"Here's Reah, now." Teeg held out a hand as Ry handed me over. I felt like a bit of superfluous fluff, batted from one person to the next, having no real purpose in the posturing and presentation.
"Reah, this is President Drix of Avendor. Where the gishi fruit is grown." Teeg placed emphasis on gishi fruit, as if I didn't know where it was grown originally.
"I love gishi fruit," I enthused, taking President Drix's hand. It was the expected thing to do. Right then, I envied Dee because he set these things up and then refused to attend them.
I wore a black beaded gown that was nearly backless, boasting only a few narrow straps to hold the thing on; my hair was piled on my head and fastened with jeweled combs and my nails would make any wealthy woman proud. Yes, I looked like the wife of the Founder of the Campiaan Alliance, but I wished they could see me most days, wearing stained or torn trousers, flat-soled shoes and old shirts I scrounged from here and there. Why dress up when there wasn't money to buy fine clothes or shoes? Those poor souls that Garde insisted on sending to me were paid a little by the Crown, but where would the money come from if they needed clothing or supplies that couldn't be had on Kifirin? I subsidized those needs from my own pocket. Who cared what I looked like while I worked the groves? It was better knowing that the sick ones had necessities.
"I'll send you a crate of fruit," President Drix smiled.
"You're so kind," I thanked him. The rest of the night went exactly the same; meeting with this one and that while muttering inane conversation as I stood at Teeg's side. He didn't need a wife; he needed a robot that could spew the required phrases and smile tirelessly while they did it. My mind was on my middle daughters and their claiming the following week, in addition to the two trucks currently in the shop for repairs. I hoped the vehicles would be ready to haul crates of harvested fruit to the barns and that the shipping freighters would escape the pirates.
On top of that, the new one with the back injury would be coming to the groves. I had no idea where to put him. The infirmary and apartments were full and I hated to contact Adam, an Enforcer for the Saa Thalarr. He'd put up the buildings in the first place, with help from Martin Walters and a few of the others.
"Reah, it is a pleasure to meet you." The King of Gorshil was holding out his hand.
"How lovely to meet you," I dipped my head to him. Kings got a dip of the head. The gesture was respectful and often required. Then came the one I was dreading.
"King Wylend." Teeg greeted his great-grandfather. Ry had disappeared when Teeg forged his way toward Wylend.
"Teeg. Reah. So nice to see you both." Wylend nodded to both of us. Every time I saw Wylend, I wanted to weep and pound his chest. He was at the root of so much pain.
"Wylend," I dipped my head.
"Reah, have you spoken to Lissa?" Erland asked.
"Not personally, but I have heard the news." I wasn't about to drag it out here. It would only make me angry.
"I don't suppose dion't su a meeting might be arranged so Lissa and I can speak with you," Erland went on.
"I'm afraid I have no time for the next eight-day," I said. "You might contact me after that."
"Reah, don't be rude," Teeg admonished. "You may have some time with Reah tonight," he told Erland. "Reah will be here until morning."
I felt like kicking Teeg for doing this to me. What were they going to do? Try to talk me into seeing Tory? I had no desire to see him. Was he asking about his daughters, now? It was a little late for that, I think.
"We'll meet in your kitchen, perhaps?" Erland sounded hopeful.
"Contact Astralan. He'll get you in," Teeg agreed. "We'll be along as quickly as we can."
"The least you could do is ask me first," I jerked my arm away from Teeg's hand later as he walked me through the tunnel connecting the San Gerxon Casino to his palace. Teeg had the tunnel built ten turns earlier. The underground passage was a safer way to get back and forth when he had to go.
"Reah, you need to hear what they have to say," Teeg growled.
"Maybe so. But do I get to make up my own mind once in a while?"
"Reah, don't."
"I could say the same to you, Teeg."
"It's half an hour of your time."
"Fine. I'm not spending the night. I have too much to do."
"You will spend the night."
"Teeg, you have guests. In your kitchen." Dee broke up the fight by appearing out of nowhere in the dimly lit tunnel.
"Thanks, Dee. I just have to convince my wife to come along."
"I see," Dee said dryly.
It wasn't just Erland and Lissa. Erland, Lissa, Garde and Wylend had come. I almost skipped away immediately. Teeg gripped my arm and growled. He knew what I was thinking.
"Sit," Teeg said. I sat. And glowered, my arms folded tightly across my chest.
"Reah, Tory is divorced from Darletta and is now home on Le-Ath Veronis," Lissa began.
"Ry told me," I muttered, refusing to look at any of them.
"Did he tell you that Tory isn't well?"
"He mentioned it."
"Torevik can't seem to remember much of the past twenty-five years," Garde said.
"That's convenient, isn't it?" I raised my head and looked Garde in the eye.
"Reah, we don't know what's causing this. He vaguely remembers Raedah and Tara, but he doesn't recall the others," Lissa said. Well, she could smell a lie. Maybe she was listening to Tory objectively. How would I know? It still made no difference to me. Tory had gone off and married Darletta because he was in a snit. Wylend had given him a half-truth, and Tory had retaliated.
"Look. It doesn't matter to me that he can't remember. It won't change things between us. I'm sorry if he's ill. If my daughters want to see him, that's their choice. They're all old enough to decide these things foembse thinr themselves."
"He asked about you." Garde was blowing smoke.
"Gardevik Rath, I can blow smoke, too. Tory married Darletta. He never offered to marry me. Kifirin gave me four additional children with Tory and that was definitely not in my plans. Or Tory's. He's not obligated to them in any way."
"Reah, we know you got hurt." Erland was talking again. Hurt? That word didn't begin to describe what I was. Where was he when I was in labor, birthing three sets of twins? Of all my mates, only Nefrigar had been there all three times. I was particularly thankful he was there the last time. I'd bled. A lot. Nefrigar and Renegar managed to get it stopped. I was also thankful I hadn't gotten pregnant since then.
"I wrote to him. At the birth of all his children. Sent him vids and photographs. What happened to those? Has Karzac examined him? What does he say?" I stared across the wide kitchen island at Erland, Lissa, and Garde. I deliberately didn't include Wylend in my gaze.
"Karzac says there are unexplained gaps in Tory's memory," Lissa sighed.
"I don't believe this." I wiped my face with a shaking hand.
"He remembers what Wylend told him, and then getting back at you through Darletta afterward. But things are hazy after that," Garde said.
"He thinks all that was last week and not twenty-five years ago?" My voice was filled with sarcasm.
"He thinks only a couple of years have passed," Lissa nodded.
"Great. Perfect. Can Karzac or one of the Larentii fix it?"
"Connegar says it will be done gradually, so his Thifilathi doesn't go crazy. That's the other thing, Reah. He hasn't turned the whole time he's been married to Darletta. The Larentii told us that," Erland said.
"The full moon is two days away," Lissa said. "We wanted to warn you."
"Warn me about what?"
"That Tory's Thifilathi may come looking for you."
Chapter 2
"You think he'll come looking for me?" I wanted to laugh. At all of them. Tory wouldn't come looking for me. Hadn't even before he married Darletta.
"Reah, the Thifilathi may take over when he turns, and if that happens, we think instinct will kick in. He hasn't seen his mate in more than two decades. The Thifilathi will try to rectify that." Garde was speaking again. The expert on everything High Demon—that was Gardevik Rath.
"Then I'll make arrangements to be elsewhere. He won't find me, I guarantee it."
"Reah, what if that's the worst thing that can happen? What if his Thifilathi becomes destructive if he can't find his mate?"
"Oh, that's perfect. Is this some sort of conspiracy? I assure you I don't find it amusing." I didn't. Only once before had I been in the grip of Tory's Thifilathi, and that had been for the claiming. It wasn't a pleasant experience.
"Reah, he won't hurt you, he just has to have his hands on you. Make sure you're safe."
"I am safe. And safer still, if I'm nowhere nea tw!r him." I was ready to go. I had no desire to listen to any more of this.
"Reah, I know you're frightened. But it's only one night and it may help Tory in ways we can't imagine. I don't know what's at the bottom of this memory loss—Karzac says he's in perfect health otherwise," Lissa said.
"Sure. It's not you who Garde screwed over and then went off to marry somebody else, only to show up twenty-five years and six children later, with holes in his memory. Tell me you'd go willingly so he can snatch you up while in full Thifilathi, sniff you over, blow smoke and scare the crap out of you?" I was shaking, now.
"Reah, he won't harm you," Garde repeated.
"And what if he does? What then? Will you fight your son over what's left of me? Will you?"
"I've never known a male High Demon who harmed his mate," Garde blew more smoke.
"Have you heard of one having gaps in his memory?" I snapped.