"How can this be?" Mephista took a step backward; her voice trembling with her question.
We need help, I sent to Zaria and Lissa.
Queen's Palace, Le-Ath Veronis
Lissa
"How long has he been under compulsion?" Mephista watched Larvalis on a comp-vid screen—he was confined to a large suite in Ashe's palace with his lover. "I knew about her," she shrugged off Renellia's presence. "I knew about Sworden, too, but had no idea they were working against the Crown."
"Renellia didn't know about that," I said. "But as she's pregnant, we thought it best to take her out of harm's way."
"This is so much worse than I imagined it could be," Mephista hung her head and rubbed her forehead. She was getting a headache, that was plain to see.
"That really is Alrenardo the Just," I nodded to Al. "I am mated to Rigovarnus the First, actually. He goes by Rigo, so there's no reason for you to link him to Hraede unless someone tells you."
"Who better to run the planet than a former King," Mephista lifted her eyes to mine. "No wonder he makes me laugh—he isn't Larvalis."
"He won't ever be Larvalis," I said. "You can trust him with your life. Now, I believe Tamp has something for you." I nodded at Tamp, who pulled the small box from a pocket and offered it to Mephista.
"What is this?" Mephista asked, accepting the small box.
"Protection," Tamp explained, pulling his own medallion from beneath his shirt. "It will protect you from obsession, compulsion, and harm from any other. Wear it always and never remove it."
"Where did it come from?" Mephista lifted the gold medallion from its box and held it up to the light.
"A Larentii made it just for you. If any other tries to wear it, they will die." Alrenardo stepped forward, lifted the medallion by its chain and settled it over Mephista's head. "This means I cannot place compulsion on you, nor can any vampire. If you wish to scream at me and call me names, I cannot stop you." He gave her a lop-sided grin.
"Of all your jewels, that is the most precious," I told her. "The only person who will ever tell you to remove it is Zaria, who made it."
"That's not a Larentii name."
"No—the Larentii call her Corinnelar."
"May I be of assistance?" Connegar appeared next to me.
Mephista's mouth hung open for several seconds before it snapped shut. "This is real?"
"It is most certainly real. Zaria does not bestow medallions lightly."
"What is Larvalis saying about all this? Is he still under compulsion?"
"He doesn't want to go back," I answered truthfully.
"Hmmph. Sounds just like him, all right."
"Are you ready to go back, my dear?" Al asked her.
"I suppose. Can we sit down, have a drink and discuss this further? I find all this unsettling."
"Of course, my Queen." Al dipped his head to her.
"Then I'm ready to go back." She looped her arm with his, nodded to me and prepared to be transported.
I sent Tamp back with her and Al; he was a capable bodyguard and she should know that.
"Things are getting more complicated by the minute," I looked up at Connegar. "How is Zaria?"
"Sleeping in the sun again. The child is pulling energy away from her at a rapid rate."
"She isn't in pain, is she?"
"Just weary, because her energy is being expended at three to four times the normal rate."
"She shouldn't be doing this at all, then," I shook my head at Connegar.
"We feel that there is a part she must play in this, my love. Otherwise, we would exert every effort, convincing her to allow someone else to take her place."
"What are you not telling me about this?" I asked. He was holding something back, I was sure of it.
"The Wise Ones have become involved. I cannot say where they are, exactly, but they have never done this sort of thing before. That, in itself, corroborates my opinion that Zaria must remain involved in this."
"Honey, you're scaring me."
"Do you think I and the others are not concerned? Zaria and the Wise Ones are most precious to the entire Larentii race. We cannot lose even one of them."
"Does anyone else know? Outside the Larentii?" I rubbed his lower back as I looked up at him.
"No, and very few Larentii are aware."
"This is a little overwhelming," I admitted. "I wish we had more time to discuss this, but I've already left Rigo and the others alone too long. I have to get back to Corez."
"At least the Queen of Hraede is safer, now, and Rezo Nilus will awake a more powerful being, as deserved."
"Small accomplishments, considering everything else. So far, we've had it fairly easy. I get a feeling that trend may not continue for long."
"I think the same. I also must go back. Tread carefully, my love, and call if you have need of me." Leaning down, he gave me a warm kiss that tasted of sunlight, then folded back to Kwark.
I'm on my way back, I sent to Rigo and the others.
About damn time, Winkler growled. We've got more trouble brewing, and it's not pretty.
"What do they mean, we're not honoring our trade agreements?" I demanded shortly after I arrived in the First Advisor's office.
"Apparently Prime Minister Fallah wrote this new law, signed it and then forged Haris' signature to push it through the Campiaan Alliance," Rigo growled.
"We can straighten this out through Teeg," I began.
"Except that the entire Campiaan Trader's Guild is now refusing to do business with Corez and its satellite worlds," Winkler snapped. "Teeg can't force them to do business with anybody."
"The obsessed Fallah did this?"
"Yes."
"Great. Can we prove that isn't the First Advisor's signature, rendering it ineffective?"
"That's all we have to go on, and most people will see that as an attempt to cover up a crime."
"No wonder they killed her—there's no way now to prove that she was having ah, issues, or that she forged his signature. Now it's his word against a dead woman's."
"The trouble, of course, comes down to the fact that as Corez is quite close to a hub in the Campiaan Alliance, they get much of their grain, meat and vegetable shipments from farming worlds there," Gavin laid out the problem in a nutshell.
"So, if we can convince them to trade again, the prices will no doubt be higher, because they've been insulted."
"Exactly."
"And if Teeg intervenes on Corez's behalf, and forces the prices back down again, there will be unrest starting there."
"That is what we believe," Rigo sighed. "The media is awaiting my announcement, actually, and we've made no headway in finding Fallah's killer. No doubt they'll point that out, too. I will tell them that my signature was forged, which is the truth, but I think I will also step down, in favor of one of the Second Advisors. Perhaps one of you," Rigo indicated Winkler and Gavin, "will be able to renegotiate a trade agreement."
"There's always compulsion," Gavin grumped. "I hope you want the job," he turned to Winkler. "I detest that sort of thing."
"Don't look at me," Winkler frowned. "I didn't sign up for that, either."
"I have an idea," I said. "Which one of you wants to stand in for Rigo? You graciously resign as First Advisor, and Rigo, disguised as one of you, takes charge until a new Prime Minister is elected."
"We can try that," Winkler agreed. "See how far we get, until the next roadblock."
"Rigo would be better at renegotiating the trade agreement anyway, with my help," I said. "Rigo, honey, how quick do you want to do this?"
"Call the outlets. Tell them we'll have an announcement in an hour."
"I'm on it," I said and grabbed a comp-vid off Rigo's desk to deliver the news.
Royal Palace, Galk
Reah
"I can't tell you how pleased I am to have you back, Rezo Nilus," I told him. Zaria and her Larentii guards delivered the newest member of the Hierarchy to my private study.
"Now we o
nly have to present a logical excuse for my absence," he grimaced. To others, he'd resemble the man he was before; I could see straight through Zaria's disguise to the man who now looked to be in his prime—taller, straighter and with a regal bearing.
"We're going back," Zaria told me. "Lissa is dealing with yet another emergency. All we've done so far is put out fires that keep cropping up."
"I hear that," I agreed. "We've found two more obsessed Council members, and those are two votes which will be changed in favor of the opposition."
"What are your plans?" Zaria asked.
"I don't know. Bel Erland and Wyatt are talking to anyone and everyone on the Council willing to listen, so they can lay out the truth of what this re-vote means."
"I'll send Gerrett." Zaria's voice was flat.
"I will bring him," Valegar told her and disappeared. He and Gerrett reappeared moments later.
"Who will replace Gerrett on Kwark?" I asked.
"I will fill that role," Valegar replied.
"Somebody has to keep Bleek reined in," Gerrett teased.
"I have no worries concerning the Blevakian. I have worries concerning the two men who attempted to murder Rezo Nilus," Val smiled at Gerrett.
"Honey, do what you have to," Zaria leaned in to give Gerrett a swift kiss. "We have to go."
Royal Palace, Kwark
Zaria
"Did you see anything in those two men before you separated their particles?" Edden set a cup of green tea in front of me. Somewhere, Reemagar was giving a speech on the Queen's behalf, and looked exactly like her, down to her choices in jewelry and dresses. Any other day I might tease him about fashion, but not today.
"D'slay has a wizard he refers to as Toad," I sighed and leaned back on a wide sofa in the Queen's suite. "Both those men saw him, and it appears that D'slay has the wizard obsessed and is constantly torturing the man. That's all those two saw, so that's the only information I have to go on. For now, I don't know his real name or anything else about him. D'slay is using him to do some of his dirty work, no doubt."
D'slay didn't obsess the two men?"
"You only have to pay those who are already predisposed to do the worst thing possible anyway."
"Ah." Edden took a seat next to me.
"How are you doing?" Ilya walked in, followed by Halimel and Bleek.
"Feeling tired appears to be a constant," I replied. "Val is taking Gerrett's place; Gerrett is needed on Galk. They've got a serious problem with obsession going on, and so far, have nobody to pin that crime on."
"Do you think D'slay is popping in and out?" Bleek asked, sitting on my other side. With one hand, he lifted my cup of tea and placed it in my hands.
"He could be, but there are still two Sirenali women out there. The third one who showed up on Hraede is in Lissa's dungeon."
"Sirenali can fold space," Edden pointed out. "Why were three riding with that shipment of sand and uranium?"
"To protect it, perhaps?" Ilya suggested.
"That's my thought on the matter. They didn't want anybody knowing what those barrels actually contained, so they were there for damage control."
"Why didn't they use their talent for folding space to take those shipments where they needed to go?" Halimel asked.
"Because, as a general rule, Sirenali can only transport themselves. There may be a few who can transport others, but transforming heavy objects or other people is generally beyond their capability. I believe D'slay may have had help when he transported Irina away."
"Did the obsessed wizard help him do this?" Edden asked softly.
"He may have. The only way to find that out, however, is to go back to Russia a few centuries ago."
"Sirenali cannot bend time," Valegar appeared to join our conversation. "Between that time and this, there is no indication that he was active anywhere. If he cannot bend time, where was he and what was he doing?"
"Then he had help bending time, too? That would take another powerful being to accomplish that," Ilya said.
"This is really starting to worry me," I breathed. "I feel sick." I transported myself to the Queen's sumptuous bathroom and coughed up everything I'd just drank into her platinum-plated toilet.
Chapter 12
Royal Palace, Kwark
Ilya
This pregnancy is hitting her hard, I replied to Tamp's inquiry about Zaria. Even Connegar says Larentii females don't often experience nausea of any kind. She drank half a cup of green tea and then lost it all.
Could it be because most Larentii don't eat or drink like the rest of us do? They rely on sunlight to feed themselves.
They say it shouldn't have that sort of reaction. She's really showing, too. If she were human, I'd say she was at least seven or eight months along. The Larentii here have taken to surrounding her whenever she's outside the royal suite, and all of us are helping her in and out of chairs, as of this afternoon.
It may be easier on her if she stayed in her Larentii form, Tamp suggested.
She stays that way, now, whenever she's out of the public view. More and more, Reemagar is standing in for her, and they are in constant communication regarding what should be said or done in every situation. Connegar won't come out and say it, but I believe the child is growing at an accelerated rate and her body is having trouble adapting to the sudden changes.
Is there a reason for that?
I have no idea. We're keeping watch while we're waiting for the next disaster to happen.
As it surely will, Tamp agreed. Have you heard from any of the others?
More problems on Corez; they're still trying to pin crimes on Rigo, looks like, and the police are too busy doing the enemy's work for them to hunt for Fallah's murderer. Queen Reah has her hands full with a re-vote scheduled for tomorrow, because several members of the Council have been obsessed to change their votes and they still can't track down the source of those obsessions.
Anything new with Zanfield and his crew?
Haven't heard anything in the last few hours. I fully expect that to change, however.
We're still searching for the two missing members of the false Rith Naeri. No new murders have cropped up, but they probably know we captured the others and aren't anxious to join their brothers-in-crime.
Or waiting for the proper moment to strike, I said. My concern is for Alrenardo; he is the weakest of the impersonators, as he has little past his vampire abilities to protect himself. That leaves a burden on you, my friend.
Don't sell Al short; he hasn't survived for millennia by being stupid or incapable. Besides, he wears one of Zaria's medallions, as does the Queen.
Keep your eyes open, then. I feel as if the enemy has only been toying with us thus far and is saving the worst for when we least expect it.
We are keeping watch, and I will report anything unusual here. Staying in contact will be of vital importance, I believe.
Kabbuc Mountain, Mardir
Toad
Some days, I feel almost strong enough to shake off D'slay's commands. He watches me closely, however, and if he imagines that his obsessions are loosening, he replaces them, and then strips off layers of my skin with a cruel, flaying knife.
I wish I could dampen the pain completely, but he commands that I feel it. Therefore, I do feel it, and the memories of it between times is far from pleasant. At least I no longer scream in pain; he has stripped so much of me away I've become somewhat impervious.
Long ago, I stopped cursing my mother, or the one who fathered me in a drunken dalliance. Had I been older and wiser, I'd have gotten away from my mother, who gave me to the first stranger who offered money for a six-year-old boy.
When Irina was still alive, she kept D'slay away from me much of the time, as I was forced to help her through too many pregnancies that would have terminated early with the child's death if I hadn't.
The last pregnancy was the one in which she developed the disease. I did not mention it to D'slay. When Irina died, I was flayed again, because he was a
ngry—with me, with her and with the children he was forced to hand to others to raise.
Since then, he has driven me—and himself—to the breaking point. Only recently have I realized that he is also under another's command, and nothing he can do will relieve him of that burden. That gives me two masters rather than one, and I can only dream of escaping both.
I can only imagine what life I might choose for myself should I manage to break free. So much of the time, I think of how it could feel to help instead of harm, and to be myself and make my own decisions.
Such are the ways of dreams—that they are as intangible as fog, and often just as obscure in the full light of day.
"These are our targets," D'slay stalked into the room with a comp-vid in his hands, which he shoved in my direction.
I took it from him carefully; I was tortured when one accidentally broke earlier. Somehow, my broken fingers had healed straight, rather than crooked as D'slay left them.
The first image was one that surprised me, as he bore the likeness of an ancient King of Hraede.
"It's not a resemblance, that's really Alrenardo the Just," D'slay snapped at my hesitance. Yes, I could see past the disguise to reveal the real image beneath it. "The next image is much the same, only it's the real Rigovarnus the Great. He's second on our kill list."
I thumbed the next image to see another disguised former King of Hraede, only this one was acting as First Advisor on Corez. "Those are two of the real Rith Naeri," D'slay began to pace in front of me. "They've managed to destroy most of my replacements; only two remain. But, as you and I know, we saved the best for last."
Dipping my head in a half-nod, I thumbed the third image onto the screen before my breath and my hand stilled.
"What is this one?" I finally found my voice again.
"We haven't determined what she is," D'slay resumed his pacing. "We'll kill her, just like the others. Keep going, so you'll know all your targets."
Reluctantly I tapped the image, replacing it with the next one. "We can't truly see who that one is, either, but she should be easy enough to kill, as the next one will be."
Blood Alliance Page 16
