Even though it was dim, Rori could tell the passageway went parallel to the wall in both directions and was empty. Karyn turned right and led them down it with familiar ease. After only a few moments, she stopped them at a section of the wall that from this side was obviously a door. The lever to open the door was equally obvious from this side and when she pulled it, the wall in front of them swung inward. Beyond it was a dining room.

  This room was equally as ornate and well-appointed as the meeting room had been. Though it had quite a few less tables in it than Rori had been expecting. He had envisioned something more like a cafeteria with a dozen or more large tables, but instead it had four tables, each of which would be cramped with more than two people seated at them.

  Each table had two small chairs, was covered with a white tablecloth and a small candelabra. There was marginally more light than in the secret passageway, which meant that the artwork on the walls was hard to see, but it made the room much more intimate.

  After they had entered the room, Karyn let go of the door and it swung shut on its own. It closed with a soft click and disappeared from view. Try as he might Rori could no longer even see a line where the wall separated.

  “Have a preference?” Karyn said pointing to the tables.

  But before Rori could answer an older gentleman in a butler’s uniform appeared in the doorway. He acted as if he had been expecting them and immediately moved to pull out one of the chairs at the table nearest to them.

  “Lady Ulbricht,” he said gesturing to the seat.

  “Thank you. It’s Drummond, isn’t it?” she asked.

  “Exactly. How nice of you to remember,” said Drummond taking Karyn’s papers from her and placing them on a nearby side table.

  Rori pulled out the other chair and sat down.

  “We were in the midst of our meeting when we both remembered that we’d missed lunch. Is there anything still in the kitchen worth eating?”

  “I’m sure we can find something. Does the lady and gentlemen have a preference?”

  “We’ll trust your judgment. I’m led to believe Rori has built up quite an appetite today, so we’re going to need something more than a snack.”

  “Just so, Madame,” said Drummond as he left the room.

  “If I eat another bite, I think I’ll burst,” said Rori.

  “If you eat another bite, I think I’ll burst,” said Karyn pointing to the empty platter. “You ate three times what I did.”

  “Did you want some more? I didn’t mean to leave you without enough,” said Rori with obvious concern in his voice.

  Karyn laughed.

  “Rori, you are too sweet. It’s fine. You can have as much as you want. If we wanted more, Drummond could bring twelve more platters out. Don’t worry, I’ve had plenty. And besides, I wouldn’t want to eat too much. I might lose some of the beauty that caught your eye.”

  “About that . . .” started Rori a flush appearing on his cheeks.

  “Don’t you dare take it back or spoil it now! That’s the nicest thing anyone has said to me in years.”

  After a pause Rori said, “I wasn’t going to deny that it’s true. But it probably wasn’t the appropriate thing to say.”

  “Oh, forget appropriate. My life is full of appropriate. Frankly, I could use a little inappropriate.”

  “Okay, then I stand by my statement. But honestly at the time I was just noticing how young you were. Aren’t Senators usually a bit older?”

  “Usually, but let’s leave it at that. Asking a lady her age is a bit farther past appropriate than I want to go.”

  “Well then, I’ll do as you say and leave it at that.” But after another moment’s silence Rori continued on with, “You have to forgive me as I’m not well versed on the ins and outs of Lorenthian politics, but how do you get to be a Senator?”

  “Typically, you’re elected by the people who you represent.”

  “That’s what I assumed. So do you represent the people of Willowsbrook?”

  “No, with a few exceptions like the capital, most Senators represent larger districts than just a city. Willowsbrook technically falls into the jurisdiction of Senator Kinmere and Lycea is in the area represented by Senator Strayburg. But there are some exceptions. For instance, there is a special senatorial seat for the stores, merchants and people who live and work on the highway between Lycea and Willowsbrook. It is those people that I have the good fortune to represent.”

  “That seems pretty important,” said Rori.

  “Too important for someone as young as me?”

  “In truth, I don’t know. You tell me. Is it too much for you?”

  “Most days I don’t think so. But there are days when I wonder if I’ve been fooling myself.”

  “Days like today?”

  “What makes you say that,” said Karyn with suspicion in her voice.

  “Because when you made that comment your eyes shifted over to that pile of papers you’ve been working on, and your mouth turned down just a bit at the corners.”

  “That’s impressive, I guess if I want to keep secrets from you, I need to be more guarded.”

  “I can’t take much credit for it. Nolan’s the best at reading people that I’ve ever known. I try to see what he does, and he gives me pointers, but he’s got years’ worth of more practice than I do.”

  “Is he as good at telling when people are lying as I’ve heard?”

  “Probably better.”

  Rori fidgeted with his fork for a moment and then said, “Care to tell me your problem? Who knows, maybe I can help? Though numbers in a ledger are not my specialty.”

  “So, you could tell it was numbers? I really do need to be more careful around you. Anything more than that?”

  “No. Some money go missing or something?”

  “Actually, the book work is not the source of my concern. It just happens that some of the people involved in that bit of my job are also involved in other things.”

  “Well, if it isn’t numbers in a ledger then who knows, maybe I can help.”

  Senator Ulbricht stared at Rori as she took a sip from her wine glass. She held the glass for a moment and then set it back onto the table.

  “Though it may well be a mistake, I will tell you. I wasn’t kidding when I said that nobody has said anything that nice, or nice at all, to me in far too long. Life is lonely without friends and confidantes. Something tells me I can trust you and so I shall.”

  “I am honored,” said Rori trying not to sound awkward.

  “You mentioned earlier that I am young for a Senator, and you are right. I am nearly the youngest person in the Senate. And if you go back to the time when I got this position and take into account the different life spans of other races, at that time I was the youngest. You also wondered if maybe I wasn’t too young to have gotten this exact position, and you were right again. But what you may not have known is how I came to be here.

  “The truth is that it used to be my husband’s seat. Lord Ulbricht was actually quite a few years older than I. How we came to be married is a story for another time, more pertinent is what happened after he died. There is no one set rule for what to do when a Senator dies. One of the problems with Lorenthian law is that it is a joining together of dozens of different sets of laws and they rarely mesh cleanly. In the case of a Senator dying, it means that the rules vary from region to region depending on the traditions of the people and other factors.

  “Senate seats are usually served in four-year terms. For this seat, the rules say that if the Senator dies and there is less than one year left in his term, their spouse gets to serve out the remainder of the term in a sort of honorary appointment. Actually, that is pretty common for a lot of the seats. It saves the trouble of spending half the year with an election to fill a spot that will require another election almost immediately thereafter. And it’s a way to honor the old Senator and their spouse.”

  Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

  “So, when Gerard died with only ten months left in his term, that is what happened to me. Typically, they don’t expect much from the grieving widow. If you want, you can sit in your dead spouse’s seat at the assemblies and try to pay attention. Nobody expects you to say or do anything.

  “And that is exactly what I did for the first three months. But eventually I came to terms with my grief, and I started to realize that Gerard’s constant explanations about what went on in his life had done more than give us something to talk about as we passed the time. So, I stopped just sitting there in the Senate and I started to pay attention. Then one day when we were in session, I shocked them all by standing up to talk.

  “The leader of the session completely ignored me and gave the floor to another Senator. I think it was Senator Jervyn. I was so nervous at the time that I don’t remember. Regardless of who it was, they were polite enough to say that I had called for the floor first and so I was recognized and given the floor to speak.

  “I started out shakily enough, but as I spoke, I found my courage and soon I was giving my thoughts a full-throated airing. When I finished the other Senators just stared and then Senator Rust, a dear old man, said, ‘I agree completely.’ There was some more discussion and a few changes but eventually my plan was implemented nearly the same as I’d proposed it.

  “And naturally, I didn’t stop there. I looked into everything I could get my nose into. If it looked interesting, I dug further. And if I had something I thought might contribute, I spoke up. Seven months later I had impressed enough people that I was reelected to the same position. Youngest Senator to ever be elected to this seat. Well, youngest human anyway, and now two years later here we are.”

  “That’s wonderful,” said Rori. “So, where is the problem?”

  “The problem is that much of what I just said isn’t true. I thought it was true and if you were to ask around, you’d probably get that same story, but the truth is that it’s a fa?ade.” Senator Ulbricht leaned in closer so she could speak in a lower voice.

  “I did get the seat because of Gerard’s dying and the other senators did expect me to simply be a place holder until the next election. But even more importantly, a few of them wanted me there because I was unlikely to upset their machinations. Schemes and plans that unfortunately Gerard had been embroiled in. If someone with any political experience at all had gotten the seat, the newcomer would have spotted something was awry, or at least being kept secret, almost immediately.

  “I did surprise them all by standing up to talk that day. But I surprised the schemers even more when I started looking into everything I could. I know now that I actually came quite close to stumbling on to their plans on a couple of occasions. Which is why they started discreetly manipulating me to make sure the things I found out about and the things that I got involved with were as far away from their plans as possible. They even went so far as to make sure there were things for me to discover that I could talk about. Things that made me look quite good in the eyes of my constituents.

  “I’m not sure if this was a part of the initial reason for doing that, but eventually they realized that they could probably keep manipulating me in that way for much longer than the remainder of Gerard’s term. They could do it for years or maybe even indefinitely. It got to where they were trying to make me look as good as possible so that they could get me reelected.

  “Then they could continue on with their schemes and not have to worry about what legitimate person became the senator of this seat next. I don’t actually have proof, but I’m fairly certain that my re-election was rigged as well. Or at the very least, heavily manipulated to allow me to continue being a duped fool.”

  “How can you be so sure all of this is true?” asked Rori.

  “Because in political games like this, if there is one side trying to manipulate things in one direction, there is almost assuredly another side trying to move it in the other. And in this case, once the opponents of these plans found out what was going on, they tried to do the most expedient thing possible to upset the apple cart. They told me the truth.”

  “Are you sure this second group wasn’t the one actually lying to you?”

  “Rori, you’ve a mind just devious enough for a politician,” said Karyn with a smile.

  “I’m not sure if that is a compliment or an insult,” said Rori.

  “Me either,” laughed Karyn. “The truth is that I also did not believe what I was being told. In part because it meant I had been duped, but also because it would mean that my dear Gerard was not quite so innocent and noble as I had always believed. But you must not doubt that I have completely confirmed it all for myself since then.

  “In part I have confirmed it through private conversations, but the final undeniable bit of proof came when I found Gerard’s secret notes. The people who finally clued me in as to what was going on told me that if I didn’t believe it, I should search Gerard’s office and surely there would be some proof in his workpapers. And I did search, but for a long time I found nothing untoward. Until one day I stumbled upon a secret space in a place nobody but Gerard could have gotten into or found. Well, I suppose it isn’t impossible, but let’s just say it is exceedingly unlikely.

  “In this place, amongst other papers, I found a journal in which Gerard was collecting all of the damning information he could on the whole affair. I would like to think that he was going to use it to extricate himself from the plot, but that is probably just wishful thinking on my part.”

  “But then all you need to do is show that information to . . . I don’t know, someone important. Right?” asked Rori.

  “It’s not quite that simple. While the information in the book would put these people in a bad spot and could be used to ruin their plans. It would also hurt Gerard’s name, his family and my family quite a lot if it all became public. It would also likely mean I would lose my seat on the Senate. But it is all a moot point, because I no longer have the journal. It was stolen from me. And now the very people that I could use the journal to implicate in wrongdoing, are using it instead to blackmail me.

  “Whew,” Rori whistled. “Too bad you don’t know where it is. Maybe you could get it back.”

  “Actually, that’s the part that constantly eats at my mind. I know exactly where it is. One of the leaders of the group keeps it on himself at all times. The journal is attached to a silver chain. He wears it around his neck, under his shirt. I can see the chain every time I see him. In fact, I can’t not see it. I end up staring and when he notices me noticing it, he just smiles smugly at me.”

  “That’s some story,” said Rori.

  “I can scarcely believe it myself at times. But I can’t ignore it. These people have already begun using the book to force me to do things for them. So far it hasn’t been anything illegal. They did tell me how I was supposed to vote once, but it wasn’t a problem because it was how I was going to vote anyway. But it is only a matter of time before they tell me to do something worse or to vote against my conscience.

  “I’m not sure what I should do at this point, and I don’t think there is much you can do about it, Rori. But thank you for just being an ear I could vent too.”

  They left the private dining room and headed back to the meeting room. Rori half expected to find several panicked soldiers searching the room for them, but the door into the hall was still closed and the room looked the same as when they left it.

  As they stepped back inside, the secret door again swung shut on its own. And while this room was much better lit than the dining room, once the door had closed Rori still could see no trace that it was there.

  He looked as closely as he could, probably taking more time than he otherwise would, trying to use the extra time to organize his thoughts. Eventually he turned around and said, “I could get it back you know.”

  “Get what back?” said Karyn spreading her papers out again as she prepared to get back to work.

  “The journal. Just tell me who has it and I could do it.”

  Karyn stared at him for a moment. To Rori it seemed like she was silently taking stock of him with some measure of which he was unaware. As she looked at him, he was struck once again by the simple beauty of her face.

  “I don’t know,” Karyn said uncertainly. “It would mean exposing yourself to people that could make things bad for you and, if you were to fail, for me.”

  “I’ll wear a mask. They’ll never know who I am and don’t worry I won’t fail.”

  “How can you be so sure? While I’m sure Dade and the others have left out some parts of your story, from what I can tell, you were, and I mean no offense by this, essentially a poor, young gypsy duped by his clan less than a year ago.”

  “A year ago, my poor clan might have killed you for calling one of us a gypsy,” said Rori. “It’s a term that the Cunāe find slanderous, but I can see your point. Tell me how I can prove it to you?”

  Karyn smiled and said, “You’ve practically already convinced me with your conviction and certainty. And as I said earlier, I just get the feeling that I can trust you, but that isn’t enough. I have no idea what else you could say.”

  “Forget ‘say’. What can I ‘do’? Look. I’ll stand on the opposite side of the room. You can throw things at me, and I bet I can get to you and steal the necklace you have on under your shirt without you hitting me once.”

  “Ha!” laughed Karyn. “I’ve got several problems with that suggestion. First of all, there isn’t that much in here to throw. Second, what there is to throw is all far too valuable to destroy throwing across a room. Third, I have no doubt most anyone could dodge anything thrown by me and fourth, after the first crash the guards out in the hall would come rushing in and then what would we do?

  “Actually, I’ve got more. Fifth, I don’t think I want to have a reputation as the Senator who goes crazy and destroys meeting rooms, or any rooms for that matter. And finally, I don’t want to risk harm to my neck or harm to my necklace. It’s rather old and of sentimental value. It used to be my grandmother’s. She gave it to me a month before she died.

  “But on the plus side, it is impressive that you even saw that I had a necklace on. I wear it under my clothes to protect it, but also because I don’t want people to see it and assume it represents a vulnerability,” said Karyn with her hand laid across her chest. Rori could just make out the outline of a pendant beneath the shirt.

  “You’re right, this probably isn’t the place for me to do that. But if you want, we can find a new location, people who are better at attacking and a necklace more like the one that was stolen and I would show you,” said Rori moving over to stand by Karyn. “Actually, I’m stumped. What kind of necklace would make people think you are weak?”

  “I’m not sure ‘weak’ is the right word. My grandmother was a priestess in the temple. This was her holy symbol.”

  Karyn put a finger under the chain around her neck and pulled the pendant out into the open. It fell onto her white shirt face down so that Rori could see the back of it. The pendant was silver, and the back had an etched pattern that he recognized. He immediately had a suspicion he knew what he would see on the other side. He reached out and took the pendant into his hand and flipped it over to the front. Laying there on his palm was the image of a face that filled him with peace. It was a holy symbol of Meredith.

  Before Karyn could speak, he reached up and pulled the medallion out from under his own shirt. His medallion was gold and significantly bigger and there was a different representation of the face on the front but there was no denying that they were both of the same person.

  “I don’t understand,” said Karyn. “The followers of Meredith are pacifists. You fight. You fought Yoska and killed him.”

  “There are exceptions to the pacifist rule,” said Rori. “The Sisters of the Eldritch Blade for example and others.”

  Karyn’s forehead wrinkled and her eyes narrowed as she thought through the implications of what he was saying. Her eyes grew wide.

  “And Meri’s Monks,” said Karyn with a gasp. “I knew there was a reason I felt I could trust you. Please sit. Are you actually claiming to be a member of an order of monks that has been gone for centuries? Tell me more and I’ll tell you who the men who have Gerard’s journal are. Maybe you can do something after all.”