Breszca had just gone to university and drinking with new friends was her favorite thing to do. Denus was handsome, no doubt about it, and Breszca couldn't help herself when he'd invited her to his bed. She'd gotten pregnant after only two encounters, but didn't learn of that fact until she'd left Denus behind for Alvis.
She'd listed Alvis' name as the child's father—Alvis who'd somehow gotten killed in a hovercraft accident. Now, merely the fact that she'd put the baby up for adoption wouldn't have raised eyebrows—it was the responsible thing to do for one so young and unprepared for parenthood. What the journalist had found when he went through the records was that Raedah couldn't have been Alvis' child—the blood types and DNA didn't match.
Breszca couldn't imagine anyone going to that much trouble just to get Alvis' records after learning she'd had the child. Anyone else would have taken the records at face value. If she'd ever wanted to kill anyone, the journalist now topped that list. It was a crime not to report the true parent of a child put up for adoption—not to notify said parent that they had a child in order to give them the opportunity to take it instead of consigning it to state care at state expense.
Generally it was a good law and one that her husband had supported over the years as a magistrate in the capital city. Now, Breszca's past was undermining his bid for High Council by flouting that law. Who knew where Denus was? She hadn't seen him since she'd dumped him in favor of Alvis.
The other things the journalist had ferreted out about Raedah were perhaps even more bizarre, but Breszca wouldn't be held accountable for that. Raedah had married Addah Desh at the age of twenty-one. She'd been his eighth and last wife he'd taken, gotten pregnant shortly after the marriage and died after the birth. Still not so bizarre, until you learned that the child Raedah had wasn't Addah Desh's but his second oldest son's—Edan Desh.
Breszca blew out a breath at that name. Edan had frequently been in the news in years past—he'd taken the crown from his father, making Desh's number two the best restaurant on Tulgalan. That no longer held true—Edan was now serving prison time, as was his mother, Marzi Desh. Edan had raped Raedah, then had been found to be the child's father. He and his mother had plotted to kill Raedah with the help of a physician after the child's birth.
The physician had been stripped of his license and had served a shorter sentence—only a few moon-turns—after testifying for the state. Meanwhile, Breszca's grandchild had disappeared. The journalist found records that the girl had separated from the Desh family, taking another name. Nobody could get into those records, although the journalist had tried his best. They were sealed and hidden. The journalist informed Breszca and Graumil at the formal meeting they'd had that he was currently tracking Denus. As yet, Denus hadn't been located, but he was determined to keep looking.
Graumil had stalked out of the house the moment the journalist left with his crew, leaving Breszca alone. Breszca had asked a servant to bring a bottle and locked herself inside her suite. The vids would be all over the news by morning—the journalist had sold the story to every affiliate on Tulgalan. He'd already made enough to retire off Breszca's mistake and looked to make even more if he could find the real father. His daughter was dead but he had a granddaughter somewhere. The journalist was determined to find her as well.
* * *
Hild Marolla, noted investigative journalist, sat at his desk and sighed. He'd hit another dead end. Records of Denus Lithik were scarce—rental records, banking records, things of that nature, were available for a period of six years. No records were found, however, of Denus coming to Tulgalan by conventional means. Or leaving Tulgalan the same way. He'd still been on Tulgalan at the time and could have been notified of the child's birth—no doubt about that—Hild had all those records on his comp-vid. He wondered, and not for the first time, whether Denus had been an illegal involved in criminal activity.
No work records were available, either, though Denus appeared to have plenty of money. The short time he'd been with Breszca, he'd bought her jewelry and taken her out to the best restaurants. Vid-photos were acquired; Hild had gotten those from Breszca's college friends. They were more than willing to come forward in exchange for money and the notoriety it would bring them. Denus was a handsome man—with dark hair and green eyes. The vid-photos of Raedah showed the same green eyes and unusual, white hair. Rumor had it that Raedah's child, Reah, had looked much like her mother.
Hild grimaced every time he thought about Reah. He had no photographs of her and when he'd tried to dip into her records, someone from the ASD had shown up at his office. That same someone had offered Hild a stretch in prison if he continued to dig into Reah's information. Hild was angry about that—he'd already paid a bribe to a lesser public agent to get what was available. His bribe and the public agent disappeared the following day.
The story would still go public in the morning. The entire Alliance would then begin searching for Denus Lithik. Generally, they weren't willing to let something like this go, and as far as favorite news-vids went, reuniting lost children or grandchildren with their parents or siblings was right at the top. Even though Hild couldn't produce the daughter or granddaughter, he was sure that anyone in the Alliance who found Denus would alert him to the fact that he'd fathered a child and still had family out there, somewhere.
* * *
Denevik Lith was having breakfast. The home he had now was a rented mansion—the owner had been forced to lease it and take humbler accommodations when a business had failed. The property was perfect for Denevik—he didn't plan to stay more than a turn or two before moving on. Jusef, Denevik's servant, had served up rolls, coffee and eggs, leaving Denevik to eat at the kitchen island while Jusef puttered around, cleaning up and worrying over the midday meal. Denevik moved often in case Jaydevik Rath ever came looking for him. Or Gardevik, Jayd's oldest brother.
Of the two, he felt Jayd might be the most merciful. Denevik hadn't been on Kifirin since his oldest brother Tarevik had killed Lendevik, their father. He still didn't know if Tarevik had intended for their mother Belarok to die as well—she'd been attacked and raped by two High Demons in their smaller Thifilathi. She'd died, according to his sources, screaming in pain. Denevik could still not get that mental image out of his mind. Now, he was the only one of his brothers who still lived.
Glindarok, his sister, was Queen on Kifirin and ruled alongside Jaydevik Rath, her husband and King. He'd heard that Glinda had birthed twin daughters for Jayd, but they'd gone to other houses. A High Demon female would never come to him, or any children. When he'd failed to see the true plot behind Tarevik's lies, he'd sealed his fate.
"Isn't that you?" Jusef brought Denevik away from his morbid thoughts. Jusef was pointing to the vid-screen in the kitchen. Denevik stared in horror as a vid-photo of himself was splashed across the screen.
"Turn it up," Denevik demanded. Jusef increased the volume.
"Breszca Loffus failed to inform the true father that she was pregnant with his child," the journalist reported. "Instead, she identified another as the father, who was killed before the child was born. The child was given over for adoption, and little Raedah was taken by an older couple." A vid-photo of the couple replaced Denevik's image. "Raedah married Addah Desh at the age of twenty-one," the journalist went on. Denevik watched in horror as a wedding picture, featuring his daughter and Addah Desh was shown. There was no mistaking the long white hair or the green eyes. His daughter looked exactly like his mother, Belarok. He wanted to weep when he learned that his child had died at the hands of others, and then stared in shock when it was announced that he had a granddaughter.
"My sources say that Reah Desh looked very much like her mother, but we cannot find any vid-photos to verify that and we have not been able to research her records. Regardless, we believe she is still alive somewhere and it is our hope that grandfather and granddaughter may someday be reconciled. This is Hild Marolla, reporting live from Tulgalan."
"Jusef, pack. We are going to Tu
lgalan immediately." Denevik ordered. Jusef was nearly as shocked by the vid as Denevik had been. Jusef was Amterean and had cooked and cleaned for Denevik for more than one hundred turns. He knew all of Denevik's secrets. Except for this one, and even Denevik hadn't known it.
"We won't be going to the news-vids or that stupid journalist. We'll be doing the tracking ourselves, starting with Addah Desh, I think." A curl of smoke drifted from Denevik's nostrils. He knew not to contact anyone who might put his face on the news-vids. If Jaydevik or any of his captains happened to see his image, then his life would be over. Denevik wanted to see his granddaughter before that happened.
"Go ahead and pack your bags, but you will not be going to Tulgalan." Someone else appeared inside Denevik's rented kitchen.
"Lord Kifirin," Denevik went to his knees and bowed his head.
"One of the two remaining who know to bow to me," Kifirin remarked, lifting Denevik to his feet.
"Then where should I go? I want to find my granddaughter."
"Then you must go to Campiaa. But you will not identify yourself to her right away. This is what you must do instead." Denevik listened carefully as Kifirin laid out his instructions.
* * *
"Reah, I've hired two new people—one will work as a new bodyguard for me, the other will help Marc in the kitchen," Teeg announced over breakfast. He and the warlocks were going back to question the two prisoners. So far Teeg hadn't gleaned as much information as he might like from them, so another round of intense questioning was about to follow. Jes, who was happy to have me back so he could do more rehabilitation, was going to make me do my exercises out by the pool again. The whole thing made me sigh as I sipped my protein jumble. Jes had added a powdered vitamin mix to the protein and berries.
"It will help you recover faster," he'd informed me. I thought things were coming along fine but Jes was the physician. I didn't argue with him.
The two new hires were introduced during the midday meal—the bodyguard was tall, with dark hair and green eyes. The cook's assistant was Amterean. I went to him immediately and took his hand when it was offered. Yes, I thought of Master Morwin the whole time.
Morwin still lived on Le-Ath Veronis—though his job as Gavril's tutor had officially ended the moment Gavril had been accepted into the private college off-world. We'd become good friends, Morwin and I. Now I was introduced to Jusef, who smiled at me and wiggled his bushy brown eyebrows. Lenden Stone, the bodyguard, looked sad when I took his hand. I squeezed his fingers—there wasn't any need for sadness. Teeg seemed to be a good employer. None that I'd seen had any complaints, if you discounted Ardalin. She'd been in love with him and insanely jealous. Mostly insane, though. She was gone. I hoped for good.
"This is my wife, Reah," Teeg had done the introductions. Lenden nodded respectfully to me.
"What is this we are eating?" Jusef took one bite of the yaris fish and closed his eyes in pleasure.
"My wife would qualify as a master cook," Teeg sounded proud. I didn't know what to say. I'd never get the chance to qualify. Not from here. I still had no idea what Teeg's long-term plans were—for me or for Gavril. I wanted mindspeech back so badly I could have screamed with the frustration. Skipping might have been an added bonus. Teeg held both of those things in check with a tiny transmitter.
"This is yaris fish with my own sauce recipe," I said. Lenden took a bite and then blinked at me in surprise.
"Excellent," he nodded, lowering his eyes. Marc had helped me make it; Jes had nearly worn me out with the morning's workout.
"You will teach me this?" Jusef sounded hopeful.
"I'll think about it—it's a closely guarded secret," I smiled at the Amterean dwarf.
"When did you start cooking?" Jes was pushing my knees up to stretch the muscles in my legs.
"When I was eight. Edan shoved me into the kitchen to clean but I was watching one of my uncles make pastry. I learned pastry making from Ilvan. In between sweeping the floors and doing dishes after I got out of day class, that is. That's when I still thought Edan was my brother." I grunted as Jes pushed my thigh muscles to the limit before letting the leg back down.
"Reah, you couldn't have been bigger than a tick, how did he abuse that?"
"People often do things that others find impossible," I said. As an ASD operative, I'd seen my share of it. The worst had been a crime kingpin who'd forced his oldest daughter into an incestuous relationship and then had children with her. He was looking to have the same sort of relationship with his oldest granddaughter when we caught up with him. Tory had nearly ripped the man's arm off when he'd tried to escape. Lendill and Norian hadn't even turned a hair over that. The criminal had been sent to Evensun. He probably hadn't survived that.
"What about you? I asked.
"I loved my parents," Jes told me. "And they loved me. I wasn't married—went off-world to study medicine and decided to stay. By the time we really understood that my world was dying, it was quarantined. Nobody could get on or off. It died a quick death, Reah. If I could have paid the black-market traffickers, I might have been able to get my family away from there. I didn't have the money. They're all dead, thanks to Zellar."
"I imagine he has a lot to answer for, if people really do answer for those sorts of things," I said. I was thinking about Kifirin and wondering if he ever involved himself in anything like that.
"The gods are a myth," Jes grumbled.
"Well, hold onto that thought." I patted his arm while he pushed up my other knee.
Chapter 5
"I can't believe he let me go without him," I said. Farzi, Nenzi and Lenden were with me as I walked down a pedestrian street filled with upscale shops. I had a credit chip bracelet too, and Teeg had told me to buy anything I wanted.
"He not wish to lose you," Farzi pointed out.
"I not wish that either," Nenzi grinned. I gave him a hug.
"I have no desire to lose sight of you either," Lenden offered. I looked up into his green eyes. They were nearly the same color as mine. Well, he was my bodyguard for the day—Teeg was paying him not to lose sight of me.
"Nenzi needs haircut," Nenzi stopped outside a hairdresser's shop.
"Then we'll get you a haircut," I pulled him inside. Farzi and Lenden were forced to follow. Just to make things look normal, I got my hair washed and my bangs trimmed.
"Where did these scars come from?" My hairdresser had found Tory's claiming marks.
"That's a long story," I said. I wasn't about to tell her anything about them. She shrugged and kept washing my hair. Farzi and Lenden sat off to the side, watching while Nenzi and I were worked on at the same time. It wasn't until we sat down at a sidewalk café later to have a cool drink that Lenden voiced his question.
"Who gave you those marks?" He whispered while Farzi and Nenzi went to the counter for refills.
"I won't be giving that information," I said. I wasn't sure Teeg even knew what they were and I certainly wasn't going to give him more information to harm anyone else I knew. I hadn't gotten any updated information on Gavril either, and didn't know if I were brave enough to ask. Teeg hadn't mistreated me and I hoped that went for Gavril too. I had no idea if Gavril might attempt to escape—he was perhaps the brightest person I'd ever met. I was praying that Teeg remembered he was only seventeen when it came to Chash's treatment.
Lenden didn't push it, but something bothered me about his question. I didn't puzzle it out until later. Nenzi bought two chips containing repair manuals for vehicles. That was the day I learned that Nenzi oversaw Teeg's fleet of vehicles. I was happy for him—it was something he always wanted. Farzi had taken over guest services at the casinos Teeg had inherited from Arvil. He made sure complaints were handled and the staff treated the guests well. He brought recommendations to Teeg if anyone needed to be fired for their actions.
The other reptanoids were employed here and there within Teeg's empire. Darzi and Chazi ran the shuttle station. Perzi and Yanzi handled supply requisition. Bekzi and Hirz
i supervised the farming now done on Campiaa—before, none had even considered running farms there. Plenty of good farmland lay to the east of Campiaa City. Teeg had brought in equipment and experienced help. Now the farms were thriving and the casinos got fresh fruit and vegetables. I was amazed at how industrious and progressive-minded Teeg had been.
"We still have to import oxberries." Farzi wasn't thrilled about that.
"I have it on good authority that it takes a special kind of soil for those berries," I said. "Word has it that the imports everybody gets from Le-Ath Veronis are only possible because they bought truckloads of soil from the southern continent on Kifirin," I said. "Otherwise, Kifirin is the only world I know that has the right kind of ground to grow the berries."
"Have you been there? To Kifirin?" Lenden wanted to know.
"No," I answered truthfully. The ASD had always interfered with any plans I might make to go there. Tory intended to take me and show me the palace in Veshtul when my stint with the ASD was over. Gavril wanted to go with us, so we'd made tentative plans. Now, all that might just be something we dreamed about. I missed Tory with an ache in my heart. Aurelius, too. Lendill—we'd barely gotten to know each other outside being Vice-Director and employee. He wanted to take me to meet his father. Now, none of them knew if I were alive.
"Teeg moves us tomorrow," Farzi announced when we finished our drinks. "If Reah needs something to take, she should buy now."
I blinked stupidly at Farzi—when had this been decided? "Farzi, where are we going? What will the weather be like?"
"Hot, where we go. No sleeves best." Farzi wasn't comfortable giving me orders and it affected his speech.
"Farzi," I leaned over and kissed his cheek, "you don't have to worry about upsetting me. I'll still love you, Nenzi and the others, even if I'm mad at the time."
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