That time she did smile—the quick, hard grin of a hunter with a fresh trail to follow.
“I think I like you, Special Agent.”
She snorted and strode over to the nearest desk. “I need to talk to the manager.” She slapped her ID down. “Now.”
They’d follow the money, see where it went…maybe to the third floor of a stucco building on the east side of the city.
THIRTY-NINE
“SO this Benessarai is the one who wants the prototype.” Lily had long since finished eating, and she’d sipped all the tea she could stand. She pushed the cup and saucer away.
“She said so, didn’t she?” Drummond snapped. “This is no way to question a witness. Make her get to the point.”
Drummond had pulled himself into his talkative shape a few minutes ago and was pacing like a man whose patience was used up.
She’s not ready yet, Lily told him. Don’t distract me.
She and Alycithin were getting along like gangbusters…if gangbusters meant being terribly polite and careful with each word. They had cautiously exchanged some information. Alycithin had been embarrassed when Lily told her that Cullen had not refused to sell the prototype—that he had never even received an offer. Benessarai had lied to her about that. For some reason he wanted to obtain it the hard way, using theft and hostages and a complicated plot. Lily thought Alycithin knew very well why he’d taken that route, but she’d waved Lily’s question away with a vague comment about it making him look more skilled. But Alycithin had not known about the confrontation at the middle school, so she couldn’t tell Lily what had happened there.
Lily still didn’t understand what the halfling woman wanted from her. Or what she was offering in return. “Benessarai is responsible for holding Adam King, although Friar’s the one actually doing the job. He’s supposed to be on your side, but he’s lied to you, kept information from you, and undermined your mission. And yet you don’t think he’ll violate your code.”
Alycithin grimaced. “Lies, however crude, are not dishonorable.”
“Just bad form.” In sidhe eyes, it seemed, you kept your word even if it killed you and all your family, but deception and trickery were fine. Expected, even. Yet to lie outright was on a par with farting loudly in church. “He’ll lose a lot of points back home for lying.”
“That does not mean he will kill a hostage.”
“Friar would. In a snap.”
“Too damn right,” Drummond said.
Alycithin shrugged. “Robert Friar wishes for many things from Benessarai. He will not anger him. However, if Jasper Machek did violate his agreement with Friar, who is Benessarai’s agent in this, he has forfeited Adam King’s freedom. I will make sure Benessarai does not leave him in Robert Friar’s custody, but the best I can do is see that Adam King returns with us to our realm, where he will spend the rest of his life as a hostage.”
“Even if Friar violated his end of their deal?”
“Do you believe Robert Friar will admit to Benessarai that he broke oath?”
Put that way, no. “Will Benessarai believe Friar over you?”
She spoke very dryly. “He has so far.”
“Because you two are rivals.” And a hair away from being enemies outright, Lily thought. Benessarai did not trust Alycithin, or claimed he didn’t. He’d set up his own hostage-keeping spot elsewhere in the city, though this apartment had originally been intended for any hostages either of them acquired. Lily had the idea that he and Alycithin were barely speaking to each other.
“It is not so simple as that word suggests, but perhaps you do not need to understand the nuances. It may be helpful to know that my position on the delegation is both punishment and opportunity.”
“A punishment?”
“If the delegation does poorly, the blame will go to me.”
“Even though he’s in charge?”
A touch of impatience flickered in her green eyes. “We are coleaders. Did I not tell you that?”
“You said you were both, ah…I’ve forgotten the word.”
“I failed to explain. Benessarai and I were given joint leadership of the delegation’s goals, but he has far more authority than do I. You may confirm this with your own eyes. He has six people. I have two. They are capable and loyal, but they are two to his six.”
“Listen,” Drummond said. “I’m not doing you any good here. I’m going to see what else I can learn, but you’ll have to call me again to get me through those walls.”
Lily drummed her fingers, careful to look at her hand, not the ghost. She didn’t want him to go, but he was right. He wasn’t helping here…except for making her feel less alone. Go on, then.
“Call me in thirty minutes.” He evaporated.
Lily looked up at the halfling again. “I think I understand. On paper, you and Benessarai are coleaders. In reality, he’s running the show.”
Alycithin nodded. “If I understand your idiom, that is the case. His father is Lord Thierath; his mother is Lord Sessena. My own breeding is…” Her smile flashed, quick and charming. Very nearly a grin. “You may have noticed, Lily, that I am not elfin.”
“I had noticed that, yes.”
“There is some overt prejudice in my realm and a good deal of stereotyping. A most useful word, that,” she added with a lazy smile. “For all its limitations in some areas, English provides an excellent framework for certain concepts. My father is Rekklat. His people are honored as worthy and excellent warriors, but they are not considered capable of the subtleties of dtha through which one may rise in…but now I arrive at those limitations. The closest English word I can think of is society, yet that does not convey my meaning well.”
“Status?” Lily suggested. “Or caste?”
She tipped her head, considering. “Perhaps caste is closer, as it partakes of elements of status as well as power. I am ambitious, you see. Some do not believe ambition is fitting in a halfling. Lord Thierath is one such. Lord Sessena, however, is my sponsor.”
Lily’s eyebrows rose. “Benessarai’s father doesn’t approve of you, but his mother is your sponsor? What does that mean?”
“You have not an equivalent status. I am life-sworn to her. She arranged for me to be coleader with her son. I will speak now with a degree of bluntness that would be considered stupid and absurd by my mother’s people.” She paused as if waiting for Lily to give her permission to be blunt.
“Okay.”
“Benessarai is a fool. His mother knows this. She wished to have one with him who owes her much. One who is, perhaps, not a fool.”
Carefully Lily asked, “Is that the opportunity part of the deal?”
Again a quick smile. “Very good. If the delegation is sufficiently successful that Benessarai is not disgraced, I will receive little public credit, but Lord Sessena will have reason to be very pleased with me.”
“And Lord Sessena has the whole package—authority, power, breeding.”
“She is very high caste.” She selected a grape. “Perhaps you are wondering why I tell you so much about myself.”
“If you were one of my people, I’d say you were trying to enlist me. Convince me we were on the same side in some ways so that I’ll do something you want.”
Alycithin peeled the grape slowly. Her nails were a little longer than Lily’s, well-shaped, but just a bit off. Narrow, as if they’d considered being claws at one point, but changed their minds. “I would say we are negotiating. I wish you to understand why I would negotiate with one who seems to be without power in this situation.” She contemplated the grape she’d peeled, put it in her mouth, and bit. “I must tell you something more, I believe. Lord Rethna’s realm is in chaos. Not simply his land, but the entire realm. The Queens are there. Both of them. You do not know how…astounding…this is. The Queens have not left Thalinol together in over three thousand years.”