Authors: Kyra Anderson
“Ah, did one of your birds already find
you?” Glynna asked with a broken laugh. “Yes, there was a poison found in the
wine. Naturally, everything must be checked, now. As you know, it is terribly
bad luck on Fortunea to have a dinner without wine.”
“Was it domestic or imported?” Remus
asked.
“Both, actually,” Glynna answered. “Rest
assured, we have the situation under control. There is no need to be concerned.
At every summit, there is an assassination attempt. You know this.”
“Let us hope that there is only one,”
Remus said with a small laugh.
“Yes, let’s,” Glynna chuckled.
Kailynn could not help but wonder how
many assassination attempts these leaders had endured to be able to joke about
their own murders so lightly.
“I would stay and visit, but I am afraid
I have to disappear before the next convoy arrives,” Glynna said. She reached
forward and took Isa’s hand. “I just had to see you. It’s been too long.”
“It has,” Isa agreed, smiling. “We’ll
catch up sometime after tomorrow.”
“Yes,” Glynna agreed. “I will see you
both tomorrow.”
The Isa that led the Elites into the
enormous conference hall of the Fortuean Palace was not the Isa Kailynn knew.
Isa was not dressed in her normal uniform. She wore all black, her clothes
formfitting and perfectly tailored to her, making her appear far more
intimidating.
Her hair was pulled away
from her face and the look in her eyes changed her entire demeanor from the Isa
everyone knew to the Golden Elite of Tiao.
The remaining Elites were dressed in grey
dress clothes, all perfect in their appearance, causing everyone’s eyes to turn
and the conversations around the room to halt as everyone looked at the Elites.
Kailynn, Rayal, and the other two advisors were dressed formally, but they were
not nearly as impressive as the Elites.
Isa stopped briefly in the doorway as the
eyes turned to her. After the two second pause, she barely motioned with her
fingers and the Elites began moving around the room, silently following the cue
to go around the room and learn what they could.
Isa and Remus walked further into the
room, Rayal following them. Kailynn knew that the former caretaker was bugged
so he could record every conversation Isa had with the other planetary leaders.
There was something about the secrecy of everything happening in the meeting
that thrilled, and terrified, Kailynn.
“Golden Elite Isa!” a voice called,
walking to her. She smiled graciously and extended her hand, palm down, to the
man that approached.
“Juren,” Isa greeted. “I have not seen
you in years.”
“It has been too long,” the man said,
taking her hand and trying to pull her hand up to his mouth to kiss, however,
she kept her hand low, forcing him to bow down. When he straightened, he
released her hand and smiled, trying to hide his irritation.
Kailynn glanced around the room as Isa
struck up casual conversation with Juren about his family.
The room was tiered two levels and
circular. In the middle, everyone was walking around and mingling, no one
interacting with the large, circular table with a hologram of Fortunea’s seal
in the middle. Around the circular room there were several chairs with glass
tables in front of them, a transparent hologram of the planet’s name on the
front of each table. Kailynn saw a lot of planet’s names that she had never
heard of, as well as a few that she recognized. She found Tiao’s table on the
top tier, directly across the room from the golden throne for the Queen with
her advisors seated next to her.
Kailynn wondered how they could conduct a
meeting in such a large room with so many people.
Another delegation of people walked into
the room, quickly assessing the area before walking to the center of the room
to mingle with everyone else.
As Isa was finishing the conversation
with Juren, one man started toward her. Rayal, spotting him quickly, took
Kailynn’s arm, turned her to him, and forced her to take a step back from Isa.
He glanced sideways, watching Isa, causing Kailynn to watch as well, confused.
“Elite Isa,” the man said, smiling
broadly and approaching her.
“Habim,” Isa greeted with a broad smile.
The man took her extended hand and bent
down to kiss it.
“I was hoping to get a chance to say
hello before the meeting,” he said, straightening. As Isa’s hand returned to
her side, Kailynn caught the flash of light that reflected off the tiny disk
she had between her fingers.
Rayal reached into his pocket slowly.
“Habim!” a man called from across the
room.
“Oh, excuse me,” he said quickly. “The
boss is calling.”
The man walked away and Isa turned back
to Juren.
“My apologies, please continue,” she
said.
As the man was about to speak, a soft
beeping sounded from Isa’s pocket.
“I apologize again, one moment,” Isa
said, grabbing her phone from her pocket and popping out the earpiece. In the
same motion, she slid the disk into the slot in the back of her phone. Kailynn
only saw the movement because she was looking for it.
“Your doctors can’t figure out how to implant
one?” Juren said teasingly.
Isa forced a smile and placed the
earpiece in her ear.
“Elite Isa,” she greeted.
She turned away from the group and
pretended to talk to someone. Rayal extracted his hand from his pocket as Remus
took up the conversation with Juren.
Kailynn turned her wide eyes to Rayal.
“Keep your face straight,” he said
seriously.
Isa took out her earpiece, popping out
the disk and slipping it between her fingers as she approached the group again.
“Forgive the interruption.”
“Elite Isa,” Rayal said walking up to her
and pretending to whisper to her. She nodded once and he turned to walk away.
“Oh, Rayal,” she said quickly, her hand
reaching out and taking his wrist. She slipped the disk into his hand. “Keep an
eye on Tia?”
“Yes, Miss,” he said with a bow of his
head.
Rayal and Kailynn walked away from Isa
and moved across the room.
“What the hell just happened?” Kailynn
whispered.
“Isa’s spies are reporting to her,” Rayal
whispered back.
“That was…I mean…everything here is so…”
“I know,” Rayal said with a nod. “You
thought being a Significant had a lot of hidden pretense? Politics is far
worse. But Isa’s one of the best. Remember, it’s all a game of smoke and
mirrors as you try to survive those who want to stab you in the back.”
Juren excused himself from the
conversation and Remus turned to another leader, discussing something trivial.
Before the meeting, everyone was catching up and testing the waters, trying to
determine the best strategy for each planet depending on the mood of the leader
that day. Isa was trying to pay attention, but she continued to glance around
the room, seeing who had joined them and who she wanted to talk to in the
limited time before the meeting.
“You always did stand out in a crowd,” a
voice said, suddenly at her ear. She whirled around to face the woman.
The initial surprise of the voice faded
and elation filled every part of Isa.
“Vanessa?” she breathed, her eyes going
wide.
The woman smiled broadly.
“Hello, Isa.”
Isa,
unable to help herself, hugged the older woman quickly.
“Sorry,” Vanessa said, “I guess I really
should call you
Elite
Isa, now.”
“I…” Isa looked over the woman and shook
her head slowly. “I can’t believe you’re
here
.”
“Ms. Henrick?” Remus asked, also
surprised to see the woman as he walked to Isa again.
“Elite Remus,” Vanessa greeted. The small
group of politicians from the planet Nexia looked over the woman warily.
Vanessa Henrick was referred to in the Altereye System as a shadow politician.
She was seen at many of the large summits and peace meetings between planets,
but no one knew where she had been born or who she truly served, which made her
very dangerous.
Isa, however, knew Vanessa as one of the
former teachers at the Elite Academy. Vanessa had only been a teacher for half
of a year. She was ordered into exile for trying to insight rebellion with Isa
and the group that eventually came to run the Syndicate. Isa had not seen the
woman in twenty years.
Yet Vanessa looked exactly the same, her
red-auburn hair pulled into a loose braid, exposing the piercing hazel eyes.
She was extremely beautiful, but unbelievably intimidating.
“What are you doing here?” Isa asked,
following Vanessa’s lead as they walked away from the group to discuss things
on their own.
“Her Majesty Glynna asked me to sit as
advisor for the meeting,” Vanessa explained.
“I didn’t know that you were in her favor
so much,” Isa said. “I haven’t seen you in twenty years.”
“I would have visited, but I was in
exile.”
“…I thought you had been executed,” Isa
whispered, her voice straining.
“No, no,” Vanessa assured. “Venus could
not risk upsetting you further, or you might have caused some damage.”
Isa let out a soft bark of laughter.
“Things have been very difficult for you
lately,” Vanessa noted. “I certainly hope that this meeting does not create
more problems.”
Isa looked at Vanessa suspiciously. The
older woman laughed.
“I keep my finger on the pulse of
everything,” she said. “I had to watch you from afar.”
Isa shook her head again. “I can’t quite
grasp the fact that you’re standing in front of me right now.”
“I am sorry for not reaching out to you
sooner, but I watched all the reforms you put on Tiao and I’ve been following
your work mending the Alliance. I knew you would do amazing things.”
“…not everything I had hoped.”
“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Vanessa
said with a gentle smile. “There is still time.”
Isa blinked, confused at the tone in the
woman’s voice.
“Vanessa,” she started slowly, “you’re
here for Glynna, but…it seems strange to me that you are here, yet not a member
of her court or council. I have not heard from you in twenty years, and now
you’re
here
, at this conference, when
we are discussing a very severe problem with the Ninth Circle.”
Vanessa’s smile widened.
“You have learned the game well,” she
complimented. “I won’t try to convince you that I’m on your side, just know
that I am. And, if you can handle this problem with the Ninth Circle, I will
make sure you have all the support you need, should there be any
other
change in circumstances.”
Isa blinked at the woman, surprised and
confused. Vanessa glanced at the door and smiled.
“It would appear that Yuta is here. I
will go over and say hello,” she said, her smile showing her irritation at
having to do so.
As she walked away, Isa watched her,
confused and concerned.
She was pulled out of her thoughts,
however, by a shaky voice.