Page 47 of The Omega Thief

“I’ll meet you on the walk.”

Attiker and Ash left. “Kitchen then.”

“Wait.” Ash put a hand on his arm to stop him. “What’s all that about?”

“Dragon lilies only grow in intense heat, but Her Highness has been trying to propagate a smaller version that grows in cooler temperatures.”

Ash nodded. “I know about the heat thing. Rich folk used to have them on the hearth at parties. They’d be dead by the next day because even next to a normal fire, it wasn’t warm enough.”

Attiker just waited for Ash to get it. “But they grow in active fire rock,” he said slowly. “How’s that going to help, though? They don’t want a flower.”

“No, they want an intact prism.”

Ash shrugged, clearly not getting it.

“Intact prisms only stay intact because of the extreme heat of the Fire Mountain,” Attiker explained. “There isn’t a way in the world to transport it home before it cools and cracks. Markell thinks it will be getting one that will be difficult.”

“Well, it will,” Ash pointed out.

“Yes,” Attiker agreed. “But that’s not the really hard part. The hard part will be getting it home. The test is ingenious. It saysglowing, which is relatively easy as it just has to be reasonably warm, but it’s the wordintactthat’s the clever part.”

“And that’s why you wanted the pods, or whatever you call them?”

Attiker nodded. “The pods will radiate heat intense enough to keep the prism intact for at least four days.”

“Well, damn,” Ash said admiringly. “And you’re thinking he doesn’t know this?”

Attiker smiled. “Do you see him anywhere?” Ash chuckled. “Now, let’s go to the kitchen and get other provisions.” He followed Ash through the gardens and kept a smile on his face. But he’d seen the reaction of the emperor and the sovereign, and they hadn’t looked cowed. Either it could be because Markell just assumed he was physically superior to Attiker, or there was some other reason for his confidence.

And it was thesome other reasonthat made his belly squirm.

“Interesting name Gerry,” Ash commented. “Short for Jeremiah?”

Attiker grinned. “It’s spelled with a G, and he’d kill me if I told.”

Ash chuckled. “You have to tell me now, seen as we’re going to be battling dragons and all that.”

“Gerry’s dad ran the gardens for Raz’s great-grandfather. He had seven sons and named them all after flowers. Gerry’s short for Geranium.”

Chapter twenty

Razstayedinhisprivate office. He hated this, absolutely hated it, but Attiker was right. They both had to do their jobs.

Someone, and he needed to work out who, had betrayed him. His inner circle was very small, and he would bet his life he could trust them all. Maybe it would come to that? He would risk his gladly, but he wasn’t about to risk Attiker’s. Although, wasn’t that exactly what he was doing? And what choice did he have?

He looked up at the knock on the door, and Carter let himself in. “Highness, the Emir of Rajpur’s party has arrived. All their rooms are ready. Do you wish to welcome them?”

Raz looked at his chamberlain. Carter had served their family for over forty years, and he wasn’t privy to the details Pinkerton, as his private secretary, was. He loathed looking at everyone with suspicion.

He considered the question while Carter waited patiently. “No, please serve refreshments in my private sitting room. I’ll be there shortly.”

Raz liked Kamir. It had been Kamir himself who had stepped up and brought about the peace between their kingdoms. It had started with them capturing a man they assumed was an assassin, as he’d tried to get to Raz himself. He hadn’t succeeded and had insisted he carry a message from his lord. Raz knew thatlordreferred to the Emir’s heir and was intrigued enough to arrange the meeting.

The messenger had shocked them all when they’d turned out to be a woman, and not just any woman, but Veda, the younger sister of Kamir himself.

She’d asked for a private meeting, and Raz had agreed. The only two there except himself was Thakeray and Benta, and Benta had saved his life on two occasions. The guards brought the prisoner to the tent, and Benta took charge of her, waving the others away.

“I need to search you,” Benta said evenly, even though she would have been searched already, and that was how she’d been discovered to be female.

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