Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
Shadow's Son by Shirley Meier, S.M. Stirling and Karen Wehrstein ...
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I bet, Megan thought. "I'm very pleased indeed to meet you too,<br />
You-Whose-Mind-is-the-Fortress-of-the-World," Lix<strong>and</strong> said, with annoying obsequiousness.We'll<br />
train him out of that. Still, the polish is good …<br />
"Where'd you find him? Them, I should say. And what happened,"—he was looking at Shkai'ra—"to<br />
you ?"<br />
"Well…" Megan said fast.Let's get the omissions right . "We found out—through an agent of<br />
mine—that Lix<strong>and</strong> had been spirited out of House Temonen. Shkai'ra went after him; she got cut up<br />
rescuing him. He didn't know who she was, hid in an attic <strong>and</strong> wielded a table leg against her when she<br />
put her head up to look for him. That's it, in a fingernail's worth of script."<br />
Shkai'ra grinned. "When I woke up at the bottom of the stairs, I knew he must be Megan's."<br />
"You…faked going missing?" Thesemanakraseye- Imperator's black brows flew up. "That'swhy Mad<br />
Cow Whatsername came clean! I thought that would stay an unsolved mystery."You <strong>and</strong> your<br />
fish-gutted attention to detail , Megan thought. "I suppose,"—his grin turned a touch contrite—"you<br />
wanted to get him out of the City beforewe got here?"<br />
Thank you for giving me an out. Better a friend in a high place thought her cynical or prescient, than<br />
almost his assassin. "Well… yes." She waved it away magnanimously.<br />
His dark eyes flicked to Shkai'ra. "You might havesaid something, though; we all thought you were<br />
dead. You were designated successor for Brigadier-General First, you know."<br />
Sheepshit!I was ?! "Well, to be honest," she lied, "we heard the h<strong>and</strong>s the boy was in… weren't kind,<br />
shall we say. It had to be quick. And we thought… well… if we asked permission, you might deny us.<br />
Wanting to keep me for cavalry comm<strong>and</strong>ing, <strong>and</strong> such."<br />
"They weren'tthat bad," Lix<strong>and</strong> piped up. "They taught me how to play cards."<br />
Lix<strong>and</strong>, my precious long-lost son whom I love like life itself, Megan thought,shut your trap .<br />
Chevenga's brows rose, but his smile stayed. "I might have denied you. I might also have sent in my best<br />
to do the task for you. I'm a parent too, remember? Strictly speaking, it was acting without orders; you<br />
forswore your strength-oath."<br />
Megan looked sheepish for all she was worth, found enough sincerity in it to redden her face.Come on,<br />
Shkai ra, squirm, dammit; he'll stop asking questions that way .<br />
"Well…" He shoulder-shrugged. "Stroke of the past. If it had done us harm, heads would roll, but it<br />
didn't."He means that literally , Megan thought; <strong>by</strong> Shkai'ra's glance, she was thinking the same.Oh,<br />
Invincible, if you only knew . "Where to for you, now?"<br />
"Back to F'talezon," said Megan, wiping sweat from her brow with a looted kerchief.<br />
"Which has lousy winters <strong>and</strong> that noxious little shit Ranion running it… sorry, love," Shkai'ra added. "I'll<br />
be glad to see snow again. Not to mention the rest of the family." Megan smiled.You'll never make a<br />
courtier .<br />
"How areyou ?" Megan looked Chevenga in the eyes.So I'll be a undiplomatic indiscreet, too .