Kabal - 8. Chapter 8

Resting on his mate's lap, Nico pressed his finger against the barely visible bite mark beside the leaping black cat on Diarmad’s chest. "Will we make it this time?" he asked.

Diarmad tightened his arms around his lover, feeling complete for the first time after so many years. "Yes, we will."

Then he gave Nico’s bottom a little push. "Come on, up with you. We are supposed to meet the others in the kitchen for a briefing—slash—lunch at one." Looking at his watch, he frowned. "Which means we are ten minutes late already."

Nico snuggled against Diarmad for a moment longer before he sighed. "Okay." He hopped down and collected his clothes. When his gaze fell on the piano, he smiled. "I'd like to play for you tonight."

"I made sure it was tuned all the time." Diarmad shrugged. "I always hoped you would come back." Clearing his throat, he looked around. "Can you find my shirt?"

Holding up a wrinkled piece of clothing, Nico grinned. "You might want to run upstairs and get a new one, otherwise Landyn─"

"He will have something to say, even if we look all spic and span. Come on, hurry." Diarmad grabbed the shirt out of Nico's hand. After briefly trying to smooth some of the wrinkles, he shrugged and slipped it on.

Nico combed through his hair with his fingers and pulled it back into his usual low ponytail, then stopped mid-motion, and lifted his left eyebrow questioningly. "All spic and what?"

"All spic and sp ─ very funny," Diarmad grumbled then turned his head to hide a smile. He never thought he would be happy to hear Noël—Nico, mocking his, as he called it, antiquated language again.

Nico grabbed his leather jacket from the floor, and simultaneously, stepped into his boots. "All right old man, ready when you are."

Diarmad couldn't help one last possessive glance before he took Nico's hand as they made their way over to the kitchen, where five men and one woman looked at them expectantly as soon as they entered the room.

Landyn seemed entirely too pleased with himself when he saw their clasped hands, but before he could say a word, Becca squealed loudly. Jumping up from her chair, she threw herself into Nico's arms, forcing him to take several steps back, and almost trampled Henry, who had squeezed himself behind them through the open door. "Shit, honey, it's so good to finally have you here! Took you long enough."

Looking into her pale face, Nico leaned back and noticed dark shadows under her eyes. He tightened his arms around her for a moment longer. "How's my godson? How's Ruy?"

He knew her well. And indeed, the question made her instantly lose her smile. Pushing a strand of vivid red hair behind her ear, she murmured, "Later, okay? I need to talk to you..." she looked over to her mate nervously, "...later." When Ronan scowled and opened his mouth to protest, she lifted her hand to stop him. "Nico is Ruy’s godfather."

"He is also the king's mate," Ronan snapped back.

"Exactly. And as the king’s mate, he listens, mediates, solves problems." She pressed her lips together, making perfectly clear that, for now, this particular argument was over. When she saw Nico watching her and Ronan, concern written clearly all over his face, she mouthed again, 'Later.'

After a moment's hesitation, Nico nodded. "But don't you forget it."

She shook her head. "I won't."

Although he had overheard the exchange, Diarmad decided to ignore it for the moment and ask Nico about it later. Instead, he took charge of the conversation. "Okay, what do we have so far?"

Ivan looked up from the stack of papers he had been studying for the last few minutes, and he cleared his throat. "Sire, as predicted, the telephone rang off the hook after the news of the fire had spread, and I had to start the answering machine even sooner than we thought. I made a provisional list of the callers." He held several sheets of paper up for everyone to see, before he started to read. "The Secretary of the Council of Elders was among the first who called, closely followed by Cieran O’Connor." He looked up expectantly.

"The Secretary of the Council of Elders? The leader of the Order? What the hell?" Landyn snatched the list out of Ivan's hand to peruse it himself. "He never calls anyone. He always waits until someone calls him. Damn." He slammed the list on the table, only to have it picked up again, this time by Ronan.

"Does anyone else find this rather interesting, especially in the light of the Order’s decision to send a whole delegation to the negotiations?" Ronan drummed his fingers on the tabletop, irritated.

"The same applies to the council," Simon threw in.

“This is not normal?” asked Sho.

"No. The negotiations are important to us, but they are still a local matter. So, why is there this sudden interest in clan disputes?" Landyn frowned, while he twirled a pen on the tabletop with his finger. "I mean, it isn’t a murder charge yet, but an informative hearing. There is no need for the attendance of council and Order representatives in my opinion. The king himself is the chief negotiator. How much more official could it become? The council has seldom sent representatives to such events in the past, much less the Order. It’s overkill, isn’t it?"

Ivan rifled through his stack of papers. "Here is what they said about the matter." He fished a crinkled sheet out and smoothed it a little before he quoted, "'It has been a long time since a Seraei cold-bloodedly murdered one of his own people in a clan feud. Due to the particular severity of the offence, we feel obliged to send representatives to the hearing.'"

"Merdo!" Diarmad growled, before he slapped his fist on the table. "Nothing’s been proven yet. All we know is Neal Smythe was stabbed by Jamie McLean's knife. No one saw him actually wield it. Therefore, the ground rule 'In dubio pro reo--Doubt benefits the accused' applies as it always has, since I am king." Everybody ducked their heads instinctively, trying to stay off their king's radar, seeing how furious he was.

"Thank God Nico will have this solved quickly and unequivocally, now that he's here." Simon interrupted Ivan's attempt to dissuade his king's anger.

"Nico can tell us if Jamie is a murderer.” When Ivan glared at him, he lifted his hands. “— or not. But we all can agree this is only one aspect of the situation we have here, albeit the most serious. There is also the continuing unrest between the clans in Twin Springs. If you ask me, it is more than disconcerting that suddenly clans try to forbid each other to enter their respective territories. There have been problems between them in the past, but never to this extent. The McLeans are the only clan that outright owns the land they live on, and they never forbade other Seraei to enter or trespass. I can't help feeling there is more behind this."

"You think this could be a ruse? But what would they gain by it?" Nico asked.

"I wouldn't go so far as to call it a ruse, yet, but I do have a funny feeling about this."

"And that's why I think you should also scan the leaders of all three clans. If anyone knows what's going on, it's them," Ronan stated.

Leaning back in his chair, Landyn crossed his arms over his chest. "And we have come full circle. Do we really believe somebody tried to get rid of Nico because he is the one guy who could cut right through whatever bullshit there might be?"

This made Diarmad lay a hand on Nico's forearm protectively. "It is a possibility we already discussed. Therefore, they must not see Nico until the negotiations are about to begin. Once the hearing has started, they will have to go through with it, otherwise they will lose face with all Seraei. In his function as my mate, as well as being First Telepath, it is expected for him to participate in these kinds of trials, or hearings. Due to the former condition of our relationship, they might have reckoned he would shirk his duties."

"And just in case he wouldn’t, they tried to get him out of the equation anyway," Landyn deadpanned.

Diarmad tightened his hand around Nico's wrist; it was the only sign Landyn's crude remark bothered him. "We do not know this yet." He stopped briefly, unconsciously pulling Nico closer to him, until his lover was forced to lean against his side if he wanted to remain in his chair. "Anyway, during the preliminary negotiations with the clans, we agreed witnesses and accused will be scanned by a telepath, so they cannot feign surprise now, nor refuse the procedure."

The 'ding' of a kitchen timer interrupted their discussion. Ivan pushed back his chair. "That's the garlic bread I put in the oven earlier." He touched Nico's shoulder. "Get the salad and the dressings from the counter over there for me, will you?"

"Sure." Nico patted Diarmad's hand lightly, until he reluctantly let go of him.

"I'll get the plates and the silverware." Becca jumped from her chair way too eagerly, seemingly ready to do about anything to get a break from their depressing discussion.

After he removed several loaves of bread from the oven and put them on the table, Ivan said, "I thought I would make something simple for lunch--bread, salad, cheese, and fried chicken breast. I hope that's okay."

"Absolutely, thank you Ivan." Diarmad nodded approvingly.

"Help me with the drinks?" Simon's question startled Sho out of his reverie, and he blushed. Although he'd followed the discussion with rapt attention, his gaze had been drawn to his intended mate every so often, when he thought nobody was looking. With Simon winking at him, he knew at least one of them had noticed.

"Okay." He followed Simon to the fridge, where he handed him several bottles of water and juice. "Bring those to the table, would you? I'll get the rest."

After everybody settled down and helped themselves to food and drinks, they talked about mundane things for a while, until Ronan pointed his fork at Nico and Sho.

"We should cordon off Sho’s and Nico’s rooms by loyal guards after the delegations have arrived. As the king’s suite is in the same part of the hallway, no one will question it.”

"Nico’s room I understand, but why mine?" Sho asked bewildered.

"I have the feeling someone had Nico observed in Japan. If so, they know you were Nico’s sword trainer and friend, and they will question why you're here. We need to avoid those things, so we’ll hide you, together with Nico, until the hearing begins. Knowing him, he will be bored out of his skull locked in his room all by his lonely self."

Nico grinned. "That's right. I might even destroy the furniture out of boredom, target practice, and all—"

Diarmad shook his head, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Agreed." He then looked over at Ivan. "Did you talk to your father? Does he want you to be part of their delegation?"

Ivan nodded. "Yes, me and my younger brother."

"Then somebody else needs to take over your duties until this mess is solved."

"I can do that," Simon said readily.

Landyn rubbed his hands together. "Okay, now that's settled, we have to talk about the new guards. Due to how huge the whole operation became, I had to employ several new men. I know some of them, but the others I don't know as much about as I'd like. Therefore, I want Nico to scan them."

He lifted his hands when Diarmad protested. “We will take every precautionary measure, of course. He’ll do it covertly, out of their sight. He told me he could slink into someone's mind without them noticing if he wants to─"

"What?" Ronan interrupted them, alarmed. "I didn't know about that!"

Ignoring Ronan's interjection, Landyn continued, "It's worth a try, sire."

Diarmad shook his head vehemently. "No, this is far too dangerous. If anybody sees him, our whole plan could blow up in our faces, not to mention he could be attacked─"

Landyn sighed. "Look, I know this isn't ideal, but only he can pull this off, and we need to be sure about the guards. They’re a vital part of our security system. We can't afford to be lax about this."

Seeing his mate had no intention of budging, Nico put his hand on Diarmad's thigh, making soothing circles with his thumb. "I think it’s a good idea. I’ll hide somewhere close by, so they won't see me. Some of you will conduct the interrogation--maybe ask some hard questions, which will put them off balance. This way they'll have less chance of noticing me scanning them, even if they are perceptive." He searched Diarmad's eyes. "If there really is someone trying to disturb the negotiations, infiltrating the guards would be the logical approach. It's worth the risk, love."

"I disagree. Somebody could still see you. No, and these are my last words about this." Diarmad pressed his lips into a thin line, clearly signaling the argument was over.

Only Nico had no intention to go with his mate’s decision. “Could we do it upstairs, in one of the connecting rooms? I might be able to scan them through a closed door... never tried this, but if I concentrate hard and somebody gets them to lower their shields..."

"... by asking provoking questions for example," Sho added, understanding what Nico meant by 'hard questions'.

Nico grinned. "Right. Then this could work. Love?"

"How about a test run after lunch?" Becca leaned forward. "If it works, we'll try it with the guards, if not, no harm done. We have to come up with something else then though, because Nico and Landyn are right. The guards would be the logical choice if someone wants to get behind our security lines." When nobody objected, she grinned. "I volunteer. I'm the guinea pig, and Nico can try his evil through-a-closed-door-mind-tricks on me. Sounds like fun." She winked at him and, using her bangs as a veil, peered carefully at her king. As she expected, the man looked majorly pissed.

Nico took Diarmad's hand in his and pleaded with him. "It's a good compromise. D?"

"Very well," Diarmad conceded, through clenched teeth, and Simon smiled. Nico had once again proved he truly was the king's mate, his equal.

Ignoring the tense atmosphere, Landyn collected the dishes and silverware. "Okay, before we're off to observe that little experiment, we should talk about allocating responsibilities. I suggest Ronan, as head of security, coordinates the guards outside, watches the cameras, and is the general contact for all security-related issues." He looked around, and when nobody contradicted him, he continued, "The rules for formal events like these say firearms of any kind are forbidden. So traditional swords it is. In the outer perimeter, however, I'd say selected, trustworthy guards should be allowed to carry guns."

"In the preliminary negotiations, it was decided only the guards of the king and his mate—should he be a part of this—will carry weapons... well, swords, but I can already see we will have to insist on that rule, when the delegations arrive," Ronan grumbled. Then he turned toward Diarmad and Nico. "Did you choose your personal guards? Any preferences?"

"Yes. Landyn will be mine, and if Nico agrees, Sho will be his. They are experienced sword fighters. I want both of them to carry two swords so in case we need to, Nico and I can use their second," Diarmad decided, his voice still strained from their prior argument.

"Good, good. We're ready here then?" Becca looked as if she could barely wait to be scanned by Nico, which in return got her a knowing scowl from Ronan.

"I think so. Any questions?" Landyn looked around and when nobody answered, he nodded. "Okay. Ivan, lead the way to an appropriate room."

"Sure. Follow me." He went upstairs and opened the door to a bedroom on the left side of the hall, then entered the room. After perusing a key ring he'd fished out of his pants pockets, he selected a small key and unlocked the door that led to the neighboring room. "This should do."

"Who'll interview me?" Becca asked expectantly.

"My, you are an eager guinea pig, aren't you?" Simon grinned.

"Aww, shut up. I just want to test my mental shields, see if Nico is only talk."

"Uh huh, sure."

"I will do the interview," Diarmad interrupted their banter impatiently. "I suggest you lower your shields at the beginning, so Nico can establish contact, and then you try to prevent further incursion with all you have, okay?"

Becca nodded. "Okay."

"Nico?" Diarmad looked at his mate, who saluted mockingly. "Okay." and went into the other room. Ronan followed him. "I'll go with Nico."

"What, are you afraid she'll blab about family secrets?" Simon joked, seemingly oblivious of the sudden tension.

"That is exactly what he is afraid of," Becca snapped.

Nico shoved his hands in his pants pocket, looking uneasily from one to the other before he made his way over to two wingback chairs and sat down.

"I'll come with you two. What about the others? Should they stay with Becca and the king?" Landyn asked, as he went after them. When nobody followed, he closed the door and gestured to the second chair in the room. "Sit down, my friend. This should be interesting."

Ronan scowled. "I bet."

Ivan shouted from the other side of the door, "Ready?"

When Nico nodded, Landyn shouted back, "Ready!"

"Becca says stop pacing." Nico grinned at Ronan, who promptly stopped midstride and fell into the chair beside Nico, while Landyn unsuccessfully tried to suppress his laughter.

"Does this mean you can read her through the closed door?"

"Yup, this is easy though; she isn’t trying to shield her thoughts from me." Nico narrowed his eyes. "Ahhh, tough. She's good." His expression blanked, and he closed his eyes in concentration.

After a few minutes, Ivan yelled through the door, "Becca says to hurry up, she hasn't got all day."

This earned him a smug grin from Nico, even though Ivan couldn't see him, but Landyn could. "You're already in..." He shook his head. "Amazing...."

Ronan growled. "And she never noticed... Don't try this shit with me, ever."

"Or?"

"Or I'll forget who you are."

"You would have to detect him first though, right?" Landyn grinned.

Nico raised his eyebrows almost to his hairline. 'What the fuck? Nico, can you hear me? Shit, how would I know if this is working? Give me a sign. You probably can’t; that would blow the whole purpose, right? I guess I just have to trust your freaky abilities. Okay listen, and don't make a face, Ronan will immediately know what's up. Ruy’s in trouble. I don't know how to say this… shit, shit, shit!

He found his mate. Well, he thinks he found his mate, but this can't be possible, because Stuart is Seraei. It’s forbidden for two Seraei to be mates. On top of it, Stuart is his boss; one of the two partners in the law firm Ruy works for. Nico, what can we do? What if it is true, and he is his mate? Ruy is so sure.

I told him to leave the firm, but he said he can't; he won't. And Stuart isn't any Seraei--he is the first Earth-born Elder! He needs two mates, and he hasn't even found one yet. Oh my God, Nico... Ruy thinks Stuart is feeling it too. Of course he hasn’t shown any reaction; how could he? Ruy is so desperate... He asked me to tell you, to ask for your help. Nico, do you think you could help them? You can't tell the king though... Fuck, Nico! Gimme a fucking sign you heard me, and you will try to help my son!'

Nico had to do some quick thinking. He yelled, "That's enough, Becca! I'll try out your secret apple pie recipe as soon as this is all over!" And to Ronan and Landyn, "I'd say this experiment has been successful. Tomorrow we can scan the guards."

"I can't believe you know her secret apple pie recipe. Do you know how long I’ve been asking her for it? This is so unfair!" Landyn whined while Ronan watched him suspiciously.

Nico was super glad the man would never be able to read his mind. It wasn't that he couldn't understand why Ronan didn't want him to know about Ruy’s secret, as far as he knew, mating a Seraei was similar to treason. At that moment, he promised himself he would try to help Ruy, even if he had to comb through any material or ancient text available to find a way out the mess.

The door opened, and Becca stormed into the room. "Sneaky bastard, you stole my secret recipe!"

Later in the evening, she came to his room and grinned. "You really are a sneaky bastard; not only didn't I detect you entering my mind at all, now I have to tell you my mom's recipe! She will rotate in her grave, and her wrath will hit me next time I make it. Swear to me you’ll never tell anybody else. Shit, I'm so glad this worked. Do you think you can help him?"

"I don't know, Becca, but I'll try everything I can as soon as this is over, I promise."

"That's all that I can ask for."

The next day they prepared the same room for the interviews of the new guards. While Landyn interrogated them, Nico identified two who were working on behalf of the Smythes. Following a short meeting, Diarmad decided to send both of them home after he informed the Smythes of his findings and warned them not to try anything else or he would reduce their delegation to two men.

Nico walked into Sho’s room with his saddlebags over one shoulder and his backpack dangling from his hand. Grinning at Sho, who sat cross-legged on the comforter of his bed, he closed the door to their home for the next three days, and dropped everything beside the other bed. "And here comes one more lecture...."

"Don't forget to lock up behind you." Ivan's muffled voice sounded through the thick wood.

Nico rolled his eyes, walked back to the door, and turned the key with as much force as he could muster without breaking it. He leaned closer to the door. "Satisfied?"

"Absolutely. Now be a good boy and do something useful and quiet like reading a book. The guards are almost here. Ronan will be giving out the duty roster in the entrance hall and afterwards, the grand tour of the house. I'll be in the room allocated to the McLean delegation. Simon will bring you dinner later and─"

"We know this already, Ivan, because Diarmad and Landyn and Simon have told us each in their own way one time too many, thank you very much. Even great grandpas Sho and Nico finally got it in their dementia-riddled heads. We will not molest each other, take the headphones when we use the game console, or listen to music. We won't venture outside this room except if there is a fire or the hearing is about to start... Did I forget something great grandpa Sho?" He glanced over his shoulder at his friend, who was shaking with laughter.

"We'll have the shutters closed all the time, won't yell at each other when we play Madden, won't break out the swords to practice...."

"Okay, okay I get it." Ivan laughed. "I can hear the cars, so I am off to my room." He hesitated briefly. "And Nico? Look out for him if... I... he is still human. Okay?"

All mirth gone from his voice Nico answered seriously, "Of course Ivan, you have my word."

"Thank you and─"

"Go away, Ivan." Nico banged against the closed door with his flat palm. "Jeez, you'd think we're about to embark on a trip around the world on a raft with only one bottle of water and a bag of chips, not sit for three days in a comfortable room with a big flat screen TV, a game console, two high-end computers, and more e-books than we could read in a year."

"Don’t forget the chessboard."

"Exactly. Where are the swords?" Nico looked around the room.

"Nico!"

"What? We’ll need them when the meeting starts. I just wanted to know where they are."

"Uh huh..."

"Okay, gimme that chessboard."

Three days later, Nico was more than happy to get ready for the negotiations. Listening to all the unknown voices, footfalls, and even the occasional argument, had made him and Sho curious and antsy. Diarmad had visited him as often as he could, but they hadn't dared sleep in his room. They never knew who might barge in during the night, even if it was the king's suite. Therefore, the connecting door to Diarmad's room had been closed and locked all the time.

After tugging at the cuffs of his silver-grey dress shirt one last time, Nico looked at himself in the mirror and almost did a double-take at his own image.

Last night Simon had come with two garment bags over his arm and a shoebox in his hand. Inside were two suits--one black wool, the other charcoal grey--three dress shirts, two silken ties, and matching black, polished leather shoes.

It wasn't that he hadn't worn suits before. In his line of work, it had been unavoidable, and besides, Kris had always loved seeing him in them. However, he had never looked like this. This suit seemed to have been tailored solely for him. The light woolen fabric hugged his long legs just right, not too tight, not too baggy. The jacket emphasized his shoulders and small hips, without being constricting.

Lifting his hand to put a strand of hair behind his ear, his gaze met Sho's in the mirror. "Well, what do you think?"

Sho, who sat on the bed behind him, leaned back on his elbows and looked him over from head to toe. "Before me stands the king's mate and first telepath of the Seraei; if I were them and had something to hide, I would be shitting my pants."

Nico grinned. "You would?"

"Totally."

"That's good then, huh?" Taking in one last deep breath, he turned to Sho. "Ready?"

Now it was his friend who shrugged. "As ready as I can be."

"You're nervous?"

"A little bit." Sho smoothed the black, loose pants over his thigh. He'd chosen to wear this particular garment in order to have full freedom of movement in case he needed to fight. The black Henley shirt he'd borrowed from Nico showed his tightly-muscled upper body. Nico smiled briefly, thinking how Ivan was going to have problems staying focused, seeing his future mate like this.

"Me too. I can't help the feeling we're headed for disaster, but what else could we do?"

Sho lifted an eyebrow. "Other than heading for disaster you mean?"

"Oh shut up; you know what I mean."

A hard knock at the door interrupted them. "Here we go. That will be Diarmad and Landyn." Nico headed for the door then stopped and grabbed Sho's arm. "One last thing, you can't shield your mind yet, so I'll protect you with mine. I bet they have a telepath among them trying to read us, so stay close by."

"Okay." Sho took the swords lying on the bed and slipped them into the harness on his back, then he nodded. "Ready."

Nico opened the door and found Diarmad leaning against the opposite wall, one hand pushed into the pocket of his dark grey suit pants. He looked relaxed, only the slight silver hue in his eyes betrayed his agitation.

Nico stepped out and ran his hand over his mate's damp strands. "You cut your hair."

"Yes, it was getting too long."

Nico didn't tell him he'd liked it better longer and curling over the collar of his shirt. He figured Diarmad must have needed this to get into his king mood, as Nico called it when his mate had to become all leader of the Seraei.

Nico leaned in to kiss him, but Diarmad stopped him with a hand on his chest, and then looked at him hungrily. "Simon chose well. You look good," and with that, he grabbed him by his shoulders, covered Nico’s mouth with his own, and kissed him, hard. Their teeth scraped against each other before their tongues met in a hot and messy kiss.

When Diarmad finally released him, Nico struggled for breath. "Wow."

"Now you look even better." Satisfied Diarmad ran a thumb over Nico's swollen lips. Then he nodded at Sho as if nothing had happened. "Good morning, Sho."

"Good morning Sire, Landyn." Sho didn't know where to look and finally fixated on a spot over Landyn's right shoulder, which caused the other man to snort.

Diarmad motioned for Landyn to take the lead. "Let’s go and get this show on the road."

Nico found the hallway strangely deserted. They passed closed doors and silent corridors; not even the guards were on patrol.

"Where are the guards?"

Seeing his confusion, Landyn explained, "We thought it would be better if no one sees you on our way down."

Ronan awaited them at the entrance to the conference room. "Your highness, everybody has arrived. The atmosphere between the McLeans and the other delegations is as tense as expected. Oh, one member of the Order delegation inquired about the chair beside yours. Luckily, Cieran surmised it might be a gesture of honor in memory of your recently deceased mate. I didn't contradict him. I hope that was all right."

"Perfect." Diarmad smiled reassuringly, before he addressed Landyn, "You will take point, I will follow right behind you. This way Nico will not be seen until he takes his chair. I want to see and feel their reaction up close." He turned to Sho. "You will protect our back."

They moved silently in position, then Diarmad gave a sharp nod and Ronan opened the door and announced, "The king."

I guess we can call this chapter 'lull before the storm'
@Valkyrie