"Merrill," I grumbled, raising my knees. "He so conveniently forgot to tell me about Greg. And now he's one of the Saa Thalarr, isn't he? How does that work?" I sat up in bed, leaning my forehead on my knees. I wasn't sure how I knew Merrill was Saa Thalarr—I just did.
"Lissa, he has fretted over that, I know. We all have regrets, and that is one of his. Wlodek's too, as he is one of us. You will recognize many Saa Thalarr; you knew them before," Karzac sighed softly. "Radomir is here, with Russell, Will and Charles. Weldon Harper came to us, as did Martin Walters. Brock and Stephan are here and mated. Merrill's last two vampire children are here—Joey is a healer and Kyle is Saa Thalarr and mated to Selkirk of Grey House; also a healer, by the way."
"Someone mentioned Grey House to me once," I raised my head and looked at Karzac. "He said the Grey House Wizards were the strongest and most talented of their kind."
"He was correct. Who told you that?" A smile tugged at Karzac's mouth.
"Someone named Erland Morphis," I said. "I only met him for a few minutes." I didn't explain to Karzac that I'd met him forty years in the future, when Kifirin had taken me to the High Demons' planet. Kifirin had known then I was going to die, and he hadn't said anything. I wanted to cry again. Whoever had kept me from dying probably shouldn't have.
"We know Erland," Karzac nodded slightly, winding up the IV line and taking the empty blood bag off the pole beside the bed. He did something with Power—the whole thing disappeared from his hand. I found myself wishing I could do that.
"You can do many things we cannot even attempt," Karzac read my mind.
"Karzac, what am I going to do?" I rubbed my forehead. "Three hundred years are gone. I don't fit in, anymore. I don't belong here."
"Lissa," Karzac took my hand and patted it, his eyes filled with concern, "We'll help. My mates and I will do everything we can."
"Mates?" I turned to Karzac. His green-gold eyes held a far-away look.
"Many things are different now," he admitted, rubbing my hand with a thumb. "While multiple mates have always been recognized by the Saa Thalarr and by the Reth Alliance, those laws have changed on Earth in the past century. It is now legal to have multiple husbands or wives, and in some countries, group marriages are also legal and accepted."
"You said mates," I pointed out. He smiled crookedly.
"Grace and Devin," he agreed. "They share eleven husbands in a blended group. Dragon, Dragon's twin, Crane, and I are members of that group. Radomir, too—you know him—is also one of the eleven. Please tell me you do not find this repugnant." Karzac sounded embarrassed, which was unusual for him. He worried that I'd judge him, somehow.
"Karzac," I pulled my hand away and patted his arm, "If you're happy, I'm happy. And as long as everybody involved is a sane, consenting adult, well, more power to you, I guess."
"That is what the Earth law states—that all participants must be of legal age and sign an agreement that they understand the complexity of the situation," Karzac nodded. "Of course, on Earth, it is still tradition for men to marry multiple wives, but many powerful women have more than one husband. Come to dinner now; I am receiving mindspeech that it is ready and the others are waiting for us," he smiled. "I will introduce you to both my mates—they are eager to meet you. Some of the eleven are away at the moment, so you will not see all of them at once." Karzac rose and helped me off the bed.
"Pot roast, huh?" I hadn't had pot roast in a long time. I hoped it was as good as I remembered it as I followed Karzac downstairs and through a warren of hallways toward the kitchen.
The moment I entered the spacious kitchen, I realized I didn't need my eyes to recognize several seated around the granite island.
"Radomir," I nodded at him. He was grinning at me like a fool, and I'd barely seen him so much as smile before. He looked more relaxed than when I'd seen him last—same dark hair and eyes and same handsome face, but there was something intangible about him that told me he was truly happy. Maybe being Saa Thalarr agreed with him. "You're Adam Chessman's son, Justin," I nodded to a tall man with sandy blond hair. "And you're Martin Walters, Jr." I nodded to the dark-haired, dark-eyed man sitting beside Justin. Both of them stared at me in surprise.
"She knows by the scent," Dragon helped himself to food. Dragon's twin brother Crane sat next to him. Both looked eerily alike, but their scents were slightly different. Dragon said their tattoos were different too, but those were covered by long-sleeved shirts at the moment. Dragon lifted his head and offered a cheeky grin before going back to his plate.
"You must be Crane," I nodded to Dragon's brother. "Dragon told me about you." He smiled politely at me. There were others around the table and Karzac made introductions while he settled me on a stool at the granite-topped island.
"This is Devin," he introduced me to one of the women. Her red hair was a shade or two darker than mine. I drew in a breath—she had Elemaiyan blood. I didn't say anything as she smiled and greeted me. "This is Grace," Karzac identified the other woman at the table. She had honey blonde hair and also smiled at me. Both were beautiful, no doubt about that.
"It's very nice to meet all of you and I didn't mean to hold up dinner. Please, don't mind me," I made a gesture with my hands.
"How do you know me?" Martin Walters, Jr. spoke while buttering a roll. "They call me Mack, by the way."
"I remember that now," I said. "I met you when you were two years old. I already knew your dad; he brought you and your sister to a wedding. Weldon Harper's son, Daryl, was getting married to Kathy Jo Green in North Dakota. I got to hold you."
"They invited a vampire to a werewolf wedding?" Justin asked.
"I was entitled, since I saved Weldon's ass earlier and he made me a member of the Pack afterward. Who knows, maybe my paperwork is still there, somewhere—it did say living or dead."
"May I join you?" A Larentii folded in and it wasn't Pheligar. He'd been the only Larentii I'd seen up until now. This one looked a bit like Pheligar—the hair and eye color was the same. And I knew he was related to Pheligar by his scent.
"I'd love for you to join us—you smell like Pheligar," I said. "And I loved looking at his blue skin; it made me think of the sky when I couldn't see the sky. Except at night."