Endgame Read Online Free

Endgame
Book: Endgame Read Online Free
Author: Kristine Smith
Pages:
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attention—”
    â€œThe danger is the governors’, nìa. They are the ones who wish to secede.” Tsecha leaned against the table, his voice deceptively light. “If their attempt fails, it does not affect the Elyan Haárin.”
    Jani fought the urge to grab Tsecha by the shoulders and shake him. “Thalassa, in case you’ve forgotten, is in a different situation than the Haárin enclave. You’ll dodge the spray when it hits the fan. You’ll be able to leave. You’ll have a place to go. But what the hell do you think will happen to Thalassa? We’re hybrids, in a diplomatic no-man’s-land—” She stopped when she heard her voice ring in her ears and saw Tsecha’s shoulders start to curve. “You could have waited,” she said after her heart slowed and her hands unclenched. “Your treatises. You could have published them some other time.”
    â€œThey are necessary now, nìa.” Tsecha averted his gaze as he spoke, something he seldom did when they stood so close together. “To alter thinking. To persuade, and enrage.”
    â€œI think you have the ‘enrage’ part covered.” Jani turned and walked to the other side of the room. “I’m not too sure about ‘alter’ and ‘persuade.’” She stopped in front of a display niche and plucked a small stone ovoid from its base. “It’s hard to get anyone to listen once tempers overheat,” she said as she hefted the stone. “I should know.”
    â€œI must speak. I must protest—”
    â€œBut why now?”
    â€œYou do not—”
    â€œI don’t mean to interrupt.”
    Jani and Tsecha both fell silent and looked toward the entryway.
    â€œNí Tsecha. Jan.” Colonel Niall Pierce doffed his brimmed white lid and stepped just inside the room. “Just came from the new meeting house. Checking on preparations for tomorrow.” He wore semiformal kit of dress desertweights, the white tunic and gold-trimmed headgear startling against his tan trousers and sun-baked face. “Dodging flying tile shards.” He grinned, the scar that cut his face from his nose to the corner of his mouth twisting the expression into something sinister. “Ní Dathim Naré is not happy.”
    â€œDathim is never happy.” Tsecha gestured impatience, the edge of his hand cutting through the air like a blade. “Always he complains of schedules, of lack of supplies, of…”
    Jani watched Niall, who seemed transfixed by Tsecha’s rant. He knows we’re meeting the governors, but he can’t figure out why. She had tried to keep him from getting involved in the security arrangements for the get-together, but he was Admiral General Hiroshi Mako’s man on the spot, and the presence of three high-level colonial officials dictated his participation. He’ll escort them here and wait outside while we talk to them. He won’t be able to find out a thing. She hoped. She prayed.
    â€œâ€¦and still, he is not satisfied!” Tsecha stepped around the table and strode to the door. “I will go and speak with him.” He brushed past Niall, barreling through the foyer and into the street. “Ridiculous, and truly…”
    Jani stepped outside in time to see the brightly garbed figure vanish down an alley between two houses. Sensed Niall draw alongside, and felt his stare etch the side of her face. “Go ahead and say it.”
    â€œI never thought I’d see Tsecha grasping for an excuse to get the hell away from you.” Niall set his lid back atop his head, then squared it by running the thumbs and forefingers of both hands back and forth along the brim. “I debatedwhether to go in. Then your voices began carrying and folks stuck their heads out to listen. Decided I had better throw myself on the grenade before they started selling tickets.”
    Jani glanced toward a
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