"Reah, he's one of your last ties to the High Demon race. Are you attempting to isolate yourself?"
"Kevis," I attempted to stand up, discovering that my feet wouldn't touch the bottom of the pool. He was holding me up. My choice was either grip his arms or swim away, and he had a firm grip on my waist. I looked at him, frowning deeply. "As Garde so eloquently put it, I'm only a quarter-blood. I don't belong to that race, in his eyes. They've made that clear. They took what they wanted and cut me loose. And then Tory can't help but mention his bitch ex-wife while we're in bed together. Maybe he didn't see what I saw on Cloudsong or Stellar Winds, but she was in just as deep as her daddy and any of the others. She didn't care that those girls were raped or sold. She didn't care that both Alliances were about to be enslaved. She didn't care that she'd controlled her husband all those years. She wanted to play with people. That's what they were to her—playthings that she could toss aside when she tired of them. I don't care if Tory did mean what he said as a compliment. I don't want to hear her name or her daddy's name or Nedrizif's name or any of the rest of them." I skipped to the side of the pool, lifted a towel and wrapped myself in it before stalking angrily away.
* * *
"You asked. Is that what you wanted to hear?" Kevis turned to a corner of the pool, where Nefrigar and Tory appeared. Nefrigar had shielded Tory from sight while he listened to Kevis' questions and Reah's answers.
"I'm never going to get her back," Tory sighed and skipped away.
* * *
"Son, what are you doing?" Garde walked into the palace kitchen in Veshtul. Tory had one empty bottle and another half-empty bottle of bourbon sitting in front of him.
"Drinking."
"What happened?"
"I never made promises to Reah, but I did to Darletta. When we got married, I said those vows, whether I meant them or not. Reah won't ever forget that. Then I made the mistake of mentioning Darletta's name when we were in bed together not long ago. It was a stupid mistake. I'll never get her back. She's walking away from the High Demon race as a whole. I heard what Kifirin said a few days ago on Cloudsong. He said he made a promise to Jayd that Kifirin would thrive and the race would recover. He used Reah to make good on that promise. He released the mute in her mates, but he didn't release it in our daughters. They think of Jayd and Glinda as their parents, just as Reah says. Kifirin did that to her. And he said he'd have made her pregnant again if she hadn't almost died when Dara and Sara were born. He said that it was a sign that his parent was angry with him over what he did."
"There's a mute in place with those girls?"
"I don't think Kifirin will ever release it," Tory swallowed more bourbon. "They'll never go to their mother. Never recognize what she did for them. And I fucked them around too, didn't I, Dad? I guess the good news in all this is that all my daughters' children will be female. Kifirin said that. Go get Uncle Jayd and do a little dance on top of the palace. Reah won't come back, but you don't give a shit, do you?" Tory lifted the bottle of bourbon and skipped away.
* * *
Reah, wake up my darling, my love.
"Reah? What's wrong, sweetheart?" I'd jerked awake when I thought I heard Edward's voice. It turned out to be nothing and Teeg was trying to soothe me as I breathed ragged, uneven breaths. "It's all right," he pulled me against him. "We'll get up in a moment." We'd made love the night before—for the first time since he'd gotten me pregnant. He'd followed me to bed after the dinner at Desh's in Targis. Fes had sat with Farla, his mother, and they'd shared a very good meal with us. Now, Teeg was placing my arms around his neck and pulling me against him.
"Reah, I've loved you since I was twelve," he murmured.
"That makes me sound like a cradle robber."
"I'm older than you, now," the corner of his mouth twitched into half a smile. "If you count the number of years I've lived, I'm nearly a hundred. Almost twice as old as you." He tapped my nose gently with a finger.
"And you're so mature," I grumped.
"I can be. I usually don't laugh behind the Council's backs or throw spitballs at the ones I don't like."
"An admirable trait in the Founder of the Campiaan Alliance."
"It's part of my job description."
"That you wrote."
"I did, didn't I?" He kissed me, his mouth warm and comforting. "Come on, let's get a shower and get dressed. We have an errand to run this morning."
"What errand?"
"I'll tell you after breakfast. Come on, sweetheart. We have to get up."I groaned as I slid off the bed. Teeg steadied me and kept an arm around my shoulders as I walked toward the bathroom.
"This looks good." Teeg picked my outfit. A deep-green top, gathered a little to cover Garwin Wyatt with a sprinkling of tiny beads across the yoke, coupled with off-white slacks and light-brown, low-heeled shoes. The outfit had been expensive and he'd paid for it. "Just a little jewelry," he helped put the emerald earrings in my ears. My hair was partially clipped back, with most of it hanging loose. "Now, breakfast," he said. He'd dressed in a very expensive suit and looked to be the founding member of the Campiaan Alliance. I found all my other mates, including Edward, Astralan and Corolan in the dining room, having breakfast when Teeg and I walked in. Kevis was there as well. I was still a little miffed at him, I think.
"Where are we going?" I asked again after I'd brushed my teeth following breakfast.
"To Refizan," Teeg said. It looked as if everybody else was going, too. When we arrived, I knew exactly what was happening and I tried to back out of the hearing chamber. Ceerah Kade sat at a table, cuffs on her wrists and her legal counsel sitting next to her.
"Reah, stay with us," Lendill said behind me. "You and Kevis may have to testify."
"I don't want to," I whispered. Nobody was listening. I was led to a witness box off to the side and sat there with Kevis, Norian and Lendill. The rest of my entourage sat in the seats reserved for the public. They took up nearly half the space. Many other spectators had come to this trial, too. I blew out a breath.
The Citizen's Panel filed in and sat down first, and then the magistrate walked in with his clerk. Everyone in the room stood for that. The trial would be held on Refizan, since that was the location of Ceerah's last crime, but the magistrate was likely a High Magistrate from another world, and he would decide on all pending charges, since Alliance laws concerning drug trafficking were universal.
The clerk went through all the charges against Ceerah, including the aliases she used. "Now, Ms. Kade, how do you answer these charges," the magistrate asked.
"I am not guilty," she said. "I was insane at the time and not in proper control of my faculties."
"But you are not insane now?"
"Yes. I am still insane."
"Has a mental evaluation been performed?" the magistrate asked. A clerk brought a comp-vid forward and offered it to him. The magistrate scrolled through the information for a short time.
"It says here that you are competent, Ms. Kade. Now, are you still insane? Remember, the truthfulness of your statements here will be considered when you answer questions later. Bear in mind that you took—and passed—a mental evaluation when you began working for Doctor Halivar. He would not have hired you otherwise, and those records have been provided to this court." He held up the comp-vid.
Ceerah conferred with her counsel for a moment and then said, "I was only insane after I began working at the clinic."
"And those are the least of the charges I see against you," the magistrate observed. "Very well, we will proceed with this hearing."
Ceerah's defense was very weak. All she could do was deny that the fingerprints were hers and insist that the vid-images had been altered—most on unalterable chips recorded by the constabulary or certified businesses. She'd once sold drakus seed to an undercover constable, who identified her from photographs. She'd managed to escape, however, when he attempted to arrest her.
After lunch, several people were brought in, all of whom testified that they'd purchased various prescription medications from Ceerah while she'd worked for Kevis. Many patients in the facility had gotten placebos or sugar pills instead of the proper medication as a result. Kevis was seething beside me at the magnitude of her duplicity. A midafternoon break was allowed, then the magistrate went after it again. I was hoping I could stay awake. Hearings often went far into the night, with a short sleep break before continuing the next day. Some could go on for weeks. I was hoping that wasn't going to happen with Ceerah. I just wanted her to go away. For a very long time.
"How are you feeling?" Kevis asked as we walked out of the Courts and Hearings building into a muggy, Refizani night. We were in the capital city of Ordinandis, which was near a river and the ocean.
"Tired," I said.
"I know," Aurelius said sympathetically, taking my hand and kissing it. "We have a suite of rooms nearby. Edward and some of the others have to go back, but Lok, Lendill, Kevis and I will be here with you throughout."
"Let's get something to eat," Kevis suggested. "I know a good restaurant not far away." We were led to a circular booth in a quiet area, comp-menus were handed out and I looked it over.
"What are you having?" Kevis leaned over to look at my menu.
"I don't know. Steak or prime rib sounds good, but I don't know how they cook it here."
"Go ahead and get it, we'll send it back if it isn't good."
"We shouldn't have to send anything back," I pointed out.
"Come on, you're tired. We'll get food and then put you to bed."
The prime rib was decent. I ate half of it; Lok helped himself to what was left. Bed was next, and Aurelius slept with me. "Reah," he said, pulling me close, "we'll take some time, very soon. Just us, all right? We'll find a place where we won't be bothered and we'll do whatever we want."