Tempt the Devil (The Devil of Ponong series #3) Read Online Free Page A

sulking!”
    She made an offhand little noise of disagreement that set
his teeth on edge.
    He disciplined himself to a reasonable tone. “I’ll admit I
was angry about the rice riot and being forced to take this office. I’m not as
quick as you, but I finally pieced it together. Grandfather had you neatly
trapped. You didn’t have many options. I understand why you chose to betray me.”
    She clasped her hands together and batted her eyelashes
theatrically like a pantomime princess admiring her hero. “So all is forgiven.
You have no idea how much better I’ll sleep tonight.” Her hands dropped as her
face settled into a darker expression. “Like the dead.”
    This reminded him of the old days – back before they’d
worked together, when they’d been bitter enemies. He didn’t like it. What he
longed for was that magical sliver of time when they’d been allies in their
search for the Ravidian bioweapons farm. Their lives had been in peril, but
working together had been thrilling.
    It felt as if his chance to bargain with her was slipping
away. He needed to remind her that she’d come to ask him for a favor.
    “I don’t see that the law harms your people. It’s only
applied when crowds are deemed to have a potential for violence.”
    The waters were chummed. All he had to do was wait. Any
moment now, she’d jump to her feet and lecture him on all the ways he was
wrong. Any second now, she’d lose her temper. She’d rail against injustice and
the militia and... She wasn’t moving. If she wasn’t going to demand he change
the law, how could he negotiate with her?
    “You don’t wish to discuss the assembly law. You won’t
admit you’ve been sulking since the rice riot. I see no further need to talk,”
she said.
    No! This wasn’t supposed to happen. She never gave up that
easily. This was one of her games. It had to be. Despair washed over him. What
was she up to? How had she slipped through his fingers?
    “Is there anything else I can do for you, Lady QuiTai?” He
hoped he didn’t sound desperate.
    She mulled over something. His spirits cautiously edged
up, wavered, and then tried to rise still further as he watched her for the
slightest hint of what she was thinking. He leaned closer.
    Her shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. “I almost hesitate
to mention it.”
    Sure she did.
    The words seemed to prick her lips as she spoke them. “There
is a small matter of murder.”
    What murder? He didn’t know about any recent murders. His
mind raced but got nowhere. Family lore held that his great-grandfather had once
escaped a sinking boat with only a sock and a candlestick in his hands; Kyam
felt as if he didn’t even have a sock.
    He didn’t recall hearing about any murders of note
recently, but official reports took weeks to reach his desk, and since he’d
become governor even gossip seemed to bypass him. It was entirely possible she
knew about something he didn’t. It was also entirely possible she was the
murderer.
    If he gave a flippant response, maybe she wouldn’t see
that he didn’t know what she was talking about. “Small? Since when is murder a
small matter?”
    Contempt sparked in her odd eyes. “The way your militia is
handling the investigation, one might think they’ve decided murder doesn’t
matter. I’m glad to know that you still take it seriously.”
    “What investigation?” he asked. He didn’t know of any
investigations. If he had, he might have helped. It would have given him
something useful to do.
    “What investigation, indeed, Governor.”
    There was still a chance he could bluff his way through
this. “Well, you know…” He tried to think faster than he talked, but he needed
more time. “The militia are soldiers, not police. Their job is to defend
Levapur from foreign invaders. They aren’t trained in the art of detection.”
    “Exactly. So why don’t you put your police force on the
case instead? Oh, that’s right. You still haven’t created one.”
    He