Page 80 of Warrior's Reign
“She doesn’t need me,” Reign said, voice as razored as his. “Evvek got a tip about who planted that blast. I want to go over security vids.”
Vykhan faced her fully. “That is not in the scope of your duties, Obe’shan. You have your orders.”
Her temper was going to snap. “You’re not utilizing me properly, Vykhan! I’m trained in investigation and analysis. I don’t need to babysit Ibu in the palace. You need all the eyes you can get processing the blast site.”
“How do you know about a tip, Reign?”
Oh. . .vakshit.Her brain was still muddled if she’d let that slip.
His voice gentled. “You’ve been withholding,yada’ami.”
Vykhan’s cold, cold face surveyed her. He said nothing further, but she recognized the dangerous chill of his silence.
Reign turned on her heels and strode towards a cot, a medical tech zeroing in on her as soon as she sat down, snapping orders.
She glanced back at him once and saw a future reckoning in his gaze before he turned and strode out.
27
Vykhan watchedReign stalk towards a bed, his inner tension easing, then left. She didn’t realize how she’d looked, blood leaking out of one ear and her nostril, her eyes glassy from shock she refused to process. Rage churned the moment he’d locked gazes with her on that stage and realized she was injured. It had taken barely a thought to leap from his lookout point above, having clung grimly to a metal beam as the entire soundstage shuddered.
He calmed by the time he returned to the op room, Tai’ri and Evvek already present along with several others, hunched over consoles.
“Data is still coming in,” Evvek said, “but I’m running analysis with what we’ve got now. This is weird. It looks like—”
“Vakshit,” a female tech muttered. She flicked a button then swerved in her seat as a large screen on a far wall sprang into life with one of the major news outlets reporting from on site of the blast.
EyahunAdevega’s face came side by side. “It is clear Imperial family sympathizers want me out of the way so I can no longer pursue my native born citizens first agenda. This attempt on my life . . .”
Vykhan listened to the brief interview in silence asEyahunAdevega claimed the blast was a retaliatory assassination attempt.
“She prepared a statement fast,” Evvek said.
Yes, she had.
“No cause to suspect her yet,” Tai’ri said, frowning. “But dig deep.”
“As always.”
An alert pinged Vykhan’s wrist unit.BdakhunIbukay was in stable condition and being treated for minor shock and concussion from the blast. Reign was cleared for duty from medical and remained posted at theBdakhun’sside as ordered. A tendril of breath escaped him. If she had disobeyed, he would have been forced to reprimand her as he would any other under his command, and he hadn’t looked forward to that possibility.
He slipped out of the op room and returned to his office, sealing the door for privacy. Activating scrambling shields, he placed a comm on a secret, secured line.
“I understand I have your interference to thank for this,” he said to the holo lounging in a darkwood chair.
Lohail laced his fingers over his stomach and settled an ankle over his knee. He wore a collarless black suit today, his luxuriant dark hair waving around his shoulders. Deceptively sleepy eyes, veiled with long lashes, regarded him. “For the warning, you mean?”
“Such as it was.” Vykhan allowed his voice to chill with threat. “The method of delivery left much to be desired.” Barely,barelyhe kept himself from picking up the graceful vase of his mother’s flowers and hurling them across the room. Lohail had taunted him, dared to touch his lips to Reign’s.
His old friend held a death wish.
But he had passed along sufficient data that Evvek had known where to pay closer attention this evening. The blast was the result of containing the bomb, which if it had detonated at full strength. . .
The tip Reign mentioned had come in late, and she should not have known of it.
“YourBdakhunlives.” Lohail studied Vykhan’s face, then smiled maliciously. “But it isn’t little sister who concerns you.”
Vykhan didn’t react to Lohail’s knowledge of his personal name for Ibukay. “Her safety concerns me above all other matters. I serve.”
