Page 246 (1/2)

“It is my purpose to know”

It’s a bluff The skuggi hate the creep, they’d never rat me out They need tiraht you in?”

“Yes”

“Then it wasn’t that poor Pink as supposed to kill her”

“Oh, no, Amel certainly was an assassin The peril of current affairs, I fear Many Golds pulling strings against one another, causing all to fray I detected him quite early, but when Atalantia activated him, it was necessary to expose him”

“The hell are you doing here if not to kill Sefi then?”

“Death is sloppy And my dominus does not abide sloppy With a dead queen, the Obsidians would seek the strongest to lead the Star? Valdir? He loves Darrow It would do little good to the Society for the Slave King to be bestoith such a gift Sefi must die the proper way, at the proper ti the proper trajectory For that, only a frumentarius would suffice”

“And Volsung Fá…”

“But another piece of the puzzle” Xenophon considers, enjoying this little bout of honesty “Perhaps more Dominus au Raa learned much in his banishment to the Kuiper Belt after his…indiscretions Not the least of which was the i the Ascomanni there Octavia sent him to die, he soon realized A fact I witnessed firsthand I remained behind as his factor, and saw her appoint another Fear Knight in his absence—one Darrow easily dispatched of The second thing my master learned was that the Ascomanni could not be conquered froh So he left his st thest them”

Keep hiet Valdir They may already be en route to Sefi Keep the little bastard’sin Sefi’s ear

“He Who Walks the Void was a Gorgon?” I ask

“Is a Gorgon The master called hiood to loan him to us” The White’s lips make a thin line as it attempts a smile “You are a clever Hoicus But do not compare yourself with the best of the Hons are painted on a horizon ill only see in tiic—humanity

“The Raa are in motion, you see They come for the Republic to repay old debts But there is hubris in their blood Thinking themselves fresh to the tired fray, they will find themselves undone With one stroke, my master fells three”

I checklike the gun’s to my head Maybe it is Maybe all I’ve felt, all I’ve seen, is part of this little gai, Valdir, Freihild, Ozgard, are all just wriggling as the snake chokes the life fro the hero I’ame But maybe I can stop it Tell Sefi Find a way to unwind all this, and let her dream continue on its course

“Why did you come back?” Xenophon asks