Until she burst out laughing again. “Don’t be a fool, child. No one here has the balls to come after me. Now go take your break and leave us.”
Desideria was mortified as she summoned what tiny bit of dignity she could find and turned away while they laughed at her.
“An attempt at a summit?” Peria’s mocking tone sent a wave of nausea through her body. “Really? What was she thinking?”
“Perhaps I was impulsive to appoint her so soon.” Her mother sighed. “I had such ambition for her. Oh well. I only hope Narcissa and Gwenela don’t turn out to be disappointments too. I should never have bred with her father. So much for thinking of adding to our bloodline with an offworlder. I should have known better.”
Those words were like a kick in her gut. I hate you, you sanctimonious bitch. But she didn’t hate her mother. Not really. She was hurt and lashing out.
It was bad enough when other people mocked her. When her mother did it, it was so much worse. All she wanted was to make her mother proud of her. Why was that such an impossible task?
How will I ever face the others again?
None of them had any respect for her at this point. They thought her inept.
Worse, they thought her weak.
Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t pay any attention to where she was going until she collided with a solid wall. At least that was what she thought it was until she realized it was a man.
A huge, powerful man with a body so hard it was like touching granite.
Gasping, she looked up and froze.
Dark brown eyes glowed with warmth as a slow smile spread across the face of the devastating male she’d noticed earlier. And her collision laid to rest any speculation about the body obscured by his voluminous robes. He was as honed as any warrior she’d ever seen.
The teasing light in his eyes faded into a look of deep concern. “Are you all right?”
It was difficult to think of a response when the pleasant masculine scent of him was thick in her head and his eyes captivated her so. Oh, he was gorgeous. “Fine.”
His intelligent gaze sharpened. “You don’t look fine… I mean, you do look F-I-N-E, but something’s bothering you. Can I do something to help?”
She hated to be that transparent to anyone. Great. Just great. Now I’m humiliating myself with strangers too. That was all she needed. “You’re right. You are bothering me. Now move out of my way.” Her tone was sharper than she meant it to be, but she couldn’t control her anger over her own stupidity and embarrassment.
He held his hands up and stepped aside to let her pass. “Pardon me for trying to help.”
Desideria took three steps, then turned back to apologize for her rudeness.
He was already gone.
Weird. And fast, not to mention silent. She wouldn’t have thought he could move like that, especially while swathed in that much material.
Part of her was bothered that she’d been so curt with him. He didn’t deserve it. She hated whenever she took her anger out on the wrong person—like her mother always did. She tried so hard not to do that to others. And here, she’d slapped at someone who was just trying to be nice.
“This is not my day.” At this point, she really wanted to crawl under something and die.
Die…
She’d blurted out to her mother what she’d overheard. If whoever the killer was caught wind of that…
Dying was a very real possibility. Drek… What had she done? Her actions might very well have facilitated things. I’ve got to find out who it is. Immediately.
Because if she didn’t, both of them would die.
8
Caillen sat with his father in the summit chamber, surrounded by nobles and officials, bored out of his mind. The room was round so that they could all see each other should someone give in to the need to yawn, the sadistic bastards, with dim lighting that seemed to suck all the energy out of the very marrow of his bones. Yeah, there was definitely something being emitted by the bulbs that was dimming his intellect. He could feel his IQ slipping at least one point per minute.
Maybe more.
At this rate, he’d be reduced to a vegetative state within the hour.
It explained much about their current leadership… his father notwithstanding.
In the center was a chair that was occupied by the officials and reps who’d come to beg council attention to certain matters regarding their worlds.
Gods what I wouldn’t give for one of the senators to go mental and pull out a blaster and kill someone.
Hell, at this point, they could kill him. Anything to get him out of this. But at least he’d helped his father get a treaty with the Krellins. That had pleased the man exponentially.
“We’re a small system and the rights to our crops…”
Caillen zoned out again so that he wouldn’t have to hear the sharp, nasal whine of a governor wanting more funding for his wardrobe. Oh wait, he wanted funding for his poor people. Yeah… that was what the man was pitching.