The Devil Incarnate (The Devil of Ponong series #2)

by Braden, Jill

  Good luck getting those shipments up to Levapur from the harbor, old man, she thought as she touched the corner to the flame. It blazed yellow with a blue heart and then turned to a creeping line of brilliant orange that slowly ate the words. QuiTai crumbled the blackened paper between her fingers and rubbed it into ash. It annoyed her that she felt flattered by his message. She wasn’t used to respect from Thampurians, although the Zul clan had always been different.

  She smoothed her sarong.

  “Now he’s really in trouble,” Kyam said.

  Her head snapped up as her eyes narrowed.

  He gestured to her hands. “You always do that just before you rip someone’s heart out and feed it to them. Verbally, of course, although I have no doubt you could do it in the literal sense too. It took me a few times to catch onto that gesture, but I learned to watch for it.” He watched her far too intently.

  She walked around the far side of the desk to avoid walking too close to him. He’d pushed up his sleeves and run his fingers through his hair. They had enough history that she knew exactly what was on his mind when he made his voice rumble softly and turned those big, dark eyes on her. She wouldn’t let him distract her. Time to get down to business.

  A rebellion is a messy thing. No matter how many troops you bring in to squash it, like a forest fire, it will burn deep, unseen, until it flares up again where you least expect it. It’s an ugly cycle. The only way to stop it is to make sure it never starts. Q

  Typical Ponongese. Never fight back. They gave me this colony. They let me take over without so much as a squawk of protest. TtZ

  Unbidden, QuiTai’s fangs lowered. Her chest rose and fell with rapid breaths. She turned so Kyam couldn’t see her heated face. She ripped off the paper and wadded it in her tightly clenched fist.

  In a flash, Grandfather Zul’s strategy unfolded before her. The clarity washed away her anger as quickly as his words provoked it. She leaned back in the chair and inclined her head toward the farwriter as a nod of respect, although the old man would never see the gesture.

  “If Grandfather could see your face, he’d be a little frightened.”

  “He’s toying with me. Never mind. Drink your tea and do try to be quiet.”

  Shame on her for being so easily provoked, not on Grandfather Zul for doing it. She’d do the same to him if she could.

  Before she could type a reply, the bell rang again.

  I didn’t realize you were so close to Kyam, although I suppose it was inevitable. He wants nothing more than to be loved by someone with an unobtainable heart. I raised him that way. I find it interesting that you turned to him tonight though. Has he told you about his wife? TtZ

  Kyam stood. “What’s wrong?”

  She waved him away as she read the massage again. Another bell clanged, but it was an alarm in her mind this time, not the farwriter. “It’s not what he said, it’s what he’s trying to do. He just mentioned your wife, but that’s not –”

  Kyam swore. He raised his hands as if to calm her. “I can explain –”

  She talked as she scanned the message again. “Quit being so Thampurian, Kyam. I was a sex worker and an actress. If I hadn’t bedded married men I would have starved to death. If they hadn’t lied about their marital status, I would have died from shock. He’s trying to get under my skin. He’s distracting me from more important matters so I won’t figure out –” Panic shot through her. The real message was suddenly clear. “Slow! I’m so slow! Damn it!” She glanced at the door. “He knows where I am. He knows which farwriter my message is coming from.”

  “Of course he does. I thought you knew. He has separate machines for everyone, all tuned to different frequencies. That’s why I warned you that he didn’t usually answer my messages.”

  She was so angry with herself. “I heard what you said; I didn’t listen to what you meant. You don’t talk just to hear your voice. I knew that!” She slammed her palm against the desk.

  The farwriter’s bell rang again.

  “Oh, just lovely. What now?” she asked through clenched teeth.

  Do you hear footsteps outside his door, Lady QuiTai? Those are my men. Oh, don’t worry. They aren’t there for you. You, my dearest Devil, have a starring role in the next act.

  As promised, she heard footsteps in the stairwell. Thirty soldiers were under Grandfather Zul’s command. Had he sent them all? And for whom? Not Kyam. He was the real star of the final act of this grotesque play.

  “Kyam, there are men coming up the stairs. Go play hero and stop them.”

  “How do you know that?”

  She flung out her arm and pointed to his door. “Just go! Now!” She didn’t think they’d hurt him since they were there to make sure Kyam became governor. That would change the odds in a fight.

  Kyam threw the door open and rushed out on the landing. He leaned over the railing to look at the lower flights of stairs. “They aren’t colonial militia.”

  She stood over the farwriter now, desperately reading each letter as it appeared.

  My men have come for Kyam’s Ponongese neighbors. I don’t know if you’ve met them, but that hardly matters. What does matter is that if you refuse to do exactly what I tell you to, they will be executed. I’ve heard they have three children. I’ve heard children are your weakness. TtZ

  QuiTai couldn’t breathe. The children! RhiHanya, RhiLan. They’d been so kind to her. But they weren’t going to die for that. They were going to die because she’d been too clever to go to the Dragon Pearl or LiHoun’s place. She’d brought death with her.

  She wanted to run to their door and bar it with her body. She should fight to the death to save them. It took every ounce of control not to do it. Her breath came in short gasps as tears brimmed in her eyes.

  Damn you, Zul!

  She heard many boots running up the stairs. The smack of a fist against flesh rang out. She had to figure out how to make them stop before they hurt RhiLan’s family. Fighting wouldn’t do any good. The way to stop the death squad was to convince Grandfather Zul to call them off.

  Think, damn it, QuiTai. Think!

  She buried her head in her hands as she heard the door across the landing bang open as if it had been kicked in. They’d fought past Kyam.

  QuiTai typed quickly.

  Why do you want Kyam to be the colonial governor? Q

  Grandfather Zul couldn’t see her face. He couldn’t sense her trembling fingers. He couldn’t hear Kyam fighting the soldiers outside the apartment. All he knew were her words. She hoped they’d shocked him. She hoped he’d wonder how she’d figured out his end game.

  “Answer me, you old bastard,” she muttered at the machine as she wrung her hands. She glanced out the door, torn. She couldn’t breathe. “Come on. Prove to me this is worth all the misery and your stupid schemes. Make me believe this isn’t just about your ego. Because if it is only that, I will hunt you down and I will kill you.”

  War is coming. TtZ

  QuiTai’s eyes widened. She slowly sank into the chair. She knew there was a desperate fight not ten feet from her, but it seemed much further away. The world collapsed into the space between her and those words. Time suspended.

  Do you want a governor who collaborates with the Ravidians, or do you agree that my grandson is a better choice? TtZ

  She might not have believed Grandfather Zul if it hadn’t been for the rumors she’d heard from friends back on the continent. They didn’t realize what their gossip meant, but with so many similar stories coming from disparate countries, she’d had a feeling conflict would soon break out.

  War was coming. That changed everything. This wasn’t merely the ego of an old man. As much as she hated Grandfather Zul, she couldn’t disagree with his thinking.

  A plan flashed into her mind. The details weren’t perfect, but saving RhiLan’s children was the priority. She hated the adrenaline pumping through her blood, her trembling hands, her desperately fumbling mind.

  Kyam will be governor
by tomorrow. Call off your men and undo the damage they’ve caused. Q

  You don’t expect me to give up my advantage on a vague promise, do you? How do you propose to make my grandson the governor in one day? TtZ

  If he wanted specifics, he should have given her a moment to think.

  “Ahmni!” RhiLiet screamed from across the landing.

  QuiTai’s heart ripped. Memories of the night of the Full Moon Massacre overwhelmed her in all its chaotic gore. She swore she could smell the blood and entrails, hear echoes of QuiZhun screaming Ahmni just as RhiLiet had, panic and fear making the child’s cry so shrill she knew she’d never forget it. Her mind reeled back from her memories as it sought somewhere safe to flee, but she couldn’t allow herself to freeze as she had that night. This time she wouldn’t fall to the floor, helpless and paralyzed.

  She couldn’t type the letters fast enough.

  Rice. Q

  She could tell him that much. Details of the plan came to her in flashes. It would work, but she needed time to fine tune it. Rice was leverage. She’d already shown him it could mobilize mobs.

  QuiTai leaned forward and typed another message.

  I’ll need your private army. Call them off. Q

  It seemed like an eternity before an answer came. She glanced through Kyam’s door to the landing. Why did he have to send so many men? Why were the children begging and screaming? What had they done?

  So you do have a real plan. My men are at your service. TtZ

  The screaming next door stopped a minute later. Men’s footsteps clattered down the steps. She heard the children crying, RhiLan wailing, and RhiHanya shouting out curses at the departing men. Finally, she was able to take a deep breath. Not too late, this time.

  Will contact you later tonight with details. Q

  Her hands shook as she ripped the long scroll from the farwriter and took it to the cooking fire. When it was ash, she mixed it into her cup of tea and tossed it out the window.

  That had been too close. She’d have nightmares for days. How could she have been so stupid? She’d played right into Grandfather Zul’s hands. If he’d just told her what was at stake, she would have helped him.

  The shivers spreading through her body her partially rage, partially fear. She’d put children in danger. She’d never forgive herself. She’d never forgive Grandfather Zul.

  Kyam stumbled into his apartment. His hair was a mess and he’d lost a few jacket buttons. It took a few huffs to catch his breath. “They weren’t here for us. I wonder why they were after RhiLan’s family.”

  Puzzled, she glared at him. Her fear and anger focused on Kyam. “You can’t honestly... How blind are you, Kyam? Those men are your grandfather’s soldiers. They attacked RhiLan’s family to force me to agree to do something for him.”

  Kyam shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that.”

  “Did you hear what I said when I came to you tonight? He was going to kill people if I didn’t contact him.”

  Kyam’s dark eyes filled with anger. His fists clenched. She’d forgotten that she was dealing with a true believer.

  She sighed and shook her head. Maybe he deserved his fate. If only she hadn’t burned the proof. Exhaustion hit her in a nauseating wave. She smelled her own sweat.

  Oh, Kyam, if you were only the lover I need right now! But you’re too much of Grandfather Zul’s possession for me to endure, and I still have so much to do tonight.

  “Good evening, Colonel Zul. Thank you for your assistance.”

  “Are you ever going to tell me what you two talked about?” he asked.

  “Ask him. Apparently, he’s feeling quite chatty tonight. You might get lucky and get an answer for once.”

  RhiHanya stood by the broken door across the landing. When she left Kyam’s apartment, QuiTai pressed her hands together and bowed. RhiHanya’s eyes narrowed, but QuiTai realized she didn’t recognize her in her disguise.

  Past RhiHanya, she saw RhiLan kneeling with her arms around her three children. They looked scared, but unhurt. RhiLan’s man was on the couch, his head wrapped in bandages and his arm in a sling.

  They’d probably never feel safe in their home again. The children would hate and fear Thampurians all their lives. This was a game for grown-ups, she reminded herself. People got hurt. Most of them survive, and that was the best she could do for them.

  She approached RhiHanya. “You gave me three days, auntie. I beg patience of you.”

  RhiHanya jerked back, recognition spreading over her face.

  “You know her?” Kyam asked. “How do you know my neighbors?”

  QuiTai could have strangled him. He was smarter than this. Much smarter. “Welcome to the party, Colonel Zul. You’re fashionably late.”

  “What about the smuggler’s boat?” Kyam called out as she walked down the stairs.

  She was too frustrated with him to bother answering. He’d missed the boat in more ways than one, but she was too much of a coward to spell it out to him. He’d find out tomorrow.

  Chapter 20: LiHoun

  QuiTai hated this ugly, rotting apartment building on the edge of the Jupoli Gorge, hated that it still stood despite the neglect, hated that she couldn’t bring herself to burn it down. Every time she’d walked past it on her way to Petrof’s house, she’d averted her eyes and held her breath. The blood and gore had long since washed away; the bodies had been buried. That didn’t stop the memories of the night of the Full Moon Massacre from flooding her senses. The horror of that night would never dim. Even now, it echoed through her life. Sometimes it felt as if all she had were vengeance, loss, and guilt.

  For the first time in two years, she walked up the bowed steps. From dark rooms behind carved window screens, cats’ eyes watched her. Some blinked slowly, as if about to drift into sleep. Others were wide open. Inside, she heard the hushed padding of feet across the creaking floor.

  The sheet in the doorway pulled back. A woman with alert ears held it aside as she bowed low.

  QuiTai heard herself swallow as she stepped into the shadowy foyer. The building smelled like whiskey, of old wood and dust.

  A night spirit moth fluttered against an aged green light jellylantern on the wall. Like the Li, she could see well in its dim light. The wallpaper peeling from the walls hadn’t changed. The balusters on the narrow staircase’s banister were as crooked as LiHoun’s teeth. There was the doorway that had led to her parent’s apartment. Here was where QuiZhun used to dance. This was where her neighbor had sunk his fangs into her so she wouldn’t open the door to the werewolves. She felt as if the building had been waiting like a jilted lover for her return, whispering, ‘See what memories you made me hold for you?’

  Li women and children crept out of doorways and down the hall toward her.

  QuiTai turned to the woman who showed her in. “Friends may fight, but they also forgive,” she said in Li. It was a favorite saying of LiHoun’s, although he often used it sarcastically. His women probably heard it often enough that even if she mispronounced any of the words they’d understand what she meant. She jutted her chin toward the stairs. “Is LiHoun up there?”

  The woman bowed lower. “He has been waiting for you, grandmother,” she said in uncertain Ponongese.

  QuiTai pressed her hands together and bowed.

  She climbed the stairs.

  This is the step where I realized my mother was dead. This is the step where I heard QuiZhun scream for me. This is the step where I went mad.

  “Have you eaten, grandmother?” LiHoun called out when she reached the top step.

  She followed his voice into the front apartment.

  He sat on a mussed bed with no mosquito nets. His blankets were so exhausted by years of laundering that they couldn’t summon up enough energy to have a color. The weathered wood floor had turned gray. Now that the rain had passed, moonlight seeped through the shutters. Kur smoke rose from an overflowing try of butts.

  “You have reached your decision,” LiHoun said.

&
nbsp; She entered the room. “Yes.”

  He waved a hand toward boxes on the floor. Curled farwriter paper sat in heaps. “I saved every message from Grandfather Zul. It wasn’t until tonight that I realized there was no record of my replies. At least you will know the kinds of questions he asked.”

  “I have too much left to do tonight to read through them. Tell me how it began.”

  “I’ve been selling him information for years, mostly about Governor Turyat. When you returned to Levapur with Jezereet and your daughter, it was at the beginning of monsoon season. The brothels were slow, as they always are the first month of the rains. I passed on old information, but soon ran out. So I mentioned how you were a great favorite of Chief Justice Cuulon before you left Levapur and you might renew your acquaintance. Grandfather Zul also wanted information about him.”

  LiHoun’s hands shook as he rolled another kur.

  “Go on.”

  LiHoun struck a match. He talked around the kur pinched between his lips. “Over time, he took an interest in you. He liked your spirit, he said. I tried to remember things you said, because they amused him. He expressed admiration for your business skills.”

  “How very flattering. A secret admirer.”

  Deep coughs shook LiHoun’s shoulders. “He seemed relieved, genuinely relieved, that you survived the Full Moon Massacre. He had reservations about your alliance with the Devil, but it seemed to offer you protection and there were no further attempts on your life.”

  “Until Petrof came after me.”

  “I haven’t told him anything about that.”

  “Did he ever ask about the Devil?”

  “Not that I recall.” LiHoun’s gaze rose to hers. “During that time, you also came to me for information. I rarely mentioned what you were up to. I started holding back things. Forgive this old fool, grandmother. If I betrayed you, it wasn’t deliberate.”

  She wasn’t ready to have that conversation with him. “Do your legs still hurt from your hours in the rain tonight, uncle?”