Obsidian Alliances by Peter David & Keith R. A. DeCandido & Sarah Shaw

Author:Peter David & Keith R. A. DeCandido & Sarah Shaw
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pocket Books/Star Trek
Published: 2007-03-20T00:00:00+00:00

10

No.”

Rojan, in the midst of having a servant pack clothing for him, sighed in exasperation and ordered the servant to depart the room. He turned to his fiercely determined daughter and said, “You know, it doesn’t help matters when you snap orders at me in front of the help.”

Soleta ignored the gentle remonstration. “No. I refuse to let you go,” she told him.

He knew he should be angry with her, but all he could do was be amused and even a little flattered by her intensity. “You refuse? The last I checked, I was an adult, capable of making my own decisions.”

“Apparently that’s not the case if you’re agreeing to this.”

“Soleta …”

“I absolutely refuse to—”

“Soleta!” His tone was harsher and far sharper than it had been before, so much so that she couldn’t help but be silenced by it. He waited a moment to make certain that she was attending to his words, and then continued in a more normal and calmer tone, “The Praetor has asked me to do this for him. I cannot refuse.”

“I don’t trust him.”

“Nor do I. But I refuse to live my life in fear.”

“It’s not the way you live your life, Father,” she said. “It’s the prospect that your life may end. There is something about this that simply doesn’t smell right. Give me time.”

“Time?” He looked quizzical. “Time for what?”

“Time to determine what it is that he’s up to.”

“What are you saying? Do you plan to try and seduce Hiren so that you can employ your meld with him? Is that your plan?”

“I’m not certain what my plan is,” she admitted. “I’ve only just learned of this. I need a little time to put a good plan together.”

“That, my dear, is not something we have in abundance. I am to depart within the hour.”

“The hour!” she almost shouted, and when she saw the annoyed look from him, she repeated, albeit more softly, “The hour? Father, it’s incredibly obvious that he’s doing this to give you no time to think, to plan. He is suspicious of you. He thinks you plot against him.”

“How do you know that?”

“It’s what everyone says. He sits there, isolated, stewing, contemplating every possibility and how all those possibilities lead back to him. Some say he’s partially unhinged. Others say …”

“Others say what?”

“That he’s totally unhinged.”

“That’s as may be … but Soleta, if I refuse this directive of his, then I’ve signed my death warrant.”

“And if you obey it, it’s a death sentence.”

“We don’t know that for sure,” he reminded her, “and besides, I can take care of myself.”

“You can, yes. But in this instance, you won’t have to.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means,” she said, drawing herself up and squaring her shoulders, with an attitude that practically dared Rojan to disagree with her, “that I’m coming with you.”

“No.”

“Then you’ve signed my death warrant.”

Rojan did nothing to hide his total sense of confusion. “How will I have done that?”

“Because if you leave me behind, I’m going to confront the Praetor with as many people around as possible and tell him exactly what I think of him.

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