08 Blood War-Blood Destiny (6 page)

"You signed the agreement to honor the laws of Le-Ath Veronis before you came, did you not?" I gave them an angry gaze.

"Yes, Raona." They were contrite.
Now
.

"And you did this anyway, even though you knew you could be caught, sent off-planet and never allowed back?" I was pacing, now. Something about these three bothered me. Drake and Drew didn't normally bring me fence-climbers. They must have thought something was up with these, only they couldn't use their
Looking
abilities to interfere. Those were the rules they had to abide by, being Spawn Hunters for the Saa Thalarr. My head jerked around after I'd passed them. "Grant, check their bank accounts. See if they've gotten any large deposits lately, or whether their recent spending is supported by the jobs they have."

Grant, standing behind me, started tapping on his handheld computer. He already had their records pulled up. "No deposits, but they've been throwing Alliance credits around like they were among the wealthy, and I see that all three work in prison detail on Rorda."

"Find out if any Solar Red suspects are imprisoned there." The three that stood before me began to sweat. I'd hit the proverbial nail on the head with these. The Solar Red fuckers, now trying to come back to power, wanted me dead since I'd brought them down last time. Three vampires in my Council had failed to exact revenge.

These three, playing at being pranksters, were trying to scope out a way to get to me. Well, they were going to be mind-wiped by compulsion and sent home. The Rordans were also going to be notified, and that notification was going to be copied to the Alliance. Aryn had come to the palace to help; he was with us, watching our prisoners carefully.

"I will be happy to place compulsion, Raona," he said. Aryn always dressed impeccably, like many of the older vampires. He was old, too, I could tell by the scent.

"Go ahead. Before you do, though, find out if they've gathered or sent any information off world. Drake and Drew are already searching their rooms at the casino." They'd had the temerity to stay at the Chessman.

"Is this going to hurt?" The female asked timidly.

"Why are you worried about that now?" I wasn't pleased with any of them and I think they knew it. "You risked your life doing this. Why weren't you worried about it before you signed up?"

"Ari, shhh," one of the males tried to hush her.

"You got her into this, didn't you?" I had my arms crossed and went to stand in front of him.

"Do not stand too closely to this filth," Garde skipped in and glared at all three, smoke pouring from his nostrils.

"Are you a vampire?" Ari asked Garde. I'm sure the information provided by Solar Red had given her a description of vampires in general, and breathing smoke wasn't anywhere in that description.

"I am High Demon," Garde growled. "You are threatening my mate. Do not threaten her further, or I shall allow the Thifilathi to come."

"Garde, honey, back up a little, okay?" I misted to his side and grabbed his arm. We didn't need heads twisted from bodies. That wouldn't be good, especially since their apparent crime didn't warrant a death sentence. Not yet, anyway.

"How did you get?" One of the males asked, but he didn't get a chance to finish the question. Aryn took over immediately.

"You will forget what you just saw. Now, let's see what you know," Aryn placed compulsion, so I pulled Garde from the room. The farther away from the interrogation room we went the calmer he became until his eyes cleared and his skin lightened. He was still blowing smoke, though, as he turned me in his arms and gave me a possessive kiss. The Thifilathi was still not far from the surface.

"We found a few things, and asked the hotel staff to pack up the rest," Drake and Drew appeared beside us. Garde pulled back and accepted what Drew handed him. They'd found a portable computer with information on the space station orbiting Le-Ath Veronis, plus specs for the shuttles, the landing area and the casinos. I was going to have to call in Adam and Merrill. We were being scoped out and I was worried that Solar Red might be planning an invasion. Garde, Drake and Drew thought so, too.

"They're not on any Alliance worlds, not in any numbers, anyway," Drake growled, looking at the images of the space station's interior. "That means Solar Red is based on a non-Alliance world and able to grow as fast as they can recruit thugs and criminals."

"And they want to take us out," I muttered, staring at the images of the casinos. They'd only gotten one or two interior shots—casino security was pretty tight.

"You, at least," Drew looked grim. "Erland showed us the old footage from Refizan."

"How fast is that army coming along?" Garde asked my twins.

"We're in good shape, but we need to know what kind of weapons they have, so we can prepare for that."

"Yeah? I hadn't thought about that." It made me rub my forehead.

"Baby, don't worry, all right?" Drake pulled my head against his shoulder.

"I'm not worried so much about me; I'm worried about my vampires and my comesuli, not to mention the guests."

"We'll take that into consideration," Drew said, rubbing my back while his brother pulled me tighter against him.

"They aren't organized enough, yet; these are only scouting parties," Kifirin folded in. I hadn't seen him for days. "Come, Avilepha, you have not been energy for a while. We will take care of that now." Kifirin folded me away before I had time to argue with him.

* * *

"Solar Red is scouting Le-Ath Veronis?" Dragon scowled as his sons gave him information they'd gotten from the three spies.

"Aryn wiped the information from their minds and we put them on a ship back to Rorda under guard shortly after that. We kept their computer and everything else they had, but they'd managed to send out some information before we caught them. We transmitted our records to the authorities on Rorda and to Alliance headquarters. The Alliance isn't happy with Solar Red, right now; I think they blew up White Light temples on Oblerik. That means they're scouting other worlds, too."

"I fail to understand how they keep recruiting," Dragon snorted.

* * *

"Erland, what have you done?" I had my hands on my hips, now, staring with distaste at the dress he’d laid across my bed.

"You should wear this to the Century Ball," Erland flashed a smile that could melt hearts and cause general swooning. "It will go perfectly with my suit."

That meant, of course, that Erland was wearing white to my grandfather's shindig. I liked white okay, but this dress was a blinding white, with crystal beading. Just the reflection of light off it could cause blindness. "Honey, I'll look like a chandelier," I said as tactfully as I could.

Shadow, who'd come in to pick up oxberry wine for Grey House, was gazing speculatively at the dress, too. He snickered and nodded at my chandelier comment.

"Will you settle for white satin, then?" Erland was being patient with me.

"I think I'll need to see it, first," I offered dryly.

"Very well," Erland sighed dramatically. "I had no idea I had such a demanding mate."

That caused me to blink at him in shock. He turned his smile on me. "I was merely teasing you, my beautiful Queen." He came to kiss me, waving one hand while he did so. When he pulled away, a second dress was on the bed. It was white satin, just as he said, and much more suitable than the other.

"I'll wear that," I sighed in resignation. The second dress was still going to draw moths, it was so bright, but not as many as the first one.

"You'll be beautiful," Erland kissed me again.

"Not as beautiful as you," I poked at him when he let me go.

"Few are," he tossed back his black hair and laughed.

"And he's not insufferable or anything," I smiled at Shadow. "I'll wear my Tiralian crystal with this." Shadow had made a complete set of Tiralian crystal jewelry for me, and all of it held protection spells. He was a real honey, all right.

"When is this blow-up?" Shadow grinned at Erland.

"The Ball is tomorrow evening. My mate had best not be late. The King of Karathia is not noted for his patience."

"What will Toff wear?" I asked. We had to take him; Wylend had requested it.

"I have provided the outfit already," Erland sniffed. I’d hired two comesuli nannies to care for Toff when Grant, Davan, Giff and I weren’t available. "How well do you dance, my love?" Erland gave me a skeptical look.

"Merrill and Franklin taught me the foxtrot and the waltz. Anything outside that and you may get your toes stepped on."

"Just follow my lead," Erland was trying not to laugh.

"You're leading? In this century?" I went after him. Few ever realized that the Karathian Witches and Warlocks switched attraction from males to females and vice-versa every hundred years or so. Erland was on the downside of a female cycle; anyway, that's what he called it.

"Isn't this rather undignified?" Gavin walked in while I was chasing Erland around the bedroom.

"I can chase you," I offered, stopping by the padded bench at the end of my bed.

"I will not run, I prefer to be caught," he smiled. I stepped up on the bench and Gavin came to get me. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my legs around his waist and started kissing him.

"Don't wrinkle the dress," Erland herded everybody else from the bedroom and shut the door.

* * *

"I hope it's not after Labor Day," I said as I slipped into white heels.

"Are you going over those human holidays again?" Erland was already dressed in a white tux with a red rose on his lapel.

"Are you knocking my holidays?" I teased.

"Of course. Belittling them. Ridiculing them."

"Honey, was tact not part of your lessons at court?" I smiled as sweetly at him as I could.

"I passed all those tests and promptly forgot everything I learned."

"I can see that. Let's get Toff; his nanny should have him ready now." I placed the Tiralian crystal bracelet on my wrist.

"Look at our little man," I laughed when the nanny handed Toff over—he wore a tiny blue suit.

"Mmmm-mmm," Toff grinned at me. Erland took him from my arms and folded us to Karathia.

The children were placed in a nursery when their parents arrived—Wylend and members of his Council would test them once all the guests were there. Pronouncements would be made over which children held exceptional talent and would be taught at court. The babies couldn't be brought past the age of four. If they hadn't been selected by that age, they wouldn't be.

Several babysitters were there to care for the children, and each child was given a wristband to identify them. Each wristband was fastened on with power, so the child couldn't slip it off. Toff had a small green band with Erland's rune placed on it. The fathers' runes identified the children at court.

"Just a formality," Erland took my hand. I waved at Toff while being led away.

Griffin and Amara caught up with us a few minutes later, and both kissed me on the cheek. "How's Wyatt?" I asked.

"A bundle of energy," Amara smiled. "Wylend says he already shows promise."

"That's great," I said, and gave Amara a hug. Wyatt would likely be King of Karathia, one day. That day was probably a long way off—Karathians were nearly immortal. Servants were passing out wine, sparkling wine and other drinks, and Erland pulled two glasses off a tray and handed one to me. We were sipping sparkling wine and making small talk until Wylend chose to make his entrance, and that meant I wasn't expecting what happened. In fact, it was the last thing I'd thought might come to pass, given where we were and whose palace this was.

Every light in the place went dark. The darkness was so thick; even I had a hard time seeing through it, which worried me. Many there thought Wylend had done this as a way to make a grand entrance, because the lights shone again after bare seconds. It wasn't until the screaming began that we knew something was wrong. One of the babysitters ran into the ballroom, shouting in terror. "A child is missing!" she shrieked. "A child is missing!"

The shouted announcement caused a general stampede, with every parent inside the ballroom rushing toward the nursery. Erland and I, followed by Griffin and Amara, joined the crowd. Toff wouldn't be a target—he wasn't Karathian. While we struggled to get near the nursery, however, the mystery of who might accomplish something like this ran through my mind—who could get past what I was sure were shields placed by the strongest Warlocks?

Guards had been stationed around the nursery and children were being handed off as runes were announced, one by one. Crying toddlers were given to frightened parents as each father's name was called. The crowd thinned before us and I was beginning to feel frightened. Wyatt, the King's heir, hadn't been handed over, yet. If someone had an ax to grind or wanted something from Wylend, this might be the way to do it.

The guards were down to the last four children when Erland's name was called. He and I stepped forward, half-breathing a relieved sigh, to take Toff. Amara was in tears by that time. The child was handed over, but he was much too small and wore a tiny, green jumpsuit.
Wyatt
had been handed to me.