Deathstalker 04 - Deathstalker Honor

wondered if even now he’d forget all that, forgive her everything, if she would just take him in her arms and kiss him and love him once again.
    So, frightened, he stayed away. But now here he was, not ten feet away from her, and damned if he knew why. Perhaps it was just unfinished business, as simple as that. Either way, he had come to Parliament to see her and perhaps talk to her. And if he didn’t kill her, he might just learn how to be free of her. If that was what he really wanted. Julian had to smile. He was so messed up in the head where BB Chojiro was concerned that it was either laugh or go mad. She stood at ease among her advisers, smiling and listening and saying little. A tiny little doll of a woman in a bright scarlet kimono the exact shade of her lips. Dark, straight shoulder-length hair. Huge, dark, lustrous eyes. The most beautiful woman Julian had ever seen. He ached to hold her in his arms again, a physical need like a hunger or an addiction. To feel her lips on his, her warm breath in his mouth… And then maybe he’d kill her, or maybe he wouldn’t. He didn’t know. He hadn’t decided yet.
    Standing beside BB Chojiro, unnoticed by the obsessed Julian, stood Stephanie Wolfe, sister to Valentine, stepdaughter to Constance. Tall, blond, boyishly slim, brimming over with barely suppressed resentments. When her late father, Jacob, had been the Wolfe, the Clan had been one of the most powerful Families in the Empire. Then Jacob died and Valentine took over, and it all went to hell. Now Valentine was on the run, Jacob’s dead body had been transformed into a Ghost Warrior by the rogue AIs of Shub, and her beloved brother Daniel had gone off in search of it. Which meant only Constance and Stephanie remained to represent Clan Wolfe in the highest circles.
    “I should be the Wolfe,” said Stephanie, not for the first time. “Of course you should,” said BB Chojiro, flashing her a smile that meant nothing at all. “And you will be. Blue Block has promised you this.” “You talk and talk, but nothing changes.” Stephanie scowled. “Constance cannot be the Wolfe. She has no right. I am Jacob’s blood. She just married him.” “Have I mentioned recently how obsessed you are on this subject, Stephanie? Just one of the reasons why so many of your peers currently prefer Constance as Wolfe. They see her as more… approachable. We meet as little as I can arrange, but still I know your refrain so well I could practically say it along with you. Let us please change the subject, before my ears begin to bleed. Any sign of Daniel yet?”
    “No.” Stephanie’s scowl deepened, as honest concern changed her mouth from its sullen pout to a flat, compressed line. Daniel was the only person apart from herself she still gave a damn about. “He was last seen heading into the Forbidden Sector. No one seems to know how he got past the Quarantine ships.
    The only thing left before him now is Shub. Poor damned fool.” “Yes. Let us wish him the comfort of a
    quick death.” “No! He’s no threat to Shub. They’ll see that and send him home again. What could they hope to gain by hurting someone as harmless as him?” They hurt us because they can, thought BB.
    Because they are artificial, living metal, and have only hatred for all that is flesh. “Yes,” she said aloud.
    “Let us hope for a miracle. Hope costs nothing.”
    Stephanie sniffed. “Whatever happens, Daniel will survive. He’s a Wolfe, after all. But if the Clan is to survive, I must lead it. As you suggested, I have been moving, through the lower orders of the Clan, gathering support. Many are unhappy with an outsider, not of the blood, as the Wolfe. They would support me if I found it necessary, for the good of the Clan, to take… certain steps.” BB turned to Stephanie for the first time, and fixed her in place with her dark, unwavering gaze. “I have said before, you are not to kill Constance, or have her killed, in any way that might be traced back to you. The deal we made with Random prohibits such measures.”
    “We may have no choice,” Stephanie said stubbornly. “You saw Constance talking to Owen. You know as well as I what they were discussing. A marriage between her and the Deathstalker could put the whole House of Wolfe under their joint control. Clan Deathstalker might even consume Clan Wolfe, and then our name would vanish forever! That cannot be allowed. We must strike at Constance while we still can.
    With Owen