Demon’s Quest (High Demon #4)(61)
Author: Connie Suttle

Zellar was worried, too, that the four remaining Ra’Ak were planning something. He wouldn’t be included in those plans, that was a given. Zellar walked toward the cages that held six teens, the oldest of which was seventeen. That would be his next body. Zellar pulled the chalk from a pocket and knelt to begin drawing runes.

The moment I’d stood after healing the core, the dry heaves began. Nefrigar placed one hand on my forehead and the other on my belly. I felt blessed relief quickly. Someone lifted me, I can’t say whom, and transported me to Tulgalan. Radolf was there, waiting with food.

"Here, now, you’ve had a long day, we’ll do a light soup first," Radolf slid a bowl in front of me while Teeg propped me up. Nefrigar and the two he’d brought with him made themselves smaller so they could sit at the island with me.

"I want to sleep after," I mumbled, lifting the spoon.

"We’ll make sure you sleep," Teeg murmured against my ear. Radolf fed me as much as he could, but that wasn’t much. Teeg rubbed my belly carefully while I ate, sending me mindspeech. Telling me he’d make sure the twins wouldn’t lack for fathers. I brushed away tears when he said that.

"Our Reah upset," Farzi and Nenzi came, ferried by Stellan. I wrapped my arms around Farzi while Nenzi stroked my hair.

"Lion snake shapeshifters? Father, this is a very good day," Valegar said, smiling widely.

"We take Reah to bed," Nenzi announced. Lok, Lendill, Gavril and the Larentii followed while Farzi carried me to my suite.

"Here is the information—her father is Dantel Schuul, a minor politician on Quezlos," Norian handed the comp-vid to Lissa. "And he’s ambitious, he just doesn’t have the clout or charisma to rise above his current position. He must think he’s hit the jackpot, marrying off his daughter to your son." Garde stood behind Lissa, blowing smoke. "He’s gotten his wealth from manufacturing chips that control assembly robots—every Alliance world does business with his firm. That doesn’t help him in his political aspirations—he needs extra support for that, since the population sees him as too wealthy. They don’t trust that, so he needs someone behind him who is already respected in the political realm. He looks to you to provide that, through your son."

If Tory had bothered to talk with either parent, they might have gotten to the root of this. As it was, he hadn’t and in an act of mindless pettiness, he’d married. If Tory filed for a writ of detachment, Darletta would own half his holdings, and he half of hers. But, as Norian had pointed out, Darletta, having reached her majority, had nothing unless it was through her father. Tory, on the other hand, had holdings granted on Le-Ath Veronis and Kifirin, in addition to his and his parents’ reputations. Darletta could damage all of it if she didn’t get her way.

"Even if she asks for the writ, it’s still split evenly down the middle, so this is a no-win scenario," Garde grumbled.

"Why doesn’t the Alliance have an annulment option?" Lissa sighed.

"It’s supposed to force them to think before they marry, but you see where we are," Norian said.

"It’s neither here nor there," Lendill folded in. "Reah says she’s done with Wylend and Tory. And she means it."

"I pray that Kifirin does not remove Torevik’s claiming marks," Garde said. "I also hope she doesn’t forget that I will be a grandfather to those children."

"I don’t think her argument is with you," Lendill nodded toward Garde.

"Great-Grandfather, I brought Reah to heal the core yesterday." Rylend spoke softly; his grandfather had a terrible hangover and neither Wyatt nor Amara would ever be available again to heal his aches and pains. Griffin had disappeared after Wylend passed out the night before.

"Can you find a healer on this gods-forsaken planet to heal a headache?" Wylend moaned.

"Here," Ry touched Wylend’s head with careful hands, removing the headache. "I can get tea or coffee if you want it."

"Of course I want it. Do I have anybody left in the palace willing to make it?"

"I just sent mindspeech; it’ll be here shortly," Ry said.

"Where’s your father?"

"In Didge, with Corolan and Garek, trying to convince sixteen warlocks and seven witches that it’s all right to come back."

"Is that all that’s left there?" Wylend wanted to moan again.

"Yes—the Ra’Ak and Zellar either killed or ate the others."

"Including Wyatt."

"Including Wyatt. I’ll miss him, Great-Grandfather. He was a good friend, as well as my uncle. Your tea’s here." Ry took the cup from the kitchen helper and passed it to his grandfather. "Dad should be back soon. Send mindspeech to him if you need anything else."

"Reah healed the core?"

"Yes. I watched, as did three Larentii. I think they would have said something if she didn’t get the job done right."

"That wasn’t what I meant."

"Then what did you mean, Great-Grandfather? I asked her to come and she came. She’s pregnant with Tory’s twins, and that might be wonderful, except Tory became angry for some reason and married the first woman who came along. He doesn’t care anything about Darletta, but he’s stuck with her now. Reah says she’s done with Tory. She’s walking away and Kifirin threatened to remove his claiming marks. Now, who would take an already tenuous situation and push it past the breaking point? Tory’s my brother, and Reah is my sister. She belonged to both my brothers, until a few days ago. I’m renouncing my Karathian citizenship, Great-Grandfather, in front of the ultimate witness." Rylend folded away.

"Erland, I’m not about to tell our son that he made the wrong decision." Lissa accepted a fruit drink from Ilvan, who loved working in the palace kitchen with Radolf.

"Wylend is about to have a breakdown," Erland snapped. "He loses Wyatt and then our son renounces his citizenship? What would you do?"

"I don’t know," Lissa shrugged. "Maybe think I f**ked up somewhere? At least I did talk our child out of jumping into a six-year, full-time sign-up with the ASD."

"He what?" Erland was about to get furious.

"I said I talked him out of it. I told him that wouldn’t be any different from Tory running out and marrying Darletta. He said that he saw my point and went off to visit Gavril on Campiaa. Erland, we have family dinners and gatherings to look forward to with Darletta. Are you happy about that?"

"Of course I’m not happy about that," Erland huffed angrily. "But Ry could have waited until Wylend was past the mourning period."