Read Betrayals for Free Online Page A

the music. When we turned into the room, I learned Lanir’s definition of a “small” dining room: a table to the right, large enough to seat twelve people comfortably; a beautifully decorated sitting area to the left, with enough couches and chairs to accommodate more than twelve; and a dais at the back of the room, holding a six-piece orchestra. When we appeared, the people standing about talking—five men and five … girls rather than women—all turned from their conversation to us.
    “Well, it’s about time,” one of the men announced with a sly smile, his greasy gaze moving over me. “I can sec what kept you, Lanir, but canapes are no substitute for an actual meal.”
    “You could do with an interest beyond eating, Fasher,” Lanir replied with a smug expression, pointing to the man’s protruding belly. “If you keep putting things down your throat, you’ll soon be unable to get close enough to a table to reach the food.”
    Everyone including the man Fasher laughed at that, all but one young girl who stared at me wide-eyed instead. She was a pretty little thing, but more importantly she was someone with a Low talent in Fire magic—who also happened to be touching the power. Her hand reached out tentatively to the man she stood beside, probably to tell him about what she could feel of my strength, so I quickly locked eyes with her and shook my head slightly. Her hand immediately returned to her side as she obeyed my silent command to say nothing, but that incident added itself to my list of worries. She’d agreed to be silent, but how long would that agreement last?
    “I’m told that it was business rather than your lovely little toy which kept you,” another of the men said to Lanir as the man beside me began to lead the group toward the beautifully set table. “Everyone seems to be in a dither about something, but no one is willing to discuss details.”
    “At the moment there’s only one topic causing a dither, and you should know perfectly well what it is,” Lanir replied, his good mood fading again. “Everything was arranged for Adriari’s group to take over, and now we’re faced with those five. Debate and argument are raging like runaway forest fires, with no one able to bring Water magic to bear to quiet any of it.”
    “What could there possibly be to argue about?” a third man asked as we reached the table and Lanir began to seat me to his left. “If they won the competitions—and they did—then they have to be Seated.”
    “You’ve never met Advisor Zolind, have you, Wirn?” Lanir replied as he moved a step to the chair at the head of the table and sat. “The man has more power than any other ten people you might name, and the rumor is that he absolutely opposes Seating this particular new Five. I say it’s a rumor, because a full Advisory meeting has been called for tomorrow. It would have been held sooner, but two of the Advisors are away and won’t be able to return until then. Zolind means to voice his opinions at that meeting, and then we’ll have fact rather than rumor.”
    “How often has Advisor Zolind’s opinion failed to find support with the others?” the fat Lord Fasher asked, his own amusement having disappeared. “It would be most annoying to have to wait through another round of competitions.”
    “If the rumors are true, that’s probably what we have ahead of us,” Lanir replied, reaching for the wineglass a servant had just filled. “I’m told that Zolind’s wishes haven’t been argued with in fifteen years, so he’s unlikely to be refused this time. That, of course, is the basis for all the argument. Those who had made … accommodations with Adriari’s group want the chance to do the same with another picked group, while those, like you, who dislike the interruption in business or the cost of another round of competitions, want the annoyance at an end.”
    “Why doesn’t that first group simply make the same arrangements with the new