Page 22 of Death Game: Supernatural Battle

I couldn’t point. Not without the right intention anyway. Icouldsay a specific word out of context, usually, but that would be useless here because the context was fixed—and exactly what the compulsion worked against—me spilling Sundulus and Vissimo secrets.

Fury warped Lady Treena’s face. “They got her good. Only Olythieu has trouble pointing. Must’ve been a strong beast.”

“Think of something unrelated, Basilia,” the regal man who always reminded me of Colonel Sanders said. “Hold that in your mind as you talk and move.”

I nodded. “Yes, I know.” I’d practiced more before coming here to keep my mind off Tommy.

Sir Olythieu’s grey brows slammed together. “You know?”

I glanced around the table, which had stilled.

Mr Dithis rubbed his jaw. “Took us nine years to figure that out.”

They shouldn’t congratulate me. I’d been told by King Asshole himself.

“Even with that knowledge, I’m afraid we must often rely on the others guessing to get information across,” Olythieu said quietly.

A reflection of my pain and frustration lurked in his dark-grey eyes. I’d previously thought that my intention had to be closely aligned with whatever I was trying to say. But if I focused hard enough, any random thought was effective. Thinking of lavender bushes, I placed my hand atop the table on the Sundulus side.

“Bastards,” Dithis seethed. “Which one?”

“Kyros,” I answered, feeling a twinge of guilt as his name passed my lips.

Hothen sighed. “He’s one of the worst. The eldest son, as I’m sure you know by now. I am so sorry, Basi dear. The trapping was a permanent one?”

Thetrapping. Singular.

I held up four fingers.

“Four,” Lady Treena said, frowning.

Syrre held a hand to her pale cheek. “Four times, Treena. Is that what you mean, Basilia? He did it four times?”

Hurrying around the table with a speed belying her age, Dame Burke placed yes and no cards before me. These cards were a really good idea. It would make the coming explanation so much easier.

Maybe if I’d had them with Tommy, she’d still be here.

I tapped a finger onyes. I could point to normal words.

A heavy tension filled the room at that revelation.

When it came to the people around this table, I’d had nothing from my grandmother to go on. Fred merely said that she met her friends every week. But if they were in the power of the clans, each of them had to report in some way—probably to the royals or their seconds. I needed to know who they were compelled by and how tightly. My grandmother may have been the ringleader because she wasn’t controlled in any way, but I’d continue her work regardless of my compelled state. That meant I had to feel out how much I could tell the others.

“I need information on each of you,” I told them.

“You’re taking the third seat?” Sir Olythieu’s gaze sharpened.

“Give me the information and I’ll answer that question,” I replied, settling back.

He smiled. “Very good. Burke, do we have the file from when we first started?”

Dame Burke pursed her lips. Her restraints had to be the loosest. She seemed to be the nominated spokesperson. “I’ll dig it up and update it.”

She cut me a look. “And none of us have orders to freely report. We answer during interrogation, and only to their direct questions, which are always business based. In fact, most of us have minimal contact with the beasts now they’ve caged our underlings. Nothing more than a phone call every few months. Olythieu and Lady Treena have it the worst. They’re pulled in for questioning once or twice every year.”

That wasn’t surprising. Neither of them was richer than me, but their assets were entirely located in Bluff City, whereas Grandmother had moved the vast majority of ours international. Their estates were far more valuable inIngeniumthan mine. And when it came to power and influence, Lady Treena was mayor for over seventeen years before retiring. Her father was mayor in his time. And her grandfather. Five generations ago, the head of their family had married a woman of vast mining fortune.

“We need to meet twice weekly until I’m up to date,” I announced. “This is around my hours forLive Right Realty.”

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