He hadn't told Kian about the hive mind, but he would find that out after talking to Elias, and then his motivation to conquer the island would only grow.
Navuh wasn't sure if that was good or bad for him.
"Do you want us to invade and take over your island?" Annani asked as if she could read his mind.
"I'm not sure how I feel about it. If you attempt it, your forces will be decimated. You are no match for my army, which is something that will bring me great satisfaction. On the other hand, I don't want the island to fall into chaos, and an intervention will be needed soon enough, if it is not already. But my mind is not as sharp as it usually is, and I struggle to come up with a solution to this predicament."
"How many warriors do you currently have?" Kian asked.
Navuh wanted to chuckle, but it came out as a cough. "Didn't Lokan provide you with the numbers? He should have a good estimate."
Kian seemed unfazed by this comment. "He said that you have nearly twenty-five thousand warriors, and about ten thousand support staff, including administrators, technicians, and domestic workers, not including the women you conscripted into sexual and breeding slavery. He wasn't sure how many served in the brothel or how many Dormants you had in your breeding program."
A lot, but if Kian thought he would start bragging about it, he was wrong.
"That's about right," Navuh said. "Frankly, I don't know what you hope to get out of me when you have Lokan to tell you everything you want to know."
"His information is outdated." Kian uncrossed his arms. "He didn't know about the enhancement program because you kept him away from the island."
"I suspected him for a long time, and my suspicions were proven correct. Lokan's a traitor."
The room fell silent. Navuh could feel the tension thrumming in the air, the delicate balance of power shifting as both sides assessed their options.
He was not ready to throw the Brotherhood under the bus, not for better accommodations, not for family visits, not for anything Kian had offered so far. The Brotherhood was his life's work, his legacy, his purpose for five thousand years. To betray it would be to betray himself.
But if the island descended into chaos, if Losham proved incompetent, if the various factions tore each other apart, if his army abandoned the Brotherhood's stated mission and devolvedinto petty squabbling, then perhaps using the clan to restore order was a viable option.
The other option was to destroy the island if restoration proved impossible.
If he could negotiate for his freedom, he could start over. Build something new. He had done it once, and he could do it again.
But first, he needed to know how far they were willing to go, and for that, he needed to dangle something more valuable in front of them than operational details about the island.
"I have answered your questions," he said. "Now answer mine. What is my freedom worth to you?"
Kian's expression hardened. "Your freedom is not on the table."
"It should be." Navuh turned his head back to Annani, ignoring the protest from his neck muscles. "You say you do not enjoy seeing me broken. Prove it. Give me something worth trading for."
Annani was quiet for a long moment, her eyes unreadable. "You have given us very little of value," she said. "Things that we could have learned through other means." She stood.
"I have given you what your opening offer merited."
"Then perhaps we need to revisit our offers." She looked down at him, and for a moment, he saw something flicker in her expression that was not pity, not contempt, but something colder. "You mentioned you have something valuable to offer. What is it?"
He needed more information before he revealed his trump card.
"I will tell you when I am confident that you can offer me something of equivalent value. What I have is priceless, Annani. I will not trade it for comfortable accommodations and supervised visits."
"Then what do you want?"
"Freedom." The word hung in the air between them. "Eventually. I want to walk out of here and start over."
Annani stared at him for a long moment. Then she turned and walked toward the door, Kian falling into step beside her.
"Think carefully about what you are willing to offer," she said without looking back. "Do not overestimate your position."
26
