A Beast's Tale

Chapter 60

I hated going back to Sariel's office. It was bad enough that he'd seen Ivetta and me arguing. Now, I had to tell him everything was going forward again. It all made me look like a simpering fool, easily swayed by her whims. While it was true that she was the only one who could get away with talking to me like that, and the only one who could get me to change my mind, I hadn't given in completely. It was really more of a compromise, with me consenting to not postpone anything, and her consenting to not attend the ball.

Maybe if I kept telling myself that, I would start to believe it.

"King Chevalier," Sariel greeted me with a tight-lipped smile. "Change of plans?"

I slammed the door shut behind me and walked over to his desk.

"Your previous orders still stand. Nokto will aid you in your local investigation; Leon and Yves will handle the initial questioning; Clavis and I will do the intensive interrogation. We'll leverage Jin's network of spies to infiltrate Obsidian. Licht will prepare the troops and tighten security."

That only left Luke, the lazy lay about. He was too soft-hearted to help with torture. If I was pulling everybody into this, it was only fair that I give him a job, too.

He was a decent messenger boy.

"Luke left for Benitoite when you left for the border," Sariel commented.

That took care of that problem. Never mind that there was only one reason I could think of for him to go there, and I thought he had enough sense to stop fawning over Arianna after he heard about the way she'd spoken to Ivetta. Not that I had any room to judge. Attraction to a woman could make a fool of a much better man than Luke.

"The ceremony is still going forward, but Ivetta will not be attending the ball," I added coolly, turning back to the door.

"I understand," Sariel replied, a hint of a smirk in his voice.

I gritted my teeth and left. There was nothing I could say to change the fact that Ivetta had gotten her way, and Sariel knew it. But I couldn't dwell on that. I had work to do, starting with disseminating my orders to my brothers.

"Thought I might be seeing you," Leon commented when I entered his office. "Ivetta okay?"

"She's fine," I said shortly. "Take Yves to Sariel's office. You will be questioning suspects. Send anybody suspicious to the dungeons."

Leon frowned, his amber eyes hard. "I'd hoped this was just a simple case of jealousy that Ivetta got you and somebody else's daughter didn't."

"The emperor of Obsidian wants her dead."

He let out a low whistle. "That's crazy."

"Indeed. Where's Jin?"

"Last I saw him, he was talking with Clavis. They were headed to your office."

Clavis was probably filling Jin in and enlisting his aid. Their combined network of informants was quite powerful.

"And Licht?"

"Training with the troops, as usual," Leon said, standing up and heading for the door. "He hasn't said anything, but he's upset about Nokto."

"So long as he doesn't try to get himself killed next."

"Yeah, they've got a bad habit of doing that. Wish they'd just talk to each other already. It's been years. Maybe you should issue them an order as their king."

"Another time, perhaps," I said, following Leon out into the hallway. Neither of us smiled at his attempted levity. He left in search of Yves; I entered my office.