Chapter 21 Annani
ANNANI
Friday night dinners at Syssi and Kian's were usually the highlight of Annani's week, but she was finding it difficult to enjoy the warmth of a family gathering when her mind was thousands of miles away, worrying about her mate and wondering whether he still lived.
Her grandchildren, though, were the best antidote to the immense stress she had been feeling for weeks now, and tonight the dining room was bursting with young life.
Little Evander Tellesious, who sat in a highchair between Alena and Orion, was fully devoting his attention to the food his parents were placing on his plate. Annani had never seen a child his age so excited about mashed vegetables.
Evie was in a bit of a mood because her favorite cousin was not paying attention to her.
Andrew and Nathalie were in attendance tonight, and with them was Phoenix, who, at nearly five years of age, was much more fascinating to Allegra than her younger cousin Evie.
Phoenix was chattering constantly, and Annani was impressed with the child's vocabulary and the absolute certainty with which her opinions were delivered.
"And then the teacher said we couldn't bring frogs to show-and-tell," Phoenix said, waving her fork for emphasis. "But I told her that Harold was the cutest frog ever, but she said that didn't matter, and I said—"
"Phoenix, sweetheart," Nathalie interrupted gently. "Maybe eat a little more and talk a little less?"
"But, Mommy, I have to tell Allegra about Harold!"
"After dinner, sweetie."
"I want Harolot!" Allegra announced.
"It's Harold," Syssi corrected, stifling a smile. "Can you say Ha-rold?"
"Harold," Allegra repeated perfectly. "I wan’ to see Harold!!" She annunciated carefully but just as forcefully as the first time.
Syssi grimaced. "I hate frogs." She turned to her brother. "Did you have to get her a frog?"
He shrugged. "Why not? Harold is kind of cute."
"Harl," Evie tried to get the other two girls' attention. "Evie want Harl!"
E.T. remained oblivious to the social dynamics unfolding around him and continued to stuff food into his mouth with single-minded determination.
Toven watched the baby with a smile on his face. "Someone has a healthy appetite."
"He does," Alena said. "He needs it for how fast he's growing."
Mia leaned on Toven's arm with a dreamy expression on her face. "I hope we have a little boy. I'll be ecstatic to have a girl as well, but if it were up to me, I would choose to have a boy first."
"Boys are easier to raise," Carol said. "Or at least that's what I'm told."
Lokan shook his head. "Kalugal told me that Darius was a difficult baby. He's easy now, though."
Kalugal and Jacki had opted to spend the evening with Areana at the keep, and Annani was grateful for that.
It got lonely in the penthouse, and spending all of her time in the clinic with Navuh was not good for Areana.
She needed outside influence, and there was no one better to provide it than Kalugal.
He was worldly and knowledgeable, and he did not shy away from difficult topics that Areana needed to hear about.
"More wine, Clan Mother?" Okidu presented the bottle for her to inspect.
"Thank you, Okidu." She lifted her glass for him to refill.
As the meal wound down and the children had their fill, Amanda rose from her chair. "I think it's time to relocate the little ones to the playroom so we can enjoy coffee with a side of some adult conversation."
"I'm not little!" Phoenix protested. "I'm almost five!"
"That's why you are in charge of keeping your little cousins occupied," Nathalie said. "They need your help."
That changed Phoenix's expression from brooding to excited. "I can teach them games."
"Yes, you can, young mistress." Onidu bowed to her while holding Evie with one arm and E.T. with the other. "I would appreciate your help entertaining the little ones."
Once the children were herded to the playroom, the atmosphere in the dining room shifted. With the playful chaos of their presence gone, and only the adults remaining, the quiet felt almost oppressive.
Kian leaned back with his wine glass in hand.
"I know everyone is impatient for updates, so I won't keep you waiting.
The excavation is progressing at a slow pace.
Losham is following our instructions to be careful with the debris removal, and he's using human laborers for most of the work.
He's bringing in immortals only when the humans cannot handle the heavy lifting that's required. They are doing everything by hand."
"How much longer will it take?" Dalhu asked.
"Losham estimates about two weeks until they clear enough debris to get to the chests or to the chamber that Navuh talked about. I'm still not convinced that it exists."
Andrew leaned forward. "I've been thinking about that.
If the chests with Khiann and his companions were placed in a chamber underneath the floor of the enclosure, as Navuh claims, they should be well protected.
The debris from the collapse would not be crushing them, and therefore, there is no reason to go so slowly. "
"Again, that's assuming Navuh is telling the truth," Kian said. "Which he might not be."
"Which part do you think he's lying about?" Amanda asked. "The existence of the chamber or the location of the chests?"
Kian shrugged. "I think Navuh is playing games, but I'm not sure what he hopes to achieve by that. It seems like he's trying to buy himself time, but that doesn't make sense because no one is coming to his rescue, and he knows that."
"Maybe he does not," Annani said. "Perhaps he is fantasizing that Losham will figure out that we have his father and mount a rescue operation."
Kian nodded. "That's possible. Losham figured out that we have Navuh because we knew about the booby traps, but Navuh could not have foreseen that, so it couldn't have been part of his planning. He didn't know that we would contact Losham and try to stop him from triggering them."
"Navuh is always several steps ahead of the game," Annani said.
"He must have realized that we would think of having Lokan contact Losham.
He also knows that Toven joined our clan.
" She looked at the god. "I am not sure he knows that you are a powerful compeller, though.
I did not tell Areana that you have the ability for the simple reason that it has never come up, so Navuh could not have learned it from her. I doubt Bridget or Gertrude told him."
There was a long moment of silence as everyone around the table contemplated the possibility that Navuh had been playing them all along, never really expecting to be released but hoping for a rescue organized by Losham.
Perhaps the alert had been designed with that outcome in mind.
Losham could not hold the fort against his brothers for long, and Navuh would know that Losham preferred having him as the leader of the Brotherhood rather than one of his brothers.
Chances were that whoever won the game of thrones would eliminate the others, so Losham would be extremely motivated to save Navuh.
Then again, it could all be speculation, and they were giving Navuh too much credit.
Perhaps he was not that smart.
"There's been another development," Kian said. "One that might work in our favor, regardless of the game Navuh is playing. We've identified Losham's mother."
A ripple of surprise went around the table.
"How?" Andrew asked. "I thought Navuh kept that information secret from everyone."
"Lokan and Carol made it happen." Kian nodded toward them. "They arranged for the former harem ladies to view the portraits of Navuh's sons. The portraits that Dalhu drew."
All eyes turned to Dalhu, who shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "It was a long time ago, and they aren't that good. I didn't know what I was doing back then."
"They served their purpose well," Kian said. "Rolenna noted the resemblance to Losham, but more to the point, she was the first to give Navuh a son, over two thousand years ago, which matches Losham's age."
"Did you tell Losham?" Mia asked.
"Of course," Lokan said. "I even sent him her picture."
"Did he believe that she was his mother?" Orion asked. "You could have found an immortal female who bore some resemblance to him and sent him her picture. If it were me, I wouldn't have taken your word for it." He turned to Toven. "Did you compel him to believe it?"
Toven shook his head. "I didn't. Compelling is not like thralling. I can compel him to claim her as his mother, but not to actually believe that she is, which is a shame. Having his mother is leverage that we might need to use against him."
"We can still convince him of that. Letting her talk to him might do it," Kian said. "If Losham decides to play games with the chests after they're found, it would be good to have something he wants."
Andrew crossed his arms over his chest. "What happens if he decides to rescue Navuh?"
"He can't," Kian said. "Losham might know that our base is in Los Angeles, but not much more than that. He can't find his father, let alone rescue him."
Annani sighed. "Unless he and Navuh know something we do not. We might be missing a piece of the puzzle."
The conversation paused for a few moments while Okidu served coffee, tea, and dessert, and Annani utilized the time to think of what Navuh could come up with to point Losham in his direction. He did not have an implant, and the ladies had all been checked and did not have any either.
"Has Areana been checked for trackers?" she asked. "I know that everyone else was checked, but Areana was rushed through with Navuh."
"They were both checked," Kian said. "Neither of them carried trackers."
Letting out a breath, Annani leaned back in her chair. "Good. I would have hated putting Areana through a scanner at this stage of the game."
"Has Losham asked to speak with his mother?" Alena asked.
"He has." Lokan lifted his coffee cup. "I told him it wasn't possible yet."
"You dangled her in front of him and then pulled her away." Alena's voice was soft. "That's cruel, but necessary."
"Losham does not deserve your pity," Carol said. "He raised a monster, which makes him a monster as well. Sharim was adopted, but his mother was Losham's sister, so they shared genetics."
Annani could not even imagine what Carol had gone through at the sadistic hands of Losham's adopted son.
He had kidnapped her and tortured her for weeks, enjoying the fact that she was an indestructible toy and whatever he had done to her healed by morning.
Her body might not show the damage, but the emotional scars of that experience would never heal.
Sharim's second-in-command had helped Carol escape because he could not watch her suffer anymore. Robert had sacrificed his life in the Brotherhood to rescue a female he did not know, and by doing so had proven that some members of the Brotherhood were capable of redemption.
Annani had always believed that, which was why she had been against executing captured Doomers. Robert, Dalhu, Lokan, Kalugal, and all the males who had escaped with him had proven her right.
That, however, did not mean that Losham was redeemable.
After Carol and Robert had escaped, they had pointed the way to where the other kidnapped women had been held.
The clan had attacked, Dalhu had killed Sharim in an epic sword fight, severing his head from his body, and the other Doomers had been killed or captured and put into stasis.
The compound had been burned to the ground but later rebuilt as a sanctuary for rescued victims of trafficking.
It was sweet irony that a place where women had once been imprisoned and abused was now being used as a rehabilitation center for women who had lived through such horrors.
Carol had been vindicated, and the clan prevailed.
Losham, on the other hand, must have still harbored a vendetta against the clan for the death of his adopted son. It was not something he could forgive or move past to cross into the light. Losham's eternal legacy would be the darkness of the Brotherhood.
"So, to summarize," Kian said. "We have approximately two weeks until the chests are found. Losham is cooperating due to compulsion, and the situation with his brothers remains stable but precarious."
"What happens when they find the chests?" Orion asked. "How do we actually get them off the island?"
"That's the challenge." Kian let out a breath. "Losham claims he can't ship them to us without his brothers noticing. He might be telling the truth, or he might be positioning himself to make a better deal."
"Are you still planning to execute the EMP option?" Andrew asked.
An electromagnetic pulse that would disable the island's defenses, allowing a clan extraction team to retrieve the chests, seemed like something from a science fiction movie, but if Kian and Turner both agreed that it was the best plan they had, Annani was not going to question it.
"If we have to," Kian said. "We have the EMP, but we put the jet needed to deploy it and the submarine needed for the infiltration on ice.
If Losham doesn't find a way to deliver the chests to us, we'll have no choice but to go get them ourselves.
The EMP would give us a window of opportunity.
Not a large one, but hopefully large enough. "
"What about Navuh?" Nathalie asked. "What role does he play in all of this?"
That question had been lurking beneath the surface of the entire conversation. The thorniest issue was what to do with the former lord of the island, the monster who had terrorized the world for millennia, the mate of Annani's beloved sister.
"Navuh remains a card we can play, if necessary," Kian said.
"His knowledge of the island's defenses, the location of the chests, and the political dynamics among his sons is valuable information.
Releasing him is not on the table at the moment, but if everything else fails, it might be our last resort.
That being said, we haven't deployed all we could to get him talking, so we still might get him to cooperate without promising to release him in exchange. "
"Everything about this situation is so complicated," Amanda muttered.
"We're trying to rescue a god from the ruins of our enemy's fortress, using our enemy's own son as an unwilling accomplice, while said enemy sits in our basement, wheeling and dealing.
" She shook her head. "If someone had pitched it to me as a script for a movie, I would have said that the plot was too unbelievable. "
"And yet here we are," Dalhu said.