The Dragon Nimbus Novels: Volume II

to kill the ferret without harming Kalen.
    He pushed aside his concern for the girl. She was a tool. Nothing more. Tools could be replaced.
    “You’re late,” he snapped out his words more harshly and louder than he’d intended. It might be the middle of the night, but the nearby kitchen bustled with activity all day, every day, without stop. The staff never knew when the Kaalipha might order a meal for one or a hundred. Any one of them could spot him talking to Kalen and report to Yaassima.
    “I don’t have the freedom of the palace like some people,” she returned, just as harshly.
    “Where is Myrilandel, and will she help us overthrow Yaassima?” He started pacing, pointedly not looking at the little girl. She’d grown in the two weeks since he’d seen her. Her body was losing its boxy shape and had started showing signs of the curves she would eventually develop. But she was still a little girl and he was not interested in her. Myrilandel was the only woman he lusted after.
    “She will help. I have made certain of that. But she refuses to believe Nimbulan dead. Tell me again how you accomplished it so that I can give her the grisly details. Maybe then she will accept my word as truth,” Kalen ordered. She continued to caress Wiggles rather than direct her gaze to Televarn.
    Televarn looked at her through narrowed eyes, resenting her lack of respect for him. He had to play his hand carefully with her or trigger betrayal.
    He turned his thoughts to the problem before them. Myrilandel had to be convinced that her husband had died. She would never become his queen as long as Nimbulan lived. She’d made vows before a priest, vows that could only be broken by death. Once released from her miserable husband, she would welcome Televarn again as she had for a brief time a year ago.
    “I didn’t see Nimbulan die,” he admitted.
    “What do you mean, you did not see him die? He has to be dead!”
    “I set the trap. Wiggles was part of it and returned to me when it was sprung. Ask him how the magician died.” Televarn resumed his pacing. A niggle of doubt thrust its way into his brain. Nimbulan had to be dead. Wiggles had slithered under the sealed door. But he couldn’t leave the magician’s private quarters until the door opened—the magic of the spell bound him there as it did the Water. The Water had supported Wiggles, kept him from drowning. Nimbulan had the only key to the door.
    “Someone drowned in your trap,” Kalen muttered, gazing deeply into the ferret’s eyes. A look of rapt joy softened her features while she communed with her familiar. Hints of adult beauty—cold and austere—showed in the planes of her face and the luster in her clear gray eyes.
    The only other time he’d seen her look so happy, so vulnerable was . . . never. Televarn wondered when she had become so bitter.
    “Wiggles ran past a male, with Water following close behind in an angry wave. As he exited the building, he brushed against two more males, taller men. They smelled mature. The first one’s scent wasn’t as strong.” Kalen looked up, startled. “Nimbulan might not be dead. The male who triggered the trap was just a boy.”
    “ S’murgit! That man has more lives than a cat. What do I have to do to kill him?”
    “Nothing. All that is important is that Myri believes he is dead and that Yaassima ordered the assassination.”
    “The Kaalipha put out a contract, and I accepted it. But she won’t pay up until I can prove he’s dead.” He slammed one fist into the palm of his other hand. He needed that money to pay men to storm the palace. Hundreds of men fighting alongside every Rover he could secretly gather into Hanassa. They wouldn’t do it without money. A lot of money.
    But if Myrilandel or Kalen could be coerced into killing Yaassima first, his plan would prove much easier to carry out.
    “Tell Myrilandel what you know. Tell her how Wiggles witnessed the death of the only person who could open Nimbulan’s sealed door. Remind her that Yaassima controls the reward for the death of Nimbulan and Quinnault. Tell her whatever you have to so that Myrilandel demands revenge. Revenge by her own hand. Yaassima will die and Myrilandel will be my queen. I will give her children she can adore, children who have no connection to the magician who enslaved her for her talent.”
    “If either woman lets you live long enough to rule.” Kalen smiled sarcastically with one corner of her mouth. She continued