"Reah."
"Teeg, don't even try. You get everything you want? Do you?"
"You're harder, now."
"You can bet your ass on that." Working for the ASD had done that. Dealing with what he'd done to me before had done that. Now he was back to torture me again.
"Can you still cook?" Astralan asked.
"Astralan, go ahead. Do your best sorcery or whatever the hell it is that you do. I dare you." I turned my head back to glare at the warlock. "How's Teeg treating you? As well as the Hardlows?"
"Not even a comparison," Astralan grinned.
"We had everything set up to take Zellar down inside that hotel room, Reah," Teeg crossed arms over his chest. That chest was just as wide as it was before. "But the Alliance sends in one of theirs. It couldn't have turned out more perfect. They hand you right back to me, when I've been looking for you for years." I pointedly ignored the fact that Teeg was just as handsome as he ever was.
"Sure, you looked for me. And Elves are real, too," I muttered. I didn't add that if I were in better health, I might consider breaking his perfect nose with a single punch.
"You might be surprised," a smile tugged at Teeg's mouth.
"What do you want from me, Teeg? Am I a hostage? You intend to beef up your bank account by selling me back to the Alliance? Force them to do something they don't want to, just to get your way?"
"Oh, I have a project in mind." He nodded at my assessment, his dark eyes giving nothing away. "But I want your help to track those fool apprentices Zellar trained first. They could be anywhere. I've hacked into the ASD records, Reah. I know you still don't miss. You're going to help me take those fuckers down before they destroy what I've tried to build."
He meant his new alliance. I realized that quickly. "Still building things, Teeg?"
"Trying to—yes." Long, well-shaped fingers raked through dark hair.
"Uh-huh." I handed him one of Queen Lissa's best, unusual phrases. It stopped him for a moment and he blinked curiously at me, attempting to determine what I meant, more than likely.
"I also know you have other mates. I suggest you cooperate with me or I'll put a price on both their heads." That statement made my chest hurt. It made me want to cry. "You didn't take him, did you?" I could barely get my hand up to wipe away the tear that fell.
"Take who?" Teeg was staring at me.
"Nobody," I muttered.
"Maybe we did, then." Was he using what I'd just given him or did he have Gavril? I was shaking.
"You're upsetting her." Second voice had my wrist in his fingers, checking my pulse.
"You mean Gavril, don't you?" Teeg sounded smugly satisfied. How had he gotten that name? I'd never said it to him. Neither had Ry nor Tory. An ASD agent never gave the enemy a target to go after. Teeg knew he'd hit the mark when I didn't answer. "We have him—we just didn't realize he'd be important to you in any way. We were going to present other demands to Le-Ath Veronis. Is that where you live, Reah?" Teeg was digging into my ribs verbally. It hurt. My breathing quickened.
"Do not hyperventilate," second voice issued the command. My body ignored him. Astralan helped get me sitting up in bed and my head down as far as it would go. "Get the quickshot!" Second voice shouted. I struggled; they gave it anyway. I was out in no time.
* * *
"It went better than I thought—I think she'll cooperate now," Teeg sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Why can't you just do what you normally do or have your wizards do something?" Doctor Jes Wurfl asked.
"Because of what she is. Besides, you have no idea how effective she can be against Zellar's clones."
"What is she, then? How can she have any effect against one rogue wizard, let alone half a dozen or more?"
"Have you ever heard of High Demons?" Teeg gave Jes a pointed look.
"Those are myth," Jes scoffed.
"Not myth. That's what my wife is—High Demon."
"Is she really immune to wizardry?"
"Every bit of it. She's going to get rid of the scum in the Campiaan Alliance. Then we'll use her as a bargaining chip with the Reth Alliance. Have them recognize us as an equal. There's a lot at stake here, Jes."
"Could she have killed Zellar?"
"She would have. All she needed was to be within arm's length. He would have died before he knew she'd cut his throat."
"She's that cruel?" Jes' hands went to his throat.
"No. Not cruel. Just well-trained and efficient," Teeg sighed. "She's been forced to be what she is. Besides, what sort of death would you wish for Zellar? He killed your home planet, Jes. She would have given him a quick death. He wouldn't have felt the bite of the blade, I don't think. It would have been merciful.""But we blew him up with a ranos grenade."
"The grenade was the only thing we had to penetrate his shields, my friend. If I'd known Reah was coming after him, I would have sat back and watched the vid-feed for years to come."
"You had cameras there, didn't you?"
"Yes, and I wasn't watching, someone else was. They didn't recognize Reah, I did. When it was too late. Now we have to get her back on her feet and in fighting condition before I can take her hunting."
"Do you really have the one she asked about—what was his name?"
"Gavril?"
"Yes."
"Oh, yes. I have him all right." Teeg jerked his head toward his study door. Jes knew the conversation with his employer was over.
* * *
"I want to hear from Gavril." I'd had time to think about this. How could Teeg stoop this low? How? He'd seemed such a good man when I'd first met him. Before he became what Arvil and the Hardlows had been. Teeg had come by to supervise the washing of my hair—had brought in a hairdresser, no less.
"Then stay quiet and let Treesa do your hair. Behave yourself and I'll move you into a suite." I was still locked in my cell. I don't know what Teeg thought to accomplish; I was still as weak as a newly-hatched nestling. My mindspeech still wasn't working and several attempts at skipping only gave me a terrible headache.
"You're telling me to behave myself? Child-snatching jackass," I muttered. I wasn't expecting Teeg to burst out laughing. Treesa pulled my wheeled chair up to the portable shampoo bowl and went to work.
"This is your natural color?" Treesa asked. I wasn't about to ask her the same thing—she had green and purple streaks running through the black of her hair. Her fingernails matched.
"Trust me—it's natural." Teeg was still chuckling.
"Nobody has hair this color," Treesa muttered as she washed my hair.
"Reah does." Treesa knew not to push Teeg. She washed my hair several times; it had been a while since it had been clean. Then, under Teeg's watchful gaze, Treesa combed it out and dried it. I asked to have it braided, Teeg refused. "I want it down, just as it is," he demanded. I wasn't able to braid my hair with the cast still on my left arm, so he got what he wanted. What I wanted was to hit him before it was over. Treesa took her equipment and left.
"I meant what I said about a suite," Teeg said. "I'll move you into one when you promise not to misbehave."
"Get me a message from Gavril so I know he's all right and you'll get it," I muttered. Ever since I knew that Teeg had Gavril, I woke from my sleep hyperventilating. What was Teeg hoping to gain from Lissa or the Alliance? What?
"I'll have a message for you tomorrow." Teeg walked out. The doctor was walking in almost at the same time.
"I think we can get these off in the next few days," he tapped my arm cast. "You can call me Jes—Master San Gerxon said I could give you my name." The doctor had run the scanner over the breaks in my arm and legs to check on their progress. "How are the headaches?"
"They'd be better if I knew my friend was all right," I muttered.
"He said he'd bring a message tomorrow. He usually keeps his word."
"What I want to know is how easy he finds it to kill." I did want to know that. Would Chash survive Teeg's blackmail? It frightened me to think about it.
"That is something you shouldn't be worrying your pretty head over." Jes plumped the pillows on my hospital bed. "I can bring a vid-screen for you—you can watch vids if you want. Or, I can bring you a comp-reader. We have several here with just about anything you want to read loaded in."
"Comp-vid?" I asked.
"Not unless I want to die."
"Ah. Do you?"
"No."
"Can I have both?"
"A vid-screen and a comp-reader?"
"Yes."
"Of course. You just can't tire yourself out. Go ahead, tell me I sound like your mother." Jes was looking at me hopefully.
"I don't know what my mother sounded like. She died when I was born."
"Ah. Well. I'll go get those things for you." Jes pointed through the doors of my cage. That's what it was—a cage inside a larger room that held nothing except my bed. A few windows lined one wall, but all of them were covered in privacy film. I could only see muted light and nothing else.
Jes brought both promised items when he returned, followed by someone else; a woman in her thirties and likely a servant.
"This is our cook, Ardalin," Jes introduced the woman. Ardalin carried a drink with a straw in it. Until then, I'd been getting clear broth to eat. It was bland and certainly wasn't anything I would have made for myself.
"Thank you," I took the drink from the cook. She didn't look happy to me. Perhaps Teeg was forcing her in some way, too. I rested the glass on the arm of my wheeled chair until I could lift it to take a drink. It consisted of berries blended with fruit juice and was quite decent. I was hoping Jes would leave the glass with me—I wanted to fling it at Teeg's head the next time he came in, but Jes took it with him after I was done. I was tired of using the small, fizzy teeth-cleaning tabs too. Jes brought one every morning and every night.