Page 70 of The Warrior
“It could just be a cover story for you meeting with the Council to discuss ways of infiltrating the Northlands. I don’t trust you. Give me the address and the name of this doctor.”
Pearl shook her head. “Why? It’s not like you can go and check it out for yourself.”
“I don’t need to, I have contacts.”
“Would it help if I showed you the pills that the doctor gave me?” She pulled two oval-shaped boxes out of her bag and held them out to me.
“What is this?”
“Medicine.”
I gave her a look of annoyance. “I can see that, but what does it do? You just said you’re not sick.”
“It’s mostly vitamins.”
I had interrogated people for years, and every instinct I had told me that Pearl was hiding something significant. Reading the label, I searched for clues, worrying that these might be some kind of poison that she would give to Khan. “I’m going to have to take these.”
“You can’t do that, I need those.”
“I need to run a test and see that they aren’t some kind of poison.”
“Why would my doctor give me poison? Magni, you’re making no sense at all.”
“I’m just making sure you’re not slipping some sort of poison into Khan’s beer, that’s all.”
Pearl’s jaw dropped, and her voice was shaky when she spoke. “You think that I am conspiring to murder Khan?”
“You wouldn’t be the first one.”
Her blue eyes were full of shock and kept blinking. “I can’t believe you would think that of me. Are you so blinded by paranoia that you can’t see my love for your brother?”
“Words are cheap. I’ve learned not to trust anyone.”
Pearl tilted her head and gave me a look of deep sympathy. “It’s a sad thing to see someone as cynical as you. I know your father was a hard man, and it can’t have been easy to be the younger brother, always destined to be number two.”
I raised an eyebrow in warning, but Pearl didn’t take the hint.
“Your father wanted you to be the ruler, didn’t he? You were the stronger, and a warrior superior to Khan.”
“Khan is an excellent fighter.”
“But not as good as you are.”
If Pearl thought I was going to fall for her flattery, she was wrong. “No one is as good as me.”
“And yet you’re always in the shadow of your brother. How does that feel?”
“Nice try, but I already told you that I’m not going to fall for your manipulative mind games.”
“You’re not used to people showing an interest in you, are you?”
“I’m not in the habit of sharing personal information, that’s for sure.”
“And yet you expect me to share personal information with you. You can’t ask for something that you’re not willing to give.”
I studied the woman in front of me. Her eyes shone with intelligence, and unlike the hundreds of people I had interrogated in the past, she didn’t lash out in defense or anger. I’d never seen Pearl being anything but calm and collected. Right now she was setting up boundaries, but she did it in a nonconfrontational manner. I cleared my throat. “People who have nothing to hide, hide nothing. It’s possible that you’re not lying to me, but you’re not telling the truth either.”
“Only because the secret I carry is one I wish to share with Khan before anyone else.”
