The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Awakening (18 page)

“Yeah. I remember.”

“Well the same goes the other way around. I understand things about other guys that you won’t get simply because you’re not a guy. And Marcel knows Tsubame. More than knows her. He’s too comfortable with her forwardness not to know her. He’s too dismissive of her like they have some kind of intimate understanding,” Devdan explained.

“Devdan.”

“I get that you think I’m an ass sometimes. And I’ll admit that’s true for reasons you’ll never understand…”

“Because you won’t give me a chance to,” MaLeila cut in.

Devdan continued without pause, “But a few months ago, you said you trusted me and I know now you aren’t so sure and I’ll also admit that’s partly my doing too, but whether it’s authentic or caused by this fucking binding, you know when it comes down to it you know I’m the one you’ll call first to protect you, even before Bastet. So trust me to protect you now, even though you haven’t realized you’re in the middle of a conflict much more dangerous than you realize.”

It was the most open and passionate MaLeila had ever heard Devdan speak, which was what clued MaLeila in that he wasn’t being jealous or and ass or trying to have her while keeping her at a distance at the same time.

“What do you want me to do?” MaLeila asked, the words falling from her mouth without thought.

Devdan paused, eyes darting away from MaLeila and then back to her before he said, “Talk to him like you talk to me when you think I’m not being completely forthcoming.”

MaLeila’s mouth fell open slightly. She had been under no illusions that Devdan didn’t know she knew how to read him as well as did, that she weighed his every word and threw it back at him. That’s why he rarely had long conversations with her or why they fell out because she pried into the wrong (or right) topic. MaLeila just thought he’d never admit it aloud.

MaLeila stared at him, trying to figure out how to answer him, aware of his proximity to her, their aura’s pulsing against each other as they had now invaded each other’s personal space. She opened her mouth to reply, but it was forgotten upon hearing a commotion in the conference room.

Without hesitation, MaLeila and Devdan made their way back into the room walking past all the occupants who were looking on at the scene that had captured the room’s attention and had the Magic Council and the respective families suddenly speaking in hurried whispers to each other.

MaLeila and Devdan stopped upon seeing Bastet who had her hands pressed against a fallen Fathi’s chest, hands compressing back and forth. Next to her was Tsubame who was staring down upon the scene with a glass of wine in her hand and a blank expression that MaLeila might have pegged as shocked if she thought the woman could be shocked by anything. Bastet paused to look back at everyone and shout.

“Well don’t just fucking stand there. Call whatever the hell you’re supposed to call to get an ambulance or doctors here in this damn country.”

And all hell broke loose.

19

Tsubame wasn’t surprised that often. It was because of the lack of surprise in her life that she often got bored and stirred trouble or challenged herself to see how long and in what ways she could take over another world. So any time she was surprised, whether it was a good surprise or a bad one, she couldn’t help being pleased and amused because it was nice to be taken off guard for once, to have to think on her feet. And that was exactly what happened when one moment Fathi had been talking to her and the next he was turning a shade of gray, blue, and purple that she didn’t know humans could turn. He promptly fell on the floor. In the next moment, Bastet came barreling through trying to keep Fathi alive and then Devdan and MaLeila pushed through the onlookers. She stared in stunned silence at the scene before remembering she had a part to play, and seeing that a delayed reaction would be suspicious, she decided the stunned, frozen, shock while hold her glass would be her reaction.

Even as the paramedics came, she continued to hold her drink and because technically she was just a mistress, she wasn’t allowed to ride to the hospital with the paramedics. Then Fathi’s guards barred her from going, telling her that she was now confined to her room with her maids. Tsubame figured no matter how shocked she was, the guards expected their commander’s stubborn mistress Nadiyyah to fight back. And so Tsubame snapped out her stupor and did, boldly arguing with them, voice filled with not entirely feigned righteous anger just not at the fact that someone had poisoned Fathi and more at annoyance that she was being told what to do. In the end, she ended up back in her room with her maids. They fussed over her until she snapped at them to leave her be and when they left, she promptly closed the door to her room and locked it.

Finally alone and not having to worry about acting for the crowd, Tsubame was able to think. While tonight’s events had caught her off guard and surprised her, she would certainly be able to use them to her advantage. It was like something out of a movie, a typical one at that. The diplomats gather together and someone poisons an important person while their guard is down. It was so predictable that it was something Tsubame hadn’t expected. She had expected something more subtle, something a lot more careful, something that could just be chalked up to an accident, something that might take a little longer. It was because of this that Tsubame knew this wasn’t the work of the council or even of the powerful families. It was too messy, too sloppy, too obvious. And if they wanted to risk something like that, they just would have sent another bomb to attack them. Not to mention something as reckless as poisoning Fathi could potentially give Tsubame a reason to unleash her magic on them, potentially exposing the magical world, something Tsubame was sure they feared more than not knowing Tsubame’s full potential. That meant it had to be someone who didn’t take all those things into consideration, someone with nothing to lose politically or economically.

All the evidence thus pointed to the fact that it was an inside job, done by someone Fathi trusted. The sloppiness also suggested a personal vendetta. Something that was just another job for a trained assassin would have been much more skilled, because ultimately they were like ghosts, unable to be seen or caught and if they were, unable to be blamed. They would have been a lot more creative, like making the man have a massive heart attack in his bed so it looked like he died of natural causes. An assassin also would have made sure he was dead instantly, with no hope of revival.

It couldn’t have been the guards, at least not who put the poison. It meant that they would have had to have access to the kitchens and the drinks and that was a woman’s job in their culture. The guards could have been accomplices but they certainly hadn’t done the deed. That left only Tsubame’s maids. She dismissed most of the younger ones immediately. They were too scared and too faint of heart to do something that may potentially kill someone. That narrowed it down to three of her older maids. It was motive that determined the potential killer.

If it hadn’t been for the poisoning, Tsubame would have never suspected her. Sure Saha had always been a little feisty, a little too smart for her own good and like she didn’t belong within the confines of the compound, or at the very least acted like she was supposed to be more that simply a concubine or servant, but Tsubame didn’t blame her for that. When she had been younger, long before she had unwittingly started on the path to becoming queen, she had certainly acted like she was more than what she was. That never made Tsubame suspicious, but that in combination with the poisoning and the fact that Saha had been one of Ahmed’s favorite bed warmers before he turned his attention to Tsubame and died gave the woman a clear if not obvious motive and she also had the personality to do it. It wouldn’t surprise Tsubame if the woman had also targeted her. However, Tsubame made a point not to drink anything in a public.

There weren’t many ways that Tsubame could proceed, at least not in regards to dealing with Saha. At this point it would simply be best to follow the old proverb and keep this unexpected enemy close to her. But in regards to how things would proceed with the council, it opened up a world of possibilities for her, one in particular that Tsubame thought would take much more maneuvering and perhaps even a marriage to pull off. But with no apparent successor or second-in-command because Fathi seemed to have enjoyed seeing his closest guards and advisors compete physically until he could weed out the one whom he’d be able to most trust as his second and now in the midst of a culture that while not totally respectful of a woman might hear what she had to say, it meant that Tsubame had the perfect opportunity to take charge and show everyone just what kind of power she had without anyone being suspicious. A woman scorned, as the cliché went.

So when she heard that the families and the council were going to have an impromptu meeting to discuss how they would proceed, Tsubame made her way down, hardly giving her maids any time to chase after her as she made her way to the conference room. She barged into the room without knocking, pausing in the doorway more to allow the council to see who had rushed in than for dramatic effect.

Once everyone registered that she had burst into the room uninvited also giving her maids time to catch up with her, she looked around the table and seeing that there was no extra seat, she summoned a chair to the round table between the Magic Council and the Chinese family.

By the time everyone got over their wariness and shock, Tsubame had seated herself at the table.

“What are you doing here?” Anya asked.

“Here to discuss the fate of my country now that Fathi isn’t around to do it himself,” Tsubame said curtly. “I didn’t even get the memo that this meeting was taking place. Luckily one of my maids was able to get the information and pass it on to me.”

“We didn’t know we were supposed to notify you,” Anya pointed out.

“Well, there was a reason I’ve been sitting at this table on and off for the past few weeks,” Tsubame said, effectively killing any argument that anyone at the table may have had and if they did have an argument, no one wanted to risk the ire of the woman who summoned a sandstorm to take down a drone. Tsubame’s lip twitched with a smile. It was good to be able to openly act like the queen she was, even if it was in something so little. “Nonetheless, pardon the interruption. Continue.”

Tsubame leaned back pretending not to notice the way everyone’s eyes darted this way and that towards their superior’s. Even Anya, who Tsubame noticed right away also had an aura of being better than the place she was at but was too blind to realize that the sky wasn’t her limit, glanced at her superior, an older man with a neat white beard and blue eyes. In the end, they all looked to him and the man looked at Tsubame. Tsubame locked eyes with him. For a long while, the two stared at each other, no one daring to speak. Finally, the old man looked away from her and Tsubame smiled in feigned politeness. Now it was not only apparent that she held the ace card at this table, it was apparent that she knew it and would use it if needed.

Finally, the old man spoke.

“We’re extensively investigating who might have poisoned your commander,” he said.

“Of course you’re investigating it. Wouldn’t want this as a stain against the Magic Council. That you invited a diplomat for peace negotiations and he ended up fighting for his life, maybe even potentially dead. Just think the ammunition that would give to your allies who have no problems becoming your enemies,” Tsubame said.

It was no secret who she was talking about. The Thorne Family, whose territory was most of the western world that lied across the Atlantic Ocean but in particular the United States of America, were always looking for a noble humanitarian cause that could act as a shield for their more malicious and selfish deeds. It was the reason why the Thornes and the Romanovs were at odds as it were. The Romanovs wanted to bomb the Middle East to oblivion to not only get rid of the threat of a powerful magic family rising but to take advantage of the resources that lay beneath the feet of those too busy fighting each other over philosophical and religious beliefs to notice. The Thorne’s on the other hand tried to do things in an underhanded diplomatic way, calling to allow refugees into their country and even willing to help stop the fighting with the might of their military in hopes of throwing it up in the faces of their beneficiaries every time they wanted access to their riches. So it was only natural that if the Thorne family caught wind of the fact that a leader was killed during a diplomatic peace conference that both the Magic Council and the Russian family was coincidentally at, they’d find a way to spin it into one of their noble humanitarian causes and even start a noble war against Russia in defense of a helpless baby nation who was trying to get on its feet. It was the last thing the Magic Council wanted or needed.

“Is that a threat?” Anya asked

“No. Just stating a fact,” Tsubame said, avoiding mentioning that if she wanted to threaten anyone, she wouldn’t need to resort to tattle telling like a little preschooler to do it.

“Then what are you saying.”

“I’m saying that if you don’t want that happen, you all better start explaining to me exactly why Fathi is lying in a bed on the brink of death or I’ll be forced to make certain assumptions about the Magic Council and the families at this table, after which I won’t be held responsible for my actions. And you’ve seen what my actions can do,” Tsubame said curtly before adding, “That was a threat.”

“We have a suspect,” Anya said curtly. “We only wish we had realized sooner what might have been going on. Maybe if we had, we could have stopped it.”

Tsubame narrowed her eyes before she could even think if it were the best way to react to Anya’s statement. Luckily, the expression was fluid enough that no one at the table would be able to read her. It wasn’t shocking that they had a suspect, a scapegoat to put the crime on when they probably had no clue, but it was somewhat shocking that they were implying some sort of responsibility for what had happened. Even the implication wasn’t common from these types of rulers.

“So you have someone?” Tsubame asked, because it certainly wasn’t the culprit. She didn’t have any evidence but centuries of watching people and observing situations gave her insight into situations without having all the information, so much so that she didn’t have to take the time to read the universe and the future when she needed to know something. What the council had was a convenient scapegoat. Of that, Tsubame had no doubt.

“Who?” Tsubame asked when it appeared no one wanted to answer.

“MaLeila Samara.”

If the matter weren’t so serious, Tsubame would have laughed. The girl had too high a sense of morality to even begin to justify killing a leader who hadn’t done anything to her. She was also too reactionary, at least when it came to the magical world. There was no way the girl would do something as proactive as kill someone to spur future events. But even more serious was the fact that they were going to use the girl as a scapegoat at all. If the council followed that line of thinking through to conclusion, things wouldn’t end well for the girl.

“And what evidence do you have against her?”

“Who else would it have been?” Anya asked. “She’s the only here with a motive and without any political ties at risk.”

“And what would be her motive?” Tsubame asked.

“Revenge first, possibly getting her boyfriend on the Magic Council which would give her more reach in the magical world,” the old council member said. “We all know what would happen if there were sufficient evidence against us to try us.”

“No. What?” Tsubame lied. She knew of course, but Nadiyyah wasn’t supposed to.

“They would be tried before the magic families, possibly relieved of their duties, and other members voted to take their place,” said Hou Min, the Head of the Chinese Clan. “The last time we tried a council member was for the last World War which resulted in Anya being elected.”

“And you think that Miss Samara would poison Fathi in order to get her boyfriend on the council?” Tsubame asked and then laughed. “I think that’s a stretch.”

“How would you know if it was a stretch or not? You’ve never dealt with the girl before. You hardly know anything about our world.”

Tsubame pressed her lips together. That was true, if he were talking about the dessert woman Nadiyyah who managed to worm her way into a commander’s bed and influence him to kill his superior. But Tsubame, the three century year old queen who planned on manipulating her way to becoming queen of a second world, knew that it was very much a stretch. She had to pretend to be Nadiyyah though. However, what Nadiyyah did have was a keen intuition and that was something Tsubame could use to imply what she knew without suspicion.