"I will handle the courts and enforcement of the laws, which will require working closely with Drake, Drew, Gavin and Anthony," Gabron announced.
"I will handle the running of the palace," Roff declared.
"We still need somebody to handle the farming industry, plus we need to import fishing boats and other things to feed the comesuli," Shadow suggested. "And we need a chief of staff plus scribes, secretaries, whatever you want to call them," he added.
"I'd like the chief of staff job," Kyler folded in. "I'm not doing much of anything at the moment."
"I will handle the building of medical facilities for the comesuli and set up a proper training program for them," Karzac said. "As well as being personal physician to the Queen. I can't imagine the Saa Thalarr will need me much—Lissa just eliminated their job, after all." Drake grinned at Drew, giving him a high five.
"There will be other things to warrant their attention from time to time," Belen folded in. Kifirin rose and bowed slightly. Belen bowed back. "We also have an announcement to make," Belen nodded toward Kifirin. "We have permission to rebuild the dark worlds. That means the werewolf planet, as well as all the others, will be inhabited again one day. I wish to enlist the help of the Larentii on this." Belen smiled at Connegar.
"It is acceptable if the permission comes from you," Connegar rose and nodded respectfully to Belen. "Ferrigar will not refuse and many Larentii will be most enthusiastic over the project."
"What did I miss?" Erland Morphis folded in. He gasped when he saw Belen standing there, shining inside Lissa's throne room.
"Lord Morphis," Belen chuckled. "We cannot presume to leave you out, now can we? Perhaps you can oversee the business of the flocks and herds."
"Don't forget the fishing and mining," Shadow said.
"Mining?" Erland's ears perked up.
"We have a winner," Drake laughed.
"You mine it and I'll make jewelry out of it for the Queen," Shadow grinned.
* * *
"I don't want to go." Kiarra's birthday party was scheduled and my Falchani twins were dressed to attend. They were trying to convince me to come along. I wasn't in the mood. Yes, Kiarra and I shared a birthday, but mine wasn't the one to be celebrated. I hadn't celebrated a birthday since Don's death. Well, this one would go uncelebrated, too. Kiarra and I would have shared Merrill, had he and Griffin not done what they had. I wasn't in the mood to see either of them. Two days had passed since the finale on Kifirin, and I was still tired. I had things to consider, too. Kifirin planned to bring Earth's vampires the following day, and I wasn't sure how some of them might react.
"Go on. Take this with you," I pulled the fabric-wrapped painted off the floor of my suite and handed it to Drew. He wore a sad look, as if I'd told him Christmas was canceled or something.
"Baby, come with us," he begged.
"No. Go on, now. I have things to think about." I shooed them out of my suite and shut the door. My suite. It was large enough to play football in—European or American. I hadn't slept well in it the past two nights, and refused advances from both Gabron and Shadow to spend the night in my bed. I sighed and shook my head before misting to the uppermost dome of the palace roof.
"You made the right choice." He was there beside me—the one whose voice I'd heard. We were connected, he and I. I shook my head at his words.
"If this body dies—this corporeal body—the only mate I can keep is Kifirin," I muttered, hugging myself uncomfortably.
"For now," he nodded. His eyes were filled with stars.
"How many thousands of years, though, in between?" My gaze fell upon the southwestern section of the city below the palace, where Gabron's Refizani vampires now lived. A few lights twinkled there, and if I reached out with only a thought, I could see the vampires as they walked or worked or spoke with one another. They were no longer held by the sun. They could sleep and wake as they willed, now. But there'd been a price to be paid for that freedom. I'd paid it.
When I made the choice offered to me, I'd consented to live forever—just as I was. The same memories would be mine. The same loves, hates, everything. There would be no rebirth and forgetting for me. Truly, there'd been no choice—if I hadn't done as I did, all would now be dying. It might take some time for all the worlds to fall silent, but they would fall silent. It was the way they were made—the balance that they kept. Destroy the balance, and all would fall. Now, the balance was Le-Ath Veronis. Actually, the balance was me.
"I wondered when you'd realize that," he spoke again. "You managed to open the barrier between light and dark worlds, did you know that?"
"Yeah. I felt it fall when I made the choice," I muttered, leaning my chin on my knees. Before, only High Demons, Ra'Ak, and Karathian Warlocks and Witches held enough power to breach the barrier and travel between light and dark worlds. Now, that barrier was destroyed and all could come and go.
"Space travel will now be possible between the two." He chuckled at my thoughts. I sighed. "You know you can't do it again, don't you?" he added.
"Do what?" I lifted my head to stare at him.
"Hold that much power in your physical body. If you try, it'll explode and die."
"Yeah. I know that, all right." It was true. If he hadn't stood (invisibly) beside me on the palace steps in Veshtul, I would have exploded right then and there, after Pulling all that Power to me. He'd helped me hold my corporeal self together while I pronounced judgment against the Ra'Ak, rogue High Demons and the Elemaiya.
"If you're corporeal in the future, you can only employ what you had before. I can't help you. You can call some power to you if needed, but if you need real Power, you'll have to go to energy to use it."
"I guess that's okay," I sighed. "I'm pretty good with what I have."
"Yeah. I've seen that." He smiled, and just like that, his eyes were back to normal.
* * *
"Raona, tell me what you want and I will prepare it." Cheedas followed me around the kitchen as I searched for ingredients to make brownies. I wanted chocolate. And it was my birthday, so I was determined to have chocolate. One way or another. Cheedas fretted the whole time I searched through his new domain—the massive kitchen inside my palace. I lifted my head at that thought. It was my palace. The whole, damn, stinking, huge behemoth. Mine. I slapped a hand over my face. And that's when they found me.
Roff walked into the kitchen, dressed in a tux. He was followed by Tony, Gabron, Shadow, Connegar, Drake, Drew, Karzac, Kifirin and Gavin. They were all dressed in tuxes, including Connegar, and I had no idea how that had been accomplished. He never wore clothing like that. I got the idea that whatever was about to go down with my posse, they hadn't planned to do it in a kitchen.
Roff knelt before me first, took my hand and slipped a thin band onto my right index finger. He smiled and told me he loved me before standing and moving aside. Tony was next; he selected a finger and did exactly the same. Gabron kissed me after placing his ring. Shadow's ring looked as if it were made of glittering diamonds. "Its Tiralian crystal," he said after kissing me. I had to Look to see what that meant. Tiralian crystal was extremely rare, glittered brighter than diamonds and the cost? I had a fortune on my hand, now. I also knew Shadow had made it himself and that it was a protection jewel.
"You're the best, honey," I smiled at him.
"Just don't forget it," he grinned.
"This is Larentii memory stone," Connegar slipped his nearly transparent ring onto a finger. "It holds the memory of what we saw upon Le-Ath Veronis in the past, and also what you did two days ago. You kept your vow, little mate." He smiled at me, kissed my forehead and stood aside.
Drake and Drew came together—how could it be otherwise? They placed their rings onto my right ring finger. They were shaped as mirror images, and both held Tiralian crystal that fit together and looked like one band. Only they and I would know it was actually two rings. "My handsome Falchani," I had a hand on both their cheeks.
"I love you, baby," Drake whispered.
"I love you, too, Lissa," Drew said. "More than anything." They rose and joined the others who'd already given me rings. Karzac came then and placed his ring on my left index finger. It was wider than the other bands and carved in the likeness of fireflies in flight. Where each light would be there was a jewel that winked. "Honey, that's beautiful," I said. He kissed me this time; I didn't have to kiss him.
Gavin came next and when he got down on his knee, he proposed. "Lissa, will you marry me and say yes to me, this time?"
"Yes," I couldn't keep the tears from sliding down my cheeks. He placed my old rings on my left ring finger, right where they belonged, kissed me several times and then moved away.
Kifirin was last, and I had no idea what he was going to do. He remained standing instead of kneeling before me. "This belonged to you before," he said, slipping a gold band onto the middle finger of my left hand. It was inscribed, only I couldn't see through my tears to read it. "It holds the Queen's promise to protect Le-Ath Veronis and her people," he said. "Your promise to them is a promise to me as it was before."
"Thank you," I said, as best I could.
"This finger will be ours," Erland Morphis and Gardevik Rath were both there quickly. They'd slipped in at the last. Erland was holding my right hand and stroking the ringless middle finger, offering a blinding smile.
"You need to take that up with the others over there," I nodded toward what was now my Inner Circle.
* * Six Weeks Later * *
"Not many problems; we just have to deal with the current shortage of females," Flavio informed me as I was trying to fasten a bracelet on my wrist. That caused me to look up—Flavio, Kyler and Cleo were all in my suite, watching me dress for the stupid coronation that everybody insisted on having. "Get Gabron on that," I muttered. Well, he used to run brothels. Surely, there were women out there who wouldn't mind having intense orgasms along with a bite.