brodie counted off in his head.

He’d learned many dances while on Hel, but the one that gave him the most trouble was the Viennese waltz. It was a showy version of the ancient dance called the waltz that had originated on Earth. His instructor had told him to think of it as dancing on a race track because it was much faster than many dances. And on that track, you’d do doughnuts as you spun about the room.

His mother required him to dance with each woman she wanted him to meet. It seemed B had gotten into the conductor’s ear and requested this dance.

Brodie couldn’t help thinking he and B made an attractive couple when they took the dance floor. That was confirmed when they were circled by the vid-drones from the various news agencies. They made their way to the middle of the pack of nearly forty other couples. When the music began, the floor seemed to clear of dancers so Brodie and B could show off their skills.

They raced around the parquet dance floor, spinning and twirling as he focused on keeping his head held high, back straight, and arms in the proper position. They moved in unison as they seemed to simply glide.

As the dance continued, B’s bright eyes and tiny grin relaxed Brodie to the point where he no longer had to count the steps in his head. He loosened up and began to enjoy dancing with B. He loved that she followed his subtle cues as he led them through the dance, keeping them in sync as if they were one.

When the music finally stopped, the room got quiet as Brodie faced B, bowed, and kissed her hand. The look on her face was priceless as the crowd erupted in applause. If the clans had a vote on who he should marry, they’d just chosen Miss Betrina Eike. He glanced over at Elle; she had an unreadable expression but clearly wasn’t happy.

B quietly thanked him for the dance and gracefully returned to her table. He noted that most of the vid-drones followed her as she left. When he walked off the dance floor, Val and Erik were smiling like idiots.

“Not a word,” Brodie warned.

“Was she the last one your mother wanted you to dance with?” Val asked.

“I hope so,” Brodie said.

He looked around the room and spotted a girl with short, shocking-blue hair shaved at the sides to expose intricate tattoos. She walked to the bar, her gait marking her as someone dangerous, which intrigued him.

“Who’s that?” Brodie asked.

Neither of his friends knew, so Erik snapped her picture and used his communicator to find out who she was. He sucked his breath in through his teeth when she appeared on his screen.

“Aurora Just. She’s the second daughter of Carmichael Just, the Warlord of the Goth.”

The Goths were mercenaries, fearsome warriors who lived in a remote part of space. No one knew where their homeworld was, but it was reported to be a brutal, inhospitable landscape that weeded out the weak and hardened their warriors.

Rumors said the Goths were genetically and cyber-enhanced as children, something that had been outlawed for the nearly two hundred years since The Uprising. A consortium of outer-rim worlds had decided they wanted to upgrade their living conditions and had begun a war to take over habitable planets.

The consortium’s soldiers were all genetically enhanced to make them perfect killing machines. The Uprising ended when the enhanced soldiers’ bloodlust got out of control and they started to kill indiscriminately. In the end, the outer rim begged for help because those soldiers wiped out several of their outposts.

A group of the enhanced managed to escape and became bogeymen because they lacked the bloodlust gene. They had been improved for a different purpose: superior intelligence, meant to lead or gather information. Rumor had it that the Goths had welcomed them, believing the enhanced would strengthen their bloodlines and help their children survive the harsh conditions of their homeworld.

“What are they doing here?” Brodie asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

He hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to his father about anything. It made him wonder if something serious was happening he wasn’t aware of, something that had his father concerned enough to hire the Goth.

“Maybe they’re here to pay their respects to the new Erikson hersir,” Val ventured.

Erik threw a face, meaning he didn’t buy Val’s suggestion but didn’t have a better idea.

“I think I’ll go introduce myself,” Brodie decided.

“We’ll be way over here if it all goes wrong,” Erik said.

That was his friend’s way of saying Brodie was a dumbass about to get the crap beat out of him but wouldn’t be talked out of it. He looked at Val and saw her try not to laugh at him. It just went to prove that some things never changed.

Brodie made his way to the bar as Aurora got her drink. In the glass was a clear liquid with a centipede in it.

“You’re not seriously going to drink that, are you?” Brodie asked in horror.

“This is a venomous tropical giant centipede distilled in a white whisky. Don’t tell me the hersir of the Erikson clan is a wimp,” Aurora said.

“I think she figured you out. You’re not afraid of a bug, are you?” Karl asked.

It was apparent he and Johan had been eavesdropping. Well, it was more like they’d also spotted Aurora and come to check her out. Making fun of Brodie was just a bonus for these two.

“Don’t let them bully you,” Johan said, turning to the bartender. “Pour me one.”

Karl looked a bit green, so Brodie ordered two more.

“Before I die, what will this do to me?” Brodie asked Aurora.

“The trick is to chew it up. Otherwise, the legs will get stuck in your throat, and you’ll choke to death. Then you pray to whatever gods you believe in.”

“Pray?” Karl asked.

“If they didn’t distill it correctly, the poison might kill you. You can tell something’s wrong when your lips go numb,” Aurora shared.

“Then why drink it?” Johan asked.

“It’s an aphrodisiac that’s guaranteed to get you laid.”

Aurora added that it also helped with muscle pain when you pulled something during vigorous sex.

Brodie had always been the youngest in the group, so he’d learned how to tell when someone tried to convince him of a lie. Aurora was teasing them.

“I want to get laid and pull a muscle,” Brodie said a bit too eagerly.

He nearly blew it because Karl and Johan gave him curious looks.

“I thought Norsemen were to be feared; a little drink shouldn’t scare you. But I guess I’ll have to go first,” Aurora said and downed her drink.

Brodie threw up a little in his mouth when he heard her crunching the centipede. The damned thing had to be six inches long.

Karl and Johan followed suit. They both struggled with the giant bug but eventually swallowed it. Brodie laughed and set his drink on the bar.

“I’m going to wait and see if you all die,” Brodie said.

“Uh oh. Something doesn’t feel right,” Aurora said as she reached out and grabbed Brodie’s arm to steady herself.

“My lips feel numb!” Karl said in a panic.

Johan bit his bottom lip before announcing, “I’m going to die!”

“Either draw blades and send each other to Valhalla or grab some women and die in bed,” Aurora suggested.

They picked plan B.

After they left, Brodie and Aurora burst out laughing.

“So, you’re not going to drink with me?” Aurora asked.

“I don’t drink. I mean, when I was ten or eleven, I drank ale. But I’ve been in an academy for the last eight years, and there was nothing to tempt me.”