Dark Choices - I. T. Lucas Page 0,58
invite a ticking bomb into my community.”
Rufsur put his sandwich down and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I think that the opposite is true. By myself, my chances of stopping Kalugal from doing something crazy are not good. I can wrestle him down physically, but I have no defense against his compulsion. I was even toying with the idea of asking William to make me those specialized earpieces.”
“That’s a good idea. Why didn’t you?”
He put his hand on her thigh. “I’ve never told anyone the things I’m telling you. How would I have explained to William what I needed them for?”
Edna’s eyes softened. “Thank you for trusting me with your secret. It’s safe with me.”
He believed her. “Anyway, if I can get a pair of those earpieces, I would carry them in my pocket in case I needed to protect myself from Kalugal. But if he lived here in the village, I wouldn’t need to because Annani could stop him.”
Edna lifted a brow. “How?”
Was she playing dumb? After he’d shared his fears with her, that was disappointing.
“Annani proved that she can compel Kalugal, which was a big surprise since even his father couldn’t do that. And what’s more, since compulsion is delivered through sound waves, she doesn’t even need to be here. A phone call transmitted through the village’s loudspeaker system would do.”
On their previous visit, Rufsur had noticed loudspeakers around the village square, which made sense for parties and other gatherings. But since then, more had been added along the walkways, and he had a feeling that it was the result of the goddess’s compulsion test at Richard’s ceremony.
For a long moment, Edna just stared at him. “I’m trying to find a fault in your logic, but I can’t. Even if you just made the whole thing up to convince me that the clan forming a federation with Kalugal is a good idea, you are right.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “What bothers me about it, though, is that it smells like a betrayal. Are you really willing to enlist the clan’s help to stop your boss?”
“I hope that it never comes to that. Kalugal is a good man, and as long as he doesn’t plot to annihilate half of the world, I’m not going to turn against him. But I keep thinking about Mortdh, and what I would have done if I were his second-in-command. Even if I had known about his plot to get rid of the other gods, the only thing I could have done was to warn them. I couldn’t have stopped him.”
“Would you have warned the other gods?”
“Of course. What kind of question is that? Even if Mortdh was my brother, my father, or my son, I would not have stood idly by while he destroyed half of the world’s civilization with one damn bomb. Would you allow Kian to do such a thing if he lost his mind?”
“No. I would do anything I could to stop him. And the same goes for Annani, even though she is the Clan Mother.” Edna nodded. “Now I really understand your dilemma. If I wanted to stop Kian or Annani, I couldn’t do it on my own. I would need a powerful ally. I would try to convince my fellow council members to help me. Together, we might be able to take Kian down, but not the goddess. And that’s precisely where you stand with Kalugal.”
“I’m glad you understand.”
“Yeah, but that still leaves the problem of making a federation happen when both Kian and Kalugal are against it.”
Smiling, Rufsur reached for her hand and brought it to his lips for a quick kiss. “If we put our heads together, I’m sure we can come up with a solution. Once we have a plan, you can work on Kian, and I can work on Kalugal. Kian values your opinion, and you have a good chance of convincing him to at least listen to you, and I have Kalugal’s ear. We are uniquely positioned to make this happen.”
“I’ll be dammed.” Edna leaned back. “That’s why the Fates brought us together.”
Rufsur snorted. “You too? Come on, Edna. You can’t seriously believe in that superstitious nonsense.”
“I didn’t use to, but even Kian, the biggest skeptic of them all, is a convert. How else would you explain your attraction to me? Out of all the clan females who paraded themselves in front of you and Hivak, you fixated on me, the most unattractive, emotionally unavailable of them all.”
He frowned. “I