Heiress of Lies by Cege Smith Page A

and we take back what was stolen from us. I offer my life in service to the task,” Searon said.
         Clever , Connor thought. So Searon understood that he had angered his father a great deal but was still trying to turn the tide in his favor. Everyone in the coven knew that Searon despised the shackles of the Robart truce. Searon had offered up a neatly thought-out angle for the Master to take that would save the Master face and further Searon’s pursuits against humans. If it was anyone other than Searon standing here, the Master would have already called for his head.
         Connor was bored and so he cast about looking for something interesting to pick out of the minds around him. If he got lucky he’d find a tidbit to give Monroe to work on. Monroe was the Master’s Chief Deputy, and over the years Connor had handed him some good leads on those who plotted against the Master.
         There were so many people in the room, though, that no one individual thought was distinguishable from the other. It was just a whole lot of noise—until he touched on a tendril of white hot anger that almost burned the inside of his skull. He was perplexed. He had never found something that intense in picking at minds. He started to gently reach out again to see if he could pinpoint who it was.
         At that moment the Master spoke again. “Many have told me that I have been overindulgent with you, Searon. How could I not be? You are my son and you are pureblood. But I cannot allow you to put this coven in jeopardy any longer.”
         Connor felt a mass sense of shock and surprise scuttle through the minds in the room. He kept poking and pushing these out of the way, looking for that one mind again.
         “BANISHMENT,” the Master’s voice boomed throughout the chamber.
         Astonishment now also joined surprise.
         “Searon, you are hereby stripped of all titles and heir rights. You will leave these coven walls and never return, or face death. You are dead to me now,” the Master said. He pulled up the cowl on his cloak and turned.
         At that moment Connor stumbled on to the mind he had been searching for and found the small tendril of anger had grown into a seething mass. There was heat and violence swirling. He looked anxiously around to see where it was coming from, and then his eyes locked on Searon’s in the high mirror. It was coming from Searon. And Searon knew that Connor knew .
         With a brief high yell, Searon sprang to his feet. He whipped off the royal cloak and threw it on the ground. He pointed at his father. “Coward! Cowards all of you! You think you can get rid of me that easily, think again!” The he turned on his heel and ran from the room. Coven law dictated that a banished vampire had mere moments to leave the coven walls before becoming fair game for the hunters.
         Connor could see that many of the coven members were shaken, and he wondered about the wisdom of the Master’s decision.
     
         Running as hard as he could against the tall grass, Connor remembered asking Monroe about the decision afterwards. He couldn’t fathom why setting a madman loose on the world had been a better plan than simply killing him.
         Monroe had clasped Connor on the shoulder and said, “It is difficult for anyone to lose a son, and you never want to be in the position where you are deciding between life and death for your child. The Master knows what he’s doing. Now that Searon’s been banished he’s none of our concern any longer unless he stirs up trouble for the coven.”
         And so it had been for years until now.
         Connor hadn’t been careful using his mind-reading abilities when he had scanned Searon or his companion, and he hoped that Searon had been too distracted by his recent kill to notice. He picked up the pace.
         Searon had found a way to get back into the good graces of both his father and the coven. Connor