"The children are a joy," he actually smiled when he said it. "There were few births among my kind." I nodded, not mentioning the real reason we were standing there, having our conversation. "I did not expect to be visited by you, or treated as an honored guest," he went on. "And I wish to ask you where the Indis-Banuu came from."

"Indis-Banuu?" I asked, puzzled.

"The light-gathering crystal. Indis-Banuu means holder of the sun in my language. It is with sadness that I admit we drained most of what we had and destroyed some of it in the taking of your child. We could not get the sun to recharge nearly half of what we had on Vionn." Well, there it was. I wanted to weep at his admission. I worked to put it out of my mind.

"Oh. That stuff," I said as cheerfully as I could. "That came from Surnath. The crystal just litters the ground, there."

"There is such a world?" Corent drew in a sharp breath.

"Well, yeah," I shrugged. I had no idea why that excited him so much.

"Is there more here, that you are not using?" he asked. "I can use it to help trees and plants grow." Now I knew how they'd taken useless land and turned it into a garden. The crystal held sunlight and operated as a focus for their power. They'd used it to kidnap Toff, too.

"I don't know," I replied to his question. "If there's not, I'll get some for you if that's what you want." I didn't get any bad vibes from him—he wasn't planning to misuse the stuff.

"I do want some, if it's no trouble."

"I'll see you get it. Let me know if you need anything else. You're not in prison, you know. As long as you follow the laws here, you're as free as anyone else."

"I'll try to remember that. How should I address you, when I see you again?" he asked when I turned to leave.

"You can call me Lissa, unless you prefer something else. Bear in mind if you use profanity instead of my name, some of my mates may take exception."

"You would allow me to use your name?" He gave me a puzzled look.

"Why wouldn't I?"

"I would imagine I am not in good grace, at the moment." Corent hung his head.

"You didn't cause this mess on your own. If you hadn't volunteered to come, I would have left you where you were."

"I understand that. Now."

I nodded to him and folded away before I started crying again. Toff wasn't coming home to me. I had to get used to that.

* * *

"Child, are you well?" Tiearan waited for Lissa to disappear before making himself known to Corent. "Your mother worries."

"Father, did you hear what she said to me?"

"No, child. Was she abusive?"

"No, Father. The opposite, actually. She treats me kindly, as do the comesuli. They have not been informed why I am here. They treat me as one of them. The Queen has offered to bring me Indis-Banuu—which they use here to help supply power. I do not understand this at all."

"Do you have a place to stay?" Tiearan studied Corent's face.

"I do. Come, I will show you." Corent led Tiearan toward his home.

* * *

"Brenten, while I understand that you were protecting Wyatt, I fail to understand why you did this to Lissa." Amara held her sleeping son in her arms while she watched Griffin. He stood near a window in Merrill's old manor house in Kent, looking over the well-kept lawn surrounding the house. "Surely there was some other way. If she learns of this, you may as well forget you have a daughter."

"She has trouble recognizing me as her father anyway."

"Brenten, is this my husband talking, or someone who merely attempts to justify himself?"

"The switching of the bracelets is only a part of this," Griffin turned to face Amara. "I have rationalized my acts in the past. Often congratulated myself on making things come out in the best way possible, by sacrificing this one or that. I keep telling myself it is for the greater good. Yes, it causes me superficial pain, but that is all. I couldn't face this pain, Amara. I couldn't handle having my son taken away from us like that," He shook his head.

"And if I'd told Wylend, or anyone else, it would have turned out worse than it did. Wylend would have sent some of his and Vionn would have suffered, if not been destroyed outright. So I put this on my daughter. Who has had enough pain as it is. I removed the memories from Roff because I knew, even then, that things would come to this."

"Lissa told him what happened. I heard that from Kyler. She says that Roff hasn't spoken to Flavio for days. She also said that Lissa will barely speak to anyone, locks herself in her room most nights, only does what she absolutely has to do and now has a fifty million-credit price tag on her head. I'm grateful I still have my son in my arms, Brenten, but what have you done to your daughter?"

"I won't have a daughter, Amara. Not when she discovers what I've done. And I may not hold onto my Oracle status much longer—I feel that Belen may be considering what to do about this even now. I interfered, Amara. To save myself and to save my son. The one my daughter managed to give to us. Wyatt wouldn't have come to us any other way."

"Who else knows of this, Brenten?"

"Wylend and Erland know. When Lissa finds the truth, she'll be angry with them as well."

Chapter 8

"Grant, why don't you take a break?" Thurlow Burghin, the Alliance Rep stood in my doorway, so I was giving Grant the opportunity to get away from this meeting if he wanted to. I would, too, if I could.

"Okay," Grant smiled and headed toward the kitchen to pick up a bottle of blood substitute.

"Mr. Burghin, come in and have a seat," I offered. So far, he'd been discreet and polite enough. I couldn't fault him on his manners. He wasn't bad looking and I couldn't help but think he'd probably like to be anywhere but here.

"Please, call me Thurlow," he smiled and sat in the offered chair.

"Would you like something to eat or drink?" I asked.

"Lady, no. If you and your staff feed me any better, I'll be too heavy to board ship again," he chuckled. He didn't look as if he had an ounce anywhere that wasn't hard muscle, but I didn't say that. It made me wonder what he'd done for the Alliance before coming on this little assignment.

"So, what can I do for you, Mr. Burghin—Thurlow?"

"What would you be doing now, if you weren't taking time to talk to me?" he asked. That made me sigh. Honestly, I wanted to crawl out of my skin and into a hole somewhere, until the pain that followed me everywhere I went had gone away. But that wasn't something I'd tell anyone. Except for Gavin—or Kifirin, perhaps. I was feeling Gavin's absence the past few days, much more than I normally would.

"Please," Thurlow said when I didn't answer, allowing too many things to rush through my mind instead.

"Sitting on the roof," I said. He'd asked, I answered.

"On the roof? Why, lady?"

"Mr. Burghin, I'm not sure I can do this interview right now. My apologies." I stood up behind my desk.

"I've upset you."

"It wasn't you, or anything to do with you, I assure you," I muttered.

"Is it the price on your head?" He stood because I was standing.

"No, I'm sorry to say. I wish it were something as simple as that." I looked down at the immaculate surface of my desk—Grant, Heathe and Davan kept it that way for me.

"A price on your head is a simple matter?" His voice was almost gentle.

I wanted to tell him that if I desired, I could hunt the ones down who'd placed that price on my head. Moreover, I could make them very dead—all by myself. What I couldn't do was make a child mine again, when someone had stolen him away, body and mind.

"Walk with me," Thurlow said. I looked up at him. I truly wasn't in the mood to do anything except find a place to cry. Again. I don't know how we ended up walking out of my office together, or down the long hallway toward the front steps of my palace. Long ago, I used to tuck my hand in the crook of Don's elbow and we'd walk that way. I felt the urge to lean on someone, but Thurlow Burghin was a stranger and he'd been sent by the Alliance, on top of that. Not someone I'd consider for an arm-in-arm walk.

"Where are we going?" he said after a while, when we passed the courtyard and wandered into the nearest vampire neighborhoods.

"Some of my friends live down these streets," I sighed. I hadn't seen Bryan lately. He was busy—I knew that. He coordinated all the news and edited the newsfeeds that went out to the Alliance daily. He probably needed help to do it, too.

* * *

Thurlow watched her face carefully, without appearing obvious about it. So many people thought that vampires were veiled killers, unfeeling and grim. He wondered what some of them might think if they were privileged enough to walk beside this one—weighed down with grief as she was. He wanted her to tell him what was wrong, although he knew already.

Long, strawberry-blonde hair was brushed away from her face with a graceful hand and then tucked behind an ear as she stared down a street; several grand houses stood there, surrounded by well-manicured lawns. The grass that grew in the dim light on this half of Le-Ath Veronis was blue-green and looked nearly black when in shadow. The moon was out—if the planet had a normal orbit, it would be night, now. The Queen should be preparing for sleep instead of wandering the streets of the capital city.

"I know about the child," Thurlow surprised himself by saying.

* * *

I stared at him stupidly for several seconds after those words came from his beautifully sculpted lips. I shouldn't have been surprised—the comesuli gossiped all the time. They probably knew all about it—what with Giff collapsing in on herself and everything. Why would I expect anything else from someone whom the Alliance had sent to spy and report back to them?

"I will not include that information in my reports," he said softly.