“But…why?” Fundreg sounded confused.
“Because we of the Priesthood of Thufar are the power behind the throne—we are the true rulers of Helios Beta!” Kikbax exclaimed. “So it has been for generations as we carefully chose consorts who would stay out of our way so that we could ‘guide’ the Potentate to make the correct decisions for our planet.” He frowned, his pudgy face pulled into lines of disapproval. “It’s only been in the last few generations that we somehow lost control.”
“The old Potentate—she had a mind of her own,” Fundreg pointed out.
“So she did,” Kikbax admitted testily. “Because she was crowned during the time of my predecessor—he was weak and allowed her to choose the consort she wanted—one who refused to work with the priesthood to help influence her decisions. I vowed when I came into power that such a thing would not happen again. So when the old Potentate’s daughter refused to listen to my advice and choose the consort I had picked for her, something had to be done.”
“You…you were behind the assassination of the former Y’res the Fourth?” Fundreg sounded awed.
“Indeed I was.” Kikbax nodded. “With a little help from the dissidents from the Southern Continent, of course. We all want the same thing, you know—for a male to rule Helios Beta. It’s just that those fools are too overt about it—they don’t realize that a High Priest can rule just as effectively through the Potentate as without her—which avoids upsetting the common folk, of course. Superstitious fools!”
“But the current Potentate, who took her mother’s title—”
“The current Y’res the Fourth is every bit as stubborn as her mother and grandmother,” the High Priest growled. “I waited for years for the Old Potentate to retire and let her granddaughter take over so that I could once again guide the planet, as is my destiny and right as the High Priest of Thufar. And what does she do? Rejects my candidate for consort at once!” He shook his head angrily. “No, the time for subtlety is over. I will rule Helios Beta through the young Potentate and she will do every damn thing I tell her! If not—her Kindred will die!”
He spat on the ground, just outside the bars which Ty’s face lay close to. Some of the warm spittle splashed off the dirty stone floor and flecked his cheek.
Once more Ty had reason to be grimly glad he was still paralyzed. Otherwise he would have jerked away and wiped his cheek in disgust. Instead, he had to lie there, unmoving, as that bastard Kikbax and his henchman made unspeakable plans for the ones Ty loved.
“Well, we’d best get moving,” Kikbax said at last. “I wanted to be certain the Kindred was secure but now that I know he is, I have other matters to attend to. And you have to find that chewchie!”
“Yes, Your Holiness.” Fundreg bowed submissively.
“And you know what to do once you find it,” Kikbax said. “Don’t disobey me, Fundreg—there are plenty who would love to take your place.”
“Yes, Your Holiness,” Fundreg said again and then the two of them turned to go, taking the light with them and leaving Ty in darkness and despair. Everyone he loved was in danger and there was no way he could save them.
No way at all.
Chapter Forty
“Dying? You can’t mean it!” Ellina was already scrambling to her feet and fumbling for her slippers. “Grandmamma, please—say it isn’t so!”
“I didn’t want to upset you, my child,” her grandmother said, speaking through Lor. “But I fear that my time is near. I wanted to speak to you one last time and tell you how much I love you—how much I have always loved you.”
“Oh Grandmamma no—please don’t leave me! Not…not now. Not you, too…” Ellina’s voice broke on the last word, turning into a sob.
“My dear, I must go when Thufar calls me,” her grandmother said. “At least I have the comfort of knowing that you are well settled on the throne with a strong protector at your side. And so I bid you goodbye. Soon I shall be gone.”
“Good…goodbye, Grandmamma. I love you!” Ellina choked on the words, feeling her eyes sting with tears.
She knew her grandmother had been talking about Ty when she mentioned Ellina’s “protector” but she couldn’t bear to explain that the big Kindred had left her and wasn’t returning.
But she also couldn’t bear to just sit here while her grandmother died, she suddenly realized. Despite the law which forbid the old and new Potentates to be in the same place at the same time, she knew she was going.
Of course, she couldn’t go out the front door of her royal apartments—the loyal Captain Kiyda would never sanction such a foolhardy quest. He was a good guard, but a rather unimaginative one, she had found. He went strictly by the book and wouldn’t at all approve of her going to see her grandmother, no matter what the circumstances.
But there was another way.
Do I dare? Ellina hadn’t used the secret passage since she was a little girl and her mother occupied these apartments, shortly after she’d been crowned and before she was assassinated. Ellina had used the passage to run the long, dark stretch between the royal apartments and her grandmother’s suite. She’d been much smaller then—and faster. But maybe she would still fit.
Going to her bed chamber, she went to the back of the deep closet and pulled up a thick swath of the moss carpet which grew there. Under it, was a trapdoor which led
