"How many other wizards or warlocks?" Erland continued his questioning while receiving mindspeech from Wylend, who was issuing a bounty on Zellar immediately.

"I only know of three." Pearlina pouted.

"Who gave you the information about the Queen?" Gardevik snarled. He was about to snatch up the bitch and squeeze her until she died.

"That comesula that comes into my shop to buy. Thinks of himself as female and buys dresses. That one. I don't know his name." To Pearlina, all comesuli were male.

Gavin had been listening patiently while the others questioned the Black Mist spy. He slammed his fist into the stone walls of the dungeon, breaking rock with the blow. He knew now who the culprit was, as did the others.

* * *

"Rolfe, what do you tell Giff, regarding the Queen?" Wlodek had been brought in for this. He liked it as little as the others, but this was where it started. Rolfe, as Spawn Hunter for the Saa Thalarr, could not lie. He wouldn't have been able to ignore Wlodek's compulsion, either, had the former Head of the Council chosen to employ it.

"Anything she asks," Rolfe admitted. He was beginning to worry. The Saa Thalarr all knew, as did the Spawn Hunters, that Lissa was still alive. The Larentii had confirmed it.

"And she wanted to know where the Queen was, didn't she?" Wlodek sat on the edge of Lissa's desk, toying with a handheld comp-vid lying upon it.

"I had no reason at the time to keep that information from her."

"She likes to gossip with the dress shop employee where she buys her clothing." Wlodek wasn't accusing Rolfe. He might have done the same in Rolfe's place.

"I suspected as much—she spends much time there, when she shops."

"And much money." The inner circle had already researched the financial records.

"Yes."

"The shop employee was a Black Mist spy. Giff supplied information on the Queen's whereabouts. Trell was blown to bits when Black Mist tried to kill Lissa."

"Kill me. I beg you not to harm Giff." Rolfe slid to his knees in front of the former head of the Vampire Council.

"Rolfe, I think that will be for the Queen to decide. In the meantime, you can either place compulsion on Giff or we can lock her in the dungeon. Which would you prefer?" Wlodek looked down at Rolfe's bowed head. Rolfe would be the one to suffer over this. Along with six-hundred-million people, whose lives were snuffed out in a blink.

"I will place compulsion." Rolfe sounded defeated.

* * *

"Lissa Beth, can we have dinner in your suite?" Norian stood beside me as I gazed over the gardens outside Ildevar Wyyld's palace. Ildevar had servants, but they were few and discreet. Guards were stationed along the outer walls, but there weren't many inside the walls. Ildevar protected himself, I was pretty sure.

Norian was dressed better than I'd ever seen him dress. Fine fabrics replaced the sturdy uniform he normally wore, which consisted of black pants, boots and gray shirt. He looked good in a white silk tunic with a long, finely woven green vest. Linen pants in a darker green rounded out the outfit—it was the Wyyldan style of dress. The servants wore a plainer, pared-down version of it. Ildevar was dressed similarly to Norian, I'd noticed.

"You stay here, when you're not on assignment," I said, only now realizing it. It made sense—if Ildevar wanted Norian as his heir.

"I do. Deonus Wyyld was one of the few who was kind to me when I was young. He offered a place to stay and told me to keep it."

"You look nice," I fingered the fabric of his vest.

"You look beautiful. But you always look beautiful."

"Honey, I don't think I looked very good with fangs and claws out," I sighed.

"Lissa, that is what you are. Just as I am what I am, when I turn."

"Are you ever in a place where you feel comfortable turning?" I wanted to touch his face, but held back.

"I've gone to the jungles on a few worlds when I have time off. I can turn there without worrying about it. When I turned inside your palace and crawled alongside you, that was a first for me. It was the first time I was able—and welcome—to do that with people all around me. I didn't know that Le-Ath Veronis would be the place to welcome a shape-shifting lion snake."

"Ask Drake and Drew to turn for you, sometime," I said.

"The Falchani? I didn't know they were shapeshifters." Norian put his arm around me as we both surveyed the gardens below. My suite was three stories up, with a lovely view. Ildevar, Ra'Ak that he was, seemed to appreciate flowers and ornamental shrubs just as much as anyone.

"They're not—not normally," I answered Norian's question regarding the twins. "Those dragon tattoos aren't just for show, you know."

"They turn to dragons? How?" Norian turned me to look at him, and I was folded into his arms, my hands against his chest. Green eyes studied my face while a whisper of a smile tugged at his mouth.

"It's what they are. I'll tell you about it soon, I promise."

"Lissa Beth, why do I get the idea there's more here than even I suspect?" He pulled my head against his shoulder.

"Because you're a smart man," My voice was muffled against his vest.

"Have dinner with me in your suite."

"All right. You just want me to feed you, don't you?" I pulled away to watch his face.

"You know it." A cheeky grin followed that remark.

"What are we having?"

"Lamb, I think."

"I hope it's cooked."

"It is."

"Good."

* * *

"Honey, I don't know that you can swallow this. Let me take it off the bone, first." Norian, in his lion snake persona, was impatiently waiting for me to feed him. I tore off pieces of tender lamb and fed him by hand. He kept his fangs back and ate what I offered. He was also dipping his forked tongue in a wineglass.

"What am I supposed to do with an inebriated snake?" I asked. He was getting into the wine pretty good. When he was finished eating and drinking, he draped himself over my shoulder while I ate.

"You're not finished already?" I'd pushed my plate away and now had a naked Norian Keef draped over my shoulder. His arms came around me as he kissed the side of my neck.

"I'm not very hungry," I said, attempting to shrug away from his embrace.

"Yes you are," he coaxed. He moved around until he was sitting on the small table I had inside my suite. I had to avert my eyes from certain parts of him. "I can feed you," he offered.

"Norian."

"Lissa Beth. Breah-mul. Cheah-mul. Deah-mul. If I don't take you back to Le-Ath Veronis in excellent health, all the people waiting for your return will have my head."

"I wouldn't want to be the one trying to take it," I answered honestly.

"Come on, eat a little more. Then I want to sleep with you."

"Uh-huh."

"You know I do. And sleeping isn't all I want to do." He was back to kissing my neck and trying to unbutton my blouse.

"What if I'm not ready?"

"I'll get you there."

"That wasn't what I meant."

"I know." His breath fanned my temple as he deftly unbraided my hair. "I think I'll have to feed you later." He had a hand on a breast, pushing my bra aside and stroking a nipple.

"Norian?"

"What, love?"

"If you're already undressed, what am I supposed to do?"

"Play with this." He placed my hand himself and kept on kissing.

* * *

What do you say when your Ra'Ak host is there, smiling as if he'd won the lottery the following morning at breakfast? Hi, how are you? Yes, we fooled around? Norian was piling a plate with food and shoving it in front of me.

"Honey, I can't eat all that," I protested.

"You didn't finish your dinner last night."

"I was hoping you'd forget."

"Lissa Beth."

"Norian."

Ildevar Wyyld faded from the room like a shadow at twilight. Norian was kissing me between feeding me rolls and bits of ham. He turned, allowing his clothes to drop away, and I was feeding him. He loved being hand-fed in his lion snake form. I wondered if that went back to his childhood, somehow. Did his mother feed him like that? Maybe I'd check on it, if I could get Norian to answer questions. I ran fingers over his head and down his body. He really liked that.

We were interrupted moments later by mindspeech from Lendill. We know how Trell was destroyed—it was a Ranos Cannon, held by the Liffelithi, he sent. The Agency located their ship as it was leaving the Alliance, and we have coordinates. Norian turned in a blink, and I was standing, ready to go. Norian dressed quickly, and Lendill joined us in seconds.

"Are we going?" Lendill asked. He was ready to go; I saw that right away. He had a weapons belt strapped around him and looked to be all business.

"Let's go," Norian nodded to me. We went.

* * *

The Ranos Cannon was carried inside a monster-sized ship, which was making its way toward Liffel as quickly as it could. The ASD had located the ship as it was speeding toward home, and I'd folded us to it after Lendill showed me where it was on his handheld. The three of us stood inside the ship's cargo hold, which had been renovated to contain the nastiest weapon ever.

While we stared up at the huge cannon that could obliterate an entire planet in seconds, Norian explained conversationally that there was an old saying about Liffel—that two Liffelithi couldn't get along for more than two ticks. After that, they were enemies, until other enemies came along.

Lendill then did his best to describe ranos technology to me—how it worked, who'd invented it—all sorts of things. I was only interested in one thing, though. I was about to take it apart. Then we'd deal with the ones who'd blown Trell to bits. As it was, the ship's sensors had finally discovered us and sirens were going off everywhere—that meant the security team was on its way. I had the three of us shielded quickly and was prepared to turn to mist if necessary.

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