Chapter 36 Annani #2
"We can do that as well," Anandur countered. "Promise his freedom for the information, but only after it is confirmed, and then find an excuse for why the information wasn't complete and refuse to let him go."
"That's not how we operate," Kian said.
As the elevator door opened on the clinic level, Anandur uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the wall. "That's why we never win. Navuh plays dirty while we play fair."
There was truth to his words, and Annani considered the alternative. What if they played as dirty as Navuh and his cohorts did?
Anandur was right that it was foolish to take the higher moral stand against an immoral and dishonest enemy, but at what cost? Soiling their souls? Becoming just a little evil?
It was a slippery slope straight into the devil's domain, and Annani did not like the company she would have to keep there.
When they entered the clinic, Bridget came out of her office. "Good afternoon, Clan Mother, Kian." She nodded at the brothers. "Do you want to go right in?"
"Please," Kian said.
Bridget tapped something on her tablet, and the heavy door began to swing outward. Annani took a step forward, intending to enter, but Brundar shot a hand in front of her.
"Forgive me, Clan Mother, but we should go first."
"Of course."
Areana had said that Navuh could move his hands now, and Brundar did not want to take any chances. The brothers walked in first, positioning themselves on either side of the room with their hands resting on their sidearms.
She was about to follow when Kian put a hand on her shoulder. "Do not get close to him. Keep your distance."
"He's still very weak," Bridget said from behind them. "He's incapable of doing any physical harm. The only thing dangerous about him is his mind and his mouth."
"A very astute observation," Annani confirmed before walking into the room, her bearing regal, her expression carefully arranged into one of mild boredom.
Navuh lay in his hospital bed, looking marginally better than he had on Monday. There was more color in his face and more spark in his dark eyes. He turned his head to track her movement, showing more mobility there as well.
His lips curved into a semblance of a smile.
"Annani," he said. "At last."
"Areana tells me you are doing better," she said, stopping well short of the bed. "I promised her I would come see you while I was here."
"How gracious of you." The words were sardonic, but there was something else beneath them. Anticipation. Eagerness barely suppressed.
He had something he believed would change everything, and she prayed it was not what she suspected.
"You seem to be doing better," she said. "How are you feeling?"
His smile grew wider but not warmer. "Let's drop the pretense that you care about my health. You are here to hear my offer."
She let out an exasperated sigh. "You have been mentioning this fantastic thing that is supposed to entice me ad nauseam. I am starting to think that you have nothing at all to offer."
"Oh, I do, and what I have is worth my freedom to you."
Annani allowed a small, dismissive smile to cross her lips. "There is nothing you can offer me that would make me want to set you free. You are a smart male. I am sure you have realized that by now."
She was managing to keep calm on the outside, but on the inside, her heart was hammering against her chest so powerfully that she was afraid he could hear it.
His dark eyes glittered with amusement. "And you are a smart female. I'm sure that you have realized by now I always have a backup plan."
"I do not know you that well." She leveled her gaze at him.
"You are not the same male who came with his father to the palace to negotiate with my father.
You were semi-decent back then. After your father died, you embraced evil far worse than Mortdh ever did.
Your megalomania knows no boundaries, and you do not care how many have to suffer and die for you to achieve your ridiculous goal of world domination. "
She was goading him on purpose. If his big offer was indeed information about a mass casualty terror attack, her speech would prompt him to throw down that gauntlet.
The silence that stretched between them was heavy with a five-thousand-year history of hatred, of blood spilled and lives destroyed. Navuh held her gaze, and she saw the moment he made his decision.
"Interesting that you would accuse me of being more evil than my father, when Mortdh murdered your beloved."
"I am not sure he did," she admitted. "He wanted to murder him, though, and that made him evil. He was also insane."
Something passed over Navuh's eyes that seemed suspiciously like admiration.
"Bravo," he said. "I wondered how it never occurred to you that Khiann might not be dead. That he could be in stasis. That Mortdh was too late and that the earthquake had claimed Khiann before he could reach him."
Annani felt the blood drain from her face, and her carefully constructed mask of indifference shattered.
"What about the witnesses who testified that Mortdh murdered Khiann?"
Navuh's smile was triumphant, predatory. "The witnesses had been compelled to incriminate Mortdh. Khiann is not dead. He is in stasis, and I am the only one who knows where he is."
The room seemed to tilt around Annani.
Navuh had just confirmed all of her suspicions. Mortdh had not killed Khiann, the witnesses had been compelled to lie and denounce Mortdh. The one thing she had never expected was that Navuh knew where Khiann was buried.
"You are lying," she whispered. "This is just another manipulation. Another game."
"It is not a game. I have been keeping this information as an insurance policy. What will it be, Annani? Is reuniting with Khiann not worth my freedom to you? If so, you must have never cared for him as much as you profess you did."
If it were true...
If Khiann was really alive...
"Prove it," she said, and her voice came out stronger than she expected. "Prove to me that what you say is true."
Navuh's smile widened. "That, dear cousin, is what negotiations are for. My freedom for your truelove mate."
COMING UP NEXT
The Children of the Gods Book 104
DARK ALCHEMY
Catch 22