Divine Charity

Chapter Eighteen: You'll Pay!

Fiadn was going to die for this latest bit of devilry. Kravan'n would see him stripped and quartered for what Lena involved him in, yet again. The woman was brain-addled, yet there was no hope for it. She was his queen and he must obey.

Surely, she could not believe this would go without recompense? He tried speaking sense to her, yet she refused to hear his words. The woman continually plagued Kravan'n with her childish play. The foolery began benignly enough with hiding objects Kravan'n would need around the grant. Kravan'n refused to react to her needling; often pretending he did not notice that his uniforms went missing, or that she rearranged his offices.

Lena made friends with Kiara and often invited the woman to Khamuel's grant, knowing how uncomfortable it made him. Once, Lena even coerced Fiadn, Pnina, and Kiara to assist in gathering all the loungers about the grant and stacking them in precarious columns in the center of the common room. Lena was determined to make Kravan'n crazed with ire, and in this latest prank, Fiadn knew she would finally succeed.

His scowl deepened as he watched Lena dismantle Kravan'n's bed.

Fiadn was sure Lena would not be long to meet the Eternal One, and he, like a fool, aiding her in these behaviors. He was most sure that Kravan'n would consign them both to the holding cells for this act. Yet, Fiadn did not cease in his aid. He obeyed his mistress, as was his duty. Death could not be so difficult, could it? The Eternal One would welcome him for doing his duty.

Lena grinned evilly. "Call the guards in. Have them set up the furniture in the rear yard just as it is in here."

"N-nay!" he sputtered, but the confounded woman only widened her grin.

"Yes, do it now or I'll tell your girlfriend about the woman you've been flirting with."

Eyes wide, losing the staid countenance of a verserka'al, Fiadn shook his head determinedly. "I'll do no such thing! I cannot put my lord out in the yard with the flchiaz! You are mad!"

"Fine, I'll do it myself. Get out of my way."

***

Pnina sat next to Khamuel in his offices as they poured over surveillance videos, audios and tracked correspondence, giving the r-RED no opportunity for rest. All his free time over the last weeks he spent here with Pnina. They were getting closer, Khamuel was sure of it. He watched the video of Lena's attack in the woods repeatedly until he could play the entire thing in his mind by rote. It angered him that there was no surveillance of the twins having been taken, nor evidence of who placed the bantlings within the forager.

Yet, now he felt sure all they needed was these last bits of proof to be uncorrupted. Despite the skill of those who covered their misdeeds, Pnina was relentless; her skill to be admired. She poured through every bit of evidence Khamuel and the r-RED presented to her, digging and probing.

Khamuel sat back to rub his tired eyes.

Pnina patted his arm. "We will find them, brother."

He scratched at his beard. The beard he'd stopped trimming because Lena liked the wild look it gave him. "I weary in the process. Had I not turned against the Eternal One so long ago, perhaps He would have granted me the ability to solve this mystery."