pulling the hit enough so it took him down without killing him. The big man dropped like a stone, clutching his neck. The knife clattered to the floor. There was a rush of feet behind him. He spun around but they weren’t going for him.
Jamaeh bowed toward Reman. “I’m sorry. I had no idea my client was so stubborn. I offer my apology. We will leave and I will never darken your door again.”
Shit, he was so used to acting on his own he hadn’t taken into account how this would affect her. It wasn’t easy to change decades of training.
Two of the guards had her by the arms and were dragging her back toward the table. He could take them all out, but not before they had a chance to hurt her. They shoved her down on a cushion. She wasn’t going anywhere until they allowed it.
Their host cocked an eyebrow. “Are you joining us?”
The threat was clear. What Reman didn’t know was that he was a dead man. Zaxe couldn’t leave the planet until he knew Jamaeh wouldn’t pay for his actions. His threat to her had sealed his fate.
Zaxe prowled across the room, stopping at the occupied table. “Get out.” The men didn’t waste any time. They simply ran. When the door slammed shut behind them, only their host and his guards remained.
“Now I’m doubly curious. Why the secrecy?” He waved to the cushion across from him as if he hadn’t threatened to kill Zaxe moments before. A waiter silently appeared, setting a bowl of figs and a bottle of wine on the table. He filled the lone goblet before disappearing out another door that likely led to a kitchen area.
Zaxe settled himself back on a cushion, making sure the hood of his cloak was still in place. “I don’t want the entire city knowing my business.” The guard he’d taken down was still writhing on the floor. “You should sit him up.” Zaxe motioned toward the man. “He’ll breathe easier.”
Reman waved his hand at one of his guards, and he immediately went to do his employer’s bidding. The injured man was propped up against a wall, and the guard returned to his position. Seemed Reman wasn’t much different from Helldrick and others like him. They ruled their small empires with an iron fist, and their men were expendable. Only this one hid his cruelty behind a façade of graciousness.
It made him worse in Zaxe’s eyes. At least the others didn’t pretend to be something they weren’t.
“Now you are questioning my integrity along with my hospitality. No one speaks of what goes on inside these walls. Not if they know what’s good for them.” He shook his head and sighed. “It’s a sad state of affairs. Don’t you agree?” he asked Jamaeh.
She inclined her head. “It is a sad state of affairs.” Her skin was pasty and a bead of sweat rolled down her temple, but she tilted her chin up and met their host’s gaze.
“Why did you bring him to my establishment?”
“Everyone knows that there is no better source of information in Badwa. You know everyone, are aware of everything that happens here.”
Reman stroked his beard and smiled. “True enough.”
The bastard was eating up the flattery. While Zaxe understood what she was doing, he didn’t like her pumping up this guy’s ego.
“I knew if anyone knew where to find Helldrick, it would be you.”
The smile vanished. “That foreign devil owes me money.” Calculation gleamed in his eyes. “Maybe I should get it from his daughter.”
Jamaeh never flinched. As brave as any warrior, more beautiful than a queen with her red and black braids falling around her shoulders, she shrugged. “To my knowledge, the only daughters he recognizes all live on Mortis. You could try them.”
They weren’t on Mortis any longer, but none of them needed to know that. The other daughters of Helldrick were safe on Gravas. What must it have been like for her, to know her father recognized some of his daughters but not her?
Reman made a noncommittal sound as he reached out and plucked a plump fig from the red ceramic bowl on the table. “He never had any use for you, did he? I heard he’s claimed his younger son. Seems his other one, the one who looked like him, died recently.”
This time, she flinched. Her weak spot was her brother. He’d suspected as much after reading the file the computer had put together. Seems it was common knowledge.
“He can’t have Esau.”