Day 73

10am

"Now it is my duty to warn you, Abrasax, if you are caught indulging in any mind altering substances during your temporary release, you may be subject not only to an extended stay, but further penalties from the court. Do you understand?"

Shule sighed, reluctantly stamping Titus' release form and handing him back his personal items. Behind him, Lyta sat in her office chair, an indifferent look upon her face.

"Does that include fucking, Dr Shule?" Titus was grinning; he had been relentless all morning, bathing in Shule's frustration at having to release him, even for a short time. He hadn't expected Titus to participate in the abomination that was the 'Say No' production, after all.

"Remember that you still have to come back here, Titus, and if you carry on with that, it is very much in my power to have you escorted straight to the solitary rooms as soon as you return. Frankly, I've had enough of all this—"

Titus wasn't really listening to Shule. He pushed the extravagant rings back onto his fingers, feeling his heart leap at the prospect of seeing Kalique once again. He was wearing the same black t-shirt and blue jeans he'd arrived at Panacia in, his hair slicked back with the water from the drinking fountain as usual. He looked OK, he decided, considering everything.

One of the reasons Titus had been confined within Panacia was the fact that Kalique owned a reasonably modest mansion several districts away. The planet of Desentes had been a favourite of the Abrasax family, Balem and Seraphi having also owned properties there before their deaths. Titus had always had very little interest in securing properties within neighbouring planets, his clipper was substantial, and some part of him felt uneasy with the concept of taking up residence in a planet his family may one day choose to harvest. Of course, none of the populations of these planets ever suspected a thing. If a planet was nearing its optimal extraction date, its leaders would be informed roughly a century before the harvest that their planet was exempt from harvesting for varying reasons. This system had worked reasonably well. After all, communication between planets was poor, survivors even more so. Titus had wanted to ask Kitty why she'd survived Balem's harvest of Zalintyre, but he knew it may have been the last question he ever asked.

1pm

Kalique arrived two hours late, bitterly thanking the guards as they handed Titus over to her.

The hovering limousine waited in Panacia's parking lot, ready to take the two of them back to her mansion.

"It's powered by Regenex biproducts." Kalique told Titus, as they closed the doors of the limousine. "You wouldn't believe how fast it goes once it gets into the air. We'll be home in an hour…Kritza?"

"What?" Titus realised his attention had wondered at the mention of Regenex, he looked up to see Kalique pouring the bubbly alcohol into the two tall glasses. She handed him a glass.

"It's the finest Kritza Cerise has to offer, I made sure of it." She smiled, raising her glass in the air. "It's so good to see you brother."

Titus eyed the glass as the bubbles rose and burst as they reached the top of it.

"I'm not supposed to." He smiled, as if waiting for approval.

"You're not supposed to?" Kalique laughed. "Come on now, Titus, you're free for the next 48 hours-"

"46, actually. You were late."

"Oh, shush. Anyway, you're an Entitled, for goodness sake. No one is able to tell you what you're supposed to do outside the walls of that place." Kalique said with uncharacteristic contempt.

"What happened to you thinking I should be in there?" Titus raised his brow, smiling.

"Oh, I don't know. You should be, probably." Kalique shrugged.

Titus winced slightly, but continued to smile.

"I admit, I was shaken when you had the overdose. I thought you might… "

She trailed off, her gaze becoming briefly distant and detached, before her expression revived, and she looked back up towards Titus. "But who cares if you should or shouldn't be there? Jupiter Jones has no right to decide whether or not you should be."

Kalique took a sip of the Kritza, to which Titus took several swigs of his own.

"Jupiter Jones isn't an Entitled, she's Regenex fodder. That's her true birth right." She said, finding herself shocked by her own statement, laughing.

Titus laughed too, taking another swig of Kritza.

"She took my Regenex from me." He found himself saying, several minutes later, at the bottom of his glass.

"What?" Kalique's carefree attitude had dissipated immediately. "She can't do that!"

"Not to you, perhaps." Titus muttered. "But I tried to kill her. You know the plethora of legal loopholes involved when it comes to murdering another Entitled, short of my death or conventional imprisonment, she can do what she wants to me. And I'm in Panacia, which is basically a prison with a therapy room. She's angry, that's why she's taken my Regenex, she wants to drive me mad. And she will. She—"

"She's not an Entitled." Kalique cut in, her voice now laced with venomous hostility as she thought of Jupiter Jones.

She leaned over, poured Titus another glass of Kritza.

"Don't worry little brother. I know you've never liked me holding it over you, but you know I have at least twice the amount of Regenex supplies you had. I know we've never been too good at sharing, but..."

Kalique was unable to finish her sentence, before Titus had set his glass down, and wrapped his arms around her in the tightest embrace he could remember having held her in for a long time.

"Why?" He asked, finally, pulling away just enough so that he could see her face.

"Would you believe me if I just said you're my brother and I love you?" Kalique smiled back, with that characteristically strange, playful hostility.

"No."

"Didn't think so. The truth is, I need someone else to help me take that changeling down, someone else to bask in the satisfaction of seeing her fall, watching her die, as she watched our brother die. If she had her way, you'd be psychologically tortured to insanity, and I, well what would I be? Her submissive little daughter, infinitely apologizing for my 'evil' brothers and all their awful sins, kissing her arse just enough for her to not question why I'm still harvesting planets and using Regenex? Fuck her."

Titus laughed at his sister's unusual vulgarity, still in a blissful haze from the news of his new Regenex supplies.

"Besides, it's just me and you now, brother. We're alone together in this wretched universe." Kalique smiled back, leaning closer towards Titus.

Something was different between them now, and for the first time in centuries, Titus began to experience the sensation of being drawn to her, wanting her, needing her.

Seconds later, their lips met.