Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

Constance have been separated, as you instructed. They're now stewing in their own juices, in separate rooms."
    "Good," said Chantelle. "I think it's time they were brought here, so I can explain their true place in the real order of things. We'll start with Robert.
    He has basic Blue Block conditioning. Constance is the real wild card. We can't kill Robert; as one of the Hundred Hands, he's too valuable to us. But Constance is another matter. If need be, she is expendable."
    "And that's where I come in," said Kit SummerIsle, uncoiling lazily from one
    corner of the room. Cardinal Brendan jumped in shock at not having noticed him, and then tried to look as though he hadn't. Kid Death smiled. "I quite like the idea of killing a Queen. I got to chop off the Empress Lionstone's head, but she'd already vacated her body, so that doesn't really count."
    "You may get your chance," said Chantelle. "Constance could be very useful to us, once she's been properly conditioned, but she poses far too great a threat to Blue Block to be allowed to go on as she is. So, either she bows to Blue Block, one way or another, or you get to do what you do best, SummerIsle."
    "You'd better find me someone to kill soon," said Kid Death. "I don't want to get rusty."
    "You'll kill when I tell you to," said Chantelle. "I own your services now. Blue Block owns you."
    Kit SummerIsle smiled slowly, and there was no humor in it. Cardinal Brendan fell back a step. Chantelle held her ground, but some of the confidence went out of her face.
    "A lot of people thought they owned me," said the SummerIsle, quite calmly.
    "Most of them are dead now. I am my own man, and I serve you for my own reasons.
    I am a killer, and must go where the killing is. But at the end of the day, I'll kill you just as happily as anyone else. I never had your Blue Block conditioning. My Family never approved of you. One of the few things they were right about."
    "Don't concern yourself, Lord SummerIsle," said Chantelle, her voice perfectly steady. "There will be blood and death for you, as promised. Enough perhaps to sate even your appetite. Blue Block has many enemies, and I will turn you loose on them all, in time. Now; you worked for Clan Wolfe, before the rebellion. Have you ever met Constance Wolfe?"
    "We moved in the same circles. Nodded to each other in passing. Her late husband Jacob never really approved of me, even as he used me, and his dear wife was always too good and noble to have anything to do with the likes of me. If you're asking if I'll have any problems in killing her, the answer is no. I never have any problems killing anyone. As all the leading members of my late Family could tell you, if you had a good medium."

    In another of the private rooms, not all that far away, Robert Campbell was in a terrible state. Dressed in full formal attire, down to the compulsory gray gloves and top hat, with a silk cravat at his throat freshly tied by his gentleman's gentleman, Baxter, Robert strode back and forth in the confined space like a tiger in its cage, burning up with frustrated nervous energy. His hands were clenched into fists, his stomach was tied in knots, and his eyes stared almost wildly. On the one hand he was desperate for the ceremony to start, so that he could get it over with, but he'd also never been more terrified of anything in his life. He'd commanded a starcruiser, had his old ship shot out from under him during the rebellion, but that had been nothing compared to this. Then, he'd only had to be afraid for himself. Now, he was more afraid for Constance. This should have been the happiest day of his life, and in a way it was, but as the ceremony drew remorselessly nearer, all he could think of was all the terrible things that could go wrong. And of his first, tragic attempt at marriage. He strode back and forth, all but wearing a trail in the thick carpeting, while Baxter hurried after him, fussing over the fit of the suit, and trying to calm the King-to-be with wise words and reassuring anecdotes, none of which Robert heard.
    He was remembering his first wedding day. He still sometimes dreamed of it, and woke crying out in the night. His match with Letitia Shreck had been an arranged marriage, designed to tie Clan Campbell and Clan Shreck closer together, for various business and political reasons. He hadn't been consulted. He'd been a very minor member of his Clan then, back when most of his Family were still alive, and the only future he dreamed