"I am asking only because I don't want to get in trouble," the new gardener said. "I want to steer clear of it as best I can."
The human was doing a fantastic job, and Losham wondered how much of it was his own words and how much was what Dave had planted in his head.
"The lord gets angry from time to time. Very angry. You don't want to be anywhere near him when that happens. Mercifully, this time he's sequestering himself until the episode is over. Rumors say that he hurt one of his concubines quite badly, and this is not something the lord normally enjoys doing. He doesn't want to hurt any of the others, so he remains in seclusion."
"I see. Where is he staying, so I will know to avoid the area?"
"His suite of rooms is on the top floor of the pyramid, and we are not allowed anywhere above floor four, so you are not going to run into the lord or his ladies. You're safe. The maids, on the other hand, have no choice, and the poor things fear for their lives every time they deliver food to the lord and ladies or need to clean their rooms."
"What's on those forbidden floors besides the lord's suite of rooms?"
"The pool, the library, other recreational facilities, the ladies' suites, and an interior garden for their exclusive pleasure. The gardeners working there don't answer to me. It's a different crew."
"I'm glad," the new gardener said. "I would've shaken in my boots if I had to work there."
Losham stopped the audio.
"That's a good sample," he said. "I have several more like it with different staff members, but they all paint more or less the same picture."
He picked up his coffee and took a sip, watching his brothers over the rim.
Kolhood's expression hadn't changed.
Hazok looked bored, his expression slack while he waited to see what Kolhood would say so he could agree with it. Hocken sat with his arms folded over his chest, trying to look unimpressed while also waiting for his cue from Kolhood.
"It was word for word," Kolhood finally said. "The head gardener told your human exactly what you have been telling us for weeks, in the same order and using the same talking points. It sounded as if he was reading from a script."
Losham set the coffee down and assumed a sarcastic smile. "Are you implying that I'm so powerful that I can send telepathic instructions all the way to the harem and directly into the head of that human?"
Annoyance flashed in Kolhood's eyes. "Of course not. I don't know how you did it, but that conversation didn't sound authentic."
Losham wondered where Kolhood had learned to use the word authentic. That wasn't something that belonged in the brute's vocabulary.
"That is impressive on my part. I would love to know how I did it."
"I do not know how, only that it was done." Kolhood took a deep breath.
Losham smiled.
His brother wasn't going to smell the lie on him. Losham had two thousand years of practice to subdue his emotional scents so he could hide his true intention from Navuh.
"You caught me, Kolhood. I've been hiding my telepathic abilities for centuries."
Hazok snorted, Hocken's mouth twitched, but Kolhood's suspicious expression did not change.
"Mock me if you like, but that will not make me believe your story." Kolhood kept his flat, black gaze on Losham's eyes, unblinking, trying to intimidate Losham into breaking eye contact first, but it wasn't going to work.
Kolhood was an amateur compared to their father.
Losham held the gaze easily, his own amusement shaping his expression, and waited.
Eventually, Kolhood broke eye contact.
He covered the break by waving a dismissive hand. "I don't know why you bothered with those snippets. I've heard the entire thing."
"I'm sure you did. I played the sections for emphasis, so we could put this never-ending argument to rest."
"The recording didn't last long," Kolhood said.
