Tomorrow I will announce that at the Advisory meeting, and none of the others will dare to disagree with me.”
“My dear fellow, you can’t be serious,” the portly man protested, again at the urging of the entity. “Adriari and her group are gone, and these others have won the competitions. You can’t simply discount that just because they aren’t the group you favored.”
“I can do anything I please!” Zolind growled in a louder than-normal voice, thawing the attention of everyone in the salon. Those immediately around him had remained silent, trying to disassociate themselves from the portly man who was so rash as to disagree with Zolind. The entity felt their disturbance clearly, and made no attempt to change it.
“I can do anything I please, including rejecting people I imply cannot stomach!” Zolind growled forcefully, glaring it the portly man. “That Delin Moord is one of them, and I’ve become convinced that Moord is the one responsible or Ollon’s death. Someone has to be responsible, someone has to pay! Do you have any idea how much I miss—”
Zolind’s words broke off as he obediently turned away from his guests, one hand covering his eyes to demonstrate his anguish. A roomful of glances were exchanged, making it plain that most of them were aware of Zolind’s relationship with Ollon Kapmar. It was also clear that Zolind had never mentioned it aloud before, and more than a few of the observers were upset by Zolind’s abrupt loss of self-control.
“You have our sympathy, of course, my friend, but you must be reasonable,” the portly man was made to say gently after a moment. “If the winning Five isn’t Seated, the commoner leaders will want to know why. Telling them that someone has to pay for Ollon’s death won’t satisfy them, not when there’s no actual proof that it was this Moord fellow. And you don’t have actual proof, do you?”
“I dislike the elder Moord, and I loathe his son!” Zolind was made to shout as he whirled back to face the fool who challenged him. “Have you somehow forgotten exactly who I am? I want someone to pay for Ollon’s death, and therefore someone will pay! Are you too stupid to understand that?”
Zolind was now in a frenzy, his eyes opened wide as spittle sprayed from his. mouth. Those closest to him had taken a pair of steps back, some retreating even farther. The portly man was made to look horrified as he joined everyone else in recoiling, and that was allowed to increase the Advisor’s agitation. Zolind began to shout incoherently, his face reddening dangerously as he accused everyone in the room of being in collusion against him. Then the Advisor gasped and clutched at his chest, faltering a moment before collapsing to the floor.
The portly man led some of the others in rushing to Zolind, but it was already too late. The entity had caused the Advisor’s heart to fail, killing the man almost instantly.
“He’s dead!” the portly man announced in a shocked whisper as he struggled to straighten up. “He’s dead, and I feel responsible!”
“You were insane for arguing with him, but it isn’t your fault that he’s dead,” one of the other guests grudged, relieving the entity of the need to cause someone to say that. “Losing Ollon obviously unhinged him, and we’re all quite fortunate that he died. If he’d lived, his madness would have caused untold harm before someone found the courage to oppose him.”
“If they’d ever found it,” the portly man agreed with a sigh. “Zolind’s autocratic manner has never been easy to disagree with, but tonight I simply couldn’t abide letting the matter go. There would have been all sorts of trouble if the new Five failed to be Seated simply because Zolind disliked one of them, but the other Advisors would never have been able to overrule him.”
“People have said for years that Zolind had a collection of serious indiscretions to hold over their heads,” someone else put in.
“My dear fellow, you can’t be serious,” the portly man protested, again at the urging of the entity. “Adriari and her group are gone, and these others have won the competitions. You can’t simply discount that just because they aren’t the group you favored.”
“I can do anything I please!” Zolind growled in a louder than-normal voice, thawing the attention of everyone in the salon. Those immediately around him had remained silent, trying to disassociate themselves from the portly man who was so rash as to disagree with Zolind. The entity felt their disturbance clearly, and made no attempt to change it.
“I can do anything I please, including rejecting people I imply cannot stomach!” Zolind growled forcefully, glaring it the portly man. “That Delin Moord is one of them, and I’ve become convinced that Moord is the one responsible or Ollon’s death. Someone has to be responsible, someone has to pay! Do you have any idea how much I miss—”
Zolind’s words broke off as he obediently turned away from his guests, one hand covering his eyes to demonstrate his anguish. A roomful of glances were exchanged, making it plain that most of them were aware of Zolind’s relationship with Ollon Kapmar. It was also clear that Zolind had never mentioned it aloud before, and more than a few of the observers were upset by Zolind’s abrupt loss of self-control.
“You have our sympathy, of course, my friend, but you must be reasonable,” the portly man was made to say gently after a moment. “If the winning Five isn’t Seated, the commoner leaders will want to know why. Telling them that someone has to pay for Ollon’s death won’t satisfy them, not when there’s no actual proof that it was this Moord fellow. And you don’t have actual proof, do you?”
“I dislike the elder Moord, and I loathe his son!” Zolind was made to shout as he whirled back to face the fool who challenged him. “Have you somehow forgotten exactly who I am? I want someone to pay for Ollon’s death, and therefore someone will pay! Are you too stupid to understand that?”
Zolind was now in a frenzy, his eyes opened wide as spittle sprayed from his. mouth. Those closest to him had taken a pair of steps back, some retreating even farther. The portly man was made to look horrified as he joined everyone else in recoiling, and that was allowed to increase the Advisor’s agitation. Zolind began to shout incoherently, his face reddening dangerously as he accused everyone in the room of being in collusion against him. Then the Advisor gasped and clutched at his chest, faltering a moment before collapsing to the floor.
The portly man led some of the others in rushing to Zolind, but it was already too late. The entity had caused the Advisor’s heart to fail, killing the man almost instantly.
“He’s dead!” the portly man announced in a shocked whisper as he struggled to straighten up. “He’s dead, and I feel responsible!”
“You were insane for arguing with him, but it isn’t your fault that he’s dead,” one of the other guests grudged, relieving the entity of the need to cause someone to say that. “Losing Ollon obviously unhinged him, and we’re all quite fortunate that he died. If he’d lived, his madness would have caused untold harm before someone found the courage to oppose him.”
“If they’d ever found it,” the portly man agreed with a sigh. “Zolind’s autocratic manner has never been easy to disagree with, but tonight I simply couldn’t abide letting the matter go. There would have been all sorts of trouble if the new Five failed to be Seated simply because Zolind disliked one of them, but the other Advisors would never have been able to overrule him.”
“People have said for years that Zolind had a collection of serious indiscretions to hold over their heads,” someone else put in.
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