Infinity Bell: A House Immortal Novel Read Free Page B

found.
    Slater wore the galvanized body that had once belonged to a servant of his named Robert Twelfth. He was almost used to Robert Twelfth’s stitched body now that it had been carrying his mind, his thoughts, his life for more than a day. And while the body wasn’t born of House Orange bloodline, it had bestowed upon him the one thing all the other heads of Houses would never be strong enough to claim: immortality.
    When he had been Slater, head of House Orange, he had changed the laws that ruled his House. Now the power he had once wielded as the head of House Orange was his, even though the other Heads of Houses thought him to be the lowly galvanized Robert Twelfth.
    “This meeting will now come to order,” John Black, House Defense, said.
    All the heads of Houses sat at the curved table that edged the chamber, a wall at their back and a clear view of the other people in the room. The heads of Houses had never trusted one another, though they hand in hand and more often knife in back, ruled the world together.
    Slater—or Robert, as he must be called now—stood at the other side of the room, four of John Black’s men next to him and unseen laser-locked weapons aimed at his head. He was the enemy here, the other, the galvanized.
    But not for long.
    His gaze ticked over the gathered: four women and four men. Troi Blue, House Water; Aranda Red, House Power; Kiana White, House Medical; Feye Green, House Agriculture. Troi Blue, who appeared to be twenty but was decades older than that, carried the most power of them all. She looked just as angry and on the edge as the rest of those who were gathered here today.
    Of the remaining heads of Houses—Gideon Violet, House Faith; Welton Yellow, House Technology; John Black, House Defense; and Reeves Silver, House Vice—Slater was only remotely concerned about one of them: Reeves Silver.
    Reeves Silver was the snake in the apple orchard of this world. He had appeared upset over the killing of Oscar Gray, who had been the head of House Gray, and shocked at the murder of Slater Orange, but Slater knew that was a ruse. Reeves Silver had been making deals, connections, and bribes within the Houses for years on end.
    He was, in his own way, positioning himself to rulethem all. And only Slater had the brains to see through Reeves Silver’s lies.
    He played the stage, patient as a spider, waiting for the strings of his web to tremble with the struggles of his foes. Years of blood stained Reeves Silver’s hands, though he had kept his brutality carefully hidden and blamed on others.
    Yet now he sat with all the eyes of the Houses upon him, to hear judgment on the murder of Oscar Gray perpetrated by his galvanized, Helen Eleventh.
    That shooting, along with Slater’s own false murder at the hands of Abraham Seventh, had terminated the treaty between the galvanized and the Houses.
    To say that the Houses teetered on declaring open war upon each other was not overstating the tension in the room.
    Slater had his stake set in that conflict too. He was the only person in position to rule House Orange. He had made sure of that before he was transplanted into the galvanized body.
    In time, he would have the power of all the Houses. He would rule and see Reeves Silver deposed, killed, and buried.
    “It is clear from the treaty between Houses and galvanized,” John Black continued in his low voice, “that the murders of Oscar Gray and Slater Orange have made said treaty null and void. This leaves us with the decision of punishment. House Black will hear from each House. House Black will also note that House Gold, Money, has exempted itself from these proceedings, citing their noninvolvement in galvanized ownership. House Blue, please begin.”
    Troi Blue wore a pale blue dress that made her coal-black skin glow with a youthful sheen. Her hair was braided away from her temples to reveal flawless, innocent features.
    Slater knew she presented herself in such a manner to flaunt her