Justin and Tsen Shang shared a secret smile as the commander barked a tinny order that made the soldier flinch. Ashen-faced, the guard inserted a key in the lockplate and twisted. The inlaid bronze doors opened and the Maskirovka agents entered the wood-paneled box.

Once the doors had closed and the elevator was climbing up from the subterranean depths, Justin turned to his companion. "I realize you might not have wanted to speak in front of Malenkov. Have you any clue to what the Chancellor wants?"

Shang shook his head. "The Chancellor has been edgy of late..."

Justin nodded. Both Maximilian's daughters, Candace and Romano, have been fighting since they arrived on Sianfor their father’s birthday. They've trapped him in the middle of their little war, and he's been in a bad mood ever since.Justin coughed, then shook his head. "If I've been asked in, we can bet it has something to do with the Federated Suns. Do you think it's new troop strengths and deployment figures from our friend?"

"Possible ..." Tsen Shang looked at his right hand and flexed it like a claw. The overhead light glinted off the black and gold nails. "I don't like the way this whole thing feels . . ."

Justin stared at the talons and barely heard Shang's comment. He'd seen those carbon-fiber reinforced nails slash through thick leather as though it were tissue paper. He still wondered if Shang kept them coated with the poison he liked to use on Solaris VII, where he had succeeded in recruiting Justin.

The elevator slowed to a stop and the doors slid open soundlessly to admit the two men directly to the Chancellor's throne room. Normally hidden behind a wall panel, the elevator opened midway along one of the rectangular room's long side walls. The half-light cast strange shadows over the teak lattice-work that screened hidden alcoves in the upper half of the opposite wall. Though Justin saw nothing to indicate they were being watched, he did not feel totally comfortable.

Glancing at the people assembled in the room, he understood why Shang had been disturbed by the summons, and it heightened his own sense of unease. This is bad. I can feel it.

Tall and slender, Chancellor Maximilian Liao stood before his massive throne. His steel-gray eyes stared down at the sheet of paper clutched in white-knuckled fingers. The sheet trembled with the rage Justin could feel pouring off the Chancellor in unseen waves. The Chancellor's lipscurled back from his teeth in a silent snarl as he reread the words.

Standing below and to the right, Chandra Ling seemed untouched by her master's fury. Small and slight, this gray-haired, elderly woman appeared to be nothing more than a benign grandmother. Justin narrowed his almond-shaped eyes. She's the grandmother type, but no one gets to be the head of the Maskirovka by baking cookies—unless those cookies are laced with cyanide and fed to one's rivals.

Across from Chandra Ling, Maximilian's two daughters stood side by side. Romano, the younger of the two, barely concealed her irritation. With angry twists of the head, she flicked her reddish-brown hair back across her shoulders while pure rage flared in her green eyes. With her gold silk robe tied only loosely at the waist, it gaped open enough to provide a glimpse of her MechWarrior's cooling vest. As she impatiently shifted her weight from one foot to another, the robe revealed glimpses of her slender figure and long legs.

Justin noticed that her agitation lessened slightly when she saw Tsen Shang. I wonder if she was angry at having been called away from 'Mech drills, or if she couldn't understand what might have been delaying Shang ?

Candace Liao, heir-apparent to the throne, also seemed to notice the shift in her sister's attitude. Clad in tight black leather boots, slacks, and a looser leather blouse with padded shoulders, Candace raised her chin and slowly folded her arms across her chest. Her long, black hair fell to mid-back, but the thin ribbons of it falling forward of her shoulders framed her exotic face perfectly. Her eyes half-closed as she made eye contact with Justin, then she turned and watched her father.

Justin felt a thrill tingle in his belly, but quickly smothered it. No, Justin. She's got her father's cunning and quick temper, and her mother's icy soul. She’d use you up and spit you out. Were her sister less obvious in her pleasure at seeing Shang, Candace would never have even noticed you. That is as it should be, for she's a tiger and you should be a mouse.

Maximilian's head came up and he spitted Justin with a savage stare. "You, Xiang, you are Quintus Allard's son! Why did you not know of this?" He held the message up in his right hand like a torch. "Are you sent here to betray me?"

Liao's accusation ignited a jet of fear that quickly changed to anger in Justin's heart. He opened his mouth to snap a harsh denial, then hesitated. Ease off, Justin. He's not thinking rationally. How can you defend yourself when you don't even know the charge?Bowing his head, Justin replied quietly, "Forgive me, Celestial Highness, what should I have known?"

"This, dammit!" An inarticulate sound of rage squealed from the Chancellor's throat. "Hanse Davion is to marry Melissa Steiner!"

The information hit Justin like a laserblast. He hugged his arms to his midsection and swallowed back the caustic bile that bubbled to his throat. He bent forward and shivered. Slowly he straightened up and addressed Maximilian Liao in a low, cold voice. "Had I known that information, Supreme One, I would have communicated it to you the instant I was exiled from the Federated Suns. Had I even guessed at it, had I heard even the slightest hint of it. . ."

Chandra Ling's voice sliced like a razor through Justin's denial. "Had you any suspicions, Citizen Xiang, you would have died at your own father's hand before he would have permitted you to leave the Federated Suns."

Liao glanced down at the Maskirovka mistress and snorted derisively. He studied Justin again, then stiffly lowered himself onto his throne. "Of course, the Director is correct." He nodded at her, half-lowering his lids. "Your shock at hearing this news is obvious. Still, you and Shang are my top two people in the Davion section. Why have we not known before?"

Shang bowed. "I offer no excuses, Excellency, but I should point out that Davion's Ministry of Intelligence, Information, and Operations sends out much chaff, through which we must sift carefully to obtain any kernels of truth in reports we get.

True, we did not provide you the information that you now have, but we can surmise how the negotiations took place, and where the meetings were held."

Liao frowned and made to wave away Shang's explanation, but Romano straightened up and smiled at the Maskirovka analyst. "Please, explain what you mean," She turned and smiled sweetly at her father. With a nod and a sigh, he gave Shang leave to comply with her request.

"Thank you, Lady Romano." Shang cleared his throat and gestured with his right hand. "You might recall the reports we had that a Lyran ship had been hijacked into the Draconis Combine roughly four months ago."

The Chancellor nodded. "Yes, I seem to remember something about rescue by a mercenary unit." He looked up at Justin and frowned. "That unit in which you have a brother, wasn't it? The Hell Dogs or something . . ."

Justin nodded. "The Kell Hounds, Enlightened One."

Shang continued. "We received initial reports that a highly placed member of the Lyran court had been traveling in secret to the Federated Suns on that ship. Our sources reported the purpose of the trip as medical treatment at the New Avalon Institute of Science. Since then, we have determined that no such treatment ever took place, and we have confirmed schedules and firm reports of sightings for all the important members of the Lyran court. Obviously, the purpose of the visit was to seal an agreement— prompted by the success of the 3024 accords you signed with Marik and Kurita on Terra—that arranged for the marriage."