Razi turned at the arch and nodded his head at Leuj. “I’m going to see my father-in-law. I’ll be happy to tell him you said hello.” He didn’t wait for a response, but stormed away, all the while wondering if Leuj had tipped Kyleena off. His mind replayed the man’s sobs and he decided not.
The shuttle taxi outside the church smelled of Hemec fuel and old food set out too long. Razi settled in the back seat and submitted to an eye scan. The robotic voice rattled off a fake identity provided months ago by the church.
Satisfied, the driver slipped the scanner back in place into the dash and pressed in the commands to hover. “Where to?” he asked.
“The palace.”
Chapter Thirty Two
Kaldu
Enrue clenched the armrests of his seat all through the shuttle ride back to his palace. He had not intended to return alone. He glanced at the empty seat beside him and wished Melia were there. Her words troubled him, and he knew that last night would not be the final time he saw her. He didn’t think he could do as she warned though. He saw his death in her eyes every time he glanced there. It both excited and frightened him now.
Nema’s arms were crossed and her gaze stern when he swept through the office that morning to pick up his files. “What?” he asked, brusque and ready to hide in his
room.
“O’ka has been asking for you all night. She didn’t let me sleep.” His secretary twisted her mouth in an angry frown. “That woman is annoying, my Shiemir. I do not like her traipsing about the palace as if she owns the place.”
“Neither do
I
.” He glanced at the vids, hopeful that Melia would walk into the main hall where those two statues stood, but disappointed, when only tourists filed by. “How is the hostage?”
Nema shrugged. “I suppose she’s fine. She’s just a child, my Shiemir. Are you sure about this?”
“Didn’t I warn you about questioning me?” He leaned toward her, imposing and cold. “Is this your last day here?”
“Perhaps I should retire,” she spat back, ever sarcastic and headstrong. He liked that about her sometimes, but now was not one of them. “But I’ll say my piece whether you like it or not. The nylenth can’t be trusted. You know this. You’re off in the middle of the night, no one knows where, probably boffing that damned Cossia from Kyleena, and you’ve got the Emperor’s daughter in your lower cells. I really must ask before I gather my things and take my leave. Shiemir, have you lost your mind?”
He frowned and grasped his chin. “You have a good point. The nylenth frightens me.”
Nema stiffened, her eyes slitting.
“Do your work, Nema. If you still want to stay. I’m tired. I need to go lie down for a while.” He shook his head and started away. “Don’t interrupt me unless it’s something important.”
“Like Ms. Golden Eyes?”
“Yes. That’s important to me. Interrupt me for her.”
“And if the Kyleena Empire decides to attack?”
“Then let me die in my bed for my foolishness.”
She chuckled and seated herself as he walked out. The halls were relatively empty save for a few retainers scurrying past to get files delivered or to attend to maintenance matters. Enrue wondered what he ought to do with the red-haired prisoner still languishing in his prison cell. It would hardly sit well to let the man go. He might complain of ill treatment, make a stink about his detainment in Taraf. Not that it mattered. The Empire would soil Enrue’s good name in due time.
An alluring scent wafted around him just as he reached the floor of his bedchamber. He halted, mystified. Breathing in Melia’s perfume, he glanced around only to find O’Ka following him.
“Aha. There you are, Shiemir.”
“Empress.”
He gave her a curt nod, bewildered by the familiarity of Melia’s scent torturing him. Worried, he looked over the nylenth’s shoulder to be sure she wasn’t being followed by the assassin. They were alone.
She circled Enrue like a predator summing up its next meal. Her tongue darted out to wash over her lower lip. “Where were you last night?”
“Out.”
He sucked in a deep breath, feeling dazed by the heady scent. His mind dulled and he found himself fighting a strange wave of euphoria.
“Mm. Out.
How evasive of you.”
She leaned closer.
At once, Enrue realized the scent came from her. He balked, bumping into the door. Her pheromones had changed. This disturbed him, made him wary. Surely, she couldn’t read his mind? Sense his desires?
“What is it?” she
asked,
her lips quirking. “You’ve paled.”
“Have you changed your perfume?” he whispered.
O’Ka chuckled, a throaty laughter of knowledge. “I have no need for perfume. Don’t you know about my kind?” She reached out and placed her hand over his chest.
“About how we attract our mates?”
“Not really, no.”
Smirking, she inched closer still, her small smile breaking wider to reveal her fangs, teeth like a feral vampire from fantasy tales.
He flinched. “You never smelled this good to me before.”
O’Ka snorted her disdain, clearly insulted. “Nylenth take on the characteristics their prospective mate desires. My body, in a way, reads yours, Shiemir. Do you like that?”
As tempting as it was to return her affections, he had no trouble resisting. “So, let me understand this. Your body senses what my body needs, copies it and plays it back? Like a placebo?
A false image?
A mirage?”
She growled. “I suppose if that’s the way you want to see it.” She withdrew her hand and stepped back, her dark eyes flashing cold. “I wanted to ask you about the hostage. When will the execution take place?”
“I haven’t decided. We may be able to use her as a bargaining tool.” He wondered if he ought to turn back and lead O’Ka to the boardroom. He certainly didn’t want her anywhere near his bed.
She sniffed. “The Emperor will not bargain.”
“He might, with his daughter. He’s lost a son already. He knows what the Doer Seven are capable of.”
O’Ka twisted her mouth as she contemplated her answer.
“Very well.
As you wish. I have news, my Shiemir.
Much news.
Have you heard what happened in the Habiri Church?”
“No.” He hoped she’d finish so he could go lie down. All he wanted to do at the moment was sleep, to close his eyes and try to forget the sight of Melia fleeing from him.
“It seems the Empire infiltrated the main church in Taraf and killed one of its religious fanatic leaders…a Lensi Chand. She’s on our lists, Shiemir. They know who we are, and obviously, they’re in your precious city. Jorin was right about your thin security. You should let me protect you. Keep me close to you. No one can hurt you with me nearby. I swear it.”
“I had not heard of this.” Dismissing her remark, he entered the code for his room. “Please, excuse me. I need some time to catch up on what’s happened.”
Her features slackened with disappointment.
“Very well.
I’ll stay out here and keep watch over your room.”
He cleared his throat and started to argue, but finally shook his head. “That’s fine, O’ka.”
The door shut, separating him from her false pheromones. His body burned with the desire to be with Melia. He set the data cards on his desk and ran a finger across the edge of her datasharer, wondering how far away she was now. He flipped it open and stared at its blank screen. “What an ass I’ve made of myself,” he muttered.
The com tone sounded. “What, Nema!”
“I’m sorry to bother you, my Shiemir, but Emperor Kaldu of Kyleena is requesting an audience with you.”
He glared at his secretary’s grim expression on the computer screen before him. Adjusting his clothes, he seated himself. “Send it through.”
Nema nodded. The screen blinked and after a moment, Kaldu’s square face took up the darkness. He was younger than Enrue by several years, his blond hair cut short in military style. He’d prepared for this com-meeting, his face properly made up and his uniform decked to the edges with medals and ribbons denoting his vast reach and scope of power over the universe. Ruthlessness showed in his cool blue eyes.
“Emperor,” Enrue said, nodding in the slightest. “To what do I owe this honor?”
The man’s eyes glittered with ferocity, but Enrue knew the Emperor would play the game. Politicians of such caliber played it well. “I have word from my informants.”
“Your spies?
Your assassins?
Let us speak frankly. I see no reason to mince words.”
Kaldu ground his teeth so much that Enrue heard the twisting noise through the speakers. “My
informants
have explained to me that you and six other leaders who previously swore fealty to me have decided loyalty means nothing. Is it true you are the leader of the Doer Seven?”
He wanted to blurt out his answer, to shout his anger and bitterness at the foul man, more than anything, he wanted to reach through the screen and choke the life out of the man who was responsible for so much corruption and cruelty.
“I don’t know what you’re speaking of,” the Shiemir said instead.
“Of course not.”
Kaldu brought his hands together on the tabletop and wove his fingers. “Of course, you don’t know what the Doer Seven is…or shall I say
was
. Of course, you have no knowledge about my son’s untimely death or the unmarked ships which attacked his entourage. You certainly have no clue as to the whereabouts of my daughter, either.”
“Certainly not,” Enrue spat.
“It has come to my attention that you lost a daughter not so long ago.
Your only child, a beautiful young woman who you planned to bargain for a trade agreement.”
Kaldu leaned forward, his eyes fixing Enrue. “It has also come to my attention that your daughter is still alive.”
“Very funny,” Enrue replied. “I identified her body and stood by the grave when they lowered her casket into the ground. “I don’t know what you’re insinuating, but you’re mistaken.”
“Did you run tests on the body?”
“I know my own child.”
“I suggest you exhume the remains.”
“So you can spread rumors about me while I seek the counsel of the dead? So you can slander my name and spread lies through the media as you always do?” Enrue’s upper lip curled. “I have more important things to do with my time.”
Kaldu nodded. “Of course you do.
Of course.
Well, I will have the tests run on your daughter—the one I have in custody—and send them through to your secretary. Once the evidence presents itself, I would like to arrange a trade.”
“The only trade I wish to arrange is for the freedom of my people.”
The Emperor stiffened, his knuckles growing white as he clenched his fists together. “I make the demands. Not you. Men far more powerful than a little Shiemir from the outer rim have attempted to do what you’re doing. They failed, all of them. Defy me and I’ll have your head adorning my library walls.”
Chapter Thirty Three
Master Student Reunion
Melia let her body take on its rightful shape in the alleyway. She clenched her teeth through the pain of muscles and skin re-shifting. Hurrying alongside the shimmery metal-sided building, she held her breath when she entered the net café. She’d been in this one a few times before, so it wasn’t new to her. She scanned the patrons, seeking out her boss. If he was there, she couldn’t see him. She went to the bar and ordered
a mocha
, not too harsh on the caffeine. While the server mixed her drink, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.