Opal Smoke by Stephanie Fazio

Author:Stephanie Fazio [Fazio, Stephanie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781951572051
Publisher: Syafant Press
Published: 2020-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 22

Rhett waited in the throne room. It was all but empty so late at night. Besides him, the only other people in the room were the two guards and Elouicia, Jaikon’s most trusted advisor. The man was more reptile than human. He’d even paid a witchdoctor to file his teeth into points for no discernible reason. It certainly didn’t improve his looks.

Elouicia was the one who turned Rhett’s bedroom upside down a few times a year in search of some weakness the Emperor could use to exploit him. The man always left something behind that his twisted brain found amusing. A small, dead animal on Rhett’s pillow was Elouicia’s favorite.

Rhett had been summoned over an hour ago, but Jaikon still hadn’t appeared. Rhett wasn’t surprised. It was another one of the Emperor’s games to make people wait for him—to remind them where the balance of power lay.

When the door finally opened, Rhett turned slowly, making sure his face appeared mildly bored.

“Your Majesty.”

“I don’t see the spy’s head,” was Jaikon’s only greeting.

“There was some trouble along the way,” Rhett replied, keeping his voice even and expression empty.

In as few details as he could get away with, he told Jaikon about the attack. He made some minor adjustments to the story, leaving out the part about how he had killed seven slavers, and giving Stone the credit for finding him. Any mention of Liss was decidedly absent from this rendition.

“Your carelessness almost got you killed,” Jaikon said when Rhett had finished. He lowered his voice so the others in the room wouldn’t be able to hear him. “Perhaps it was premature for our sire to name you Chief Assassin.”

Rhett didn’t take the bait.

Jaikon turned to the two guards at the door.

“Come forward,” he commanded.

The guards came. Their names were Brecher and Aliamu. They were good men who had fought beside Rhett in the Giant War.

“What do you think?” Jaikon asked the men. “Have you lost all respect for a soldier who can’t even manage to keep himself from getting shot?”

Jaikon was putting them in an impossible position—pitting them between their Emperor and his second-in-command. It was obvious what they should say, but Rhett knew these men. He tried to give them a slight shake of his head. Aliamu saw the gesture and understood. Brecher didn’t.

“Rhett is the best soldier I’ve ever seen,” Brecher answered after a tense moment had passed.

Shut up, you fool! Rhett tried to will the man into silence, but the damage had been done.

“Really.” Jaikon’s ice blue eyes pinned the soldier.

Brecher stood a little taller. “I’m proud to serve under his command.”

Jaikon eyed the man for another moment.

I am steel. I am steel. I am steel.

“Emperor,” Rhett said, stepping forward. “We need to discuss the spy. Have you gotten any word about the caravan’s location?”

Jaikon returned his attention to Rhett. Rhett didn’t let his relief show on his face. He had expected some backlash for his soldier’s loyalty, but Jaikon wasn’t always predictable in the way he reacted. It made him more dangerous.

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