Page 74 of Dark Shadow of Guilt

Chapter Twenty-One

Ely strode throughthe marble halls of Outcast Tower, the government headquarters in Angor. He’d been trying to meet with Harmony, but either she was busy or he was on the job. Finally his boots pounded the tile leading to her office.

He shoved into a busy, noisy room. Scourges sat in front of computers, likely monitoring the various Ordeals around Angor. A few looked a little too excited by the violence they were seeing.

In the front of the room, at a table on a raised dais, sat his target. Multiple computer screens surrounded Harmony, but instead of watching anything, she leaned back in a desk chair, ankle boots cocked onto the table, filing her nails. She didn’t look busy, but maybe she was a multitasker.

When she spied Ely, she tossed the file onto the table, perched upright, and fluffed her long, honey-blonde hair. She batted the thick lashes framing sultry green eyes. “Ely, baby. You need me?”

He grinned. Harmony had that effect on him.Hell. She had that effect on everyone. It could be the snug, black leather jumpsuit that showed all her attributes, especially since the zipper was lowered to display the swells of her breasts.Mouth-watering view.

Once, when he asked her why she’d stayed on in Angor, she’d said it wasn’t as dull as the dimension of eternal sunshine and backstabbing Immortals. Ely suspected that was a half-truth. She was still doing penance. Guilt was a powerful motivator. Look at Dom.

“I need a minute of your time. If you’re not too busy,” he said.

“I’m not at the moment. Just kicking back after riding herd on asshole Scourges so they don’t do anything stupid. Since they’re Scourges, eventually, they do. Of course, shit could change in a moment. Drop anchor, Ely.” She pointed to a chair. “How’s the winged-assassin biz?”

“That’s why I’m here. I need your take on Scourges. How do they get assigned to the Ordeals?”

“I assume you mean the formal Ordeals that we run. Not the informal ones they heap on each other in their off-hours for shits and giggles.”

“Yep.”

“I have watchers and schedulers here. Watchers keep an eye on the Ordeals as they’re running. That’s the first three rows.” She pointed. “The last three rows are my schedulers. Using a list of all Scourges, divided according to their malady, they assign them to their punishments. I monitor the assignments and add newbies or delete the reformed ones from the master list. I have one worker who assigns pit bosses to run the Ordeals. He also monitors the trustees who manage businesses and so on.”

“So how does a Scourge get excused from an Ordeal?”

“Two ways. The OC gives me a jingle, and I pass the good news on to the Scourge’s scheduler. Or using my own judgment, I take a penitent out of the Ordeals when they are reformed or promoted to trustee.”

“This guy wasn’t reformed. How about a trustee or a pit boss? Can they excuse Scourges?”

“Nope.”

Ely puzzled the situation. The OneCreator had said he hadn’t excused Praevus from the Ordeals. “What if the OC didn’t, but the Scourge was excused anyway?”

Harmony arched a honey-colored brow. “Who are we talkin’ about?”

“Praevus. And he’s on the run.”

“Hmm.” She consulted a computer, tapping on a few keys. Disbelieving eyes shot up to fix on Ely. “His name’s not on the master list, but it should be.”

“Could his usual scheduler excuse him?”

“No, and if the Scourge figured out a way, it’d be a violation. Let’s have a chat with him.”

She grabbed Ely’s arm and dragged him to the fifth row. At the end was a Mind Rat tapping furiously on a keyboard.

“Rat, can you tell me why Praevus would be excused from the Ordeals?”

The male paused and glanced up. “No.”

Ely rested a palm on a dagger. “Elaborate.”

Returning to his computer, the Mind Rat entered Praevus’s name almost as if his life depended on it. It did. At first, he looked confused. Then he raised his white eyes. “He’s not on the assignment list.”

“I know,” said Harmony, her hand jerking to her hip, her elbow bent.

The Rat typed some more. “He’s been deleted.”

---