“It is getting rather tiresome to listen to,” Saint agreed, holding up both hands when Berga tore his gaze off whatever the fuck he was working on to send him a dark look.
Kazimir crossed his arms and propped a shoulder against the wall, glancing over toward the closed door that led into the side room. He’d just come from campus, and he was hungry, which meant he wanted this over and done with as soon as possible.
“How are you two settling in?” Baikal asked Yuze, who was hanging by the exit.
Both he and Saint had been located on the other side of Vitality for the past two years, sent there by Sullivan Void to oversee part of the business with their parents. Since his death, Baikal had made it his mission to rearrange things as he saw fit, reform the empire in his own image, so to speak.
It’d caused problems amongst the older generation who worked for Void Conglomerate. They lacked the same kind of loyalty the Bruma mafia had, and were giving Kal a hard time over anything and everything. Because of that, he’d ordered Saint’s mother back to Valeo to help get them in line. Yuze’s father had also been called home for a similar reason.
It sucked that they were still in schooling, that their age affected widespread opinion of them within the business world, but Kazimir also understood it. There was a lot left to learn from those older than them, and they’d been thrust too quickly into these leadership roles. No one had anticipated Sullivan’s untimely death, even after he’d been diagnosed with the disease.
Still, the silver lining was having Saint and Yuze back, making the Satellite complete for the first time in years.
Not that Kaz had missed them. He hadn’t. He was simply sick of having to listen to Flix and Berga interact like an old married couple on his own.
“Fine,” Yuze replied. “Vail is an interesting place. The curriculum is a lot better than Spring where we were going.”
“All of our credits transferred as well,” Saint added.
“And the rest?” Baikal was sitting at the end of the table, his back facing the door where the crying was still coming from. He had his legs crossed and a glass cup filled with black coffee he regularly sipped on. “Have you caught up on everything else?”
Everything having to do with Brumal business, he meant.
“I have questions about the Shepherds, actually,” Yuze said.
“Talk to Flix then.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the one I’m assigning as an intermediary.”
Flix groaned. “What? No, come on, Kal. Pick someone else.”
“You’re the Runner,” he reminded. “Are you really telling me to give someone else your job?”
He sat back and scowled. “I don’t want anything to do with them, and you know it.”
Kazimir’s interest was piqued by that. “Why not?”
The Shepherds had recently had a change in leadership as well. Kaz hadn’t bothered with their little gang unless necessary—which wasn’t often—but it was important to keep them in line and establish ground rules before this new boss got any bright ideas. The only reason their operation had been allowed to keep running at all was because they were small fry.
“They don’t step on our toes,” Baikal said, “and we can continue coexisting in peace. Their last leader was pushing it. If he hadn’t been murdered by someone else, I was this close to giving the order myself. Tell the new guy in charge as much.”
Flix didn’t seem pleased at all.
“No, really,” Kaz pushed. “What kind of problem do you have with them?”
“Nothing,” Flix muttered, a bald-faced lie if Kazimir had ever heard one, but there was no chance to point out as much.
“I should have this perfected by the end of the week,” Berga informed Kal, holding up a glass vial. He swished the golden liquid within it, eyeing it carefully before placing it back within an odd machine that made too many noises.
That, coupled with the crying, pushed Flix over the edge—or maybe he was just being pissy over his orders, who knew—and he shot to his feet dramatically. “If my part here is done, I’ve got somewhere to be.”
“Yeah,” Baikal waved him toward the door, “meeting with the Shepherds.”
Flix made an annoyed sound but bowed his head and turned, practically shoving his way past Yuze.
“What is that?” Saint asked Berga a moment later.
