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Kian
“Thank you for meeting me here.” Kian shook Edna's hand and then Andrew's.
“I'm excited,” the judge said. “After hearing so much about these gods, I can't wait to meet them.”
Kian had informed the council about the latest developments, and most of them had expressed a wish to meet up with the gods, but he hadn't been ready to do that yet.
His mother had twisted his arm.
“I'm curious about them too.” Andrew smiled good-naturedly. “It seems like you and I are here every other week, testing this or that person. It's never boring in our world, so it's all good. I don't mind missing lunch with Tim to come help you out.”
The forensic artist was incredibly talented, maybe even paranormally gifted, but his personality left much to be desired.
“How is our dear Tim?” Kian led them toward the elevator. “Weren't we supposed to test whether he's a Dormant?”
His brother-in-law smiled sheepishly. “You didn't seem overly excited about Tim potentially joining the clan, and I couldn't blame you, so I pretended to have forgotten about it. Do you still want to test him?”
Kian motioned for Edna to go ahead before following her into the elevator. “If you can arrange for it to be done away from the village, then sure. I don't want a wasted potential Dormant on my conscience.”
“We don't know that Tim is a Dormant, and his case is weak. The only thing that makes him a suspect is his supernatural talent to render almost lifelike portraits of people just from how others describe them. No one, human or immortal, ever felt an affinity with Tim, and according to Amanda, that's a stronger indicator than a paranormal talent.” Andrew chuckled. “The guy prides himself on being a pain in the ass.” Wincing, he glanced at Edna. “Forgive my language, judge.”
She chuckled. “I'm mated to Rufsur. I hear much worse.”
Kalugal's second-in-command was a little rough around the edges, but he was a good guy, and Kian liked him. If not for him and Edna, the accord between the clan and Kalugal and his people would have never been signed.
“Did you tell Aru that we were coming?” Andrew asked as they got out of the elevator at the penthouse level.
“I told him to expect us, but I didn't tell him what it's about.” He let out a breath. “I'm walking a thin line with these gods. On the one hand, I want to establish friendly relationships with them because they are our only link to Anumati and the Eternal King's plans, but on the other hand, I can't bring myself to trust them. They are too powerful, and the story they told us is too convenient, and now my mother insists on meeting them, and I'm desperate for any excuse to tell her that it's not possible.”
Andrew patted his shoulder. “I get it. I can't compare my parents to your mother, but I get frustrated with them too. I only want what's best for them, but our opinions differ as to what that entails.”
Edna chuckled, which was uncharacteristic of her, but then she had changed a lot since mating Rufsur, who was her exact opposite. “From what I gather, dealing with parents is more difficult than dealing with children. I don't have children yet, but I do have a mother, and she is not easy.”
Kian didn't know Edna's mother well, but if the judge said that about her, he had no doubt it was true. Edna was not prone to exaggeration.
“No earpieces?” Andrew asked when they stopped in front of the penthouse door.
Kian grimaced. “My mother had a few things to say about my paranoia, and I decided to take a page out of her book and just go for it. No earpieces and no Okidu to guard me. Anandur and Brundar are already there, though, and they have their earpieces in.” There was a limit to how reckless he would allow himself to be, but perhaps it was too much for the judge. He looked at Edna. “Are you okay with that?”
She shrugged. “Even with your new resolution regarding the level of risk aversion you are comfortable with, I know you wouldn't have forgone these safety features if you believed they were needed.”
“You know me well, judge.”
“Indeed, I do.”
This time Kian remembered to knock instead of just walking in.
Anandur opened the door with a big grin on his face. “Hello, boss. We have everything ready.”
“Meaning?” Kian asked.
“Come in and see.” He threw the door open.
Dagor
As the redhead opened the door for his boss, Dagor emptied the rest of the Snake Venom down his throat and put the bottle down.
The beer was growing on him, and it seemed to please Kian's bodyguards that they had managed to make a convert out of him.
