I settled in to read a book I'd picked out, falling asleep eventually with the comp-reader on my stomach.
* * *
"Shhh, go back to sleep, sweetheart." Reah's eyelashes were dark against her pale skin. Teeg worried over the dark circles under her eyes. He'd taken the comp-reader out of her hand and set it aside, almost waking her. She wasn't recovering as fast as he'd like—the ranos grenade had hit her full-on, blasting her through the window opposite Zellar's room and onto the roof of a nearby building. Anyone else would have died. Reah had come very close.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Zellar's body had practically disintegrated in the blast and he'd held a shield around himself. They'd found bits and pieces of him. Teeg's heart had almost seized in his chest when he'd seen Reah on the vid-screen, kicking in Zellar's door. Astralan had folded him to Kareed; Teeg had almost been crazy after watching Reah get hit.
Now that she had her voice and senses back, all she wanted to do was fight with him. He'd hurt her more than he'd intended. His hope had been that she'd forgive him a little when he found her again. Now his ring was missing from her finger and he wondered what she'd done with it. He'd sealed his fate with her for the moment, telling her he'd taken Gavril. Teeg brushed silky white hair away from Reah's face. "My pretty baby," he crooned softly.
* * *
"Here's what you asked for." Teeg handed the comp-vid to me. I almost wept at the image on the screen. Chash was there, holding up a similar comp-vid with the day's news from an Alliance world. The date was clearly visible at the top of the news video.
"Is he safe? Are you treating him well? Is he scared?" I wiped tears off my cheeks. I wished there were a way I could get this to Lissa and Gavin. More than likely, they were still terrified for their youngest child. Teeg decided to be awful about the whole thing.
"That's none of your concern," he snapped. "Do I have your promise—not to do anything stupid and not to harm anyone inside my home? You won't escape, I've already seen to that. We did an implant, Reah. Right here." Teeg pointed to a spot on his collarbone. "It's inside the bone, Reah, and Jes tells me the bone has formed around it. No more mindspeech or skipping unless I turn this off." He held a small transmitter in his hand. I stared at him, completely speechless. "I told you I hacked your records. Two years ago, in fact." How could he be so hard? How?
"I want to kill you," I muttered.
"You're still my wife, Reah. I have the papers to prove it. Where's my ring?"
"If I thought you wanted it back, I wouldn't have tossed it in the ocean on Le-Ath Veronis." I had. I'd asked Aurelius to take me sailing and I'd dumped the thing the moment we couldn't see land any longer. Who knew where it was, now?
"I'll get you another ring."
"I won't wear it. You see this?" I turned the comp-vid around so he could see Gavril's image. "As long as you have him, I won't wear it."
"Don't make promises you can't keep," Teeg warned. I wanted to tell him to go f**k himself, but then he might take back the promise to let me out of my cage. He looked angry and frustrated, his dark hair rumpled, a deep frown marring his handsome features. "Jes, release the brakes on that stupid bed and bring her."
That's how I got a ride to the old bedroom that Teeg and I had shared. That now seemed a lifetime ago, with a different person. He'd taken my freedom away and kidnapped Chash. Now he wanted to get me another ring. Logic no longer seemed a part of him.
"Now, Reah, I'm going to offer something else if you promise to do what Jes tells you. I need you back on your feet and ready to fight Zellar's spawn quickly before they scatter so far we'll never find them." Teeg had allowed Jes to transfer me to the bed. He'd called a servant to push my hospital bed out of the spacious suite. More than anything, I wanted to hobble to the bathroom and soak in a tub of hot water. The casts were still on so that was out of the question.
I wasn't about to ask him what he was offering now. I didn't need to; Farzi and Nenzi walked into the room. Teeg knew which buttons to push. This had upset me more than anything, when he'd taken Farzi, Nenzi and their brothers away. I'd been planning to take them to a jungle world that held little population so they could live as they pleased. Two of Teeg's warlocks had folded them away at Teeg's bidding. I still wanted to slap all of them for that.
"Farzi? Nenzi? I was sobbing now. Nenzi rushed in, Farzi right behind him.
"Be careful of her broken," Jes' words went unheeded as Nenzi nearly flung himself on the bed beside me, hugging me as hard as he dared. Farzi sat next to both of us.
"Our Reah," Farzi reached out to touch my hair. "Your hair quite long now."
I sniffled and wiped tears off my face. "This was how it was supposed to be. Before it was whacked off to make me look like a boy. Farzi, are your brothers all right?" I wanted to ask if they still lived—all of them—but I was afraid to.
"Our brothers do fine." Nenzi answered my question, pulling my head against his shoulder. "Nenzi misses Reah. Teeg says he cannot find. Now she is ours again." I didn't upset Nenzi by telling him that Teeg had kidnapped me. Gavril, too. I brushed Nenzi's dark hair off his forehead instead.
"Nenzi, I really missed you. And Farzi and all your brothers."
"We not find another good cook," Nenzi smiled at me.
"But Ardalin is here," I said.
"She isn't the same," Farzi pointed out stiffly. That told me right then that Ardalin didn't like the reptanoids. Only their eyes were different—on the surface of things, anyway. No reason to mistreat my people.
"Ardalin is superstitious," Teeg cleared his throat.
"Then send her to one of your many casinos," I snapped. "There is no reason anyone should mistreat Farzi, Nenzi and the others."
"I was hoping you'd help interview potential replacements." Teeg lifted an eyebrow at me.
"Uh-huh. And go take care of rogue wizards and help you with whatever you want to blackmail the Alliance over. My schedule is full, Teeg."
"Reah, not fight with Teeg. Please?" Nenzi's eyes were begging.
"Only for you, Nenzi." I hugged him with my good arm.
"Should have brought him in, first thing," Teeg muttered.
* * *
Two days later, with Nenzi, Farzi and six other reptanoids looking on, I got my casts off. My skin looked pale and shriveled when they were removed. "Now you can take a shower, but you probably need help," Jes said. He looked hopeful but Teeg, who was also there, frowned. Jes didn't offer his help. Farzi and Nenzi ended up helping me. They held me up when I didn't think I could stand and I washed myself. I don't know why I didn't worry about them seeing me naked but I didn't. I'd seen all of them naked before, when they'd turned to lion snakes. Nudity was completely natural to them, and held no embarrassment. Honestly, I thought of them as family. Perhaps they saw me the same way.