Hostage to Pleasure

CHAPTER 49

Shoshanna stared at her husband, Henry, across the width of her desk. “Why did you do it? We decided to go with the majority.”

“She was a threat.”

“How?” She glanced at the clip playing on her computer screen. “It’s true Aleine’s actions will equal the probable end of Protocol I, but her death would’ve only made matters worse.” Shoshanna didn’t like being thwarted, but she was also a creature of cold intellect. “You almost turned her into a martyr.” Better that she was alive and digging her own grave. “It’s obvious from this clip that Aleine has broken Silence. Any threat of her becoming a rebel leader has decreased to negligible levels.”

Henry remained unmoved. “I was unaware of that fact at the time.”

“Even so,” she continued, “the assassination attempt has created a massive political quagmire.” She turned the computer screen toward him. “Bloody violence. And at the hands of a Psy who is obviously one of our elite operatives.” The Council’s rule was built on Silence. And that Silence was supposed to have ended violence among their race. “You’ve undermined—”

“It was the correct choice at the time,” Henry interrupted. “We can’t keep allowing the changelings to get the better of us.”

Normally, Shoshanna would have agreed. “Don’t you comprehend what you’ve done? We can’t kill her now. The instant anything happens to Aleine, it will confirm every one of her allegations and give the rebels all the ammunition they need.”

“An unfortunate consequence.” Rising, he walked to the window. “However, she’s no longer on my list of priorities.”

She didn’t understand his behavior. Henry measured as a powerful 9.5 on the Gradient, but he’d always been the beta partner in their relationship. She was the one who’d made all the critical decisions—such as having them both implanted with stolen copies of the prototype Aleine had developed in the course of her work on Protocol I. Until the implants had had to be removed, she and Henry had been one mind, and even there, she had ruled. “Explain your reasoning to me,” she persisted.

He turned to meet her eyes. “Why?”

“We’re a team, Henry.”

“When it suits you, my dear wife.” A mockery of an endearment, completely devoid of emotion.

Shoshanna stared at him, belatedly realizing that he hadn’t been acting like himself recently. “Your behavior isn’t conforming to your known psychological profile.”

“Perhaps I’m exercising a previously dormant aspect of my personality.”

She listened to the cadence of his voice, measuring the physical distribution of his weight at the same time. “You’re favoring your left side.” It was such a slight flaw that it would be unnoticeable to anyone who hadn’t known him as long as she had.

“Are you saying I’m brain-damaged?”

Her mind clicked. “We had our implants removed before they malfunctioned, but perhaps yours began to degrade while connected to your neural tissues.” She made a mental note to get her own brain rescanned for any signs of decay.

“What won’t you do to hold on to power.” A statement, not a question. “The implant experience merely opened my eyes. I prefer being the puppet master, not the puppet.”

“Henry, your brain is clearly malfunct—”

“And even if it is,” he said slowly, “what will you do?”

“I can have you committed to the Center.”

“On what grounds? Will you tell them that we had our brains implanted with a stolen device, that we were planning to wrench away control of the Council by making the others our slaves?”

Shoshanna had no answer to that because he was right—she wouldn’t give up everything she’d achieved just to turn him in. “You need to get medical assistance.”

“No, Shoshanna, I don’t think so. And don’t try an assassination—I know all your tricks. I was connected to your mind, remember?” With that, he walked out of the room.

I was connected to your mind, remember?

Yes, he had been, but she’d been certain she was the controlling entity. Now, it appeared she’d made a gross miscalculation. Henry was a pure telepath—she had no way of knowing what he’d plucked from her brain, or embedded within it. As she had no way of knowing how much damage had been done to Henry’s neural tissues… or what he’d do now that he was operating free of any normal constraints.