Her heart was too heavy for surprise. “I didn’t really expect Janek to have an office like this,” she said. “Who are you?”
“Damon Challinor.” He tucked his hands behind his back. “Head of Security for the Pegasus Project.”
Challinor. Cynara found that her capacity for shock had not quite reached its limit. “Damon Challinor,” she repeated. “I should have realized. You’re a member of the royal family.”
“Nephew of the Archon,” he said casually. “But I consider that less important than my rank in Royal Intelligence. I assure you that I take my duties most seriously.”
“As do I.” Miklos Challinor walked into the room and stopped halfway between Cynara and Damon. He nodded to Cynara. “I heard you’d already returned. Have I missed your report?”
“Not at all, Lord Miklos,” Cynara said with a hard glance at Damon. “I’ve just been informed that Ronan has been arrested. May I know the evidence against him?”
Miklos sat in one of the guest chairs and stretched his legs. “As yet we have only one witness.”
“He was seen trying to kill the Archon?”
“No,” Damon admitted, jerking up his chin. “Not in the usual way.”
“Then why did you—”
Miklos held up his hand. “Patience, children. First, Captain, I’d like to know why you’ve come back to us so quickly.”
“I prefer to speak to you alone, Lord Miklos—”
“Does this matter in any way involve Ronan or the Pegasus!”
She hesitated, deliberately looking away from Damon. “It does.”
“Then my nephew is entitled to hear it.”
Nothing could be worse, in light of what Damon had told her of Ronan’s arrest. “While we were en route to Dharma,” she said slowly, “my chief engineer reported that there had been some unauthorized access to the engine room computers, specifically the schematic files for the slingshot drive.”
“Ronan,” Damon said.
“As best we can determine, he acquired a passcard, managed to get past the marine at the door, and evaded the notice of the crew. There is no evidence that he actually stole any information.”
“I knew it,” Damon said, his voice oddly devoid of triumph. “I saw it.”
“And you didn’t report it until now?” Miklos demanded.
“I wasn’t sure until now.”
Miklos rose and tapped the intercom. “Send Mes Carter VelShaan to Lord Damon’s office at once.”
“I don’t understand,” Cynara said. “Lord Miklos—”
‘The Archon wished to see Ronan,” Miklos said. “I took him to the Archon’s private sitting room and introduced them. Shortly after that, my nephew entered the room and claimed that Ronan was about to kill my brother.”
“I had reason,” Damon said. “I saw what he was about to do.”
“You saw?” Cynara repeated.
“That’s why I’ve asked Mes Carter VelShaan to join us,” Miklos said. “There is as yet some confusion as to what exactly my nephew did see, and how.”
“Captain D’Accorso’s report will be vindicated by other evidence once Ronan is questioned,” Damon said, “He will face just retribution as a traitor to his own kind.”
Miklos drew up straight and glared at his nephew. “Don’t be so hasty to condemn him,” he said. “He is, after all, your brother.”
* * *
Chapter 20
« ^ »
Under other circumstances, Cynara might have been delighted to see Damon so startled. She took no pleasure from it now, for she shared his shock.
“My brother?” Damon echoed, and began to laugh. Miklos’s expression didn’t change. Damon’s laughter dwindled and stopped.
“Your brother,” Miklos repeated grimly. “Evidently that was one small fact you failed to ‘see’ because of your own prejudices. I began to suspect almost as soon as Captain D’Accorso brought him to meet me. I had never met anyone who so closely resembled both my sister Kori and her husband, Jonas Kane VelArhan.” He glanced with sympathy at Cynara. “I had tests run this morning, after Ronan left his room. They confirmed my suspicion.”
No one spoke. Damon sat down heavily. Cynara locked her knees and remained on her feet.
A Challinor. Ronan was a Challinor, like Damon. She also had the hysterical urge to laugh.
“Of course,” Damon whispered. “Now it makes even more sense. He didn’t die with my parents—the shaauri took him. They knew we would want to trust him as our long-lost relative. The perfect weapon.” He slammed his fist on the desk. “When he first came aboard the Pegasus, he claimed to remember nothing of his past. I knew something was wrong with his assertion. It was all a deception, a trick.”