Bite Back Box Set 2

by Mark Henwick

  If I wasn’t accepted as Athanate, then there was no way I could be syndesmon for Were and Athanate. And an investigation into what happened in New Mexico would show I’d gone rogue. By Agiagraphos law, there was no concept of ‘cured’ rogues.

  I wasn’t even sure that my becoming a sacrifice would prevent the damage to Skylur’s position. And if his position was damaged, so was Emergence.

  Shit.

  To make it all better, Prowser was heading this way, with her security. I felt Yelena tense up beside me.

  “House Prowser,” Skylur said as she arrived, keeping the polite formalities to the minimum allowable.

  “House Altau. House Tarez. House Farrell,” she replied, in English. She was so angry she could barely speak, and her face had gone pale. “My apologies. To you all. I’ve been used as a fool by Ibarre.”

  Skylur raised an eyebrow in query, his face betraying no emotion.

  “I agreed to make a defense for the Eastern Seaboard, and argue for a retraction of your claim to their domains. I agreed to propose the theory that a legal battle would suffice to fulfill the requirements of the Agiagraphos. I did not agree to attacks on your leadership, your House or your associates.” She glanced briefly at me before looking Skylur in the eyes again. “I did not agree to making common cause with Correia. I was not party to their plans. On my Blood, I so swear.”

  “Thank you for that. I’m sure Ibarre would have found another way.” Skylur shrugged, radiating a look that suggested he was completely unconcerned. “His ploy of making you seem the leader of an association all committed against me at different levels is a clever little grandstanding maneuver, but in itself, it’s not going to swing the main argument one way or another.”

  “Perhaps. You know very well I didn’t come to this country to indulge in this kind of political mess,” Prowser said, her voice sharper. “I came to get away from it. However, I believe what I said in opposition to the changes you’re proposing. We have to live by Athanate law and custom.”

  Skylur snorted. “You and I, Amelie, could find a compromise. Unfortunately, House Ibarre would not.”

  It looked as if the tone of his comment got through to her and she looked sharply at him. “A compromise? Are you trying to recruit me to Emergence?”

  “I’d like to say I’m trying to keep you out of the Hidden Path.” Skylur sighed and his face went hard. “However, there is no leeway for such delicacy. You will formally give me your oath, and honor it, or leave North America. As will the rest of the Eastern Seaboard association, if justice does not claim them first.”

  I could see Prowser’s spine stiffen, but Skylur hadn’t finished. “I’m well aware you came to find a place in a new land where you could be undisturbed by the politics of the old Midnight Empire. Personally, I’m sorry that you’ve lost that isolation, but the world does not stop turning for any of us. Give me your oath and I promise you’ll have your peace again.” Skylur smiled. “I might even open my library to you, the very one you were always petitioning me about, so long ago now.”

  I almost laughed at Prowser’s shocked expression.

  “You’ve managed to bring the Dark Library to America?” she said. “And the Lyssae. Gods, Altau, what else have you got hidden in Haven?”

  Then she shook herself. “Stop distracting me. I came to tell you I’ve resigned from the Eastern Seaboard association, and to apologize, not to stop arguing that you have no right to claim my domain.”

  “Heads up,” I interrupted. “It looks like your former colleagues and their new friends want to debate outside of the auditorium.”

  Across the exhibition hall, Ibarre and the other Eastern Seaboard Houses in favor of the Convocation had been talking with Correia. They seemed to have reached some kind of agreement and were heading this way. Their ranks bristled with security.

  Altau security stirred in response.

  A threat of violence? Surely not here?

  Bian was on one side of me, Yelena the other. I couldn’t have chosen better if it came to that.

  Skylur didn’t like the appearance of being backed into a corner, and decided to move to the center of the hall, leaving Tarez hanging back, hand pressed to the side of his head, listening to an update on his comm system.

  I’d learned some of the more useful words in Athanate, so I understood perfectly when he responded to what he was hearing.

  “Shit,” he said.

  Now what?

  Skylur and Ibarre approached each other at the head of their delegations.

  “Strange friends you keep, Ibarre,” Skylur said. “I don’t think allying yourself with the Hidden Path party is helping your argument.”

  Ibarre’s response was in Athanate and I couldn’t make it out.

  “Getting House Prowser to argue your case was clever. Tricking her in front of all these witnesses was not,” Skylur went on. “I wonder why you wanted her to start the proceedings? Could it be because you couldn’t stand there and claim you knew nothing about what Amaral was really doing? That we might see your lies for what they are?”

  Ibarre was clever enough to keep his face blank, but other Panethus Houses could see the effect Skylur’s words had.

  At that point, I found out what had rattled Tarez.

  A huge commotion turned all the attention to the main entrance. Athanate there swirled around a new group that had just come in. A buzz of astonishment passed through the crowd like a storm wind through the corn.

  I craned my neck and immediately knew exactly why Tarez had sworn.

  Across the sea of heads, I caught a glimpse of a man I’d only ever seen before in a video conference call.

  Diakon Xun Huang.

  The Empire of Heaven had arrived.

  Everyone met in the middle of the exhibition hall.

  Terse instructions from Tarez had Altau security flanking us. Other Panethus Houses joined us in support.

  Huang was accompanied not by Athanate, but by Adepts. They were all dressed as he was, in plain office clothes—trousers with slim belts, buttoned shirts in pale colors, thick outdoor jackets. At a glance they might have been a group of accountants out looking for a restaurant.

  But to my senses, they were giving off a subliminal hum I could feel in my bones. These were seriously powerful Adepts, and more of a threat than if they’d been carrying guns.

  Have they given up looking for Tullah and Kaothos?

  Is it my turn now?

  “Ykos Altau.” Diakon Huang bowed.

  “Diakon Huang,” Skylur replied in Athanate. Elizabetta whispered translation in my ear. “Welcome to our conference, though I must admit, you have caught us with other matters under discussion today.”

  “So I understand. I have been listening to your encrypted broadcasts on the net. Fascinating.” He turned and made another little bow. “House Correia. House Ibarre. Greetings, friends.”

  Friends? Well, we hadn’t killed each other yet.

  The greeting he’d used, garheem, was informal, as if we had just accidentally met. There was nothing accidental about his appearance or timing.

  “If you’ve been listening, Diakon, perhaps you have an opinion on the legal standing of the Assembly?” Ibarre had made a fool of her, but Prowser certainly wasn’t stupid. And she was quick to gauge how she might use his appearance.

  Huang smiled. “I have an opinion, of course, and I will be most honored to address the conference concerning legal matters in the appropriate session.”

  I bit my lip as Elizabetta translated.

  “But the topic of the day,” Huang said. “Misunderstandings and rumors from New Mexico. Surely all questions raised would be most simply dealt with if Diana Ionache were to speak?”

  Eyes turned to Skylur.

  “She’s not available,” he said.

  “Oh.”

  From being amused by his easy handling of Prowser, I now felt a prickle of concern. If he’d been listening to the broadcasts, Huang had to know Diana wasn’t here at the co
nference center. Raising her name was just a lead-in.

  I was right.

  Huang switched to English.

  “In that case, I understand you must want to clear the obstacles in today’s discussion. A request has been made for an independent assessment of the state of a member of your extended House. I offer myself as assessor. I speak with all humility, but surely I must qualify as the most independent expert currently available to examine Amber Farrell.” Huang smiled blandly at Ibarre and Correia. “I can handle the exposition of what happened in New Mexico from House Farrell’s point of view at the same time.”

  Oh, God, I did not want Huang inside my head.

  But can Skylur refuse it?

  “Without doubt, you would be,” Skylur said. “Should the case for requiring that ever be made to my satisfaction. In the meantime, your arrival is far too important for us to continue with today’s agenda. As convener, I will reschedule.”

  Correia and Ibarre were furious, pressing forward and arguing. But they’d lost their initiative. The Athanate around us agreed with Skylur. The Empire of Heaven potentially joining the Assembly? That was the issue today.

  “Come.” Skylur stepped forward and neatly separated Correia and Huang from the group around Ibarre. “Let’s adjourn to a meeting room and talk about the implications of your welcome presence at the conference.” He gestured to one other to go with them. “Diakon, allow me to introduce you to House Stanbrigge of the Midnight Empire.”

  Moving off, Huang paused and looked back toward me.

  My imagination or paranoia told me some of his group were casually drifting toward me.

  Then I was surrounded by Altau guards. Tarez gripped my arm and hissed in my ear. “Go with security. Now.”

  Chapter 12

  Yelena and I were stuck in a windowless office at the back of the conference center for an hour before Tarez managed to get away.

  He slipped in, looking stressed.

  “What’s happening?” I asked.

  “A lot of talk.” He waved us to seats around a table. “And lots more to come. Talk is good. It’s very difficult to fight and talk at the same time.”

  “Keep telling yourself that,” I said, and got a tired smile in return.

  “Skylur will be here shortly,” he said. “With Huang.”

  I swallowed.

  Skylur was bringing Huang here?

  Yelena reached over the table and grabbed his wrist, making him look directly at her. “Tell me Skylur is not considering allowing him to make an assessment of Amber.”

  “Of course not.” He retrieved his arm. “Huang is insisting that any conversation about the dragon is conducted with the smallest possible group and has to include Amber. We have no basis to refuse that. When he gets here, we say we don’t know where the dragon is. He’s capable enough as a sensor to know we’ll be telling the truth. I have to leave the running of that to Skylur. What I need to talk to you about is the threat from Ibarre, which has not gone away.”

  Yelena looked skeptical.

  Tarez said, “He was gaining support right up until Correia jumped in and seconded his demands. You saw his reaction when she did? He knows it’s damaged his position, and as soon as he can separate himself from her without damaging his case, he will.”

  “So that wasn’t something they planned together?” I asked.

  “Not unless he was stupid, and I urge you not to think of him that way. Look, in their own ways, certainly in their own minds, Ibarre and Prowser are loyal Panethus supporters, with conflicting opinions on Skylur’s policies. Ibarre wants to change those policies, and remain in Maine, by taking over the leadership of Panethus, or getting someone more to his liking in that position.”

  “Yeah, I got all that. He’s trying to do it by discrediting Skylur and offering a compromise on Emergence to the conservative and progressive sides of the party.”

  I frowned as I said it, realizing how wrong it was.

  A compromise on Emergence? That was like being a little bit dead.

  Tarez agreed. “Yes, and Prowser just wants to retain Agiagraphos law and thinks that winning a decisive argument will achieve that. Neither of them want the Hidden Path party to take over.”

  “So Correia ruined both their plans?” Yelena asked.

  “Correia ruined Ibarre’s tactic,” he said. “By coming in like that, she almost healed Panethus’ divisions.” He laughed and held up a warning finger. “Fickle changes. Not something to rely on, and in the way of these things, never enough.”

  “But that’s not all,” I prompted him.

  “No. It’s not.” He leaned his elbows on the table. “Skylur cannot back down on the Eastern Seaboard and so Ibarre will return to the argument. He will try and call attention to anything that gains him support. Altau are already at the very edge of what would be acceptable to the Panethus party, with the whole idea of Emergence and overriding the primary law of the Agiagraphos. Add to that you two.” He gestured at both of us in turn. “Hybrid. Carpathian. Which we’ll deal with. What we can’t afford to deal with is any further indications of epitrepai, of ‘unorthodoxy’.”

  He used the Athanate word, epitrepai, so we understood. It was a word that came up in the Agiagraphos a lot. As an Athanate, you did not want to be considered epitre. Rogues were epitre.

  “Your kin, Amber,” he said. “Honorary is epitre.”

  I’d expected this to come up again at some time. I knew there was no such category as ‘honorary’ kin. Kin provided Blood, and they were bound to the House. The ‘honorary’ tag had been a work-around when Colonel Laine and Vera had come to Denver. He hadn’t been ready to be sucked into the Athanate world.

  “Vera is kin already,” Yelena said. “The Colonel? I think we will persuade him.”

  “You mean Vera’s your kin?” Tarez said, surprised.

  I smiled. I’d suspected it was heading that way.

  Yelena nodded. “I’m sorry we’ve not discussed it with you, Mistress.” Her accent came back a little with her embarrassment. Strictly speaking, as Athanate House, my permission was needed, but it wasn’t as if I was going to go against their wishes.

  I touched her hand. If Vera was happy with it, so was I.

  “The Colonel is still at the ranch in Wyoming,” Tarez said. “So, you have some leeway on that. However, there are other honorary kin that Diana learned about during your therapy sessions. For example, this woman, Dominé, who runs the sex clubs. She is in LA.”

  “But…” I started to say she wasn’t kin, honorary or otherwise, until my mind caught up. As far as the Athanate were concerned, she was in the same position as kin. She knew too much about the Athanate, and as the Athanate who knew her, it was automatically my responsibility to handle it. Not fair on Dominé or me, but simply the way the Athanate worked. I had known it was a problem; I just hadn’t dealt with it. Now I was being told I had to.

  “I understand,” I said.

  Damn! How do I do this?

  He didn’t mean just Dominé either. He meant Julie. And Keith.

  Oh, God.

  I had Yelena. And maybe I could get Pia to come in from Denver. I needed help.

  Tarez didn’t give me time to ponder. “You also have to assume the role of syndesmon. You have to be seen to take it.”

  Agiagraphos again. According to the Hidden Path, if you didn’t exercise rights, you lost them.

  Tarez pressed one hand to his earbud.

  “They’re on their way,” he said. “Listen, Amber, we have to play this out. Say as little as possible in this meeting. Huang will not attempt to read your memories here, where Skylur and I could stop him. He also realizes that attempting it without your permission would seriously compromise his neutral position here. But…” he raised his hands, “if he’s desperate enough for information about the dragon, he could try anyway. Who knows what he’d find if he went looking hard enough, or what damage he might do. We’re going to keep him very busy here at the conference, but you must avoid
being caught by him or his Adepts outside. We’ll be able to do some basic tracking of his group, but you’ll need to stay on our grid, so we can help keep you out of his way.”

  “As much as I can, given my role as syndesmon.”

  That got a smile from Yelena anyway, just as the door opened and Huang was ushered in by Skylur.

  They sat without ceremony as Skylur introduced us.

  I saw Huang’s eyes narrow as he heard the accent in Yelena’s voice, but Skylur immediately went on. “You can speak freely now,” he said in English.

  Huang didn’t like being given permission to speak freely any more than he liked it that Skylur knew he hadn’t been so far.

  “Very well.” He replied in the same language, settling back and lacing his fingers together on the tabletop. “Of course we are here because the agreement on a new Assembly is vitally important to all our futures, and to the whole world. We saw the broadcasts from the last Assembly with some dismay. The US army developing devices that can detect Athanate blood. We would never allow that kind of thing in the Empire.”

  That got the beginning of a response from Skylur and Tarez, and Huang immediately held up his hands as if surrendering the argument. Then he continued: “However, there is a matter that is as urgent, if not more.”

  He drew a long breath through his nose and his dark eyes fixed on me. “Your dragon you so subtly revealed, hidden behind a conversation with Diakon Trang about our southernmost territories.”

  I blinked and flashed back to what Bian had said about talking to the Empire being like the Athanate board game called Dominion—you never, ever open a discussion with what you want to talk about.

  I couldn’t help it. I laughed.

  Skylur frowned and I gave that little head bow that seemed such a part of Athanate formal politeness.