A Way of Honor (Champions of the Crystal Book 2)

Chapter 7: The Enemy Among Us

When the door to Mara's private rooms was flung open, Selémahs turned, hoping it was the Queen. It was Scotty.

"Where's Mara?" he demanded. "Hasn't she come back yet?"

"No. I was hoping to hear something by now," Selémahs said.

"Where's Rina?"

"I haven't seen her since she left with you."

"Damn!" Scotty swore. "I got all Defense Control breathin' down my neck, screamin' that Khediva's kidnapped Mara and busted Tirqwin out, but from what I saw from the security cameras, Tirqwin was about to buy it. I can't get Khediva to answer me, so that means somethin' bad's happening, and I can't find Rina anywhere! Defense Control's lookin' for her, but I wanna find her first and find out what the hell she thought she was doin'! She just stood there while he was fallin' over! That's not like Rina! She wouldn't do that! And how did he get sick? Rayland says he thinks her ring was poisoned—"

"But she didn't wear her ring today," Selémahs said. "I remember noticing. I wanted to make sure she didn't commit any solecisms for the funeral."

"But—wait a minute. C'mon!" Scotty said, running from the room. Selémahs hesitated for a moment, then hurried after him.

She caught up with him in Sabrina's apartment. He was pawing through her dressing table. "Ah ha!" he said in triumph, holding up the ring. "Here it is! And it hasn't got any blood on it!"

"So it must have been another ring?" Selémahs guessed.

Scotty was scowling at the ring, thinking furiously. "It must have been another person."

"What?"

"Look. We got Tirqwin on tape doin' something I know he never did, not in a million years. Now we got Rina on tape doin' something I know she'd never do in a million years! Either everybody's goin' nuts, or—"

"Or?" Selémahs echoed.

"Or we've got imposters runnin' around!"

"But why try to kill Tirqwin and blame it on Sabrina?" Selémahs asked.

"They wanna kill Tirq 'cause they think we're gettin' close to provin' he didn't do it, and they wanna blame it on Rina just to distract us," Scotty said. "C'mon! We gotta tell Rayland!"

_____________

The atmosphere in Defense Control was tense. Rassir and Imari were in Rayland's office, the three of them in a heated argument over how to proceed. When Scotty and Selémahs entered, Imari stabbed a quivering finger at Scotty and said, "I insist on his arrest! Obviously this is some plot to rob us of our Guardian, and he is involved!"

"We have no evidence of that, and much to suggest otherwise," Rayland replied.

"It's no plot, at least not by us!" Scotty said, holding up his sister's ring. "Look. I found this in Rina's room. It wasn't her ring we saw, and it wasn't her."

"That proves nothing. She could have given you the ring after using it on the Tirqwin," Rassir said.

"I was with him when he found it, and Lady Sabrina was not wearing it when I saw her earlier," Selémahs said. "May I see the security record?"

"Certainly. Perhaps you can explain it," Rayland said, leading them to a monitor. They watched the scene in silence.

"That was not Sabrina," Selémahs said.

"See?" Scotty said to Imari.

"On what do you base your belief?" Rassir asked.

"The movements were all wrong. The eyes were wrong. The inflection of her voice was wrong—everything," Selémahs said. "Even the Tirqwin noticed it. You heard him comment on it. The differences were subtle, but they were there."