It was Gregory who answered, however. “Shortly before your mother gave birth to you, he died in an industrial accident, or so I was told.”
“Why did you tell Peter that William was his dad if he wasn’t? I’m sorry, but it was clear from the first moment that there was no love lost between the two of them, and from what Peter has said, his mom wasn’t treated very well by you guys.” I frowned at her, not able to understand how a woman could be so cruel to her own son and grandson.
She turned away for a moment. “Tobar was my firstborn. He wished to live outside the family, to be a part of his woman’s family, to work for mortals. We could not have that shame brought to us. When I heard that my son had been killed, I did what had to be done—I could not let the mahrime child be a part of the family, and yet he bore the blood of my Tobar. I commanded Vilem to take responsibility for both the woman and the child.”
“He didn’t take responsibility for us. He did everything to avoid us.” Peter’s voice was as hard as flint. I set down the pugs and slid an arm around his waist. He pulled me closer until his heat sank into me, giving me strength and comfort. “He couldn’t have been less of a father if he tried.”
Mrs. Faa closed her eyes. “I do not know what is right or wrong anymore. At the time of Tobar’s leaving, I did not suffer any such indecision. Life was simpler then. Now…” She waved a hand. “Now it is not so clear. I know only that I do not want shame brought into this family.”
“Your son killed people,” I couldn’t help but say.
“And for that, he must pay,” she agreed, which surprised me. Her eyes flashed to Peter. “You may consider me a foolish old woman, but I do not condone murder, not of mortals or Travellers. What Vilem did was an abomination. He has brought shame to the name of Faa. You will take him away to your Watch and they will banish him so that he can harm us no more.”
“They will most certainly banish him to the Akasha,” Peter said mildly, but I knew he had to be hurt by his grandmother’s actions in the past. But what mattered was the here and now. “And most likely Andrew will be charged as an accessory.”
Her face crumpled. “Then he must pay for his actions.”
“And what about Peter?” I asked, wanting to make everything right, but not sure how to go about doing so. “Now you know he wasn’t persecuting you—will you accept him into your family at last?”
“Kiya,” Peter said with an obvious warning in his voice. “I don’t need her forgiveness, or her acceptance.”
“No, but it would be nice for our kids to have some family other than my foster mom,” I pointed out.
Mrs. Faa was silent, her gaze now directed down to her hands.
“Puridaj?” Gregory asked, kneeling before her, taking her hands in his. “It is long past the time when you must let go of the old ways. We are not the same as we have been. The world is not the same place.”
Peter looked with speculation at his cousin.
“What?” I asked him in a whisper.
“What what?”
“What are you looking at Gregory like that for?”
“I think he wants to break free of Traveller bonds and work for people, instead of taking from them.”
I smiled at him, and couldn’t stop kissing him very quickly. “I think you and Gregory could be the start of a very good thing. You could form a company that specializes in stealing time from bad people and giving it to good people. Just imagine what the two of you could do! You could take down dictators, and psychopaths, and people who punch babies and hurt animals, and give their time to all the good people out there who need more time to benefit the world.”
He gave me an amused glance. “We really are going to have to have another talk about why stealing is bad.”
“Puridaj?” Gregory repeated the word.
Mrs. Faa said nothing, but she withdrew her hands from his.
Gregory looked sadly at her for a moment or two, then stood up. Without turning to Peter, he asked, “Can you give me information about joining the Watch?”
“I can. I will also give you a personal reference. My boss will be delighted to have another Traveller investigating crimes.”
“I’ll give you a recommendation also,” I told him, feeling all warm and fuzzy. “Not that mine will count as much as Peter’s, but now that I know you’re a good guy, I’m happy to back you.”
“Thank you,” Gregory said with a slight hint of a smile in his voice.
My happy feeling lasted until I looked down at Mrs. Faa. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to give you my resignation. Much as I adore the pugs, I find that I can’t work for you any longer.”
She made a dismissive gesture. “This is a black day for the family. I have lost a son and two grandsons.”
“Only if you wish to lose them,” I told her. “Well, OK, I’d want to lose William and Andrew, but not Gregory and Peter.”
She got to her feet on her own, smacking Gregory on the shin with the cane when he tried to assist her. “I am going to have my rest. Peter Faa, you will remove Vilem and Andrew before I return.”
He made her a little bow, his beautiful eyes unreadable.
She paused at the bottom of the steps to the RV, the dogs swarming past her up the steps. For a moment she hesitated, then turned slightly toward us. “I regret my decision to have Vilem take charge of you. Upon consideration, I believe you would have brought honor to the family.”
“It’s not too late,” I said, taking a step toward her. “He can still be a part of the family.”
She was silent for a full minute before she said simply, “We shall see,” and climbed the stairs, closing the door behind her.
“What an obstinate old battle-ax,” I said aloud before realizing that Gregory might not appreciate that sentiment. “Sorry—I didn’t mean that in a rude way. But she’s…”
“An obstinate old battle-ax,” Gregory said, his lips twisting into a wry smile. He added, his eyes on Peter, “I’ve never heard her apologize for anything, however. I think this bodes well, cousin.”
“I do not need Lenore Faa in my life,” Peter said, his arm tightening around me. “Not now.”
I smiled up at him. “That’s awfully romantic, but like I said, I’d really rather that our kids have a family. Neither one of us grew up with one, and it would be a nice change, don’t you think?”
“We’ll see,” he answered, parroting his grandmother.
Gregory looked past us to where the two prone men lay. “I should have been around here more, but business kept me away for much of the year. I had no idea that William was causing deaths, or that Andrew was covering up for him. I simply thought they were running an illegal business, and doing business with a magician for that purpose.”
“It’s hard to explain away the whipping boys,” Peter pointed out.
“Yes, but I didn’t know about them.” Gregory shook his head. “They would have made me much more suspicious had I known. They couldn’t have kept them here, or I would have seen them on my periodic visits. And puridaj would never have tolerated that. She is many things, but she would not tolerate William being in possession of such powerful magic.”
“The whipping boys,” Peter said thoughtfully, then snapped his fingers. “The motel room!”
“What motel room?” Gregory asked, at the same time as I said, “You mean Dalton’s room? The one where his body was, that is?”
“Yes. The woman who runs the hotel told me there were two gay hikers staying there, but it could well be that the two men were William and Andrew.”
“Why would they need a motel room when they have fancy RVs?” The light dawned just as the last word left my mouth. “Oh, you mean they holed up their magic stuff there?”
He nodded. “It makes sense that they’d need somewhere close by to store the whipping boys, but away from detection by Lenore Faa or other family members.”
“Plus, it makes for a good hidey-hole should they ever want to lie low from the cops,” I added.
<
br /> “That’s entirely possible. No doubt that was behind their thinking in using the motel address on any records the mortal police could check, such as the receipt I acquired.”
“So, what exactly is a whipping boy?” I asked Peter. “I mean, I know what the normal definition is, but I suspect there’s some woo-woo explanation that I’m totally missing.”
“They’re actually very close, only the whipping boy I’m referring to is a magical effect. It allows the user to transfer the guilt from a crime to another. I suspect—given that there have been no other experiences of karmic whiplash, as you call it, on Otherworld members in the area—that William was using it on mortals, transferring his responsibility for taking the life of mortals to whoever was nearest at hand.”
“But wouldn’t that person then be punished by your shuvani person?”
“Yes.” Peter’s fingers tightened into a fist. “That’s why there were all those deaths of apparently unrelated mortals.” He explained briefly that whenever a Traveller-related death had occurred, not long after a mortal died of an unknown cause.
“That’s just so heinous,” I said, feeling suddenly cold.
“It’s beyond heinous.”
“It’s also the perfect crime, so far as the Otherworld is concerned,” Gregory said. “By transferring the guilt to a mortal, William was absolved, and the mortal ultimately punished by the shuvani had no link to William.”
“That’s why we never had so much as a hint that a Traveller was involved in those collateral deaths,” Peter agreed. “I should have known the circumstances were too coincidental, though.”
“I don’t see how you could without knowing about the whipping boys,” Gregory commented mildly, then nodded toward his uncle and cousin. “What do you want done with them? They should be coming around soon.”
Peter pulled out a couple of thin plastic ties. “Bind their hands with these and dump them in the back of my car. Dalton is on his way here now with a couple of members of the Watch. They’ll be taken into custody and tried for their crimes. Along with the magician who sold Andrew the glamour and whipping boys.”
Gregory took the ties. I twined my fingers through Peter’s while William and Andrew were restrained and hauled over to Peter’s car. Sunil said something about overseeing the maneuver, and followed Gregory.
“Wrap up another case for Detective Elizabeth Taylor Eyes. Um. Speaking of Dalton…did he mention anything about me?”
One side of Peter’s mouth twitched. “As a matter of fact, he gave me an earful about the deranged woman he met at a doctor’s office, and how she kept going on about him dying, and other impossible things. Just what did you say to him?”
I waved it away. “I’ll tell you later. But you do owe me something.”
He pulled me up against his chest, his breath hot on my mouth. “My thanks? A kiss? A session with Mr. Beefy?”
I giggled, and nipped his lower lip. “You have to tell me you love me. In front of witnesses.”
“I love you in front of witnesses,” he duly repeated, his lovely eyes dancing with amusement.
“Peter!”
He laughed. “Very well, my demanding one. I love you body and soul, heart and head, breath and…and…”
“Butt. Thank you.” I looked over to where Mrs. Faa’s RV sat. “You know, I think I’m going to break the cycle.”
“What cycle?” Peter asked.
“This whole Traveller thing. You’re absolutely right that it’s bad, and it’s time we helped it stop.” I marched over to the RV, and flung open the door, leaning in to yell into it, “I’m going to marry your grandson, Mrs. Faa. Just so you know. And if you are mean to any children we happen to have, I will personally…I will…well, I don’t know what I’d do, because I don’t believe in beating up old people, but you can just bet your silver dollars that it won’t be pleasant. You got that?”
Silence greeted me. I was about to close the door when she said, “Peter Faa bears my blood, as well as my Piotr’s. I will go forth to the Scarboro faire in two months’ time, and I will announce that he is a member of the family.”
“Good!” I said, slamming shut the door. I got a bit misty-eyed as I looked at Peter. “Your grandma loves you. Deep down, she loves you. Way, way, way deep down. I don’t suppose you’d like to go give her a kiss and tell her you forgive her?”
He looked down at me in horror. “Kiya—”
“Too soon? I kinda thought so. It’s OK, we’ll take baby steps. Her acknowledging you is a start. We’ll work on developing affection, and forgiving old hurts.”
He sighed, pulling me into a kiss. “I will put up with your machinations only because I want you happy, and I know how much you want a family. And because you’ll make my life a living hell if I don’t.”
“You got that right,” I said, nipping his lower lip before kissing him as he deserved to be kissed.
He pinched my behind, then went off to help Gregory stuff the two men into the minivan Gregory had appropriated from his cousins. I stood watching Peter and Gregory working together, feeling that the future held more wonder than I ever imagined it could.
“Peter-ji is all right now, popsy?” a voice asked at my shoulder.
“Yes, he’s all right. We’ve just acquired a family,” I told Sunil’s light blob, smiling and stepping forward when Peter gestured for me. “And a very, very bright future.”
EPILOGUE
“So?”
Kiya met him at the door of his apartment. Her hair was pulled back in a businesslike ponytail. Peter disliked businesslike hair, especially on his warm, delicious wife of three months. In her arms was a soft towel, and snuggled into the towel was a tiny, wet, wiggling potato.
“Is that a puppy?” he asked, squinting at it. “Or a larva?”
Her nostrils flared in that delightful way she had. “Of course it’s a puppy! It’s number two, actually. April is doing just fine, although she has another puppy to go. Speaking of which, I’d better get back to her and make sure that she and Dumas are OK.”
“Dumas?” he asked, following her as she hurried to one of the spare bedrooms, which April, the rescue pug he’d given Kiya for her birthday, had claimed as her boudoir. They hadn’t known when they adopted the little pug that she was pregnant, but Kiya had taken that news in stride.
“That’s what I named puppy number one. I thought we’d name this little girl Lenore, after your grandma. Do you think she’d like that? Mrs. Faa, not the puppy. And what did the Watch overlord thingie say?”
Kiya knelt by the wooden whelping box she’d managed to borrow from a dog rescue organization, gently placing the small squirming larva next to the fawn and black pug. April’s curled tail thumped a few times as he knelt next to her, groaning as he rubbed her tiny little black ears. “They said yes.”
“Now you see, April, Daddy is home, and you can stop fretting and just have that last puppy that the vet says you have in there, so that we can get you cleaned up and made more comfy.” Kiya froze for a second, and looked up at him, an expression of mingled surprise and joy on her face. “They said yes?”
“They did.” He touched the two minute puppies with a finger, guiding the smaller of the two to April’s teat. The puppy grunted in happiness.
“They really said yes? They’re going to reinstate Sunil?”
“Resurrect him is more appropriate a term. The L’au-dela committee and head of the Watch authorized the funds to hire a necromancer to locate and resurrect Sunil’s remains in recognition for his assistance in the capture of a serial mortal-murderer.”
She clasped her hands for a second, then, with a stifled yell of joy, threw herself on him and kissed his nose and chin and left cheek before he finally got her positioned properly so that she was kissing his mouth. “So he’s going to be a ghost?”
“No. He’ll be a lich, but one who is not bound to anyone.”
“A free-range lich!” She kissed him again, then asked, just as he knew she would, “What’s a lic
h?”
He laughed, filled with more happiness than he thought possible. “Kind of a revenant. One that doesn’t crave flesh, though.”
“Woot! He’ll be so happy. Have you told him yet?” Kiya glowed with happiness, the soft look of admiration in her eyes warming him more than anything else in the world.
“Not yet. I thought I’d wait until he’s back from his visit to Versailles.”
She glanced down at the dog. “Well, that should only be a few more hours. April should have her last puppy soon, and then Mr. Afraid of Blood and Birthing Juices can come home.”
“This also means that Sunil will be able to testify at William’s and Andrew’s trials next month,” he told her, settling with her on his lap, one hand still petting the pug’s head. “Animi are excluded from testimony, since they are bound to an individual, and thus their testimony could be rendered false by command of the person to whom they are bound, but an unbound lich is able to appear before the committee and testify as needed.”
“Ha! That means Sunil can tell the jury about all the stuff that he overheard William saying. And what he heard from the magician. This is awesome, Peter! With Gregory, you, and now Sunil testifying, they won’t have a chance to get off. Did you see Gregory at the Watch place?”
“I did. He sends his regards. He starts training next month. Dalton said that if all goes well, he will be able to shadow me in about two months.”
“The Faa cousins, defenders of the universe,” Kiya said, obviously pleased by that thought. “You know, if you guys ever wanted to go freelance, you could make a detective agency or something.”
“Actually, we talked about something like that.”
Her eyes opened wide. “You’re going to become a private eye? Won’t Dalton be pissed?”
“We talked about joining forces to bring the Travellers into the twenty-first century.” He looked out the window at the late-summer sunlight. The world did seem to be a brighter place now that Kiya filled his life. But there were still dark things out there, battles yet to be won. And for the first time in his life, he wasn’t going to have to face them alone. “We’re going to talk to the rest of our cousins. Others have to feel as we do. If we can band together, perhaps we can change the Traveller society, one family at a time.”
Time Thief: A Time Thief Novel Page 29
