by I. T. Lucas
“Kian will not want us to have that kind of protection from Annani.” He put his arm around her shoulders. “Did you know that she could compel an entire crowd before she tested it during Richard’s ceremony?”
Edna shook her head. “I knew that Annani could compel humans and immortals alike, but she never liked doing it and downplayed the ability. I never knew she was that powerful.”
“Do you think it’s a coincidence that she tested her powers when Kalugal was here?”
“No, and I was shocked to see that it affected him as well.”
“Annani is very powerful.”
“Yes, she is.” Edna took a sip of water. “Supposedly, the godly powers increase with age. And the same is true for immortals.”
“It didn’t happen to Kalugal’s mother.”
“Maybe it did, and she just doesn’t realize it? I don’t think Annani herself knew that she could compel so many people at once. Richard’s ceremony was the perfect occasion to test it. In fact, that was the reason for it being so grand. Usually, the induction ceremonies attract a much smaller crowd and are done with much less pomp.”
As she put the empty glass on the table, Rufsur took her hand and shifted so he was facing her. “Annani can override Kalugal’s compulsion.”
“It would seem so.”
“But he cannot override hers.”
“If she’s more powerful than him, which appears to be the case, then he probably cannot. Where are you going with this?”
“If you are willing to quit your job and come live with me, Annani could compel you not to reveal any of the clan’s secrets. Kian will have nothing to worry about and therefore no reason to forbid it.”
Edna swallowed. “You are asking me to give up everything that I've worked for my entire life. It’s not fair to ask it of me.”
“I know, and I wouldn’t have done it if I saw any other option. I would have quit my job with Kalugal first, but you know why I can’t. And that’s not the only problem. Kalugal didn’t think of it yet, or perhaps he did and just didn’t say anything, but because of Annani’s ability to override his compulsion, he can’t allow me to be exposed to her. Other than Jacki, I’m the only one privy to all his secrets. Not even Phinas is aware of all Kalugal’s plans. They have nothing to do with the clan, but still, Annani could get information out of me that he needs to keep private. Once he realizes that, I don’t know what he will do. I’m afraid he won’t allow me to come here at all.”
“Crap. That’s really bad. When did you figure that out?”
“It occurred to me as I listened in on his conversation with Kian before dinner.”
“But Annani is rarely here.”
“If he can compel people over the phone, so can she.”
64
Rufsur
Rufsur groaned. “Fuck it, Edna. Let’s just elope and leave everyone to worry about their secrets while we sunbathe in Madagascar or some other exotic place.”
Edna smiled. “You would do that for me?”
“I’d do it for us. Yes.”
“And who would keep an eye on Kalugal?”
“No one. Let him do whatever he wants with the world. Why should we sacrifice our happiness for others?”
It was just talk, and he could never do that, but it felt good to say it.
She sighed. “We both love our people, Rufsur. We would be happy for a week or two, and then we would miss everyone and crawl back home.”
“Hey, maybe that’s the best idea we've had so far. What can they do to us if we just present them with the fact? We can elope and come back after a year with a child. They won’t kick us out or throw us in prison, right? We will suffer through a few months of angry scowls, but that’s a small price to pay. We’ll just have to hope that Kalugal doesn’t go crazy during that year.”
“There might be another option.”
“Lay it on me.”
“While you were outside with the guys, I talked with the ladies, and they are all in support of unifying our communities. Annani is in favor too. In fact, she was the one pushing for it from the beginning. She can talk to Areana, who no doubt wants the same thing, and if both goddesses pressure their sons, they will be forced to at least put the idea on the table and negotiate. When Amanda fought for her right to mate Dalhu, Kian resisted with everything he had. And yet with Annani’s help and Dalhu’s willingness to do whatever it took, he eventually gave in and accepted Dalhu. At first, it was on a probationary basis, with Dalhu being restricted to Amanda’s apartment and wearing a cuff. But now Dalhu is a full member of the clan, and Kian trusts him completely.”
“What was the sacrifice that everyone is talking about? Dalhu also mentioned it while we were talking outside, but he didn’t say what it was.”
Edna looked away. “It was horrible, and it was my idea. But only an extreme act could count as redemption in the eyes of the clan, and more importantly, in Amanda’s eyes.”
“She demanded it?”
“She came to me, asking for my advice. I told her about a brutal ancient custom, and she told Dalhu about it. He didn’t hesitate even for a moment. He was happy to have the option to redeem himself.”
Rufsur shook his head. “What did he have to do to atone for the crime of being an ex-Doomer?”
“That wasn’t his crime. Dalhu was the commander of the unit that murdered our top programmer in the Bay Area. Mark and Amanda were close. Naturally, she couldn’t tolerate the idea of mating the man who was responsible for his murder.”
“Mark is the ghost who talks to Nathalie, right?”
“Yes. Supposedly, he sent Amanda a message through Nathalie that he forgave her, and that she should accept the Fates’ decree and mate the man they’d chosen for her, or something to that effect. I wasn’t there when Nathalie delivered the message, so I don’t know the precise wording.”
“Do you think that Nathalie made it up?”
Edna sighed. “I don’t know. Maybe Andrew put her up to it. He had a thing for Amanda before falling for Nathalie, and maybe he wanted to help her out.”
Rufsur rubbed a hand over his jaw. “Talk about an impossible situation. The obstacles in our way seem insignificant compared to that.”
“Right. Amanda had to contend with Kian’s disgust with her, Mark’s grieving family, and an entire clan who hated her mate. After I explained the custom, she went to talk to Mark’s mother, and begged her to accept it.”
“What was the custom?”
“In ancient times, if a servant killed a servant of another household, the head of the victim’s household could ask for retribution to compensate the family. It could be in the form of monetary compensation or physical. If it was monetary, the perpetrator’s head of household would pay it, and the killer would become his slave for life to repay the debt. But if the killing was accidental because the men were fighting or because of negligence on the part of the accused, the killer was given the option to choose physical retribution.”
“But Mark was murdered. There was nothing accidental about it.”
“True, but Dalhu wasn’t the one who actually did the killing, and he also was a soldier following orders. So, he couldn’t be accused of premeditated murder.”
“He could have been charged with war crimes.”
Edna smiled. “Let’s not put Dalhu on trial again, shall we? He has already been punished and forgiven.”
Rufsur nodded. “Please continue.”
“For the custom to apply, Mark was considered a clan employee, and Dalhu Navuh’s. Kian, as the head of the clan, demanded retribution, and Mark’s mother had the right to decide what form it would take. She chose a whipping that was performed by her brother, and then entombment for seven days. And the only reason she agreed to that was as a favor to Amanda.”
Rufsur cringed. “I could have survived a whipping, but the idea of entombment scares the crap out of me. Dalhu must have been really desperate.”
“He was. But it worked. Kian respected his sacri
fice and the dignity with which he endured it, and he allowed him out of his prison cell to move in with Amanda.”
“That’s a great story, but regrettably, it doesn’t apply to us. I have nothing to atone for, and neither do you.” He sighed. “Dalhu said that the Fates demand a sacrifice for their gift of a truelove mate, and that mine might be my friendship with Kalugal.”
“Would you sacrifice that for me?”
He lifted her hand and kissed the back of it. “Yes. I love you, Edna. You are my life, my future, my everything, and I would gladly sacrifice all that I have for you. But by abandoning Kalugal and severing ties with him, I would risk much more than myself. When his grandfather went insane, he destroyed half of the ancient world. Kalugal has the means to do much worse.”
65
Edna
Butterflies took flight in Edna’s belly, the good kind, and for a moment, she heard nothing other than I love you reverberating through her chest and her mind over and over again.
Even though Rufsur had said it already in every possible way other than verbal, hearing the words had impacted her like a ton of bricks. In a good way.
“Edna?” He looked into her eyes. “Did you hear what I said?”
She nodded like a fool. “You said that you love me.”
“I mean, what I said after that.”
“Does it matter?”
He smiled. “Yes, regrettably, it does. My leaving Kalugal might have disastrous consequences for the world, not just us. But if you leave the clan, it’s going to be painful only for you. Except, you’ll be with me, and I promise to do everything in my power to make it worth the sacrifice and for the ouch to go away.”
She shook her head. “I admit that it’s tempting. But before I give it serious consideration, I want to make sure that we’ve exhausted every other option first.”
He kissed her hand again. “Do you love me?”
Edna nodded, but didn’t look at him. Why was it so hard to say that she loved him back?
“That’s it? That’s the suckiest declaration of love I’ve ever heard, or rather didn’t. Suddenly the lawyer is lost for words?” He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted her head. “You can do better than that.”
She loved him, but for some reason saying the words was difficult. The last time she’d said them was over three hundred years ago, and the results had been tragic. Logically, she knew there was no connection between her loving Robbie and his death, but she’d always carried around an irrational feeling of guilt that she’d been somehow responsible for it.
To love him, she’d defied the Clan Mother and had tempted the Fates’ retribution. Was she doing the same thing now?
Once more, she loved a man whom she shouldn’t love, and to keep him, she might have to betray her clan again, which would in turn anger the Fates. If anything happened to Rufsur, she would never forgive herself.
“I can’t betray my clan to be with you.”
His smile wilted. “I understand.”
“No, you don’t. The last time I acted irresponsibly because I loved a man, he paid for it with his life.”
“Oh, Edna.” He cupped her cheek. “You know that your love didn’t kill Robbie. It was his destiny, and it had nothing to do with you.”
She shook her head. “I angered the Fates.”
Rufsur frowned. “Perhaps not the Fates but the goddess. Could it be that she had something to do with his death?”
The idea was so preposterous that it made Edna gasp. “Never. Annani would never do such a thing. She could have banished me, threatened retaliation, but she did none of those things. Love is the highest value to her, and she would never do anything to stand in its way.”
“I’m sorry if I offended you. But things like that happen. Leaders go to great lengths to protect their people, and you were endangering them by exposing who you were to a human.”
“I never told Robbie the truth about me.”
“You would have eventually. Your love story with Robbie couldn’t have a happy ending.” He put his arms around her. “But our story can.” He kissed her softly. “Say the words, Edna. Tell me that you love me.”
“I’m scared.”
“Say it anyway.”
She shook her head. “I’m not a brave soul like you. I’m afraid to jinx us. And now that you brought up the possibility of foul play, it's got me thinking. Kalugal is not Annani. He might consider you leaving him to be with me a betrayal. Is he vindictive?” Edna swallowed. “Is he capable of killing you?”
“No.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Positive. Many of the men who escaped the Brotherhood with him have left over the years. He didn’t try to stop any of them, and they left with his blessing.”
“But they were not privy to his secrets as you are.”
“True, but they could have betrayed him to Navuh. There was a risk involved in letting them go, and yet he didn’t stop them.”
“Did he compel their loyalty?”
Rufsur nodded. “But compulsion requires periodic reinforcement, and he doesn’t keep in touch with them.”
“Do you? He might have killed them without you or the others knowing.”
“He didn’t. I keep in touch with some, Phinas keeps in touch with a few of the others, and so on. Except for one who disappeared without a trace, we can probably find all of them.” Rufsur tapped his temple. “Which gives me a great idea. Once they learn that there is a village full of single immortal ladies they could mate, I bet many would return. That’s another selling point in favor of a federation.”
She chuckled. “Depends for whom. I don’t know if Kian will see that as an advantage. More of Kalugal’s men means more danger.”
“It all depends on the packaging. We need to come up with a compelling offer. Would having more warriors to fight the traffickers appeal to him?”
“Probably.”
“Then it would be part of the package. What else would be tempting to him?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe more contributions? It has been difficult for the clan to carry most of the financial burden of the rescue missions.”
“Then I need to convince Kalugal to help out financially. Anything else?”
“More female Dormants? But how can Kalugal help with that?”
“Give up any of the Dormant females found through Roberts.”
“He and Kian agreed to split them.”
“I’ll convince him to give up our share until the numbers are even.”
Edna let out a breath. “Your optimism is contagious. The question is if it’s healthy.”
“Of course, it is. Now tell me that you love me.”
He was impossible to resist.
“I love you.” She cupped his cheek. “I think that I fell for you the moment I saw you smiling at me with those adorable dimples of yours. You were like a ray of sunshine, illuminating my gloomy existence and warming me from the inside. But you were too bright, and I tried to shield my eyes from you. Except, you were also so damn persistent, and you didn’t let me hide.” Leaning, she kissed his lips. “Thank you for not giving up on me.”
“Never.”
66
Eleanor
“Thank you.” Eleanor handed the old guy $4,200 in cash. “It was a pleasure doing business with you.”
“Same here. It’s a good car.” He tapped the hood fondly. “You can’t go wrong with a Suburban, even one that is ten years old and has over a hundred thousand miles on it. You can still drive it problem-free for many years to come.”
“I know. That’s why I got it. But I don’t expect to drive it much. It’s a five-minute drive from my apartment to the hospital, and I’ll probably take the bus to save on parking fees. But having a big car like that will make transporting furniture easy. I won’t have to rent a truck.”
He nodded. “Good luck with your new job.”
“Thanks.”
Perhaps making up an entire story about moving to the area fo
r a nursing job was overkill, but Eleanor liked to cover her bases. She had a lot of experience pretending to be someone other than herself, but not spying.
As a recruiter for the paranormal program, she’d had the government’s backup, and before that, when she’d been a pharmaceutical sales rep, she had the company’s resources at her disposal. Now she was on her own, paying her own expenses, snooping around dangerous people, and risking her life.
Spying was scary and exciting at the same time, but mostly it involved hard work and a lot of running around. With her innate paranoia, she was probably overthinking every move and doing too much, but she couldn’t help the way her brain worked.
At every step, Eleanor was acutely aware of the potential pitfalls and took precautions to mitigate them. She also trusted no one and was a loner who had no need for companionship. So other than her low tolerance for risk-taking, she was perfectly suited for the job of solo spying.
It was exhausting, though.
Despite how tired she’d been the day before, after making the rounds next to the mansion, she’d driven back to the airport while constantly checking her rearview mirror for a possible tail, returned the rental, and then had taken an Uber to her Airbnb rented house. Since the locking mechanism was code activated, she didn’t even have to meet the owner or whoever took care of renting the property to get the keys.
The place was just as much of a dump as it had looked in the photos, but it was clean, and the linens had been freshly laundered. Nevertheless, she’d used her trusty UV light sanitizer wand to eliminate any remaining germs before even putting her hand on the bed to check the mattress’s firmness.
Then, after taking a hot shower and scrubbing the last forty-eight hours off her body and hair, she’d crawled into bed and had a decent night’s sleep.
This morning, she’d woken up refreshed and had gotten straight to work searching for a car to buy.
Now that she had a private mode of transportation, she could go back to the mansion and find a good spot to spy on its inhabitants. Before she made a move, she was just going to watch the comings and goings and write down the license plates of the vehicles.