Scheming Against Devotion (Book 2 of The Transition of Pinn)

Giddean:

“You can’t be serious, Giddi!”

Fire is crackling, giving the library a soft glow and illuminating the right half of Kin’s face as he stands just inside the doorway. It makes his frown look deeper and the little lines on his face are more pronounced.

Ivy and I decided to move to the library at some point in the late afternoon. We needed a new space to tackle the speech and sitting on the bed was making my mind turn to…. other things.

I look over at Ivy and frown. While she was in a relaxed pose on the leather couch just a few minutes ago, Kin’s entrance has caused her to sit up alert. Her face is passively neutral as she watches Kin’s outburst. She is dressed properly now, which makes me miss her smooth pale skin. Her lush breasts pressed against my chest. Her legs wrapped around me as I….

I shake my head as I feel my cock start to grow hard. Now is not the time.

“You are welcome to take a look at the evidence and judge yourself, but I will be doing this” I stand from my seat on the couch next to Ivy and gesture for Kin to sit down next to her.

Kin strides through the room and grabs one of the papers sitting on the coffee table in front of the couch. He slowly sits down as he starts reading.

I hold my breath as he reads through several of the documents. Kin is my best friend and the first Senator to see the evidence I will present in front of the Senate.

“So this is what you have been up to?” Kin waves one of the papers in the air, “I thought you were spending time getting to know this one” He points his thumb at Ivy.

Ivy gives Kin a look of incredulousness.

“How did you hear about this anyway?” I ask Kin. I’m sure the fucking Majority Leader spilled the beans to the entire fucking party. If that’s the case then probably half this fucking city knows which means…

“Well, certainly not from my best friend” Kin quips back.

“This is fucking serious, Kin!” I erupt, my mind turning to the worst- the High Priest knows. Someone will have told the High Priest. He will hit tonight. I have to get Ivy out of here- to my parents maybe. No, too obvious, Fuck! Maybe Kin will take her. I’ll send Sean with her for protection. I shouldn’t be surprised our fucking Majority Leader couldn’t keep a fucking secret.

Kin raises his arms in surrender, his eyes wide, a smile still on his face “Hey, I’m just kidding! I got it out of Sean when he needed help finding the Majority Leader”

Fuck me; my staff will be the end of me.

Kin’s eyes return to the papers, “You know this is crazy, right?”

I glower at him for a moment before throwing open the door. I see a figure passing, “Andrew!”

The blond man turns, a pile of linens spilling over his arms. He looks surprisingly tired, I should ask James to check that everything is alright with him...

“Yes, Senator?”

“Yes, Andrew, can you get Sean for me?”

Andrew sucks in a breath, “I believe Sean is visiting his mother, Senator”

For fucks sake! I try to breathe through my nose to calm down. He fucks up then fucks off. Who needs staff when they fuck everything up?

“Fine” I have to control my voice so I don’t yell “Send him to me when he gets back.” I turn away from the hallway shutting the door a little too hard behind me.

Kin and Ivy are both watching me. I march up to the coffee table and grab the speech Ivy and I perfected earlier in the day. It has scribbles all over it and arrows and notes, but I’ll have James rewrite it and clean it up in the morning before my floor time in the afternoon.

I hand the paper to Kin, “This is what I am saying tomorrow”

Kin takes several minutes to read through the short speech. I begin pacing the room as I wait and Ivy begins to organize the various scattered papers into piles.

“You can’t say this, Giddi” Kin says laying down the thin paper on the table. His forehead shows the deep wrinkles of someone deep in thought, it’s an unusual look for my friend who has never had a serious moment in his life.

I pause my pacing, “I’m going to, tomorrow”

“It could end your career”

Ivy’s eyes are round. I’d love to know what she is thinking. Ending my career would be the least of my worries. I’m more concerned about what the High Priest will do.

I shrug my shoulders. “No shit, Kin, but someone has to say something about this shit” I wave in the direction of Ivy’s piles of papers.

Kin purses his lips, “I don’t know if it will change anything”

“Maybe not, but at least people will be watching the High Priest and he’ll have to stop some of this shit”

“The speech is only partly about the High Priest, the rest is all about the religion. Citizens will react strongly” Most people when meeting Kin would think he is too busy joking to be serious or intelligent, but sometimes his more contemplative nature shines through.

“Yes, but will you support an investigation?” I ask carefully. I had decided not to involve Kin in the scheme because I wanted to protect him. In many ways, he is like a little brother to me, much more so than Sean. But since he now knows, I can’t help but ask.

“Of course, man. I’m with you all the way”