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“Are you all right?” I asked him.

“I will be. As long as you don’t leave me
too.”

“Not a chance.” In fact, my thoughts were
suddenly turning surprisingly lecherous. We had an empty apartment
and a bed to ourselves. After the cramped quarters of the yacht, a
bit of privacy was almost too good to pass up. I’d sworn to wait
until the implant was gone before truly making love to him, but
now, my resolve weakened. He was so sweet and vulnerable, and part
of me wanted to claim that weakness. To find that emptiness inside
of him and fill it with pleasure.

It was only a second though — a moment of
daydreaming — and then it shattered as Ayo ducked his head,
reaching back to rub the spot behind his ear. “The hook, Misha. It
was quiet this morning, but now… I can feel them tugging. It’s
starting to hurt.”

I sighed, all thoughts of returning to the
bedroom forgotten. There’d be time for pleasure later.

I hoped.

“It’s time we found Donato’s
surgeon.”

Not surprisingly, Gefrey Gideon lived in a far
nicer section of town than Jenko. His neighborhood reminded me of
Davlova’s second quadrant. Large houses with well-tended lawns
lined the broad streets, and although the stench was still present,
there were no piles of manure or garbage visible here. His house
was the kind of home I’d spent my life avoiding and envying. I
stood on the sidewalk, eyeing the path to the front door, feeling
once again like a street kid dressed in rags. Never mind that I was
a grown man, wearing the clothes I’d bought after I’d begun working
for Donato. They were a bit dirtier for the wear, but still finer
than anything I’d owned in my life, but that didn’t stop me from
feeling like a trespasser. At any moment, some butler might open
the front door and tell me to get off his lawn or he’d send for the
authorities.

“What are we waiting for?” Ayo asked
quietly.

“For me to be somebody other than who I
am.”

“What do you mean?”

“Forget it.” I was being stupid. We’d come all
the way here, with me practically dragging Ayo at times to keep him
from turning toward the arch. “Let’s go.”

My hand shook as I pulled the cord to ring the
bell. The door was answered by a woman. She wasn’t dressed like a
servant. Her clothes were expensive, and clearly designed to
enhance her voluptuous figure. Her skin was golden pale, her hair
the color of straw, her lips painted bright red. “Can I help
you?”

“We’re looking for Gefrey Gideon,” I said,
trying to sound more confident than I felt. “We need to speak with
him.”

I expected to be challenged, maybe even sent
away. I figured if she ordered us to leave without calling the
authorities, we’d be doing well, but the woman facing us seemed
friendly. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No. Do we need one?”

“Not necessarily. Are you seeking medical
treatment?” She ran her questioning gaze over both of us. “Are you
sick or injured?”

It hadn’t occurred to me that a Guild surgeon
might still work as a regular doctor as well. “We need to talk to
him about an implant.”

“Oh!” Her smile was warm and gracious. “Of
course. Come in, please.”

We followed her clicking heels and swaying
hips into an office. I’d never been attracted to women, and I was
unbelievably nervous about meeting the surgeon, but even I couldn’t
help but stare. She practically radiated sexual heat.

“
You can wait here,” she told us,
her pouting lips turned up in just the right amount of a smile. Her
low-cut blouse revealed the untattooed skin of her right shoulder,
proving she wasn’t a slave. Her ample cleavage threatened to spill
free of its restraints as she leaned toward me expectantly. “Would
you like a drink?”

“No. Thank you.”

“Have a seat. I’ll let him know you’re
here.”

Ayo watched her leave, biting his lip. It
occurred to me that he’d been sold to a man, and he was clearly
comfortable having sex with men, but that didn’t mean he didn’t
find women attractive too. Was it possible he was imagining what it
would feel like to lie with her? I was about to ask him when he
turned to me and said, “Is she one too?”

“One what?”

“Like me. From the Dollhouse?”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” But it certainly
wouldn’t have surprised me.

The room held a wide desk and several chairs.
Tapestries covered the walls. The window was shuttered. It had been
hot outside, but here in the surgeon’s house, it was comfortably
cool.

Ayo took a seat, but I was too nervous to do
the same. I barely resisted the urge to pace. Luckily, Gefrey
Gideon didn’t keep us waiting for long.

He was a tall man, who I guessed to be in his
early thirties, handsome and confident in that casual way that
spoke of money and a good education.

“Rhianne says you needed to see me.” He was
polite enough, but his eyes lingered on my clothing. “Have a seat.
Are you sure you wouldn’t like something to drink?”

“We’re sure.”

“Then how can I help you?”

“We need your help,” Ayo said.

A small, vertical line appeared between
Gideon’s eyebrows. He surveyed us both unabashedly, obviously
checking for signs of illness or injury. It seemed Rhianne hadn’t
told him the details of our visit. “We need to talk to you about a
neural chip,” I explained.

Gideon leaned forward, resting his elbows on
his desk. “I don’t mean to offend you, but I suspect you don’t have
the funds to afford implantation. The devices are quite
expensive.”

“We don’t need one implanted,” I assured
him.

Gideon’s eyebrows rose. “Oh?”

It was Ayo who answered him. “I already have
one.”

Gideon glanced at me for confirmation,
probably because Ayo looked like nothing more than a boy. “We were
hoping to have it removed.”

A line between Gideon’s eyebrows deepened as
he frowned. He shook his head abruptly. “Impossible.”

“Deactivated, then?”

His frown lessened. “Maybe.” His chair
squeaked as he leaned back to study us. “But why me? Why not go to
the surgeon who performed the implant?”

“We can’t,” Ayo told him.

Gideon looked back and forth between Ayo and
me, tapping his finger against his lips, debating his next
question. “What kind of program are we talking about
here?”

To my embarrassment, I began to blush. I
halfway hoped Ayo would answer, but he didn’t. He stared instead
down at his hands, which were clasped firmly in his lap.

But our silence seemed to be answer enough.
“Ah. That kind of program.”

“I want it gone,” Ayo said, his voice firm.
“Please. Can’t you turn it off?”

Gideon sat forward again, balancing on the
edge of his seat. “And you can’t go to the original
surgeon?”

“We don’t know who he was.”

“You should have a mark somewhere, assuming he
was an accredited surgeon and not some brain butcher. Do you have a
tattoo? Maybe on your shoulder blade, or your thigh?”

Ayo turned to me, his eyes asking my opinion.
“Go ahead,” I told him.

He stood and pulled his shirt up to reveal the
twin lines of spidery tattoos on the right side of his chest,
running from just below his nipple to his waist.

I expected Gideon to be surprised, but he
wasn’t. If anything, he seemed mildly disappointed. “I see,” he
said, matter-of-factly. “Well, that changes everything.”

“How so?” I asked.

Gideon didn’t answer. Instead, he took out a
piece of paper and a pencil and began to copy the tattoos from
Ayo’s chest. “I’ll have to research these,” he said.

“I had part of it translated, but—”

“The part you could have translated isn’t the
part I’m interested in. I’m guessing the first half of that second
line had you stumped?”

“How’d you know?”

“It’s a code, but it’ll tell me exactly what
kind of programming they used. Assuming the Dollhouse will grant me
access to their records, that is.” Once he was finished, he stood
from his chair, tucking the paper into a pocket and straightening
his jacket. “I’ve been rude. I apologize. I can see you’ve been
traveling. You’re undoubtedly hungry.” He turned to call toward the
hallway, “Rhianne!”

A moment later, the woman reappeared. She
smiled sweetly at Gideon. “Yes?”

“Show these two to our guest room. Let them
clean up a bit.”

“Of course.”

“And find them some clean clothes.”

“I’ll send Alric out right away—”

“That’s not necessary,” I started to say, but
Gideon held up a hand to stop me.

“We have a lot to discuss. But first, I have
to deal with this.” He pointed to the copy of Ayo’s tattoo.
“Please, take a couple of hours. Refresh yourselves. We’ll talk
again at dinner.”

***

Rhianne led us to a well-lit room on the third
floor. The first thing I noticed was the smell of flowers. Sunlight
poured through a large window on the far side of the room, and a
gentle breeze carried the scent of the dozens of flowers blooming
in the window box to our noses. The bed had a tall post in each
corner, much like the one at Donato’s house. I shuddered, trying
not to think about being tied to one of those posts while Donato
used his belt to strangle Ayo.

We left our meager bag of possessions and were
shown into a massive marble bathing room, much like the one I’d
used at Talia’s, with a large, sunken tub in the floor. The water
was running, the tub nearly two-thirds full already. Ayo was less
impressed than I was, and I wondered if Donato’s washroom had been
the same.

“Take your time,” Rhianne said. “If you leave
your clothes, I’ll have them laundered for you, and I’ll have some
clean ones in your room by the time you get out.”

“I can pay,” I started to say, but she cut me
off.

“Don’t be silly.” She pulled a pendant from
her bodice and checked it. “Dinner will be ready in a couple of
hours.”

Part of me wanted to argue, but the idea of a
bath quickly won out.

“You go first,” I told Ayo.

I saw the disappointment in his eyes. “You
don’t want to come with me?”

I did, but it had been hard enough to resist
him in the dark dreariness of Jenko’s spare room. How could I ever
deny him if we bathed together? He’d offer to help me wash, and I’d
be finished. It was a tempting thought, but I wanted to do it
right. We’d come this far. We’d found Gideon. He’d gone to the
Dollhouse to check Ayo’s records. With any luck, Ayo’s program
would be gone by the end of the night.

It would be worth the wait.

Ayo didn’t take long in the bathroom, and then
it was my turn. In my years as a den kid, I’d gotten by with
nothing but sinks and a few sponge baths, but since moving to
Talia’s, I’d become accustomed to bathing nearly every night in
preparation for my time with Donato. Stepping into the tub felt
amazing. I sank into the scented water with a sigh, submerging
myself completely, letting it soothe my still-aching ribs, allowing
it to soak through my thick hair to my scalp. I felt as if I were
washing away everything that had happened — the revolution, and the
fire; killing the man I loved and fleeing the city; and two days of
Deliphine’s wretched stink. I soaked until the water grew cold and
my fingers resembled prunes.

I was surprised to find Ayo sound asleep,
sprawled naked on his stomach across our bed. I didn’t wake him. We
still had time before dinner, and he needed the rest.

Rhianne had obviously returned while I’d
languished in the tub, because there were two sets of clean clothes
draped across the armchair. They were obviously second-hand, since
no tailor could produce two sets of new clothing in an hour, but
they were decent quality and in good condition. I dressed and made
my way downstairs. I found Gideon in the same office I’d first met
him in.

“Misha,” he said pleasantly, rising to pour me
a drink. “Come in. Have a seat. We have a lot to
discuss.”

He handed me the drink, and I obediently took
the chair opposite him and waited as he sat down again on the far
side of his desk.

“I’ve petitioned the Dollhouse to let me
operate on the boy.”

My heart sank a bit. “That means they know
we’re here.”

He held up his hands. “It was the only way.
I’m a surgeon of the Guild, and we have certain agreements with the
Dollhouse that can’t be violated. I’d be disbanded and stripped of
my license if I tampered with one of their products without
permission.”

I bit back an angry retort about his reference
to Ayo as a “product.” “When will you have an answer?”

“As early as tomorrow morning.”

“Did you learn anything else?”

He leaned forward on his desk, but couldn’t
quite meet my eyes. “He has one of the cruelest programs I’ve ever
seen.” He sounded almost apologetic. “I hate to think what they
must have done to him.”