"Someone else will take his place in a few weeks. I hope they rule with a wiser head."
"I hope there's someone in line for the throne who has a wiser head," I grumped.
"Tiessa, that is not for you to worry about." Rigo lifted my chin in his fingers. He'd insisted we sit together in the small booth against the wall and he leaned down to kiss me. "Someday, love, you and I will be mated. I am content to wait, but do not shut me out again, I beg you," he whispered against my mouth.
* * *
"You mean you're going to lift the specimen away without going through the usual?" I couldn't bring myself to say mast***ation out loud. Connegar, Reemagar, Karzac, Jeff, Joey, Franklin and Gilfraith were all there, to either help or observe.
"I will do this—we have the donated eggs already; we took DNA samples from you and the eggs have been prepared. Now we only need sperm from Erland and Gardevik," Connegar smiled. Garde and Erland were both inside the master suite of the beach house on the light half. The two surrogates were in a bedroom down the hall—as soon as the sperm was obtained and the eggs fertilized, they would be placed with Larentii power and know-how into the wombs of the surrogates. Things were happening so fast, now.
I really didn't see anything—the specimens were taken amid blinding light, somehow combined with the eggs that Connegar Pulled in from somewhere and then Connegar and the healers folded into the bedroom next door for a few minutes. I didn't even have time to pace before they were all back. "We have a successful transfer and impregnation on both surrogates," Connegar was smiling.
"Wow, honey, that's spectacular," I said, giving him a hug.
"You might repay us by spending some time together," Connegar suggested.
"Right now, you can have anything you want," I smiled back at him.
We did spend some time together—about four hours—before Norian Keef came looking for me.
"We have trouble on Darthin—my agents believe the capital city of Darthough is being infiltrated by Black Mist. This may be the vanguard for a complete takeover. That's how they took Phraxes years ago." Norian had such hope in his eyes—hope that I'd take him and see what we could discover on Darthin. His fingers itched to clutch the throats of criminals, I just knew it. And, if he could corner Black Mist, he'd like it even better.
He'd mentioned Phraxes, too; it was now a dead world, located just outside the Alliance. Phraxes was a haunted world, filled with ghosts and little else. Somehow, Black Mist had managed to kill the entire planet before relocating. The ASD had struggled to track Black Mist ever since.
"Do I need to pack?" I asked, resignation plain in my voice. Norian was determined to drag me away from Le-Ath Veronis.
"Well, since we don't know what is going on, you probably should." Norian's green eyes searched my face.
"How much are you packing?" I'd been sitting with my Larentii near the pool—we'd had sun lamps installed in case anyone wanted to use them. Normal vampires stayed away from my pool and hot tub, but Connegar and Reemagar were happily soaking up artificial sun.
"At least a week's worth," Norian replied, doing his best to hurry me without being obvious about it. He had the nervous energy about him again, as if he wanted what he wanted, at least two weeks ago.
"Fine." I got up, kissed both my Larentii and followed Norian, who was talking while he led me toward my suite. I learned the name of his main operative and second-in-command—Lendill Schaff—who would meet us on Darthin. Norian also filled me in on the numbers of murdered Darthinians, which now stood in the thousands in less than a month. I sent my mates mindspeech, telling them I might be gone for a few days. I heard quite a bit of grumbling as a result—apparently, Garde and Erland wanted to celebrate impending fatherhood. I told them we'd do it when I got back.
Norian was still talking while I threw clothes into a bag with the help of Taff, one of my new assistants. I packed mostly jeans—then braided my hair, tossed in shampoo and toiletries, closed my bag and asked Norian where his bag was. He was still blathering about something and hadn't realized I'd tuned him out long ago.
"Norian, do I have to put a hand over your mouth?" I stood before him with hands on my hips. He grinned. "My bag is in my office," he said. I folded us to his office, he picked up his bag and we were off to Darthin.
* * *
"This is the headquarters for the ASD on Darthin," Norian explained as we dropped our bags off in the cramped sleeping quarters. Four small, low-walled cubicles painted white with no doors lay before me, coupled with two undersized, tiled showers, a single toilet and two sinks. A supply of extra towels, sheets and blankets were hidden inside a cramped closet, and all of it was fronted by a tiny kitchen area located behind an outer office with a desk. The building was hidden in a business complex, too, and had a fake sign out front. Go figure.
"I'm hungry. Feel like going out?" Norian hefted his bag onto the small bed inside his cubicle. "Go ahead; you get the one next door." With only a low wall separating each bed, there would be no privacy. I wasn't sure I was up to seeing Norian in his undies, or letting him see me in my PJs. It shouldn't worry me, though; I'd already seen him naked once, when he'd climbed into the hot tub with everybody else. Norian was compact and muscular, no doubt about that.
"Have you been here before? Where are we going first? What do we have to investigate?" I dumped my bag on the bed next door. I could see Norian's head and shoulders easily over the low wall that separated our cubicles. Yep—no privacy. Or anything close, even.
"Lissa Beth, you'll just have to trust me."
"Honey, I don't trust many people, and nobody calls me Lissa Beth."
"Lissa Beth, we'll be eating local cuisine first. I'll let you know our next move after that. Get used to the name," Norian's eyes crinkled around the corners when he smiled.
"I can put you through a wall, I'll have you know."
"Yes. I know that about you. Come on, stop being a grump."
"I wasn't being a grump," I grumped as I followed him out the door.
* * *
"This is a type of hare that is raised here for meat," Norian ordered for both of us. We ended up with pocket sandwiches stuffed with spiced meat, lettuce and vegetables. The food was good, as long as I didn't think about little, fluffy bunnies while I ate. Another man, carrying a plate of food, walked up and sat across from us at our outdoor table—it was late spring on Darthin, with perfect weather for dining outside.