Rebel Elements (Seals of the Duelists) Read Online Free Page B

all that vaunted Shawnash’kote wisdom. Fifteen years ago, had you not done as you willed to achieve the end you desired, you would not feel the need to heed my smiling threats in the first place.”
    The taller man stopped again. In his eyes burned a hatred that had not been loosed since the Raqtaaq Wars ended a score of years past.
    The dark man frowned. “Ah, I see I have overstayed my welcome yet again. An unfortunate habit. I thank you for your latest gift.” He patted his pocket. “And I caution you to continue as you have, letting none draw near the secret that lies between us. That, unfortunately, is the only guarantee you have that those you love will remain, shall we say… no, that is all I need say. It is the only guarantee you have that those you love will remain.”
    With a courtly bow worthy of any lord, he turned and left. After a long moment, the other man did the same.

    ~~~

    The purple carriage rolled along the soft road and headed north into the unknown. A gentle rain had dampened the dirt, and the dust was gone from the air. Bayan sat next to one of the windows and looked up the road. Looking back toward Pangusay would do him no good—his entire life lay days behind. He’d dreamed of Imee last night as he lay wrapped in his blankets—warm, inviting, all arguments forgotten. Only his choice to honor his father’s decision kept him from flinging himself out the door and running home. That, and the seven guards Philo employed.
    The flamboyant Philo sat to Bayan’s left, wearing a mango-hued wig with matching lace on his creamy tunic. He hummed to himself while reading a sheaf of pages he tried to hold steady with beringed hands in the jostling carriage. On the padded bench across from Bayan sat Philo’s assistant Kipri, a young eunuch with a slender frame, wide eyes, and a dark shock of hair.
    “You will meet new people,” Kipri assured Bayan in a formal but kind tone. “You can’t go ten strides in Helderaard without seeing another person; it’s very crowded, especially in the cities. And there are people from all over the empire, all mixed together. You’ll blend right in.”
    Bayan shifted. He hadn’t said a word to either of his companions—captors, really—in three days, so he made an effort to be social. “Were you born in the capital?”
    In Kipri’s glance out the window, Bayan thought he recognized the effort to suppress emotion, though seeing it from the outside was new. A dark glow seemed to inhabit the eunuch’s eyes.
    “I was born in the Raqtaaq lands, in Aklaa,” Kipri said, hunching as if expecting derision.
    Bayan frowned. “Is that far from Helderaard? I was never much of a geography student.”
    Kipri smiled briefly. “Not far enough. When I was seven years old, I moved to Helderaard. I was already a eunuch then, a Second. They let it hurt for the Seconds.” Bayan cringed at the thought.
    “Kipri.” Philo admonished, without looking up from his reading.
    Kipri clucked his tongue; a grimace flitted across his face. “Philo had it easy. He’s a Third.” Bayan didn’t understand.
    “Don’t terrorize the lad, cricket.” Philo set down his papers and met Bayan’s eyes. “Eunuchs have three classes, though using them to differentiate us is considered rude, at least amongst other eunuchs.” He gave Kipri a pointed look. “The members of the first are the royals: cousins and siblings of the emperor. Those of the second are sons of rebels. The third group, myself included, are greedy bastards who love food and fine clothing more than the idea of fatherhood.”
    “He means they’re poor, Bayan,” Kipri said. “It’s an alternative to becoming an indentured.”
    “A vastly preferable one! Give me a life of wine, silk, and adventure over a dozen years of hauling fish or baking bread any day!”
    Kipri smoothed his unruly hair forward, flattening its dark curls. “Scribbling your office messages day after day is not adventure.”
    “And that is why I’ve