Consort (Beyond Ontariese 6) (17 page)

“
Good morning.” He finally
returned her greeting and they both laughed.

She pulled his head back down for
another kiss and then stretched like a contented feline. “Let’s
start every day like this.”

“
Then we’d never leave this
bed.”

Wrapping her legs around his waist,
she squeezed him with her inner muscles. “You make that sound like
a bad thing.”

“
I’d love to indulge you,
sweetheart, but my day is full of appointments I’ve already
rescheduled.” He reluctantly separated their bodies and rolled to
her side.

“
Sucks to be
king?”

“
When it forces me to leave
you like this? Absolutely.”

She ran her hands down her body and
arched. “Maybe I’ll stay in bed, warm and naked, waiting for
you.”

“
You’re a regular minx this
morning.” He swung his legs off the side of the bed then stood and
blew her a kiss. “Go say goodbye to your daughter. I think she’s
heading home today.”

“
Yes, Your
Majesty.”

Not trusting himself to
touch her again, he just chuckled and flashed from the
room
.

“
Anyone you know?” Nasrin
handed a holotab to Eagin and watched him carefully. She knew the
answer, but she was curious to see if he’d admit this was the man
he’d hired to terrorize Indric’s guests. They were on the railed
patio beside her private swimming pool. She’d slipped on an
ankle-length robe as Eagin arrived, but hadn’t bothered to tie the
belt. All she wore beneath was a miniscule swimsuit designed for
lazing about in the sun rather than actually swimming.

Triggering the news file, Eagin
watched the short report explaining how the body of an unidentified
man had been found behind a popular bar not far from the palace. An
image of the man’s face was shown and then close-ups of the
elaborate tattoos that covered his arms.

His gaze narrowed and his nostrils
flared then he handed the device back to Nasrin. “How’d you find
him so fast?”

“
Me?” She laughed, setting
the holotab aside before continuing the conversation. “What makes
you think I had anything to do with it? Indric had half of San
Adrin looking for that man.”

“
How’d you know he was the
shooter?” His brows arched, reinforcing the challenge.

She hadn’t expected Eagin to make the
connection so easily. Perhaps he wasn’t quite as useless as she
thought. The possibility resonated for a nanosecond before she
dismissed it. Eagin was good in bed, but that was his only value.
She wanted Indric. Always had and always would. All she had to do
now was figure out a way to so ingratiate herself with him that
he’d have no choice but to make her his consort.

“
Don’t be so paranoid.” She
strolled to one of the loungers and slipped out of the robe. “They
haven’t released the man’s name, but I was sure I’d seen him
before. I ran his image through a facial recognition database and
turned up a record that goes back decades. He seemed like the type
of man who wouldn’t have a problem shooting at
children.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and
glared at her. “No one was hurt. Get over it already.”

“
I think it was incredibly
stupid, but I’m over it.” She draped the robe over the back of a
nearby chair and sat on the lounger.

“
Are you going to try and
convince me it didn’t shake him up? That he hasn’t slept a little
lighter since plasma blasts whizzed by in front of his
face?”

She wasn’t sure where Eagin had been
for the past day and a half, but it was obvious he hadn’t heard
about the relocation. “It was a little more serious than that, my
dear. One of the boys was hurt and Indric moved them to the palace
to make sure they’re safe.”

“
He moved who to the
palace?”

His ignorance reinforced her disdain.
A true leader would have demanded a full report from his henchmen
shortly after the attack. Not only was his strategy flawed, but his
follow-through was nonexistent. “Indric’s mistress and her son.
They’re both at the palace being treated like honored
guests.”

He lapsed into silence for a moment
then turned his hostile gaze on her. “How do you know all of
this?”

“
My
operatives understand the need for discretion. I have people
strategically placed in all the other regions.”

He moved to the railing that separated
the pool area from the patio and stared out over the shimmering
water. For a long time he didn’t speak, barely moved. Then he
turned his head, his voice low and menacing as he said, “If you
betray me, I’ll kill you. It’s as simple as that.”

“
Again with the paranoia.”
She swung her legs onto the lounger and relaxed against the padded
back. “What would I gain by betraying you?”
You have no power and little wealth. You’re a good lay and
that’s about it.
“We want the same thing,
so it’s brought us together. There’s no grand conspiracy
here.”

One corner of his mouth quirked and he
turned around, leaning back against the railing. “I have a surprise
for you.”

She swept his body with a hot look,
lingering on his crotch until a visible ridge formed in the front
of his pants. “The same surprise you gave me last
night?”

“
No.” His expression was
decidedly secretive. “This is even more…explosive.” He dragged the
chair she’d draped with her robe closer to the lounger and sat. “Do
you know what this is?” He pulled a thin device out of his pocket
and handed it to her. “Don’t squeeze it too hard or you’ll ruin my
surprise.”

There were no buttons or symbols, no
indication of its function. He reached over and pressed the upper
right corner and the device. A backlit control panel became
visible, but she still couldn’t tell what it controlled.

“
What does it do?” She
turned it over then face up again.

He leaned close to her ear and
whispered, “It launches a Rodyte attack drone.”

She handed the controller back to him
as if it had burned her fingers. “Where did you get one of
those?”

“
Actually, I have two, one
for Indric and one for his mistress.” He continued in a softer
tone, forcing her to lean forward to hear him. “They have DNA
targeting.”

“
The Rodytes have been
bragging about DNA targeting for cycles,” she whispered back.
“They’ve never made it work. Where did you get the—devices. You
probably wasted your money.” She couldn’t bring herself to say the
word, couldn’t believe there was no option left but premeditated
murder.

He stood so fast he toppled the chair.
“You really do think I’m an idiot, don’t you. I witnessed the
functionality of the ‘devices’ firsthand. They work exactly as they
were intended to work.”

She raised the back of the lounger
until she was seated upright. “And where will you get their
DNA?”

“
Actually, I thought you
could help me with that.” Righting the chair, he moved it out of
his way and stood beside the lounger. He cupped her chin and tilted
her head back so he could look into her eyes. “You continually brag
about your contacts inside the palace. Is one of these famed
contacts placed close enough to get us a wineglass or hairbrush
from each of the targets?”

She hesitated and his fingers
tightened around her chin. “They are, but I’d rather find another
way to—”

“
I’m sure you’d rather
spread your legs for Indric and pray to every god you’ve ever heard
about that somehow you conceive.” He released her chin with a push,
jerking her head back. “It’s not going to happen.”

“
It’s too transparent.
Everyone will know you did it.”

“
Well, you see, I’m not
quite as stupid as you think. Indric is in the middle of a highly
controversial negotiation with the Rodytes. He thinks their greed
is more powerful than their lust for Bilarrian blood. Most of his
nobles boisterously disagree. My new toys will be traced back to
their manufacturer and no one will know for sure who set them in
motion.”

“
Indric’s munitions
scanners and defense grid are state of the art. It doesn’t matter
how many people we have on the inside. There is no way to smuggle
your toys inside the palace and the grid will fry any incoming
projectile.”

“
Which is why we won’t
attack at Indric’s palace.”

“
Everyone is on edge
because of the first attack. They won’t give you another
opportunity.”

He grinned, tossing the controller
from hand to hand. “Not on Bilarri, I agree. But in nine days
they’re planning to visit Ontariese. The technology there is far
more simplistic and there will be all sorts of
distractions.”

She didn’t know what to say. He’d
caught her off-guard and presented a plan far more feasible than
she’d thought possible. She didn’t want Eagin on the throne, but
was there a way to twist his plan to her advantage?

“
What is happening on
Ontariese in nine days?” She tried to sound mildly interested while
her heart beat frantically.

“
The high queen is
celebrating twenty years on the throne.”

“
And why does Indric care
about the Ontarian high queen?”

“
She’s good friends with
Lord Drakkin and Drakkin is good friends with Indric.”

Nasrin simply nodded, but her mind
raced on ahead. If she was going to be involved in an assassination
scheme, the outcome was going to be more to her liking than what
Eagin had planned. DNA targeting ensured that a specific person was
taken out by the drone and that person was determined by whoever
supplied the DNA. So all she needed to decide was who she wanted
dead and how their death paved the way for her to become Indric’s
queen.

* * * * *

Cinarra raised her face to the sun and
sighed. She stood beside Krysta on the palace’s highest rooftop.
The observation area was railed for safety and filled with an
assortment of chairs and benches, but at the moment they were the
only ones enjoying the view. Camp Rabadah spread out all around
them, a patchwork of contrasting shapes and colors, much like the
people who occupied the city.

“
I researched San Adrin
when I realized this was where Drakkin had stashed you, but this is
so different from how I pictured it.”

“
Not all of San Adrin is
this civilized. Some of the tribes still live in tents and resent
anyone who tries to tame the desert. They know secrets the desert
has only shared with them and they like it that way.”

“
Aunt Krysta!” Both women
turned as Betaul and Prince Dravon came bounding across the
rooftop. Ametto and one of the other guards followed close
behind.

“
Are we interrupting?”
Ametto’s deep voice easily spanned the distance as he tried in vain
to slow the boys’ approach.

“
They’re fine, Ametto,”
Cinarra called. “We welcome the company.”

At Ametto’s signal, his fellow guard
took up a post near the exit door and Ametto moved to a strategic
corner where he could see the entire rooftop without being
intrusive.

“
You weren’t going to leave
without saying goodbye, were you?” Betaul sounded hurt by the
possibility.

Krysta knelt and hugged the boy,
tousling his dark hair. “Of course not. We stopped by your
classroom earlier, but you weren’t there.”

“
We were riding hoverbikes
around the obstacle course. This place is twisted sideways. They
have everything here.”

Krysta returned his beaming smile and
asked, “Twisted sideways is good?”

“
Way beyond good.” Betaul
looked at Cinarra and said, “Dravon gets to stay for two more moon
cycles. Can I stay here too? It’s way better than our
house.”

“
That’s up to King Indric,
but I’ll let him know you’re enjoying yourself.”

“
I like having Betaul here
too,” Dravon told her, his demeanor far more dignified than his
excited friend. “Make sure you tell him that.”

“
I’ll tell him.”

As Betaul gave Krysta another hug, a
blur of motion drew Cinarra’s attention toward the exit door. The
guard was halfway across the rooftop, long knife raised with lethal
intent. Instinct engaged and she knocked his legs out from under
him with a low, sweeping kick. He fell forward, but she threw
herself between him and her loved ones, shoving him sideways with
all her strength.

Ametto quickly moved to the guard’s
other side and stomped on his forearm. The unmistakable snap of
breaking bone seemed extremely loud in the shocked silence. The
guard screamed and Ametto kicked the knife out of reach as he
sounded the alarm. “Code Seven to rooftop three. No injuries, but I
need backup now!”

No injuries? She looked at the man
writhing at their feet. Apparently the assailant didn’t
count.

A guard flashed into sight, rifle
shouldered and ready to fire. Then another guard appeared and
another. Soon the rooftop was teaming with guards and security
personnel, some in uniforms others dressed informally so they could
blend in with a crowd.