Obvious

Brianna directly checked off names as each person reported to the garden. None of them thought this strange since I had asked that they were informed of my return as a reason for the meeting. I was sure most thought I was going to update them on my progress or discuss future plans.

I hadn't discussed job performance with Brianna, Basil, and Gil yet, so issues concerning work ethos, or any problems they may have encountered with staff would need to still be discussed. One or two may have been worried they were about to be let go. This would mean returning across Seelie borders to return home or striking out on their own.

That would come later. I wanted to cut the head off from the snake of the person that had been preying on my people. It had to be someone who was either using illusion to mask their identity, Rank and level, or someone that had broken covenant.

After Alys's death, I'd done some research using my M-AI to find out what would be required to perform a ritual that destroyed the soul completely. I ignored the strength of body it would require for restraining and chopping the body to pieces, the Sidhe were all strong enough to do something like that, even a Commoner Rank could exert amazing force.

The skill required to perform the ritual sacrifice was negligible, intent and the willingness to splinter their own soul required personal magic and soul strength that were formidable enough to withstand the pain of that splintering. The magic energies required could be augmented with artifacts and spell stones to a limited degree, but most of the energy had to come from an individual's magical pool and soul ocean.

The damage to their soul would have been painful as part of their life force was stripped away and destroyed with their victim. For this person to have done this four times revealed was insane. The damage to their own soul, suggested a sociopath, someone so inured in a vendetta that any pain or repercussions they received from conducting the ritual were ignored.

I decided to get a brief overview of the people from Basil as they assembled. Knight Basil Henry had done much to keep the cogs lubricated, and the people motivated as they waited for word of my return. His certainty that I would return absolute because the Oath's that he had sworn never weakened and remained in effect.

"Have there been any issues as far as performance and competence?" I asked him as we waited and watched people trickle in. "Someone that has needed extended rest or has seemed halting and tepid when carrying out daily tasks?"

"Not in performance of duties," Basil supplied, "not anything worth mentioning. Oh, there have been the occasional spats and jealousies, attempts to shirk duty, or backstab others to seek promotion. But those are all expected and normal when operating an Estate.

"The killings have been problematic; worry, fear, uncertainty affecting job performance as you can expect. Each occurrence has required deft maneuvering to cajole and keep those not bound by Oath as retainer and member of House from bolting. It is only the contracts that have been signed that kept some of the most skittish from breaching the contract.

"Honestly, I was certain the next death would be the breaking point. No matter what repercussion they may have endured for breaking a contract, most have concluded that at least they would be alive to pay any damages from breaking contract," Basil informed me.

"I'm glad that you were able to contain the fallout. I do think we need to re-work those contracts. I don't like that my people, people that were being preyed on had no recourse other than to endure or break trust," I said.

"Sir," Brianna said gaining Basil and my attention, "Everyone is accounted for. One hundred and two servants and their families. Ten retainers and their families. And fifty guards and their families. A total of three hundred and seventeen people."

I hadn't realized that the families had been gathered and included in the mass exodus. I was happy they had been. I had offered those that decided to follow my banner the option to bring their families informing them that they were welcome when I'd first signed contracts. But at that point, over a year ago, those that were joining my House had been content to wait until I had claimed land.

Basil must have allowed them to contact family members and join them in exile once they reached Delar and had leased an Estate to establish a base. It didn't really increase the pool of candidates that may have been responsible for the deaths. None of the families had been with us when Alys had been murdered.

I'll admit, I didn't recognize many of those gathered, and that bothered me. For them, it had been more than a year. For me really just weeks. Still, I'd only had the briefest of encounters with most of them, interviewing them when they were hired the only real interaction we'd had.

I had depended on Basil, Brianna, Gil, and Ril for the day to day interaction. They had been responsible for assigning duties and overseeing staff. I didn't foresee that changing. In fact, once I claimed Land chances are there would be even less time to form anything more than the most superfluous of relationships with most of these people.

It wasn't fair. But it was the nature of Ranked and lack of time available for those who ruled.

Not waiting any longer, or informing those gathered what I planned on doing, I began casting, releasing the energies that wove the spell I had created. The synergy of air, mind, and perception that would remove glamour and illusions from among those gathered. The changes, at first, went unnoticed as most people simply didn't bother to use illusion, or used something so benign it was barely noticeable when stripped.

But eventually, large changes did begin to take place. Most noticeable a few of the brownies that had four arms instead of two had been hiding those extra arms. The Seelie considered anything that diverged from the standard of perfection they preferred as deformity. Over the millennia those with the ability to use illusion had made it a practice to hide extra appendages. One of the biggest changes surprised more than a few when one of the Guards was discovered to be male instead of female.

The whisperings and mutterings of those gathered began to increase as my spell worked its way around and amongst them. The entire crowd had been completely searched when I finally encountered what I'd expected.

He had been clever. Disguised as a runner, one of those innocuous servants that was sent everywhere delivering items as needed. No one would have given another thought to him being around. His duties were uniquely suited to allow him to remain both unobtrusive and free from suspicion. No one would question what he was doing or why he was even in the most sensitive of locations or lurking during important conversations.

What I found amazing was that Thom D'Kel, first son of Lady Patricia and Lord Kel had managed to restrain his nature. He had suppressed the greed and entitlement he felt he deserved to play the role of runner for over a year. What was even more surprising was that his Rank had been elevated. He was a Ranked Duke and managed to hide that Rank with the aura of a commoner.

I believe I understood how it had happened, his Rank had not been earned, it had been bestowed. Lady Patricia could only restore his Rank and Levels to Knight using her own Rank. It was the safest way to increase Rank, to be awarded that position by someone higher Ranked than you, but they did so by sacrificing their own experience.

In the weeks before the banquet, while I was recruiting, she managed to have one of her backers from Olympus further increase his Rank. It would be too risky to raise her own Rank, but Thom was believed banished. Outcast and stripped of Titles, Ranks, and levels.

A Ranked Duke had the ability to suppress his aura, to hide his Rank and levels from any but those equal in power. His use of glamour and illusion, along with an illusion artifact, allowed him to change shape and form. And it increased that ability so that only a Ranked King or Queen could see through the intertwining mesh of magic and artifice, and even those Ranked would have to spend some effort to break the enchantment.

It was how the Seelie Prince had managed to be suborned, the doppelganger that replaced him using one of those powerful artifacts to hide his true identity even from the Monarchs. My spell ignored illusion and glamour. It worked on the same principle of echolocation and probed what was there, not what was seen. My perception ripped the false, destroyed the lie, and revealed truth.

And in this instance, it stripped Thom of his protections. Those around him who knew who he was immediately retreated, fear of his reputation forcing them to withdraw. Those who didn't know who he was, likewise withdrew, the power of his Rank forcing them to seek safety.

It made sense that Thom was the person behind these ritual murders. The weapon that had ended Alys' life had been branded with the Kel crescent. It had been easy to frame Leian for that first murder, especially since her dagger had been stolen and used as the tool of sacrifice.

Thom hadn't wanted to be caught, but he still wanted to leave a clue that the murders were related to the events and the fortunes that had struck Fief Kel. I berated myself for not figuring this out after Alys' death before I was forced to admit that there hadn't been enough evidence for me to have done so.

Even now, if I hadn't been able to strip illusion, Thom would have never been considered as a person of interest. I had long forgotten him and never thought to wonder what had become of him after Lord Kel stripped him of Rank and exiled him from the keep. Lady Patricia, and I didn't believe for a moment that this plan was Thom's, had been masterful in crafting her retribution. A backup plan for retaliation and revenge if the events of the banquet ended badly.