i sighed as i set my plate on the table; the cooks had made biscuits again. the cooking tent was noisy and warriors were trading battle stories already. "we're going to gram's after we clear up our campsite," drake whispered as i ate. i was feeling tired and out of sorts, but i didn't want to tell him that. at least i'd be able to clean up at kiarra's before heading back to le-ath veronis and whatever was on the schedule for the day. i felt bad about tava, too. if stupid badger-man had trained her properly, she might still be alive.

"take us with you," hart begged dragon later, as we took down the tent and packed up our belongings.

"i have no place for you," dragon informed her. "i am sorry."

"but we wish to continue our training," nima said. the look of disappointment on her face was heartbreaking.

"we will not be a bother, such as tava was," nima blurted. that caused me to raise an eyebrow.

"it was nothing, we sent her on her way," drew assured me. well, that didn't sound good. but nima and hart-i figured they'd had more than their share of crap at the hands of the males on falchan.

"where i'm going, you might not like it," i turned to nima. "it stays dark there, most of the time. like it is right after sundown?" i was trying to describe the lighting conditions on le-ath veronis. and that didn't include the vampires. well, nima and hart might like that, actually. "you're welcome to come with me, if you want."

"it's your call, baby. drew and i can put them with the others and train them together," drake looked thoughtful. well, le-ath veronis was begging for women. nima was already nodding her head enthusiastically and hart looked hopeful.

"all right, but if you don't like it, you have to tell us and we'll bring you home," i agreed. nima almost giggled with relief.

i can't begin to describe the looks of shock and wonder on hart and nima's faces when they were folded to gryphon hall.

"how did we get here?" nima finally worked up the courage to ask.

"like this." i pulled a sheet off a pad of paper at kiarra's kitchen island and borrowed the pen sitting nearby. "this is where we were." i drew a dot on one end of the paper. "this is where we are, now." i drew another dot on the opposite end of the paper. "now," i said, "we did this." i pushed both ends of the paper together, causing the middle to bow upward until the two ends of the paper met.

"that is frightening," nima breathed.

"but true," i said. "i want a bath. how about you two?"

"i think we can find an empty shower." kiarra walked into the room and introduced herself, along with adam and merrill, who'd followed her.

"little girl," merrill leaned down and kissed my cheek. well, he and i had declared a truce. it was the only way, i guess. now, he was treating me as if he were still my surrogate sire. i sighed. punching him in the face would only cause problems. i ignored that thought.

"careful, i'm sure i taste like dust," i warned him. "falchan is covered in it, right now." merrill's bright blue eyes lit up and he smiled-he knew what i'd been thinking. the schmuck.

dragon, devin and crane had gone off to their villa to clean up, before talking to kiarra about what we'd found on falchan. drake and drew were with me. i knew karzac was at the villa, too, but i still didn't know what to do about that. caylon and the others had gone off in search of mates.

"you're taking those two for guards?" merrill lifted an eyebrow after kiarra took nima and hart down a hall to show them the guest bath.

"they begged us to take them with us and i have to tell you, female warriors aren't being treated well on falchan right now. besides, i told them if they didn't like where we're going, we'll take them home. simple fix."

"lissa, erland morphis came to adam and me two days ago and gave us a proposal. i'd like to come and discuss it with you and the others sometime soon." merrill was smiling slightly.

"all right. how is the winery coming along?" i couldn't argue too much-he and adam were building roff's winery and i didn't want roff to be disappointed if i reignited what i'd come to think of as the vampire family feud.

"we're almost ready to build and roff has gathered a group that can be taken to kifirin to harvest the oxberries on the northern continent. he's quite excited over the whole thing."

"good. i sort of love roff. a lot."

"as if we couldn't tell," merrill teased. when did he start doing that?

"geez, merrill, i never expected that from you-teasing, i mean."

"you might be surprised at what i can do. frank, shane and tomas want to come for a visit, too." was he trying to get back in my good graces? i couldn't tell. and he could keep that crap to himself. i wasn't falling for it. but frank-and shane, well, i loved them. tomas, too.

"frank is welcome anytime, as are the others. in fact, i'll name a guest suite after them and they can live there if they want. i love frank. i've loved frank since the first minute we met, i think. he's the brother i never had. just like charles, actually."

"conner might have a fit but i'll tell them. and charles loves the house he has in lissia. he lives next door to flavio and dalroy and rhett are nearby. kyler spends most of her time there, now, and she has even built a home on the light side, near the ocean."

"wow. maybe i need to do that-build a summer home near the ocean." i hadn't even thought of that.

"adam and i can help put it up for you, if you'll let us use it from time to time."

"merrill, you can do whatever you want, i don't care. how's that?" i held my arms out in sweeping gesture.

"lissa, i do love you. i hope you know that. it might not be the kind of love you wanted once, but it's there anyway."

"merrill, there's a lot of things i have to deal with, including karzac becoming a father. you and i both know i'll never get children, so that's been a bit of a blow. i'm dealing with it the best i can."

"i know, sweetheart." merrill touched my cheek. "you are covered in dust," he said, when he drew his hand back. "go clean up. we'll talk later."

i went to clean up and kiarra had set some of fox's clothes out for me when i stepped from the shower. i washed my hair three times, i think, just to make sure i got all the dust out of it. drake, drew, hart and nima were waiting on me when i walked inside the kitchen. i was the one who bent time and folded space to le-ath veronis.

chapter 6

"raona, you are not dressed properly for your meetings." those were giff's first words to me when we arrived at the breakfast table. those of us who'd come from kiarra's were getting breakfast (again) for lunch. hart and nima looked around them, both with stunned expressions on their faces.

"sit down, another breakfast is on the way," i said. gabron was already there with gavin, tony and roff. i went to give each of them a kiss.

"lissa, why do i get the idea that you have been somewhere?" gabron eyed my clothing with a critical glare.

"it's a long story. we'll talk later," i said and followed giff so i could change clothes.

"we went to falchan," drake shook out his napkin after getting hart and nima settled at the table. he introduced the two women and informed tony and gavin that they would be training them to add to the palace guard.

"this is where lissa lives?" nima asked.

"lissa is queen here," gabron replied. "all males here are members of her inner circle and mated to her. she has other mates, but they are absent at the moment."

nima stared at hart, her eyes wide. "we thought at first she was only a warrior and tava held her in contempt because she seemed so small and weak," nima said, turning back to gabron. "we have seen her fight. we no longer think this."

"have i mentioned that all here except drake, roff and i are vampires?" drew smiled wickedly. "don't worry, you are in no danger. although i hear the bite can be quite pleasurable."

"i can arrange a trial bite for them," gabron offered.

"we'll save that for later," drake grinned.

"what's this about a trial bite?" i was frowning when i returned to the table, dressed properly this time, according to giff. at least she'd let me wear a silk tunic and pants in an emerald color with gold embroidery on the cuffs and hem. giff had also insisted i wear the simple gold coronet i had instead of the heavy claw crown, after she'd dressed my hair. i preferred to go without a crown or coronet, saving both for more formal occasions, but giff had her way this time.

"i offered to arrange a bite, if these two young women are interested," gabron said.

"i think you should explain it carefully before you let them decide," i said. "what's on the agenda today?"

"we are hammering out the final law on the age limit for the comesuli to receive the bite, plus a few other things."

"great. another day of fun-packed meetings. how many people did i kill, yesterday?" i asked drake as i cut into a sausage link.

"more than ten thousand, i think," drake said. "i just want to tell you how much i love you, baby."

"you speak of these things at the table?" hart asked, staring at drake.

"they speak of everything at the table," gavin growled.

"honey, that growl almost sounded good-natured. is something wrong? are you feeling all right?"

"i hear you have been gone from me for days, while it is only seconds for me. i am happy to have you back, cara."

"where has my granddaughter been?" wylend arden and erland morphis folded in, causing nima to shriek. griffin folded in immediately after, followed by amara. amara was smiling. i got a good whiff of her and found myself standing, suddenly.

"daddy, what the hell have you been doing?" i asked.