Diplomatic Recruit: A Kurtherian Gambit Series (The Empress' Spy Book 1)

by S. E. Weir

  With the conversation effectively killed, they all stood waiting for another few minutes until the doors opened again, this time less forcefully. When she saw the ambassador enter the room, Phina smiled, then looked at Link.

  “Rule number three, Phina.”

  She blinked and her smile faded. Control your emotions. Right. She nodded to indicate she understood his whispered reminder, then tried to relax as Velof waved a hand in the direction of the ambassador.

  “Well then? We are all here now.”

  Link grinned at the Baldere. “Ah, but Charles was not the only person we are waiting for.”

  Velof scowled and drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. The female could have turned to stone since she moved so little, but Phina would have bet she still took in the movements in the room. The Gleeks turned from facing each other in a group to facing the middle of the room, waiting. Maxim came to a stop near Link and Phina while Ryan and Drk-vaen took up stations near the five Gleeks. The ambassador hesitated, then sat in a chair positioned midway between Velof and where Link and Phina stood.

  Phina found the placements and positions interesting and tried to think through the responses of each person to the news that would be shared.

  It didn’t take long for her to realize they wouldn’t be leaving without a fight.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Etheric Empire, Vermott, Planet of the Baldere, Governing Center, Consulate

  Velof glared at the arrogant Imperial diplomat, then his eyes roamed toward the Gleeks. He didn’t want to give them the time of day, let alone any attention. He figured they were here to discuss the reason their people had left weeks ago, and he couldn’t be bothered about it.

  He had more important issues weighing on his mind and wanted to get to it.

  Polishing his armor, for instance.

  When Velof found himself glaring at Greyson Wells again, he mentally cursed. As much as he hated the necessity, he needed to make nice with the man. His attention strayed to Charles, and he scowled at the ineffectual ambassador. Some big shot he’d turned out to be when this Greyson came and superseded his Imperial diplomatic authority. Really, what good was he?

  Finally the doors opened, and Velof hoped whoever it was would be the last person so they could get on with this farce of a meeting. However, as the Baldere stepped into the room, Velof was shocked and felt like he had been cheated.

  Geirik, Halvad, and Fastel walked farther into the room. The males were their typical annoying selves—tall, fit, and muscled.

  But Fastel…the female was shorter and more delicate than the males, but the expression on her face showed just as much fierceness as theirs, if not more. Velof felt a sense of loss for the first time in a long while.

  She should have been his.

  Fastel’s eyes narrowed as they honed in on Velof and Torel, his female bodyguard and companion. Her eyes met the Jeskir’s as she moved into the room and stood next to Geirik, which caused Velof’s muscles to tense and his fists to clench. His mind was still contemplating might-have-beens and what he would like to do to Geirik before taking Fastel for his own when Link stepped forward, holding his hands out and breaking Velof’s focus.

  “Ah, finally, we all have arrived.”

  Velof stood and glared at Geirik and Halvad, his face filled with suspicion. “What are they doing here?”

  “All will be revealed in good time.” Greyson gestured at everyone to be seated, but Velof alone sat down. Geirik, Halvad, and Fastel stood in front of the door with a couch between them and Velof, which was fine with him. Greyson Wells continued to speak, finally getting to why he had brought them here.

  “Now, we have a situation we need to resolve today. A group of Gleeks came over two years ago and lived here until some weeks ago.”

  Velof forced himself to relax. It did him no favors to reveal his response to seeing Fastel. “Yes, I remember Charles telling me about this.” Velof glanced at the ambassador, who nodded. “What does it matter that they lived here or not?”

  “It matters. It matters a great deal. The last week the Gleeks were here on Vermott, they lost two of their members.”

  Velof gritted his teeth because now he had to deal with this, then spoke in an impatient and dismissive manner.

  “So go find them.”

  Greyson pursed his lips before responding. “I don’t think you understand the situation. They aren’t mislaid somewhere. These two Gleeks were killed and their bodies hidden or discarded.”

  Velof glared at the man as he mentally cursed. Why did the Gleeks and the Empire have to come in and muck everything up?

  Phina heard whispers from the three new Baldere by the door as they glanced at the five Gleeks, Link, and Velof, who frowned and narrowed his eyes.

  “You know this for a fact?”

  “Of course.”

  “And what, may I ask, is your evidence of this crime?”

  Link grinned and splayed his hand across his chest. “So happy you asked! Phina, my dear?”

  Phina felt a moment of shock before she spoke over their implants with a hiss. What are you doing?

  Giving you experience. Go on.

  You told me I shouldn’t share any of my skills. That I should let you do the talking!

  I didn’t want you to be standing there nervous this whole time. Start moving, kid. They’re staring at you. And you aren’t sharing your skills. One of the other Gleeks is doing it, right?

  I hate you sometimes.

  No, you don’t.

  Fudging crumbs. She moved forward toward Link as he regarded her with amusement in his eyes and a smirk on his mouth. She resisted glaring at him only through supreme strength of will and because it would just amuse him more.

  Stopping short of the man who loved to irritate her, she paused and drew a breath, then let it out and began to explain what had happened weeks ago when Glaeken died.

  The ambassador interrupted, causing her to face him for the first time since they had met two days before. Charles Edwards could have been Link’s younger and more dramatic-looking brother, with blond highlights in his brown hair and a slightly more prominent nose and chin. However, where Link’s arrogance as Greyson was partly an act, Charles’ was understated but appeared to be no act. Pompous arrogance was his natural mode, along with fawning over people he should exert his authority over.

  “Young lady, how do we know you aren’t making this up? Mentally reaching out to his…cohorts? Telepathy between aliens is rather far-fetched.”

  Having anticipated this, she had only to glance at Braeden and the Gleeks before Draeget crossed to her. She turned to Velof and Charles with a smile and an eyebrow raised. “So, which of you would like to speak to Braeden? You will share a phrase in a whisper, and he will send it to my friend Draeget here, who will announce it to you all.”

  Velof and Charles exchanged glances, each looking reluctant. Velof nodded at the newer Baldere with his chin. “What about them? One of them can participate in this parlor trick.”

  Phina glanced at the two males and the female. They all looked interested in the proceedings, though their posture and position indicated uneasiness. The male on the left curled his lip in disgust as he stared at Velof.

  She turned back to the male in question to see him sneering back.

  “Would you really take their word that it was true?”

  He raised a ridge beneath the thick circlet resting on his head. Phina found herself staring at the spot where eyebrows would have been on a human but were absent on the Baldere. She shook her head to focus just as Velof responded that the female would do.

  Phina blinked as she realized one of the things that bothered her was that he spoke more like humans in his mannerisms and wording than his own people. No wonder he was having problems. The Baldere were very nationalistic or whatever term was the equivalent for an alien species. She shook it off before turning to the female Baldere, asking for her name and if she would mind helping. She received a bright but w
ild grin.

  “Fastel. Sounds fun, hey?”

  Braeden stood waiting for the female to walk over to the group of Gleeks. He nodded and held out his hand in welcome. He stood a head taller and his elongated limbs caused him to seem even larger, though the Baldere had more muscle mass. Even though her grip was strong, he couldn’t help thinking of the female as delicate.

  Fastel gave him a quiet greeting and began to speak in a voice so low that no one else could hear. As he listened, his heart beat harder, and he pressed his lips together to repress a smile. Clever female. He couldn’t have chosen a better phrase if he tried. He gladly sent it to Brother Draeget and Phina.

  Since Phina had been leaking a little mentally—he made a mental note to help her with that—he had caught that she would be hiding her skills, but he still wanted her to know what was said. Draeget was amused when he received the message and spoke clearly and strongly.

  “The lazy man only loses himself, the proud man endangers his honor and his heart, but the greedy man stands to lose everything since he will go too far.”

  Almost before he had finished speaking, Velof stood and glared around the room, pausing on the Gleeks and then on Link and Phina. His female companion placed her hands on her weapons. The ambassador leaned back in his chair but watched Velof and Link. Fastel, who had moved back toward the door, and the two males she had come with looked very interested in Velof’s angry reaction.

  For that matter, Braeden was very interested himself. The Baldere leader appeared to be reacting defensively to the notion of a greedy man. A guilty conscience, maybe? Perhaps now all would be revealed and they would find peace again. He found himself both relieved and disappointed by the thought.

  “Wells, you will tell me what you mean right now! You dare to come to my planet and my city and accuse me? Get on with it before I get tired of dealing with all of you!”

  Link and Phina exchanged glances before turning back to Velof. Link was cautious. Though he had been the one to bring the Baldere into the Empire several years ago, he still had difficulty navigating their volatile emotions.

  “Fair enough.”

  He explained about the cargo that had come to his attention in his role as Stan, though he didn’t include using his alternate persona. He had just gotten to the part where he knew the Baldere who had come to meet them had been carrying food stores when he saw fear cross a Baldere’s face.

  But it wasn’t Velof. It was one of the guards who had been placed around the room.

  Intriguing.

  He skipped over the part where he and Phina had realized these food stores were likely stolen and moved on to the events that had occurred in the cargo bay. At that point, his eager listeners became resistant questioners.

  “How dare you accuse us of theft!”

  “You are telling me that you and your apprentice there were able to defeat three Balderian males?”

  The question had come from Geirik, and while he had sounded interested, his face revealed that he didn’t quite believe Link’s story.

  Good thing his belief wasn’t required, though it would have made this whole thing easier.

  “That’s preposterous!”

  Halvad leaned over to Geirik, Link listening to the lowered words as he turned to Velof.

  “What’s preposterous is that Velof knows the word and how to use it.”

  Geirik hushed his friend, though if he were Link, he would have been mentally cackling at the dig. Turning his attention to Velof, Link assumed a pleasant expression.

  “What would be preposterous, Velof?”

  “That you would have us believe you and your small female over there defeated three of us Baldere, aside from the accusation that we stole the goods in the first place, which I won’t even touch since the idea is ludicrous.”

  “And what would you have us do? Prove it, as we did with our little telepathic demonstration earlier?”

  Velof seemed surprised, then recovered, assuming a shrewd expression as he smiled.

  “Yes, let’s have a demonstration. Taben can fight you, and your female can fight Torel.”

  He gestured at the largest Baldere in the room, who was standing guard in the back, and the Balderian female standing silently beside him. The two Baldere both looked over at those words, eagerness lighting their faces. They appeared to love fighting, no matter who it was.

  Yeah, no.

  Link smiled pleasantly. “Here’s an idea. How about Phina spars with Tape Head, and I’ll spar with Toro?”

  Maxim and Phina shot him looks of surprise and disbelief, but Taben snorted, then was still. Maxim recovered quicker, but his posture showed he was not happy about the suggestion. Velof turned his head to shoot Taben a look that suggested pain in the Baldere’s future for daring to make a noise. The big male paled.

  Are you crazy? Phina couldn’t believe what she had heard. You just made fun of their names. How is that diplomacy? Do you really expect me to be able to defeat the biggest guy here? I’m seriously confused right now that you are the one teaching me diplomacy.

  She turned to Velof. “As much fun as it would be to have a little sparring match, that’s not why we are here.”

  Relax, he’s not going to go for it. Even so, you need to have more confidence in yourself.

  Are you sure we won’t be fighting? How do you know? She ignored his comment about her self-confidence, although he might have had a point.

  Look at his eyes. He’s weak, no matter what shows of strength he gives us, and he doesn’t know what to make of us. He will only go for what he thinks is a sure thing.

  Velof eyed the two of them before turning back to Link, expressing false concern.

  “Oh, we weren’t thinking anything as banal as a little sparring match, but if you aren’t up for it, then we will move on.”

  See? Weak. No wonder people have lost confidence in him. He still had some strength left when we signed the accords.

  “We appreciate your forbearance.” Link inclined his head, keeping his eyes on the Balderian leader.

  “Of course.”

  “We do still have a problem, however.”

  “Oh?” Velof pulled out a tablet and appeared distracted. “What might that be?”

  “The fact that you ordered four of your guards to kill anyone who stumbles onto your business in the warehouses here. The fact that weeks ago, your guards found a Gleek named Dreuved looking into the food stores you had taken and were selling without paying the Gleeks. The fact that two days later, those same guards killed another Gleek named Glaeken. And the fact that last night, you ordered those same Baldere to find and kill all the Gleeks who came with us.”

  Geirik spoke up. “You also unfairly take a cut from your own people’s businesses, letting your guards push around females and children and twisting the governing system to line your pockets.”

  Velof had been trying to pull off looking casual as Link listed the relevant crimes, his only reaction a tightening of his jaw, but at Geirik’s words, he leaned forward and hissed.

  “Lies!”

  Link shook his head. “No can do, honey pie. We’ve got evidence on you fair and square.”

  Velof’s lip curled in disgust. “What evidence?”

  Subtly, Phina tapped on her tablet, bringing up a video on a screen in the room. Shown clearly in the video were five Baldere moving cargo from a storehouse to the cargo hold of a ship—a cargo hold Phina had become familiar with not that long ago. She glanced to the side and found all five of those Baldere in the room with them, standing along the wall. Fudge in a bucket. Two cents would get you five that those were the ones who had attacked last night too. They had disappeared too quickly for her to get a sense of them, and these hadn’t been here until just before the meeting. Possibly keeping out of sight. Hmm.

  After a minute of transferring cargo, the Baldere on the screen all looked up to view something off-camera. Within ten seconds, all the Baldere ran off-camera in the same direction. A few more buttons and
the screen flickered through a series of images showing the Baldere running after a Gleek. The final image showed the Gleek injured on the ground. A Baldere had knocked him off his feet and spoken to him, then pulled his weapon across the Gleek’s throat.

  “Dreuved.”

  Phina could feel the emotion that slipped through her mental connection with the Gleeks, but it was muted. If the raw burn of sorrow and anger passing through to her was only a fraction of the emotion Braeden felt, she didn’t want to feel the whole of it since it felt like it would scorch her mentally and emotionally.

  Velof yawned and sighed. “Very well, but this only shows why those Gleeks are here and that some Baldere did it. There’s no connection to anyone else.”

  Phina held herself still so as not to react, though she really wanted to. The sanctimonious prick knew those Baldere stood behind him and was lying to their faces!

  Link grinned. “Oh, we’ve got more.”

  Phina tried to breathe normally as she surreptitiously tapped and played through several more clips, one showing the Balderian guards chasing Glaeken through the streets and crushing his skull after shooting him in the back, and two more cargo acquisitions. Through them all, Velof’s body grew tenser, his jaw clenching, fingers digging into the arms of the chair, but he never acknowledged that it had anything to do with him or any of the Baldere in the room.

  Finally she turned to Link, her eyes questioning, and he gave her a subtle nod.

  Her finger tapped the screen.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Velof seethed as he watched the videos featuring his male warriors, clearly showing that the Empire was on to them. Vrukk! All his plans were coming undone before his eyes, and he was scrambling to figure out a way through it. All he could think of was to deny it had happened in the first place. Anger and fear wrapped around him, almost paralyzing his mind.