"mighty one," griffin bowed his head.

"you need to get your ass back in time and help your daughter. at least you can kill the ra'ak threatening her and her children, if you couldn't manage to kill the one who took wyatt."

"what?" griffin blinked in confusion as the woman shone brighter. images filtered into his mind before he was flung backward in time.

"reah, he's lifting the ban, so of course you should go. you were the last one to stand up for wyatt, when he was alive. why shouldn't you go to his funeral?"

"teeg, it's not that simple and you know it. i thought of wyatt as a friend, but there will be others there who are his family. you're part of that. i don't want to interfere with this in any way." i didn't add that i thought wylend had selfish reasons to lift the ban-karathia's core had been tapped, so he had to make nice if he wanted me to fix it. i would, but it wouldn't be for him. it would be for corolan, erland, rylend and radolf.

"then come as my mate. as my support in this." teeg was begging me now. we were having this conversation inside my suite at the house he'd purchased for me in targis. lok was outside, making sure the guards assigned by lendill were doing their job.

"little one," nefrigar appeared at my elbow-i'd been combing out my hair as i talked with teeg.

"honey blue?" i looked up at him. when we were like this, he was nearly twice my height.

"reah, as a gift to my love, i will place a shield around your words and thoughts. no other will be able to tap them or employ spells to eavesdrop, unless you wish it."

i was still staring at him. someone had told me when i woke what lara'kayan meant-nefrigar had been calling me forever love in neaborian, a nearly dead language.

"thank you," i sighed, wishing that gift had come sooner than it did.

"i wish it had come sooner as well," nefrigar smiled sadly. "i did not lock myself out, but then neither i nor any larentii will ever seek to harm you with your own thoughts and words."

i nodded, staring at the floor. i still didn't understand why wylend chose to damage me in this way. what had he hoped to gain by it? wyatt had paid the price for all this, and that made me sad and angry at the same time.

"i must go; send mindspeech if you need me," nefrigar's large blue fingers tilted my chin up. "i love you," he said, his bright blue eyes gazing into mine with what looked like worry before he disappeared.

"come with me, reah," teeg said softly at my back. i nodded and went to find something suitable to wear.

lissa had offered her palace as a neutral space for the funeral, after amara had come to her. i was just learning that amara, griffin's mate for millennia uncounted, had left teeg's grandfather after wyatt's death. she wasn't speaking to griffin or to wylend. i was with her regarding wylend. i'd never met griffin, but he'd been pushing wyatt, too. it was all a waste-wyatt was a good healer. i knew that.

"here-we'll sit with mom and dad," teeg steered me toward a row of comfortable chairs set up in the circular rotunda of lissa's palace. flowers were everywhere near a spot at the front, and a podium had been placed there. the chairs in the center aisle at the front were empty-the immediate family would come in last.

i looked down our row while teeg sent mindspeech that the dark-haired, beautiful woman sitting beside lissa was amara, wyatt's mother. lissa had an arm around her shoulders and was trying to console her. drew sat on amara's other side, drake next to him. gavin and tony sat on lissa's other side.

i was seeing too, a few that i had only seen a time or two-lissa's daughter nissa and her two mates, toff and trikleer. toff was not only a modified winged vampire, but also a grey house wizard, as was trik. behind us were lissa's other mates. rylend would come in with wylend and erland, i was sure. i hoped i hadn't damaged ry's relationship with wylend, just by saying that he'd be the better king.

wyatt hadn't wanted to be king at all, he'd said so himself when i'd first met him. i'd tried to get him to discuss his wishes with lissa at the time, but he'd never done it. we were back to the missed opportunities that aurelius and i had discussed. i missed auri and wished he were with me, on my other side.

perhaps tory would come instead, so i could lean on his strength. teeg squeezed my hand when kiarra appeared next to a piano near the front. i hadn't know before then that she sang. gavril explained that this was what she'd done before becoming one of the saa thalarr. the language was from old earth, and gavril had to interpret for me, but it was beautiful. the title, he said, was time to say good-bye.

corolan's face was pale as he walked into the antechamber to collect wylend, erland and the others. a full contingent of karathian royalty had come from wylend's court. he'd seen reah come in on gavril's arm. this wasn't going to turn out well.

"what's wrong?" rylend hissed. he'd been watching his grandfather, his uncle griffin and all the others, trying to anticipate what might be needed and working toward making things happen to ensure everything went as smoothly as possible. he'd already sent two home who'd shown up inebriated.

"reah's here," corolan muttered.

"please, no," ry moaned, leaning against the thick double doors leading into the rotunda. "i can't seem to talk my fool brother out of this stupidity yet and we both know how much effect my power has on a stubborn high demon. there's no way she'll miss this." rylend rubbed the knot between his eyes.

"this will ruin everything," corolan muttered.

"what's wrong?" erland walked up to his son.

"reah's here."

"could things possibly be worse?" erland sighed. "wylend has plans to go to tory in the next few days and tell him that he didn't give the whole truth in this matter. now, even if we can convince torevik, there's no way to explain this to reah. she'll never come back to karathia."

"we haven't told mom either, and you know what that could mean," ry looked at his father.

"son, we'll consider that problem when we get there," erland sighed.

kiarra was finishing a second song when wylend, erland, corolan and a contingent from karathia filed in and filled the center row of chairs. someone was also moving past teeg and me to sit in the empty chairs between us and gavin. if teeg hadn't gripped my hand-hard-i'd have skipped away. tory was there, pulling a beautiful, dark-haired woman behind him. she was nearly six feet tall, in aurelius' measurements, and looked perfect. tory, for effect, kissed her before he helped her into a seat next to him. my mouth was open in shock, i'm sure. teeg's jaw was working furiously, but he didn't say anything, he merely gripped my fingers tighter, refusing to allow me to leave.

once everyone was seated, merrill walked to the podium. amara and lissa had asked him to speak. i kept swallowing painfully, trying to hold back the tears that threatened. i was pregnant with tory's twins, and he was doing this. jealousy or not, this wasn't the time to flaunt a mistress. i had multiple mates; he was entitled as well. but my hand went to my belly. the last time we'd been in bed had resulted in my pregnancy. was this his way of telling me what he truly thought of fatherhood? if so, he'd lied to me. he'd said he was ready.

i barely listened to merrill's words. wise words, i'm sure-he was an old vampire and had seen much during his lifetime. amara sobbed quietly now and then. my eyes kept returning to tory and the woman at his side. solicitously, she held his hand in hers. i wanted to sob, too, just not for the same reason as everyone else. i did come back to the present, however, when pheligar took merrill's place.

everyone in the crowd was watching-i mean, how often did you see a larentii appear at a funeral to speak? "we do not do this often," pheligar announced in his deep, mellow voice. "but it was requested this time, by someone higher than i. i agreed. here are the images." i was shocked when three-dimensional images appeared in front of all of us-i recognized this scene just as well as gavril did beside me. he stiffened. he was twelve and looking over a fence at the bus track below while snowflakes fell around us in targis. and there i was, talking to wyatt. the tears came, then.

"i wish i were twelve again," wyatt said, nodding toward a young gavril.

"whatever for?" i asked. i'd been nineteen then. so young, and without tory's claiming marks on my neck.

"i didn't have all this looming over my head," wyatt muttered. "em-pah keeps telling me what i need to do to take his place one day."

"you don't want that, do you?" my younger self asked.

"no," wyatt replied. "i want to be a healer, like my mother. but em-pah won't even listen to me. he just keeps pushing me in the direction he thinks i should go."

amara sobbed when wyatt admitted that he wanted to be a healer, like her. wyatt's and my conversation went on, until i said, "wyatt, if you don't tell him soon," meaning wylend, "you may regret that decision." pheligar ended the images there. i was grateful; i'd suggested afterward that wyatt go talk with lissa, his half-sister. he hadn't ever done that, and he probably hadn't fully expressed himself to wylend. his body now lay in state before us, dressed richly and placed inside an elaborately carved box.

i wished i hadn't been a part of that transmission-things were bad enough between wylend and me. i figured that as soon as i repaired karathia's core, i'd be banished again. it was just as well, i would never come to wylend again. he'd invaded my privacy and used my private words against me. i couldn't have a mate who was constantly policing my thoughts and conversations, searching for any sort of slight or insult. wylend and i were finished.

kiarra sang once more before merrill invited everyone for refreshments inside the council chambers. wyatt would be buried the following day on karathia in a private ceremony. only family would attend that. "reah, come." teeg stood and led me away before tory could brush past us again, hauling the beautiful woman along with him.