Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90827 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 454(@200wpm)___ 363(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Warrehn scowled. He hated Rohan’s ability to make it sound so reasonable when what he was suggesting was pure madness. “A dead king would be of no use to you. She still sends assassins to fucking Tai’Lehr, and you want me to live in her palace?”
The look Rohan gave him was a little sad but mostly uncompromising. “It’s your palace, not hers, Warrehn. You’re the heir to the throne. You would have been the King already if it weren’t for her. Even if we can’t yet conclusively prove that she’s the one who tried to assassinate you, you’ll have the authority to send her and her son away from your palace. You’re not that ten-year-old anymore. You’re of age, and she’ll have no power of the regent anymore.”
Warrehn sneered. “What happened to keeping me on Tai’Lehr for ‘my own safety?’ Your father kept me a fucking prisoner on Tai’Lehr for most of my life, and now you say that I can go? Just like that?”
Rohan looked at him steadily. “I’m not my father. Unlike him, I trust you. I trust that you won’t betray us. You could have left at any point since my father’s death. I wouldn’t have stopped you, and you know it. You stayed because you chose to.”
Warrehn glared at him, feeling a rush of anger. “You’re worse than your father, you know. At least your old man wasn’t such a manipulative bastard.”
Rohan’s hand squeezed his shoulder. “I’m not manipulating you,” he said, looking him in the eye. “You’re like a brother to me. I know I’m sending you into the viper’s pit, but it’s because I believe in you. You’re not the defenseless boy you once were. You’re one of the strongest telepaths I’ve ever met. You’re one of the strongest men I’ve ever met. You can protect yourself. I trust you. I need your help, War.”
Fucking hell.
Sometimes he really hated Rohan and his natural leadership ability. Out of the two of them, Warrehn was the one who was a future king, for fuck’s sake. Rohan was a more dangerous leader than his father had ever been: he inspired true loyalty.
“Fine,” Warrehn bit out, shaking Rohan’s hand off.
“Wait,” Sirri cut in, sounding disbelieving. “You said Warrehn was one of the strongest telepaths you’d met. You met someone stronger than him?”
Rohan’s face was grim. “Well, Idhron is almost certainly a Six, too. But there’s also the Crown Prince of the Second Grand Clan, Ksar’ngh’chaali. He could be more powerful.”
Sirri’s mouth fell open. “He’s a Seven? Really?”
Warrehn frowned, a little disquieted, too.
Rohan shrugged. “I think so. But I doubt Ksar has any training, so it all evens out in the end. It isn’t relevant right now…” He trailed off, a thoughtful look flickering through his eyes. “Or maybe it is relevant. No one in the Council knows that Ksar’s such a high-level telepath. It’s obviously paramount for him to keep it secret.”
“Please tell me you aren’t considering blackmailing a Seven into helping you,” Sirri said faintly. When Rohan didn’t deny it, she glared at him. “Are you crazy or suicidal?”
Warrehn snorted. “Just in love.”
Sirri shot him a startled look. “What? What do you mean?”
“I’m not suicidal,” Rohan said, cutting off Sirri’s interrogation. “Even a Seven will be no match for a trained Six and two trained Fives.”
“Nice of you to ask us,” Sirri said, not without sarcasm.
“Assuming it all goes smoothly,” Rohan said, ignoring her remark, “we’ll have six votes secured: the votes of Second, Third and Fifth Grand Clans. These are all some of the most powerful clans, so it’s very likely that the lesser clans will follow their example. Which is excellent, but still might not be enough.”
“You want to blackmail someone else?” Sirri said, her voice still sarcastic and dry.
Rohan returned to the bar and took another swig of his brandy.
“Maybe,” he said, his eyes glinting with something dark and determined.
Shaking his head, Warrehn swore to himself to never fall in love.
Love was a fucking poison, dangerous for oneself and others.
It turned even the most rational men into reckless, suicidal fools.
Chapter 34
Calluvian Society Gossip
THE HEIR TO THE FIFTH GRAND CLAN ALIVE
Crown Prince Warrehn’ngh’zaver, who has long been presumed kidnapped and killed by the rebels, is alive! According to our sources in the Council, the long-lost prince has been on Planet Tai’Lehr all this time. As our readers might or might not know, Tai’Lehr is a faraway, industrial colony of the Third Grand Clan. Prince Warrehn claims that the rebels actually saved him from assassination by his own bodyguards. Our sources were not able to determine how Prince Warrehn ended up on Tai’Lehr after being saved by the rebels, but it is obvious why he was not able to return until now: Tai’Lehr is cut off from Calluvia by the Shibal-Kuvasi war zone, and long-range communicators do not work because of the massive deposits of korviu on the planet.