"What are we discussing?" Norian whispered to Erland, who sat next to him.
"There are some who have the power to bend time. They just can't use that ability to impact any part of the timeline," Erland whispered back. "Remind me to see if we can't find somebody to give you mindspeech."
"Connegar placed the image of Lissa when she folded away, I just don't know how they're going to explain Prince Brandelin's sudden appearance," the blonde woman was speaking again. Norian hadn't been watching Lissa at that moment—he'd had his eyes on the judge and the King of Cloudsong.
"Were there any cameras inside the Hall?" Someone else spoke up and Norian thought that Drake and Drew looked very much like this man.
"That's Dragon, Drake and Drew's father," Erland explained. "Time to confess—you had cameras, didn't you, Norian Keef?"
"I had cameras—the Charter Members wanted the information so they could deny membership in perpetuity if justice was denied in the case," Norian stood. "The feed went directly to one member, who requested it." Norian sat again, hoping he wasn't in trouble. He was certainly outnumbered at the moment.
"Griffin, do we need to negate that information?" The blonde woman asked the tall, brown-haired man. Norian watched as the man's eyes became unfocused for a few seconds. He came back with a sigh.
"No, Kiarra, we don't need to do a thing about this." In fact, Griffin was almost smiling.
"Griffin is Lissa's father, and fine outside that role. As her father, he's the biggest ass**le ever," Erland settled in to gossip. Norian was now staring at Erland in alarm.
"You're joking?" Norian said before he could hold back the words.
"I am Lissa's father, and calling me an ass**le is being kind," Griffin was now standing over Norian, who was ready to turn if things went badly. "There's no need to allow the snake to manifest. You are in no danger here."
"Tell me what all these people are, and Kifirin, too," Norian said. Griffin walked away, leaving Erland to explain things to the ASD's Director.
"When I tell you, you won't be able to tell anyone else—knowledge of the race protects itself," Erland grinned. "I know you've already heard the words Saa Thalarr. It means Hope and Vengeance in Neaborian."
"Neaborian is a dead language," Norian said.
"Did you know there are people living on the planet again?" Erland grinned. "But that doesn't have anything to do with the Saa Thalarr. They were created to combat the Copper Ra'Ak, you know."
* * *
"Lissa, you should wake and eat something." Karzac settled on the side of my bed and brought me back to consciousness with fingers to my forehead. Too bad doctors everywhere didn't have that talent. No anesthetic needed, thanks.
"Honey, what are you doing here?" I mumbled, doing my best to force my eyes open.
"Lissa my love, your mouth always works before your eyes or the rest of your body."
"Honey, you are so funny," I huffed, cracking open a single eye to stare up at him.
"I have never been accused of being anything close to humorous," Karzac stifled a smile.
"I'm buying you lessons in stand-up," I forced my other eye open.
"I will skip my classes," Karzac rolled his eyes at my suggestion.
"Karzac, why aren't you naked?" I reached up and tugged on the collar of his shirt. I had a feeling that Grace and Devin shopped for him—I couldn't see him taking much time for that sort of thing.
"Is that what you want, my love? You want me in your bed?"
"Yeah." Karzac leaned down to kiss me, and then kissed me again. He removed my clothing before he removed his, and what happened afterward was worth every second of the undressing. We were extremely late getting to dinner.
* * *
"Lissa Beth, I want to be jealous." Norian hauled me away from the dinner table the minute I set my napkin down. We were now inside the hotel room in Rezael after rousting Lendill from his office on Le-Ath Veronis, where he'd been doing even more research. I'm not sure that guy ever took a break. He'd still looked like Flavio, too, so Reemagar came and adjusted the disguise. Lendill now looked like Flavio's cousin instead of Flavio.
"Why are you jealous?" Lendill had already gone to bed inside his bedroom—we had a three-bed suite inside one of the nicer hotels in Rezael. Reemagar had accomplished that for me, too, fabricating a new credit chip for each of us, and all of it tied to an account that Adam set up for us at one of the banks on Le-Ath Veronis. The funds would eventually be paid out of my account; Norian said the Alliance would reimburse the expenses. I didn't really care because we ended up in a nicer place.
"I want to be jealous of every one of your mates, breah-mul. They are welcome in your bed." Well, Norian might be wrong on one account—I hadn't heard a word from Shadow. I wondered if he and his family were wiping their brows in relief and working to get me out of their system.
"Norian, what do you want? I don’t know whether I'm prepared to add to the mate department."
"You do not care for me."
"Honey, I didn't say that. If I didn't care for you, you'd be shredded instead of getting petted when you make your way into my bed, invited or not."
"Will you pet me now?"
"Honey, come on," I grabbed his arm and dragged him toward my bedroom. "Just keep in mind that petting is all you'll get."
Norian settled into my bed and curled right up as the lion snake. What do you do when a two-hundred pound lion snake curls up in the center of your bed? "Honey, if I roll over on you, it'll be your own fault," I muttered, trying to scoot him over. He didn't budge an inch. Instead, he settled his head on my stomach and closed his eyes in bliss when I stroked his face. When I woke the next morning, his head was right under my chin—I'd rolled over on my side and he hadn't turned a scale in response.
"No, cheah-mul, not yet," Norian changed in a blink and wrapped his arms around me when I tried to slide off the bed. His arms were warm around me in the chill air of our hotel room—Lendill had set the temperature, so he obviously liked it cooler. He had no way of knowing about Norian's penchant for warmer air.
"Norian, you're naked." I was pointing out the obvious.
"Yes. Isn't it wonderful?" He nuzzled my chin and neck, then wandered toward my mouth.
"I thought we were only petting."
"You are not petting anything at the moment." He lifted himself over my body. "Don't turn me out. I'm begging you."