"Because I don't know who they are," he muttered angrily. "I was taken away from them—stolen and thrown into a cage, because my kind aren't supposed to make poison until they turn nine. I was four, Lissa Beth, and somebody wanted to add a lion snake shapeshifter to his menagerie. They had to capture a child, because the adults were too dangerous. The starship I was hauled away on was boarded by Alliance Security. I was too young to tell them where I was from, and with very little information available, they couldn't return me to my parents." He shook his head.

"Understandably, those of my kind remain hidden. My disappearance may have been reported locally on the planet of my birth, but there was no reason to believe I might be transported away—children can be stolen anywhere, but the expense of shipping them offworld is usually too much to consider. Unless the child is very special, that is, and my parents would probably not reveal that information. Child abductions are generally not handled by the ASD."

"Norian, this sounds like a tragedy in the making," I sighed.

"It was—on the first full moon, the Alliance officers discovered what I was and I know they discussed killing me. They did not, so I was raised in a laboratory, almost. There were a few I cared for as I grew up, but not many. They were frightened of me, breah-mul. Frightened of what I became. It affected their treatment of me. Yes, I realize it is unusual for me to be working for them now, but one of the Charter Members approached me after I was old enough to apply for ASD officer training, and suggested it might be a good fit. That is why I am here, now. And hopeful, now, too, that you may run across my parents one day. We live a long life, Lissa Beth. I am one hundred sixteen and I expect to live for centuries unless I am killed."

"Are you afraid of me?" I asked.

"Lissa Beth, I am only afraid that you will reject me and turn me out of your palace."

"What about that temper of yours, Nori? Will you be angry enough to sink those fangs of yours into me someday?"

Norian rose from his chair, walked around his desk and sank to a knee beside my chair. "Lissa Beth, you hurt me to even suggest that. Yes, I anger quickly—I think it is part of what I am. I have never killed anyone except criminals. They died swiftly, breah-mul. Much like those you kill." He lifted one of my hands and kissed it, setting it on the arm of my chair before turning before my eyes, his clothing dropping away from his snake form. I sat there as he tilted forward until his head lay on my shoulder, and when I didn't object, he slid slowly around the back of my neck, his head coming to rest on my breast on the opposite side. I reached up and stroked his head gently—his scales were smooth and cool under my hand. He closed his eyes under my touch—it must have been so hard for him as a child, knowing that none of those who raised him would touch him like this.

"Norian, we have work to do," I sighed. "And I haven't eaten, yet. Dinner sort of got ruined for me."

"So I have to get dressed again?" Norian was back to humanoid, and he cursed softly under his breath while he reached for his clothes.

"You can come with me as lion snake," I offered. "I just don't know how the kitchen staff might feel about that when we show up to raid the fridge."

"Will you feed me? I didn't get much to eat earlier either—I was too busy listening to the debate. What does Saa Thalarr mean?"

"You heard that?" Norian still hadn't made any effort to put clothes on and he wasn't trying to hide anything from me. I'll be honest; my eyes kept straying to certain parts of his anatomy. Finally, I slapped a hand over my eyes. "Norian, either get dressed or turn. I can't keep myself from staring and that's not polite."

Norian laughed, lifted my hand away from my eyes, gave me a quick kiss and turned to his twelve-foot alter ego. His head came up to my waist as he slithered along the marble hall toward the kitchens. If any of my guards thought to question, they kept the words behind their teeth.

Norian ate an entire roasted chicken as a snake. Yeah, just worked his flexible lower jaw somehow and swallowed the whole carcass. "Are you trying to freak me out?" I asked as I ate a drumstick I'd wrestled away from him at the last minute. "If you are, remember you're talking to the woman who can and does drink blood for meals." I watched in fascination as the lump that was the chicken slid its way down his torso. If a snake could smile, I think Norian would have been smiling, right then.

Norian went to his office while I went to mine after we ate and I was signing papers and muttering to myself when Rigo found me. "Tiessa, this was supposed to be our day," he grumbled as he settled on the side of my desk.

"Funny how that got fucked up, isn't it?" I grumped and straightened a pile of signed papers. Grant and Heathe would have to sort through them in the morning and make sure they went to the proper places. Rigo didn't say anything; he began removing clothing instead. His first, and then mine. He pulled me onto the floor after that and settled me on his lap, facing him. If I hadn't thought to shield and soundproof my study before things became noisy, just about anybody, with or without vampire hearing, would have known what was going on.

* * *

"Normally, I am happy to rise. That has changed." Rigo was talking before my eyes opened. I heard and understood, for the most part. He just wasn't used to someone taking this long to wake.

"Give her a minute—she wakes very slowly," Drew chuckled at the side of the bed. I caught his and Drake's scent, now—they were making up for last night. I was scowling when I opened my eyes.

"Honey, what do you want?" I gave Drake a baleful glance.

"Breakfast at the strawberry farm," Drew said. "Get your clothes on, itty-bitty pants."

Rigo managed to chase the twins out so we could get a shower; he didn't want to rush off to breakfast, either. When we arrived at the strawberry farm, I saw that Shadow had come to breakfast. At least his father and grandfather hadn't come.

"Baby, I want to talk to you after we eat," he said softly as Drake and Drew managed to herd me to a chair between Shadow and Rigo. I felt like smacking my twins for doing this to me. This should have been Rigo's time. Yeah, I felt awkward over the whole thing. Cheedas and two assistants had been brought from the palace; they were happy to be cooking on the light side of the planet for a change.

"Raona, you are not eating." Cheedas tapped the island in front of me. That's where we were having breakfast—the overly large island in the kitchen.

"I'm not very hungry," I said. I didn't want him to feel bad—I had a monopoly on that emotion right then.

"Here," Shadow lifted our plates and folded us away. We ended up in my suite.

"This isn't awkward or anything," I muttered, folding arms tightly across my chest.

"Lissa, this is a fucked up mess." Shadow set our plates down on my bedside table and reached out for me. I wasn't sure I wanted to be touched by anyone from Grey House right then. "Baby, please don't pull away from me." Shadow wasn't letting me get away. "I know Dad and Grampa have managed to do major damage. Tell me they haven't killed our love. Tell me that." He pulled me against him and kissed the top of my head. I was crying by that time. Shadow was telling me how much he loved me. Telling me he should have come himself, instead of allowing his father and grandfather to deliver the news. Especially when I was so weak.

"I won't be going back to Grey House," I tried to wipe tears off my face. Shadow did it for me. "And when am I supposed to answer to the fuck up on Cloudsong? When, Shadow? Your grandfather and father dragged me into that mess, didn't they? I don't see them here, apologizing."

"They want to, but I didn't think you'd be willing. Not for a while." His gray eyes were troubled as he tried to lift my face to look at him. I was having difficulty with that.

"What are you going to do with Melida? What do your father and grandfather plan to do with her?"

"Ship her out of Grey House as quickly as possible, but we have to get this other thing resolved first."

"And what if we're forced to hand our profits over to Cloudsong for the next fifty years?" I asked angrily. My Casino owners wouldn't stand for that, and I didn't expect them to.

"Dad and Grampa hope to make some sort of deal—offering five years instead of fifty, and see where that gets us."

"Nobody here would settle for even one year, let alone starting the bidding at five," I tried to extricate myself from Shadow's embrace. "The Casino owners make good money, but they'll leave this place behind if they find out this is in the works. Cloudsong may cut its own throat where Le-Ath Veronis is concerned."

"I'd like to go back in time, snatch Findal up and beat the hell out of him," Shadow muttered, pulling me closer. "And I know I shouldn't be thinking this, but I'd honestly like to punch Dad and Grampa Glendes both."

"Yeah, I know about the betrayal from the father bit," I bumped my forehead against Shadow's chest.

"We can go stand outside the Green Fae village," Shadow suggested. He'd known what I was talking about. That's how we ended up standing under my favorite tree while a light rain fell around us. Shadow has some wizard's trick where he can shield himself and anyone standing with him from the rain, so we were dry as we watched the village. Little was going on since it was raining—the Green Fae work in sunlight, mostly. It gives them their power. Since we didn't see any sign of Toff and Redbird, I folded Shadow to my beach house, where Poradina and Evaline were. The apprentice surrogate Larentii was there with them, so I introduced myself.

"Thank you for sending Daragar," Poradina was extremely happy with the Larentii, I could tell.

"I didn't have anything to do with that," I gave her an honest answer. Shadow had a light in his eyes as he watched the two women. Well, it was a bit soon, I think, for him to start talking surrogate with me. He and I had other business to take care of before we considered that—if we ever did consider it.