“Khrynsani,” Tam hissed.
Her words were fire voice. “I have never, nor will I ever, refer to those jackals as elite anything. Complete extermination cannot come too soon.” She paused and then laughed. “Though that explosion a few hours ago certainly diminished their numbers. I shall have to discover who was responsible for that delightful display of pyrotechnics and thank them. Unfortunately, it seems that the ultimate prize escaped. A coach was seen racing from the scene. A coach driven by a Khrynsani. I imagine Sarad and Janos were inside.”
Tam hissed a single obscenity in Goblin.
“For once I share your opinion, and sincerely wish our clever arsonist better luck in the future.”
“Have you found Sevelien?” Tam asked.
“Not a trace. What’s left of the house is still too hot to search, and the elves have it cordoned off, ostensibly waiting until they can get in to look for him.” Imala actually snorted. “He’s not there and they know it. They’re going through the motions, nothing more. My bet is that he was in that coach, taken by Sarad Nukpana, or somehow the crafty fox managed to escape.”
“And blew up his own house?”
“Entirely possible. Markus always had an exquisite sense of irony.” Her voice turned grim. “And I hope he still does. He is a brilliant tactician and a charming opponent. I’ve enjoyed sparring with him in the past. Only now we find ourselves with a similar goal.” She paused. “Odd, isn’t it? Me, a goblin, wanting to keep an elven duke alive, and his own people wanting nothing more than to find him dead. These are indeed strange times.”
“And Imala Kalis wanting to protect me is even more strange.”
“Someone has to, because you seem to have little interest in protecting yourself. From the reports I’ve received, you’ve done everything in the past few months short of putting your own neck in a noose.”
“I’ve done what I’ve had to do.”
“I’m doing the same thing now—if you will rein in your innate stubbornness long enough to consider my offer.”
“Imala, I can’t do what you ask.”
Her next words came out on the barest breath. “Even if Sathrik were no longer king.”
“The changing of a king won’t change the court—or the way the court is run.”
“But it can.” The silence was thick and tense. “Your people need you, Tam.”
“And what about my dear extended family who say they need my head?”
“Leave them to me.”
“What are you going to do, poison the entire municipal water supply?”
“If I have to.”
“Why are you trusting me with this?”
“If you hadn’t left the court, Sathrik would have killed you.”
Tam laughed, a contemptuous sound. “Sathrik would have tried.”
“Success or failure wouldn’t change the fact that he never liked you; he certainly never trusted you.”
“He murdered his own mother, who was also my queen, a queen I was sworn to serve.”
“Then serve her now, Tam. Yes, she is dead, but what she stood for and believed in is not—at least not yet.”
I didn’t know if Sedge’s office was dusty or I still had smoke up my nose from blowing up Markus’s house, but I did something very bad.
I sneezed. Loudly.
Then just to make sure everyone in headquarters heard, my nose decided to do it again. Even louder.
“Crap,” I muttered.
The wall vibrated as the cabinet was shoved away from the hole in the wall. Tam’s face appeared at eye level with me. He was not amused; actually, he looked rather pissed.
“And how long have you been here?”
I hoisted my mug. “About half a cup’s worth.”
“I’m here, too, Tam,” Mychael said.
“Dammit.” Tam blew out his breath to keep from saying something worse.
“Tam, I’d like to speak with Director Kalis,” Mychael told him. “May we come over?”
The lady’s face appeared next to Tam’s. She’d probably been up all night like the rest of us and she was still cute. “We’d be delighted, Paladin Eiliesor.”
Tam rolled his eyes and muttered something not so nice under his breath.
“Do ignore him,” she said. “He gets this way whenever he spends the night in jail.”
Mychael passed his hand over the opening in the wall, murmured a few words, and the hole in the wall turned into a wall with no hole.
Sedge Rinker just lost his peephole.
Mychael didn’t want anyone listening in on the four of us.
A few minutes later Mychael and I came into the conference room with a watcher right behind us bearing gifts—a tray laden with coffee and pastries. Leave it to watchers to know where to get great coffee and pastries. That should take Tam from pissed to pacified.
Mychael poured a cup and passed it to Imala Kalis.
“Thank you, Paladin.”
“Mychael.”
She flashed a smile, complete with that increasingly famous dimple. “Imala.”
Tam muttered something else.
“Oh here,” I said, pushing a coffee and pastry at him. “Eat this and put us out of your misery.”
He glared, but he ate.
“You okay?” I asked.
He growled around a bite of pastry.
I took that as a yes. Note to self: Tam is not a morning person.
Imala was looking at Mychael and me with a quizzical look on her face; a moment later quizzical turned to slyly knowing.
“Pardon my bluntness, Mychael and Miss Benares. But the two of you smell of smoke—and Nebian black powder.”
We’d cleaned up while on the Red Hawk, but apparently not enough to fool a goblin’s heightened sense of smell.
Mychael didn’t say anything. I certainly wasn’t going to admit to bombing and arson.
Imala Kalis’s lips turned up in a secretive little smile as if the two of us stinking of smoke had made her day.
“Markus is alive,” she whispered.
Mychael’s expression didn’t change one iota. Heck, he didn’t even bat an eye.
She waved her tiny hand that was holding a pastry. “But of course, you can’t tell me that. Quite all right, I understand completely. Though about the black powder . . . What you did—excuse me, may have done . . . The evidence is merely circumstantial, of course.” She actually winked at us. “Well-done. I wish I could have been there to see it, better yet to have helped. Bravo.”
I was getting told that a lot lately.
Mychael frowned. “While we are being blunt, Director Kalis—”
“Imala,” the tiny goblin corrected him.
“Imala. You spoke of Prince Chigaru Mal’Salin.”
“His name was mentioned, but not by me.”
“My question concerns his chief counselor. I recently sent a message to A’Zahra Nuru asking that she come to Mid. She sent word back that she would come. She has not arrived, nor have I received communication from her explaining—”
“Considering the present situation with Sarad Nukpana, I told Grandmother I didn’t feel it was safe for her or the prince—”
I blurted, “A’Zahra Nuru is your grandmother?”
“She is.”
I looked from Mychael to Tam. “Why didn’t either one of you tell me this?”
Imala shot Tam an arch look. “Tam prefers not to speak of me at all.”
“It is a relationship that not many are aware of,” Mychael explained.
My look spoke volumes and all of them loud. “Since when have I been one of the many?”
“Raine, you just met Imala last night, and I’m seeing her this morning for the first time in at least a year.”
“Almost two,” Imala said.
“And it’s been a busy evening,” Mychael reminded me. Like I needed reminding.
Imala took a delighted sniff of our collective smokiness. “And satisfying, I would say.”
In more ways than one. I felt myself blush.
Tam looked at me and his eyes widened slightly. I suddenly found the coffee in my cup simply fascinating. When I glanced back up at him, his eyes were still on mine, but they weren’t accusing or angry as I’d thought they might be. Tam’s gentle gaze told me that he understood. A moment later, I felt his lips brush my forehead in a warm kiss. He still stood three feet in front of me. He hadn’t moved, but had reached out with our umi’atsu bond. I gave him a small smile and sent a kiss to his cheek. Tam looked at Mychael and raised his cup in salute, as if to acknowledge the victory of a noble and worthy opponent. Mychael inclined his head in response.
Imala gave us all a quick, knowing look but didn’t say a word.
I realized that I’d been holding my breath.
“That doesn’t explain what’s going on with you two,” I said, changing the subject with no attempt at subtlety. I waved my finger back and forth between Tam and Imala. “I’m a little confused by something; actually I’m a lot confused. Tam, A’Zahra Nuru was your teacher; you trust her. You’ve said it yourself.” I didn’t mention that she was also the one who helped pull him back from the brink of the black magic abyss. Imala might not know that and if she didn’t, she wasn’t going to hear it from me. “And Mychael, you wouldn’t have asked A’Zahra Nuru here unless you trusted her. Am I correct in both instances, gentlemen?”
“You are,” Mychael said.
Tam nodded once.
“So what’s your problem with her?” I jerked my thumb at Imala Kalis and aimed my question directly at Tam.
“Imala is not her grandmother,” Tam said stiffly.
“Well, I wouldn’t expect that she is. From what I overheard, she wants Sathrik out; and from what I assume, she wants Chigaru in. While I’m not the prince’s biggest fan, getting rid of Sathrik sounds like one hell of a good idea. So what’s with the animosity?”