All throughout the long flight home, Losham’s emotions had been oscillating between crippling fear and overblown confidence. Now that he was sitting in the vestibule of his father’s receiving hall, waiting for his conference with Navuh, he was experiencing more of the same.

An execution was a remote possibility, but demotion and humiliation were not. After thousands of years as his father’s lead advisor, losing his position was almost as terrifying a prospect as losing his head.

When Navuh’s secretary emerged from the servants’ door, Losham’s heart kicked into overdrive, the thundering beat so loud he was sure the secretary must’ve heard it.

There was no way he could go into the lion’s den like that.

His father would chew him up and throw what was left for the dogs to finish. Fear was the worst emotion to have when dealing with the Brotherhood’s exulted leader.

The servant bowed. “Lord Navuh will see you in a few more minutes.”

Losham nodded imperiously. “Thank you.”

The air left his lungs in a whoosh as soon as the secretary had returned the same way he’d come in and closed the door behind him. For once, Losham was thankful for his father’s diva antics of keeping him waiting for hours.

Over the next few minutes, he was going to calm down by imagining only the best possible outcomes. Maybe Navuh had a new project he wanted to run by Losham, perhaps his father wanted him to head that project. After all, Navuh had learned a long time ago how invaluable Losham’s advice was.

When the door opened again, he was ready.

“Lord Navuh will see you now,” the secretary said as he opened the massive doors leading to Navuh’s reception hall.

Losham stood up and lifted his chin. “Thank you.” He strode in as if he owned the place

“Greetings, my lord.” Losham bowed low.

Thankfully, he was exempt from the obeisance the rank and file were obligated to offer Navuh.

His father’s throne sat on a tall dais, with the guest chair facing it about seven feet lower. It was an uncomfortable straight-backed thing, designed to keep the guest as uncomfortable as possible, and with a sore neck from having to look up the entire time.

“Losham.” His father acknowledged him in the same bored tone as always. “Come, join me in my office.” Navuh pushed off the throne and took the short flight of stairs down to Losham’s level. The office, which was located off the reception hall, was used for when Navuh wanted absolute privacy. Soundproofing the small room was easier for the son of Mortdh than doing so for the entire big hall.

This was good news.

Navuh’s need for absolute privacy meant that he needed Losham’s advice on something important.

Losham hurried to open the door for his father and bowed again as Navuh walked by him.

The leader sat in one of the two armchairs and motioned for Losham to take the other.

With another bow, Losham did as instructed. “How can I be of service, my lord?”

“We need more money,” Navuh cut to the chase. “There aren’t enough wars going around for us to profit from. And aside from the lack of income, it creates another problem. Having an army of mercenaries without a war to fight is like sitting on top of a dynamite keg. We need to find something for them to do before we have a rebellion on our hands.”

“I agree. We need to instigate a new war.”

Navuh nodded. “I have a few ideas, but I’ll leave it up to you to research.”

In other words, his father didn’t know where in the world was the most fertile ground for pushing existing conflict into a full-blown war, and he needed Losham to figure it out.

“Naturally, my lord. I’ll get right on it.”

Navuh signaled that he wasn’t done. “The drug trade isn’t bringing in as much as it used to either. The gangs are difficult to control, there is too much competition, and the prices are going down.”

“What about our protégés? That’s our biggest source of income.”

Navuh cringed. “We lost the biggest one. The current ruler wasn’t too happy when he discovered that we were working with his number one enemy, playing both sides.”

Losham wasn’t surprised. He’d advised against it, expecting exactly this outcome, but Navuh wouldn’t listen. As always, the leader was greedy for the money and for the influence.

“We could send Lokan to convince the ruler he can’t do without our help. This relationship is decades long. It started with his grandfather.”

Lokan was a prick and not too bright, but he possessed a powerful thralling ability and was a master at compulsion. If anyone could convince the powerful ruler to come back into the fold, and more importantly keep paying for their services, it was Losham’s half-brother Lokan.

Navuh shook his head. “The current ruler is immune. He has a powerful and suspicious mind. We will have to replace him with someone who is easier to manipulate, but that will take time to organize. In the meantime, we need the money.”

“I’ll start working on it immediately, my lord.”

Navuh nodded. “How did your hunt go?”

Losham’s gut twisted, but he managed to control his emotions. “May I speak frankly, my lord?”

Navuh waved, the sleeve of his robes adding royal flair to the gesture. “Go ahead.”

“Annani and her clan have been living in hiding for thousands of years, and they are very good at it. I think it’s a waste of time and resources to hunt for them. When we seize control of humanity, the clan will become irrelevant anyway.”

To Losham’s great surprise, Navuh nodded again. “I agree that the way we went about it was a waste of time and resources. But we don’t have to wait for humanity’s fall to annihilate the clan. The same technologies they helped humans develop will be their downfall. The Internet, security cameras everywhere, drones filming from the air, all of that is making it difficult to hide, and it will only get worse for them.”

As it will for us, Losham thought.