Indomitus Oriens (The Fovean Chronicles) Read Online Free Page B

personally crossed swords with the hated Conqueror and been beaten, but survived.
    Glynn’s mirth left her for melancholy. Her brother and her father had not been so lucky.
    “Remain here,” Aniquen said. “Remember we that this is Adriam’s month. There is no pleasure in being on Tren Bay now.”
                  Angron actually smiled, an honor to them all. “It has been so long since I have been outside of the palace, that I forgot Adriam’s month was cold. Yes, let it be here, then.”
                  “Then allow me to summon the Casters, as many as we have,” Avek said. Glynn looked up to see Noir’s protective hand laid atop the royal throne. “If there must be a containment, let us be ready.”
                  “One hundred or more Uman-Chi, each acting on behalf of his Majesty?” D’gattis asked the rest. “I think we would be safer if the Conqueror returned.”
                  Angron held his mirth that time. The rest stayed quiet as well. Glynn looked from one set of eyes to the next, un-fooled by the silver-on-silver appearance. Uman-Chi saw eyes of green and blue and lovely violet, in a frequency other eyes could not see. Another sign that Uman-Chi were superior.
                  All of them shifted between D’gattis and Angron, to see if the bold one had lost more favor with the elder.
                  “You are right, and forthright, D’gattis,” the King said. He turned to Noir. “You are my heir, bring me four more.”
                  Then he turned to Chaheff, and said, “You are her mentor, prepare her for containment, if it is needed. If she must give herself to her song, see that she knows how.”
                  A lesser being would have shown her surprise. Glynn had the discipline of a Caster and a century in protocol training. Her first duty remained to her people. The Uman-Chi lived long and died rarely.             
    Rarely, and not lightly.
    * * *
                  “For fun?” Bill repeated. “You mean, besides all of this?”
                  Melissa smiled. “Yeah.”
                  What the hell did she even care for? Bill wondered. This reeked of scam and agenda.
                  “Not a lot,” Bill said. “I’m not married; my kids don’t live in-state. First thing you learn in sales is that you don’t make the kind of friends you keep when you change jobs. It’s no different from here. How many people have you made friends with here?”
                  “Other than you?” she said. “None.”
                  Bill took another drag, held it, then exhaled. He hadn’t missed the ‘other than you.’ “So other than the thrill of the kill here,” he said. “Movies, football in season, I guess.”
                  “I’m surprised,” Melissa said. “I thought you would be hitting the clubs, some nice ride…”
                  “Yeah, right,” Bill said. She might be looking for a sugar daddy or just making fun of him. Either way, he wasn’t playing.
                  “Serious,” she said.
                  He checked his watch. Two minutes left. Screw it. He flicked the butt and smiled. “Back to the salt mines,” he said. “Good talking to you.”
                  “Thanks for the cig,” she said. “Think about those Marlboros.”
                  Bill smiled. “You did okay with the Lucky’s.”
                  He was in the door as she smiled up at him.
    * * *
                  The rest of the morning was like the start of the morning. Provocative questions to incite interest, interest means you have an opening, push the opening to get them a package out, get a committal statement to say that (a) they would read the package and (b) they would talk to you again when you called