Charlotte Boyett-Compo- WIND VERSE- Hunger's Harmattan by Unknown (best management books of all time TXT) 📗

“Gabe’s brother Raoul Breva and the Sangunarfor one,” Bakari answered, “plus seven others loaned to us by Fleet Command.”He grinned. “I just may let him keep the title and I’ll retire.”

“You have the Sekkeen or did youloan it out to the new Burgon?” Polemusa asked.

“Oh I’m letting him play with it a while,”Bakari said. “I took the gargantuan, the Raptor, when Morrison kickedthe bucket. Spoils of war and all that.”

“We weren’t at war, Ry,” Leveche remindedhim.

“Bastard ordered the hit on my palace thatkilled my family,” Bakari snapped. “What was his is now mine! The Coalitiondidn’t seem to have a problem with it. If they did, tough shit. The Raptoris now an Alliance ship and with a full complement of weapons.” He gave Levechea puzzled look. “By the way, when did Raoul begin captaining the Sangunar?”

“Since matters at home keep me inVespertine,” Leveche grumbled. “I came here in my new Fiach. That is onebitchin’ machine.”

“Named?” Bakari prodded.

“Meu Brinquedo Pequeno,” theinfamous Lord Savidos replied with a grin. “It means…”

“I know what it means,” Bakari stated witha roll of his eyes. “Idiot.”

“What does it mean?” Polemusa inquired.

“My little toy,” Bakari grumbled. “What canI say? The man’s an imbecile.”

“I would like to accompany you on thismission,” Polemusa said, giving Bakari a heated look.

“Ah, sure,” Bakari said, blushing again. Heglanced at Strom. “May I have a few of your Riezell Guardians just in case?”

“You have the Primary,” Shanee said. “Youdon’t need any more Guardians.”

Bakari smiled. “All right.” He looked atLeveche. “You coming, Lord Savidos?”

Leveche snorted. “Think you can keep me outof it?”

For the next twenty minutes the mission wasdiscussed in detail then those gathered started leaving. The arch-counselorwished them luck and promised any assistance they might need in accomplishingtheir goals. Strom asked Polemusa to accompany him to Pass and ID so she couldbe given a temporary assignment to Command Central. Shanee asked to be givenhalf an hour so she could get her Class 10s and bring them to the Raptor.Only Bakari and Leveche were left in the general’s office as Miriam tidied up.

“You flew close to R-9, didn’t you?”Leveche asked quietly. He glanced at Miriam to see if she’d heard him.

“Miri works for me,” Bakari said, givingthe secretary a wink. “You can talk openly in front of her.”

If that news surprised Leveche, he didn’tlet on. “Did you fly close to R-9?” he repeated.

“Aye,” Bakari admitted.

“Could you sense him?”

The ex-Burgon sighed. “No, Gabe, Icouldn’t.”

“That could mean they are keeping him weak.”

“That’s all I’m hoping it means,” Bakarireplied.

“I pray Ailyn’s still alive,” Leveche said.He headed for the door then realized Bakari wasn’t behind him. He saw hisfriend in quiet conversation with Miriam. “You coming, Ry?” he asked.

Bakari was staring into Miriam’s eyes. “Notyet,” he said softly.

Leveche saw the woman’s cheeks heat redbefore she turned away. He cocked a brow at Bakari who was striding—no, Levechecorrected himself—who was strutting toward him.

Bakari winked at the infamous Lord Savidosthen continued on to the corridor.

“Your grace?” Miriam called out to Leveche.

“Aye, wench?”

“Keep him safe,” she asked.

Leveche nodded. “You have my word on it,”he replied, knowing she didn’t mean Ailyn Harmattan.

Chapter Twelve

“Hello, Ailyn.”

Though he had not seen his mother for overtwenty years, he knew who the woman was who came to stand beside the table uponwhich he lay strapped. He would have known her by the haughty glint in her coldbrown eyes but it was the triumphant glare in that chilling gaze that held himspellbound, unable to look away.

“How does it feel to be home?” she asked.

He had recognized the cell into which he’dbeen placed. After all, he’d spent close to twenty lonely, miserable yearsthere.

“You are looking well, Mother,” he said,his voice weak.

“No thanks to you,” she replied.

“It isn’t one of my fledglings squirmingaround inside you?” he asked.

Elspeth Harmattan-Jost ignored his questionand instead reached out to gently tug on the light blanket that covered him fromwaist to foot. “Are you warm enough?” she asked.

If anything, he was too warm. The venom wasstill lurking in his body but he was no longer ill from the effects. His headhurt brutally but that was because he hadn’t been given adequate dosages ofeither tenerse or Sustenance. He knew they wanted to keep him weak and asbiddable as possible.

“Where’s Jost?” he inquired.

“Dead as a doornail and rotting if there isany justice in the world,” she told him. “Your brother took care of the goodvice-counselor before we were forced to vacate Riezell.” Her gaze narrowed intoa pinpoint dart of anger. “Thanks to you.”

“Did Felix know you were an Alliance spy?”

His mother made a rude sound with her lips.“No and that is something else I have you to thank for, Ailyn,” she snapped.“Is there no end to the trouble you are capable of causing?”

He watched her pace across the room, herspine as rigidly straight as he had remembered it from the few occasions he’dspent time with her as a child. Her shoulders were back, her head high, herposture that of an important woman who expected her every wish to be fulfilled.She was lovely with wavy brown hair tastefully streak with gray, her tressesimmaculately coiffed. Though she was in her late fifties, she looked ten yearsyounger now that her illness had been eradicated by the hellion within her.Since he had not seen her during her battle with the disease, he did not knowthe haggard wrinkles that had made her look far older than her years hadsmoothed out. All he saw was a youthful glow to her skin with almostwrinkle-free features.

“Do you find me attractive, Ailyn?” sheasked.

“I said you looked well,” he replied.

She smiled to reveal white, even teeth ofwhich she had always been proud. “I was told not to expect the revenant worm todo anything other than cure me of my infirmity but She granted me arejuvenation that was a very welcome surprise.”

“Then it was worth the pain of theTransference and Transition,” he said softly.

“Aye, it was,” she said dreamily. “It was aprice I would gladly pay again for these stunning results.” She ran a hand downher shapely figure. “You have no