"what does avilepha mean?" i had one more question as he covered me up in my bed. they'd put me in the bedroom i'd had at the palace before-gavril said that tory almost had a meltdown when someone suggested moving me to my house. gavril, too, had eventually convinced me that tory was nearly suicidal over what happened between us. it was the reason i'd tolerated tory's presence after the claiming.

"it is the high demon's language-it means my love. m'hala means my heart. hala avilepha, m'seidra camethei refieoru is the declaration of love from the male high demon to his female high demon mate. it means my heart's love, you are mine forever." tory lifted my left hand to kiss it.

"what do you call," i shivered, almost unable to voice the remainder of the question. i didn't have to.

"nelimalu-the claiming," tory kissed my hand again. "it is violent, m'hala. i had already asked my father to do what my uncle had done for his twin daughters-arrange for anesthesia and aftercare. the thifilathi took matters into his own hands. reah, i never meant to hurt you-not like that. i wanted to hurl myself into a wall or off a cliff afterward. it almost made me crazy. connegar arrived and put me under for a while, then mom had ry watch me like a hawk afterward. i am so sorry, love. the thifilathi will never do that again. this is the way kifirin made us-to claim our mates in thifilathi form. dad says it ensures that all the babies a high demon female bears will belong to her mate and no other. something in the thifilathi saliva makes changes in the female's body and it will only recognize his seed after that."

"tory, what are you saying? what about aurelius?" i was upset again.

"aurelius knows, m'hala. in fact, he was demanding that we find a way to keep you from suffering during this whole thing. we all know how that turned out." sarcasm coated tory's words.

"where is he? are you sure that's true-that i can't have anyone else's babies?"

"i shouldn't have said anything," tory muttered. "i should have known this would upset you. i can't say that for sure, love, since you're not a hundred percent high demon. i do know that the high demon females-all of them in the past-have only borne their mate's children. aurelius is on assignment-i can't say where because even i don't know. he belongs to the saa thalarr and they keep that information to themselves. it's to protect them in the long run. he might have told you if you'd been here, but you weren't. even if you knew, you wouldn't be able to say it to another person-knowledge of that race protects itself."

"tory, i don't know how i feel about this. before-well, before things happened, i think i cared about you and worried over what aurelius might think. multiple marriages are allowed on tulgalan, but mostly it is the men marrying more than one wife. rarely is it the other way around, although it is allowed, just as the other is. i thought i was betraying aurelius when i felt something for you. but now," i sighed helplessly.

"reah, it will take time. it does with every high demon female who is claimed. the pain and hurt have to go away, and the male has to make amends and try to regain his female's trust. it is a long road, m'hala. say you'll take that road with me. give me a chance, reah. what you see in front of you is the only thing that will touch you, now. i know how to be gentle, avilepha. i will give you only pleasure from now on. the pain is over. my claiming marks are beautiful, love, and a reminder that you suffered in the claiming. the thifilathi is satisfied. he will not harm you again."

"tory, how do i know that? i only recently learned i am part high demon. i don't know your race." i tried to roll over and turn away from him. what was i supposed to do? just believe everything they said? why hadn't they warned me about this ahead of time? why?

"i wanted to talk to you. dad and uncle jayd wanted to wait until closer to time so you wouldn't have a long period to worry over it. once the thifilathi has chosen his mate, he will hunt ceaselessly for her until he finds her. it is always better if he can claim her under controlled circumstances."

"so, your father," i began.

"well, kifirin placed my mother in a healing sleep, so she wasn't awake for the claiming," tory sounded embarrassed. "she woke in pain, though, and she wouldn't let anyone touch her at first. uncle reemagar finally found her and convinced her to let him heal as much as he could. that's how that happened. mom doesn't know that dad told me," he added. "mom has kifirin's claiming marks too. he put his teeth in her neck first."

"but she has other children," i pointed out. erland morphis was ry's father, and gavril was gavin's son.

"ry and i were born to surrogate mothers, using mom's dna in donor eggs. the larentii manipulated them-they were mom's eggs when they were finished. sissy came the same way ry and i did. gavril came the traditional way. but mom isn't high demon. she's vampire, but before that, she was a quarter bright elemaiya and a quarter karathian witch. we think that had something to do with all this."

"but i'm only a quarter high demon." i pointed out.

"but you have every one of the high demon gifts, according to kifirin. now that aurelius has given you blood, you're immortal. that was the only thing we were all worried about."

tory had just let something slip that i didn't know. "when did aurelius give me blood? i don't remember that." tory saw that this upset me.

"hush, baby-i didn't realize he hadn't told you. i think he gave it the night you spent with him. did he give you something to drink?"

"yes, but it was fruit juice."

"that's how they give it to those who aren't vampire or werewolf-in juice of some sort. it helps mask the taste. think about it, reah-have you had to void, since then?"

i had to think for a moment to realize what he'd been asking me. it dawned eventually. "no," i replied, "but that was sporadic before then. i've gone for days before without having to-you know."

"it's the high demon in you-your body was almost completely efficient, just as mine is. now, that is complete and you won't age past a certain point. you may look like you're in your early to mid-twenties eventually, but no older than that. you're not susceptible to diseases anymore, either." he turned me gently until i was looking up at his face again. "reah, i love you. i think i was hooked the minute i first saw you. my thifilathi certainly made his feelings known during the full moon only a few days later. if you hadn't still been recovering, things might have happened sooner. i don't know whether that would have been a good thing or a bad thing. that's why the female high demons are kept away from the males for the most part-so they won't be taken unaware or by the wrong one. you weren't locked up, reah. it was only a matter of time." tory's dark blue eyes looked right into mine as he bumped his forehead against mine. "we belong together, reah. i hope you can get over the claiming someday and come to love me." he flouted karzac's orders and kissed me before folding away abruptly. i lay there and stared at the ceiling for a very long time afterward.

"she didn't scream or call me names, and she only cried a little," tory sat heavily on one of his mother's guest chairs inside her study. lissa watched her son's face-he wasn't as upset as he had been before going to visit reah. karzac had already been by, saying that tory had bathed reah without taking too many liberties.

"honey, take it slow, all right? i know you want to be with her right this minute, but she has to digest all this first." tory's eyes were a darker version of lissa's sky-blue. with his dark hair, he looked quite handsome. "torevik rolfe rath, are you listening to me?" lissa was attempting to get tory's attention.

"i'm listening, mom."

"the problem we'll have, i think, is working things out between reah and your uncle norian. not to mention lendill." lissa was testing the waters; tory knew what lendill had done. sure enough, a curl of smoke came from tory's nostrils at the mention of lendill's name.

"lord morphis, what did you learn?" erland morphis knew things had become serious if wylend was calling him lord morphis.

"lissa says that karzac has estimated around two weeks for recovery, my king," erland bowed respectfully, flashing a thousand-watt smile. his son had inherited the same smile.

"i almost don't know how to go about this-i've never found anyone that i wanted in this position before," wylend sighed.

"i heard she didn't react badly when your great-grandson went to make amends with her. that may be a good sign."

"will it not be awkward, though?"

"no more awkward than the falchani twins."

"well, there is that," wylend agreed. "i do not intend to interfere or encroach upon her relationship with torevik."

"you will not. you are quite busy, my king. i think things can be worked out." erland was still smiling.

"i am most displeased about the length of time she has remaining with the asd."

"norian does seem to have a tight grip on her. do you think that might be worked out in some way?"

"look into the rules for me, lord morphis."

"of course, my king."

chapter 2

gavril was snuggled against my left shoulder as we sat on his bed, doing research for his latest report. i was feeling better and wondering (with much trepidation) when the director or vice-director might summon me. i'm sure karzac had made them aware that i'd be healed enough for duty in another week. they had weeks on le-ath veronis-a seven-day period instead of the eight-day that tulgalan employed. it depended upon the planet, its government and how they wanted their months divided. le-ath veronis had twenty-eight day months, exactly. tulgalan took thirty-two days in their moon turns and fourteen moon turns to travel around its sun.

"here-it says that wasternell nearly destroyed itself with chemical warfare around three thousand years ago," i pointed out the specific passage. we were reading through archaic records translated directly from an old language, which was extremely difficult to wade through. my thoughts turned to aurelius too, and whether he would return before i was sent out again by the asd. tory came to see me often, and we usually went to the pool area or the arboretum. he mostly wanted to sit with me pulled against him. we talked. he told me more about the high demons and their history. i was still having difficulty reconciling all of it as part of my history, too.