"Avilepha, listen to me—you will know when the time is right for you to act on such things—it is the way you were made," Kifirin was kneeling in front of me after fixing what I'd destroyed in the guesthouse. "You were restless, yes, but it was not calling out to you as it should have been, if you needed to help. Stop blaming yourself, my love." He raised a hand to touch my face and I didn't jerk away from him. Norian didn't want to leave, I could tell, but Rych, who could now use his old name again if he wanted, pulled him away and left Kifirin and me alone.
"Kifirin, how many times are we going to make love when I'm still crying?" I sniffled as he got me settled on the bed.
"As many times as it takes," he murmured and brushed his mouth over mine.
* * *
Kifirin was gone the second time I woke; it was late afternoon when I jerked upright in bed with a gasp. Kifirin must have put me in a healing sleep to keep me down that long. I heard Norian and Lendill talking in the tiny kitchen down the hall. Hoping that the people of Trell hadn't suffered when they died, I slid off the bed and forced myself to clean up and dress.
"Look who's awake," Lendill said.
"Can I call you Lendill, now, or are you sticking with the other name?" I sounded grumpy, even to my own ears. How was I supposed to be? Sunshine and light?
"You can call me anything you want, little Queen." Lendill nodded to me. "Would you like something to eat?"
"I really don't feel like eating," I muttered. I got tea and toast anyway, and Norian watched me closely until I nibbled on the toast. Ungratefully, I admitted to myself that our argument was now moot—it didn't matter anymore that our cover was blown. "How many of yours did you lose, Norian?" I asked instead.
"Lissa, do not add their deaths to that pile of guilt you're racking up against yourself," Norian chastised me and then winced. "Breah-mul, I did not mean it to sound like that." Lendill was now staring at Norian after he'd let the endearment slip in front of him.
"Get used to it, Lendill Schaff," a new voice sounded outside our kitchen. The owner of the voice walked in and I immediately placed myself between Norian, Lendill and the newcomer, fangs and claws out, eyes red and hissing for all I was worth. I was staring at a Copper Ra'Ak in humanoid form.
Chapter 10
Several things happened at once; Lendill stood and bowed low, Norian was trying to get to me (which was mighty brave—nobody should try to approach a vampire when they're hissing, with claws and fangs bared) and the Ra'Ak was trying to explain.
"Lissa Beth!" Norian was doing a little hissing of his own (he comes by it honestly). "This is Ildevar Wyyld!"
I turned my reddened eyes on Norian for the barest second before turning them right back to Ildevar Wyyld. "What did you have for breakfast this morning, Deonus Wyyld?" I hissed around my fangs.
"I didn't have breakfast this morning, but I have a sheep every third day, or a cow or something similar, upon occasion," he smiled at me. "I knew I couldn't fool you, little Queen." He smiled—actually smiled—at me.
"Uh-huh," I muttered sarcastically. "I've only met one of your kind who wasn't murderous in the extreme."
"You know of one other?" Ildevar Wyyld looked at me, a speculative light in his eyes. He wasn't bad looking as a humanoid—with dark-blond hair, brown eyes and dimples when he smiled. Tall, too—around six feet or better.
"Yeah. But that information won't be coming from me." Gilfraith's secret was safe. I began to wonder, though, why Kifirin had left me there, if he knew there was a Ra'Ak—surely, he'd known what Ildevar Wyyld really was.
"Lissa, I would very much like to speak with you in private on this matter," Ildevar Wyyld informed me, beckoning with a hand. I didn't want to go anywhere with him.
"Little Queen, you are safe, I promise. I realize that a promise might not mean much to you, but if you knew me better, you'd know that I keep my word. I have known Norian for a very long time and you see he is still whole."
"He might not be for long," I gave Norian a dark look. How could he not know what Ildevar Wyyld was? How could he not?
"Now, I cannot have you harming my Director," Ildevar was smiling again. "Please. I have held this position since the beginning of the Alliance and have been what I am much longer than that. Hear me out at least, before you make up your mind about me."
"Fine," I muttered. Norian frowned at me, but he and Lendill left the guesthouse. Ildevar waited several minutes before he said anything.
"They are out of hearing now. I know you know what I am, little Queen. Norian and Lendill only suspect that I belong to an ancient race. They have no idea what I really am. Please, sit and make yourself comfortable," he gestured with a hand. "I know your vampirism makes you strong, but to me you seem small and frail. Please sit. Would you like more tea?"
"No," I muttered and sat on a stool at the small kitchen table. I got tea anyway and watched Ildevar Wyyld closely while he made it. That seemed to amuse him. He laced it generously with honey before placing the fresh mug in front of me and sitting at the table on the opposite side.
"I am Ra'Ak." That was his first statement. I snorted in response. It made him smile. "I know you have met my younger cousins," he went on. "I and a handful like me are from an earlier time. When the Copper Ra'Ak were the protectors, so to speak, of the Black Ra'Ak. Coming from Earth, you might call us muscle." That statement amused him no end, I could tell. "Not that we didn't possess intelligence. Many of us did and employed it, even, from time to time. Is your tea to your liking?" He nodded to my mug—I still hadn't tasted it. I did so now.
"It's lovely," I mumbled ungratefully, setting the cup down again.
"Good. I haven't lost my touch." He rested his elbows on the table. "The Twenty Charter Members of the Alliance are exactly what I am, Queen Lissa. A Copper Ra'Ak, before the fall of the Copper Ra'Ak. The youngest among us is two hundred thousand years old. I am three times his age. When our cousins started breaking away from Kifirin's teachings—yes, I know who he is and that he was here earlier—Norian told me. Well, to make a lengthy tale shorter, we did not like the direction our race was headed, so we broke away before one of ours set himself up as Prince and began watching all his underlings. He never touched us. It meant breaking away from Youon, the Black Ra'Ak King as well, but at the time, he was ignoring what his Copper subjects were doing. He continued to ignore them until they became unmanageable and eventually destroyed their Black brothers. By that time, the twenty others and I were already set up here—all our worlds are close together in case we need to help one another. We settled on what was then sparsely populated worlds. That has changed as you can see. We have thriving populations, now, and sustainable industry. We protect our humanoids."