Chapter 7 Kian
KIAN
Outside the clinic door, Kian draped the coat around Annani's shoulders. "Are we going home?" he asked.
"Yes. I am not in the mood to visit my sister."
Areana hadn't waited around for them to be done with Navuh and had gone back to the penthouse, for which Kian was thankful. He was too agitated to see his aunt and to have to pretend that he didn't detest her mate with every fiber of his being.
As their footsteps echoed softly against the stone walls, the corridor seemed more utilitarian than usual, their somber moods painting it in depressing shades of gray.
Kian glanced at his mother, trying to read her expression, but she had retreated behind that mask of regal composure that served her better than any veil to hide her real emotions behind.
Anandur walked ahead of them, while Brundar trailed behind, sandwiching the Clan Mother and her son between them as if they expected danger in the bowels of the keep.
"On a scale of one to ten, how much do you detest the guy?" Anandur asked as they entered the elevator.
"Twenty," Kian said without hesitation. "Regrettably, we need him alive, or I would have been very tempted to snap his pencil neck."
Annani chuckled. "It does look a little thin, does it not? Navuh has always been slim, but the long convalescence has turned him skeletal." She sighed. "Regrettably, my sister loves him and finds him attractive, so there will be no neck snapping regardless of his usefulness to us."
Brundar, predictably, said nothing, his angelic face remaining impassive, but Kian detected a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth, and there was a spark in his pale blue eyes that hadn't been there before they'd entered the elevator.
The important thing was that Anandur's effort to lighten the mood had worked, and Annani's seemed to have improved. For that, Kian was grateful.
Once they were seated in the SUV and Anandur had pulled out of the parking garage, Annani shifted in her seat, adjusting her velvet coat to cover her legs as well. "Could you please turn the heat up a little?" she asked.
"Of course, Clan Mother." Anandur did as she asked, and soon Kian felt like he was boiling inside his jacket.
That was one of the main differences between him and his mother. While he raged and turned hot, she retreated into herself and turned cold.
"Navuh does not know that we have access to Losham," she said. "He probably assumes that we have a spy on the island, which was what I wanted him to think. But since it seems that we will need to cooperate at least on some level, perhaps we should tell him that we can control Losham from afar."
"I wouldn't do that unless we have no choice," Kian said.
Annani turned to look at him. "This waiting and calculating might have cost me Khiann. I should have gone with my gut, as I always do, and promised Navuh what he wanted. We could have retrieved Khiann already."
It was her desperation talking, and he didn't know how to respond to that.
"We couldn't have, Mother, and you know that.
The codes to disarm the booby traps were only one part of the mission, and the other parts were not in place yet.
We still don't have the EMP or the submarine, and Onegus is still in the process of assembling a team. "
Annani let out a breath. "You are right. I allowed guilt and sorrow to cloud my judgment."
"It's understandable." He leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You are very brave."
She smiled. "Sometimes bravery is just another word for coping. I have no other choice."
"That is true, but that is not the only way in which you are brave."
At the front of the car, Anandur was enthusiastically nodding, and even Brundar acknowledged Kian's statement with a slight head tilt.
"Thank you. But let us not waste our energy on mutual flattery. Let us agree that we are all brave, all smart, and that we are going to get my Khiann."
"Agreed," Kian said.
"The question is what to do next." She turned to him. "Are we still getting the EMP and the submarine?"
"The EMP is paid for, and we will store it until we are ready, but we can't keep the submarine or the jet needed to deploy the EMP on standby for weeks. We will have to cancel those arrangements and monitor Losham closely to figure out when we will need them. If we need them."
She frowned. "What do you mean by 'if'?"
"Toven thinks we can have Losham deliver the chests to us."
His mother looked stunned. "You think it is possible?"
"Toven could compel him to do that, but Losham is not the only authority on the island. His brothers might sabotage him, so we are still operating under the assumption that we are going to infiltrate the island. The advantage of the delay is that we have more time to prepare."
Annani nodded. "Better preparations produce better outcomes." She was quiet for a moment, looking out the window at the dark streets they were passing by, then turned to him again. "You told me that Losham kept asking to talk to Lokan during the call."
"He did."
"Why not let him? Lokan can coax him into telling him what is going on and offer his help."
"Losham doesn't trust Lokan, and that was true even before Lokan deserted the Brotherhood.
None of Navuh's sons trust the others. Then again, Losham seemed almost desperate to talk to Lokan, so maybe he will accept his help because he has no choice.
According to Navuh, Losham is now fighting for his position against his brothers. "
"So, let them talk," Annani said. "Naturally, Toven must be on the line with them with Mia by his side to reinforce his ability, but even so, a conversation between the brothers could yield valuable information.
Losham may reveal things to Lokan that he would not tell a stranger, and Toven would not necessarily know what to ask. Compulsion is a precise art."
From the front seat, Anandur chuckled. "Bittersweet family reunions are always so touching when they involve sworn enemies and mind control."
Kian ignored him, though the Guardian had a point. The idea to help Losham against Navuh's other sons was quite absurd.
"If Losham falls, we lose our access," Annani said.
"Toven can probably compel the others, provided that Lokan remembers their phone numbers, and provided that they answer his call, which they most likely would not.
Lokan and Losham had a relationship, which is more than can be said about any of the other sons, and that is why he answered Lokan's call.
" She paused. "We have to help Losham retain his position. "
Kian chuckled. "I can't believe we are actually going to do that, when Losham's intention is to continue Navuh's work. He wants to lead the Brotherhood and carry on everything his father built. That makes him our enemy just as much as Navuh."
"Even enemies sometimes form alliances when it benefits both parties," Annani said. "Right now, we need Losham to stay in power because we have access to him through Lokan, and because he is in charge for now."
"Politics make for strange bedfellows," Anandur mused from the front.
"We can get the phone numbers of the other brothers from Losham," Kian said.
"In fact, we should do that on our next call in case Losham cannot maintain his position until our next communication.
That will give us potential access to the other players in this succession struggle, provided that they get curious and answer a call from the traitor. "
Annani's eyebrows rose. "They will not accept a call from Lokan, but they might accept a call from their missing father. We can put Navuh on the line."
Kian stared at her. "Forgive me, but that's a very bad idea. Navuh will sabotage whatever we try to do."
"Normally, yes, but not if his freedom is on the line, and not if the call is supervised and we tell him exactly what he has to say."
Kian didn't like where this was going. It seemed that his mother had decided to give Navuh what he wanted in exchange for his help. He had to acknowledge that what she had said about Navuh talking with his sons had merit, but it was one more last-resort measure.
Kian intended to do everything possible to avoid promising freedom to Navuh.
"Lokan is a dream walker," he said. "As far as I know, he hasn't used the ability in years because Carol doesn't want him in anyone else's dreams but hers. If he can enter the minds of people on the island, though, he could gather more intelligence."
Annani nodded. "I had forgotten about that ability of his. If I remember correctly, he can only visit the minds of females he was once involved with or at least met and was attracted to. It is no wonder that Carol does not want him to do it with anyone but her."
"I need to ask him how it works." Kian pulled out his phone. "If he can only visit females he knows and was at some point attracted to, he is not going to be much use to us."
"Lokan and Carol should move to the village right away," Annani said. "We need to contact Losham again tonight, and we need Lokan there. It does not make sense for him to remain in the keep while this is going on."
It was daytime on the island when it was nighttime in California, and the best time to call Losham was when he was just waking up or retiring for the day, so he wouldn't be near others when he received the call.
"The time difference is thirteen hours," Kian calculated. "Night on the island is morning here. If we want to call at, say, ten at night island time, that's nine in the morning in Los Angeles."
"Then we have until tomorrow morning to prepare.
" Annani shrugged her coat off her shoulders.
"But I would ask Lokan to come over tonight so he can be ready to discuss strategy with you early tomorrow before the call.
You need to coach him and ensure he understands his role.
I know it can be done over the phone, but doing things face to face is always better. "