An Imperceptible Ruse Indeed (The Gods' Executioner Series) by A.L. Bridges

at him as horror and recognition mark his face.
    “You realize who I am now, don’t you? I don’t need you to give me anything; I’ll simply take it.” I respond and cover his mouth with my left hand, siphoning my blood down his throat.
    “Airi, can you handle this one without me?”
    (Yes, Master. I’ll search for any relevant information)
    Ravindu slumps in the chair as I move over and funnel some of my blood down Damien throat. Damien wakes up partway t hrough, most likely due to his bronze aura, and I knock him out with my blood.
    (Scan complete. There are no other traitors at the embassy. No other relevant information discovered)
    “Thanks, Airi. Now for Damien.”
    (I’m already in the process of scanning him, Mr. Treyfair)
    “Way to show initiative, Airi! I see a promotion in your future! Perhaps to mistress instead of sexy secretary?”
    (It sounds like I’d still be having sex with you behind your wife’s back so how would that be a promotion?)
    “Well, as my mistress I’d buy you jewelry or a car or a house or whatever is required for a man to buy his mistress to keep her from telling his wife.”
    (I would never tell your wife! I actually find the sex to be quite enjoyable, even if I am twenty years younger than you)
    “Wait, so I’ve been banging a five year old this whole time? How did you even get this job?”
    (I’ve always assumed that you were in your forties or fifties in this scenario, tired of your haggard wife and looking for satisfaction in my hot, nubile, young body)
    “Um, sure… let’s go with that… wait, why would a twenty year old be banging a guy in his forties if not for money?”
    (Because you remind me of my dad)
    “…You just had to go and ruin this for me, didn’t you?”
    (Scan complete. Damien seems to only know about this operation. It seems that the whole thing was originally a stealth assault on the embassy, but then Ravindu heard about your visit and plans changed. The whole campaign seems like it might be sub-managed to prevent the leaking of information; this has Loki written all over it)
    “I agree. Let’s get them back to the embassy.”
    I grab Damien and drag him off the bed before I realize that I have a dilemma: I can’t port two unconscious people at the same time because I need to touch the triskele and I only have two hands.
    (You realize that you don’t have to touch the triskele to port, right?)
    “What? I’ve always had to touch the triskele or the Haglaz rune.”
    (Those are more like keys to a car: you don’t need to touch the keys after the car is on, do you?)
    “Why didn’t you tell me this before?”
    (It wasn’t necessary information before . You also wouldn’t have been able to port without touching the triskele when you first got it, as it provided the focus you needed)
    I grab Damien and Ravindu, and focus on being in the foyer of the embassy. We appear in the foyer and I’m slightly surprised that it worked.
    “Cole, how did things go?” Jason asks as he, Reyna, Alice, Pavithra, and Demi walk into the foyer.
    “Well, Ravindu is a traitor and made a plan with this guy, Damien Reynolds, to kidnap Reyna and/ or Alice to ransom Maria into submission, presumably killing the rest of us in the process. You guys should go pack because I have a report that I need to make to Maria. Lady Demi, feel free to do what you wish with these two; part of me is for keeping Damien as a prisoner of war for trading, and the other part is telling me to brutally kill them both as an example to everyone, so I leave it up to you. Oh, and from the information I got out of these two, there aren’t any other traitors at this embassy.” I inform them.
    Jason, Reyna, Alice, and I head upstairs to our rooms, pack our things, and bring our bags downstairs to the foyer.
    “Thank you for accommodating us, Lady Demi.” Reyna says.
    “It was my pleasure, Duchess Reyna , and I apologize for the transgressions of one of the members of this embassy.” Lady