Steel Sky Read Online Free Page A

despises your weakness. And rightly. It is your unwillingness to take the necessary steps to becoming a man that incites her to tease you the way she does. If you are strong, she will respect you.”
    “I’ve tried, Father. She still terrorizes me!”
    “She does not ‘terrorize’ you.” Orcus turns his head. In profile, his head reminds Second Son of a crowbar, running almost in a straight line from the tip of his nose to his forehead before curving around his smooth cranium. “You have no idea what terror is.”
    “What about the time she set that snare for me, so that I was left hanging by my feet in the family room? Have you forgotten that?”
    “No.” The barest figment of a smile creases his father’s face. “I remember.”
    Second Son feels his cheeks turn red with shame.
    “You should not have fallen into that trap,” his father says. “In the future, you will encounter other traps of different types from less benign sources. You must learn to evade them all.”
    Second Son throws himself on the couch, arms crossed. What can he say? How can he make his father understand? He cannot carry this burden. It is impossible.
    “Stop sulking. You could do much worse. Your mother wasn’t much of a woman, but I married her. I saw where my duty lay, and I followed it. You have things much easier. My duty was a sacrifice, but yours should be a pleasure, really. Dancer is smart. She’s beautiful. She’s ambitious.”
    “She’s not as beautiful as she thinks she is.”
    “Listen, boy, you just have to marry her, let her bear children — keep the name of Orcus alive. No one said you have to be faithful to her. Hell, I’d have gone mad if your dull-witted mother was the only woman I ever charvered.”
    “Stop talking about Mother like that.”
    “What does it matter? She’s with the Stone now. And probably happier for it. What about that girl you’re always mooning over? The skinny one with the green hair?”
    “Amarantha.” Second Son squirms in his seat, thinking of her.
    “That’s the one. She’s a bit dull, but she seems worth a little trouble. You can still sleep with her, as long as you’re careful.”
    “If she wants me.”
    “If she wants you?” His father’s voice rises in indignation. “Hump, you’re null-class, an Orcus! What she wants is immaterial.”
    His father’s use of the humiliating nickname is a deliberate insult. Second Son tries to ignore it. “It’s not that simple,” he says.
    “ Make it that simple. Damn it, son! I’m offering you the world , don’t you see?”
    “Dancer wasn’t meant for me, Father! She was meant for Stone.”
    Orcus crosses the floor in two long strides and grabs Second Son by the bicep, hauling him to his feet. “In case you haven’t noticed, Hump,” he hisses, “your elder brother is dead!” His fingers dig into Second Son’s flesh. “And as absurd as it sounds, you must take his place!”
    “Stop it!” Second Son cries. “You’re hurting me!”
    “Koba’s eyes, you’re pathetic!” Orcus drags Second Son to the door and pushes him through. “Get out. I have work to do.”
    Second Son stumbles around to face his father, desperate for one last attempt. “Father, it’s unseemly for a man to marry an older woman. Can’t I marry Second Daughter instead?”
    His father glowers down at him. His bulk nearly fills the doorway. “No,” he says. “In five days you and your older sister will be married. The decision is made!” He slams the door in Second Son’s face.
    Second Son stares at the door, catching his breath, waiting until his pulse returns to normal. Glancing around to make sure no one is watching, he retreats down the hall and locks himself in the servant’s laundry alcove. He likes how small the room is, how secluded. When he is here, he has no problems, no connection to the world outside. He sits on the floor, hidden between the machines and a gigantic pile of clothes, nestling into them, inhaling their earthy