The Flesh Cartel #3: Choices

matter, when its present work was so important? No more than it mattered that his fighter’s brother was supposed to become a doctor. Irrelevant.
Burn the past .
Says the sentimental fool who buys up his old charges.
Nikolai smiled to himself. Well, one could spare oneself the odd hypocritical indulgence.
Downstairs, he passed by the more traditional dungeon cell and had the guards place Mathias in a basic bedroom. Bending a will as strong as his without breaking it meant walking a line as fine as spider-silk; the man would need some comforts to stay on the right side of that line. Besides, as with those fortunate souls transformed at Nikolai’s hand, carrot would come into play in Mathias’s training as well as stick. Let him have a bed.
Even if, for the next several hours at least, he’d be chained to it.
“On the bed, gentlemen, if you would. Just chain one ankle, no need to pin him. A little slack is fine.”
Mathias fought like the animal he was, clearly thinking he was about to be used, and badly. A fine opportunity to test how desperate he was to protect his brother. Nikolai stepped into the fray, and sure enough, the thrashing limbs instantly stilled. Mathias looked on, face stamped with panic, horror , and said all in a rush, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you please I didn’t—”
“No,” Nikolai said, silencing him with a gentle hand to one twitching cheek. He was so pleased he almost considered forgoing the punishment, but that wouldn’t do, wouldn’t do at all. “You didn’t hit me. That was very good, Mathias. You’ve pleased me.”
Panic morphed into relief, and then, a moment later, disgust. Sheer contempt , as if the thought of having done something that pleased Nikolai was fundamentally offensive to his sensibilities.
“If I were training you as I train the others, I might just now have offered reprieve from the consequences you earned with your earlier disobedience. Unfortunately . . .” He shrugged— orders are orders, you understand . “With you, there can never be escape from consequences. There won’t be when I sell you on. The best you can do is choose to avoid them next time. I can’t give you the gifts I want to give you, so I’ll prepare you as best I can for the life ahead. It’s still a gift, if perhaps a bitter one. Now please”—he gestured toward the bed—“lie down.”
Mathias eyed the bed, the guards on either side of him, Nikolai, the bed again. He didn’t move, no doubt figured he was already being punished so why bother.
“You can lie down, or you can fall down. And neither I nor anybody else will be here to make sure you land safely. Consequences.”
Mathias sat down, and then, hesitantly, eyes on the guards, eased himself onto his back. Nikolai smiled to let him know he’d done well, and locked a shackle around his ankle. Not too tight. Just enough to keep him from wandering.
“Now then. I’m afraid you’ll be having something of a miserable afternoon, but you’ll live. Perhaps that will be a comfort for you in the midst of your agony. Perhaps not. It’s not really any of my concern. The key to this punishment, you see, is not merely its severity, but its finality . There’s no use for me to give it any thought beyond the decision to administer, and there’s no use for you to beg or try to make amends. Think of it like an avalanche. Once it’s set in motion, there’s no taking it back, and there’s no stopping it. For five to six hours, anyway, depending on your metabolism. And it will bury you.”
He reached into his suit pocket for the auto-injector he always carried during training, held it up for Mathias to see. The man’s eyes widened, pupils dilating, chest heaving. But when Nikolai laid his free hand over Mathias’s heart, he held still.
“In the hands of a lesser man, I’d almost call it lazy, because it forces the one who administers it to stand by their decisions. A shortcut to pitilessness for the spineless, you could say. Well, I’m not a weak-willed man. This isn’t for me, it’s for you. I want you to know with absolute certainty that I will never take your pain away. No one will ever take pity on you again. The only way to save yourself now is to obey. Fully. Instantly. Forever.”
He jammed the injector against Mathias’s hip and got out of the way before the man’s scream had time to form. Flailing limbs would follow; he wouldn’t be able to help himself, no matter the threat against his brother, no