Demon's Quest (31 page)

"Yes, there is that," Erland admitted. "He and Griffin are in there together, getting blindingly drunk. At least Dragon and Crane volunteered to stay with them." The four men were inside Wylend's private study.

"Why would Wyatt admit to Reah that he didn't want to be King, and never say it to anyone else?" Garek shook his head.

"Come on, we all knew it," Corolan said. "The minute he could get away from Wylend's chores, he was off helping his mother. We all knew; we just knew not to say anything to Wylend. Until he tapped into Reah's conversations. He'll never get her back. Not now." Corolan mourned that fact—he loved her—more than he could ever admit to the King of Karathia.

* * *

"I'm not kidding, Lendill." I paced in front of him. "I want to separate myself from Torevik Rath. I don't want him to have any parental rights to these children." He'd taken a small bit of information, blown it out of proportion and gotten married to have his revenge. I didn't want my children exposed to that. And I was rethinking my willingness to heal Karathia's core. Wylend was at the bottom of all of this.

"Reah, Alliance law won't let you do that," Lendill pointed out patiently. "Even though you were never married to him."

"Yeah, how about that?" I felt nauseous and hugged myself, trying to calm my stomach. "He never asked me. Yet he picks up the first woman he can find who is tall, beautiful and willing. Well, I won't be willing. Never again. He and Wylend are gone. Period."

"Reah, I know this isn't a good time," Rylend appeared from nowhere. "But Em-pah Griffin and Great-em-pah Wylend are pretty much drunk right now. If you heal the core while they're plastered, then we won't have to make excuses or explanations later."

"Are you sure that warlock fucker Zellar is far away? I don't want to lose twins this time," I snapped at him.

"I will come—they will not get past me or my Protectors," Nefrigar appeared. Two other Larentii were with him.

"You promise?" I looked up at Nefrigar.

"I can promise this to my love—Larentii are allowed to protect their mates."

"Then let's go." I didn't feel good, but then I probably wouldn't ever feel good about this. Lendill called Lok in somehow, so I ended up going to Karathia with Lendill, Lok, Rylend Morphis and three Larentii.

* * *

"Boss, Reah's healing the core on Karathia—I got mindspeech from Ry," Astralan whispered to Gavril.

"Then let's go," Gavril gave Tory one last glare before allowing Astralan to fold him to Karathia.

* * *

Gavril stared at the three Larentii who had come. Nefrigar he recognized, but not the other two. "Two of my Protectors, who also happen to be my two oldest sons," Nefrigar explained, as Reah seated her full Thifilatha onto the ground where Zellar had tapped Karathia's core.

"You have more than two sons?" Gavril's voice held awe. He'd only heard of Larentii having one, perhaps two children, and two was extremely rare.

"All born before Ferrigar's decree," Nefrigar smiled. "Four of them. All four work with me now, plus two others—sons of my eldest friend who separated his particles long ago."

"Working in the Archives keeps us young," one of Nefrigar's sons offered. "I am Serrigar, and this is my next eldest brother, Valegar."

"Very pleased to meet you," Gavril nodded respectfully.

"We have all the information on the Campiaan Alliance, from the beginning," Valegar grinned. "We and father found it fascinating. That is how he learned of his mate, you know. Serrigar gathered information and brought it to Father, not long ago. The moment he absorbed her image, he was lost."

"And after all this time, too," Nefrigar agreed. "Let us watch her now—this is more than fascinating."

"I have the shields set, Father," Serrigar announced. "Everything is clear and none shall break through."

"Good. Thank you, child."

* * *

I settled myself as comfortably as I could, and focused on Karathia's daystar. Karathia had barely been tapped—as if the tapping had been interrupted. What did that mean? I pulled energy from the star and went to work.

* * *

Zellar glared at the Ra'Ak when he thought the creature wasn't looking. This one only spoke using mindspeech now, and seldom communicated with Zellar. Zellar was frightened—this one had pulled him away from Karathia before he could gather enough energy to effectively escape those he now saw as his captors.

He'd thought them allies at first, when he'd offered his services to Hendars Klar. He was no longer under any illusions regarding who was captor and captive. Zellar wondered if he shouldn't start soul-shifting with adults. His current body was fourteen turns in age and would feed the Ra'Ak soon—it was time for another shift.

Zellar was worried, too, that the four remaining Ra'Ak were planning something. He wouldn't be included in those plans, that was a given. Zellar walked toward the cages that held six teens, the oldest of which was seventeen. That would be his next body. Zellar pulled the chalk from a pocket and knelt to begin drawing runes.

* * *

The moment I'd stood after healing the core, the dry heaves began. Nefrigar placed one hand on my forehead and the other on my belly. I felt blessed relief quickly. Someone lifted me, I can't say whom, and transported me to Tulgalan. Radolf was there, waiting with food.

"Here, now, you've had a long day, we'll do a light soup first," Radolf slid a bowl in front of me while Teeg propped me up. Nefrigar and the two he'd brought with him made themselves smaller so they could sit at the island with me.

"I want to sleep after," I mumbled, lifting the spoon.

"We'll make sure you sleep," Teeg murmured against my ear. Radolf fed me as much as he could, but that wasn't much. Teeg rubbed my belly carefully while I ate, sending me mindspeech. Telling me he'd make sure the twins wouldn't lack for fathers. I brushed away tears when he said that.

"Our Reah upset," Farzi and Nenzi came, ferried by Stellan. I wrapped my arms around Farzi while Nenzi stroked my hair.

"Lion snake shapeshifters? Father, this is a very good day," Valegar said, smiling widely.

"We take Reah to bed," Nenzi announced. Lok, Lendill, Gavril and the Larentii followed while Farzi carried me to my suite.

* * *

"Here is the information—her father is Dantel Schuul, a minor politician on Quezlos," Norian handed the comp-vid to Lissa. "And he's ambitious, he just doesn't have the clout or charisma to rise above his current position. He must think he's hit the jackpot, marrying off his daughter to your son." Garde stood behind Lissa, blowing smoke. "He's gotten his wealth from manufacturing chips that control assembly robots—every Alliance world does business with his firm. That doesn't help him in his political aspirations—he needs extra support for that, since the population sees him as too wealthy. They don't trust that, so he needs someone behind him who is already respected in the political realm. He looks to you to provide that, through your son."

If Tory had bothered to talk with either parent, they might have gotten to the root of this. As it was, he hadn't and in an act of mindless pettiness, he'd married. If Tory filed for a writ of detachment, Darletta would own half his holdings, and he half of hers. But, as Norian had pointed out, Darletta, having reached her majority, had nothing unless it was through her father. Tory, on the other hand, had holdings granted on Le-Ath Veronis and Kifirin, in addition to his and his parents' reputations. Darletta could damage all of it if she didn't get her way.

"Even if she asks for the writ, it's still split evenly down the middle, so this is a no-win scenario," Garde grumbled.

"Why doesn't the Alliance have an annulment option?" Lissa sighed.

"It's supposed to force them to think before they marry, but you see where we are," Norian said.

"It's neither here nor there," Lendill folded in. "Reah says she's done with Wylend and Tory. And she means it."

"I pray that Kifirin does not remove Torevik's claiming marks," Garde said. "I also hope she doesn't forget that I will be a grandfather to those children."

"I don't think her argument is with you," Lendill nodded toward Garde.

* * *

"Great-Grandfather, I brought Reah to heal the core yesterday." Rylend spoke softly; his grandfather had a terrible hangover and neither Wyatt nor Amara would ever be available again to heal his aches and pains. Griffin had disappeared after Wylend passed out the night before.

"Can you find a healer on this gods-forsaken planet to heal a headache?" Wylend moaned.

"Here," Ry touched Wylend's head with careful hands, removing the headache. "I can get tea or coffee if you want it."

"Of course I want it. Do I have anybody left in the palace willing to make it?"

"I just sent mindspeech; it'll be here shortly," Ry said.

"Where's your father?"

"In Didge, with Corolan and Garek, trying to convince sixteen warlocks and seven witches that it's all right to come back."

"Is that all that's left there?" Wylend wanted to moan again.

"Yes—the Ra'Ak and Zellar either killed or ate the others."

"Including Wyatt."

"Including Wyatt. I'll miss him, Great-Grandfather. He was a good friend, as well as my uncle. Your tea's here." Ry took the cup from the kitchen helper and passed it to his grandfather. "Dad should be back soon. Send mindspeech to him if you need anything else."

"Reah healed the core?"

"Yes. I watched, as did three Larentii. I think they would have said something if she didn't get the job done right."

"That wasn't what I meant."

"Then what did you mean, Great-Grandfather? I asked her to come and she came. She's pregnant with Tory's twins, and that might be wonderful, except Tory became angry for some reason and married the first woman who came along. He doesn't care anything about Darletta, but he's stuck with her now. Reah says she's done with Tory. She's walking away and Kifirin threatened to remove his claiming marks. Now, who would take an already tenuous situation and push it past the breaking point? Tory's my brother, and Reah is my sister. She belonged to both my brothers, until a few days ago. I'm renouncing my Karathian citizenship, Great-Grandfather, in front of the ultimate witness." Rylend folded away.

* * *

"Erland, I'm not about to tell our son that he made the wrong decision." Lissa accepted a fruit drink from Ilvan, who loved working in the palace kitchen with Radolf.

"Wylend is about to have a breakdown," Erland snapped. "He loses Wyatt and then our son renounces his citizenship? What would you do?"

"I don't know," Lissa shrugged. "Maybe think I fucked up somewhere? At least I did talk our child out of jumping into a six-year, full-time sign-up with the ASD."

"He what?" Erland was about to get furious.

"I said I talked him out of it. I told him that wouldn't be any different from Tory running out and marrying Darletta. He said that he saw my point and went off to visit Gavril on Campiaa. Erland, we have family dinners and gatherings to look forward to with Darletta. Are you happy about that?"

"Of course I'm not happy about that," Erland huffed angrily. "But Ry could have waited until Wylend was past the mourning period."

"I'm not disagreeing with the action, but he could have waited a few days," Lissa agreed reluctantly. "Wylend should have waited, too, don't you think? Before going straight to Tory with only a half-truth, knowing it would likely set him off."

"Lissa, he's under a lot of pressure," Erland took Lissa's arm and led her out of the kitchen. "He was faced with joining either the Reth or Campiaan Alliance or doing business with the pirates and cutthroats of Giffel, Deandrus or their newly-acquired world of Lidrith. You know what would happen if we didn't join one or the other—warlocks and witches hired out to pirates and assassins, just to keep the trade flowing. Wylend has held strong through thousands of years, and now he's being forced to change. He imagined a slight, that's true, but he's worried that Karathia will be viewed as only one among many, and not nearly as important as it once was."

"Then why hasn't he spoken to Gavril about this? Gavril sees Karathia as the cornerstone of the Campiaan Alliance," Lissa said.

"Wylend sees Gavril as a young great-grandchild, who doesn't have near the experience that he does at ruling," Erland sighed.

"Do you think Gavril doesn't have enough sense to ask if he finds himself in a difficult situation?"

"Gavril may be one of the most intelligent people I've ever met," Erland admitted.

"And Wylend doesn't see that?"

"Wylend is afraid to admit it," Erland said.

"Erland, there's something else Wylend doesn't see." Lissa said.

"And that is?"

"That Reah was correct—Rylend would have been the King Karathia deserved."

* * *

"Reah, we got another hit on our warlock and his Ra'Ak." Lendill slid his comp-vid over so I could take a look. Lok was there with Farzi and Nenzi—Teeg had gone home with Astralan and Stellan. He had work to do.

"Hon, I think it's the crazy Ra'Ak and their slave warlock now. I don't think Zellar ever thought he'd find himself in this position." I set plates of food on the island. Lok watched me, his eyes never missing anything, although he didn't speak.