Betrayals by Sharon Green Read Free Book Online Page B

years of experience in dealing with people came to his rescue.
    “You said you would ‘consider listening’ if I did things your way,” he remembered aloud, speaking to a patiently waiting Lanir. “Nothing about accepting my offer, just an agreement to consider it. I really would be a fool if I went along with this, so you can save this outfit for yourself. Specifically for when you find out that there are others with influence in the courts beside yourself.”
    He threw the motley away without watching to see where it would land, and simply stalked out of the room. Lanir’s friends were all still laughing, their companions dutifully giggling along with them, but Lanir shook his head with a sigh.
    “I’m disappointed,” he complained to everyone in general, all but pouting. “I expected him to actually get into that outfit before he realized the truth, but he found me out. Now I’ll have to find someone else to wear it. Maybe that friend of his, the one who didn’t come with him this time.”
    “You’ve probably been saved some effort, Lanir,” Wirn consoled his friend while I tried to picture Odrin Hallasser wearing motley. “If he’d put that thing on and only then found out you had no intention of giving the girl up, he might have done something foolish like trying to attack you. From the way he behaved, I doubt he knows who you are.”
    “But he’ll find out if he tries to go to court,” Lanir responded happily as he reached for a roll. “He’ll discover that no one is allowed to institute suit against me, not as long as I remain Seated High. Do you think he’ll decide to wait until the next challenge, to see if I’m unSeated?”
    General laughter greeted that question, showing they all knew that the outcome of challenges was carefully arranged in advance. Servants reappeared with steaming dishes holding the next course, so once again I was helped to keep from commenting. Assuming Lanir turned out to be reasonable later and I was able to leave without interference, I intended to see if it was possible to return at the time of the next challenge. The man deserved to lose his place publicly, and being defeated by a woman would add insult to injury.
    I spent the rest of the meal dreaming about proper revenge, and once we retired to the sitting area I went back to that very pleasant pastime. Lanir had one of the servants put on the discarded motley, and then he and his friends made the man dance around the way court fools were supposed to have done when there were kings and their courts running the world. Men who were very proficient in their respective aspect were called knights, which is where the phrase, “knight in shining aspect” comes from. I’m not sure how “shining” they were, but today’s Highs are supposed to be their equivalent.
    After the lordly nobles finished with their amusement, Lanir gave his friends a final glass of wine and then sent them home. None of them seemed surprised at being all but thrown out, nor were they insulted. They left laughing and joking with one another, and then Lanir turned to me.
    “Your behavior tonight was absolute perfection,” he said, holding out his arm to me. “The time has now come for the part I’ve really been waiting for, so let’s hurry back to your apartment.”
    I rose from the chair I’d been sitting in and went to take his arm, ignoring the part of me that wanted to tremble with dread. I’d have no trouble handling whatever came next, I knew I would have no trouble … I hoped …
     

CHAPTER FIVE
     
    Kambil Arstin walked into the sitting room of the residence where the others had already gathered, looking around with a great deal of satisfaction. Bron, Homin, and Selendi sat together chatting, and Delin simply sat by himself and stared. Delin would have been devastated to know how ,,. vacant he looked, but Kambil knew better than the others that Delin was no longer being allowed to know anything. His unthinking body wasn’t