Keep your promise, Erland's voice sounded in my head.
"Tomorrow," I said.
"Good. Very good." Wylend leaned down to kiss me. Erland removed the markings with power and he and Wylend disappeared.
"Are you married to him as well?" Lok asked dryly.
"I'm only engaged to Wylend," I huffed.
"We have multiple mates on Falchan. It is rare to see the ai yevu."
"The single mate?" I asked, translating the phrase into common Alliance.
"Yes. The direct translation is my only."
"So," I said, changing the subject, "we have someone who's trading souls with child after child after child, possibly because the Ra'Ak has a taste for the young and tender," I almost gagged when I said it—it made me feel so ill.
"Sounds like a Karathian or something similar," Lok observed.
"Yes—something just like that," I sighed. "Is there anything else we need to see here?"
"I think we found more than enough."
Lok filed his report from my apartment; I sent one to Lendill as well. I got a response right away, in the form of Lendill Schaff.
"Reah, this is disturbing—are you sure of Wylend and Erland's information?"
"Lendill, ask them yourself—they weren't lying. They just didn't know right away who might be able to do this sort of thing. There's no doubt about those children on Bardelus, there's only one of the seven left."
"Fuck." Lendill flopped onto the sofa next to me. "Reah, do not stand in front of another bullet, I beg you," he put his arms around me.
"Honey, I sure don't want to do that," I muffled against his shirt.
"Good. Come to bed with me?" He murmured softly. We left Lok munching on a sandwich in the sitting room and closed the bedroom door.
"Reah, we only got the once," Lendill undid a button, placing a kiss. His mouth was warm as he nipped my collarbone. I remembered the time before with Lendill—in his office. This was our first time in a bed. He didn't disappoint. Whatever it is that he has, it comes through when he fucks. I was begging him, I think, before all was said and done. He gave me everything I asked for, and then some.
"Reah, I have to go," Lendill gave me a gentle kiss early the following morning. "Norian is here to take me back."
"How did you get here in the first place?" I asked sleepily.
"Larentii," he said. "I'll see you soon. Send mindspeech." He kissed me again and walked out of the bedroom. When I got up later to have my morning tea, I found Lok sitting on my sofa.
"Have you been here all this time?" My fists were on my hips.
"You have two extra bedrooms. I borrowed one. You have plenty of room; I'm thinking about moving in. It'll be easier to communicate."
"And you decided that."
"Yes."
"Unbelievable." I shook my head and went off to make tea.
"I don't have any Falchani black," I said, handing him a cup of my brand. It wasn't as strong as what the Falchani normally got.
"This will do; I have some black in my hotel room. I'll bring it when I move in."
"Uh-huh," I muttered. I ended up skipping Lok to his hotel room three times, to move his things, and then he had his cup of tea while I prepared lunch.
"What is this? It's very good."
"It's evil, that's what it is." It was; a sandwich made of ham and thinly sliced fowl, with a good white cheese in between, dipped in batter then deep-fried. I didn't make it often—I could hear arteries clogging just by looking at it. You could dust it lightly with confectioner's sugar if you wanted—I preferred mine with a bit of fresh jam.
"You call this the evil sandwich?"
"Yes, the evil, heart attack inducing sandwich," I agreed, taking another bite. Lok laughed at me.
"What are you doing?" I'd hauled out my comp-vid and went looking through dates of death for the six children on Bardelus, discovering that the seventh had died overnight.
"Look," I pushed it toward him, "these children died around three days apart. That means that the one doing this has to move on to a fresh victim every third day."
"Sounds logical," Lok stuffed the last of his sandwich in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully, going over my research. "They all died around mid-afternoon," he observed.
"Shortly after school was out," I said, agreeing with his assessment. "This is the extra child that some witnesses are reporting—the one who's doing this, that is." I pulled my comp-vid back and sent a quick message to Plovel, telling him that we were dealing with the culprits in the Reth Alliance, now. Then I sent the same message to Lendill, asking if it were possible to warn all children to be wary of strangers approaching—including other children they didn't know.
"That'll be hard for the teens to accept—they love to interact with those they don't know." Lok said, watching as I put the message together.
"Let's go to Farrahn," I said. "Just to see if there's anything there." Lok nodded, so I skipped us there.
"How many of those creatures are there?" Lok asked as we made our way through a playground where three children had disappeared.
"I saw six power flashes when they got away on Bardelus," I said. Lok whipped out his comp-vid and sent that message. "They didn't know?" I asked, trying to remember if I'd sent that information to Lendill earlier. I guess I hadn't. He would probably yell about it when I saw him next.
"He's asking if you forgot to tell him something," Lok turned his comp-vid around so I could see the message.
"Yeah, he'll yell the next time I see him," I grumped. Lok's black eyes gleamed with humor; he was enjoying himself. It was times like that when he reminded me of Dragon. I kept that information to myself.
"Look—chalk smudges," I pointed out the blue dust on the floor of the old gymnasium. "What do they use this for?" I looked around—there wasn't anything apparent.
"According to my records here, the teens gather at the end of the week and drink alcohol," Lok said, consulting his comp-vid.
"Why haven't they torn this down?" I looked at the ceiling, where old tiles and insulation were dangling precariously. Windows were broken or vandalized, brick crumbling—the place was a hazard. And now, three teens were missing and likely doomed if not dead already. Actually, likely Ra'Ak fodder already; these had been missing eleven days. I shook my head. "Lok, we need to find these things and the humans who help them."
"I agree," He nodded. "Are we ready to go back, now?"
"Yeah."
What do you wear to a tryst with the King of Karathia? I dithered after getting a bath and primping. Wylend and I had never had sex. Something always got in the way. Now that it was a planned thing, I got shaky over it. The dress he'd labeled his favorite was for a formal affair, in black silk. It did look good in contrast to my white-blonde hair, piled on top of my head. I remembered wearing jewels he'd said belonged to his mother. She died in the coup that killed his father.
I still had the tunic and loose pants in purple that Nefrigar had manufactured somehow. I slipped into that, along with the silver shoes that matched the embroidery. I hadn't seen my patron Larentii for a while and it made me wonder where he was.
I'd broiled a steak for Lok before going to get dressed, and he'd even cleaned up the kitchen after he ate. He'd settled in the media room afterward to watch the news vids for anything new that might come along.
"I'll be back tomorrow," I told him before skipping away.
"Here's my love, now." Wylend smiled at me. "You look beautiful." I'd skipped into his sitting room and found Corolan there with Wylend.
"Little girl, you don't know how we worried over you," Corolan sighed, leaning down to kiss me before folding away.
"I have champagne on ice, love," Wylend settled me on the wide sofa and poured a glass for me. I love champagne. This one was perfect. "Are you nervous?" he asked me.
"Um-huh," I nodded as I sipped my drink.
"It's just me, love. Nothing here to be frightened of. Do you think I won't know how to treat my Reah?" Wylend removed his jacket, and then his shirt. I'd never seen him without a shirt. He was muscular—more so than I imagined. "I work out with Corolan and Garek," he smiled at me. "It's not all sex with them, you know. And if you ever want either of them, all you have to do is say it."
"They're not obligated," I muttered.
"They know that. They want you, Reah. I think Corolan has a permanent erection around you."
"Wylend, Corolan's erection isn't the one I'm concerned with, right now."
"Is it mine that you're focused on?" Wylend leaned in to kiss me. And then kissed me again, touching my mouth with his tongue. When I parted my lips for him, he took full advantage. "Yes," a thrust with his tongue. "See," another thrust. "Here," he took my hand and placed it over the bulge in his pants. They were quite tight, there. "Rub this, Reah. For me." He guided my hand; he was still kissing me and pushing me back on the sofa. "Undress me. Please."
I fumbled with the button, and then three more buttons, freeing the erection we'd discussed earlier—he hadn't bothered with underwear. His hips and thighs hard with muscle, I had a bit of difficulty pushing his pants down. Wylend didn't care. Once they were lower than his knees, he pushed me back all the way and kicked them off, not caring where they landed. Now, his hands were under my top, fingers stroking ribs and the underside of my breasts. In a flash of movement, the top was over my head and gone.
"These are perfect," he lowered his head to a nipple and nipped it with his teeth. Grinding his erection against me, he sucked the nipple into his mouth before turning his attention to the other one. Had I thought this to be slow? Wylend was nearly frenzied. His hand at the small of my back, he worked the tie loose and pulled the silk pants down.
