"When did you start cooking?" Jes was pushing my knees up to stretch the muscles in my legs.

"When I was eight. Edan shoved me into the kitchen to clean but I was watching one of my uncles make pastry. I learned pastry making from Ilvan. In between sweeping the floors and doing dishes after I got out of day class, that is. That's when I still thought Edan was my brother." I grunted as Jes pushed my thigh muscles to the limit before letting the leg back down.

"Reah, you couldn't have been bigger than a tick, how did he abuse that?"

"People often do things that others find impossible," I said. As an ASD operative, I'd seen my share of it. The worst had been a crime kingpin who'd forced his oldest daughter into an incestuous relationship and then had children with her. He was looking to have the same sort of relationship with his oldest granddaughter when we caught up with him. Tory had nearly ripped the man's arm off when he'd tried to escape. Lendill and Norian hadn't even turned a hair over that. The criminal had been sent to Evensun. He probably hadn't survived that.

"What about you? I asked.

"I loved my parents," Jes told me. "And they loved me. I wasn't married—went off-world to study medicine and decided to stay. By the time we really understood that my world was dying, it was quarantined. Nobody could get on or off. It died a quick death, Reah. If I could have paid the black-market traffickers, I might have been able to get my family away from there. I didn't have the money. They're all dead, thanks to Zellar."

"I imagine he has a lot to answer for, if people really do answer for those sorts of things," I said. I was thinking about Kifirin and wondering if he ever involved himself in anything like that.

"The gods are a myth," Jes grumbled.

"Well, hold onto that thought." I patted his arm while he pushed up my other knee.

Chapter 5

"I can't believe he let me go without him," I said. Farzi, Nenzi and Lenden were with me as I walked down a pedestrian street filled with upscale shops. I had a credit chip bracelet too, and Teeg had told me to buy anything I wanted.

"He not wish to lose you," Farzi pointed out.

"I not wish that either," Nenzi grinned. I gave him a hug.

"I have no desire to lose sight of you either," Lenden offered. I looked up into his green eyes. They were nearly the same color as mine. Well, he was my bodyguard for the day—Teeg was paying him not to lose sight of me.

"Nenzi needs haircut," Nenzi stopped outside a hairdresser's shop.

"Then we'll get you a haircut," I pulled him inside. Farzi and Lenden were forced to follow. Just to make things look normal, I got my hair washed and my bangs trimmed.

"Where did these scars come from?" My hairdresser had found Tory's claiming marks.

"That's a long story," I said. I wasn't about to tell her anything about them. She shrugged and kept washing my hair. Farzi and Lenden sat off to the side, watching while Nenzi and I were worked on at the same time. It wasn't until we sat down at a sidewalk café later to have a cool drink that Lenden voiced his question.

"Who gave you those marks?" He whispered while Farzi and Nenzi went to the counter for refills.

"I won't be giving that information," I said. I wasn't sure Teeg even knew what they were and I certainly wasn't going to give him more information to harm anyone else I knew. I hadn't gotten any updated information on Gavril either, and didn't know if I were brave enough to ask. Teeg hadn't mistreated me and I hoped that went for Gavril too. I had no idea if Gavril might attempt to escape—he was perhaps the brightest person I'd ever met. I was praying that Teeg remembered he was only seventeen when it came to Chash's treatment.

Lenden didn't push it, but something bothered me about his question. I didn't puzzle it out until later. Nenzi bought two chips containing repair manuals for vehicles. That was the day I learned that Nenzi oversaw Teeg's fleet of vehicles. I was happy for him—it was something he always wanted. Farzi had taken over guest services at the casinos Teeg had inherited from Arvil. He made sure complaints were handled and the staff treated the guests well. He brought recommendations to Teeg if anyone needed to be fired for their actions.

The other reptanoids were employed here and there within Teeg's empire. Darzi and Chazi ran the shuttle station. Perzi and Yanzi handled supply requisition. Bekzi and Hirzi supervised the farming now done on Campiaa—before, none had even considered running farms there. Plenty of good farmland lay to the east of Campiaa City. Teeg had brought in equipment and experienced help. Now the farms were thriving and the casinos got fresh fruit and vegetables. I was amazed at how industrious and progressive-minded Teeg had been.

"We still have to import oxberries." Farzi wasn't thrilled about that.

"I have it on good authority that it takes a special kind of soil for those berries," I said. "Word has it that the imports everybody gets from Le-Ath Veronis are only possible because they bought truckloads of soil from the southern continent on Kifirin," I said. "Otherwise, Kifirin is the only world I know that has the right kind of ground to grow the berries."

"Have you been there? To Kifirin?" Lenden wanted to know.

"No," I answered truthfully. The ASD had always interfered with any plans I might make to go there. Tory intended to take me and show me the palace in Veshtul when my stint with the ASD was over. Gavril wanted to go with us, so we'd made tentative plans. Now, all that might just be something we dreamed about. I missed Tory with an ache in my heart. Aurelius, too. Lendill—we'd barely gotten to know each other outside being Vice-Director and employee. He wanted to take me to meet his father. Now, none of them knew if I were alive.

"Teeg moves us tomorrow," Farzi announced when we finished our drinks. "If Reah needs something to take, she should buy now."

I blinked stupidly at Farzi—when had this been decided? "Farzi, where are we going? What will the weather be like?"

"Hot, where we go. No sleeves best." Farzi wasn't comfortable giving me orders and it affected his speech.

"Farzi," I leaned over and kissed his cheek, "you don't have to worry about upsetting me. I'll still love you, Nenzi and the others, even if I'm mad at the time."

"But Teeg say you be upset about moving."

"Probably, but I'll be upset with him, not you. How's that?" Nenzi was leaning closer to me. "You want a kiss too?" Nenzi grinned. He got his kiss on the cheek. We went shopping for sleeveless shirts and shorts after that. Jes' workouts must have produced muscle I didn't have before—clothes fit tighter so I got different sizes. I certainly had more muscle and definition in my legs now. I bought sandals for all of us, Lenden included, when he said he was coming along. He was surprised that I'd even think of it.

"Well, you need something too, don't you think?" I looked up at him. He just shrugged. "Besides, Teeg's paying." I grinned and flipped the chip bracelet on my wrist.

"Now see, Farzi was supposed to tell you so you'd be over your mad by the time you got back," Teeg said. He was pulling his shirt off to go shower—he was taking me to dinner. Kiasz was going to cook for us and we'd be served in one of the private rooms in the restaurant.

"You wanted me to be mad at Farzi instead?" I had my hands on my hips.

"No, I just thought you'd be calmer if the news came from him." Teeg let his pants drop. The underwear followed. At least he picked up after himself.

"You're not going to tell me where we're going?"

"No. I may not tell you when we get there. You might figure it out for yourself, though."

"Great." I flopped onto the bed, feeling a snit coming on.

"Reah." Teeg came over and pulled me up again. Leaned down to kiss me. His naked body was telling me what it wanted, even if he never said. We were nearly late getting to dinner.

* * *

Teelas. That's where we landed. It was hard to wrap my head around the fact that it actually existed. Hot as a desert most of the time; the rains came in late afternoon or early evening. If it were hot enough, the cold rain hitting the hot stones that made up the roadways often steamed and sizzled as it hit.

Teelas was a paradox. Tales said that it was created by wizardry of some sort. Lush trees and plants grew in small oases around the equator, where most of the population lived. Of that population, which numbered around ten million, two-thirds held some sort of power. Rogue wizards or warlocks found it easy to blend in, there. Teeg must have gotten information from the two he'd captured, leading us to Teelas. The two captives were already gone when we left for Teelas—I had no idea what Teeg had done with them.

All four of Teeg's warlocks were with us and quite happy to be on Teelas. Farzi and Nenzi had come—the other reptanoids had stayed on Campiaa. Lenden, Jusef, Marc and Jes made up the rest of our party.

"Little girl, do you remember anything about your mother?" Lenden sat down heavily at the bar that fronted a spacious kitchen; Teeg had rented a spacious, well-appointed home for us. I handed Lenden an iced fruit juice blend and he sipped it as he watched me prepare other drinks for Jusef and Marc.

"My mother died shortly after I was birthed. I have no memories of her," I said, wondering why he wanted to know. "You can ask Teeg—he probably has more information on that than I do. My father, whom I thought was my brother for the longest time, managed to plot with his mother to get Raedah killed. That's all I know." I could have asked Lendill for the entire file and the court transcripts. I didn't. Edan and Marzi had confessed to their crimes, and that was enough for me. They were still in prison.

"What about you? They didn't treat you very well, did they?"

"That I know more about," I nodded. "I was happy to get away from all of them when the conscription notice came."

"You're an Alliance conscript?"