"I have an eighty-seven percent accuracy rating."
"Damn, you are in the wrong business." My words made him laugh out loud.
"Tell me about the ASD," he said when the chuckling stopped.
"What about it?"
"What did you think of working for them?"
"Lendill and Norian?"
"Just in general."
"Did you know that insects and small animals are afraid of High Demons?" I asked, avoiding his question. "I once captured a criminal as he was running through a sewer, trying to get away. The rats were running ahead of me because they were afraid, and they ended up tripping the guy. He was screaming while a thousand rats ran across his back."
"Does it bother you that rats and insects are afraid of you?"
"No. Too bad a few humanoids don't react the same way."
"I hear you were shot a few times while working for the ASD."
"Yeah. And blown up once. Teeg was trying to kill Zellar. I was collateral damage on that one."
"You two have some history."
"You have no idea. Feel free to ask him about that," I said.
"And this is his." Kevis reached out to stroke my belly. Lying down like that, it was almost flat, still. "I hear you won't call him by his given name."
"That person is gone. Teeg is all that's left."
"What happened to the Reah that knew Gavril?"
"Gone, too, I suppose. That Reah trusted him. Trusted other people, too. All that's in the past."
"Pull your feet out of the water, Reah. They've cooked long enough," Kevis said. I lifted my feet out obediently, the flagstones feeling cold beneath them as I settled them there.
"Now, would you like to lie down on a bed or do you want to continue lying on hard stone?" Kevis turned his eyes to mine. He was lying quite close; I'd just ignored him while I examined the sky. I saw that his lashes were long and dark—something that most women would love to have.
"I'm going to ask Farzi if he'll buy a hammock," I said, sitting up. "It's warmer out here."
"Do you feel cold?"
"Yes. A little. It's warmer on Kifirin's Southern Continent. I suppose I'm used to that." I turned back to examining the sky.
"Come along. You're tired and you know it. Let's get you in the bath and then bed. You can sleep after we bring you something to eat." He rose, dusted off his designer slacks and then pulled me up. The doctor had his priorities, after all.
"You want to ask us questions?" Jayd stared at Kevis, who sat inside the King's private study, comp-vid in hand.
"I do. I want to get your perspective on all this, regarding Reah." Kevis had a determined look on his face. At that moment, he looked very much like his father.
"What do you want to know?" Glinda, sitting in a chair near Jayd, asked. Raedah, Tara, Lara and Kara sat on a sofa off to the side. Lara's High Demon husband had grumbled when she'd been asked to come to the palace and speak with the doctor.
"I'd like to direct these first questions to Reah's daughters," Kevis said. He had their immediate attention. "Can any one of you tell me what your mother's favorite food is, or what kind of jewelry she likes?"
All four of them looked at one another. Kevis waited patiently. Glinda frowned, Jayd stared at his hands.
"Perhaps you can tell me what your Aunt Glinda likes to eat, or what kind of jewelry she prefers." The answers were swift in coming.
"Aunt Glinda likes noodles in a sauce that Mom makes, and her jewelry has to be small and tasteful," they all agreed with Raedah's statement. "We just flunked a test, didn't we?" Raedah asked.
"Why wasn't I asked to this meeting?" Garde appeared, angrily blowing smoke.
"I wanted to question you separately, but since you are here now, invited or not," Kevis nodded in Garde's direction.
"He's asking us how well we know Mom," Raedah sighed. "We're not doing that well on the answers."
"What did he ask?" Garde crossed arms over his chest defensively.
"What Mom's favorite foods are, or what kind of jewelry she likes. We didn't know," Tara said. "But we know what Aunt Glinda likes."
"And what Uncle Jayd likes, and what you like, Grampa," Raedah said.
"Now, look at these photographs. Which chin is your mother's," Kevis handed three photographs to Reah's daughters first. There followed a heated discussion over this photograph or that. The results were inconclusive; there was no clear consensus on what Reah's chin looked like. One chin in the photographs had been round, another pointed, a third more square-like.
"Let me see that," Jayd rose to take the photographs. He and Glinda pored over them for a while. "I think either the square or the rounded one," Jayd flipped through the photographs several times.
"But you don't know." Kevis pointed out.
"No," Jayd sighed, tossing the photographs onto his desk. "I don't."
"Was it our fault, or did Kifirin do this?" Lara asked.
"I think it may be a combination of the two."
"And it's too late, isn't it? We should have gone when our father asked us after Mom was hurt. But we didn't." Raedah sounded ashamed.
"I don't know what to say about that," Kevis replied. "Either you care for her or you don't. If you don't, then I ask that you don't hurt her further."
"I don't know if it's possible to take back twenty-five years of neglect," Glinda sighed. "And any move we make might be perceived with suspicion."
"Yes. She is very distrustful."
"She doesn't need any of us." Kevis jerked his head in Gardevik's direction.
"Why do you say that?" Kevis turned green-gold eyes on the eldest of the House of Rath.
"Because it's true. She has skills that will support her anywhere. She doesn't have to rely on us for anything."
"Does that bother you?"
"It does." Garde tossed up a hand in frustration, turning his back on everyone in the room to stare through Jayd's huge window—the one overlooking the city of Veshtul.
"I think she needed love. From all of you. Did you fail her?" Kevis stood and pocketed his comp-vid. "By the way, that delicately pointed chin is hers. You'd have known it if you recognized the beautiful, alabaster skin." Kevis folded away from Kifirin.
"I don't think I've ever seen a photograph of Mom," Kara pulled the pictures to her to take another look.
"Child, I'm afraid I have bad news," Kaldill Schaff glanced worriedly at his youngest son. Lendill, after folding to Gaelar N'Seith, had sat down for a quiet meal with his father, the King of the Elves. Lendill held the title of Prince-Heir now, and had a standing invitation for dinner with his father whenever he wasn't busy with ASD business.
"What's the bad news, Dad?" Lendill seldom used any affectionate term for Kaldill Schaff.
"I'm afraid," Kaldill's green eyes were troubled as he pushed shoulder-length golden hair behind a pointed ear, "that your two oldest brothers are out to cause harm."
"What? I thought they were held inside Gaelar N'Seith."
"I removed Naldill's power so he couldn't go anywhere, but as usual, Reldill, ever willing to come at Naldill's command, has taken his brother out of the confines of the Elven lands. They took the shot at Reah, child. If Reldill had relied on power instead of his skill with the weapon, she might have taken a mortal blow from that stupid thing. It was something from Naldill's collection of archaic weaponry. Now that they know the Larentii has placed a shield around that farm on Campiaa, they have taken themselves off to cause other kinds of harm. They think to get back at us and Reah in this way."
"They blame Reah?" Lendill's dark eyes held worry, which in turn worried his father.
"They do. I should never have mentioned her when I named you Prince-Heir," Kaldill admitted sadly. "She is responsible for removing the spell that Naldill placed upon you. I should have done it myself, but when Reah came along, I knew she would accomplish the same without interference from me. So I allowed it. Now, she is a target. Their target. As are you and anyone else who might get in their way. They know they will never have the Kingship; I have locked them out of it. But they think to have their revenge this way. They never learned this lesson, Lendill. The one where they realize that petty revenge serves no useful purpose. Things come to us that will."
"Father, that petty revenge could have killed Reah. What should we do? Shall I go after them? Haul them back here and lock them away?"
"You are Prince-Heir, Lendill. What would you do if they weren't your brothers?"
"Go after them and press charges. Likely remove Reldill's power so he can't do harm in the future. Send them to Evensun, perhaps."
"Then you must do what you must, according to Alliance law. Perhaps it is time that our people realize that they are citizens of the Alliance, just as all the other inhabitants are. We were here first, before Ildevar Wyyld ever thought to set foot on the planet and create the Alliance with twenty others of his kind. And since we allowed him to settle here and then watched while he and the others built the Alliance from nothing, we have an obligation now to join with it and uphold its laws. They are generally just, those laws. And I am proud that my son has helped keep those laws in place and weeded out corruption over the years. I am most proud of you, child."
"I didn't think you felt that way for the longest time, Father. I thought you only tolerated me because you loved my mother."
"I did love your mother. Still do, although she is gone from me. But she left you with me, son. The one who always looked for justice. The one who sought the truth, always. Naldill always looked to his comforts, depending upon Reldill to act as his army at times; punishing those he thought offended him. If he had changed his ways at any time, or looked upon the people here as his kin and not his subjects, I might have considered him as my replacement. I waited a very long time for that to happen. I tired of it, as you know. I picked the best of my four sons to take my place. Never doubt my love for you, child. I know I put you through the fire and I apologize for that."
