Page 37 of Lacey's Warriors

“Did you really think you could betray me and I would not find out?” Lady Melissi’s image gave Gwarnon the haughty, smug look he hated so much. “That I was oblivious that you were Lord Rell’s lapdog? I have been aware of every one of your pitiful attempts to thwart me. That is why you fail again and again—so pathetic, so stupid. It is a wonder you didn’t choke yourself to death on your birth cord. Why, of all my children, are you the one that survived? Such a waste.”

Gwarnon, used to his mother’s manipulations and caustic words, refused to fall for her bait. He knew without a doubt she was entirely ignorant to the majority of his maneuvers against her. If she had even the slightest clue as to some of the things he’d done to chip away at her empire, he would have been dead long ago, only son or not.

“What do you want, Mother? I have a meeting with the High Congress in a few minutes.”

Her smug smile returned, a vicious pleasure gleaming in her silvery gaze. “I just wanted to look at you one more time before I break you.”

With that, she ended the connection, and Gwarnon let out a low growl. “What is that bitch up to?”

“I do not know, but Lord Rell has contacted me and told me to help you stand strong. That what is to come is going to hurt, but that new dreams rise from the ashes of old ambitions.”

He glanced over at Chel, the green of his armor bringing out the pale green flecks in his blood brother’s hazel eyes. Gwarnon expected to see panic or worry on his brother’s face, but Chel seemed almost serene somehow. Even though it stung, Chel had a stronger bond with Lacey than Gwarnon did. He knew it was partially his fault, but he could not help the envy he experienced knowing Chel could feel theiralyahbetter than him.

“How is she?”he asked Chel on their psychic link.

“Happy, but also worried and anxious,”Chel responded.“Her implant is still blocked to us, so I cannot communicate with her, but wherever she is, she is not in danger.”

“And she is not on Earth, not if we can still feel her,”Gwarnon added, reassuring himself.“Once this is over with, we will find her.”

A high security message came through his implant from Lord Rell.

Trust Lady Elsin and Lady Yanush, though it will go against everything you believe. Take Lady Yanush’s punishment.

“Did you get that?” Chel asked aloud in a shocked voice.

“I did,” Gwarnon said, then replied via his implant,“What does it mean?”

The walls around them flashed three times, warning that a stimulation was about to begin.

Gwarnon had enough time to stand from his chair and make sure his uniform was in order before the walls grew hazy. A moment later, they found themselves standing virtually before the Kadothian High Congress.

Looking at the almost full table, Gwarnon let out an inward groan. This wasn’t a good sign. The more members that attended a High Congress meeting, the more explosive those meetings tended to get. At one end, Lady Elsin sat, tall with white blonde hair and the features and presence of an aristocratic queen. On the other sat Lady Yanush, dark where Lady Elsin was light, dressed in a vibrant orange and gold gown that dipped low in front, revealing her ample, bondmark-covered cleavage. They were political enemies, but Gwarnon had heard that behind closed doors they managed to put aside their differences for the good of Kadothia.

Looking down the long table at her opposition, Lady Yanush stood slowly and placed her long, red gilded fingernails on the smooth surface of the table. She glanced down either side at the members of the High Congress and their assistants standing behind them. Then she gave the viewing gallery, full of Warriors and Kadothian citizens, another glance before returning her attention to Lady Yanush.

“Now we move onto the unsavory business of four of our best Warriors breaking their solemn and sacred oath to Kadothia by participating in the Baladium, an action strictly forbidden by the High Congress.” Turning slightly, Lady Yanush gave them both a thin sneer as she said, “And they didn’t even try to hide their presence or make the least bit of effort to be circumspect. They flaunted their involvement, appearing at the Baladium’s victory celebration at Lady Lacey Taylor’s arm.”

“Might I remind you,” Lady Elsin said in her cool, imperious tone, “that these brave Warriors risked life and limb to rescue not one, buttwofuture Matriarchs?”

Lady Yanush gave a slight sneer, her full lips thinning before she said in an equally cool and imperious voice, “But they didn’t know that before they decided to violate our laws.”

“Perhaps they did know, but perhaps they sensed she was there? Clearly, the Lord of Life’s will was involved in this,” Lady Elsin replied as she stood next to one of her husbands, her back ramrod straight.

Lady Yanush gave low chuckle. “Forgive me, High Congress, but did you become the Warrior’s Defender at some point I am unaware of?”

“No,” came a familiar voice from behind Gwarnon’s back, “I believe that title belongs to me.”

When Lord Rell’s holograph joined Gwarnon and Chel standing in the defendants’ circle, Gwarnon tried to keep his relief from showing. From the way Lady Yanush seemed to be out for them, he was afraid they’d have no chance at a fair trial. Especially when he personally knew that nearly half of the High Congress members were either owned or influenced by his mother. They tried to hide it, but a few let their loathing for Gwarnon slip into their gazes.

“Lord Rell,” Lady Yanush inclined her head in his direction. “It is a pleasure, as always.”

Lord Rell sent on a mental link to both Gwarnon and Chel, “Keep your wits, do what I say, and donotlose your temper. If you can do that, if you can keep your faith in me even though what I suggest may seem insane, I promise you, everything will be all right.”

Exchanging a doubtful look with his blood brother, Gwarnon then returned his attention to the High Congress, his most impenetrable social mask locked in place. Chel must have picked up some of Gwarnon’s habits during their years together because his face was equally unreadable, his shields just as tight. They both braced as much as they could for the no doubt bad news.

Gwarnon wondered what it would be. Sanctions, loss of parts of their Territory, or maybe even exile to one of the millions of small, self-sustained islands on Kadothia that served as prisons? Tiny, primitive homes with nothing to do and nowhere to go. It was a bleak existence, and many that were sentenced for more than one hundred years ended up killing themselves or going insane.

A single cool, soothing caress from Chel’s side of the bond helped Gwarnon to drag himself from his dark daydreams and back to a glaring Lady Yanush.

---