Betrayals by Sharon Green

even aware of where it was, let alone that it was only permitted to follow orders, not to consider them.
    “Ah, Kambil, you’re back,” Bron said after looking up. “How did it go? Did you learn anything?”
    “I certainly did, which means we’ll be busy tonight,” Kambil replied, heading for the everpresent tea service. If for some reason he had to stop drinking tea, he had no idea what he would do with himself in place of holding a cup and sipping from it.
    “Does that mean we still aren’t to be allowed into the palace?” Selendi asked. “They have a lot of nerve keeping us out after we won the competitions.”
    “Don’t forget that we were helped to win, my sweet,” Homin told her with a chuckle. “That means they think we owe them something. But I take it Zolind is still being difficult?”
    “Advisor Zolind Maylock was undoubtedly born difficult,” Kambil said over his shoulder as he added sugar to his tea. “He’s called for a full meeting of all his brother Advisors, insisting that it be held tomorrow. Once the meeting is in session he’ll certainly insist that we be disqualified and that a new round of competitions be held next year, with the present Blending remaining Seated for the time. We can’t afford to let that happen, so tonight we’ll see to it that the man who was born difficult dies the same way.”
    “Won’t he be expecting us to try something like that?” Bron asked, watching as Kambil carried his teacup to a chair and sat. “I mean, we are a functioning Blending, after all. Only a fool would ignore that fact and discount us.”
    “Sometimes ignorance accounts for a good deal of foolishness,” Kambil told him, pausing to sip his tea before continuing. “For instance, there’s a guard contingent stationed around this house now. It was posted there supposedly to ‘protect’ us, but they also have orders to make sure we don’t leave. The guardsman I passed on the way out was kind enough to tell me that, although he doesn’t remember speaking to me and is prepared to swear that no one got by him. Zolind doesn’t even really understand what we’re capable of individually, so how can he possibly guard against us as a Blending?”
    “He can’t, so he’s ours as soon as we reach him,” Selendi said happily, tightening her grip on Homin’s hand. “And since no one will remember that we left and then returned, he’ll even have provided us with witnesses to support our innocence.”
    “A point which I find extremely amusing,” Homin said with a faint smile, briefly raising Selendi’s hand to his lips. “What I’d like to know, though, is how we’ll cover ourselves where the Seated Blending is concerned. You said we would be ending them as well, and who else but us will be considered able to do that?”
    “No one, which is why they won’t be ‘ended,’ at least as far as the world is concerned.” Kambil made no effort to hide his amusement, as the idea which had come to him still had the ability to tickle. “The Five will be seen to leave the palace without their guard, on the way out saying something to the effect that they’d done their duty and had no interest in hanging about any longer. People will have the impression that they mean to implement private plans, which ought to explain their complete disappearance. And they will disappear, in a way that no one will ever find them again.”
    “Is that why you had me check on the abandoned quarry ten miles beyond the far side of the city?” Bron asked, sudden understanding coloring his expression. “I remember thinking that properly weighted bodies thrown into the water would never come to the surface again—at least until the water had turned them completely unrecognizable. Is that where you intend to put them?”
    “As soon as all clothing and jewelry are stripped from them,” Kambil confirmed with a nod. “That way no one will know who they are even if the bodies are found. I doubt there are as many as