"Trade your onions for my carrots," Franklin grinned at me from his seat on Joey's other side.
"I love carrots," I said, passing my plate over. Franklin had the exchange done quickly.
"Call me Frank if you want," he passed my plate back with an extra serving of carrots instead of onions on the side.
"This is great," I smiled at the first bite. The meat was tender, the vegetables cooked just right and the gravy was wonderful. "Tell Mathilde this is amazing," I told the server, who was setting fragile gravy bowls on all four sides of the table. The server, a young man, smiled and nodded.
"See, we don't have to convince her to eat," Norton observed, cutting another bite of pot roast and stuffing it in his mouth.
* * *
"I get some time," Aurelius pulled me away from Joey, Frank and Norton right after dinner. Joey wore a disappointed look.
"I was going to show her the new video game I'm working on," he said.
"You can do that later. Reah and I are going to sit down somewhere," Aurelius said, pulling me away. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to go with Aurelius or with Joey right then, as I was worried over what Aurelius might have to say. I blinked up at him. His shoulders were just as wide as they'd always been, his golden hair falling to brush those shoulders. Brown eyes searched my face before tucking my hand in the crook of his arm and walking me toward the back of the house.
"Farzi had these brought for you," Aurelius said, settling me onto a covered swing. A comfortable-looking hammock swung in the breeze not far away.
"That was nice of him," I said, leaning back against the cushion of the swing. The fabric covering was soft and expensive, I could tell by the feel of it.
"Reah, do you remember when we first met?" Aurelius lifted one of my hands and kissed it. He held onto it, too, when he lowered it again. I stared at his fingers entwined with mine. Of course I remembered when we met. I thought he was someone else at the time. He was posing as Commander Aris on Mandil. He'd been sent there by the Saa Thalarr to eliminate invading Ra'Ak spawn.
"I remember," I sighed, looking away from him. The sun had just gone down over Campiaa, leaving streaks of red, gold and purple on the horizon. I knew that less than fifty clicks to the west of us, the sunset would be burning over the waters of Campiaa Bay.
"The way I felt then is the way I feel now. My love is right in front of me and I can barely touch her because something stands between us. Please don't let us go, Reah. I realize that you've been treated badly for a very long time, and I wish it weren't partly my fault at some level. I should have realized something was wrong and gone to Belen or one of the others about it. I just didn't."
"What would Belen have done?" I'd only heard the light god's name a time or two. They called him a Nameless One, because to name one of his kind was impossible. He seldom made appearances, I think.
"At least he wouldn't have ignored the problem, like the rest of us did."
"Aurelius, stop trying to blame yourself for something that is mostly Kifirin's responsibility. You don't see him here, attempting to apologize, do you?"
"This has robbed all of us." Aurelius leaned down, resting his cheek on my hair.
"When did you see the girls last?" I asked. They called him Daddy. At least they had. Now that Tory was back, I'm sure they were in complete confusion.
"I went to see them this afternoon. I received mindspeech from Raedah; she was a bit upset."
"About what?"
"That neither she nor her sisters could remember what your favorite foods were, or what jewelry you liked."
"It's a little late for that now, don't you think? They're all grown." The rest of my words were unspoken. Not one of them had bothered to visit after the Baetrah incident. That told me how important I was in their lives.
"Love, I know what you're not saying. They know it, too. We all do."
"And they haven't bothered to even send a message. I'm not their mother. Glinda is their mother." I dropped Auri's hand and stood. "They all got what they wanted, didn't they? More female High Demons, to perpetuate the race. My daughters have a King and Queen as parents; Kifirin arranged that. Where are Jase and Jehrie, Auri? Glinda's daughters? I seldom see them at the palace. Did they think their place was usurped as well?"
"Reah, they visited, you just weren't at the palace at the same time."
"Or at all, at least for the past two years. Since Dara and Sara went to study off-world. Tell Glinda that she can have the children herself, next time." My anger was back and I skipped away without thinking about it.* * *
There I stood, upon Thiskil. I was Queen of a nearly dead planet; Ildevar Wyyld had proclaimed it himself. The planet seemed the same as I—both of us struggling to come back from years of emptiness. As usual, it was mostly weeds and barren ground. Bones of trees and animals littered the forest where I stood. I skipped to the ocean, which still piled its waves on the shore but there were no tiny birds running in the surf, searching for sea creatures as a meal. No kelp or seaweed washed up along those shores, either. Everything had died, including most of the people. The Campiaan Alliance hadn't been conceived when the planet died at the hands and power of Zellar. I'd killed him too swiftly, I think.
"Cloudsong still looks much the same as this." Griffin stood beside me. I wondered how he'd known to find me. Generally, only the Larentii could locate me.
"I know what Cloudsong looks like." I'd been there not long ago, after all. I hadn't thought to go back to it, either. Not since I'd fought off pirates, slave traffickers and Dantel Schuul and company.
"Yes, I know you do." Griffin huffed out a sigh. His breath blew out in a cloud; it was quite cold where we stood, and the sighing of the ocean was the only sound around us. I hadn't realized how much I might miss other sounds until they were conspicuously absent.
"I saw Amara not long ago; she was visiting Lissa," I said.
"I know. I hear things, mostly after the fact. She's avoiding me. Has been for a long while."
"I'm very familiar with that particular experience," I agreed.
"You know Lendill is Prince-Heir of the Elves now?" I looked up at Griffin when he said those words; he was staring out at the ocean.
"I heard." I had. I'd dreamed it and knew it to be true. I also heard in my dream some of the things Kaldill had said to Lendill, just before he'd made his selection and passed over some of the power from the Elven lands. Kaldill said that Lendill had used those under him to achieve the necessary goals.
Oh, he'd put it in more flowery terms than that, but it came out the same in the end. I'd been one of those underlings that Lendill had used. As had Teeg and Norian. But the worst offender of all had been Kifirin, by his own admission. Griffin, too, had used his family without mercy. He'd ultimately paid the price, with the death of his son and the loss of his mate. I rubbed my belly absently and sent a silent I love you to Garwin Wyatt.
"Lissa says she found a great-uncle, on her mother's side," I said, when Griffin didn't say anything else.
"I know. I heard that, too. I'm not sure he understands all his connections to the Elemaiya as yet. It gets tricky determining more than half yet less than full. So many Elemaiya donated eggs or sperm to create half-Elemaiya children, which they intended to harvest later to serve as soldiers in their long war. Edward Pendley was one of the few to survive, though."
"He seems like a decent man."
"He is. Much more decent than most, as it turns out. Why are you here, little Demon?" Griffin asked.
"I had to get away," I said. "Now that everybody conveniently remembers that they love me, or so they say, they're all anxious to go right back to what they consider normal. I don't know what normal is or what I feel about them anymore."
"Understandable. Getting ignored for a quarter century and then suddenly they're back, acting as if nothing's happened." Griffin Pulled a jacket from nowhere and settled it over my shoulders. I murmured my thanks. The air was very cold around us and I was grateful for the warmth the jacket provided.
"How long do you plan to stay here, little Demon? Rain is coming, and you will become even more chilled than you are already." As if in answer to his prediction, a few drops hit me, pattering on the suede leather of the jacket. "It was Wyatt's. The jacket," Griffin said. "One of his favorites. Keep it."
I nodded, not answering. "I'll go back," I sighed, turning away from Thiskil's northern ocean and skipping away.
* * *
"Thank goodness." Joey, Franklin and Norton were waiting inside my bedroom. Joey was the one who spoke. "All your mates are tearing their hair out, I think."
Slipping the jacket off my shoulders and wandering into my closet to hang it up, I thought briefly about telling all my mates that I wanted a separation. From all of them. I couldn't decide if that would improve matters or not, so I left it alone.
"Come along, tiny butt. Let's go face the music," Franklin took my hand and led me from the bedroom.
"Reah!" Nenzi did look as if he had tugged at his hair. He, along with the others, had likely been planning a raid on every place I might possibly have gone. Lendill was there, armed to the teeth, Lok had come with both blades strapped to his back and Aurelius looked as if the claws and fangs might come out at any moment. Teeg had a Ranos pistol strapped to a thigh and my knife—my Grey House knife—clipped to his belt.
"That's mine," I went straight to him and jerked the knife from his belt.
"I'm not sure you should keep that within easy reach," Kevis said dryly.
"Really?" I pointed it at him. "I've been looking for this for years. Try taking it from me now."
"All right," Kevis backed up a few steps, his hands up in a form of surrender.