"I can usually tell," I said. "It overlays the scent of their blood. I don't know how it works. It just does."

"Why didn't I know to hook up with a Queen Vampire before?" Norian murmured.

"Not all of them could do this," I said, watching the snow get heavier—I could see larger flakes in the lamplight. "Most of them have been called Queen if they weren't susceptible to compulsion. This is how it was explained to me shortly after I was turned, Norian. I was told that if the queen was good, then she was an asset to the race. If she was bad, she had to be killed. At the moment, I'm the only Queen Vampire that exists, so there isn't a plethora to choose from."

"I heard you were almost killed anyway."

"Norian, don't go there," I shivered at the memory.

"Not your fault, breah-mul." He was behind me, rubbing the back of my neck carefully. "Come on; let's see if we can pick up the same scents elsewhere."

Three more apartments were on the list and I picked up the scent of two from the first place at all three of the others. There were seventeen scents in all—the last place turned out to be a condo, with all three apartments side by side. Nearly all the individual scents held some sort of taint, with the exception of two. I only smelled the blood of those two at the last place. Norian wasn't surprised when I told him.

"Do you think they died here?" he asked, as we stood in the bare living area. All furniture and clothing had been carefully removed from each place.

"I don’t smell their deaths here," I answered, looking around. The walls in this area were white, but all three bedrooms had been painted a red so dark, it was nearly black. To hide blood spatter, no doubt. I showed Norian where the blood spots were and he made a call to someone, asking them to come in the following day and take samples.

"We'll soon know whether we can ID anyone by the blood," he sighed. "I can usually scent blood, but I have to be in my other form."

"Do you do that a lot? Change to investigate a scene?"

"No. Too many chances of being seen," he replied. "Is there anything else here?"

"No."

"Then let's get dinner and turn in. We've had a long day."

* * *

"What do you mean you can't find her?" Viregruz stared at his two most powerful warlocks. "We know she's away from Le-Ath Veronis. Those comesuli of hers should learn not to gossip."

"We hear that even her mates can't find her," Zellar grumbled. "My informants tell me she has come up missing several times and none have been successful at tracking her. Except the Larentii, perhaps, and you know we're not going anywhere near them. There's no way I want my atoms separated." Viregruz merely nodded at Zellar's assessment—even he knew not to approach the Larentii.

"Keep working on this—I'll pay a very generous bonus if you can get any useful information. I want this kill myself, if possible." Viregruz tapped the ends of his fingers together, letting his claws slide out a bit. "Bring me something young for my meal," he added. Zellar and his fellow warlock hurried to obey.

* * *

Norian chose the restaurant and asked for a serving of prime rib—rare. I think he and Winkler would get along very well in the food department. Do all shapeshifters have a high metabolism? I sent to him as I dipped into my chicken dish.

"I think so," he answered aloud. It made me wish he had mindspeech—it might be more comfortable for him. I could give it to him—I held that ability—but that was a step I wasn't ready to contemplate, yet. Norian watched me carefully as he consumed his meal. He ate what I couldn't finish, too.

The snow was thicker, wetter and colder when we left the restaurant, so Norian asked me to get us back to ASD headquarters the quick way. After we left everyone behind who might see us, I did.

The cold doesn't bother me much, but I didn't like slogging through wet snow and Norian liked it even less. I discovered that Norian doesn't like being cold, period. His snake crawled right into bed with me to warm up before he slithered back to his own cubicle to sleep later. I was glad I could hear Lendill snoring the entire time.

* * *

"Dad, she didn't force me away from Le-Ath Veronis and she didn't yell at me." Shadow raked a hand through dark hair as he looked at his father. They were sitting in Glendes' private study and Glendes was watching his grandson and his son. "But if this goes badly on Cloudsong, I think I can forget ever being with Lissa again." Shadow sighed and stood. Glendes had one of the few southern-facing windows cut into the mountain that held Grey House, and Shadow moved toward it to stare down at the valley beneath the mountain. He could see it as it truly was—past the shrouded cloaking spells that presented a blackened hulk of an asteroid to anyone without a very strong wizard's talent to see.

"We can present our case to the crown's legal counsel, but it isn't likely they'll listen to the facts that Lissa isn't legally bound to Grey House. They only see the monetary value in this." Glendes echoed his grandson's sigh. "All the worlds that we do business with are non-Alliance, and they are watching this closely to see if we honor the contractual obligations. If we don't, then this will definitely affect our business dealings in the future. The others will not care whether Le-Ath Veronis is impacted legally. Many of them see it as a gambling world only—they aren't willing to look past the surface to understand that the comesuli and most of the vampires who live there have nothing to do with the casinos." Glendes toyed with an ancient inkbottle on his desk.

"They'll negotiate for the number of years—fifty is unreasonable and they know it," Raffian added. "Five is much more likely, but even that will not sit well with anyone from Le-Ath Veronis. Adam and Merrill are already looking into this. They can weather this storm, but other owners may not. Some will lose all their investment if they have to pay out even a year's worth of profits."

"How can they even be connected to this?" Shadow tossed up a hand.

"Because the crown owns the land the casinos are built on," Glendes replied. "If Lissa had sold the land and all rights to it in the beginning, we wouldn't be worrying over casino owners. There is a clause in the agreements with the owners, stating that Lissa can commandeer all the proceeds from those casinos if she sees fit, as ruler of Le-Ath Veronis. It was meant as a stopgap in case any of the owners or investors turned out to be corrupt. She can seize the casino and distribute proceeds to injured parties, in addition to forcing the owners off Le-Ath Veronis. This has proven to be the legal loophole that Cloudsong has grasped in their greedy claws. Lissa can legally demand all the profits from the casinos for the amount of time Cloudsong requires."

Shadow cursed under his breath. "You know what Melida was doing this morning, Grampa? Do you?"

Glendes knew how angry Shadow was, and he didn't want to stir that anger any more than necessary. "What was she doing, child?"

"Swooning in front of Selkirk at the breakfast table, telling him she felt ill and needed to stay in bed. Selkirk didn't want anything to do with her and when Cleo tried to get close to see if she could find any problem, Melida took off toward her suite like a frightened grouse. She doesn't want Cleo near her for some reason, although Cleo is better than any healer anywhere."

"Perhaps Melida is aware that Cleo is Lissa's niece," Raffian suggested.

"She probably knows that Cleo and Kyler are both Lissa's nieces," Glendes agreed. "And she likely knows that both my daughters hold a great deal of power. She doesn't want anything to happen to this baby. The child will keep her alive, if her father learns what she truly did." Glendes had spoken with Ferrigar. The Larentii Wise Ones had looked into the matter and then provided information to Ferrigar, Head of the Larentii Council, who'd then brought the news to Glendes. Ferrigar was connected by ancient blood to Grey House—Ferrigar's daughter had married a Grey and helped him form Grey House millennia before. Ferrigar still lived; his daughter had given up her life when her husband died.

"This still doesn't do anything for Lissa, except penalize her for even being with me," Shadow growled. "Our name isn't being dragged through the muck over this whole mess, but hers is."

"She's a high-profile Queen from the Reth Alliance," Raffian pointed out.

"You think she wanted that? Do you, Dad?"

"No, son, it's just the way things are. Tamaritha of Twylec didn't get that much attention, though she was swallowed by a Ra'Ak on a live vid feed. The picture didn't go fuzzy until afterward. Nobody saw what Lissa did to the others. Even we don't know what she did. All we know is that she left her body behind for a few weeks."

"Drake and Drew said that the Ra'Ak pooled their strength to destroy Nemizan's sun. Lissa managed to move Nemizan and its sister worlds to another sun." Glendes' eyebrows rose at Shadow's explanation. He might have doubted Shadow's words, except he knew Drake and Drew couldn't lie. None of the Saa Thalarr, their Spawn Hunters or Healers could.

"Has she done anything to prepare for her defense on Cloudsong? The hearing is in two days," Raffian pointed out.

"Nobody knows anything and that ASD Director has hauled her off to Trell to take care of Alliance business there. When has she had time, Dad?" Shadow huffed at the question.

"Do you think she's just going to show up and take whatever is handed out?" Glendes had his own legal counsel—several fifth-level Grey House Wizards handled his legal affairs. They had all sorts of paperwork and arguments at the ready, not least of which was that Melida and Marid hadn't been completely honest or forthright when Melida had come to them, already pregnant. Glendes' contract specifically stipulated Grey House heirs and no others.

In Grey House's opinion, that violated the contract in the beginning and weighed heavily toward a writ of detachment. Either way, as soon as Cloudsong's judgment was passed, Melida would be shipped back to Marid and no further dealings would occur between Grey House and the Wizards of Belancour.