"This is my son," Kenderlin said in wonder.
"That still does not compensate us for pain and suffering," the judge was getting back in on this.
"But your King said that the return of his son would mitigate the charges," the Grey House lawyer pointed out.
"He is not presiding over this hearing, I am," the judge informed all of us. Well, he just made it to the top twenty on my shit list. "For pain and suffering, thinking the Prince dead, we levy the equivalent of five billion Alliance credits, in gold or other viable tender, against Le-Ath Veronis."
Yeah, I stood there and gaped. Five billion Alliance credits, in gold? That was a lot of pain and suffering.
"Here is your gold." Kifirin arrived suddenly, smoke pouring from his nostrils. A huge stack of gold ingots appeared before him just as suddenly. The pile of gold was as tall as I was, and nearly six feet square. That was a lot of gold. I wondered if he'd emptied Le-Ath Veronis to get it. "Never trouble my mate again, or you may not live over it."
"And you are?" I swear; this judge should learn when to shut up.
"I am Kifirin, Lord of the Dark Realm." And with that, Kifirin disappeared just as swiftly as he'd appeared in the first place. Kenderlin came to examine the gold. Brandelin was still in shock, I think, and had no idea what was going on. Jenderlin, Brandelin's younger brother, looked ill. I figured he was wishing he were anywhere except where he was. I thought I'd gotten my shock for the day when the ass**le judge still demanded payment, after I'd brought the Prince back from the dead. I should have known better. Melida was suddenly in my face.
"You could have brought Findal back with you, and you didn't," she was shouting and crying at the same time and then she slapped me. Maybe I should have kept my mouth shut. Maybe. I didn't.
"Yeah?" I shouted right back at her. "Did you think for even one minute that Black Mist intended to let him live? Did you? They don't pay out unless there's no other way. Did you know that when you and Findal made your deal with them? Did your daddy know what you intended to do with the money? Did he? Stupid bitch," I muttered, and walked around her to get out of that sanity-challenged hellhole.
"I have an announcement," Norian shouted over the ensuing din inside the Hall of Hearings. That stopped me in my tracks—I was just about to get the hell out of there and go sulk somewhere. They'd intended all along to make me pay, although I hadn't had anything to do with any of this. Now Norian wanted to talk? What the hell was he doing?
"I am here as a representative of the Alliance," Norian went to stand in front of the judge. "I was sent by the Founder and Twenty Charter Members to observe these proceedings and record your judgments in this case. They have been witness to this travesty and they now ask me to inform you that Cloudsong will never join the Alliance. A copy of the writ will be forwarded to you." Norian turned on his heel and headed in my direction.
"Wait," Kenderlin was trying to shout over the noise that resumed after Norian had his say. Norian didn't stop; he just kept walking in my direction.
"Well, honey, that was some speech," I said, taking his hand. I folded both of us the hell away from there.
* * *
"You like sitting on rooftops?" Norian looked green, perched as he was on top of the highest dome of my palace.
"Honey, I'll take you down, but I'll be coming right back up," I told him. He seemed relieved when I dropped him off on the steps leading to my palace before misting back to do more roof sitting. Kifirin came to sit beside me. At least heights didn't make him uncomfortable.
"Honey, I appreciate your showing up. Did you empty all the gold from Le-Ath Veronis?" At least he wasn't blowing smoke at the moment. He was Kifirin, too, and not the god right then.
"You did not listen to my words," he actually smiled at me. "I said, 'here is your gold.' I didn't lie—it was theirs—I pulled it from Cloudsong. They paid themselves. Unfortunately, many of their lodes are now empty and unless I miss my guess, Cloudsong will become an isolated world. I cannot imagine that many will wish to work for the crown, when their treatment of you is made known. No wizards will come to protect them, out of fear for their lives. The opposing faction that wished the Prince dead will again wage war against the crown. We will see how they fare without outside help."
"What will happen to miss bitch pants?" I grumped. I could still feel the slap she gave me and it pissed me off every time I thought about it.
"The only reason she isn't floating on the breeze as separated atoms is because she is pregnant," Kifirin replied. "She struck a Larentii's mate. Connegar and Reemagar are still angry over that. Meanwhile, I think Glendes of Grey House is hammering out a writ of detachment and handing Melida back to Marid of Belancour as quickly as he can. I wish them luck with one another."
"I'm not going back to Grey House." I repeated my words to Shadow.
"Avilepha, you do not have to go anywhere you do not wish to go," Kifirin murmured and pulled me onto his lap.
"They never intended to ask Grey House for anything. They were coming after me," I muttered. "As if I would drain all the profits from the casinos for them." I shivered in Kifirin's embrace. My head hurt so bad from stress and anger I thought it might explode.
"Reason cannot be named as one of their assets," Kifirin placed fingers against my forehead. Yeah, he can place a healing sleep just as well as any Larentii. Better, maybe.
* * *
"I need to take her back to Trell—we have business there," Norian walked next to Kifirin, who carried an unconscious Lissa in his arms. Kifirin stopped in the hallway, leveling a gaze at Norian and breathing smoke.
"Or not," Norian backed away.
"Never do that again," Erland grabbed Norian's elbow and pulled him backward as Kifirin continued down the hall. "Do you have any idea what Kifirin is?"
"Perhaps you should explain it," Norian grumbled. Erland folded Norian to the library, where Lissa's other mates were holding a meeting.
* * *
"I can't find anything that this impacts," a tall, brown-haired man was raking fingers through his hair as he stood before a good-sized crowd. Norian recognized Lissa's mates and a few others from the hearing. Many he didn't recognize, however. He sat down to listen.
"We're not hearing from Belen on this and she pulled Brandelin out just before he died." A platinum blonde woman spoke up next. "I know that is how we've gotten some of our members—Winkler, Aurelius and Thomas Williams, to name the most recent."