Read The Descent into the Maelstrom (The Phantom of the Earth Book 4) for Free Online Page A

he?”
    “Aha, no, no, mademoiselle, but your transport leaves soon.”
    Gwen opened the door and stepped out of the shower in her new First Ward apartment unit. Antosha had gifted it to her. He lay on the bed, still asleep. Juvelle draped a woolen robe around her that smelled of cinnamon and apricot. She dried herself and handed the robe to Juvelle, then slipped into her undergarments and a summer silk gown. She applied maroon eyeliner and dark mascara and injected herself with uficilin, but it didn’t dull the pain. The dirt would never clean. Her insides would never heal.
    Why had she seduced Brody so completely, so deceptively? How could a wiser scientist and captain a hundred years her senior have been so foolish? How could she have been? But Brody had it coming, she reassured herself, for he should never have used Haleya the way he had. He had encouraged her to the surface! How could he! He knew he didn’t have a cure! He understood Reassortment’s disastrous impact on the transhuman body!
    But when she thought of Damy, and Verne, nothing could console her.
    If only she would’ve sought counsel from Minister Kaspasparon, her friend, her savior, the minister who had sent her to House Variscan after her parents had abandoned her in Transport City. But then she remembered the voices, Antosha’s voice, in her head all the time. Who could she speak to without his knowing?
    What would he do if she questioned him?
    She ambled into the sitting room with velvet-covered furniture and activated a Granville panel. Suddenly she stood upon a beach with white sand and endless blue skies, endless waves and salty wind. The artificial gusts increased around her and mixed with the neural signals congruent with salt and fruit. She closed her eyes and breathed deep, feeling calmer, until she felt his hands spread over her neck and shoulders.
    She opened her eyes. His breath, then his lips, touched her skin.
    “A future queen shouldn’t leave without the proper headpiece,” Antosha said. He held a silk-lined tiara shaped like a phoenix feather, coated with gold dust.
    “I’m not a queen,” Gwen said. She deactivated the panel and the illusory paradise disappeared. “I’m a scientist.”
    He kissed her neck and slipped his hand into his robe.
    “Soon you will realize, my violin, that there is no difference in Beimeni.”
    Gwen pulled back. “Marcel will be here soon.”
    Antosha twisted his face. “I trust that you have some idea for Marcel’s purpose during your travels,” he said.
    “It would seem odd for me to be in so many cities alone,” she said. “Don’t you agree?” She could tell by his expression he did not.
    “Your campaign for the supreme scientist of Reassortment, the honorary minister third in line to the chancellorship, is in the tradition of the Great Commonwealth, you need no explanation.”
    Of course, Gwen knew this. She wanted to tell Antosha that Palaestra’s powerful Minister Charles expressed the views of many ministers at the hearing and that it would take a Vigna-sized effort to convince a majority of the ministry of Antosha’s value for such an important role in the commonwealth. Rather, she said, “Marcel has sworn an oath of secrecy with his transfer to the RDD. He’ll be useful in my effort to garner you votes. Besides,” she wrapped an arm around Antosha and said in his ear, “he’s my brother.”
    “Brother-in-development,” Antosha corrected, removing her arm. “That doesn’t mean I can trust him with you,” he lifted her hair and stared at her reflection in a mirror, “or you with him,” then placed the silken feather around her forehead and splayed the tips through her hair. He turned her to face him. “I need you to be my eyes where I cannot see, my ears where I cannot hear, my presence where I cannot be.” He handed her a satchel filled with z-disks.
    She kissed his lips and brushed her face beside his. “I will not fail you,” she said, while wishing she’d never