Blood Double (God Wars #1)(79)
"From this point forward, we are at war with him," Erithia added, thumping a fist on the wide, polished wood table in her casino's attic.
Twelve of her obsessed sat around that table, listening raptly to every word she uttered. None thought to question her decision or subsequent actions. They were prepared to go into battle in any way Erithia desired.
*
"If they go to war, they'll pull everything else into the battle. My hope is that it will reveal at least one of the Three as well." He glowed with a malevolent ultraviolet light. Those around him reflected his light—pulsed with it. They were prepared to follow him, no matter what he asked of them. "Once that war is over, we can remake everything as we see fit," he glowed with a deeper malignancy.
"I look forward to the chaos," his lieutenant agreed.
*
Lissa's Journal
Lissa, I am in your study, Gavin sent. On Le-Ath Veronis.
I didn't bother replying, I folded space.
*
Breanne's Journal
The Comet's Tail was three stories of gaming, restaurants, laughter and despair. Eventually I had to put up my shield—I couldn't handle the readings any longer. Lives, all of them teeming with every emotion possible, overwhelmed me. Learning to shield was the only thing I was grateful to Kalenegar for. I had no idea where the sadistic Larentii was, but I didn't really care, either. If he'd been like Graegar—I had to shove that thought aside like so many others. I would always be a friend to that particular Larentii, and to his grandfather, Pheligar. I'd learned so much from those two, merely by reading them.
Realizing after a while that I wasn't obligated to walk through the casino, or attempt to push past employees to wander through the kitchen in my search for Erithia Cordan, I found an empty corner and turned to mist. That would get me past anyone and through anything. I misted through the kitchen and found nothing. With no desire to stay and watch a waiter get dressed down by the Master Cook, I left quickly.
Misting through security offices and administration came next, but still there was no sign of Erithia. Mentally sighing, I made my way to the last place to look in the casino before moving on the next one. I turned my mist upward—toward the attic.
*
Lissa's Journal
"Gavin, what the hell is going on? Did you really mean to let that * Skel Hawer get away with beating Breanne? Did you? Where's Norian, by the way? He almost let him go." I was fuming, and turning Norian out of the palace and my bed would likely be the least of my lion snake's worries.
"Lissa, I don't know," Gavin was worried, I could tell, and something wasn't right with him, that was easy enough to see.
"I hear you and Cheedas managed to make Breanne's life miserable at the palace. I haven't even been to my suite, to see what hasn't been done because they didn't do their job," I fumed. "Anybody should be treated as a respected guest while they're here. Cheedas and every other comesula who works here knows that. Tell me why you didn't remind them of their duty, Gavin." My eyes were likely turning red, I was so pissed.
"My Queen, I could not help but overhear," a comesula poked his head inside the door. "Would you like something?"
"No. Wait, I do want something. Haul Cheedas out of bed. Tell him I want to see him. Immediately."
"Of course, Raona." He bowed and left quickly, his footsteps fading on the marble floor.
"Lissa, I don't know what happened," Gavin turned away. "I realize something appeared irregular, but I did as I felt I must."
"Irregular is an understatement, Gavin Montegue," I hissed. "After I talk with my sister, I'll decide whether I'm speaking to you for six months. Maybe more."
"Your what?" Gavin whirled and stared at me.
"You heard me," I snapped. "She's my half-sister. I didn't know about her. Nobody did, until somebody from much higher up came to tell Belen and me. Somebody else was sent to bring her here, after I was given a discreet assignment. Yet I hear from Adam that somehow, she was mistreated from the beginning. Would you like to explain that to me?"
"Raona?" Cheedas stepped carefully inside my study. I frowned at him—something was wrong with him, too, I just couldn't fathom what that might be.
*
Breanne's Journal
Thirteen were in the attic. Twelve of them were seated at the table and obsessed by the one who stood before them. Erithia Cordan couldn't see me as mist, so I took the opportunity to read her. As much as I could, anyway.
Evil couldn't begin to describe what she was. The plans she was making with her twelve were nothing short of annihilation. That frightened me. It didn't matter—what mattered was how to take care of this situation so that these thirteen could never go into the outside world and wreak their havoc on the unsuspecting.
Erithia had already placed obsession on all her disciples, and I couldn't risk any one of them getting away. They'd already been programmed to carry out her slightest whim, so I had to think quickly to deal with this. I had to make all of them dead simultaneously, and therein lay the difficulty.
*
"Trev, whatever happened to that girl—you know—the one Skel Hawer almost killed?" Kooper set a cup of coffee on the edge of Sheriff Trevor's desk.
"Last I heard, she was engaged to Casimir." Trevor pulled a bottle of blood substitute from the cooler beside his desk and flipped off the lid with a short claw.