Mortal Ties

by Eileen Wilks

  That time she did smile—the quick, hard grin of a hunter with a fresh trail to follow.

  “I think I like you, Special Agent.”

  She snorted and strode over to the nearest desk. “I need to talk to the manager.” She slapped her ID down. “Now.”

  They’d follow the money, see where it went…maybe to the third floor of a stucco building on the east side of the city.

  THIRTY-NINE

  “SO this Benessarai is the one who wants the prototype.” Lily had long since finished eating, and she’d sipped all the tea she could stand. She pushed the cup and saucer away.

  “She said so, didn’t she?” Drummond snapped. “This is no way to question a witness. Make her get to the point.”

  Drummond had pulled himself into his talkative shape a few minutes ago and was pacing like a man whose patience was used up.

  She’s not ready yet, Lily told him. Don’t distract me.

  She and Alycithin were getting along like gangbusters…if gangbusters meant being terribly polite and careful with each word. They had cautiously exchanged some information. Alycithin had been embarrassed when Lily told her that Cullen had not refused to sell the prototype—that he had never even received an offer. Benessarai had lied to her about that. For some reason he wanted to obtain it the hard way, using theft and hostages and a complicated plot. Lily thought Alycithin knew very well why he’d taken that route, but she’d waved Lily’s question away with a vague comment about it making him look more skilled. But Alycithin had not known about the confrontation at the middle school, so she couldn’t tell Lily what had happened there.

  Lily still didn’t understand what the halfling woman wanted from her. Or what she was offering in return. “Benessarai is responsible for holding Adam King, although Friar’s the one actually doing the job. He’s supposed to be on your side, but he’s lied to you, kept information from you, and undermined your mission. And yet you don’t think he’ll violate your code.”

  Alycithin grimaced. “Lies, however crude, are not dishonorable.”

  “Just bad form.” In sidhe eyes, it seemed, you kept your word even if it killed you and all your family, but deception and trickery were fine. Expected, even. Yet to lie outright was on a par with farting loudly in church. “He’ll lose a lot of points back home for lying.”

  “That does not mean he will kill a hostage.”

  “Friar would. In a snap.”

  “Too damn right,” Drummond said.

  Alycithin shrugged. “Robert Friar wishes for many things from Benessarai. He will not anger him. However, if Jasper Machek did violate his agreement with Friar, who is Benessarai’s agent in this, he has forfeited Adam King’s freedom. I will make sure Benessarai does not leave him in Robert Friar’s custody, but the best I can do is see that Adam King returns with us to our realm, where he will spend the rest of his life as a hostage.”

  “Even if Friar violated his end of their deal?”

  “Do you believe Robert Friar will admit to Benessarai that he broke oath?”

  Put that way, no. “Will Benessarai believe Friar over you?”

  She spoke very dryly. “He has so far.”

  “Because you two are rivals.” And a hair away from being enemies outright, Lily thought. Benessarai did not trust Alycithin, or claimed he didn’t. He’d set up his own hostage-keeping spot elsewhere in the city, though this apartment had originally been intended for any hostages either of them acquired. Lily had the idea that he and Alycithin were barely speaking to each other.

  “It is not so simple as that word suggests, but perhaps you do not need to understand the nuances. It may be helpful to know that my position on the delegation is both punishment and opportunity.”

  “A punishment?”

  “If the delegation does poorly, the blame will go to me.”

  “Even though he’s in charge?”

  A touch of impatience flickered in her green eyes. “We are coleaders. Did I not tell you that?”

  “You said you were both, ah…I’ve forgotten the word.”

  “I failed to explain. Benessarai and I were given joint leadership of the delegation’s goals, but he has far more authority than do I. You may confirm this with your own eyes. He has six people. I have two. They are capable and loyal, but they are two to his six.”

  “Listen,” Drummond said. “I’m not doing you any good here. I’m going to see what else I can learn, but you’ll have to call me again to get me through those walls.”

  Lily drummed her fingers, careful to look at her hand, not the ghost. She didn’t want him to go, but he was right. He wasn’t helping here…except for making her feel less alone. Go on, then.

  “Call me in thirty minutes.” He evaporated.

  Lily looked up at the halfling again. “I think I understand. On paper, you and Benessarai are coleaders. In reality, he’s running the show.”

  Alycithin nodded. “If I understand your idiom, that is the case. His father is Lord Thierath; his mother is Lord Sessena. My own breeding is…” Her smile flashed, quick and charming. Very nearly a grin. “You may have noticed, Lily, that I am not elfin.”

  “I had noticed that, yes.”

  “There is some overt prejudice in my realm and a good deal of stereotyping. A most useful word, that,” she added with a lazy smile. “For all its limitations in some areas, English provides an excellent framework for certain concepts. My father is Rekklat. His people are honored as worthy and excellent warriors, but they are not considered capable of the subtleties of dtha through which one may rise in…but now I arrive at those limitations. The closest English word I can think of is society, yet that does not convey my meaning well.”

  “Status?” Lily suggested. “Or caste?”

  She tipped her head, considering. “Perhaps caste is closer, as it partakes of elements of status as well as power. I am ambitious, you see. Some do not believe ambition is fitting in a halfling. Lord Thierath is one such. Lord Sessena, however, is my sponsor.”

  Lily’s eyebrows rose. “Benessarai’s father doesn’t approve of you, but his mother is your sponsor? What does that mean?”

  “You have not an equivalent status. I am life-sworn to her. She arranged for me to be coleader with her son. I will speak now with a degree of bluntness that would be considered stupid and absurd by my mother’s people.” She paused as if waiting for Lily to give her permission to be blunt.

  “Okay.”

  “Benessarai is a fool. His mother knows this. She wished to have one with him who owes her much. One who is, perhaps, not a fool.”

  Carefully Lily asked, “Is that the opportunity part of the deal?”

  Again a quick smile. “Very good. If the delegation is sufficiently successful that Benessarai is not disgraced, I will receive little public credit, but Lord Sessena will have reason to be very pleased with me.”

  “And Lord Sessena has the whole package—authority, power, breeding.”

  “She is very high caste.” She selected a grape. “Perhaps you are wondering why I tell you so much about myself.”

  “If you were one of my people, I’d say you were trying to enlist me. Convince me we were on the same side in some ways so that I’ll do something you want.”

  Alycithin peeled the grape slowly. Her nails were a little longer than Lily’s, well-shaped, but just a bit off. Narrow, as if they’d considered being claws at one point, but changed their minds. “I would say we are negotiating. I wish you to understand why I would negotiate with one who seems to be without power in this situation.” She contemplated the grape she’d peeled, put it in her mouth, and bit. “I must tell you something more, I believe. Lord Rethna’s realm is in chaos. Not simply his land, but the entire realm. The Queens are there. Both of them. You do not know how…astounding…this is. The Queens have not left Thalinol together in over three thousand years.”

  “Since the Great War?”

  The eyebrows lifted. “Yes.” She paused. “I do not know what your word,
your promise, means to you. You seemed surprised I would consider mine binding.”

  “Not surprised, exactly. Lupi consider their word binding in an absolute sense like you do. They’re very careful what they promise. Ah…my culture places a high value on honoring one’s word, but it is not absolute. We believe there can be mitigating circumstances. If breaking my word was the only way to save lives, I would do that. But it would truly have to be the only way.”

  Alycithin looked at her hands. She smoothed an invisible crease from the yellow silk of her gown then looked up and met Lily’s eyes. “Will you give me your word you will not repeat what I tell you now?”

  “No.”

  “No? You give me that single, naked response?”

  “I’m careful where I give my promises, too. First, I don’t withhold information from Rule. That’s firm. I very seldom withhold things from my boss, and only when there’s…you might call it a conflict of honor. When I think honor is better served by my silence. You asked for too broad a promise.”

  A smile tucked itself into the corners of Alycithin’s lips, making her look more catlike than ever. “Will you promise not to repeat what I tell you to any sidhe, and to withhold it as much as you honorably may from your own people?”

  Lily thought that over, looked for trouble spots, and found one. “I will promise not to reveal it to any out-realm sidhe, and to withhold it as much as I honorably can from my own people.”

  “Out-realm sidhe? But Earth has no…I see that you do not intend to explain.”

  Lily shook her head. Arjenie’s secret wasn’t hers to reveal.

  “Very well. I accept those terms. Do you so promise?”

  “I do.”

  “Benessarai and Lord Rethna were friends of the third degree. This is not known in my realm. This is not known by his father, Lord Thierath. Benessarai is known to have been friends with Lord Rethna, but all think it was of the fifth degree. He is not the only one now tainted in this way, for Rethna entertained widely among the lords of many realms, but there is no real danger from such an association. Fifth-degree friends have liking for each other, but very limited bonds of obligation. Third degree is quite different.” She took a slow breath. “That is the real reason Lord Sessena ensured I was coleader of this delegation. Benessarai needs a success to redeem himself, yes, but he also needs to be watched. Above all, it cannot be known that he had such close ties to Lord Rethna.”

  Lily tried to think herself into Alycithin’s shoes. Her big fear was the Queens, Lily thought. Her people were scared that whatever was happening in Rethna’s realm would spill over into theirs. “It must have come as a shock when I told you that Friar, who is allied with or working for Benessarai, is the Great Bitch’s creature.”

  “The…oh.” Amusement flashed in her eyes. “This is how you refer to the one we do not name? How charmingly irreverent. Also clever. Even a casual use-name may acquire resonance with sufficient repetition, but I think she will not recognize any resonance with that appellation. It was a shock, yes, but it did allow me to make sense of some things that have been bothering me. I have reworked my plans considerably while we talked. And so I have given you the knowledge to destroy me utterly, should you disregard your word. Just as I could destroy you, did I choose to dishonor mine. I have made us equal in power, Lily Yu. Do you see why?”

  “You needed me to believe you,” she started. Stopped, and went in a slightly different direction. “And this is a negotiation. You can’t truly negotiate with someone who lacks power, can you?”

  “Precisely! I like you, Lily. You are so grave, but quick and flexible. Those qualities do not often march together. I cannot violate my agreement with Robert Friar.”

  “Even if he violates it first? Robert Friar places no value on his word. The Binai who killed Rethna was freed from her contract with him because he’d already broken it.”

  “With all respect to the Binai, a vow is far more binding than a contract. If Robert Friar proves dishonorable, I have erred by entering into an agreement with him. My error does not affect what I have bound myself to do. And yet I must find a way to keep such a one from succeeding, for reasons both moral and personal. You were correct that I have been uneasy. I had…suspicions about Benessarai’s goals, but he and I are, to use your word, rivals. I thought he meant simply to damage my standing. I thought he did not understand why it would be disastrous to bring the masking device back to our realm.”

  “The masking device? Is that what you call—wait. You mean you don’t want to take it back to your realm. You want to destroy it.”

  She nodded. “Such a device would destabilize our realm. Hostages are fundamental to both our economic and our civic life, and the masking device would drastically alter the way power is balanced between hostage-holder and those with whom they would negotiate. Centuries-old agreements would turn unsteady. Imagine what would happen in your world if only one side in a contract had the means to enforce it. I took pains to explain this to Benessarai. He understood only that making such a device available would weaken my position, for my Gift is, indeed, both rare and valuable. He does not see the repercussions…or so I thought. Hoped. This is why I took the risk of making my own deal with Robert Friar. It took some time to learn what he wanted enough to…I believe your word is double-cross? An interesting word. I wanted him to double-cross Benessarai. You were the price he asked. As part of our agreement,” she added, “he is bound to observe the code.”

  Lily snorted. “And you believed him?”

  “If he does not, I must in all honor kill him. He knows this.”

  “He may not be as afraid of you as he ought to be.”

  She shrugged. “I arose from the warrior caste. If he did not know what that means, he should have asked.”

  “That won’t be much consolation to me if he’s already fed me to his goddess.”

  Alycithin’s lip curled in distaste. “Death magic?”

  “That’s what I think he’s got in mind, yeah. He may want to do some really unpleasant things to me first, but apparently I’d make a tasty snack for her. Death magic violates one of those Queens’ Laws, doesn’t it?”

  “This is not one of the Queens’ realms, however.”

  “Bummer.” Lily decided she’d gone as far as she could without having a clue what they were negotiating. “Alycithin, I am puzzled. You want something from me, and you are unwilling or unable to say what. Nor have you offered me anything or hinted at what you might offer. Negotiations among your people may be conducted this way, but it’s not what I understand.”

  “That is plain speaking.” The halfling woman spread her hands. “I cannot tell you. To do so would violate my word.”

  Even bigger bummer. Lily drummed her fingers on the table. Alycithin hadn’t told her all this without a reason. There was a hint, a clue, hidden in what she’d been told, but damned if she could spot it. Maybe she hadn’t asked the right question yet. “Can you tell me what you promised Friar?”

  This smile spread slowly. “That I can do. I agreed to take you hostage, if possible, and then hold you until Robert Friar notifies me that he is ready to exchange you for the masking device. While I hold you, I must make sure you have no weapons and no means of contacting your people. I am to let you know that you are going to pass into his hands.”

  “Wanted me to worry about that, did he?”

  “I believe so. Lily, Robert Friar is your dielgraf. Your soul-enemy.”

  “That sounds about right. Is that all of the agreement?”

  “Oh, no. Robert Friar was meticulous in his terms. Neither I nor my people can in any way reveal your situation, either while you are my hostage or after you become his, to anyone who is not sidhe. When Robert Friar tells me he is ready to take possession of you, I must make the exchange promptly and without attempting to alter or add to the terms of our agreement. At that point, if we have both honored the terms of our agreement, we are mutually bound not to act against each other, or allow our agents to so
act, for twenty-four hours.”

  “Is that the exact wording? You can’t reveal my situation to anyone who is not sidhe?”

  “That is the wording. However—” She held up a hand, stopping Lily before she spoke. “You have hinted that someone in your realm is sidhe. While speaking to such a one would be allowed under one of the terms, it violates another. I vowed to hold you. Were I to reveal your presence while you are in my custody, I would be acting against that vow.”

  “After I’m not in your custody anymore…?”

  Alycithin smiled. She all but purred. “I did not agree to see that you remained in Robert Friar’s custody. Only that neither I nor my agents would act against him for twenty-four hours.”

  Lily wasn’t purring. This, she wanted to say, is your solution? Your deal?

  From the halfling’s perspective, maybe it looked like a good deal. Maybe Alycithin would have gone happily to torture and death if she knew she would be avenged. Maybe Lily would think so, too, if killing Robert Friar were her only goal.

  Problem was, she really wanted to be alive and at least mostly intact when Rule came racing to her…which he would do long before the twenty-four hours were up. Once Lily was away from Alycithin’s Gift, the mate bond should work fine.

  Alycithin didn’t know about the mate bond. That was the important takeaway from her offer. She didn’t know about the bond, so she wasn’t honor-bound to keep Lily from using it. Lily spoke slowly, as if reluctant. “You have my phone.”

  “Yes.”

  “You know how to use it?”

  “Of course. I do not understand how the device works, but from what I have seen, most people in your realm do not understand it, either, yet they operate phones without this understanding.”

  “One of the contacts on my phone is for a sidhe who passes as human. Will you take my word for this?”

  “Do you give me your word?”

  “I do.”

  “Then yes, I accept that this is true.”

  “Will you call this person and reveal what you can, in honor, speak of concerning my situation?”