"Tory's daughter," Karzac said.
"Nooo," I moaned.
"Baby, it'll be all right. Your Em-pah will help take care of her," Lenden was there. "Little squirrel, I really am your Em-pah. I'm Denevik Lith, baby. If you don't believe me, ask Gardevik. He knows. Jayd and Glinda are on their way. I haven't seen Glinda in fifteen hundred years or more."
"Reah, do not faint again," Karzac muttered. "Do not place more on her right now. Do not," he snapped at the others. The healer had spoken and everybody else was backing off.
"Aurelius?" I was nearly in tears, now.
"They're trying to get him back—he's off on assignment. Jeral offered to take his place so he could come see you, baby," Tory put an arm beneath me and helped me sit up.
"I removed the birth control implant—it was completely drained," Karzac said, handing me a drink. Now I knew why they'd been shoving those things at me for weeks—they'd all known I was pregnant and neglected to tell me.
"Where are Farzi and Nenzi?" I demanded.
"Here, our Reah," Farzi and Nenzi came to stand behind Tory. "All here. We not leave."
"I don't suppose any of you would bite Teeg for me?" I wiped tears away. Of all the betrayals, that hurt the most. How had he done this? How could he be Gavril? I couldn't call him Chash. Would never call him that. Ever. How had he been in two places at once? It made my head hurt.
"No. He save us. Like Reah save us," Nenzi said softly.
"Karzac, when will I feel good again?" I covered my eyes with a hand.
"Not for a few days at the least," Karzac pulled my hand away. "Reah, don't let this bother you. Lissa has sent mindspeech; this involves Kifirin, somehow. Do not blame Gavril overmuch. Wait and talk to him before you worry over this."
"Keep him away from me," I muttered.
"Kifirin?"
"Gavril."
* * *
"She's asleep," Tory spoke softly as Wylend and Lendill entered the bedroom. They'd put her in Tory's bed. It was his baby. He was trying to come to terms with the fact that he'd fathered a child.
"That's only natural, son," Gardevik followed Lendill inside. He'd read his son's mind easily.
"I need her up as quickly as possible—my father is demanding that I marry her on the family grounds," Lendill sighed, sitting heavily on the side of the bed. "She looks so pale." He stroked Reah's hair carefully.
"Your father? I didn't know you had one," Wylend smiled at Lendill.
"Oh, I have one, all right. He makes his presence known upon occasion."
"Not wake Reah," Nenzi called from a corner of the room.
"Is that?" Lendill peered into Nenzi's corner. Nenzi and Farzi were still humanoid, the others that came forward with them were all lion snakes.
"They, uh, won't leave. Karzac said she needed to be watched over so they are her self-appointed guards."
"We guard Reah since before she marry Teeg." Farzi pointed out.
"We'll have to get used to that," Wylend sighed. "Who gave him that name anyway?"
"No idea. Ry's coming in—he and I want to wrestle with our little brother," Tory said.
"I wouldn’t try too hard—I think Teeg San Gerxon might show all of you a thing or two," Garde pointed out.
"No try to harm Teeg. He will show you," Farzi said.
* * *
"Norian, I know you can fold," Gavril argued. "Mom did that for you when Ildevar Wyyld let her out of being Liaison ten years ago. We'll go, check to see whether the core has been tapped and come back." Lissa, Gavin, Tony, Norian and Lendill were all inside Lissa's study, with Astralan and Stellan. Galaxsan and Celestan were preparing Gavril's suite. The reptanoids had refused to budge from Reah's and Tory's suite. Denevik was talking with Jayd and Glinda over a late meal.
"You can tell that quickly? About the core?" Norian asked. He'd had to use sensitive scientific equipment that could take days to determine if the core was weakened.
"We know what to look for," Astralan replied. "It's a power leak and we can feel it."
"Then let's all go," Lissa stood. "I don't want my son out of my sight so soon, even if he does look a little different and a lot older than he did before. I don't know how Tory and Ry failed to see this." She ran fingers through Gavril's hair.
"Mom, they weren't looking for this. I was safe at home the whole time they worked with me. Remember?"
"I'm still kicking Kifirin. I don't care how good his motives were," Lissa grumped."Mom, there's something else."
"What's that?" Lissa looked up at her son, who was now as tall and broad across the shoulders as his father.
"I had a chip implanted in Reah's collarbone. It keeps her from skipping and sending mindspeech. That's how I kept her with me the past three months. I don't want to remove it until she's comfortable with all this. I don't think we need to go hunting for her after she skips away because she's pissed at me. Not while she's pregnant, anyway."
"So, that's how you did it. Gavril, I'm not sure how I feel about that. Aurelius may pound you and I can't say that I'd blame him."
"Aurelius?" Stellan asked.
"Former vampire. Works with a different race, now," Gavril sighed. "You don't want to tangle with any one of those. They can beat your head in if you harm their mates."
"Not to mention that he's my sire," Gavin spoke for the first time. He'd been content to listen while he attempted to come to terms with his son being what he was.
"That's not complicated or anything," Astralan snorted.
"Oh, we haven't gotten to the complicated part," Lissa smiled. "Wylend will be asking the moment the ASD lets Reah go, and Lendill will be marrying her as quickly as possible."
"Vice-Director Schaff?" Astralan lifted an eyebrow.
"That would be the one."
"Has Reah consented to all this?" Gavril asked.
"No idea," Lissa said. "Maybe you'd like to ask her?"
"Mom, I think she wants to kill me, right now. And when she discovers I don't want the chip out, well, that'll make it worse."
* * *
"Glindarok, he didn't tell me what he planned," Denevik swore. "Tarevik said he wanted to make father see sense—that he or Brenevik could rule if he'd only find a mate for them. That was all I heard. Then Tare asked me to go to the Southern continent to check on our cane farms. That's when he put his plan into action. When I got back, all I could see was the devastation. I had to ask Bren what happened. When he told me, I called him and Tarevik fools. I was ready to kill them both, but they'd kill me first and I knew it. I skipped off the planet and I haven't been back since."
"Rorevik had those two put to death and it wasn't pretty," Garde joined the small group in Lissa's arboretum. "If Kifirin hadn't come to tell us that you weren't involved, I would have killed you the moment you showed up."
"I know." Denevik ran a finger down the glass of wine he'd been served. "I ask that you treat my granddaughter well. She doesn't know anything about any of this."
"Denevik, you are the last of my kin," Glinda placed her hand over his, surprising him into meeting her eyes. "You have no blame in this. Come to Kifirin with us—we will find you a place there."
"My place is with my granddaughter," Denevik sighed.
"She may be joining us—I don't like the idea of a High Demon female being born anywhere except on Kifirin," Jayd said.
"Is Norian Keef going to release her from the ASD? She still has two months' service owed," Glinda pointed out.
"No idea," Garde raked a hand through his wealth of dark-brown hair.
* * *
"Farzi, we won't get into trouble, I promise." I was hobbling through Lissa's palace on my way to the kitchen. I wanted something to eat and didn't intend to allow anyone to stop me. Farzi, Nenzi and all their brothers followed me. They'd taken their humanoid shapes again—we didn't want to frighten the guards.
"But Reah needs to rest," Farzi muttered. He didn't like doing this in a strange place. If we'd been on Campiaa, he wouldn't have said a word.
"Farzi, this is where I live," I pointed out. "They won't yell at you, they'll just gripe at me for getting out of bed." We turned the last corner, finding ourselves in Lissa's enormous kitchen. If I'd had more energy, I'd have made sweet rolls. Instead, I put crepes together, stuffing them with fresh fruit and sweet cream.
"This very good," Perzi was eating his portion happily, as were his brothers.
"What is this?" Drake and Drew walked in. I'm sure the palace guards had notified them somehow.
"Crepes—want some?"
"Lissa will kill us and Karzac will kill you," Drew said. "But before that happens, we'll take some." They were served quickly and I climbed back onto my barstool before Karzac came thundering into the room.
"Karzac, I was hungry," I said, trying to turn his wrath aside.
"You may be hungry and someone else may cook," he had his arms crossed angrily over his chest.
"But nobody makes these like this," Drake closed his eyes in pleasure after taking a bite of his dessert.
"There's three more," I lifted a plate in Karzac's direction.
Karzac, curmudgeonly physician that he was, found a place at the island and settled down to eat his crepe. Lissa and Gavin showed up shortly afterward, getting the last two.
"I know we should be upset, but I want to eat this first," Lissa sighed.
"Farzi glad she hungry," Farzi said. "Reah much sick, lately."