* * *
"Now, tell us everything you know," Norian smiled unpleasantly at our would-be murderer inside a tiny ASD office in downtown Rezael. I'd already placed compulsion on the creep to answer all of Norian's questions. Creep wasn't much to look at, with a narrow face and a long nose. Thinning hair and a sparse moustache rounded out the picture. His dark eyes followed me nervously while he answered Norian's questions.
"Seturna Odnard ordered me to kill you as you exited the train. We had information that you boarded in Xindis."
"Seturna Odnard, of Solar Red?" Norian bared his teeth. I could only imagine that he'd be hissing if he were the lion snake.
"We are to call ourselves Brothers of the New Dawn," our creep, whose name was Pebrus, whined.
"So, Pebrus, Brother of the New Dawn, where might Seturna Odnard be found? Who gave us away? Do you have a name?" Norian suspected a mole and he was doing his best to grind this guy down to get a name.
"Seturna Odnard is at the temple. We have been working with someone named Tork," Pebrus gave the answer.
"An assumed name," Norian looked up at me. "We have twenty-nine agents on Trell. We had thirty, but one has been missing for a while. Could be any one of them, though. With the proper resources, they might be able to trace my chip number." He'd used it to pay for our train ride.
"Did you suspect a mole before now?"
"Of course I did. I've known we were infiltrated for some time. The Charter Members are investigating their staff and Lendill and I have been trying to help with that. We've found two so far, but none of them knows about any of the others, so we have to track them one at a time."
"Honey, that sounds like a mess."
"Lissa Beth, it is a mess." Norian went back to questioning Pebrus, but he was just a flunky to Seturna Odnard—somebody who was expendable if he was killed trying to kill us.
"I don't want to turn him over to the local authorities," Norian informed me after he'd gotten as much as he could from Pebrus. "We could kill him, but I don't want to do that yet."
"We can put him in my dungeon," I offered. Pebrus, who'd been listening, cringed at the mention of a dungeon.
"It won't be like the ones Solar Red operates," I told him. Solar Red tortured their prisoners and their dungeons were notoriously filthy and dark. My prisoners might get intense questioning under compulsion, but they had clean, decent quarters. If they were sentenced to die, their death was swift and as painless as we could make it.
Norian nodded his acceptance, so we folded to Le-Ath Veronis, which shocked Pebrus no end. I laid compulsion not to talk about how he'd gotten where he was, and Drake and Drew came running when I sent mindspeech. Some of Rigo's Rith Naeri helped and we got Pebrus placed inside his new home beneath my palace. Drake and Drew tried to convince us to spend the night, but we were hot on the trail of Solar Red in Rezael, so we left again.
* * *
"Seturna, the news is everywhere concerning the attack at the train station, but they haven't reported finding bodies and Pebrus hasn't reported in." The one who called himself Tork stood inside Seturna Odnard's private office to give the news.
"The news is accurate? There is proof of the attack?" Seturna Odnard frowned at his informant.
"Yes, Seturna. The spies we have embedded within the local authorities say the laser blasts are legitimate—the train car had to be repaired before it could continue on its journey."
"But no bodies were found."
"No, Seturna. Not even blood was found, which is puzzling."
"And what do the witnesses say?"
"They only saw the laser blasts—they didn't see who fired the pistol or the ones being fired upon, it happened so quickly, and they were all falling to the floor to avoid getting hit."
"So, there's either treachery afoot and someone knows and managed to keep it away from us, or something else is going on." Seturna Odnard watched his mole carefully. They'd gone to great lengths to get this one and set him up. Odnard had no desire to lose him now—he was much too valuable.
* * *
We'd found our way into Seturna Odnard's study while he was talking to the mole, and even though Norian couldn't send mindspeech, I could feel his anger. It was white hot and uncomfortable. We listened to part of the conversation between the mole and the Seturna—they didn't get any information from the attempt on our lives—things had happened much too quickly. I had to get Norian out of there and fast, however; I had a feeling that the moment I dropped him, he would make the turn, he was so furious. I had to find a deserted spot so he could do that, and then I had to get him calmed down. There were things he needed to know.
I flew through the ceiling and then away from there as quickly as I could. Snow was falling again; thick white flakes dropped through my mist as I rushed along, searching anxiously for a safe place where Norian could turn. I was afraid the tiny ASD office might now be watched, so I didn't go there. I found an empty hotel room instead, and hoping that the hotel staff wouldn't send any guests there, dropped Norian inside it. I remained mist, too, as he quickly turned to lion snake, then tried not to cringe as he hissed and shook his tail angrily before throwing his body against a wall.
"Norian, stop that—someone will hear!" I did some hissing of my own as I materialized. Norian flung himself once more at the wall with a loud thump before he turned in my direction, his hood spread and mouth open to display lengthy fangs. "Norian, listen to me and listen carefully. You only think you know who that was. I can still use my scenting abilities while I'm mist and you can trust me when I say that the spy wasn't Lendill."
Chapter 8
Norian hadn't changed back to his humanoid form and was now snaking his way toward me. "Norian, I think we should go and find the real Lendill. Chances are he's still in Xindis right now, working away. At least that's where I hope he is. I hope they haven't gotten to him yet. I have a feeling they plan to replace him with the doppelganger we just saw a few minutes ago. I think the one we saw is your missing agent—he probably knew what Lendill looked like and had his features altered."
"You're kidding?" Norian stood in front of me, completely naked and still angry.
"Honey, I'm sure they made that guy exactly like Lendill in every way except one. Scent doesn't lie and that guy not only had a different scent, but he had taint all over him. You don't get that tainted in the space of a few hours. It would take years to get that bad. Come on; let's go looking for the real thing. I have a feeling he's in trouble."
Norian finally capitulated, dressed himself and I folded him back to Xindis. It's a good thing we went when we did—Lendill was in the fight of his life. The whole ASD headquarters had been ransacked and Lendill was involved in a shoot-out. If Norian and I hadn't shown up, they might have killed Lendill—he was in the middle of two sets of enemies, huddling behind a brick column outside headquarters when I grabbed him up as mist. I dropped him and Norian on top of the building and then zipped down to street level to take out a few snipers.
* * *
"Lissa Beth, you could have left at least one of them alive so we could question them," Norian grumbled later, as six bodies were lined up—all headless—inside ASD headquarters.
"They were all shooting, what did you want me to do?" I did some grumbling myself. Yeah, Norian was right, but my adrenalin had been pumping and I took them all out before I even realized we might need one of them.
Lendill had been shocked when Norian told him what we'd seen. "Now what do I do? They'll be hunting for me for sure." He was pacing and fretting over the whole incident.
"Do you recognize any of these?" I pointed to the six bodies. Norian shook his head. They were all Solar Red, according to him.
"Then I'll try a little trick I learned from the Larentii," I said, and walked over to one of the heads. Normally, I'd have matched up body parts by scent, but these had something blocking their smell—as if someone worried the scent might incriminate them. I was forced to match clothing, instead, and I kept the scenting
problem to myself—no sense in worrying Lendill or Norian more than they were already. I set about using power to change the appearance of the head and body I'd chosen, until we had a third replica of Lendill. "There," I said. "Now, let's scatter two or three of these fuckers around, make it look like a takedown and then dump the others on Tykl."
Norian had been watching me with shocked fascination as I'd disguised the attacker to look like Lendill. He also called somebody and told them where the three bodies would be on Tykl, in addition to asking them to investigate the entire mess there at headquarters. We'd have to find another place to stay.
None of us was happy when we had to leave most of our clothing and supplies behind—it would look suspicious if we didn't. I took one complete change of clothes with me, as did Norian and Lendill. I folded them back to the hotel in Rezael, after borrowing a credit chip from Flavio. He'd been wakened from a sound sleep but it couldn't be helped and I Pulled the credit chip in and let Lendill use it, after altering his appearance. He now looked like the third most beautiful man I'd ever met.
"Lissa Beth, life just keeps getting stranger and stranger around you," Norian had fists on hips when we got inside the hotel room.
"Honey, you have no idea how strange things can get if you stick around, and we haven't even made a dent in that thirty years yet," I informed him.
"I'll need new equipment," Lendill ventured to say. Honestly, the poor man was probably still in shock. I know I would be if I found out somebody had manufactured a twin who was meant to take my place, and then gotten attacked by those who wanted my twin to take over. And the fact that his face no longer looked like his own had to be the biggest surprise of all. At least he was extremely handsome now and likely would have to fend off women wherever he went.
"Can we get what you need on Le-Ath Veronis?" I asked.
"Probably."
"Good. We'll go there. I desperately need to soak in the hot tub and we have that fucking hearing on Cloudsong tomorrow."
"As long as you get me back here the minute it's over," Norian huffed. "We have work to do here. I need to contact one of the twenty." Well, maybe he was on a first name basis with all of them. How was I to know? I truly didn't care, either. I folded us to Le-Ath Veronis.
"No, I made him look like Flavio. That's Lendill Schaff." I'd explained it for maybe the fifteenth time since we showed up in the kitchen of my palace to see if we could find something to eat. Rolfe was there and watching us. He even sat with us to have a snack, once he discovered it was Lendill and not Flavio. The Head of Earth's Vampire Council still carried a lot of clout.
Norian and Lendill went off to grab equipment, Rolfe promised to find Lendill a bedroom and I yawned the whole way to my bed. Drake and Drew discovered I'd come back—I'm sure Rolfe sent mindspeech but I didn't call him out on it. I had two Falchani in my bed when I reached my suite, and they let me sleep. Eventually.
* * *
"Raona, wear this for the hearing." Taff and Mora were making suggestions on what to wear to Cloudsong. I had a headache—big surprise. Norian had come and was trying to herd me around. Not only that, but nearly all my mates had shown up, including Karzac. Roff was rustling his wings as he watched me fret, Drake and Drew had dressed in full battle leathers, with both blades strapped across their backs. Erland and Wylend had come; Gavin wore his old shuttered look. Garde was blowing smoke and the Larentii were watching everybody.
Then all the casino owners began to filter in. At least they were forced to stand in the hallway outside my suite; my guards wouldn't let them near me. I had no idea what they thought about all this and I'd been afraid to Look. Nobody had come to report to me either, over any of this. I think I was thankful for that. Mora ended up handing me a light-blue silk tunic with dark-blue loose trousers. A belt that matched the trousers was wrapped around my waist, and then shoes that matched the belt were slipped on my feet. At least I would be color-coordinated when things went to hell in a handbasket.
One of my Larentii folded everybody who wanted to go, which turned out to be quite a crowd. Grey House had brought around fifteen—Glendes, Raffian, Shadow and the other Master Wizards were there, plus their legal counsel, I presumed. Then there was Melida and Marid—I had to Look to determine who they were since I'd never met them. There weren't many seats inside the Hall of Hearings for an audience, either—only the major players were allowed to sit. And then we had to rise for the entrance of the King of Cloudsong, his remaining son and the judge appointed by the King to preside over this circus.
We got to sit again once the King sat. If he ever came to Le-Ath Veronis, I intended to make the fucker stand.
"We have levied charges against Glendes of Grey House and his grandson, Shadow Grey, who signed a contract accepting all financial obligations pertaining to Melida, daughter of Marid of Belancour and her deceased husband, Findal. We also levy charges against Lissa, Queen of Le-Ath Veronis, Shadow Grey's first mate. Cloudsong recognizes that a mate's obligations are the same as your own, therefore, she is also named in these charges." The judge rattled off the information in a monotone. It made me wonder if he ever got excited about anything—he was in his seventies, had a long, wrinkled face that would have made any bloodhound proud and eyes that looked as if they needed cataracts removed.
"We wish to point out that prior to the marriage between Shadow Grey and Melida of Belancour, Lissa of Le-Ath Veronis broke affiliation with Shadow Grey," one of the Grey House lawyers stood and announced. "Therefore, she should not be named in these proceedings."
"Cloudsong does not recognize verbal divorcement," the judge spouted and that was that. Didn't look as if they recognized much of anything, if it was beneficial to them in the long term.
"But there was never a contractual marriage between the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis and Shadow of Grey House. It was an informal arrangement only." Merrill had stepped up to speak on my behalf, looked like.
"There was an exchange of rings, was there not? Cloudsong recognizes that as binding, whether there was a written agreement or not," Judge Bloodhound said. Geez, this guy had an answer for everything. Whether he actually had laws on the books to back it up was another question. "The Queen of Le-Ath Veronis will remain an active participant in these proceedings."
"Then we wish to point out that we were not notified of any undisclosed obligations on the part of Melida of Belancour before the contracts were signed," the Grey House lawyer said. "We received a listing of obligations from her father, Marid of Belancour, and nothing of this magnitude was mentioned."
"But he informed us when we notified him of his daughter's mate's perfidy that he was unaware of it until we gave him the proof we had. Therefore, he could not have given you that information. You then signed the contract, taking on all of her debts. This is one of her debts and we intend to see that justice is done. We could be asking for the life of the Eldest of Grey House. We are being generous, since we realize that Grey House had no involvement in Prince Brandelin's death and choose to ask for monetary damages only from all pertinent parties." Well, there you go. I was a pertinent party.
"Then it is our duty to point out that fifty years of profits is excessive in the extreme," the Grey House lawyer said. "You say yourself that we had no involvement in the Prince's death. We are innocent of any crime, by your own admission. Yet your option is to bleed us dry and destroy our family? You seek to obtain your justice by committing an injustice yourself."
"What price will you place upon the Prince's life? He would have ruled a good fifty years—that is the average rule of any monarch upon Cloudsong. That is what we base our demands upon," the judge wasn't budging an inch on this. "You say this will destroy your family. I have heard that Le-Ath Veronis is quite profitable. We will accept fifty years of profits from there as complete judgment in this case, leaving Grey House free of debt."
That had me standing in a hurry. They wanted to put all of this on me? I couldn't believe it. Angry didn't begin to describe what I felt right then
. I think they were all lucky the fangs and claws didn't come out. This was what they were aiming for all along, by dragging me and Le-Ath Veronis into all this. I think the King of Cloudsong realized I was furious. I did my best to reel in my temper, and phrased my words carefully.
"King Kenderlin," my voice carried across the room to where he sat on a richly carved throne, "would you drop this case if your son were still alive?"
"I would not only drop this case, I would pay to have my son again," he huffed. "Do not trouble that wound, or the judge will levy a heavier fine against you."
"Uh-huh," I muttered. "Excuse me." I folded away.
* * *
"You planned this, didn't you? Find some obscure law to drag my granddaughter into this, because the riches would come rolling in. Or so you think." Wylend came to stand next to Lissa's empty chair. Someone, likely one of the Larentii, had covered her disappearance and now a replica of Lissa stood beside Wylend, who wasn't fooled for a moment.
"You are?" The judge rumbled.
"King Wylend Arden, of Karathia," Wylend announced.
"The King of Karathia is here?" Kenderlin almost came out of his chair. "I did not know that the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis had a living grandfather."
"As you can see, she does. That is why I am here, to ensure my granddaughter is treated fairly."
"You do not frighten me, warlock," the judge scoffed. That made Wylend cross arms over his chest. Norian, who had tiny cameras affixed to his clothing, was transmitting the entire proceeding live to Ildevar Wyyld. As yet, Ildevar had made no comment and the earpiece Norian wore remained silent.
"Then you have never dealt with my kind," Wylend remarked casually.
* * *
"Em-pah, you can back up, now, I've got this," I dragged Brandelin of Cloudsong behind me, bewildered as he was at having been pulled out of an exploding building at the last possible moment, more than three months before. I'd gone Looking during my train ride, determined that Brandelin's living would have absolutely no effect on the timeline, and held that as my trump card. "Here's your heir, King Kenderlin. Now what was that you said about dropping this whole thing?"
Blood Redemption (Blood Destiny #9) Page 13
