My Father's House

"Sharani!" Solance shook his head at Arruth's rapid departure. "The world would be better off without them." He closed his door, then went to a basin and began washing his hands. Solance disliked even being near them, must less having to touch one of them. "Filthy creatures," he muttered.

The door behind him opened. Gylorean Galee, first lord-lieutenant to the Grand Master, stepped through. Her expensive perfume, called Asphodel, wafted over him. Solance knew she had been listening to the entire exchange between him and Arruth. Galee was an intensely sensual woman with a wealth of straight, glossy, blue-black hair, nut-brown skin, and delicately pointed ears suggesting sylvan blood. She could not afford to have Arruth's story drawing the interest of certain factions. Power and influence in Creeya was a delicate and, at times, precarious balancing between the Guild, represented by the Paladin-King — called the Grand Master — and his three lieutenants; the secular landed nobility with their Council of Lords on which the Grand Master and his lieutenants sat; and the Church led by Patriarch Eshraf. Galee was close to gaining the dominance she needed and refused to see it torn from her grasp by a promiscuous child and a lecherous ally who liked to break his women. They both knew that if forced to it, she would simply eat the child. She allowed her fangs to descend just enough to run her tongue across them.

That habitual gesture made Solance queasy, though he never dared tell her. To say to her that anything she did made him uneasy was inviting worse. She delighted in torment and torture and, like all of her pawns, Solance feared her. And wanted her. He did not know a male in all of Ishladrim castle who had not, at one time or another, wanted her.

"Keep an eye on that one, Solance. I don't want anyone taking her accusations seriously."

"They won't, Galee." Solance dried his hands off on a towel and turned to face her. "I've been sweeping Wrathscar's depredations under the carpet for years. That's why he pulled me out of the gutter and placed me here. Arruth's greatest fear is that Talons will find out she broke the rules. I've found some very interesting tomes on the Sharani. I would love to test the limitations of the Tinkerer's pets." He spoke as if the Sharani race were simply bugs to be placed under glass and examined. They were not human to him; they were 'other'.

Galee's lips curved into a languorous smile as she tongued her fangs again. "One day you shall, Solance. But only when I am ready to allow it. For now, you can stick to your reading. And be very cautious with this girl. She and her sister were part of the gang that helped Talons defeat Prince Mephistis' Gold Ravens at Armaten."

GODWAR CENTRAL

My Father's House