* * *
"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 f**ked 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."