"Aurelius is out, little girl. I will bring the brothers in and see if Wylend is available." He patted my hand and smiled gently. "Tomorrow, I will see about removing all these things." The lines and tubes hooked up to me were checked carefully. Mindspeech must have been sent—Farzi, Nenzi and the others crept into my room. I held my arms out and I was hugged quickly by all of them. Karzac stole away while I wept on Nenzi's shoulder.

* * *

"She said she didn't want to see any of you—the shapeshifters are consoling her," Karzac wasn't accepting arguments from Gavril, Tory or Lendill. "And I have sent for Wylend—she asked for him as well."

"If she worked for him, she wouldn't want to see him either," Lendill's voice held bitterness. "And what are we to do about Tulgalan? Power still drains from it." Lendill cursed in a language Karzac hadn't heard before. He had to Look to understand it.

"Reah may surprise you, Vice-Director." Karzac folded away.

* * *

I was napping later—just the brief waking had worn me out—when Wylend and Erland appeared. Two others were with them.

"Reah, darling, this is Corolan," Wylend introduced me to the tall man with wide shoulders, blond hair and an easy smile. Seating himself on the edge of my bed, Wylend motioned for Corolan to approach. "He is one of my trusted loves," Wylend went on as Corolan nodded to me.

"May I touch?" He held out a hand. Wylend nodded encouragingly, so I did as well. I thought he'd take my hand. Corolan leaned down and brushed his lips against my temple. "We will care for you," he whispered. "There is no need to fear."

"And this is Garek," Wylend introduced the darker haired man. Shorter and stockier than Corolan, Garek also leaned in to kiss my forehead. He stroked my cheek with a careful finger before stepping away. I blinked up at both of them, unsure what to do.

"You don't have to do anything, Reah. We know you are struggling now. I just wanted to reassure you," Wylend took my hand in his. "It is my hope that when you are well enough you will consent to come to Karathia and stay with me for a while. You will be cared for, I promise."

"I'll think about it," I sighed, closing my eyes. Already, I was weary again. I'd asked Karzac what they'd done with my daughter. He'd explained gently that there were only clots and a bloody discharge—Nidris' attack had destroyed her. There would be no body to bury or to mourn. The Larentii had cleaned out what remained inside my body afterward. It made me want to weep that my daughter hadn't been substantial enough—she'd been as ephemeral as a dream.

* * *

"She's sleeping," Wylend sighed as he was handed a cup of tea by one of the reptanoids. Gavril wanted to growl at the two warlocks who'd come with Wylend and Erland. He kept his feelings to himself with difficulty. These were Wylend's other lovers—Gavril was very aware of the Karathian cycles. He looked suspiciously at anyone who might serve to replace him in Reah's heart and life.

* * *

"Reah?" I had to work to come back to consciousness.

"Chash?" I was dreaming. Chash was gone. Someone had taken him. He wouldn't ever come back to me. I don't know what made me say his name, unless it was a longing that might never be satisfied.

"I'm here, baby. I'll always be here."

"No." I opened my eyes to find Teeg sitting on the edge of my bed, his hand stroking my forehead. "Chash died. Like my daughter. Go away, Teeg."

"Reah, can't you see past this now? I can't do anything about the baby. I wish I could. But I'm still here. Your Chash is here." He looked upset. That wasn't the Teeg I knew, but I hadn't really known him all along.

"The Gavril I knew would have asked me what I thought. He would never have ordered me to do anything. We always talked and he listened. You don't listen, Teeg. Except to yourself. Maybe something happened to make you as hard as you are. I don't know. I lost the friend I had and now, all I have is somebody who only wants to go to bed with me, even when I don't want that." I turned my head away from him; couldn't look at his face any longer. What would my daughter have looked like? I had to stay away from thoughts like that—they only made me weep.

"They took you too young, baby. The Alliance, the ASD, Arvil—all of us. And you weren't strong emotionally on top of that. I know we exploited everything you had, just to get what we wanted. I don't know how to take it all back, Reah. All Tory can do is hold his head in his hands and moan. Norian—he's like a ghost. And Lendill, I think he's empty, now. He looks like the man who's lost everything."

"Like any of you care," I huffed, brushing a tear away and curling into a ball. "I don't even know why Wylend is trying so hard. I don't have anything left to give. Empty? You don't know empty. None of you do."

"Reah, I'm sorry. About the baby, about pushing you, forcing you to help me—all of it. But we got rid of some nasty people together. I realize that's of little comfort now, but I wouldn't have been able to do it without you."

"Where is Nidris now?" I know it was spiteful to mention Nidris, but he'd killed my child. They thought they'd gotten him—Farzi had explained it as best he could earlier. They didn't realize that Nidris' brother had been changed to resemble Nidris until it was too late. Now, Nidris could be tapping cores across the universe, with none the wiser until it was too late.

"We don't know." Teeg sighed and slid off the bed. He walked to the other side and sat on a chair, watching me. Pleading silently with his eyes. I thought about turning my head away again. "He could be tapping cores from here to the end of the universe and back." Teeg voiced my own thoughts and fears. "What are we going to do, Reah, if he kills everything?"

"What do you mean, we?" I asked spitefully. He couldn't do a damn thing about it and he knew it.

"Norian's letting you go—I saw the paperwork this afternoon. He's eaten up with guilt, baby. And Karzac removed the chip. I asked him to, but he'd already done it."

"Then I wish he'd done it sooner." I rubbed my forehead—I was getting a headache. "Why are you bothering to tell me?" I asked.

"I can take care of the small stuff—if you'll let me," Teeg offered. It reminded me of what he'd done when he and Jes had restrained me after my injuries in the bomb blast on Kareed.

"Why did you take that name—Teeg?" I asked instead, brushing his offer aside.

"It was given to me. By Dormas. He's an old vampire, Reah. He taught me carpentry first, and then taught me how to be a contractor. Everything I know about running the business I learned from him. He sent me to school and paid for my architecture and engineering degrees. Then got me involved in politics. I served as Vice-Governor on Malindor, did you know that? Twenty-five years ago. Decided not to run again, even though somebody offered to make me Governor of the Realm. All of that was done under an assumed name, of course. Vampires are still adept at creating identities and backgrounds."

"And where is your mentor now? Did you shove him aside when Arvil crooked his finger?"

"No. Dee is still with me. He's working as my assistant, now."

That made me snort. "Did you squash him, too?"

"Reah, don't." Teeg raked fingers through his wealth of dark hair. "Dee knew long ago that I was a King Vampire. He recognized it in me when I placed compulsion on another, older vampire—one who was trying to destroy Dee. When I ordered him to stop, he did. Just like that. Dee turned him over to the Vampire Council on Malindor. They sentenced him to death. Dee is important to that world."

"And now to the Campiaan Alliance." I closed my eyes—the headache was getting worse.

"Yes—Dee is very important. He's my personal advisor, Reah. He knows how to build this thing from the ground up. We've had to be ruthless, Reah—this Alliance is in its infancy and some of the worlds we are trying to shape aren't the most law abiding, as you know. The San Gerxon clan and the Hardlows were in charge for too long. Now, we have to wrestle those worlds away from the criminals who have a stranglehold on them. Their people want something else, they're just afraid to stand up and say it."

"So what is your current project, Teeg?"

"We're entertaining delegations from all the worlds that want to be a part of the Campiaan Alliance. That's in two weeks. I'll be asking Wylend to attend."

"I see." Wylend would be too busy with politics to have time for me. It didn't matter—I hadn't expected anything else. "And what will you do about Nidris in the meantime? What does Norian intend to do?" I was massaging my forehead, attempting to get the headache to subside. It wasn't helping.

"Norian is gathering people and they'll probably have a conference on Wyyld or Le-Ath Veronis. Nidris will be desperate, now. None of the worlds Zellar destroyed had the population Tulgalan does. That doesn't make Zellar more humane in my eyes, but Nidris—he sold out his own family. This one will do anything, Reah. I don't think he cares who or what he destroys as long as he gets what he wants. Come on, baby. Let me take care of that for you." Teeg moved my hand aside and brought blessed relief to my aching head. Darkness descended immediately.

* * *

"How quickly can I get up?" I asked Karzac—he'd removed both the feeding tube and the IV line, healing up both wounds.

"You may sit up for a while—perhaps for dinner tonight. But no solid food until tomorrow, if everything stays down today." He hooked a strand of hair behind my ear. "I think your reptanoids want to help you in the shower."

"Karzac, please let me get clean," I begged.

"I'll allow it, but you should sit while they bathe you."

"How long until I'm back to normal?" I was almost afraid to ask. Almost. Karzac wasn't stupid.