Blood Double (God Wars #1)(66)

"And what did you learn, my lover?" Erithia smiled.

"I'm unsure of the spelling of the word," Rathik began, "but both servants say the woman responsible for your brother's death, and it was vicious, that death, named herself van-uh-rash."

"What? Rathik, I didn't catch that phrase. Will you repeat it for me, please?"

"Van-uh-rash, my dearest. That's the closest I can get to what I was told."

"Vhanaraszh?" Erithia's voice had gone hard as flint.

"Perhaps. Yes—it did sound like that."

"Rathik my dear, I will send someone to bring you back to me. Did you get a description of this woman?"

"Yes. She has dark hair and is somewhat slight, according to my sources. Her eyes, they tell me, are what will identify her best, however. They said her eyes are an unusual blue, and they appear able to bore through anyone. I hear she not only saved a monarch long thought dead, but rescued Grey House in some obscure and extraordinary way."

"If this is the true Vhanaraszh, then that would not be out of the question," Erithia muttered to herself. "Was there any word on where this woman might be found?"

"None. They didn't know where she came from, only that she appeared with a handful of Grey House wizards."

"Striking at Grey Planet is ill-advised," Erithia considered the idea. "Rathik, my sweetest, we must contemplate this. If this woman is who they say she is, she is more than dangerous to us. We must locate her and determine how she might be killed."

"I will do whatever you desire, beloved," Rathik's image bowed to Erithia.

"I will send transport quickly." Erithia terminated the communication.

*

"Hordace, there is no other answer. My spy said King Cildis lives again, when he was no more than a lifeless husk adorning the throne room in Bexari's palace. I hear Cildis killed the Prime Minister himself, after that woman murdered my brother."

"What about the Larentii?" Hordace watched Erithia closely—as long as he worked willingly with her, she'd agreed not to place an obsession with him. That was something he wished to avoid. Without an obsession, Hordace wasn't drawn to her, and he had no desire to be enthralled by her, as so many others were. He had his pleasures, after all, and Erithia was much too old for his tastes.

"What about the Larentii? Did we not attack them successfully once before? On their homeworld, no less?" Erithia's voice held contempt.

"They had their revenge, or so I hear," Hordace muttered. "We have another problem as well, and this requires immediate attention, before he is fully questioned."

"Who?" Erithia blinked in surprise at Hordace.

"Q'And Ribalo was discovered."

"No. Where is he? We must deal with this immediately," Erithia hissed, her visage changing.

Hordace hated when Erithia's fa?ade cracked. Sirenali weren't pretty when they transformed. "The last I heard, he was imprisoned in the Queen's dungeon on Le-Ath Veronis."

"This will not be easy," Erithia's face returned to its humanoid form.

"Nevertheless, it must be done. You say yourself that you wish to take down the Queen. Perhaps you will find a suitable target for an obsession at the same time."

"Perhaps—yes. I will approach a suitable representative, and make arrangements for Q'And's escape. I am not without resources, after all."

Hordace remained silent. He knew better than anyone that Erithia had a small stable of powerful Ra'Ak ready to answer her call. It was no secret to him, either, that her kind could easily get past the shields surrounding Le-Ath Veronis. "Q'And must be rescued before he succumbs to questioning," Hordace ventured.

"Hordace, darling, of course that will happen. We both desire this one to live, do we not?"

"Yes. Q'And's brother is quite valuable to me, and that may not be true if we allow his twin to perish. Q'Ind might cause a great deal of damage before we could get him under control again."

"I understand completely. Let me know if there is anything further. I must return to Le-Ath Veronis—there are so many things I must plan." Erithia rose and disappeared.

"See that you plan them successfully," Hordace muttered.

*

"We'll let him sit in the dungeon for three days and then question him," Gavin tossed his comp-vid onto the table next to Tony and sat down with a sigh. "I am more than thankful that we have a short break between Council meetings. I have three days in which I won't have to worry with that disobedient turn."

"What if the prisoner wants his representative brought in?"

"I don't care. He's allowed, and it won't do him any good in the long term. Besides, we can always arrange to have his representative questioned. After the fact, of course."

"That's not exactly legal," Tony pointed out. He'd come to the Queen's library after Gavin sent mindspeech to meet him there.

"Then forget I said anything."

"Why did you ask me here, then?"

"I grow tired of Rigo and the Falchani twins defending my turn. As if they have anything to say regarding her training or punishment."

Tony lifted an eyebrow in surprise at his surrogate sire. "There are laws protecting a turn, Gavin," Tony pointed out. "They have rights, too."