Special Deceptions (The Coursodon Dimension Book 5)

by M. L. Ryan

  “I want to try to catch Xina at lunch,” I said, unfolding my legs to stand. “I feel bad that I haven’t made more of an effort to hang out with her, but she’s been hard to find. I asked the dining staff, and she’s been coming to eat early, before everyone else gets there. If we hurry, she might still be there.”

  Surprise bloomed over Tannis’ face. “Oh, I thought you knew. She’s moving out today. With everything you’ve been through the past few days, I guess we forgot to mention it.”

  It seemed odd no one brought it up once I’d recovered. “You don’t seem too broken up that she’s going,” I observed, sitting back down.

  “I wouldn’t say that,” Tannis disagreed, tilting her head as she considered my remark. “Xina always seemed completely focused on Kyzal. I feel like I never really got to know her, even though we all lived here in the palace for a long, long time. We were cordial, but we were never friends. My connection to you is stronger, and I’ve only known you a fraction of the time. You are like the sister I never had.”

  Overcome with the unaccustomed sensation of warm fuzzies, I had to take a moment to compose myself. Even so, my voice cracked a little when I told her I felt the same about her. “I have four sisters, but I feel closer to you than any of them.” Sad, but true. Much like my relationship with my mother, the bond between my siblings and me was complicated. Maybe that was why I got along better with Tannis; we didn’t have years of actual sibling rivalry to compensate for as adults.

  “I knew Xina planned to leave,” I said, returning to the original topic. “But I had no idea it would be this soon. Is this really the best time for her to relocate?”

  “You’d think not, but she wouldn’t reconsider. Mother almost ordered her to stay, but she argued she couldn’t process her grief surrounded by reminders of her life with Kyzal.”

  “Yeah, she told me it was hard for her here.”

  “She wouldn’t even accept protection,” Tannis continued. “She said her family was more than capable of protecting her when she got back home, and if she was actually in any danger, a cadre of Royal Guards would just call attention to her.”

  Tjryxina had a point. If someone were gunning for her, a bunch of troops in fancy uniforms would be like hanging out a neon sign with a giant, red arrow pointing directly at her. “I don’t recall meeting any of her family at any of the memorials. Are they well connected enough to keep her safe if need be?”

  “They are, and you must have bumped into at least some of them. Her mother sat next to her, and the rest were always sitting around Uncle Fry. Her family is distantly related to Sylzinia.”

  As I wracked my brain, I vaguely recalled Xina flanked by the queen and a brunette-haired woman, but after meeting so many new people over the course of multiple services, keeping everyone straight was next to impossible. Of course, if they were anything like Sylzinia’s bitchy aunt I’d had the misfortune of dining with in Jjestri, I may have chosen to erase them from my memory. “Well, if Rexa couldn’t convince her to postpone her departure, Xina must have been determined.”

  “No kidding. Even Ryxjat tried to change her mind, and he is almost as persuasive as my mother,” Tannis joked.

  Yeah, persuasive like the Chinese water torture. “Why would Ryxjat care one way or another?” I asked.

  Tannis shrugged. “Got me. I suppose he knew how anxious it made the queen, and he hoped to alleviate her angst by changing Tjryxina’s mind.”

  “And score some brownie points if he succeeded,” I grumbled.

  “That too,” she agreed.

  “There you two are,” a familiar voice boomed from the hallway. “I have been looking everywhere.”

  Tannis leapt to her feet and ran toward the source. “Hey, baby,” she purred, launching herself into Ulut’s arms.

  First Rachel and Sebastian, now this, I griped inwardly, looking away as they proceeded to kiss with such abandon, I was certain they’d given each other tonsillectomies. I swear, if I see even a hint of hip grinding, I’m out of here.

  Fortunately, they came up for air soon after. For his part, Ulut had the good taste to appear abashed. He also must have tasted good because Tannis, lips swollen and cheeks flushed, displayed no such discomposure.

  “Were you trying to find us for a specific reason?” Or did you just need your tongue squeegeed?

  As if he’d heard my silent snark, Ulut said, “Yes, but it’s hard being away from Tannis for too long.”

  That’s what she said, I scoffed, not even bothering to hide the accompanying eye roll. After all, they gazed so intently into one another’s eyes, they certainly weren’t about to notice what I was doing with mine. Once Alex and I finally did the deed—after torturous months of quashing our pent-up lust—we never sucked face in public. Okay, maybe a couple of times, but we had the decency to find a dark corner and not force others to endure multiple rounds of tongue wrestling. Ulut and Tannis just recently mined the fevered, smoldering depths of their burgeoning passion, just experienced how their bodies felt, arms and legs twisted together in a tangled mass of sweat and unbridled carnality. I knew they could barely keep from tearing off each other’s clothes, falling to the floor, and ravaging one another right on the expensive, Persian-style rug.

  Shit, I lamented, suddenly out of breath. I really need to get some. “And…” I prompted, in a dual attempt to get my mind out of the gutter and find out why Ulut searched for us in the first place.

  He slowly drew his attention away from Tannis. “Ryxjat wishes to speak to you, Hailey.”

  I couldn’t think of a blunder heinous enough to warrant the attention of the queen’s top aid. Well, nothing recent, anyway. “What the hell does Mr. Holier-Than-Thou want to talk to me about?”

  “I’m not sure, but apparently, he stressed the need for haste. The staff was unaware of your whereabouts; that’s why one of his underlings asked me to look.”

  “He couldn’t even bother to try to find me himself?” I griped.

  Tannis shook her head. “That’s not his way. He would consider that beneath him.”

  It was hard to imagine anything lower than the maggoty worm that was Ryxjat.

  “I suppose I should have left word with someone where we would be,” Tannis continued, directing her comment to Ulut. “How did you manage to find us? This is one of least utilized sections of the palace.”

  Ulut grinned. “Mere chance. I took a wrong turn and ended up hopelessly lost. If I hadn’t stumbled upon you, I might have been wandering for days.”

  Yeah, I’d lost my way more than a few times in the sprawling maze of almost identical hallways and doors. The confusing layout might have been a good call back in the day, but now that the risk of foreign invasion was practically nil, was it too much to ask for a few, “You Are Here,” wall maps?

  “Next time,” Tannis teased, “leave a trail of breadcrumbs. It works for Hailey.”

  Ulut snickered. “I was tempted to use a different means of marking my way, but I figured the cleaning staff wouldn’t appreciate me lifting my leg on the doorjambs.”

  Actually, if I hadn’t been worried about having to talk to Ryxjat, I might have found their banter amusing. “As a hawk, I don’t eat bread,” I pointed out, “And leaving bits of raw rabbit would be less welcome than a few dribbles of pee.”

  “In an effort to keep the palace tidy,” Tannis acknowledged, “I will escort you back to civilization. Or as close as Ryxjat’s office is to civilization.”

  “If you were nice, you’d come in with me,” I pleaded.

  “Hailey, I’d do almost anything for you, but I draw the line at unnecessary contact with that man. You’ll have to face him on your own.”

  “So much for loving me like a sister,” I complained. “You acted as a buffer with Rexa. Why not with him?”

  Tannis scoffed. “That was different. I’ve had to deal with Ryxjat all my life, and frankly, he’s been even worse in the past few months. You’ll have to suck it up like the rest of us.” My disappointme
nt must have shown, because she added, “Tell you what, when you’ve been in with him for ten minutes, I’ll send a servant to say Alex needs you. It will give you an excuse to leave, but that’s the farthest I’m willing to go. You do not want to get on Ryxjat’s bad side.”

  “It’s a little late for that,” I conceded.

  *****

  When we arrived at the door to Ryxjat’s office, Tannis barely slowed before offering a hasty goodbye and racing off—Ulut in tow—as fast as her high-heeled, designer shoes would carry her. The bastard wasn’t there, but one of his interns passed along that he was waiting for me in the Adoration Garden where he often went in the afternoon to “declutter his mind.”

  Of course, rather than stay put, he’d wandered off to some meditation space I had never heard of before. To make matters worse, his outdoor place of Zen was in the general vicinity of the Mid-Morning Salon where I’d just come from. I considered blowing him off completely by feigning unfamiliarity with the grounds, but his helpful assistant drew a map to guide me. If all that wasn’t bad enough, any hope of an early escape was shot to hell as well. Tannis’ ruse that I was needed elsewhere was useless if we weren’t in his office.

  Surprisingly, it took less time to make my way to Protocol Hell than I’d thought. Ryxjat might have been a major pain, but his subordinate’s cartographic skills were excellent. The detailed sketch directed me through various short cuts, most hidden behind innocuous wall panels I wasn’t sure Tannis even knew about. It figured the guy who had his nose in everyone’s business would use an extensive network of secret ways to traverse through the palace, and he would share that information with his staff. I hoped now that I knew about the secret routes, Ryxjat wouldn’t feel compelled to kill me. Or his underling for sharing.

  I meant it as a joke, but my concern rose when I realized I was going to an out-of-the-way spot to meet a man who I wasn’t all that sure hadn’t tried to ruin my reputation. Given Boklym’s most recent vile act, being alone with the queen’s right-hand man might not be a wise choice.

  Pausing to consider my options, I figured I was safe enough. He’d asked Ulut to find me, and his office staff sent me to the Adoration Garden. Ryxjat would have a tough time looking innocent if my mangled, lifeless corpse turned up after our rendezvous. Still, I’d have to stay on my toes. I doubted he wanted to discuss china patterns for my wedding registry.

  The maze of concealed corridors dumped me back into a main hallway, close to a door that led directly into a quiet courtyard. Vines with flowers in shades of orange and purple decorated the tall, outer walls, their fragrant scent dispersed by a brisk wind. In the center, on a small circle of grass, sat Ryxjat, cross-legged and head bowed. His left hand rested, palm up, on his thigh; the stump of his right arm assumed a similar—if handless—position on the opposite side. The breeze wafted past him, and I took a sniff.

  Nothing. Not every non-human had a unique smell that only I could detect: Alex always smelled like flavors of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream, Sebastian like freshly cut grass, while Ulut’s aroma resembled puppy breath. But everyone had some baseline aroma, even if it was faint and undefinable. Not Ryxjat—his was like a fragrance void. Then again, he lacked a normal personality as well.

  Not wanting to disturb his meditation, I slowly backed up, hoping to slip away unnoticed. This could be my lucky day, I reasoned. I can avoid speaking to him, while honestly saying I heeded his summons.

  I hadn’t made it even halfway to the door when he spoke.

  “There is no need to retreat. I know you are here.”

  Of course he did, the overly perceptive son of a bitch. “Uh, you seemed occupied; I didn’t want to intrude.”

  “You are not,” he stated, reaching into his lap to grab his fake hand. He unfolded his legs and rose with a fluid grace, sliding the prosthesis into place. I tried not to, but I couldn’t help turning my attention to the procedure. “The artificial appendage helps others to forget my… disability… but becomes uncomfortable as the day wears on,” he offered in response to my not-so-artful attempt to conceal my scrutiny. “I prefer to remove it when I am alone.”

  I didn’t know how to respond. Sure, he caught me staring, but it was more from morbid curiosity than disdain. I’d always wondered, but no one, not even Alex or Tannis, seemed to have any idea how he lost the hand. I didn’t want to put him on the spot by asking, or prolong my interaction with him any longer than needed. Still, I needed to say something, if only to dispel the awkward silence looming over us. I decided to go for curious, but not prying.

  “There don’t seem to be straps. How does it stay in place?” I asked. “Does it stay on with magic? Velcro?”

  He reacted with his typical countenance, something between boredom and constipation. “Nothing that interesting. A simple twist and it fits like a glove.” He demonstrated the technique by removing and then replacing the hand.

  “Did you just make a joke?” I wondered, not able to contain my surprise. I glanced around, bracing for earthquakes or some other sign of the coming apocalypse if he had, indeed, meant the comment in jest. Unsurprisingly, the garden remained still.

  “I am not incapable of humor,” he remarked, still stone-faced.

  He hadn’t answered my question, exactly, but I’d already engaged him enough for one day. “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yes. Please sit,” he said, motioning toward a wrought iron bench near the medication circle.

  I plunked myself down on one end, he sat on the other.

  “Have you had much contact lately with Tjryxina?” he asked.

  The question surprised me. I hadn’t known why he wanted to talk to me, but queries about Xina weren’t anything I even vaguely considered. “Not really; I talked to her once or twice. Why?”

  “Did her comportment seem in any way unusual to you?”

  “Not unusual for a woman who just lost her husband,” I replied. Ryxjat was a master of not answering questions, but I tried again. “Why?”

  Peering into my eyes, as if deciding how he might respond, he said finally, “The queen asked me to handle all aspects of her departure personally to make certain the move was not unduly burdensome. However, Tjryxina has been most uncooperative and resisted almost all attempts at assistance.”

  Maybe since she was escaping the confines of the palace, she felt no obligation to knuckle under to your stick-up-your-ass demands, I though briefly. “Perhaps she wanted to keep busy and do things herself?”

  “The princess has always relied on her personal staff for such tasks,” he explained. “It is most unlike her.”

  I was rapidly growing impatient. There were about a billion better places I could be right now, rather than debating why Xina wouldn’t let poor Ryxjat sort out her change of address needs. I stood and proclaimed, “It’s hard to predict how people will act when under extreme emotional upheaval.”

  Ryxjat clamped his good hand around my wrist. “I am not yet finished.”

  His grip wasn’t particularly tight, but it seemed highly improper for him to be squeezing the crown prince’s main squeeze. On the other hand—so to speak—his weird actions were making me nervous. I decided it was best to remain calm, at least for the time being. Mustering my best imitation of a pissed-off royal, I scowled, looking first at where he held me, then letting my imperious gaze travel slowly to his face.

  He immediately released me, which was good, but he didn’t apologize, which, given his general arrogance was expected, but certainly not appreciated.

  “One of the household staff,” he continued, seemingly ignoring my ire or any protocol faux pas he may have committed, “went into her quarters this morning to straighten up. Everything was already packed, but I wanted to be certain Tjryxina hadn’t forgotten anything important. The maid’s instructions were to bring any items left behind to my attention so I could pass it along.”

  “Is there a point to this story?” I protested. I was no longer concerned Ryxjat wanted to harm me, unless he planned to
bore me to death.

  “Yes. Apparently, the maid took my directive literally. One of the items she gave me was this.” He held out half a sheet of paper, torn along one edge, and covered with handwritten script. The words were in Courso, but even with my rudimentary knowledge, I could see my name all over the page.

  “What is this?”

  “It is a rather comprehensive catalogue of your comings and goings. It seemed odd that Tjryxina would have such a list in her possession, but I thought perhaps you two may have been friendlier than it appeared and you shared your schedule with her.”

  “Like I’d keep track of when I take bathroom breaks?” I argued, pointing to an entry that indicated I slipped into a powder room four days before at 1:42 p.m.

  “Yes, that one did stand out,” he admitted.

  I perused the page, trying to get a handle on what it all meant. “How long ago did you get this?”

  “The box came to my office this morning, but I hadn’t looked at the contents until this afternoon.”

  “And why didn’t you take this to the Royal Guards?” I pressed further. “Or Alex or Sebastian, for that matter.”

  “I wanted to be certain there wasn’t a reasonable explanation before interrupting the investigation. I have known Tjryxina for quite some time,” he added, a tinge of distress clouding his usual inscrutable features. “Why would she be so concerned about your whereabouts?”

  I wondered the same thing, and I hardly knew the woman. “Has she left already?” I asked, tucking the page into the pocket of my sweater. “Why don’t I go and ask her?”

  His already thin mouth flattened into an almost invisible line. “Do you think that’s a prudent course of action? Perhaps I should accompany you.”

  Despite the odd list of my activities, viewing Xina as a real threat was a stretch, but stranger things had happened. Much as I wanted my time with Ryxjat to end, having him go along seemed like a good call, just in case.

  I nodded my approval and gestured to the door. “Lead on, Macduff,” I said, allowing him to go ahead of me. I wasn’t sure why that particular Shakespearian quote came to mind. I crossed my fingers it wasn’t premonition and Tjryxina didn’t turn out to be the Macbeth in this tragedy.