"Things have been unsettled since Toff was taken."
"Yet I hold hope that my child will come home one day. As does the Queen."
"Yes, betrayal by a member of your family is the hardest to accept, is it not?" Markoff patted Roff's shoulder and moved away. "Lissa's own father placed Toff in harm's way and now she barely speaks of him. I hear he is not welcome on Le-Ath Veronis."
"That is true, although she has not formally banished him. I worry for my child, Markoff. I don't think the Queen will be unjust in her judgment; it is the Council I worry about. This may be treason in their eyes, and they may not be kind."
"I had not thought of that," Markoff blew out a sigh.
"There are a handful of crimes that the Council is compelled to vote on and those are treason, murder and drinking from a child. The death penalty is involved in each of those crimes. Markoff, I am frightened."
"How would you feel, brother, if this were not Giff, but another who almost caused the death of our Queen?" Markoff was attempting to be objective, though it was also causing him pain.
"I would be angry, and out for blood." Roff rustled his wings. "But this is my child and my heart bleeds."
"I know it does. Dariff and I are holding our breath until the Queen returns. Do you have any idea when that might be?"
"None. And Rolfe goes about the palace like a ghost. This has brought great harm to him. How did this happen? Tell me what brought this to our door?"
* * *
Ildevar Wyyld wasn't taking any chances. He was performing the ceremony himself, just as quickly as he could. Norian and I stood in front of him as he gave the words of binding. Norian got his ring—I placed the gold claw crown signet myself. Norian had a ring for me—don't ask me where he got it. It slid onto the finger where Gabron's had once been.
Yes, I knew that Aryn had once been Gabron. Kifirin had accomplished that, somehow. But he had done too much harm to our relationship, and I didn't know if things would ever be right between us. In the meantime, I pretended not to know. Ildevar smiled at Norian and when the ceremony was over, the Twenty Charter members folded in and witnessed Ildevar's naming of Norian as his heir. Norian received a second ring for that—it bore the crest of Wyyld. Ildevar wore one identical to it.
"Congratulations, honey," I gave Norian a peck on the cheek.
"Is that all I get?" He pretended to be hurt.
"Norian, the Twenty Charter members are watching," I muttered. Norian grinned.
"Perhaps you should take some time for yourselves," Ildevar suggested, placing a hand on both our shoulders. He was smiling benignly at us. It boggled my mind, seeing a Copper Ra'Ak act in a civilized manner. The others were the same—they were sipping wine and talking. Lendill was there, of course, and he was beaming.
"I never thought to see Norian mated," Lendill said. He had a glass of wine, too.
"And I have my doubts about you," Norian teased his second-in-command.
"I thought I was going to have to call you Rych for the rest of your life," I did a little teasing, too.
"Thank the stars that didn't come to pass." He still kept the face that we'd given him, though. He said he liked it better. Well, it certainly drew more women.
"Norian, let's go looking for your family." I don't know why it came out of my mouth, it just did. I suppose it was my way of ignoring the fact that I was expected on Le-Ath Veronis—a betrayer had to be named and an accounting taken, and I didn't want to face that pain right away.
"I don't even know what planet I came from," Norian muttered.
"Honey, I can find that. We'll just have to locate your family after that. All right? Do you want to do this?" I couldn't believe the hope in Norian's eyes. "Come on, pack your bag and we'll go." I dragged Norian away. Lendill was smiling and talking with Ildevar Wyyld when we left.
* * *
"Are you sure this is the right place?" Norian glanced around the hotel suite we'd booked. Phinerris boasted good food, great wine and provided grain crops to many Alliance worlds. They were blessed with rich soil, a mild climate over most of its surface, three large oceans, plenty of seafood and the usual humanoid population. With a few exceptions.
A thriving community of shapeshifters lived there. They resided on the outskirts of the city where we'd rented our hotel room. They had farms there, and raised wheat. Yeah, lion snake shapeshifters grew wheat. I thought back briefly to the wheat field I'd dug Winkler out of, shortly after being turned vampire. The sun had come along after I'd gotten him out and almost fried me. I couldn't recall being in a wheat field since then.
I'd Looked to find Norian's birth planet, but intended to go through regular channels after that to find his family—I really wasn't in any hurry to go back to Le-Ath Veronis. "I almost died in a wheat field once," I said as Norian hung his shirts inside our small closet. We'd brought enough clothing for four days; I hoped it was going to be enough. My thoughts had turned back to lion snake shapeshifters and the wheat they grew on Phinerris as I watched Norian perform mundane duties. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I'd just added to the mate department, too. I had enough mates to field a football team, with a few reserves.
"Breah-mul?" Norian turned to me. I had to explain about the wheat field. He was staring at me when I was finished.
"It's nothing to worry over," I said, patting his face. He didn't look as if he believed me. "Do they have records that go back to when you were taken?" I asked, changing the subject. Norian was one hundred sixteen, according to his calculations. I wanted to know if we might be able to trace his parents through the records—surely they'd reported his disappearance.
"We may have to do some digging. Phinerris has had good record-keeping technology for centuries, now. Everything depends on whether they keep those records in an accessible form for the public."
"Well, let's hope they do. Are you hungry?" I looked up at him. He smiled nervously at me. I think Norian, now that it was a possibility, was both excited and terrified to find his family.
"Honey if your family is here, we'll find them. Surely they'll be happy to see you."
"We'll find out first, before we approach them." Norian herded me from our hotel room. We found a restaurant nearby and Norian ordered half a chicken, I think, but only ate part of it. As it turns out, we should have shared an order—neither of us did justice to our meal that night. Norian crawled into bed as lion snake and huddled against me, his head resting between my br**sts the whole night. I did my best to reassure him, but I don't think either of us slept much.