Page 16 - Microsoft Word - FANG EMPIRE - NOVEL.docx

Ramoth sneered with delight whenever Kanja put GoGo in her place, as Ramoth himself

had mentored him to do. The queen sat silently infuriated.

From the moment Ramoth had ingratiated himself to the king, GoGo had never trusted him

and he knew it. He was initially commissioned to fix the city’s sewer system. His engineering

genius impressed the king, and soon they struck up regular conversations that led to subjects

beyond engineering. It wasn’t long before GoGo discovered Kanja taking Ramoth’s advice on all

manner of governmental matters, and even quoting him in the bedroom on how to handle her.

Then in a shocking announcement, Kanja appointed him high advisor, and then secretary of state.

GoGo desperately tried to warn Kanja but he was too susceptible to patronizing flattery, the

cunning advisor’s most potent weapon. The queen found an ally and clear thinker in Prince Omar,

and together they tried to convince Kanja that he was making a serious mistake trusting Ramoth.

But it was too late. The king would not make any decision without Ramoth’s advice, even

approval. Kanja seemed seduced by the detail and artifice with which he spoke about the king’s

complex affairs, Ramoth’s secret code name for GoGo. In turn, the queen never let him forget the

reason he was hired in the first place—the king’s sewer system, GoGo’s not-so-secret code name

for Ramoth.

Belly Pot stepped before GoGo and opened a small decorative box containing a jewel-

handled mirror. He could barely restrain his perverse pleasure as he held it up to her face in

mockery of her ugly scar.

“The royal reflection is a thing to behold.”

The veiled insult stung, but GoGo looked proudly into the mirror and admired herself,

unwilling to give either the slug or the serpent anything over which to gloat. Then she waved it

away like the offensive trinket it was intended to be. Belly Pot nodded resentfully without bowing

to the queen.