"This cannot be my son," Kenderlin stood and snarled.
"Father, what are you saying? I was just inside a burning building, when this woman came and pulled me out of it. Are you rejecting me? Do you wish for Jenderlin to succeed you? I think the others died back there," he pointed in a confused manner behind him.
"Brandelin?" Kenderlin was now looking closer at his son—at the smudge marks on his skin, the partially burned clothing and the smell of smoke that clung to the Prince. I was standing there, wondering what to do next.
"She can always return him to the fire," Wylend intervened smoothly. I reached out to take Brandelin's arm, wondering if Wylend's bluff would work. It did.
"No—wait!" Kenderlin was heading toward his son. "Tell me what happened on your tenth birthday. Tell me!" He commanded.
"I climbed up the pear tree, fell out and broke my arm," Brandelin muttered. "I was afraid to tell you and walked around with a broken arm for three days."
"This is my son," Kenderlin said in wonder.
"That still does not compensate us for pain and suffering," the judge was getting back in on this.
"But your King said that the return of his son would mitigate the charges," the Grey House lawyer pointed out.
"He is not presiding over this hearing, I am," the judge informed all of us. Well, he just made it to the top twenty on my shit list. "For pain and suffering, thinking the Prince dead, we levy the equivalent of five billion Alliance credits, in gold or other viable tender, against Le-Ath Veronis."
Yeah, I stood there and gaped. Five billion Alliance credits, in gold? That was a lot of pain and suffering.
"Here is your gold." Kifirin arrived suddenly, smoke pouring from his nostrils. A huge stack of gold ingots appeared before him just as suddenly. The pile of gold was as tall as I was, and nearly six feet square. That was a lot of gold. I wondered if he'd emptied Le-Ath Veronis to get it. "Never trouble my mate again, or you may not live over it."
"And you are?" I swear; this judge should learn when to shut up.
"I am Kifirin, Lord of the Dark Realm." And with that, Kifirin disappeared just as swiftly as he'd appeared in the first place. Kenderlin came to examine the gold. Brandelin was still in shock, I think, and had no idea what was going on. Jenderlin, Brandelin's younger brother, looked ill. I figured he was wishing he were anywhere except where he was. I thought I'd gotten my shock for the day when the asshole judge still demanded payment, after I'd brought the Prince back from the dead. I should have known better. Melida was suddenly in my face.
"You could have brought Findal back with you, and you didn't," she was shouting and crying at the same time and then she slapped me. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Maybe. I didn't.
"Yeah?" I shouted right back at her. "Did you think for even one minute that Black Mist intended to let him live? Did you? They don't pay out unless there's no other way. Did you know that when you and Findal made your deal with them? Did your daddy know what you intended to do with the money? Did he? Stupid bitch," I muttered, and walked around her to get out of that sanity-challenged hellhole.
"I have an announcement," Norian shouted over the ensuing din inside the Hall of Hearings. That stopped me in my tracks—I was just about to get the hell out of there and go sulk somewhere. They'd intended all along to make me pay, although I hadn't had anything to do with any of this. Now Norian wanted to talk? What the hell was he doing?
"I am here as a representative of the Alliance," Norian went to stand in front of the judge. "I was sent by the Founder and Twenty Charter Members to observe these proceedings and record your judgments in this case. They have been witness to this travesty and they now ask me to inform you that Cloudsong will never join the Alliance. A copy of the writ will be forwarded to you." Norian turned on his heel and headed in my direction.
"Wait," Kenderlin was trying to shout over the noise that resumed after Norian had his say. Norian didn't stop; he just kept walking in my direction.
"Well, honey, that was some speech," I said, taking his hand. I folded both of us the hell away from there.
* * *
"You like sitting on rooftops?" Norian looked green, perched as he was on top of the highest dome of my palace.
"Honey, I'll take you down, but I'll be coming right back up," I told him. He seemed relieved when I dropped him off on the steps leading to my palace before misting back to do more roof sitting. Kifirin came to sit beside me. At least heights didn't make him uncomfortable.
"Honey, I appreciate your showing up. Did you empty all the gold from Le-Ath Veronis?" At least he wasn't blowing smoke at the moment. He was Kifirin, too, and not the god right then.
"You did not listen to my words," he actually smiled at me. "I said, 'here is your gold.' I didn't lie—it was theirs—I pulled it from Cloudsong. They paid themselves. Unfortunately, many of their lodes are now empty and unless I miss my guess, Cloudsong will become an isolated world. I cannot imagine that many will wish to work for the crown, when their treatment of you is made known. No wizards will come to protect them, out of fear for their lives. The opposing faction that wished the Prince dead will again wage war against the crown. We will see how they fare without outside help."
"What will happen to miss bitch pants?" I grumped. I could still feel the slap she gave me and it pissed me off every time I thought about it.
"The only reason she isn't floating on the breeze as separated atoms is because she is pregnant," Kifirin replied. "She struck a Larentii's mate. Connegar and Reemagar are still angry over that. Meanwhile, I think Glendes of Grey House is hammering out a writ of detachment and handing Melida back to Marid of Belancour as quickly as he can. I wish them luck with one another."
"I'm not going back to Grey House." I repeated my words to Shadow.
"Avilepha, you do not have to go anywhere you do not wish to go," Kifirin murmured and pulled me onto his lap.
"They never intended to ask Grey House for anything. They were coming after me," I muttered. "As if I would drain all the profits from the casinos for them." I shivered in Kifirin's embrace. My head hurt so bad from stress and anger I thought it might explode.
"Reason cannot be named as one of their assets," Kifirin placed fingers against my forehead. Yeah, he can place a healing sleep just as well as any Larentii. Better, maybe.
* * *
"I need to take her back to Trell—we have business there," Norian walked next to Kifirin, who carried an unconscious Lissa in his arms. Kifirin stopped in the hallway, leveling a gaze at Norian and breathing smoke.
"Or not," Norian backed away.
"Never do that again," Erland grabbed Norian's elbow and pulled him backward as Kifirin continued down the hall. "Do you have any idea what Kifirin is?"
"Perhaps you should explain it," Norian grumbled. Erland folded Norian to the library, where Lissa's other mates were holding a meeting.
* * *
"I can't find anything that this impacts," a tall, brown-haired man was raking fingers through his hair as he stood before a good-sized crowd. Norian recognized Lissa's mates and a few others from the hearing. Many he didn't recognize, however. He sat down to listen.
"We're not hearing from Belen on this and she pulled Brandelin out just before he died." A platinum blonde woman spoke up next. "I know that is how we've gotten some of our members—Winkler, Aurelius and Thomas Williams, to name the most recent."
"What are we discussing?" Norian whispered to Erland, who sat next to him.
"There are some who have the power to bend time. They just can't use that ability to impact any part of the timeline," Erland whispered back. "Remind me to see if we can't find somebody to give you mindspeech."
"Connegar placed the image of Lissa when she folded away, I just don't know how they're going to explain Prince Brandelin's sudden appearance," the blonde woman was speaking again. Norian hadn't been watching Lissa at that moment—he'd had his eyes on the judge and the King of Cloudsong.
"Were there any
cameras inside the Hall?" Someone else spoke up and Norian thought that Drake and Drew looked very much like this man.
"That's Dragon, Drake and Drew's father," Erland explained. "Time to confess—you had cameras, didn't you, Norian Keef?"
"I had cameras—the Charter Members wanted the information so they could deny membership in perpetuity if justice was denied in the case," Norian stood. "The feed went directly to one member, who requested it." Norian sat again, hoping he wasn't in trouble. He was certainly outnumbered at the moment.
"Griffin, do we need to negate that information?" The blonde woman asked the tall, brown-haired man. Norian watched as the man's eyes became unfocused for a few seconds. He came back with a sigh.
"No, Kiarra, we don't need to do a thing about this." In fact, Griffin was almost smiling.
"Griffin is Lissa's father, and fine outside that role. As her father, he's the biggest asshole ever," Erland settled in to gossip. Norian was now staring at Erland in alarm.
"You're joking?" Norian said before he could hold back the words.
"I am Lissa's father, and calling me an asshole is being kind," Griffin was now standing over Norian, who was ready to turn if things went badly. "There's no need to allow the snake to manifest. You are in no danger here."
"Tell me what all these people are, and Kifirin, too," Norian said. Griffin walked away, leaving Erland to explain things to the ASD's Director.
"When I tell you, you won't be able to tell anyone else—knowledge of the race protects itself," Erland grinned. "I know you've already heard the words Saa Thalarr. It means Hope and Vengeance in Neaborian."
"Neaborian is a dead language," Norian said.
"Did you know there are people living on the planet again?" Erland grinned. "But that doesn't have anything to do with the Saa Thalarr. They were created to combat the Copper Ra'Ak, you know."
* * *
"Lissa, you should wake and eat something." Karzac settled on the side of my bed and brought me back to consciousness with fingers to my forehead. Too bad doctors everywhere didn't have that talent. No anesthetic needed, thanks.
"Honey, what are you doing here?" I mumbled, doing my best to force my eyes open.
"Lissa my love, your mouth always works before your eyes or the rest of your body."
"Honey, you are so funny," I huffed, cracking open a single eye to stare up at him.
"I have never been accused of being anything close to humorous," Karzac stifled a smile.
"I'm buying you lessons in stand-up," I forced my other eye open.
"I will skip my classes," Karzac rolled his eyes at my suggestion.
"Karzac, why aren't you naked?" I reached up and tugged on the collar of his shirt. I had a feeling that Grace and Devin shopped for him—I couldn't see him taking much time for that sort of thing.
"Is that what you want, my love? You want me in your bed?"
"Yeah." Karzac leaned down to kiss me, and then kissed me again. He removed my clothing before he removed his, and what happened afterward was worth every second of the undressing. We were extremely late getting to dinner.
* * *
"Lissa Beth, I want to be jealous." Norian hauled me away from the dinner table the minute I set my napkin down. We were now inside the hotel room in Rezael after rousting Lendill from his office on Le-Ath Veronis, where he'd been doing even more research. I'm not sure that guy ever took a break. He'd still looked like Flavio, too, so Reemagar came and adjusted the disguise. Lendill now looked like Flavio's cousin instead of Flavio.
"Why are you jealous?" Lendill had already gone to bed inside his bedroom—we had a three-bed suite inside one of the nicer hotels in Rezael. Reemagar had accomplished that for me, too, fabricating a new credit chip for each of us, and all of it tied to an account that Adam set up for us at one of the banks on Le-Ath Veronis. The funds would eventually be paid out of my account; Norian said the Alliance would reimburse the expenses. I didn't really care because we ended up in a nicer place.
"I want to be jealous of every one of your mates, breah-mul. They are welcome in your bed." Well, Norian might be wrong on one account—I hadn't heard a word from Shadow. I wondered if he and his family were wiping their brows in relief and working to get me out of their system.
"Norian, what do you want? I don’t know whether I'm prepared to add to the mate department."
"You do not care for me."
"Honey, I didn't say that. If I didn't care for you, you'd be shredded instead of getting petted when you make your way into my bed, invited or not."
"Will you pet me now?"
"Honey, come on," I grabbed his arm and dragged him toward my bedroom. "Just keep in mind that petting is all you'll get."
Norian settled into my bed and curled right up as the lion snake. What do you do when a two-hundred pound lion snake curls up in the center of your bed? "Honey, if I roll over on you, it'll be your own fault," I muttered, trying to scoot him over. He didn't budge an inch. Instead, he settled his head on my stomach and closed his eyes in bliss when I stroked his face. When I woke the next morning, his head was right under my chin—I'd rolled over on my side and he hadn't turned a scale in response.
"No, cheah-mul, not yet," Norian changed in a blink and wrapped his arms around me when I tried to slide off the bed. His arms were warm around me in the chill air of our hotel room—Lendill had set the temperature, so he obviously liked it cooler. He had no way of knowing about Norian's penchant for warmer air.
"Norian, you're naked." I was pointing out the obvious.
"Yes. Isn't it wonderful?" He nuzzled my chin and neck, then wandered toward my mouth.
"I thought we were only petting."
"You are not petting anything at the moment." He lifted himself over my body. "Don't turn me out. I'm begging you."
"You have that begging thing down pretty good," I muttered and misted away. His head was stuck inside my shower minutes later—yeah, he was still naked.
"Norian, you get a kiss. That's it," I said, moving toward him. He settled for that and walked off grinning. His ass is really nice, and I watched it walk out of my bathroom.
* * *
"Grampa, she won't take money or any other kind of compensation." Shadow just wanted to get out of his grandfather's office.
"We can pay for a portion of the gold." Raffian made the suggestion.
"Drake and Drew say that Kifirin pulled that gold from Cloudsong's own veins of ore. They paid for that themselves. Besides, Lissa would just throw it right back at us."
"At least Melida is off our planet," Glendes sighed.
"A suggestion was made to me, and it made sense when it was presented," Raffian went on. Shadow watched his father—Raffian was excited about this idea and wanted Glendes to agree.
"What suggestion is that and who made it?" Glendes turned to Raffian.
"Kyler made it, but I think it may have come from her Larentii." Raffian had a wry smile on his face.
"What is the suggestion, then?" Glendes' daughters, Cleo and Kyler, hadn't been speaking to him lately.
"She suggested that we apply to join the Alliance. We don't do business with any Alliance worlds, because they don't allow outside trade. We'll still be able to work with the worlds that aren't members, because there aren't any laws against grandfathering in current clients, we just have to abide by the rules of trade as set by the Alliance, but we already do that, Dad." Raffian was pitching his case to his father. Glendes lifted an eyebrow at the suggestion.
"What do you think the economic impact will be? I know Le-Ath Veronis pays a percentage of their income," Glendes was intrigued by the idea.
"A small percentage to pay for benefits, and we'd have an entirely new market for our work. We wouldn't have to worry so much over vetting our clients first," Raffian said.
Shadow was watching the exchange between his father and grandfather, without commenting. They'd gotten completely away from the subject, and that had been what to do to lure Lissa back to him. He fe
lt like folding away and working this out on his own—or perhaps with Drake and Drew, but he didn't want to strain the relationship with his father and grandfather more than it already was. Now was the time to make amends with everyone involved and for Shadow, Lissa was first on that list. He breathed a relieved sigh when Glendes turned back to him.
"I know we've wandered away a little," he smiled at his grandson. "We'll do our best to bring Lissa back to you. We just have to figure out how to do it."
* * *
"Here is the information you wanted." Zellar handed a note to Viregruz. Viregruz lifted an eyebrow at his pet warlock as he carefully unfolded the small slip of paper. Only a short, handwritten message was depicted. Viregruz smiled.
"Get the Liffelithi for me—and quickly. I'll be more than happy to hand over most of the money we received from Solar Red and San Gerxon to take her out, just to get this done as swiftly as possible. They'll need a shield, too, to get a ship inside the Alliance. I expect you to provide that shield until our target is hit. You can withdraw it immediately after."
Zellar felt a momentary pang of conscience. The Liffelithi held a weapon that had been outlawed from one end of the universes to the other. If the Alliance suspected they had it, they'd have mobilized their army already and gone after it.
Liffel was a nondescript world and home to several races of dwarves, all of whom fought constantly. The inhabitants' willingness to war with each other was the reason the planet's application to join the Alliance had been rejected on many occasions. One particular faction had gained possession of this weapon when all the others like it had been dismantled and destroyed by the Alliance.
Viregruz had discovered its existence—the ones who held it had contacted him discreetly, letting him know that for a price, it could be borrowed. Viregruz was about to see how effective this weapon might be and that concerned Zellar. He shook off the worry, however, and went to do as Viregruz bid.
Viregruz watched Zellar leave, rereading the note one last time before tearing it into tiny bits, which he swept into a waste bin. This was the Queen's fault, if she didn't watch over her population better than this. She should have known that someone close to her would likely pass the information along, not even thinking that it might end in the Queen's death. Viregruz knew where the Queen was, now. All he had to do was pay the Liffelithi and her death would be swift. Viregruz smiled widely and sat back in his seat.
Blood Redemption (Blood Destiny #9) Page 14
