Felix had already made plans to get off world—Beliphar still had starships. Granted they were aging and hadn't been used in a very long while, but that shouldn't matter. They'd get where they were going, one way or another. Felix had lost touch with the contingent on Falchan and didn't know what that meant. It could be something as simple as a broken communicator, since Falchan didn't have that technology or the supplies or equipment to facilitate repairs. Felix would consider that problem later. For now, he had a planet to take.
* * *
"He left his ring." Shala held the gold ring in her hand. Gabron had removed everything when they'd gotten into the hot tub with him. "Look, it has the royal crest on it." Elthine pointed out the claw crown on the round signet ring.
"You know, I think I know what to do with this," Shala giggled.
* * *
"Roff, how did you do this?" I picked oxberries at lightning speed alongside Roff and twenty other comesuli on the High Demon planet. Giff had come, too, after leaving Toff with Grant. Grant loved to babysit and found a sling to carry Toff while he worked. He didn’t even mind feeding Toff. I'd ordered a new wardrobe for Grant, since his current one was stained with Toff's lunch selections.
The sun shone warm and bright over our heads as we picked berries. Garde had come when we'd gotten started, laughed at my straw hat and then went to do Prime Minister things for Jayd.
"It just takes determination and experience, Raona," Roff grinned at me and kept picking. We were piling baskets of oxberries off to the side and Franklin, Shane and Tomas were folding them to Roff's new winery on Le-Ath Veronis faster than we could pick them. The thorns weren't much of a treat, either, and my hands were already scratched up. I figured I wasn't feeling as much of the pain as the others had to be; I imagined Frank and the others would have patients lined up when we finished for the day.
Hands were stained with purple juice, too, and if we brushed our hair back or wiped sweat from our faces, well, those were getting covered as well. It made me wonder what would remove berry juice stains from skin. It was supposed to be off-day, but the fall crop on the Southern Continent wasn't waiting. We had to get these picked before the rainy season began on Kifirin's Southern Hemisphere. Roff explained that the conditions were right and oxberries were so hardy that they would yield twice in most years this far south. Therefore, we were picking as quickly as we could.
Just before sunset, we picked the last of the berries. I straightened up and stretched my back, listening to it pop. We were all exhausted and I was thankful Roff had a crew at the winery that would take care of things in his absence. Oxberry wine had become a big hit with the tourists and gamblers and we could sell a bottle for quite a bit, since it was an exclusive item.
"Ready to go home?" I glanced at Roff. If I looked like he did, we might scare people. We needed to head straight for the bath in my suite and not come out until we were scrubbed clean. Actually, the scrubbing might wait a while—I was so tired that a soak in the tub sounded good. I'd get to the scrubbing when I got a bit of energy back. Roff offered me a weary smile and nodded when I made the suggestion.
"Come on, then. Let's go." We folded home; I landed us into the kitchens for a quick glass of water before Roff and I took the back way toward my suite. We'd almost reached it, slipping into the main hallway to arrive at the double doors leading into the family wing when someone spoke. I didn't know the woman, but I recognized what she held in her hand.
"Gabron left it at the pleasure house two days ago," she held it out to me. The woman seemed nervous, but I was exhausted and attributed it to her being afraid to approach the Queen. If my skin itched, I was too tired to separate that from the scratches and scrapes I'd gotten while picking berries. And she was humanoid—the scent told me that.
"I'll take it," I said, moving forward and holding out my hand. This meant one thing—Gabron had removed everything he was wearing, including his ring. I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Truly, I just wanted to lie in a hot tub of water with Roff until we recharged a little.
I was almost in front of her and prepared to accept the ring, as weary, filthy and covered in dust and berry juice as I was, when two things happened. Roff realized before I did what the woman intended and he leapt in front of me, which meant the sharp stake went through his chest instead of mine.
I'm not sure what she expected to happen after she's done her misdeed, but she was thrown against the opposite wall so hard and fast I think I heard her skull crack. I was weeping and shouting mentally and vocally for help in the next second—Roff was dying in my arms.
"Don't leave me, Roff," I begged, but his eyes were already glazing over. Griffin appeared and knelt in the floor beside me.
"I have him in stasis, baby," he said as light formed around his fingers. Blood stopped pouring from the wound as Griffin placed his hands against Roff's chest. Many people appeared after that. The one who knelt beside Roff's body and did the only thing left for us to do was Flavio. He opened his wrist with a claw and held it over Roff's mouth.
"Drink, honey," I wept. Flavio repeated my words—he was commanding Roff to drink. Roff was swallowing blood while Griffin timed it. Four of the longest minutes of my life ticked by. Roff's breath and heart stopped the moment Griffin called time. Flavio pulled his wrist away.
"Please don't let him die." I sobbed. I'd forgotten the bitch that had done this to my Roff. Griffin reached in, then, and removed the crudely fashioned stake from Roff's chest. It left a gaping hole in Roff's body. If the turn was successful, the wound would heal. If not, it wouldn't matter anyway.
"Lissa, sweetheart, we've done what we can for him—we have to wait, now." Flavio lifted Roff and carried him into my bedroom.
"Is this the one who stabbed Roff?" Tony, Drake and Drew were standing over the woman.
I rose stiffly from the floor and turned to the three who'd shown up. "Yes. Is she dead?"
"She's still breathing, but I think her skull is fractured and her neck may be broken," Drew knelt beside her to check.
"What's this?" Gabron walked up. "What have you done to Shala?" he demanded. It was all I could do not to slam him into a wall, too.
"She had your ring," I wiped tears away. I looked awful, covered in dust and berry juice, but right then I didn't care. "She was holding the ring out to me, saying you'd left it behind earlier. When I went to take it, she tried to stab me with a stake. Roff stepped in front of me and she hit him instead. I'm sorry if I damaged your fucking employee when I threw her against the wall."
"Where is Roff?" Gabron's gaze now focused on me.
"Flavio is attempting the turn. If he doesn't live, well." I didn't finish my sentence. Karzac appeared and Merrill's son Jeff and Selkirk Grey were right behind him. They moved Gabron and me aside so they could examine Shala.
"Patch her up," I jerked my head in Shala's direction. "I want her nice and whole when we put her on trial."
* * *
"His body isn't deteriorating; that's a good sign." Merrill, Wlodek and Flavio were all watching with me through the night. Merrill said the first two nights were critical and if the turning wasn't going to take, we'd probably know in that amount of time. I was numb. Giff had been weeping uncontrollably. Grant was helping the comesula babysitters deal with Toff. Toff screamed for his father and there wasn't anything we could do for him. Karzac had to put Giff under eventually and the baby finally went to sleep. Gabron had melted from the palace like snow on a warm, spring day.
Garde had come and he, Drake and Drew cleaned me up and dressed me in pajamas; I was still crying off and on the whole time. Jeff and Selkirk had gotten Roff cleaned up but his face was so pale and still, he looked dead to me. That frightened me more than I can say and I felt as if someone had kicked me in the stomach. Reemagar and Connegar came in three hours before dawn and took me to Reemagar's suite. The bed was huge, they put me between them and I was out like a light the moment Connegar placed fingers against my forehead.
* * *
/> "Do not fear, I will keep watch." Jeral nodded to Griffin and the others. Jeral had done so many turns in his long life. Wlodek, Merrill and the others all needed sleep; they'd been up all night. The Larentii had come and taken Lissa away, forcing her to sleep. It would kill her if Roff died.
Shala had been imprisoned in the palace dungeon—and she had someone else in the cell next to hers. Another pleasure worker—Elthine. Shala admitted under compulsion that she and Elthine devised their plan carefully, with Shala sneaking into the palace with the scheduled tour and then separating herself from it, waiting for the Queen to return. Garde had gone to the dungeons and paced before their cells in full Thifilathi, blowing smoke and frightening both women. Neither had seen Gabron since they'd been incarcerated.
Merrill and Wlodek performed the initial questioning with Drake, Drew, Tony and Gavin looking on. The two women hoped that with Lissa out of the way, the rule would be shared among her mates, giving Gabron more importance. They'd intended to convince Gabron to make them his concubines so they might live in the palace with him. Gavin had snorted in disbelief at their plan.
"And just how did you think you might get away with this?" he demanded. Shala shrank from his anger. Gavin wanted to execute her immediately but Lissa forbade it, choosing to wait and see whether Roff accepted the turn.
* * *
Gabron sat and drank at a bar in one of the casinos. In the beginning, Lissa had set both Shala and Elthine's applications in the pile not to be considered. Like a fool he'd pulled their applications back and hired them anyway. They'd been trying to kill Lissa. Instead, Roff had protected her. Gabron was a very old vampire and he'd allowed two scheming women and his own lust to bring him down.
"Drinking generally doesn't solve anything." Erland settled on the stool next to Gabron's and ordered a drink.
"She will ask for her ring back and dissolve the union." Gabron fingered the ring in his pocket. He hadn't worn it since the night he'd taken it off and foolishly left it behind at the brothel.
"You can't say that for sure." Erland sipped his bourbon.
"The odds are very good, my friend." Gabron wiped the condensation off one side of his glass with a finger.
"She loves you. You can't just turn that on and off," Erland offered.
"But she will do it," Gabron sighed. "I remember the night I first saw her," Gabron said. "Walking along a street in Ordinandis, more than three hundred years ago. I caught the scent of a female vampire and was drawn like a magnet. She was beautiful. The rarest of jewels, had I but known it at the time. We talked and she seemed unafraid of me. I gave her my card and she came to find me the following evening. She almost left me when she discovered what kind of business I ran. I allowed two women, the most selfish and conniving I have known, to bring me down. If they'd managed to kill Lissa, where would we be at this moment?"
"Without a home," Kifirin folded in and sat on the empty stool next to Erland. "This world exists because of Lissa. I would have allowed the comesuli to stay, but all others would have been forced away. You might be living again on Refizan. Lissa may forgive you, vampire, but I may not." The bartender set a glass of wine in front of Kifirin without a blink. Kifirin had placed his order mentally and the bartender automatically complied. "I do not know yet if Roff will survive and Lissa loves Roff very much. What do you think that will do to her, if he dies?"
"My ability to end my life by walking into the sun has been negated. What do you wish me to do?"
"Make amends with Lissa, if you can. Or walk away from her, if that is her desire. How much do you love her, vampire? Of all her mates, your love is the weakest, I think."
"I kept telling myself that I could have sex any time I wished, whenever I was not in her bed," Gabron held up his empty glass. The bartender went to make another drink for him. "That is what I was used to. I had my pick of any of my girls and they enjoyed the bite. Some even said they loved me. I shored myself up with that. Kept myself alive with that. It wasn't love, though, was it?"
"You weren't willing to give yourself in return," Kifirin replied. "How many of those girls did you love? Did you tell them so? And if you told them, did you mean it?"
"If I did, I didn't mean it. My heart has been cold and still for a very long time."
"You do not love Lissa?"
"Lissa makes me ache. She makes me ashamed, that I cannot be as warm and loving as she."
"She asked for nothing more from you than what you gave."
"Except for her disagreement with me over my brothels." Gabron snorted.
"Even though she feels no jealousy, that made her feel inadequate," Erland said. "Those girls are trained to give pleasure. She cannot compete with that. Before she was turned, she only had one lover during her lifetime. I learned this from Gavin. Did you miss your trained girls when you were in bed with her, Gabron?"
"No. All I could think about when we were together was pleasing her. And pleasing her pleased me. It made me feel warm, to bed her."
"Because she gave love in addition to sex." Kifirin drained his glass. "Those girls you hire and train may give you the exotic and the unusual, but they will not give you love. They take your money and go to the next customer. Tell me this is not so."
"Are you telling me to never bed another woman?"
"Lissa herself did not tell you that, so who are we to gainsay it? We have immortality facing us, my friend. Boredom can become a very real malady. Lissa told you that she was hoping you cared for whomever you took to your bed."
"The truth is that I almost got her killed." Gabron was back to the crux of the matter. "And she will dissolve our union. Those things matter not from this point."
Chapter 10
I sat with Roff the entire second night. The minutes and hours passed in tiny, ticking eternities. There was no change. No change. No change. I talked to Roff after a while. Told him I loved him, even though Griffin was there. Or Merrill or Flavio. What if Roff's warm brown eyes never opened to me again? That pain was too hard to bear. I concentrated on the clock. I'd asked Wlodek earlier for the signs that the turning was not successful. He hadn't wanted to tell me, but he did anyway. "The skin will become gray and then turn to ash," he replied. "Lissa, this was not your fault. Roff would have died with you, if you had been the one hit. Do not second-guess yourself or his actions in this matter. Accept the gift from Roff. This is what he desires."
I hadn't been to the dungeon to see Roff's attacker, either. She'd had an accomplice, but Shala had been the one to put the stake in Roff's chest. I was afraid that if I did go see her I wouldn't be able to control myself and she would die. According to our laws, she must be judged by the Heads of all the City Councils. Those laws had been devised for a reason and I had no right to circumvent them, even though I wanted to. Kifirin was the only one not bound by the laws of Le-Ath Veronis and I didn't expect him to weigh in on this. Justice would come, eventually. And Gabron had not come forward to apologize or to check on Roff. He was receding farther and farther away from me. It seems he'd made a choice and that choice had not been me.
"Granddaughter." Wylend Arden had come. Griffin had probably told him about Roff—father and son were becoming close. Except for the day I'd discovered he was my grandfather, Wylend and I hadn't spent much time together.
"Em-pah." I borrowed Kyler and Cleo's term and hugged him when he sat beside me. Roff lay on my bed, as still as death, though his body was still intact.
"My father explained to me once why the Karathian Witches and Warlocks have no power over death," Wylend settled more comfortably in his chair after I let him go.
I turned to look at my grandfather's face when he spoke. His eyes were slightly unfocused, though they didn't change as I'd seen Griffin's do. "Death is not the evil that many believe it to be," my grandfather said. "So many of us do whatever we can to avoid it as long as possible." He drew in a breath before continuing, as if he were carefully choosing his words. "We even grasp at straws, sometimes, to keep death away from us,
" he said. "But death is not the enemy. It takes us when our bodies are no longer prepared to carry on in our current lives. Brings us peace and freedom from pain. It is life that is often the enemy. The siren that convinces us to hold onto it as long as we can, even though we are filled with pain or have lived long past our usefulness. My father always said that we should let our life leave us when it is time and do it gladly, instead of with sorrow and bitterness. Something else awaits us and when we arrive, we will wonder what it was that held us back from it so long."
"Em-pah, right now might not be the best time for that lecture," I wiped tears away. I was surprised I had any left.
"I know," he lifted me from my chair as easily as any vampire might and settled me on his lap. "I didn't get the chance to hold you when you were small. Or kiss your scraped elbows or skinned knees. So many things are owed to us, Granddaughter. I hope your little comesula lives, because I do not wish to see my granddaughter's heart broken."
He sat quietly with me for the rest of the night. I had hope when the night ended, although there was no dawn and never would be where my palace lay. Roff's body was still intact, albeit pale and still. It could take as few as three days and as many as seventeen, in Wlodek's experience, to make a full turn. My hopes had risen the barest of fractions when my Larentii put me to bed.
* * *
I'd been sleeping in Reemagar's suite, but they'd put me in with Drake the night before. I woke with a very amorous Falchani beside me. Drake took care of me and took care of business. I was clean and dressed, too, when I went to sit with Roff.
"Why is Roff lying on his stomach?" Flavio was waiting when I walked into my suite and asked the question as I settled on a chair beside him.
"Kifirin came and said we had to do this, to allow his wings to grow if he lives and thrives." Flavio looked tired as I explained what I knew. I recognized that weariness.
Blood Rebellion (Blood Destiny #7) Page 16