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“Holy fuck,” he muttered again, quieter that time.

“Shut up,” Chinja snapped at him.

Her voice sounded unsteady, like she was in shock.

“Revi’, my friend.” Terian’s voice lowered. “Sit. Please. I know this seems like a threat, but it’s meant to be incentive, too. There are things we need to discuss.” He smiled when Revik looked over, but that shrewd look never left his amber eyes. “I won’t hurt her. Don’t give me any reason to, brother, and I promise you, I won’t. I simply needed to make sure you would talk to me. You understand, I hope?”

Revik was back to staring at the stage.

He couldn’t help himself. He couldn’t seem to make himself want to look away, despite the conflict that crackled and sparked through his light, making it difficult to think.

His thoughts wanted to return to the last time they’d been alone, but he forced that out of his light as well, knowing he was already hard enough that they had to have noticed, no matter how dark it was in here.

He was still standing there when Terian clicked his fingers at two larger seers who’d just joined them at the top of the chrome stairs. Both muscular, suit-wearing seers began to herd Revik and his small group towards the couch with thick hands, as if intending to bodily force them to sit down with the five Terians.

One actually did lay a heavy hand on Revik’s shoulder once he stood next to the couch, placing enough pressure there that Revik found himself acquiescing. He allowed himself to be guided, if only to give himself time to think, and within seconds, he sat facing the stage, between Terian on his left and Dalejem on his right.

Sinking his weight deeper onto the suede couch, Revik stared at where his wife leapt up and coiled her leg around the pole a second time, making another graceful circuit with her back arched and head tilted back, her eyes aimed up, towards the ceiling. She used muscular arms to push herself upwards into a full split, her hair hanging down as she slid smoothly around the pole. She twisted back around, moving like a boneless cat, until her legs stuck out straight, earning her another round of calls from the nearest?and likely drunkest?of the audience clustered by the stage.

Sickness coiled through his light and gut as he watched her, even as he felt his body react in much more urgent ways. He’d never seen her move like that before. He’d known she was flexible, just frommulei, and sex?butjesus fucking christ.

A dense flush of anger twisted through him, what wanted to ignite the structures above his head, to turn into action?or at the very least, to violence.

“I’m going to kill you,” he said to Terian, his voice low.

Terian clicked at him, a gentle rebuke. “Come now, brother. A little gratitude would not be amiss. After all, she’s never treated you to a show like this before, has she?” His grin widened when Revik looked over with a clenched jaw. “Ah! Well, maybe she has. But you must admit, it’s damned sexy to see her doing it for an audience… and with such abandon!”

“Terry?” Revik said, his voice close to incoherent.

“Shehasdone this before, though,” Terian mused, cutting him off as he leaned back in the couch, his eyes back on the stage. “Performed, I mean. She lied to me at first, but I got her to admit it later, when I explained to her what I needed her to do. I find that so interesting, Revi’.Where,do you suppose, had she done this? She was not specific about that end of things with me. I even asked her, and she acted very coy, your wife, when I pressed for details. A little spare college money, I wonder, back in the day? Or was this something she picked up after she met you, and learned more of your predilections, my friend…?”

“Beijing,” the blue-eyed seer said, from Revik’s other side.

Revik turned, staring at that version of Terian.

“Ditrini had her perform for us a few times,” the seer said, taking a sip of a pale green, iridescent drink with a frothy top. “…once he found out she could move. I don’t know if she’d done it before then. If not, she’s quite the natural… she was this good then, too.”

Revik felt that heat in his chest worsen. He fought it back, still trying to keep the worst of his reactions out of the construct.

He didn’t know why he bothered.

Terian being here meant Shadow was here, too?in some form.

They were just toying with them.

Revik’s eyes returned to the stage.

He watched Allie slide around the pole again, and that time, he almost thought he saw her eyes on him as she pulled herself up it with her hands and thighs. Something about her looking his way, the contacts and the prosthetics that changed her face, along with the hair color that wasn’t really hers, worsened the pain to unbearable, making that heat in his chest flare.

At the same time, it gave him his focus back.

A near-calm fell over his mind.

“Revi’?” Terian said, looking over at him. “This was a present, brother. I am told your birthday was recent, and I had nothing to give you.” At Revik’s cold look, Terian burst out in a more genuine laugh. “Please, brother. Don’t be offended. I could not resist giving you a present of this. And anyway, I needed you to not… overreact… when you saw me.”

Revik stared at him. “You thought this would be the thing to keep me calm, Terry?”

“Calm?” Terian grinned. “No, brother. Not calm. But perhaps… motivated. To not do anything overly rash in regards to my person.”