But Leto wasn’t here and Endelle had chosen this moment in history to make a very public demonstration of her latest preternatural good fortune.
The trouble was, he still didn’t know what the triad could do.If he attacked, could obsidian flame respond with equal force?
When the shouting of his generals once more pierced his mind, he simply raised both hands and, using several carefully combined resonances, said,“Enough.”
Two of his generals passed out.The rest gripped their heads and grunted in pain.Resonance combined with mind-speak had wonderful applications.
At least the bombast had ceased.
“I know you would all prefer to torch the planet, but we need to be a trifle more restrained than that.I think limiting our destruction to the Camelback Parade Grounds, at the height of the spectacle event, will accomplish all that needs to be accomplished.With luck, we’ll destroy the triad, and then we can proceed with greater confidence.After that, we’ll begin a systematic destruction of all the hidden colonies on Mortal Earth.”
Now that a decision had been made, his staff calmed down.
“The spectacle event is scheduled to begin at eight o’clock this evening, as you know.Please have rocket launchers in place and be ready to fire on my orders.Are we clear?”He didn’t wait for an answer.He lifted his right arm and folded back to Geneva.
***
Julianna dipped down and smelled the roses Owen Stannett had sent her.The fragrance was lovely.Too bad it didn’t help her present mood.
She reached for the note again.How many times had she read then reread his tidy little message?How many times had she screamed at the ceiling of Greaves’s bedroom?
So Grace was back, beautiful, perfect, little-miss-spiritual Grace of Albion was back.Whoop-dee-fucking-doo.
She stretched her arms overhead, then reached for a long-handled, bamboo back scratcher.The thing about having so much destructive sex with Greaves wasn’t the pain, it was the frequent itching as her skin healed.
She closed her eyes and lightly rubbed the narrow tines over the her middle wing-locks.She cooed and sighed.
Greaves had gone crazy with his claw again.And again.
She really did belong with the Commander.And though she had no serious interest in Casimir anymore, her delicate female vanity was wounded.She needed relief from that wound, just as the bamboo tines were giving her relief from her itchy wing-locks.
She wanted justice because Casimir had walked out on her.
No man had ever walked out on her before.Ever.
Well, one had, a century ago, but she’d made him good and dead with her special hand-blast ability, so he no longer counted.
The truth was she didn’t really blame Casimir, at least not nearly so much as Grace.She wanted to hurt Caz, of course, but her true desire was to see Grace dead.But how and when to attack?
She had Seer contacts in the highly corrupt Mumbai Seers Fortress.Her first conversation with the High Administrator of the Fortress provided her with the simple information that little could be retrieved about Grace in the future streams because she was being blocked by more powerful Seers that were now attached to Madame Endelle.
Of course perfect Grace would have Endelle’s protection.
Realizing that she’d used the back scratcher too vigorously and was now bleeding, she set it down on her nightstand.She fingered the soft petals of the roses and pondered her present conundrum.
“Oh,” she murmured, as a new thought struck.
No one would be looking for Casimir in the future streams, and if Greaves was to be believed, he was out and about protecting Leto as his Guardian of Ascension.Grace might be beyond her reach, but maybe, just maybe her Mumbai connection could discover something about Casimir.She kicked herself for not having thought of it sooner.
She made her call to Mumbai.“Forget what I said about keeping after Grace in the future streams.I want you to look for Casimir of Fourth.Apparently, he’s on Second right now.And the moment you have word, you’re to call me.Do you understand?”
“Yes, Julianna,” the deep masculine voice returned.“And you will of course tell your master how obliging I have been.”
“Yours will be the first praises I sing when he returns.And I will be sending the usual packet of rubies.”
She heard the deeply satisfied sigh before the obligatory farewells.She hung up before he’d finished his assurances of dying fealty to so important an ascender as she.
She decided to dress, then fold to the Sahara, where she could be alone for an hour or so to practice her hand-blast abilities.
