Demon’s Dream (High Demon #6)(50)
Author: Connie Suttle

"Planted?" Teeg asked.

"Undoubtedly. I grow tired of these pranks by my neighbors," Edward sighed in frustration.

"Buy them out," Lendill suggested.

"Do you think there are more of these out there?" Tory asked.

"Possibly. I’ve lost nearly fifty trees in the past six days."

"Then I’ll go out. They won’t stay anywhere near a High Demon. Reah would do it for you, if she were awake. Since she’s not," Tory finished his drink and made ready to hunt predagators.

"Which one of you did this?" Teeg grinned at Farzi and Nenzi after examining the dead predagator.

"I do this," Nenzi was quite proud.

"Nenzi, you are definitely the man," Teeg slapped him on the back. "Come on, let’s all go looking for predagators."

No less than sixty were rounded up and set on the neighboring gishi fruit groves. Terrified of Tory’s Thifilathi, they couldn’t get away fast enough.

"You think that might drive down the price?" Teeg laughed as they watched the reptiles rush away.

"Can’t hurt to check," Edward nodded.

* * *

"Lord Kifirin?" Farzi stared at Kifirin, who stood inside the bedroom he and Nenzi shared at Edward’s manor. Nenzi, who gaped at the god, wondered why Kifirin had come to them.

"I wish to give you—and Reah—a gift," Kifirin said. "It will not hurt in the least. I know it was painful when you experienced it in the beginning. This will be a return of what is rightfully yours." Light formed around Kifirin.

* * *

"Ry, you get more handsome every time I see you," I pulled his head down to kiss him. He’d wakened me with a smile.

"Just what I wanted to hear from my future Queen," he said and kissed me again. We were late getting to breakfast. I was weeping in no time when a very young-looking Flyer was sitting at the table, having his first meal as an immortal. He was up from the table immediately, hugging me.

"How is my daughter?" He held my face in his hands and kissed my forehead.

"I am better, seeing you," I wiped tears away. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you. My customers missed your cooking," he grinned. "It took years to bring them around again."

"That’s not true," I said, hugging him. "Come on, finish your breakfast."

* * *

"You told me those things would stay in EastStar’s groves," Crorver Ride cursed at Erbrin Dondl. Their groves bordered EastStar’s on the western side only. Mountains bordered EastStar on the eastern side and SouthStar bordered all of them to the south and west, stretching toward the jungles protected by law. Those jungles consisted of rainforests that helped sustain Avendor. Crorver and Dondl’s groves were surrounded by SouthStar and EastStar, and they didn’t like it. They had no trouble expressing their displeasure with the owner of EastStar in ever-creative ways, but they were terrified of SouthStar’s owner and his grove manager.

"They usually don’t travel far if they find a food source," Erbrin whined about the reptiles they’d loosed on EastStar. The predagators had found their way back to their groves, somehow. "It’s egg laying season, too," he went on. "I found a wallow and an egg cache right next to a broken sprinkler line this morning. We’ll have to hunt the creatures down."

"Those things are difficult to find and harder than that to kill," Crorver snapped. "This was your idea. I suggest you get your employees to my property and hunt them now."

"My staff is committed to protecting my own trees," Erbrin argued. "Hunt them yourself." Crorver cursed louder.

"A letter—for each of you," Crorver’s assistant appeared with two expensive paper messages.

"What’s this?" Crorver opened his first. "He wants to buy me out?" Crorver cursed again.

"And me as well," Erbrin sighed. "You know, I’m almost willing to hear what he’s offering."

"Shall we go together, and then throw his offer back in his face?" Crorver grinned.

"Yes. That sounds like the perfect way to spend an afternoon; ridiculing your neighbor and rival."

* * *

"Want to invest in gishi fruit, my love?" Merrill smiled down at Kiarra. They’d spent most of the morning in bed. "I hear Edward Pendley is looking to buy out his two neighbors. According to Avendoran law, he can’t hold the title to all three groves in his name only. I figure he’ll put Reah on, but if she marries him, that’s just shy of breaking the law."

"You think Adam would like to invest in that?"

"He says yes," Merrill pulled the sheet down, uncovering a breast. He didn’t talk for a few minutes. "I can’t tell you how long I dreamed about this," he said.

"After four hundred years, you still dream about it?" Kiarra smiled at him.

"All the time. And we have Glendes Grey willing to invest, with Dragon, Crane and Lissa."

"You like making a deal almost as much as you like sex," Kiarra kissed him.

"Sex with you," Merrill grinned.

* * *

"Wow," I said, repeating one of Teeg’s favorite phrases. Edward’s patio was crowded with people, and his staff was moving among them, serving drinks and finger food. Even Farzi and Nenzi were there, with Teeg and Ry. Dragon and Crane had come, with Kiarra, Merrill and Adam. Glendes Grey of Grey House was also present, along with Lissa and her Grey House mate, Shadow Grey. I seldom saw him, so that was a surprise. Crorver Ride and Erbrin Dondl walked in with Edward. I think the crowd shocked them as well.

"We want to make an offer on your groves," Merrill was brokering this deal, looked like, with Adam Chessman right behind him.

"You don’t have enough money," Erbrin snapped.

"Hear us out, first, and then decide whether we have enough," Merrill smiled. "Now, I know your family is fighting among themselves already, positioning for a better portion of what you’ll leave behind when you die," he said to Crorver, who was aging. "While you have everything sorted out in a will, I can guarantee that your heirs will fight over the money anyway and ignore the groves, letting them go to waste while they destroy one another. Is that what you’ve built these groves up for? To let them die while your heirs fight over the proceeds? Be honest, do they care about the trees?"

I watched Merrill, blinking in amazement. This man was a shark when it came to business. He turned to Erbrin Dondl next. "Your trees need better care than they’re getting. You can’t seem to hire the employees you need at the price you want to pay. They let the sprinklers go untouched for days, while some trees drown in leaking lines and the rest dry up. Your shipments have dwindled for three turns running; I checked those figures myself. Perhaps if you’d turn your attention to working your fields instead of destroying your neighbor’s trees with imported reptiles, your profits would rise again."