Page 64 of Mad Dragon of Chaos

“Yes, very sorry. We never intended for that to happen,” Tyche added, each word overflowing with sarcasm.

The dragon and the god had worked through their issues and were once again on the same page. Adrian wanted to weep for Thia. None of them were going to get out of this alive.

Shey cleared his throat and schooled his features, trying to be the responsible one. “Now that we’re all here, let’s sit and make plans.” He pulled out a chair at the head of the oblong table and sat with Vitor on his left. Tyche moved to sit on the other side of Shey while Vitor opened the slender laptop in front of him. Haru took the open seat next to Tyche and lifted his head to smile at Adrian. The guard placed his hand on the chair next to Haru, putting him at the end of the table opposite Shey. There was only one open chair next to Vitor.

Adrian jerked his chin toward the empty chair. “Is anyone else coming to the meeting?” Now that Caelan had taken on the position of king, he couldn’t do anything without having at least half a dozen advisors and ministers there to offer their opinions. He’d thought Rayne was bad, but these people had to argue about everything.

“Queen Noemi is handling the situation within the city in terms of relief and hunting spies. I am coordinating with our military generals and Princess Fiona in the defense of Caspagir while I’m in Sirelis. However, after we leave, all that shifts to my sister to handle. Once we decide on our next steps, I’ll report to Queen Noemi.” Shey paused and glanced at each person. “While she agrees that the people behind the hunting and killing of gods need to be stopped, she has stressed that I must de-escalate this war. Not make it worse.”

Adrian sent the prince a hard look as he dropped into the chair. “Why does that sound easier said than done?”

Shey smirked. “Because I’m sure it is.”

“Oh Great Spymaster,” Tyche started, leaning toward Vitor, “please tell us you’ve found something in all those electronic devices that we gifted you.”

Vitor glared at Tyche over the laptop screen. The God of Chaos was already living up to his name. “I have, though it’s probably not as much as you might be hoping.” Vitor sucked in a deep breath, and his fingers flew across the keys. A moment later, a large-screen TV on the wall behind him powered on, showing a map of Thia. “I have a feeling it won’t come as a great shock that we discovered that Ruben’s many emails and phone calls were all tied back to a member of the Feng family.”

“Feng, as in the new chancellor of the Federation of Order, Rati Feng?” Shey demanded.

“Correct.” The image on the screen changed to a large, barrel-chested man with short salt-and-pepper hair, a double chin, and watery blue eyes. “There isn’t a great deal of useful information on Rati Feng. He wasn’t someone who stood out in our research. His family hadn’t pursued a political position in the past. He is third-generation rich with his family’s money made primarily in mining. However, when Rati began handling many of the family businesses, he expanded into weapons, which naturally brought him into the sphere of political influence. The fact that he shifted from private citizen to ruler in the blink of an eye is something we’re still trying to trace.”

Haru glared at the screen, wrinkling his nose. “He’s a bloated old toad.”

Vitor’s fingers danced across the screen, and the image changed to a pair of thin, blond, pale women in fancy dresses. It looked as if the picture was taken from some kind of official gala. “Rati has two daughters—both in their twenties. Kami and Alyce. They appear at all official functions and are viewed as his muscle. They are known as venomous vipers who will rally the people against anyone who dares to stand up to their father.”

Tyche squinted at the screen. “Are they…are they real? They seem to be creepy clones of…something. I don’t think those are real people.”

Vitor snorted. “They’re real enough. They’ve just had a lot of plastic surgery to look like that.” He hit a button, and the image changed to a younger, slightly slimmer version of Rati. “This is Rati’s eldest son, Meran. Thirty-two. University dropout. He supposedly runs his father’s businesses, but our research says that he rarely goes to the office and everything rests on the shoulders of his managers. Minimal intelligence. Hot temper. Rati is at least smart enough to keep his son—who is usually off partying—away from politics.” Vitor hit another button, and the image changed to a boy who was about nine or ten. He was chubby with a sullen expression. “And this is Zayd. We don’t have a current picture of him. It’s estimated that he’s about twenty-five now, but no one has seen him in years. There are rumors he’s dead—possibly killed by Meran.”

“Lovely family,” Adrian muttered. “This is who’s behind the killing of all those people and gods?”

“Yes, but there’s a catch.” Vitor tapped another button, and the screen went black. “We don’t know which of them is overseeing it and spearheading the operation. There’s no direct link to Rati.”

Tyche lifted his left hand, palm flat. “So, you’re saying that Rati could be giving verbal direction to one or more of his kids to handle the operation.” He lifted his right hand as if balancing a set of scales. “Or one of his kids could be doing this without the chancellor’s knowledge.” Tyche closed his hands into fists and shrugged. “I say we kill all four or five of them just to cover all our bases. That should put an end to it.”

“Is there a wife?” Shey inquired.

“Several, in fact, but none are in the picture right now. Rati Feng has been married five times—divorced twice and widowed three times. All his children have different mothers.”

“This…” Haru’s brow furrowed and his lips curled as he seemed to struggle to form words. “I don’t understand. Is this normal among humans to change mates so frequently?”

Adrian reached across the table and placed his hand over his lover’s fist. “These are spouses. Not mates. And among most humans, this isn’t regarded as normal.”

Haru released a breath and relaxed against his chair, shooting him a smile as Adrian drew his hand back. In Haru’s mind, mates were forever. If Haru lost his mate, he couldn’t imagine going on with his life, let alone moving on to finding love with another mate. Never mind four other mates.

“Regardless of Rati Feng’s personal life,” Vitor cut in, his tone painfully dry, “we don’t know who the true power behind the endeavor is. However, considering how the man micromanages his children’s lives, I would wager that he is the mastermind. If we take him down, the operation should fall apart.”

Shey tilted his to the side and lifted one brow. “And the current war?”

“That could be trickier to manage, but if the assassination was framed as happening from within his own support system, rather than say, the prince of a foreign country, I could see the interest in the ongoing war fizzling and New Rosanthe rushing to the negotiating table.”

Tyche extended a finger and poked Shey in the shoulder. “Sounds like Vitor is ordering you to stay home and keep out of trouble.”

Shey captured Tyche’s finger as he tried to draw it away and held it trapped in his fist. “I’m pretty sure a good disguise would allow me to stay involved.”

“We’ll see,” Vitor grumbled, not looking pleased at all.

Adrian frowned, a tightness growing in his chest. He wasn’t usually involved in these decisions. These kinds of decisions were made by people above him—namely King Caelan and his chief advisor, Rayne. “Wait a minute. Have you talked to Cael about all this? I might be wrong, but can we really go in and kill the chancellor of the Federation of Order? Doesn’t Erya have laws against affecting the regime changes of other countries? This is a slippery fucking slope we’re standing on.”