"We will bring an apprentice Larentii surrogate next week—this will be good training for Daragar," Connegar smiled brightly.

"What will a Larentii do for us?" Poradina asked. She was very curious, but wasn't rejecting the idea.

"He will help with the morning illness and will trill for you if it is needed," Reemagar replied.

"What is trilling?" Evaline wanted to know.

"Only the most restful sound in the universes," I answered her question. "If they do it for me, I fall asleep in no time."

"It is for the mothers, mostly, but it will soothe any female if it is needed," Connegar explained. "We love our mate and that is why we do it."

"That's so nice of you, honey," I reached up and hugged his waist.

"We will take our mate, now. Let the comesuli know if you require anything," Reemagar said before folding me away.

* * *

"First of all, I don't see how they could do this, and to name Lissa as part of this and attempt to extort money from her is preposterous!" Shadow was ready to take the workshop apart.

"Any legal counsel will attempt this—to get as many parties involved as possible. They're looking at not only how profitable Grey House is, but Le-Ath Veronis as well. If Marid and Melida were aware of Findal's perfidy, then they plotted this out well. I know you haven't been to bed with her—Shannon verified it for me," Raffian held up a hand to hold off Shadow's ready complaint. "But Melida got pregnant somehow. Who knows how that happened? This is so confusing," Raffian muttered angrily, pinching the bridge of his nose to stave off an impending headache.

"Mom says it had to happen sometime before Melida got here. They wanted insurance and they went to great lengths to get it," Shadow pointed out. "This is to keep Marid's head and body connected. We know that, now, but what is Lissa going to do when she discovers she's been dragged into this?" Shadow felt sick. Before the package had arrived from Cloudsong, he'd been toying with the idea of approaching Lissa and trying to apologize, just to see if he couldn't repair things in some way. Marid and Melida were going to destroy any chance he might have with Lissa.

"Son, if it makes you feel any better, we moved too quickly on this—your grandfather and I. I heard from Kyler that Lissa has two surrogates pregnant right now—her Larentii received permission to manipulate the DNA in two donor eggs and now Gardevik and Erland Morphis are going to be parents with Lissa. They might have done this for you, too. We've managed to fuck this up all the way around and now that Cloudsong is attempting to get judgment against us and Lissa as well, I think you know what the outcome is likely to be where Lissa is concerned."

"Yeah, Dad. That has already crossed my mind."

Chapter 6

"What is this?" Rigo was almost afraid to take the small box I held out to him.

"Something you have waited for," Thurlow was there in a flash of light. It's a good thing he doesn't feel jealousy. I'd called Rigo to my study and asked Grant and Heathe to leave us alone for a little while. Too bad Thurlow can go anywhere he likes, being what he is and all.

"You were approved by the others," I said, as Rigo opened the box. The gold signet ring bearing the claw crown crest nestled inside. I'd had to Look to get it made in the proper size. I'd had a second ring made, too—in Norian's size. My mind was turning to him more and more often, lately. He'd wiggled his way into my heart, and not in any traditional manner. I was going to give it a while, as Roff suggested, but I didn't know how long I could hold out. I had already warned the inner circle and the palace guards and comesuli not to harm any lion snake they might come across—lion snakes weren't native to Le-Ath Veronis. Somehow, Norian had heard of it and came to dinner grinning hugely.

"Tiessa, is this real?" Rigo was having trouble breathing, I think.

"Honey, it's real," I said.

"I want you to place it on my finger."

"All right. This is for my love," I took his left hand and slid the ring onto his finger.

"And this is for mine," Rigo leaned down and kissed me. Thurlow disappeared just as suddenly as he'd shown up and Rigo was too eager, even, to allow me to fold us to my suite. It's a good thing the sofa in my study is long and comfortable. Rigo wasn't satisfied until he'd touched every part of me. I gave him permission to bite and he was so gentle I didn't even feel it. We were both nearly asleep when I managed to fold us to my suite.

* * *

Several kinds of news waited for me when Rigo and I arrived for dinner. I expected Drake and Drew to snicker and tease me a little, but that didn't happen. All the news I got was bad. I wondered why Raffian, Shadow, Glendes, Kyler and Cleo had come to dinner—I hadn't invited them and honestly, three out of that five weren't particularly welcome on Le-Ath Veronis at the moment. Erland and Wylend folded in as I was sitting down, as did Merrill, Kiarra, Adam and Wlodek.

"We know an apology won't be appreciated or accepted right now," Glendes began as the first course was laid before us. I had to hold a snort back—right then they were imposing on my good graces by being at my table uninvited. I watched Shadow—I couldn't help it—but he was staring at his plate and not eating.

"We never expected anything like this to happen; it is completely unprecedented," Raffian went on. "At no other time have we or any other wizard clan dealt with something like this."

"Then maybe you should stop beating around the bush and just tell me," I said, setting my fork down. They were destroying what should have been a good day for Rigo and me. Gavin was frowning deeply from his seat next to Rigo, and I think Norian would have given anything at that moment to be able to send mindspeech. Wylend looked like a thundercloud and Erland was ready with the thunder and lightning. Garde must have gotten mindspeech from somebody, because he skipped in late for dinner.

"This begins with Findal, Melida's wizard mate and the contract he signed with Kenderlin of Cloudsong to protect Brandelin, the royal heir," Glendes said. "Cloudsong is one of the few worlds which require this sort of contract—in fact, it is this that kept them out of the Alliance forty years ago. They weren't willing to give up the rights, if you can call them that."

"What he means, Lissa, is that where the safety and well-being of Cloudsong's crown or its heirs are concerned, they make sure that the ones they contract with only have the best interests of the crown at heart," Merrill took up the explanation. "Cloudsong requires that the wizard and the wizard's head of household, if there is one, sign the contract. If the wizard willfully fails in his duty to protect or perform, then their life is forfeit, as well as the life of the head of their household. This is their way of making sure the lives of the crown are protected."

"So? What does this have to do with me?" I asked. I hadn't signed a contract with Cloudsong, and I wasn't the head of any household involved.

"It has to do with Findal, Melida's deceased spouse," Glendes said.

"Melida being the one who can have babies." I didn't hold the snort back that time.

"Yes. That is indeed the one," Glendes nodded. "King Kenderlin of Cloudsong learned recently that Findal joined Black Mist to take down the crown Prince. Both Brandelin and Findal died in the ambush, when Findal gave away their location. Kenderlin demanded the blood price against Marid, Melida's father, as head of household for the Belancour Wizards. Unfortunately, Melida had already come to Shadow and the marriage had taken place. In the contract Grey House signed with Marid of Belancour, I am not only Melida's new head of household, but we agreed to take on any debts that Melida and Findal incurred. At the time of my signing, the debts were insignificant."

"So those fuckers are now after your head?" I was about to come out of my seat. Rigo placed a careful hand over mine to hold me down.

"The communication we received from Cloudsong's legal counsel informs us that they are being generous, as they realize we had nothing to do with Brandelin's death—they are merely demanding all proceeds from our work for the next fifty years and all profits from Le-Ath Veronis for the same amount of time."

"And how are they connecting my mate to all this?" Kifirin was suddenly in the dining room, blowing smoke and ready to go Thifilathi, I think. Everybody needed to get the hell out if that happened.

"They learned of Shadow and Lissa, most likely from Marid," Raffian replied carefully. "Since Shadow still wears Lissa's ring, Cloudsong intends to reap as much profit from this as they can. They are demanding their price from anyone involved and they feel this includes Lissa, as Shadow's mate. Shadow is also listed as Melida's mate of record. Melida managed to get herself pregnant before she came to us, so she'd have an ironclad reason to stay mated to Shadow. The child isn't his, but Cloudsong doesn't recognize DNA evidence or anything of the sort. Any male is responsible for their female mate's child, according to their laws."

"They thought this out well, didn't they, and then they threw the bait your way and reeled you right in." I threw my napkin on the table. "Do they expect me to take this lying down? Because I can assure you, I will not. If you'll get miss pregnant pants in front of me in the next five minutes, we'll find out whose baby it is."

"Lissa, we can't do that; when we mentioned it to her before in an attempt to discover who fathered her child, she went into hysterics and Selkirk had to place her in a healing sleep. She seems terrified of vampires."

"She may have reason to be," Gavin growled.

"Gavin, you and Anthony gave an oath when you were brought in as auxiliary Spawn Hunters," Kiarra said. "You are not allowed to confront these—it is not a direct attack against your mate." Well, I was learning something new, I think. I didn't know there were oaths attached to their signing up with the Saa Thalarr.