"Are the wounded able to travel? I'd like to go on in the morning."
"I believe so, Warlord. We can leave them with the cooking tents if the attacks come soon." The Lord Marshall examined the map lying on the small table between himself and the Warlord. They'd been plotting strategy.
"Good. Spread the word; we'll leave first thing in the morning."
* * *
I wasn't speaking to anybody. Drake and Drew had given up, after a while. Dragon still walked around with a deep scowl on his face, but that was nothing new. I wanted to be happy for Karzac. He'd delivered so many babies; it was time he got one. I berated myself for not feeling better and more cheerful over the whole thing. Had Dragon known before they'd taken me on this little jaunt into the wilderness? I wasn't about to go Looking. My life was miserable enough, thanks.
My arrow wound was already closed up and almost healed but I still wore the bandage. Amara said no sparring for a day or two. What we did in the evenings, now, was watch Crane train Tava, Hart and Nima. Crane Trevor and Dragon Taylor were helping and they'd spar with the women. Veykan sometimes helped out, or Turtle, even. I was bored and depressed. There wasn't a rooftop to sit on or that's where I would have been, pondering the difficulties of my life.
"Lissa, there's nothing we can do to change things," Drew sat beside me while I watched Crane put the three women through their paces. I'd heard from Drake that they hadn't been trained properly at all. I wasn't surprised—I figured the men had cut corners with their training, just so they could have an easy lay out of it. Yeah, I wasn't in a charitable mood toward anybody, nowadays.
"Well, I'll just feel this way for a while, then," I muttered.
"Lissa, we love you. Drake and I. Karzac loves you. We've been afraid to tell him that you know already. I think he'd come if he knew you were gone."
"Oh, yeah, the whole time-bending thing," I grumped. Nobody was listening to us—Crane was shouting at Tava, who was doing her best to block Dragon Taylor's blows while their blades clanged in the early evening quiet. "Besides, Karzac needs to stay with Grace. That's his baby. No way he needs to come haring after a neurotic Vampire Queen."
I was trying to come to grips with this—Karzac needed to stay with his baby until that baby was grown. He or she was going to need a stable home life and a permanent father in residence, as far as I was concerned. The poor kid was going to have to get used to the idea that his mother had multiple mates, even if they were the best guys in the universe.
"What did Howard Graham say to you, baby?"
"He said a lot of things but the words I'm sorry have never passed his lips."
"I wish we'd known each other, growing up," Drew said, putting his arm around me. "Drake and I got into all kinds of trouble. If we'd had a friend that needed looking after, well, we might not have raised so much hell."
"I'm glad you got to raise hell," I said, bumping my forehead against his arm. "Somebody needed to. I was afraid to breathe, most of the time. It was a relief to go to school in the mornings. Nobody could touch me there."
"Gracie is our second mom," Drew said suddenly. "If Mom was gone on assignment, Gracie was there. Or Gram. We knew, early on, that we had an extended family. We still call Mack Daddy Mack, and the others, too. They were all dads for us. Of course, Dad had the final say if he was in, but Uncle Crane stood in for him if he wasn't, or one of the others. Karzac certainly did. We knew we could go to him for anything. Radomir helped teach us hand fighting. We had to work to get to his level, he's so fast. Lisster and Rush taught us how to fish. Justin and Mack taught us how to ski and surf. Grampa Adam and Grampa Martin showed us how to build things. Lynx, Russell and Will taught us how to gamble. Behind Dad's back, of course. Grampa Merrill taught us how to manage money and he and Grampa Adam help us with our portfolios."
"It's good you had all those people to depend on. I'm happy for you," I sighed.
"Lissa, what I'm trying to say is that you're part of that family, now. Karzac didn't expect this. Neither did Grace."
"I know. I'm just trying to come to grips with it. I'm going for a walk, now."
"Baby, no. Don't go off by yourself. Or let Drake and me go with you. We need to know how to fix what bothers you."
"There's no fixing some of what bothers me," I said and stood up. Drew didn't like it and his dark eyes were narrowed in concern, but I walked away from him anyway. The clashing of swords grew dim as I made my way toward the edge of the camp. There wasn't any place else to go so as soon as I was out of sight, I misted away, heading toward the river. It had a few days to wash itself clean since we'd been there so I took a dip and then let the last heat of the day dry me off. Reemagar was sitting on the riverbank when I was dressed again.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. I might have expected Connegar, but he wasn't the one to come. I didn't have a comb with me so I had to run fingers through my hair to get the tangles out before braiding it again.
"I came to see you. The others do not know you are gone since Dragon will bend time to get you back again right after you left. I know, as do the other Larentii.""That is an amazing gift, to be able to know things like that," I said, looking up at his solemn, sky-blue face. His eyes crinkled a little when he smiled at me and the blue of those eyes was incredible to see. He was one of the Larentii who had dark-blond hair—almost a brown. It looked good on him. His wrists hung over his knees as he sat beside me, so I lifted the hand nearest me and examined his palm.
Larentii have different lines running through their hands—swirls and circles that humans don't have. "It's almost like cloud patterns in a blue sky," I smiled up at him. It was the first time I'd felt like smiling in a while.
"Little Queen, you make me happy," Reemagar removed his hand from mine and placed it around my shoulders instead, hugging me against him. I remembered that I was supposed to ask Grace about his mother, but Grace was pregnant with Karzac's child. I wasn't sure how welcome I would be anywhere near Grace. Maybe I could get Pheligar or someone else to explain things to me.
We sat there on the riverbank for a long time—Reemagar and I, not saying a single thing. Eventually I laid my head against his chest, listening to his even breathing. It finally put me to sleep.
* * *
"She fell asleep, sitting next to me by the river," Reemagar handed Lissa over to Drake inside the tent. Reemagar had to make himself smaller; he wouldn't have fit inside the tent, otherwise. "I placed her in a healing sleep so I could transport her back to you."
"Thank you. We were getting worried and Dad was about to come looking for her," Drew stood next to his brother, gazing down at Lissa's face. She looked so peaceful in the healing sleep.
"She will wake after a short time—I do not wish to put her in danger by keeping her under too long." Reemagar said. "I must go." He nodded to Drake and Drew and folded away.
"At least she got a bath," Drew said. "She hates the dust."
"You know she would have qualified for a tattoo after taking out the archers," Drake murmured, rocking Lissa gently in his arms.
"Brother, she would qualify for fifty full sets after what she did on the High Demons' world," Drew replied. Drake nodded in agreement.
* * *
I hadn't been up early to become energy for a couple of days, so I went that morning. I stayed that way for a while, too, before bending time to get back when I should. I didn't go looking for Kifirin, although I thought about him during my trip.
"It's about time; we were about to go to breakfast without you. The Warlord wants to move out quickly after we eat," Drake said. I was standing between Drake and Drew in line to get our food when Tava's former commander brushed past us. He could do that to us but he knew better than to try it with Dragon, Crane or one of the others. Caylon gave him a black look as he settled in front of Tava. She, Hart and Nima stood in front of Drake, Drew and me. The interloper had a full set of tattoos—badgers decorated his chest, back and arms. I wasn't impressed. Maybe he didn't know it, but badgers belonged to the weasel family.
Devin didn't like the fact that he'd cut in line, either, but she didn't say anything. If we'd been anywhere else, I might have taught him some manners.
Dragon kept the seat across from him empty and pointed me there when I got my breakfast. That meant I was sitting between Caylon and Pheran. Now what had I done?
"Lissa, I don't want you going off by yourself again like you did last night," Dragon pointed his chopsticks at me. "I am thankful one of the Larentii came—I was just about to come looking for you myself."
I didn't say anything; I just stared at my plate. When he was on Falchan, he was the Warlord. It didn't matter that another Warlord was supposedly in charge. Again, I wondered why they'd brought me. I wanted to tell him to banish me from the planet—I'd be happy to go home. Roff was there. And little Toff. Instead, here I was, head bowed before the Warlord, taking the drubbing. I wasn't hungry when he was done with me, either.
"Lissa, you're just pushing your food around," Crane said. I dropped my chopsticks. I wanted to cry only this wasn't the place to do it. Falchani warriors were everywhere, talking, laughing, eating. The sound was almost overwhelming. The scent, too, was overpowering. Too many bodies pressing close.
"Lissa, don't you dare pass out," Caylon was holding me up. I blinked at him stupidly. Drake and Drew were about to have a fit and Dragon had already issued the command for them to sit back down. They sat but they didn't like it.
"Lissa, drink this," Pheran had his cup of tea at my lips. I drank. I felt dizzy.
What's wrong with my baby? Drew's voice, so soft, inside my head.
"I feel dizzy," I said.
"Because you're not eating," Dragon's voice rumbled. When did you have blood, last?