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It's our final look at Revelations! Ospar is in very hot water with his furious clanmate.
* * * *
The vision of a shadow clinging to Oiteil’s shoulders made Rivek doubt his own sight for an instant. He blinked hard and looked again, staring where it had been. No, he’d been wrong. There was no shadow.
But the men were definitely Ospar and Oiteil vanishing through the exit.
“Excuse me. I’ll meet you back at the temple,” he said to his fellow priests. He didn’t wait for their response, bolting as quickly as the crowded restaurant allowed him to. Again, people were eager to make way, but it felt as if it took forever for Rivek to reach the door and spill out to the corridor beyond.
There was no sign of the councilman and his Dramok. The shuttle pad at the top of the cliff. Rivek sprinted for the nearest elevator, his layered robes snapping about his legs.
He rushed out as soon as he reached the in-house transport’s uppermost stop. Fortunately, there’d been only three levels between the restaurant and the cliff top.
The shuttles were lined up in tidy rows, and Rivek raced along the pad’s end, looking along the aisles he passed. Many of the personal craft were taking off as others landed. Had he missed Ospar?
No, there he was, casually strolling alone among the craft. Relief washed through Rivek. It was swiftly chased by seldom-felt anger.
“Ospar!” He raced forward, unmindful of how ridiculous a temple priest would look running toward his clanmate, robes flapping wildly in his wake.
Ospar turned. He gaped at Rivek, then a guilty flush crept from his neck to his face. The expression disappeared in a twinkling, replaced by the charming smile that came so naturally to his handsome, square-jawed face.
“Isn’t this a surprise? How nice to meet up—”
“Are you insane? Were you actually having lunch with Oiteil, where everyone could see you?” Rivek’s voice was low, but it rumbled as threateningly as their Nobek’s did when he was angry.
Ospar’s easy smile faltered only an instant, then it returned in full. “It’s no big deal. He finally has the votes to reinstate me to political life. He’ll be putting it to the council and Imperial Clan at the next general meeting. Congratulate me, my Imdiko.”
“I’ll toss you off the cliff first. How can you be so stupid?”
Ospar took a step back, his eyes wide. Rivek rarely lost his temper. His entire clan could probably count the times he had on one hand. “Hey. Calm down, okay? I have to get up to speed so as soon as my sentence is overturned, I’ll be ready to serve. Rivek, it’s all right.”
Rivek forced his unaccustomed fury aside in favor of his usual control. “It isn’t all right, and you know it, Ospar. It doesn’t matter if Oiteil has the support of the entire Royal Council and the Imperial Clan. Until they vote to overturn your permanent suspension, until the official decision is handed down, being in the councilman’s company is enough to land you in major trouble.”
“Next week! No one’s going to prosecute me for breaking the terms of my sentence for meeting Oiteil mere days before I’m reinstated as eligible for office.”
“Because you’ll adhere to the terms until you are eligible beyond all doubt.” Rivek preferred to use logic tempered by compassion to make his arguments, but the stubborn light was in Ospar’s eyes…and no one was more stubborn than Rivek’s Dramok.
Beyond Rivek’s concern for Ospar was the well-being of their Matara and children. For them, he stepped inches from Ospar, whom he stood taller than by five inches and outmuscled by thirty pounds. His clanmate’s sudden expression of alarm gave Rivek no pleasure. Indeed, it sickened him. But if it succeeded in scaring Ospar into reasonable behavior, Rivek would do so.
“I mean it, Ospar. If I hear any hint you’ve done something that could land you in a prison camp, I’ll chain you to a wall in the deepest chambers of the temple, where no one will find you.”
Ospar recovered his bluster. “You’re forgetting who the clan leader is.”
“I forget nothing. Especially the fact we would have lost you to a possible life sentence if Imperial Father Yuder hadn’t assumed responsibility for your crimes. Yes, crimes, Ospar. Tell yourself all the lies you wish, the lies that say you did no wrong, but what you did damned near tore our clan apart.”
Ospar gaped. Hurt pinched his features. “You regard me as a criminal, my Imdiko?”
The last of Rivek’s anger drained, revealing its source: fear. Fear of losing his impetuous clanmate, of raising their children without the greatest source of the family’s fun-loving energy. Fear of a life lacking Ospar in it.
“I see you as a man driven to do good to the point he becomes reckless. Honestly, Ospar, if you saw a man falling from a cliff, you’d trample dozens of innocent victims to catch him.”
“I…I don’t mean to…I need this. I feel like I die every second of the day I’m unable to help my empire. I can’t change who I am.” There was a catch in his voice, a sad pleading Rivek had never heard before. It broke his heart to see Ospar reduced so greatly.
He grasped his clanmate’s shoulders. “I wouldn’t change you for the world, my Dramok. I’ve never known anyone so ready to throw caution to the wind so he could be a force for those who need his help. I admire you for it, I truly do. But you have to think of those who depend on you. Call your children’s faces to your mind: Thomas, Umpev, and Mira. If you’re so certain Oiteil will make it happen, can’t you wait a few days for the vote for your children’s sakes? Just a few days?”
“When you put it like that, I feel stupid. Ashamed.” Ospar’s head hung. “You’re right. I’m an ass.”
Had Jol been there, he would have agreed. Their Nobek had little patience for foolishness, though he knew Ospar’s difficulty in restraining rash impulses as well as Rivek did.
Rivek was no Jol. He saw what was in Ospar’s heart and celebrated it despite his Dramok’s tendency to get in trouble. “You care deeply for our society. There’s nothing wrong with that. You simply concentrate on the big picture so much, you forget the details.”
“I shouldn’t when the details are my clan and family. Thank you for reminding me. And for not throwing me off the cliff.”
Rivek chuckled at the weak attempt at humor. He hugged Ospar
without restraint. “The safety nets would have caught you. Besides, I couldn’t
stand to lose you for a second.”
* * * *
* * * *
Blythe Nelson is certain Clan Deram is keeping something from her. The clan of spies finds it difficult to stay a step ahead of the wily reporter who’s winning their hearts. What they don’t know is Blythe has a secret of her own. New love can’t survive without trust, and neither side is ready when the truth comes out.
Dramok Ospar, determined to return to the political stage, strikes up a deal with Royal Councilman Oiteil. Unaware he’s dealing with a Dark entity controlling Oiteil, he finds himself fighting for his honor, his relationship with his clan…and his life.
The Kalquorian Empire, already struggling against the Darks infiltrating its highest offices, suffers a new blow when it’s revealed it’s keeping a prisoner from the war against the first Earth: Holy Leader Browning Copeland. The schism between Kalquor and its allies grows deeper, setting the empire against the rest of the galaxy.
As chaos descends on rioting Earther colonies, the Galactic Council of Planets, and Kalquor, a desperate group of humans and Kalquorians race to stop the force behind the turmoil: the Darks. Can they loosen the grip on their worlds the enemy seeks to tighten, or is all lost?
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