Ring Of Destiny by Jane S. Fancher

Author:Jane S. Fancher
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Ring of Destiny
Published: 2013-01-25T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Four

"And Brodiin of the Intemode will sit here. That way, he can see everything. . ." Lidye tapped her front teeth with a polished nail, contemplating the arrangement, her face the picture of a debutante planning the seating arrangements of her coming-out party. "And Papa will sit here. . .

I do wish Mama might have come as well. . . ."

Nikki shuddered. It was unthinkable. Anheliaa never let anyone extraneous in her tower, particularly when she was performing delicate maneuvers, and nothing could be more delicate than slipping into orbit those two rings lying, still within their moving crate, on the floor next to the gently spinning rings.

Tonight, after all the preparations of the room were complete, those crates would be removed, leaving the two concentric rings on the tiled floor, awaiting tomorrow's. . .

Spectacle.

It was, Nikki decided, the ultimate insult, her choosing his birthday, the fa~ade of loving gesture, to force Mikhyel into acknowledging her as Anheliaa's true heir and Ringmaster of Rhomatum. She was risking everything, inviting the elite. . . And the press. . . Into the Tower for this attempt, and he and Mikhyel, to their chagrin, had been caught flat-footed.

But Mikhyel, who until last night had been for the simplest solution, who had wanted to forewarn the entire Web that power would be temporarily interrupted, and then simply bring the Rings down completely to reconstitute the order before raising them again, had decided to let her have her show. If she succeeded, she'd made her point. If she failed, it was Shatumin pride that was at stake, not Rhomandi, and the Web would survive both the moment down. . . And the embarrassment of Lidye.

That was what Mikhyel had said to Lidye, last night when she'd blithely announced her plans.

Then Mikhyel had gone back to his room and sent a special courier to Armayel to inform Deymorin of the sudden addition to tomorrow's festivities, and followed that courier with another carrying his own, private invitation to the Rhomatum editor of the Source of the Syndicate, the newly established, factual-based competitor sheet to the scandal-laden Intemode. The raising of the Khoratum ring and exclusive interviews with the Rhomandi Triumvirate would, Mikhyel had pointed out in his letter, make an impressive lead story for their first-ever intercity edition.

What Mikhyel hadn't addressed in his response to Lidye in fact what Mikhyel had markedly avoided mentioning was Lidye's husband's embarrassment. Nikki was appalled that she'd managed to slip her own invitations in with the invitations to his party, but since those invitations made it clear that it was Lidye romNikaenor's moment, he was indined to agree with Mikhyel: let her sink or swimon any other day.

A man could grow to resent having his birthday become the official sparring day of his family.

But the plans were moving apace, regardless of his wishes. The ringchamber glistened as the morning light shimmered through glass walls. . . Walls that were virtually invisible, even the outsides having been scrubbed for the occasion. Sunbeams glanced off the newly polished wood and crystal furnishings.

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