Israfel turned this way and that in front of his long, gilded bedchamber mirror. He was preparing—in his chosen wear of prim casual slacks, a crimson inner; a sensous onyx doublet, bringing out the ebony rings in his iris—for Lady Fairfield's dinner.
"Oh fuck the tux!" He tossed a marine bowtie backward to the bed. Leaving the top strings that would knit his shirt a few inches down, he said aloud in a calmer voice. "What do I call you, system? You still haven't told me."
Rafel had to wait a beat, but then, the reply came; a soft voice that sounded like the singing of a maiden washing by the stream.
[Ding!]
[You can call me Peitho.]
"PEITHO? What does it mean?" He fastened the gold buttons but didn't bother with cufflinks for his wrists. His look was dangerously, unapologetically, laissez faire sexy. Rafel turned from the mirror, but not before a holographic glinting image sprung to life in the plane, transforming the looking-glass into a seeming screen of rippling energy.