Once Upon a Time (Calluvia's Royalty 3)

“I resent that!” she said. “I’ll have you know it was mostly Warrehn’s idea, not mine.”

Great. That didn’t make him feel better at all. His best friend wasn’t known for his patience or strategic thinking. When Warrehn got something into his head, he was like a stubborn, unstoppable bull, leaving only destruction in his wake. Coupled with the fact that Warrehn was a Class 6 telepath, it wasn’t exactly encouraging.

“What happened?” Rohan said, closing the door to Tmynne’s room and engaging the security locks. Jamil laughed at him and called him paranoid, but Rohan slept easier like this. If he had been able to get into the palace, it meant another high-level telepath probably could too, and he wasn’t taking chances. Not with his daughter.

Yeah, great job at not getting attached.

Pushing the thought away, Rohan went into the nearest empty room. Since he had been reinstated as Jamil’s manservant for appearances’ sake, it would be strange to be caught taking personal calls while he was supposedly at work. He could use his compulsion gift only so much before developing a hell of a headache.

Closing the door, Rohan focused on what Sirri was saying. “Wait, what did you just say?”

“Warrehn got sick of babysitting the kid and suggested that we actually use him if we’re stuck here. I mean, War kind of had a point: it’s been over a month, and the monks are showing no sign of giving up and going away! Who knows how long it will last? We had to use the kid.”

Rohan pinched the bridge of his nose. “Use him how?”

“I know the plan was to take the kid with us to Tai’Lehr and establish a contact with his master on neutral ground, but what if we didn’t wait? I mean, I know it isn’t ideal that here we have no backup if things go wrong, but there are risks worth taking, right?”

“What exactly did you two do?” Rohan said, knowing that he wasn’t going to like it.

“We allowed the kid to contact his master through his communicator—and before you chew me out, obviously I made sure the signal was untraceable!”

Rohan took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You can’t know it for sure. But fine. What’s done is done. What did you have the boy tell the Grandmaster?”

“What do you take us for? We didn’t let him say anything. I gagged him and put a blaster to his pretty face. I think that sent the message. All I had to do was tell the Grandmaster that if he wanted his apprentice alive, he should meet us tomorrow, alone, at the Blind, and he’d better remove his people.”

“I bet he took it well,” Rohan said, not knowing whether to yell at Sirri or laugh. After weighing the risks, he turned on the video feed and found himself looking at Sirri’s frowning face.

“Actually,” she said, something uneasy in her eyes. “That creep didn’t react at all. He just stared at his apprentice with that creepy as hell emotionless expression and then he said: Very well. Like, there was nothing threatening in his words, but I felt such a chill, it was…” Sirri let out an uneasy laugh. “I must have imagined it. The important part is, he agreed to our conditions. We didn’t even tell him the exact spot and time of the meeting—just told him to turn his identification chip’s beacon on the moment he arrived at the forest. He actually agreed to it. I was a little surprised, to be honest. It’s the best possible outcome for us: we can track him the moment he arrives, but he won’t be able to do the same—he won’t know when to expect us. It’s as safe as it gets, Rohan. If things go wrong, we can always just activate our transponders and the Malok-1’s TNIT will teleport us away. You can’t possibly be angry with us!”

Rohan heaved a sigh. “I still don’t like it.” It stank of a trap, but he had to admit Sirri was right: if worse came to worst, they would be able to leave at a moment’s notice when they were at the Blind. “But fine. What’s done is done. Thanks for consulting with me.”

Sirri flushed. “Trust breeds trust, Rohan. Since you’re still acting fishy as fuck and refusing to tell us what the hell you’re doing—” She suddenly narrowed her eyes, looking at the wall behind Rohan. “Where exactly are you? That place sure seems a lot nicer than the tiny shithole Warrehn and I are stuck in.”

Rohan ignored the question. “All right, here’s what we’ll do.” He proceeded to explain his plan. Grudgingly, she agreed, still looking suspiciously at his surroundings. Rohan could only hope there was nothing incriminating in the room, nothing that would make it obvious where he was. His identification chip and communicator’s signals were off, so Sirri couldn’t trace him that way. It was a small comfort. Rohan knew she wouldn’t leave the matter alone once he rejoined them tomorrow.