Unleashed Fury (BloodRunes: Book 1) (32 page)

When she arrived back at the suite, she was
piqued to learn that her father was already there, and was
currently taking tea in her conference area. She made her way back
to her bedroom first, however, and applied a fresh coat of make-up
before strolling into the room.

“I love the new decorating, Councilor” he
commented as she entered, without prelude but with her proper title
which pleased her, “I never was one for pampering up a room myself,
and have to make do with boring old walls.”

Jezebel glanced around, and smiled at his
compliment. “Why thank you. Now, what can I do for you?”

He turned his attention back to her,
swiveling around on the couch so he was facing her once more. “Ah,
but the question really is, what can I do for you? After all, I am
here to guide you, both as your father and as a more experienced
politician. Is there anything you'd like to ask me questions about?
You seem as though you are already quite well informed on most
subjects, so really I feel as though I am here more as a formality.
But even so, if I can help you with anything, please don't hesitate
to ask.”

She found it annoying that he had found it
necessary to offer her assistance with her new position. It should
be obvious to anyone with half a brain that she was more than
prepared to take over the job, but since he was here anyway, she
may as well see what she could get out of him. Oddly, she felt her
anger disappearing as he talked. “Alright,” she conceded, “Is it
true that we're going to war with Treymayne?”

He gave her a quizzical look, as if assessing
how much she already knew, before he answered. “The Council had
been pushing the former King towards this end, yes, though in light
of the change in leadership, the time frame has been pushed back
considerably. That, of course, will be your job to feel out the new
King and see what can be done to speed along the process. Some
preparations have already been made with the attitudes of the
general populace, which you can view in my report here,” he placed
a large folder that had been sitting on the couch next to him up
onto the desk. She looked at it, raising an eyebrow. “I thought it
best for the well-being of the country to have our new Councilors
informed. So, unlike some of my peers who guard their knowledge
with their lives, I am sharing with you everything that I learned
so that you can make a better decision. Use it well.”

She asked him a few other questions, but
mostly got answers indicating that many of the issues had more
details that she would find contained in the report. They both
concluded that perhaps they should end the meeting for now, giving
Jezebel a chance to review the report, and then have another
meeting where he could explain anything that wasn't making sense to
her. She originally had been livid over the idea of her father
having anything to do with her as a Councilor, but she had found it
melting away as she talked to him. He actually had some very good
ideas that she would have to make into her own, and then bring to
the King as if they were hers to begin with. The visit had pacified
her earlier frustration at him, and Jezebel now saw that her father
would indeed be a real asset.

Jezebel showed her father out and glanced
hungrily at the report, eager to open it and delve into its
contents. The clock showed that the time was approaching for her
audience with the King, however, and she still wanted to speak to
Devon first. With regret, she locked the package in the desk drawer
and called for Devon, drilling him on everything he had found out
thus far. It turned out to be a whole lot of nothing, except that
apparently Jonathan was connected to several powerful men. Devon
conjectured could mean that he was actually much higher in the
Order than they originally had thought. This was news that Jezebel
did not relish hearing.

Jezebel found herself discouraged as she made
her way through the winding passageways of the palace to the King's
audience chamber. She gave her name and position to the guard who
stood at the door, and was pleasantly surprised to find that he had
been briefed on her new station and was already familiar with her
by sight. He told her that the King would take his audience with
her shortly, if she would care to have a seat. The seats in the
waiting area were plush and comfortable, and she took one with
finesse, her skirts billowing out around her.

Only a few moments passed before the guard
informed her that the King was now ready. Absently she wondered how
he had been advised of his readiness, as she had seen no messenger.
She stood to make her way into the hall and the guard opened the
door and announced her. She curtsied to the King, who sat on the
throne placed above her on the dais. He motioned for her to enter
and take a seat by the chair which sat to his right, and she moved
forward, doing her best to move flowingly and gracefully. She
lifted her skirts out away from her so that she could sit beside
him, and gave him another bow with her head. He sat staring at her,
his piercing eyes seeming to cut through to her soul. She fought
back a shudder, in awe of his beauty despite herself. “My Liege,”
she greeted him, waiting for him to start the conversation in a
polite gesture of subservience.

He studied her for a long moment before
starting in his strange tone. “So you are my speaker of the
Council,” he stated. Jezebel nodded, holding her tongue as no
question had actually been posed to her yet. “And what kind of
plans does my new Council have to use me as a puppet for?” he asked
shrewdly.

Jezebel was not about to be caught off-guard
and answered, “Only those plans which we believe will benefit both
you and us and the country as a whole, Your Excellency, and
certainly not to use you to meet these ends, but simply plan to
share with you our vast combined knowledge in hopes that we may
sway you to our cause.” She reached for the power tentatively, but
withdrew the touch almost immediately as she felt him instinctively
do the same. She was speechless at the amount he was able to
command.

He gave her a warning glance and said, “Do
not play games with me, woman. I am the King here and will do all
that is necessary to protect that position. I will tolerate no
disobedience from you, or anyone else, and will treat anyone
committing treason against me to the highest possible punishment. I
am well aware of the Council's attempts to bind the King to their
bidding, and have no intention of letting them control me in such a
way. Do we understand one another?” Jezebel chose not to disabuse
him of the notion that she was working with the rest of the
Council, and simply nodded submissively, allowing the King to
assume that his threats had taken hold, and would keep her from
trying to use him. After all, you didn't need someone's awareness
or permission to use them to your ends, and in this case Jezebel
wisely decided that telling him how wrong he was would not do her
any good.

His next words floored her, however, and she
lost all interest in controlling him for the moment. “You know,” he
started languidly, “speaking of bindings, your father has quite a
grip on you.” He paused, giving her a hard look as she stared at
him dumbly. “His smell is all over you,” he wrinkled his nose in
distaste. “He has you so wound in control spells that soon you
won't be able to spit without him giving you permission.”

He waved a hand at her, and she felt as
though something snapped inside her head. A horrible anger washed
over her; as if her subconscious had known what was being done to
her, but could do nothing, and now freed, it could vent its rage.
She gripped the edge of her chair until her knuckles turned white,
and could feel the power building within her, threatening to break
free.

“Calm yourself,” the King commanded and
immediately her rage disappeared, leaving her in a tranquil state,
and she intertwined her fingers in her lap, looking up at the King
and patiently awaiting his next words. He looked down at her and
smiled. “That's better. Now let's have a little chat. Obviously
you've just discovered that your father decided that rather than go
the traditional method of deception and blackmail to control one of
the Council members to his own use, that he'd just take you over,
violating the bonds of blood that you share. Someone must have
prepared a spell for him with your blood as your father is not
strong enough by himself to have done such a thing, and no doubt
you have been receiving enchanted letters and documents regularly
to strengthen his hold. Hmm?” He loosened his grip on her emotions,
allowing her to take control once more, and she fought down the
anger of that betrayal while struggling for control.

She threw up hasty shielding so that no one
could take her over again. “Who does he think he is?” she snarled
angrily, her wrath at her father making her overlook the King's own
brief control. She loosened her fingers, which were gripping her
palms so hard that the nails were starting to draw blood.

“Well,” the King answered, much to Jezebel's
annoyance taking pleasure in her ordeal, “he soon will find out
that taking over control of one of MY Council members, especially
one with which I have taken a personal interest in, is not a smart
move on his part. The intrigues of the court cannot be helped, but
magical subversion is not above punishment.” Jezebel felt anger
being replaced by morbid pleasure at his words, and she smiled
evilly at him to continue. “You see, my dear, I have heard quite a
lot about you through a mutual friend of ours, and I find that you
have sparked my interest. Unfortunately, that friend had a rather
poisonous habit that seems to have caught up with him. That puts me
in the position of dealing with you myself, which after much
consideration, I believe will be beneficial to both of us.”

Jezebel sat further up in her chair, she had
come to this meeting in the hopes of controlling him herself, but
after witnessing his power she knew that this would not be possible
- at least not through magical means. But the idea of working
intimately with the King, and the possibilities that such a
partnership could lead to was acceptable, and she wondered what had
caught his eye. It would require a bit more subtle handling on her
part to keep him under the illusion that he continued to be the one
in charge once she properly established herself, but the challenge
excited her. “Who was this friend?” she asked curiously, her mind
whirling with possibilities of someone it could have been.

He looked at her and smiled. “Why Jonathan,
of course, hadn't you guessed?”

Jezebel closed her mouth, which had dropped
open of its own accord, and she choked out, “Jonathan? I'd hardly
consider that little worm a friend-” she cut herself short,
suddenly realizing the significance of this and remembering Devon's
earlier words about Jonathan's position within the Order. “Does
that mean you are the one he called, 'Master'?” she whispered
incredulously.

The King simply smiled at her.
Well
,
she thought to herself,
this puts a whole new spin on things now
doesn't it
. A smile slowly spread over her lips as well,
mirroring that of the King.

CHAPTER 27

Gryffon had drafted a message this morning,
using a more elaborate method of coding this time. He explained
that this was because while the last message both was hopefully
unknown as a message and nonsensical babble to anyone but those
already aware of what was going on, this new message would have to
convey information that would be readable by any who intercepted
it.

Therefore, he had gotten out what he called
his cipher from a hollow coin for the newest letter. Layna had
gasped in delight at the ingenuity of the hiding spot. Such a
normal, everyday object, no one would think that you would carry
something so valuable out in the open like that. But at the same
time, coins themselves were valuable so you would have a perfectly
good reason for carrying them close to you.

In his message, Gryffon reported the rumors
that were floating around regarding war with Treymayne, and relayed
a more detailed description of the disturbing fact that they could
personally attest to the truth of the blood-magic being used.
Gryffon had also asked Layna if she would be comfortable with him
requesting information about the mark, without actually admitting
to his handlers that he had come across someone with one. She had
tentatively agreed, and together they had come up with wording that
was acceptable to both of them.

She curiously drilled him on several subjects
involving the secret coding, and was rewarded with information that
she found fascinating. She was also pleased that he shared the
information with her so readily now. He told her about coding
methods that used innocuous-seeming documents as cover text to
distract a reader from the real message within, scribes who could
write so perfectly that the spacing between their letters or the
boldness of their ink could display huge amounts of information
only useful to the other end who knew the key to reading it, and
many other ingenious methods.

He admitted that some codes could be broken
by analysis. Every language, he had told her, had certain letters
that were more likely to appear next to each other or in greater
frequency than others, and these patterns could be identified and
used to break the code. There was also the simple fact that like
with most things, human influence tends to cause even an
unbreakable code to be breakable because of people using things
that were important to them, like loved one’s initials, for keys
and ciphers rather than being totally random in their choice. All
in all, though, Layna was sufficiently impressed by the intricacy
of Gryffon's art, and was once again left in astonishment at
another layer of life that she had previously been so completely
unaware of. She found herself wondering if she had ever come across
such a message, ignorant of its true meaning, and caught herself
more than once taking a second look at people on the street,
wondering if perhaps they weren't what they seemed.