Kian grimaced. "I'd rather spend time shoveling shit."
"Ouch." Navuh chuckled. "That was crass. What would your mother say if she heard you talking like that?"
"She's not here. When did you dig them out?"
"I left them where they were for a long time. They were perfectly safe under the sand. No one knew the location except me, and there was no chance anyone would stumble across them accidentally. As long as they remained hidden, they represented potential leverage. I wasn't in any hurry. I had time. We all had time."
"What changed?"
"World War II." Navuh allowed himself a moment of nostalgia. That had been an interesting period. So much chaos, so much opportunity. "The global upheaval made accidental discovery more probable. The world was being torn apart and rebuilt in ways that threatened to expose them. Military operations, archaeological expeditions, infrastructure projects, and so on. I decided it was time to secure my investment."
"You dug them up."
"I sent an excavation crew of immortals with the exact coordinates. They knew that they were looking for immortals in stasis, but they didn't know that they were digging to find a god. I didn't know how many immortals Khiann had taken with him, and I was surprised when they informed me that they had found five desiccated bodies, fragile and nearly skeletal, but well preserved by the dry desert conditions. After they brought them to the island, I compelled everyone on the team to forget what they brought. If anyone asked where they had been, they had reported excavating for treasure, which was partially true because they had also retrieved plenty of gold and precious stones that were part of what the caravan had been transporting. My men had actually used the chests that the treasures had been kept in to transport the bodies."
"Did you keep them in those chests?"
"No, but that was where I got the idea. It wasn't easy to preserve them in stasis on a tropical island. The moisture was their enemy, but I couldn't put them in airtight containers because their bodies needed to absorb nutrients from the environment to keep their spark of life. I put them in specially designed chests that protected their fragile bodies and kept them in a hidden storage room in the harem, or rather under it. I had powerful dehumidifiers installed in that space that ran twenty-four-seven, and I had the floor covered with plenty of sand to provide the bodies with the necessary nutrients. It worked well, and I could check on them from time to time to make sure that they were still alive, but then the harem was flooded, the electrical systems failed, and I had to get them out. I transferred them to my mansion, but I needed a new safe place to store them."
"You built the enclosure for them."
Navuh nodded. "Better security, better climate control, and better protection." He smiled. "And better booby-traps."
The room fell silent again, and Navuh watched Kian's face, reading the calculations happening behind those carefully neutral eyes.
The guy knew that what he'd just heard was a true account of what had happened, and he knew that he had no choice but to cooperate with Navuh, which meant giving him what he wanted.
His freedom.
27
ANNANI
Darius squirmed in Jacki's arms, his small face scrunched in displeasure as he let out a series of unhappy whimpers.
"Shh, shh." Jacki bounced him against her shoulder, patting his back in a soothing rhythm. "I know, sweetheart. I know."
Annani watched her great-nephew fuss and wriggle, fighting his small body's need to sleep. Little ones were sensitive to the moods of those around them, and the anxiety permeating the penthouse seemed to affect him.
"We should take him home," Jacki said. "He needs his nap, and he's not going to fall asleep here. He's just getting crankier the longer we wait."
"Not yet." Kalugal rose to his feet and took the boy from her. "I want to hear how it went." He started pacing the living room with Darius.
The gleam of anticipation in Kalugal's eyes bordered on glee. He expected Kian to return triumphant and couldn't wait to hear how badly his father had been humiliated.
Kalugal and Lokan had many good reasons to resent their father, and the desire to see their father brought down was natural. But Annani had been defending her people from Navuh for a millennium, and she knew not to underestimate her opponent.
"I'll make more tea," Carol offered, rising to her feet. "Is the coconut tea okay, or do you want something else?"
"The coconut is fine." Areana stood up as well. "I think I saw cookies in the pantry. They might even have coconut in them to match the tea." She followed Carol to the kitchen.
The minutes stretched on as Kalugal paced the room with Darius in his arms, the baby's head resting on his shoulder, his thumb in his little mouth, and his eyelids at half-mast.
Perhaps Kalugal would succeed in putting him to sleep.
But then the penthouse front door opened, Kian walked in, and Darius lifted his head off his father's shoulder and looked at Kian with curiosity in his sleepy eyes.
Annani regarded him with worry.
