"Look, it's the baby worm, digging through the dirt. Going to eat that dirt like the other worms, baby eunuch?" Gren laughed at her.
"At least you're smart enough to know what worms eat," Nissa snapped, shoving the edge of her shovel into the dirt and watching Gren warily. "Where are your spies, Gren? You normally don't go anywhere without them."
"Why are you worried about my friends?" Gren still had a smile on his face.
"Because you're just the distraction," Nissa said. She was doing her best to go Looking for anyone else in the area, even as she kept a close eye on Gren.
"Now!" Gren shouted and Nissa's head felt as if it were about to explode as her protection jewel activated, blowing her and Gren away from one another.
* * *
Lissa's Journal
"My daughter is in your household for six days, and you don't even notice?" I paced in front of Corent and Redbird. Tiearan and Rain had come, too, but Tiearan knew better than to say anything at this point.
"The disguise was very good," Redbird muttered, hanging her head and refusing to meet my eyes.
"But surely you must have noticed some differences," I insisted. I certainly would have, even if I didn't have the scents. I would have known my daughter and my sons anywhere. I was waiting to hear from Karzac—he'd come to check on Nissa, who was still unconscious. He was also treating Gren and two others, both of whom Toff identified as the three who'd had attacked him six days earlier.
"And you also failed to notice that Toff was getting bullied and marked for death. As was my daughter. Those three boys will be held in my dungeons, I can guarantee that. I intend to find the reason for all this, I assure you. Toff is also coming with me. You've worn out your chances on this." Even my hair was crackling with energy, I was so angry.
"But the mindbond," Redbird whined.
"How about that?" I snapped. "Do you know what he said to me when we found him? Do you? He said that you told him I'd drink his blood. You've been filling his head with lies. What else have you been telling him, Redbird?" Redbird was lucky I settled for merely saying her name with contempt. I wanted to do so many other things, and most of them involved a great deal of pain. For her.
"Is that what you've been telling him?" Corent was now looking at his mate in alarm.
"I wanted to keep him with me," Redbird was back to whining again.
"You'd have done better to protect him from those bullies," I shouted. Yes, I wasn't behaving in the most rational way possible, but then I'd never been faced with this much idiocy while I was pregnant.
"Avilepha, you cannot reason with her—there is not much there to reason with," Kifirin appeared in a burst of light. "Come home with me now. We will take care of your two young ones and watch the others in the dungeons. Had their parents been more vigilant, this might have been avoided."
"But you cannot just take them," Tiearan was now standing and disagreeing with Kifirin.
"We will take them. You depended too heavily on that boundary you placed around your village, Tiearan, and failed to notice the blight within. Now you will pay the price. We will advise you on the final disposition of those three miscreants." Kifirin blew a curl of smoke from his nostrils and Tiearan backed away.
* * *
"Toff, we have enough space in our suite if you'd like to stay there," Ry offered. Toff blinked at Ry and Tory, shocked by what was offered. He now realized that they were both Princes—sons of the Queen. As Nissa was the Queen's daughter and a Princess. Nissa was being treated inside her suite and the Queen, a healer and a tall, blue Larentii were in attendance. Ry and Tory had led Toff away, though he wanted to go to Nissa's bedside to see how she was.
"We'll check on Sissy tomorrow—she got a blast to the head. Anyway, that's what Uncle Drake says. Uncle Drew said that those three were doing a chant normally used to crack nuts open. He says that if Sissy hadn't had her protection jewel, she'd have died." Tory shivered as he made his statement. Both boys were leading Toff down endless corridors toward their suite of rooms. "Are you hungry?" Tory stopped in his tracks. "I am. We didn't finish dinner earlier."
"Let's go to the kitchens. Tory, can you skip us in?" Ry grinned. They had Sissy back, Karzac would make her well again and Toff wasn't being bullied anymore. Things were looking up at the moment.
"What is skipping?" Toff managed to ask before he disappeared from one place and appeared in another. The other place turned out to be the largest kitchen Toff had ever seen. It had things in it that he didn't recognize, too. Three people were inside the kitchen, cleaning up.
"Young ones, I am not surprised to see you, since you failed to finish your dinner earlier," one of the three came forward to eye Tory, Ry and Toff. "And who is this? He looks quite familiar to me."
"This is Cheedas, who runs the palace kitchens," Tory nudged Toff. Toff was gaping at Cheedas, who looked familiar to him, too. Cheedas had silver in his hair, an indication to Toff that he might be old.
"Would you like something to eat?" Cheedas reached out and ruffled Toff's hair. Toff was surprised by the gentle gesture.
"I am hungry," Toff nodded.
"Then you'll eat. Sit. All of you," Cheedas commanded, and Toff sat while Cheedas and the other two found food for him and the Princes.
"What is this?" Toff had never had anything he liked so well. It was a tender steak that had been breaded and fried. The main course was served with mashed potatoes, gravy and tiny peas. Toff hadn't realized how hungry he was.
"Mom calls this chicken-fried steak and we make fun of her because it isn't chicken at all," Tory grinned, cutting into his steak and placing a bite in his mouth.
"I like this very much," Toff was busy eating.
"How old are you, young one?" Cheedas leaned on the kitchen island across from the three boys. "My guess would be around eighteen."
"Really?" Toff couldn't believe it. He would turn eighteen in less than three months. "Everybody else says I look twelve."
"But your kind matures slowly," Cheedas replied. "Did they not tell you that? You will not reach full growth until age twenty-nine. Do not be discouraged—it is just what you are."
"Redbird always said I was Vionnu—from Vionn." Toff swallowed his bite of food before speaking—it was polite. Tory snorted at Toff's statement. "Is that not true? I'm not from Vionn?" Toff glanced from Cheedas to Tory in confusion.