"I shall be quite glad to see Thayer return from his errand," a perturbed Kirret Xarim muttered, storming down the hall that led away from the Council chambers.
Reth, longer-legged, strode alongside his wife at a more measured pace. "Not that it's anything you can't handle, of course," he said in a voice more dare than flattery.
She shot a cold glare at him but did not break stride. "Be that as it may, we helped him win the country, now he ought to have the joy of running it. All the joys, General. Council sessions not excepted."
"He's gone after one of the joys," Reth said. "Having secured that one, the others will be a cinch for him."
Kirret sighed. "At least once he's got her safely in hand, perhaps the councilors will drop this foolish notion of a beauty contest!"
"Though it would be, you'd have to admit, at least a little more civilized way of picking a queen than Llessur's methods. . . ."
Her glare was hot with annoyance this time. Reth accepted it with a grin of triumph, recognizing the heat as that which was given off when Kirret would wish to laugh, if not for the clear impropriety of doing so.
"Well, it wouldn't work," the lady insisted. "Thayer would never--"
A buzzing sound from a pocket in Reth's uniform interrupted her, and she raised an eyebrow in question. He pulled from the pocket a little device and glanced at its display.
"Ah," he nodded. "Speaking of the notorious Llessur."
"The Queen mother?" Kirret frowned.
"Looks like she's heading outside Palace grounds," Reth said.
"What?" Kirret took the device from him and squinted at it. "What are you up to, Reth?"
"The boss's business," he shrugged. "Thayer asked me to look after the grande dame. She's not herself lately, it would seem."
"Who is, in this Palace?" Kirret snorted. "What's this thing, then?"
"Borrowed it from the Frenchman that Terra Group brought home with them. It keeps tabs on a bug I planted on Llessur's clothes."
"You bugged the Queen?" She fixed him with a look of shocked reproof.
"Why not? She bugs everyone else about the place," he winked.
She rolled her eyes impatiently. "Grace, Reth. . . . But what if she finds it?"
"She won't. And I promised Thayer to keep an eye on her, but you know what it'd be like to literally keep an eye on her, follow her around all day long? Why," he grinned, "for starters, there's her attendants. What Llessur lacks in decent sociability, they at least make up in friendliness--and then some. I'll leave 'em to Mike. Nope, this way I can keep tabs on her movements as efficiently as possible, and spare myself the pleasure of her company."
"Why does Thayer want her watched?" asked Kirret, suspicious.
"She's out of sorts. I think he's afraid for her, that she'll do something she'll . . . or at least he'll . . . regret."
"Such as?"
Reth frowned thoughtfully at Raymond's tracker. "Good question. It looks like she's heading out towards the promontory, now. . . ."
Kirret's eyes widened. "Reth, you don't think--"
"Maybe," he suggested, "now would be a good time for some in-person spying." He pocketed the tracker and held out a hand to her. "Come with?"
She nodded readily. "Better than another hour trying to find a solution to the Council's educational reform proposal. How by Grace they think to improve anything by giving the children of nobles less hours at school and less assigned work than the common folk, I do not--"
"Fix that later," Reth interrupted. "Find the Queen mother now."