Terre frowned and set the tablet aside. “I gave orders for your clothing to be here.”
“To whom?” She paused several feet away from him. “I can go ask that person.” Oh, she already knew who’d forgotten her clothing.
“Yvonne,” Terre said, dropping his feet to the floor.
Karma kept her expression wide-eyed and innocent. “Yvonne doesn’t take orders. The Cyst generals call her by a royal title, and even Dayne defers to her wishes most of the time.” In fact, Terre was the only one who treated Yvonne like any other female. No doubt Yvonne would take issue with him if Ulric ever returned and mated her as she’d planned. “Yvonne gets away with everything.” Could Karma cause a problem between Yvonne and Terre? It wasn’t a bad idea. This whole spy business was getting easier.
Terre studied her. “Your rash is getting worse.”
“It itches terribly,” she admitted, trying to keep the relief out of her voice. “You should have seen what it did to that lowly hybrid when he tried to touch me. I’ve never witnessed anything like it.” She shivered, and it was cold enough in the room that she kept shivering until she made herself stop.
Terre swept his hand toward the bar. “Get me a drink and then come and talk.”
She barely kept from telling him to stuff it. Instead, she strode to the bar set up at the far end of the room. Terre liked gin, so she chose the best bottle and made him a martini with two olives. Holding her head high, she strode toward him and handed it over before sitting on the hard wooden chair he motioned her toward. The plush leather one remained vacant on the other side of him.
He took a sip. “Yvonne wants to examine you more fully in the morning now that you’ve taken the virus.” It wasn’t a question or a request.
“All right. Is she in this building?” Karma asked, folding her hands on her lap.
“No. Her lab is next to this building. I’ll escort you in the morning.” He took another drink and then leaned closer to study the blisters on her neck. “Turn your head.”
She did so without question, her left foot all but twitching with the need to kick up right beneath his chin. How surprised he would be.
“That looks terrible,” he muttered, sitting back. “Yvonne said she’d try to find a way to speed up the healing process.”
Oh, Karma just bet she would.
Terre finished the martini. “I had different plans for us tonight, as I’m sure you know.”
No answer was expected, so Karma didn’t give one.
He handed her his glass. “Another.”
It was truly unfortunate she didn’t have poison with her. She silently took the glass and walked to the bar as the front door opened and Jaydon strode inside, the rain still dotting his uniform.
He looked at her. “Make that two.”
What a dick, as Mercy would say. Karma looked at the far table, the one near the doorway. It held maps and a couple of tablets. Perhaps there was information about the enhanced women over there. She’d have to find a way to examine those documents. She hid a small smile, made two gin martinis, and carried them to the males now sitting in the plush chairs. Neither thanked her.
Terre motioned for her to sit again, his gaze running over her body the way it had for decades. “Start at the beginning. I want to know all about your time at the Realm and any weaknesses in security you saw there.” He took another drink of the gin.
“I didn’t see any weaknesses,” Karma said, hiding her revulsion. The blisters felt better on her body than did his gaze.
Jaydon settled his large bulk back in the chair. “You need to ask more basic questions. She wouldn’t know a weakness. How many soldiers did you see?”
She tried to look ditzy. “I didn’t count. The queen put me in a machine, and when I came out, she said that I wasn’t tagged in any way. They didn’t find the device in my head until I went to the Seven Headquarters, which you blew up.” Being underestimated could definitely work to her advantage. “King Dage Kayrs and the Seven members were all very insistent in their questioning about the enhanced females you’ve kidnapped. About how many you have and where you have them kept.”
Terre smiled. “I’m sure they want to know.”
Karma leaned forward and frowned, letting confusion show on her face. “The Seven members also believe that Jaydon is going to duplicate the ritual the great leader Ulric performed centuries ago and then take his place. Can you believe that?” She widened her eyes just enough.
Terre stiffened. “That is just enemy propaganda.” He looked at the general. “Correct? You’d never attempt such a travesty.”
“Of course not,” Jaydon said smoothly, his shoulders too wide for the chair. The overhead lights glinted off his mostly bald head, and even sitting, he emitted a sense of controlled command. “I want our supreme leader back even more than you do. The Cyst need him.”
Terre’s eyes narrowed, but he didn’t speak.
Karma perched quietly, letting the suspicions grow. What would happen if the Cyst faction turned against the Kurjan nation? The idea was unthinkable, and yet…neither group trusted very well. Dayne was a born diplomat, who could smooth over any misunderstanding. Terre, on the other hand, wouldn’t know diplomacy if it bit him on the chin. If Jaydon was attempting to become the new leader of the Cyst, Terre would object.
Perhaps she could start an internal war. Why not dream big?
Yvonne strode inside again, rain dotting her stunning hair and triumph on her angular face.
Dread dropped into Karma’s stomach, and her knees trembled with the need to run. Hard and fast.
Terre looked up. “Yvonne. I thought you were going to bed.”
The woman smiled, and minute wrinkles spread out from her eyes. She was clearly getting older. There was no doubt she was jealous of the females who had stopped aging once mated. “The blood tests will take all night, but I thought you should know that the rash is from a leaf. It’s poison ivy.” Her smile was catlike.
Terre turned toward Karma, his smile furious. “Heal yourself. Right now, or you won’t like the results.”
Considering the girls were just down the hall, Karma instantly sent healing cells to her skin. The rash had protected her from Terre, but she still sighed in relief when the blisters disappeared.
Yvonne laughed. “I can’t believe you suffered for hours like that just because you didn’t want to mate Terre.”
Terre stood and grabbed Karma’s arm, yanking her up. “Oh, that’s nothing compared to the suffering to come,” he growled.
Karma wrenched free and then kicked him square in the balls.