Rael (Wine of the Gods Book 27)

by Pam Uphoff

  She shook herself and returned to the question of her own father.

  She let herself into the External Directorate's personnel list. There were three Egtos from the Alcairo clan. "Well, it is the largest clan . . . " She checked her birth certificate. Benha subclan, and the ID number . . . yep. There he was. Lightish brown hair, brown eyes. Pretty typical Oner.

  "I thought his hair would be red." And his eyes . . . One damn it all, I'm much redder than Kael, and green eyed, not blue like her, nor brown like him. Plenty of green eyes in my family, so that hardly matters. Really.

  Not that I ever really thought he was my father. But an assignment on Comet Fall . . . No, Kael wouldn't tup a native. But the coloring . . . And the effects of the wine . . .

  She clutched her head in her hands.

  So is my biofather a redheaded, green eyed, wizard? Oh One! A relative of Xen's, and that's why I get the big zap from the twins? Well, I've heard they're pretty inbred, so I don't think I have to worry about Xen being my half brother. Eep!

  I don't need to know about it. It won't change anything. Really. One damn it all. I really don't need to get a genescan and analysis.

  And what about Deim and Imde? They're . . . what did Mead say? Two weeks older than me? I wonder who their father is?

  Arg!

  Chapter Ten

  Wednesday, 15 Emre 1402 yp

  She popped into the new house and found a bad case of pre-wedding nerves, being handled by Pudge and Jude.

  She shook her head and retreated. Found Ox and Izzo on the patio. The rock's waterfall was running, and the kids were up in the top "fort."

  "Looks like all's right with the world, out here."

  Ox sighed. "Apart from me having to check for dead bodies before they'd get close to your rock?"

  "Kael's left the hospital and is being cosseted by one of the suspects. Hayt still has the thirty years ago expired B456CD she got when she qualified for it. And by the way the woman is in second place in the sheer number of poisons she's trained on, in my experience. And the One denies any action in the presidential campaign."

  Izzo sighed. "Working with you may well be worse than investigating you. I've cut a deal with Ox, though." He paused for effect. "If I ever actually get a warrant for your arrest, he gets to serve it."

  "I will gleefully shell out for the ticket." Ox looked amused, and Rael straightened out her face.

  "Until I saw the bundle of nerves upstairs, I was going to try to get Kael and Mead out here, and see if they twitched at all about the rock." Rael grinned as they both twitched. "With Puppy present, of course."

  Ox glanced upward. "Still nerves. Dammit."

  Rael burst out laughing. "Ox, Ox, Ox. She was cool and businesslike for her first marriage. Oh, a little bit of dewy-eyed hopefulness showed up now and then, but you'd have thought she was going for a job interview. Trust me. This show of nerves is the best thing I've seen yet. She's carrying on like this is important."

  "Oh."

  She grinned. First time I've ever seen him flummoxed. "You should saunter casually by and blow her a kiss. Or take lessons from Izzo. We all watched in astonishment as he defrosted a confirmed Ice Princess."

  "They were no doubt making bets. I know they were on how long it would take you to catch Endi Dewulfe."

  She eyed him. "What did you bet?"

  "Never. I could see the man was a professional."

  "Ha! And you lost . . . Although maybe it didn't count that he only let me catch him to distract me from researching him. I still don't believe we were so oblivious to the possibility of a Comet Fall spy."

  Izzo grinned. "It was embarrassing, writing it up afterwards. The man knew so little about so many things. And we just . . . well, ran around trying to hunt down his antecedents in the oddest places. I've always wondered if he wasn't getting in some mental suggestions."

  "Other way around. Picked our brains, he called it. Anytime one of us came up with a theory about him that was nowhere close to the truth, he'd say something that reinforced it. Led us around by the nose." She tossed a glance at Ox. "I'd love to see what you'd make of him."

  "I wouldn't. I'd be too tempted to punch him."

  "Tsk." Rael shook her head and walked out to admire the rock from close up.

  "Dad says it's too cold to use the water slide." Ryol stuck out her bottom lip.

  "I slid down it dry, but Dad caught me before I went in the water, and said we couldn't do it by ourselves." Arno grinned, straight white teeth showing in a quick flash. "He said you ought to have put rails on the steps up."

  That boy looks so much like Xen . . . "What? And ruin the artistic pretend natural mineral cubes?"

  They grinned and she circled around to the cubes sticking out of the rock. Black basalt, against the white marble of the bulk of the rock. She climbed up . . . stopped and scuffed her feet. Some sort of extra friction spell? That One damned man is so competent it's scary. She climbed up and leaned on the cubist wall of the fort on top. Visible from the apartments back there, high enough to see some of the upper windows of the house. "Just about the right size for you guys, up here."

  Which got Ryol reeling off the names of friends she wanted to bring over to see it.

  Rael grinned and climbed back down. The kids weren't looking . . . she jumped off halfway down. And fell slowly. One damned wizard!

  The men had seen it, and walked out to frown at the lump of rock.

  Izzo fished out a coin and dropped it. Tested the whole circumference of the rock.

  Ox eyed the coin, looking a bit odd. "Guess it's safer than it looks. A permanent levitation spell?"

  "Or a gravity effect." Izzo sighed. "The reports we get about what Xen and the others do on Embassy—most of the time without even thinking about it, as far as we can tell, are pretty amazing."

  "They've got twice as many people watching the Comet Fall magicians than there are Fallen on the planet, magic or not." Rael grinned. "Of course, the ones they really want to watch just teleport whenever they want to do something unobserved. Or just to entertain themselves watching the watchers panic."

  Izzo looked at Ox. "Have you seen her house in Paris? Xen claims he's a mediocre builder. If true, I really want to see the masters in action."

  Ox eyed the rock. "I suspect it wouldn't be good for my digestion."

  Izzo nodded. "Especially when some idiot stands up in the Council and rants about attacking them."

  "Dad? Can we attack them with lightning and tornadoes?" Arno piped up from above their heads.

  "No. That only works in silly stories." Ox shook his head.

  Izzo and Rael swapped glances.

  "What?"

  Rael decided against giggling. "Quite a few of those stories are Comet Fall plants. Endi, Xen rather, well his infiltration group, started it with 'The Outsiders.' They seem to be having fun, uploading the next episode from a different site every month."

  Izzo snorted. "The last one was from the Prime Councilor's office. I think Urfa appreciated that."

  "I know he did." Rael did giggle.

  She wandered off, leaving the men to their—most likely—shop talk. Women's voices chattered up on the third floor. She wandered into Raod's newly furnished and decorated second floor living room and flicked on the vid screen.

  The news media was having a great time with "the assassination attempt." Rael caught the sound of the obnoxious front door auto announcer and clicked off the vid screen.

  Uqpy was back. She trotted down the stairs and let him in.

  "I don't suppose you'd come teach some of my subordinates how to write a report, would you?"

  Rael giggled. "Well, writing formal reports turns into a habit, after awhile. But basically there was nothing to report. The poison we knew Hayt had, she still had. And I delivered Kael from hospital to hotel and left her being spoiled and catered to by Mead and family."

  She led the way back upstairs, to talk to him before he talked to Ox. "You know, whoever did it stuck around long eno
ugh to see Kael snitch Ahvi's drink. They, well, most likely she, followed Kael until she collapsed, then hauled her out to Ox's new house. So . . . who has seen the new house? Especially since I delivered the rock?"

  "The governor—and his princess. The former councilman—and his princess." Puppy eyed her like his ulcers were acting up.

  Rael frowned. "You know . . . Kael got a full lethal dose. Ahvi . . .barely a trace. You might ask how much of that drink they each drank. The princess school teaches precise dosage. Overkill is discouraged. So that single dose was enough to kill Kael, but there wasn't much more."

  The cop eyed her. "So if Ahvi took barely a sip, before Kael took it, that's one thing . . . umm, but if it was poisoned after she took it, Ahvi wouldn't have gotten any."

  "True, true. Another point toward's Mead's innocence." Rael stepped over to the big vid in the sitting room, turned it to one of the more lurid channels. "But have you seen this?"

  Puppy glanced, nodded. Eyes narrowing. "Presidential Candidate Poisoned. With multiple exclamation points."

  They both eyed the screen for a moment.

  Rael shook her head. "Surely no one would commit murder and poison themselves for the free publicity?"

  "Lots and lots of publicity. Adding a current—and infamous—Presidential Guard's name to the mess makes it even better. Especially the speculation that you might have accidentally poisoned your own biomother."

  Rael buried her face in her hands. "I hadn't heard that! My poor reputation. And just six months ago, I was one hundred percent hero. Can we get back to Ahvi poisoning himself? I think you'd better tackle him."

  Puppy sighed. "I hate talking to politicians."

  "And if you even hint that this was a publicity stunt, he'll eat you alive." Rael sighed. "I can talk to Loik, if you think it will help."

  "Well, just getting her out of the room and not breathing down my neck will help."

  Chapter Eleven

  Thursday, 16 Emre 1402 yp

  Rael studied the other princess. Not nearly as much fun as the other old princess around here. Not that I'm going to say that. "You have no idea what a relief it is to deal with you, instead of Hayt. It's . . . well, princesses are not suppose to get dotty in their old age, but she made me wonder. All those cancer drugs five years ago can't have been good for her."

  Loik raised her nose. "It think the School may have been a bit lax in admitting her. I mean, she got pregnant." Wrinkled nose. Definite distaste.

  "That might have been an effect of the drugs." Rael shrugged dismissively. "Senior Investigator Uqpy asked me to examine her brag box. So of course I had to see the children. Triplets? Something nasty going on with the hormones, there. It was enough to make me glad I can't have children."

  "I suppose he wants you to see mine."

  Rael sniffed, trying for superior. "I told him you'd flashed it. Ignorant . . . I told him I'd have noticed if it had been used, but then, I didn't actually want to give him details about our methods, now did I?" Rael looked through the doorway where Puppy was sitting down with Ahvi across a low table. "Does he expect me to get out a magnifying glass and examine it?"

  Loik made a graceful gesture and produced her box out of thin air.

  Nice sleight of hand.

  She lifted the B456CD card, examined both sides. Shrugged. "Obviously not used. One. I'm going to have to annoy every damned Princess in the division, at this rate. Maybe the hospital tests weren't accurate."

  Loik sniggered and filed her poison. "In this backwater? That won't take long."

  Rael sighed. "How true. Nothing important ever happens here." She turned and strolled back to the hotel suite's sitting room. Puppy looked inquiringly. "Intact, of course. And forty years out of date. I'm going to see who else I can bother about this."

  His eyes narrowed. He understood what she'd just told him.

  "I'll see you out." Loik stepped out the door and let it close behind them. "Avhi will have that silly cop eating out of his hands in a few minutes. You can always manipulate the politically ambitious. It's been interesting meeting a legend, Princess Rael. I'll have to look you up in Paris." Razor smile. "Hopefully after Ahvi wins the election."

  Eep! Loik will not be an improvement on Qayg!

  "Umm, well. No matter the results, do call." Rael turned for the stairs. And the floor rushed up and hit her in the face.

  Stunner headache. Foggy, dopey, drugged feeling. Arms aching. Tied behind her back with a hard uncomfortable chair in between them and her back. Rael opened her shields to feel for . . . nothing. There was nothing there. No shields. No impression of glow, either near or far. Methalformaline. A pretty heavy dose, to be sure of suppressing all of my magic. She opened her eyes, lifted her head.

  Loik was across the room, fooling with some equipment.

  Rael blinked, concentrated to reduce double vision. "Oh good grief. Not a bomb."

  "Why not? Everyone knows that princesses learn all about bombs in Princess School."

  Rael squinted around the room. Same hotel suite . . . no, very similar, but not identical. The low table between the big arm chairs was square instead of rectangular. And held her pack, the contents dumped. Wallet open, money, ID, and miscellaneous notes on scraps of paper scattered about, flask, umbrella, the car's electronic key. Mini comp, comm, hairbrush, bottle of gel, traveling makeup case, a couple of pens, a little metal rod about the sized of a pen . . . Does she realize that's my bubble? Crap, she could smuggle that bomb anywhere.

  "That doesn't look big enough to be sure of killing Ahvi."

  Loik scowled over her shoulder. "Don't be stupid. Why would I want to kill him? No, no. This is that ditsy redheaded guard making a mistake carrying out President Orde's orders to murder his strongest opponent." She waved at the ceiling. "By setting off a bomb right under the Councilman's bedroom."

  "Oh." Rael thought that over. "Does he need a boost that badly? Enough to risk the backlash if you are found out? He must be insane."

  Loik stepped across the room and administered an open-handed slap. "He knows nothing of this. He has a dozen loyalists who will be quietly dealing with issues that don't require his attention."

  "And you think that poisoning him, almost committing murder is helping him?" Totally loopy. Yikes.

  "He's a brilliant man, he just needs a little zip and excitement to get him into the news and raise public awareness of him." Loik shrugged elegant shoulders. She was either aging very slowly, or had been very young when first assigned to Ahvi. Probably both. Poison forty years out of date, ten year shelf life . . . yeah, she must have graduated just when Ahvi was first elected to the Council.

  "I'm not sure manufacturing a newsworthy crisis is a good idea . . . And some people have more adverse reactions than others." Rael cocked her head. "I really hope you planned to avoid actually killing anyone, but that sort of thing can go wrong . . . and set off a chain reaction of not very well thought out moves." Like this one.

  She gave an airy wave. "I wasn't planning on killing anyone, but mistakes happen."

  "So you used one of the few modern poisons around that had an antidote."

  The princess smiled, or at any rate, showed her perfect teeth. "But in fact most of the poison went in the drink after that Bitch walked off with it. Ahvi got the tiny dusting that I rinsed out of the ampoule into his next drink. I had to forcibly haul him off to the med center. Fortunately that grandson of his insisted on a complete toxin screen. I was afraid I might have to insist, which might have looked odd, since he only felt a little tired."

  "Umm, yes, bringing up the subject of poison yourself might have tipped the police off." Rael showed her teeth as well. "But two victims of the same poison? That really narrowed down the police search for when he was poisoned."

  Loik's eyes narrowed. "That damned old bitch. No respect for a great man. But she made it easy for me to choose who to use. I was planning something of the sort from the start, but I never dreamed of something so obvious. I think I'll arrange for someth
ing to happen to her."

  "Titch! You'll give yourself away. All my cop friends say the criminals just can't leave well enough alone, and that's how they catch half of them."

  Snarky grin. "Worried about your mummy? Don't worry, she'll outlive you . . . umm, unless mother and daughter died at the same time." The grin widened. "She can die a hero, trying to stop her mad daughter's deadly plans. Oh yes, I like this idea."

  Rael shook her head. "Oh no. You've been watching too many vids. That is just so stupid. You really think I can't . . ."

  She laughed. "No, you can't. You're loaded to the gills with methalformaline."

  "Oh Princess. That is really going to raise some eyebrows in the autopsy."

  Loik just waved an airy hand. "I've got it timed, a sleep spell will carry over long enough to clear the last of the methalformaline from your system while keeping you safe to handle."

  Safe? Sweetie, a trained dancer is never safe to handle.

  "And why did you stuff her in that rock sculpture?"

  "Well, I needed her to be discovered quickly, not two days dead in her bed. And I figured those appalling brats needed a shock. Really, running all over, talking so loudly, and wanting to show everyone 'their' rock. I was so happy they were the ones who discovered her." Frown. "Too bad they didn't wait another hour."

  Rael boggled. Are you insane? That's the stupidest . . . No wonder Ox says criminals are stupid. He's seen enough to know.

  "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll just pop out and nab your Mommy." She reached over and fiddled with the bomb. "One hour. Just in case we don't get back. Just . . . because I hate your guts. I do hope your Mommy hustles her fat butt. Pity if we got back too late, not that it will make any difference to you." Loik scooped up the car key. "Thanks for loaning me the car, honey." She smiled and walked out of the room.

  "Oh, daughter of a female dog." Rael eyed the low table in the middle of the room. Loik had taken her comm, the key fob, and nothing else. "Crazy and stupid." She left the flask . . . not that I have the faintest idea if it would help. She wiggled her legs. No slack, but she could get her toes down. Push with the toes, jerk her weight sideways . . . Shift as much weight as possible onto one back leg of the chair and then try to swivel the whole chair. That worked a little better. But to walk the chair over to either the table or the bomb . . . surely she hadn't actually set it. "Must be just a game she's playing. Scare Rael. Not even that fruitcake would bomb a hotel. Must be." She jerked forward, twisted to lift and move the back of the chair. Leaned back and shifted the front. A centimeter at a time. Get to work girl.