Read Online Spheres of Influence-eARC by Ryk E Spoor - Free Book Online

authority that was tortured out of you or blackmailed out of you, though I wouldn’t want to bet that a Shadeweaver couldn’t get away with his mind-woogie doing the same thing—if you hadn’t been so smart as to cut that off at the pass. But you can bet your bottom dollar that it’s not gonna give one tiny ram’s damn about something like assassination that’s purely ‘in the family.” How we run our politics is our business.”
    Much as she hated to admit it, he had a point. There might well be people willing to kill her over stuff like this. “You said in two ways…oh.”
    “Yeah. You’re also the first, and right now only, human with those weird powers the Shadeweavers and Initiate Guides have. They’re sealed away—for now—and you don’t know how to use them—yet—and that makes you a Problem for a lot of people, both here and back in the Arena.”
    “All right, maybe I do need a bodyguard. No offense, Marc, but…is he really that good?”
    The huge Hyperion burst out laughing, Saul following suit, as Wu looked down modestly. “Is he that good? Ariane…Captain…I’ll let him give you a demonstration sometime, maybe when we get back to the Arena, where I can be sure that the only spy looking over my shoulder is the Arena. But yeah. Better than that, even.”
    She glanced at Wu. “Wu, sorry about my…issues here. But it’s just hard for me to imagine that I’d need a bodyguard at all.”
    “I understand. But DuQuesne says you need one, so you do, and I’m going to do that job.”
    Fine . “Okay. BUT we will do this my way.” She made her face look hard and used her most forceful tone. As if any tone I use is likely to impress a Hyperion. “There will be times I have to speak to people privately, here and in the Arena, and I will speak with them privately, which means without you present. And when I go to my private quarters they will remain my private quarters, whether you like it or not. And that goes for you AND Dr. Marc C. Hyperion Superman DuQuesne. Have I made myself clear?”
    For a second neither of them responded; to her surprise they were staring at her almost like two students being reprimanded, and Saul Maginot as well, his mouth half-open in shock. “Crystal-clear, Captain.” DuQuesne said finally, not a trace of his frequent sardonic humor present.
    “Very very clear, Captain Ariane! DuQuesne, she is scary like that! I like her!”
    Ariane found it very hard to keep from laughing, but she managed to keep her face straight—though it took heroic effort, and from the sound of things Gabrielle wasn’t finding it easy either. “Then in that case, Wu Kung, I need to talk to DuQuesne alone.” She turned towards the aft door, grabbing up Mentor’s case as she did so.
    “Yes, sir! …I mean, Ma’am …” Looking slightly confused at which term of address to use, Wu Kung backed off.
    DuQuesne followed her through the door.
    She giggled after it shut. “He’s awfully sweet, you know?”
    DuQuesne’s expression softened. “Yeah. Why do you think he was our heart, so to speak? Not the leader, not the smartest, but the one no one could really dislike.”
    “Hard to see him as so dangerous, then. But enough of that for now.” She sat back down, gesturing for DuQuesne to do the same; he settled in, somewhat warily, across from her. “Marc, I wanted to talk to you about a lot of things once we got back, but what just happened…changes things.”
    DuQuesne nodded. “Hyperion.”
    “Exactly.” She looked at him sympathetically. “I know—now more than I did—how hard it is to look at parts of that past, Marc. I know I can’t even begin to imagine what you really went through, probably not even what people like Saul went through. And I’d hoped that we could pretty much leave it at that, at going to find the survivors that could help us and—”
    “Don’t worry about my feelings here, Captain,” he said.
    Not possible. I care about you…a lot more than I would