Demon's Dream (High Demon Series #6) (24 page)

"Corent?" Edward looked at me.

"Green Fae," I said. "He takes care of the apple trees and such on Le-Ath Veronis. He's the last of his family."

"I'll lend him out for two days each week," Lissa agreed. "But you'll pay him fairly," she poked Garde in the chest. He almost fell back. Lissa was vampire, after all, and she held the strength of a Queen.

"Right now, I'm willing to do almost anything to get the groves back on track," Jayd agreed.

"Good," I said. "I need to get back to making ice cream."

"You're making the gishi fruit ice cream?" Garde stared at me.

"Yes. I'm making the gishi fruit ice cream. Why?"

"Kifirin said I'd cut my own hand. He was right."

"Too late now," I said. "I was going to ask Jayd for funds to build a plant here when the debts were paid. That won't be happening, now. Edward is handing half his profits to me. He offered all of the profits, but that was too much. Would I still be walking barefoot through your groves, dressed in rags if things hadn't gone as they did?" I asked Garde. "You'd have kept me like that forever, wouldn't you? Was it all because I was only a quarter-blood? Is that what it was?" My emotions were welling up again. They were a major downside to being pregnant. "How much do you hate me, Gardevik Rath? How much?" I was weeping by that time.

"Reah, can't you see there is nothing left in him? I don't think he feels." Edward took my hand, nodded to all present and Astralan folded us to Avendor.

* * *

"Garde, what happened to you?" Lissa demanded. "Surely you know better than this."

"He was first-born," Jayd sighed, dropping onto his desk chair inside his study. "He took the heat from Father for the rest of us. Father always blamed us and our mother for either not being daughters or not having daughters. He knew the race was dying even then, our father did. And he was angry because he couldn't do anything about it."

"So, you're really angry because Denevik went out and made a daughter with a humanoid, is that it? And then his daughter had a quarter-blood-daughter. Are you blaming Reah for all of this, Garde?" Lissa looked up at him.

"It was so easy for her," Garde turned away. "So easy to have daughters. I lashed out at her. Our parents are dead. Mother dropped into Baetrah because she couldn't handle the pressure any longer. Father, not realizing how much he actually depended upon our mother, followed closely behind her. I did wrong. Placed blame. Let my prejudices show. Lendevik was right to keep me from the Kingship. I was helpless to keep Kifirin from bankruptcy, and that little slip of a girl comes in and creates solvency out of nothing. I am supposed to be the one to do that. I should have found a way out of that mess. I didn't, so I did my best to persecute the one who did."

"This is so fucked up," Lissa tossed up a hand in resignation.

* * *

"Reah, you can't help that other people make mistakes. They may not always intend for the consequences to be so devastating. You have to take care of yourself, first." Edward and I swung lazily in the covered swing outside his suite. He'd dried my tears earlier. Astralan lounged on a chair nearby, watching me closely.

"I know," I said. Kevis came out and took a chair next to Astralan. The doctor was waiting with one of his sessions, no doubt. "I wish I could get drunk right now," I added.

"You'd be swigging straight from the wine bottle, wouldn't you?" Edward teased, grinning at me.

"I'm that desperate," I nodded.

"Most people get medication, Reah," Kevis said. "But you're pregnant and High Demon. The levels of the drugs you would require would be too hazardous to the child. We can't risk it," he added.

"I know," I agreed. Edward held me tighter against him. Kevis pulled me away after a while, herding Edward and Astralan away. I'd have stayed and napped on one shoulder or the other if he hadn't.

"Reah, what happened earlier?" Kevis asked as he settled onto the swing with me, comp-vid in hand.

"I don't know. It's easy to blame it on the pregnancy," I said, leaning back and staring at the underside of the canvas canopy.

"I believe that's part of it," he agreed. "Perhaps not all."

"You don't ever get to choose your family," I breathed deeply of the fresh air rising above the gishi fruit groves. "And like it or not, I'm connected to Glinda and Jayd and Garde. Glinda is my great-aunt, whether I want that or not. She's never deliberately mistreated me, but when Garde handed my girls to her, she never questioned. She just took what she wanted."

"Was she a bad parent?"

"No. Not in that sense, no."

"But they didn't see their real mother when they should have. Gardevik feels inadequate, I think, and he passed the anger he felt in your direction. He wanted to make you suffer, perhaps, for doing what he wasn't capable of doing alone. I think he was a loner for a very long time. Kept to himself for a very long time."

"I had nothing to do with that," I pointed out.

"I know. I'm just trying to sort out why he is the way he is."

"Good luck on that," I said.

"Reah, he has made you suffer. I want to get to the bottom of that. I'm hoping to put a stop to it."

"Then you're more of an optimist than I am."

"I think you've seen too much of the terrible side of life. You haven't had many of the good things. Why don't you come with me for a little while this afternoon? We can get into the pool at the villa. You can sleep there if you're tired. I know you are," he said. "I can feel it. How about a massage? I think Rik is available."

"Rik. He has such nice hands." I smiled at the memory of one other time when the tall Falchani had given me a massage.

"You've gotten one from him before?"

"Yeah. It was wonderful."

"Then we'll get another. We can set it up on a regular basis, if you want. It'll be good for you. He even has a special pillow so we won't squash Garwin Wyatt."

"We can't squash Wyatt," I agreed. "We love him."

"We do," Kevis grinned.

* * *

"Just relax," Rik told me later as I lay face down on a table. What little belly I had was encased in a special pillow, hollowed out to surround Garwin Wyatt. Rik's hands moved gently over my body. Kevis had undressed me using the power he inherited from his parents and he watched as Rik put his hands on me. When he finished with the back and turned me over, I felt like softened clay. Rik paid such special attention to the baby when he rubbed my belly, I fell asleep.

* * *

I'll take her
. Kevis lifted Reah from Rik's arms. He'd carefully wrapped the sheet around Reah without waking her.

She's like a bird with hollow, fragile bones
, Rik sighed.
She needs to eat more.

I know.
Kevis floated Reah onto the bed to keep from waking her. His and Rik's conversation had been mindspeech only.
I'm warming the air around her. I hope she doesn't wake up.

Later, Kevis sat in the kitchen, having a cup of tea with Rik when his mother walked in.

"How are you, Gracie?" Rik gave her a smile.

"I'm good. How's Reah?" She looked at Kevis.

"Sleeping."

"Ren says she's exhausted but refuses to just sit down and rest most of the time."

"Kifirin," Kevis said. "She only had a few workers and half of those were disabled, so she pushed herself for years. I think she's afraid that if she stops completely, something terrible will happen."

"If she had stopped on Kifirin, they'd be bankrupt," Dragon wandered in with his twin brother, Crane. "Lissa says that they made the last payment on their loans a few days ago. They're in the clear unless they go into debt again. If they can manage those gishi fruit groves as well as Reah did, then they're on their way toward industrialization."

"They certainly need to get away from that feudal system they have," Crane agreed, setting about making tea for himself and his brother. "Falchan doesn't have much in the way of technology, but the people are allowed to own land and open their own shops and restaurants. On Kifirin, the Crown owns nearly everything."

"They certainly owned Reah," Kevis leaned his head into his arms. "I don't think they'll see this baby unless they come to her."

"What have Jayd and Glinda done for her? Anything?" Devin asked. She and Grace shared eleven mates, including Dragon, Crane and Karzac.

"I don't know that they've offered anything. Certainly not money," Kevis muttered. "But Lendill says that the ASD is very close to confiscating all the funds the pirates and their cronies put together. Reah will have half of that."

"How much is it?" Dragon asked, accepting a cup of tea from Crane.

"The last I heard, trillions," Kevis said. "Reah will never have to depend upon another male for money. Ever."

"Is Reah asleep?" Lok, Aurelius and Renegar folded in.

"Yes. Is anything wrong?"

"Someone is asking to see her," Aurelius said. Kiarra, Adam, Merrill and Pheligar folded in. Someone, likely Dragon, had sent mindspeech.

"Why are they asking to speak with Reah?" Kiarra was puzzled.

"I do not know," Renegar replied. "But they are requesting an audience with her. This is mystifying."

"Who is asking to see Reah?" Kevis rose from his seat at the island.

"The Copper Ra'Ak Prince," Renegar replied.

Chapter 11
 

"When?" Kevis was upset and he didn't normally react to anything that way. "Have the others been told? What do they want?"

"They want to talk peace," Nefrigar appeared, with two of his sons. "They want Reah to act as the broker for that peace. The Copper Ra'Ak that she took down not long ago were among the rogues that this Prince has been chasing. A few rogues are still out there, but these wish to ally with the Saa Thalarr and the Black Ra'Ak to hunt them down. These Copper Ra'Ak want things as they were in the beginning. They want their old world back."

"Has Kifirin been notified?" Kiarra asked, staring up at the Larentii Archivist.

"Messages have been sent," Connegar folded in. "We are waiting for a reply."

"He knows," Belen appeared, accompanied by Thurlow.

"We are here," Teeki and Neeki appeared. "But we have not good news. The rogue Ra'Ak that remain have allied with those two bad brothers of Lendill Schaff. They are all hunting Reah. The bad brothers want her dead. They blame her for Lendill becoming Prince-Heir. They seek her death. The rogue Ra'Ak want her dead, too, for killing those they sent after the Saa Thalarr. The bad elf brothers have promised these rogue Ra'Ak joint rule of Gaelar N'Seith and other worlds, if they help to kill Reah and the Saa Thalarr. Things do not look good," Teeki shook his head.

"I don't believe this," Kiarra rubbed her forehead.

"Were the elves the ones who shot her?" Lok asked.

"Yes. With an old weapon they should not have. One outlawed by the Alliance long ago. They still have that and others—they are collecting them. Now, they seek to harm the Lifegiver."

"Are you calling her that because she is pregnant?" Nefrigar asked calmly.

"No. Reah is the Lifegiver."

"What does that mean?" Grace asked.

"It means that Reah can heal more than cores," Kifirin folded in. "She can bring those dead and dying worlds back to what they were before they were drained. Much faster than you might believe. She has not yet discovered this particular talent, however."

"It will be similar to what we can do when we manipulate atoms," Pheligar nodded, "only Reah can do it with living things. She will be able to import the building blocks of life and accelerate the process. Several records on this prophecy are stored in our Archives," Pheligar smiled at Nefrigar.

"I had not realized you'd read them," Nefrigar nodded to Pheligar.

"It interested me early on," he said. "We might manipulate those things, but we do not have a specific talent for it."

"You were a curious child," Nefrigar smiled. "If our father were still alive, he would be very proud."

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me you had a brother," Kiarra stared at Pheligar and then at Nefrigar. "For centuries I believed my Larentii was an only child."

"Yes, we are brothers, although he is much younger. He comes when he will, and we talk. His nephews show him what is new in the Archives," Nefrigar offered Kiarra a smile.

"I can't believe Pheligar didn't just sprout from the ground," Merrill laughed.

"That would be quite difficult. Larentii have never accomplished that feat," Pheligar huffed, causing several snickers around the kitchen.

"Father, I love you," Renegar embraced Pheligar. Pheligar grinned and hugged his son.

* * *

"Reah, my love, we have a meeting." Nefrigar was using power to dress me. Was that strange? In the strangest of ways. Clothing slithered over my body and fastened itself swiftly, and my hair was braiding itself.

"Who are we meeting?" I asked as my Larentii lifted me off the bed.