A Trickle of Soulfyre

Chapter 33: Suspension

Anesse got straight down to business. "We are all going to join the same call. Tap your call crystals four times on my count. Three, two, one."

Everyone did as Anesse commanded, including Nash. The crystals all lit up as if sunshine was trapped within them, Nash's yellow like soft firelight, Anesse's purple like clematis flowers, Zidaye's orange like dragon eyes, and Joanas's green as a dryad. They seemed to hold their breaths as they awaited Anesse's next instruction.

Anesse paused with her finger suspended above her call crystal. "Lord Dundor Merl." She tapped its gleaming surface three times.

Nash's father's frowning face appeared above the table. His bushy eyebrows overhung his intense eyes as they paused on each of his callers in turn. "Anesse. Agents G'vat and Kilg. Nash." His frown deepened. "Is everything all right?"

"Your agents have something they would like to tell you." Anesse's voice was as cold as the metal chair legs pressing into the backs of Nash's calves when she spoke.

Lord Dundor looked at his agents expectantly. Agent Kilg bit her lip, wringing her hands on her lap. Agent G'vat's face was as composed as ever even though his eyes bored into the tabletop rather met those of his boss, but when he opened his mouth that always seemed to have a retort, no words escaped it.

When they didn't speak, Anesse did. "Nash and I went looking for Agents G'vat and Kilg when they didn't turn up for dinner, only to find that they had deserted their duties to engage in intimate acts in the queen's chambers."

Somehow what had happened sounded more severe when Anesse put it into words. Agent G'vat flinched, while Agent Kilg squeezed her eyes closed as if trying to erase her reality.

The director of ECISI's face tightened. He looked between the two protectors. "Is this true, Agent G'vat and Agent Kilg?"

"It is," murmured Agent G'vat.

Agent Kilg's hand found Agent G'vat's under the table. She drew a deep, shaky breath that steadied her enough for her to give a small, reluctant nod.

Lord Dundor's silence as his dark eyes studied his agents said more about his intense fury than words could, but he decided to use them anyway. "Of all irresponsible and inappropriate behaviours to engage in during such an important mission." He shook his head, his disappointment visible in his downturned mouth.

"I'm ashamed of you both. I would've never expected such behaviour from you when I assigned you to this mission. I gave you the responsibility to safeguard the ruler of our kingdom and my son, and this is how you disrespect us all and your assignment?" Lord Dundor steepled his hands on his desk the way he always was when he was either about to deliver a death sentence or a mission that was as good as one. "What do you have to say for yourselves?"

There was a silence that dragged out longer than it should've.

"I'm sorry, Lord Dundor." Agent Kilg cleared her throat as she plucked up the guts to speak. "What happened was my fault. I pursued Joanas when I should've waited until the end of this mission and for the king's safety to be assured. I'm so sorry." Her eyes flickered to Nash, her apology was mostly for him, for how her actions had compromised him, more than it was for a rule she probably wasn't the first to have broken.

Agent G'vat squeezed Agent Kilg's hand under the table. Lord Dundor's view of them through the call crystals didn't stretch that far, but Nash was guessing Anesse had seen the gesture, judging from the tightening of her mouth.

"It is I who bears the greatest responsibility, Lord Dundor." Agent G'vat addressed his senior but gazed at his junior colleague as if his words were a love confession. It was beautiful and heartbreaking to watch, yet Nash was as powerless to interfere with it as he had been when Lyrani Esch lay in his arms and told him she was heading to the uncharted northern plains to eliminate his enemy before they destroyed him.