Norian rose from his chair, walked around his desk and sank to a knee beside my chair. "Lissa Beth, you hurt me to even suggest that. Yes, I anger quickly—I think it is part of what I am. I have never killed anyone except criminals. They died swiftly, breah-mul. Much like those you kill." He lifted one of my hands and kissed it, setting it on the arm of my chair before turning before my eyes, his clothing dropping away from his snake form. I sat there as he tilted forward until his head lay on my shoulder, and when I didn't object, he slid slowly around the back of my neck, his head coming to rest on my breast on the opposite side. I reached up and stroked his head gently—his scales were smooth and cool under my hand. He closed his eyes under my touch—it must have been so hard for him as a child, knowing that none of those who raised him would touch him like this.
"Norian, we have work to do," I sighed. "And I haven't eaten, yet. Dinner sort of got ruined for me."
"So I have to get dressed again?" Norian was back to humanoid, and he cursed softly under his breath while he reached for his clothes.
"You can come with me as lion snake," I offered. "I just don't know how the kitchen staff might feel about that when we show up to raid the fridge."
"Will you feed me? I didn't get much to eat earlier either—I was too busy listening to the debate. What does Saa Thalarr mean?"
"You heard that?" Norian still hadn't made any effort to put clothes on and he wasn't trying to hide anything from me. I'll be honest; my eyes kept straying to certain parts of his anatomy. Finally, I slapped a hand over my eyes. "Norian, either get dressed or turn. I can't keep myself from staring and that's not polite."
Norian laughed, lifted my hand away from my eyes, gave me a quick kiss and turned to his twelve-foot alter ego. His head came up to my waist as he slithered along the marble hall toward the kitchens. If any of my guards thought to question, they kept the words behind their teeth.
Norian ate an entire roasted chicken as a snake. Yeah, just worked his flexible lower jaw somehow and swallowed the whole carcass. "Are you trying to freak me out?" I asked as I ate a drumstick I'd wrestled away from him at the last minute. "If you are, remember you're talking to the woman who can and does drink blood for meals." I watched in fascination as the lump that was the chicken slid its way down his torso. If a snake could smile, I think Norian would have been smiling, right then.
Norian went to his office while I went to mine after we ate and I was signing papers and muttering to myself when Rigo found me. "Tiessa, this was supposed to be our day," he grumbled as he settled on the side of my desk.
"Funny how that got fucked up, isn't it?" I grumped and straightened a pile of signed papers. Grant and Heathe would have to sort through them in the morning and make sure they went to the proper places. Rigo didn't say anything; he began removing clothing instead. His first, and then mine. He pulled me onto the floor after that and settled me on his lap, facing him. If I hadn't thought to shield and soundproof my study before things became noisy, just about anybody, with or without vampire hearing, would have known what was going on.
* * *
"Normally, I am happy to rise. That has changed." Rigo was talking before my eyes opened. I heard and understood, for the most part. He just wasn't used to someone taking this long to wake.
"Give her a minute—she wakes very slowly," Drew chuckled at the side of the bed. I caught his and Drake's scent, now—they were making up for last night. I was scowling when I opened my eyes.
"Honey, what do you want?" I gave Drake a baleful glance.
"Breakfast at the strawberry farm," Drew said. "Get your clothes on, itty-bitty pants."
Rigo managed to chase the twins out so we could get a shower; he didn't want to rush off to breakfast, either. When we arrived at the strawberry farm, I saw that Shadow had come to breakfast. At least his father and grandfather hadn't come.
"Baby, I want to talk to you after we eat," he said softly as Drake and Drew managed to herd me to a chair between Shadow and Rigo. I felt like smacking my twins for doing this to me. This should have been Rigo's time. Yeah, I felt awkward over the whole thing. Cheedas and two assistants had been brought from the palace; they were happy to be cooking on the light side of the planet for a change.
"Raona, you are not eating." Cheedas tapped the island in front of me. That's where we were having breakfast—the overly large island in the kitchen.
"I'm not very hungry," I said. I didn't want him to feel bad—I had a monopoly on that emotion right then.
"Here," Shadow lifted our plates and folded us away. We ended up in my suite.
"This isn't awkward or anything," I muttered, folding arms tightly across my chest.
"Lissa, this is a fucked up mess." Shadow set our plates down on my bedside table and reached out for me. I wasn't sure I wanted to be touched by anyone from Grey House right then. "Baby, please don't pull away from me." Shadow wasn't letting me get away. "I know Dad and Grampa have managed to do major damage. Tell me they haven't killed our love. Tell me that." He pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head. I was crying by that time. Shadow was telling me how much he loved me. Telling me he should have come himself, instead of allowing his father and grandfather to deliver the news. Especially when I was so weak.
"I won't be going back to Grey House," I tried to wipe tears off my face. Shadow did it for me. "And when am I supposed to answer to the fuck up on Cloudsong? When, Shadow? Your grandfather and father dragged me into that mess, didn't they? I don't see them here, apologizing."
"They want to, but I didn't think you'd be willing. Not for a while." His gray eyes were troubled as he tried to lift my face to look at him. I was having difficulty with that.
"What are you going to do with Melida? What do your father and grandfather plan to do with her?"
"Ship her out of Grey House as quickly as possible, but we have to get this other thing resolved first."
"And what if we're forced to hand our profits over to Cloudsong for the next fifty years?" I asked angrily. My Casino owners wouldn't stand for that, and I didn't expect them to.
"Dad and Grampa hope to make some sort of deal—offering five years instead of fifty, and see where that gets us."
"Nobody here would settle for even one year, let alone starting the bidding at five," I tried to extricate myself from Shadow's embrace. "The Casino owners make good money, but they'll leave this place behind if they find out this is in the works. Cloudsong may cut its own throat where Le-Ath Veronis is concerned."
"I'd like to go back in time, snatch Findal up and beat the hell out of him," Shadow muttered, pulling me closer. "And I know I shouldn't be thinking this, but I'd honestly like to punch Dad and Grampa Glendes both."
"Yeah, I know about the betrayal from the father bit," I bumped my forehead against Shadow's chest.
"We can go stand outside the Green Fae village," Shadow suggested. He'd known what I was talking about. That's how we ended up standing under my favorite tree while a light rain fell around us. Shadow has some wizard's trick where he can shield himself and anyone standing with him from the rain, so we were dry as we watched the village. Little was going on since it was raining—the Green Fae work in sunlight, mostly. It gives them their power. Since we didn't see any sign of Toff and Redbird, I folded Shadow to my beach house, where Poradina and Evaline were. The apprentice surrogate Larentii was there with them, so I introduced myself.
"Thank you for sending Daragar," Poradina was extremely happy with the Larentii, I could tell.
"I didn't have anything to do with that," I gave her an honest answer. Shadow had a light in his eyes as he watched the two women. Well, it was a bit soon, I think, for him to start talking surrogate with me. He and I had other business to take care of before we considered that—if we ever did consider it.
"Yes, Connegar mentioned this to me, when I was learning with another surrogate. I asked to be assigned and Connegar, Reemagar and Ferrigar all thought it a good idea." Daragar smiled brightly. He was more t
han eight and a half feet tall and had the bright blue eyes all Larentii had, although his blond hair was nearly white. He had it short and it was so thick it stood straight up on his head.
"Are you doing well—do you need anything?" I asked.
"We are doing very well." Poradina liked where she was, I think, as did Evaline. "I was worried we'd be stuck somewhere in the dark, with nobody paying attention to us. Everybody pays attention to us. Karzac and Daragar check on the babies constantly and make sure we're healthy. Karzac doesn't mind telling us if we're not eating right, too." Poradina was grinning.
"Yeah, there's no way to hide anything from him, all right," I agreed. "You don't get into an argument with him, either. I wouldn't know what it was like to be right all the time, like he is."
"What is it like—to have so many mates?" Evaline asked.
"Amazing, most of the time," I answered truthfully. "Until they all disagree with me at once, anyway."
"I haven't met this one." Evaline nodded toward Shadow.
"Yeah, well, this is Shadow Grey."
"One of the Grey House Wizards?" Evaline sounded impressed.
"Yeah. One of those." I didn't sound so impressed.
"I'm in the dog house right now," Shadow admitted, a wry grin on his face. He hadn't spoken before this.
"You are residing with domesticated pets?" Daragar wasn't sure of the idiom.
"I'd probably be more comfortable," Shadow rubbed the back of his neck. The comesuli cook was about to serve lunch for Poradina and Evaline, so Shadow and I left. "You never did have breakfast earlier," Shadow said, as I made my way toward my private study. I wasn't surprised to find Norian lurking outside my door.
"Were you lying in wait?" I asked as I opened the door.
"As much as I could," Norian smiled.
"She hasn't eaten anything," Shadow pointed out as I walked in, causing Heathe and Grant to stop what they were doing.
"I'll get a meal from the kitchen," Grant offered.
"I'll go with him," Heathe said and both my assistants walked right out again before I could ask them what was going on. Shadow kissed me, said he had work to do and folded away.
"We still have problems on Trell," Norian said later over a sandwich and a cup of soup—Grant and Heathe had brought back enough food and drinks for all of us. "There's evidence of an influx of money into the royal treasury, and a new temple is under construction in a city near the capital."
"Any murders or reported disappearances?"
"None reported, but we're getting rumors that the crown isn't releasing all information," Norian grumbled.
"Isn't that a violation of their agreement with the Alliance?" I asked, munching away on my toasted cheese sandwich.
"Of course it is. All member worlds are obligated to report crimes, so any population visiting will have that information before they set foot on the planet," Norian went on. "It would be common courtesy, even if it weren't in violation of their pact with the Alliance."
"Is Lendill there now?" I asked.
"I sent him there when we finished on Darthin."
"You didn't give him any time off?" I watched Norian as he chewed a bite of sandwich thoughtfully.
"Lendill is something of a workaholic and neither of us received time off. Just because I'm not somewhere else doesn't mean I'm not working."
"I didn't say that, Norian Keef," I pointed a wedge of sandwich in his direction.
"Don't point that at me unless you want me to eat it."
"If you're that hungry, you can have it."
"Will you feed it to me?"
"Norian."
"Lissa Beth."
I was thankful Shadow left before we started on Alliance business. I wasn't sure how he would react to Norian's desire for me to transport him to Trell that afternoon. "Does the Trellian crown know you have ASD agents there?"
"No. We got a tip on this days ago, but Darthin took precedence. We have people following up with Black Mist, but they're lying low right now, so we don't have much."
"Those difiks," I muttered.
"I was thinking much worse names, Lissa Beth. I asked Taff and Mora to pack a bag for you. I know you have that hearing on Cloudsong in a few days, but you can take off for that. Meanwhile, perhaps Trell will take your mind off those things."
"Uh-huh. And I'm sure the Alliance media everywhere isn't having a field day with that information," I grumbled.
"They are. You just haven't been watching the vids. Everybody is having a fit that Grey House is being dragged into this, but they're not defending you at all. They think all these Casinos are making you wealthy beyond reason, so there's very little sympathy. In fact, some journalists are saying that Cloudsong should just settle for what they can get from you."
"Norian, did you set out to turn my day into a pile of steaming crap? Did you?" I'd just lost my appetite and dropped the half sandwich onto my plate.
"Breah-mul, that wasn't my intention."
"What was your intention?" I snapped at him.
Cheah-mul, I was only trying to inform you. That is my job. I know you have not watched the vids in days."
I hugged myself and allowed my head to drop onto my desk. Grant and Heathe left the room at Norian's urging. He then came to the side of my desk and sat there, begging me to straighten up. I didn't cooperate. "Lissa Beth, they cannot beat you in a fair fight, so they are digging at you the only way they can. If you allow them to hurt you like this, then they win. Do not let them win."
"Norian, you're not the one whose name gets dragged through the muck on every vid screen in every Alliance household," I muttered, shivering when I sat up straight.
"You forget about the vid screens outside the Alliance that also pick it up," Norian tilted my chin up so his eyes could look into mine. "We are both wounded, deah-mul. Inside. We have to stand tall and pretend it doesn't matter to those who do not know us." Norian had now used the third portion of the declaration of love—he'd called me breah-mul, cheah-mul, and now deah-mul. It meant my breath, my heart and my soul in the language of Wyyld, one of the Twenty Charter worlds of the Alliance. I figured it was easy to rhyme songs in that language. "Come with me, Lissa Beth. Trell is waiting for us."
Chapter 7
"Does the Alliance have a problem with privacy?" I had hands on hips as I stared at another line of low-walled cubicles—six this time—inside the ASD office located in Xindis, Trell's capital city. Lendill was there to meet us, after getting a communication from Norian that we were on our way. He chuckled at my dismay over the situation.
"There are four showers and all of them have doors," he said, grinning.
"Oh, so they think semi-privacy is all right, then?" I wrinkled my nose at Lendill.
"Better than nothing," he was still grinning. "It's nice to see you, Raona. None of the other Liaisons were so involved in our investigations. Frankly, none of the others had any talent, either. They only gave half an ear to Norian, their signatures on permission papers and that's about it."
"You didn't give me that option," I glared at Norian. He had the nerve to give me a cheeky grin.
"If you hadn't hauled me off to Twylec and then proceeded to destroy the Solar Red Temple all around me, then we wouldn't be here now. You showed me what you could do, so I chose to capitalize on that. You can't blame me—I have to use all assets available to do my job."
"I leave the running of Le-Ath Veronis to others, just so you can have your way, Norian Keef?" I was making a face at him, now.
"I like getting my way. It's so much better than not getting my way." Norian sighed blissfully.
"I ought to smack you," I muttered, lifting my bag and tossing it onto my borrowed bed from ten feet away.
"I've never seen any other woman do that," Lendill was impressed.
"I can do the same with you—or Norian. Personally, I'd rather toss Norian."
"Lissa Beth, stop complaining. We have several things to check on, tonight. We'll get dinner while we're out." Norian l
ifted his bag and delivered it to his cubicle, next door to mine, in a more traditional manner. Lendill, just as before, had taken the last space, farthest from the door.
* * *
"What can you tell me, Lissa Beth?" Norian lifted an eyebrow as I scented my way through the large apartment.
"Six people were here regularly. All tainted in some way."
"Tainted?" Norian was now very interested. We'd left Lendill behind—he hadn't gotten much rest lately, so Norian told him to get an early meal and go to bed. Lendill seemed happy to comply. Norian had gotten addresses from Lendill before we left the ASD office, so we went to check on them.
"When I smell a taint around their normal scent, that means they're bad—done something they shouldn't—I can't explain it better than that," I said, looking out a wide window onto the street below. Night had fallen and the streetlamps were glowing, illuminating the light snow swirling to the ground. Winter had come to that portion of Trell and it was bitterly cold. Norian had gotten Taff and Mora, my two assistants, to pack warm clothing for me. I hadn't even thought to Look to see what the weather was like. I would have walked out without a sweater, even. Norian opened my bag earlier, pulled out a coat and helped me into it before we left headquarters.
"Lissa Beth, if we walked up to someone on the street who had done murder, are you telling me you can scent that about them?"
"I can usually tell," I said. "It overlays the scent of their blood. I don't know how it works. It just does."
"Why didn't I know to hook up with a Queen Vampire before?" Norian murmured.
"Not all of them could do this," I said, watching the snow get heavier—I could see larger flakes in the lamplight. "Most of them have been called Queen if they weren't susceptible to compulsion. This is how it was explained to me shortly after I was turned, Norian. I was told that if the queen was good, then she was an asset to the race. If she was bad, she had to be killed. At the moment, I'm the only Queen Vampire that exists, so there isn't a plethora to choose from."
Blood Redemption (Blood Destiny #9) Page 11
