Demon’s King (High Demon #3)(19)
Author: Connie Suttle

"This is yaris fish with my own sauce recipe," I said. Lenden took a bite and then blinked at me in surprise.

"Excellent," he nodded, lowering his eyes. Marc had helped me make it; Jes had nearly worn me out with the morning’s workout.

"You will teach me this?" Jusef sounded hopeful.

"I’ll think about it—it’s a closely guarded secret," I smiled at the Amterean dwarf.

"When did you start cooking?" Jes was pushing my knees up to stretch the muscles in my legs.

"When I was eight. Edan shoved me into the kitchen to clean but I was watching one of my uncles make pastry. I learned pastry making from Ilvan. In between sweeping the floors and doing dishes after I got out of day class, that is. That’s when I still thought Edan was my brother." I grunted as Jes pushed my thigh muscles to the limit before letting the leg back down.

"Reah, you couldn’t have been bigger than a tick, how did he abuse that?"

"People often do things that others find impossible," I said. As an ASD operative, I’d seen my share of it. The worst had been a crime kingpin who’d forced his oldest daughter into an incestuous relationship and then had children with her. He was looking to have the same sort of relationship with his oldest granddaughter when we caught up with him. Tory had nearly ripped the man’s arm off when he’d tried to escape. Lendill and Norian hadn’t even turned a hair over that. The criminal had been sent to Evensun. He probably hadn’t survived that.

"What about you? I asked.

"I loved my parents," Jes told me. "And they loved me. I wasn’t married—went off-world to study medicine and decided to stay. By the time we really understood that my world was dying, it was quarantined. Nobody could get on or off. It died a quick death, Reah. If I could have paid the black-market traffickers, I might have been able to get my family away from there. I didn’t have the money. They’re all dead, thanks to Zellar."

"I imagine he has a lot to answer for, if people really do answer for those sorts of things," I said. I was thinking about Kifirin and wondering if he ever involved himself in anything like that.

"The gods are a myth," Jes grumbled.

"Well, hold onto that thought." I patted his arm while he pushed up my other knee.

Chapter 5

"I can’t believe he let me go without him," I said. Farzi, Nenzi and Lenden were with me as I walked down a pedestrian street filled with upscale shops. I had a credit chip bracelet too, and Teeg had told me to buy anything I wanted.

"He not wish to lose you," Farzi pointed out.

"I not wish that either," Nenzi grinned. I gave him a hug.

"I have no desire to lose sight of you either," Lenden offered. I looked up into his green eyes. They were nearly the same color as mine. Well, he was my bodyguard for the day—Teeg was paying him not to lose sight of me.

"Nenzi needs haircut," Nenzi stopped outside a hairdresser’s shop.

"Then we’ll get you a haircut," I pulled him inside. Farzi and Lenden were forced to follow. Just to make things look normal, I got my hair washed and my bangs trimmed.

"Where did these scars come from?" My hairdresser had found Tory’s claiming marks.

"That’s a long story," I said. I wasn’t about to tell her anything about them. She shrugged and kept washing my hair. Farzi and Lenden sat off to the side, watching while Nenzi and I were worked on at the same time. It wasn’t until we sat down at a sidewalk café later to have a cool drink that Lenden voiced his question.

"Who gave you those marks?" He whispered while Farzi and Nenzi went to the counter for refills.

"I won’t be giving that information," I said. I wasn’t sure Teeg even knew what they were and I certainly wasn’t going to give him more information to harm anyone else I knew. I hadn’t gotten any updated information on Gavril either, and didn’t know if I were brave enough to ask. Teeg hadn’t mistreated me and I hoped that went for Gavril too. I had no idea if Gavril might attempt to escape—he was perhaps the brightest person I’d ever met. I was praying that Teeg remembered he was only seventeen when it came to Chash’s treatment.

Lenden didn’t push it, but something bothered me about his question. I didn’t puzzle it out until later. Nenzi bought two chips containing repair manuals for vehicles. That was the day I learned that Nenzi oversaw Teeg’s fleet of vehicles. I was happy for him—it was something he always wanted. Farzi had taken over guest services at the casinos Teeg had inherited from Arvil. He made sure complaints were handled and the staff treated the guests well. He brought recommendations to Teeg if anyone needed to be fired for their actions.

The other reptanoids were employed here and there within Teeg’s empire. Darzi and Chazi ran the shuttle station. Perzi and Yanzi handled supply requisition. Bekzi and Hirzi supervised the farming now done on Campiaa—before, none had even considered running farms there. Plenty of good farmland lay to the east of Campiaa City. Teeg had brought in equipment and experienced help. Now the farms were thriving and the casinos got fresh fruit and vegetables. I was amazed at how industrious and progressive-minded Teeg had been.

"We still have to import oxberries." Farzi wasn’t thrilled about that.

"I have it on good authority that it takes a special kind of soil for those berries," I said. "Word has it that the imports everybody gets from Le-Ath Veronis are only possible because they bought truckloads of soil from the southern continent on Kifirin," I said. "Otherwise, Kifirin is the only world I know that has the right kind of ground to grow the berries."

"Have you been there? To Kifirin?" Lenden wanted to know.

"No," I answered truthfully. The ASD had always interfered with any plans I might make to go there. Tory intended to take me and show me the palace in Veshtul when my stint with the ASD was over. Gavril wanted to go with us, so we’d made tentative plans. Now, all that might just be something we dreamed about. I missed Tory with an ache in my heart. Aurelius, too. Lendill—we’d barely gotten to know each other outside being Vice-Director and employee. He wanted to take me to meet his father. Now, none of them knew if I were alive.

"Teeg moves us tomorrow," Farzi announced when we finished our drinks. "If Reah needs something to take, she should buy now."

I blinked stupidly at Farzi—when had this been decided? "Farzi, where are we going? What will the weather be like?"

"Hot, where we go. No sleeves best." Farzi wasn’t comfortable giving me orders and it affected his speech.