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And Yunez, the only tell that he was a dirty old man, was the twinkle in his eyes.
“We apologize for any concern we may have caused you with our uninvited arrival,” Nato started, unaware of the exchange between Yunez and me. “Isolde and our Lusty Legion never intended to gain an audience with you this way.”
I snuck a questioning look to Yunez. He was the leader, and once he was added to our group, the others all naturally deferred to him. I mean, he was freaking seven hundred years old.
He winked.
Ah, okay. Nato was falling into old habits, and Yunez was happy to let him take the lead. I got it now.
“Hold on,” Toste interjected, waving a hand. “Before we jump into pleasantries, there’s something else we should discuss.” His mouth was a hard slash across his mouth. “We’re about to have visitors.”
Wade sighed,and took the seat next to Toste, the little girl scrambling up into his lap. Isa took the chair on the other side of Toste and I took a minute to soak them in.
They had built a beautiful family for themselves. I hoped, with the coming war, they wouldn’t be torn apart.
I’d do everything I could to make sure they made it out to the other side unharmed.
“What visitors?” Jari asked, looking between Toste and then each of us.
Oh yeah. I’d already gotten sidetracked.
Toste grunted, and the skin pinched around his eyes. “Before you arrived, we’d been fighting these rultsharts for two days. They had an unimaginable number of fighters.” He drew in a deep breath. “We weren’t losing, but we weren’t winning either. If your…people hadn’t shown up when you did, we might have lost from sheer exhaustion.” The words were torn from his throat on a soft growl as if he hated to admit that shameful truth.
No one spoke. I, and apparently the others, were giving him the time he needed to get his words out.
“The children had escaped their hiding place,” he shot his daughter a quelling look and she beamed, very proud of herself.
We all laughed.
“Which seems to have worked out. None of the…Mannos…seemed to want to hurt the children. Shocking, but true. Otherwise, I don’t know how we wouldn’t even have lost one.” Toste caught Wade’s hand and kissed the knuckles.
“The blond haired one, I think he was the leader—”
“Sliad,” we all chorused.
“Sliad,” Toste sneered, “thought this city would fall with minimal effort. He wasted no time in telling me all about who he was, why they were shunned from society, and how they were going to take their rightful place over Fennina. Not within our society, but over it.”
Yunez rubbed his chin. “I think Sliad would have shared his history and motives with you regardless. They are ready for Fennina to know about them. I am not even sure they were trying to win. It would not surprise me if they only wanted to arrive in style, really shake things up and spread word of their existence through fear.”
Toste cut his eyes at Wade for barely a second. “Yunez, it is my understanding you have the sight. Why would you be guessing on their strategies?”
Grinding his teeth, Yunez fisted one hand on the table. “Unfortunately, I am not omnipresent. Not as much as I would like to be. And the Mannos, the Fiasla Mannos, have a blocker. A powerful one. For some time now, I have not been able to see their path. At all.”
Deafening silence blanketed us. Toste stared hard at Yunez while giving nothing away in his gaze about his thoughts. Then he landed the bomb he had alluded to.
“The first chance I had, when Sliad was distracted and pushed outside, I sent messengers to the other three capital cities to share the news.” His eyes glinted. “But Phin won’t be there to receive the message.”
“Well, technically, Phin will be.”
“What?” I blurted out as my LL twisted to gawk at Yunez.
“How can you be in two places at once? That’s not a superpower I’m aware you have.” Sage crossed his arms.
“I am not in two places at once. But mental manipulation is not a power that is unique to just me. Several Mannos possess it. When I cannot be in Helfai, one of my Mannos poses as Phin to keep up appearances. It is quite handy.” He glanced at Rand out of the corner of his eyes.
Mateo…the trainer in Rainer’s house.
Of course. Why hadn’t we questioned what happened when he couldn’t be there?
