Shadowflame by Dianne Sylvan Page A

and a black van.
    Because Faith was Second in Command, it was her job to show the visiting Prime to his rooms, see that he was comfortably installed, then come and let the Pair know when it was time for the formal introduction. Meanwhile David and Miranda waited in David’s workroom, where he was taking apart the newest-generation Apple gadget to see how it worked. He had an abiding love for the technical poetry of circuits and chips, and elegant design, whether in a phone or a beehive, was his idea of porn.
    Miranda knew by how intent he was upon the task that he was, if not nervous, deeply uneasy about the meeting.
    She sat with her feet up on an empty chair, trying not to let his emotions affect her. That was a consequence of their connection: She could not shield herself completely from him, ever, and the best she could do was learn to gently nudge his presence to the back of her mind, where it wouldn’t overtake her own. Most of the time she liked having him there. There were times, however, when the whole thing was a pain in the ass.
    “It’s been over an hour,” she said. “This is getting ridiculous.”
    David made an irritated noise. “He’s doing it on purpose. Throwing us off schedule asserts his control over the situation.”
    “I’m supposed to be in town in two hours. Why don’t we just go meet him now?”
    He looked up at her and smiled. “Because that’s not how we do it, beloved. I know, I know—to hell with custom and rules—but these protocols have been in place a lot longer than you have. These silly little niceties keep order among the Signets. Besides, watching the way someone navigates the system teaches you a lot about him.”
    “If this guy is as big a dick as everyone says, I don’t think I want to know more about him,” Miranda pointed out, but he did have something when it came to the value of observing others; she had been watching her husband since the onset of the Magnificent Bastard Parade and had learned quite a bit about him that she hadn’t been aware of before. There were areas where he was perfectly happy to flout custom and others where he was a stickler; if he felt the Shadow World was better served by following the rules he did so, but if he believed something was hampering their evolution as a society he ignored it, taking the flak from the others without batting an eye.
    “You mentioned you’d met Hart once before,” Miranda said. “What happened then?”
    David set aside his toy and sat back, crossing his arms. “I dropped a dead deer on his head.”
    She blinked, sure she’d misheard. “What?”
    A nod. “It was his state visit after Deven and Jonathan Paired. He waited nearly a year to come, then proceeded to abuse the Haven staff, belittle the Elite, and treat the Prime like a cockroach. He didn’t say anything to Jonathan because Jonathan would have cheerfully crushed his skull, but I heard him in the hallway calling Deven a degenerate faggot, and lo and behold this hideous old deer head that had been hanging on the wall for seventy years fell down. The antlers almost put his eye out.”
    Miranda laughed so hard she nearly cried.
    It was widely known that David was powerful; he had almost all of the higher abilities attributed to the most powerful of their kind, including the power to Mist, basically a form of teleportation that could be performed only by a Signet bearer. His telekinesis, however, wasn’t common knowledge. It was entirely possible Hart had no idea there was any malicious aforethought in Bambi’s suicidal leap.
    Before she could compose herself completely there came a knock at the door, and Faith joined them, looking more agitated than Miranda had ever seen her.
    The Queen sobered immediately. “Faith, what happened?”
    The Second shook her head, her mouth set in a tight line. “Your guest is ready for you,” she said.
    Queen and Prime exchanged a look. “Faith, tell me,” David said. “I want to know exactly how that bastard