"Yes, Connegar mentioned this to me, when I was learning with another surrogate. I asked to be assigned and Connegar, Reemagar and Ferrigar all thought it a good idea." Daragar smiled brightly. He was more than eight and a half feet tall and had the bright blue eyes all Larentii had, although his blond hair was nearly white. He had it short and it was so thick it stood straight up on his head.

"Are you doing well—do you need anything?" I asked.

"We are doing very well." Poradina liked where she was, I think, as did Evaline. "I was worried we'd be stuck somewhere in the dark, with nobody paying attention to us. Everybody pays attention to us. Karzac and Daragar check on the babies constantly and make sure we're healthy. Karzac doesn't mind telling us if we're not eating right, too." Poradina was grinning.

"Yeah, there's no way to hide anything from him, all right," I agreed. "You don't get into an argument with him, either. I wouldn't know what it was like to be right all the time, like he is."

"What is it like—to have so many mates?" Evaline asked.

"Amazing, most of the time," I answered truthfully. "Until they all disagree with me at once, anyway."

"I haven't met this one." Evaline nodded toward Shadow.

"Yeah, well, this is Shadow Grey."

"One of the Grey House Wizards?" Evaline sounded impressed.

"Yeah. One of those." I didn't sound so impressed.

"I'm in the dog house right now," Shadow admitted, a wry grin on his face. He hadn't spoken before this.

"You are residing with domesticated pets?" Daragar wasn't sure of the idiom.

"I'd probably be more comfortable," Shadow rubbed the back of his neck. The comesuli cook was about to serve lunch for Poradina and Evaline, so Shadow and I left. "You never did have breakfast earlier," Shadow said, as I made my way toward my private study. I wasn't surprised to find Norian lurking outside my door.

"Were you lying in wait?" I asked as I opened the door.

"As much as I could," Norian smiled.

"She hasn't eaten anything," Shadow pointed out as I walked in, causing Heathe and Grant to stop what they were doing.

"I'll get a meal from the kitchen," Grant offered.

"I'll go with him," Heathe said and both my assistants walked right out again before I could ask them what was going on. Shadow kissed me, said he had work to do and folded away.

"We still have problems on Trell," Norian said later over a sandwich and a cup of soup—Grant and Heathe had brought back enough food and drinks for all of us. "There's evidence of an influx of money into the royal treasury, and a new temple is under construction in a city near the capital."

"Any murders or reported disappearances?"

"None reported, but we're getting rumors that the crown isn't releasing all information," Norian grumbled.

"Isn't that a violation of their agreement with the Alliance?" I asked, munching away on my toasted cheese sandwich.

"Of course it is. All member worlds are obligated to report crimes, so any population visiting will have that information before they set foot on the planet," Norian went on. "It would be common courtesy, even if it weren't in violation of their pact with the Alliance."

"Is Lendill there now?" I asked.

"I sent him there when we finished on Darthin."

"You didn't give him any time off?" I watched Norian as he chewed a bite of sandwich thoughtfully.

"Lendill is something of a workaholic and neither of us received time off. Just because I'm not somewhere else doesn't mean I'm not working."

"I didn't say that, Norian Keef," I pointed a wedge of sandwich in his direction.

"Don't point that at me unless you want me to eat it."

"If you're that hungry, you can have it."

"Will you feed it to me?"

"Norian."

"Lissa Beth."

I was thankful Shadow left before we started on Alliance business. I wasn't sure how he would react to Norian's desire for me to transport him to Trell that afternoon. "Does the Trellian crown know you have ASD agents there?"

"No. We got a tip on this days ago, but Darthin took precedence. We have people following up with Black Mist, but they're lying low right now, so we don't have much."

"Those difiks," I muttered.

"I was thinking much worse names, Lissa Beth. I asked Taff and Mora to pack a bag for you. I know you have that hearing on Cloudsong in a few days, but you can take off for that. Meanwhile, perhaps Trell will take your mind off those things."

"Uh-huh. And I'm sure the Alliance media everywhere isn't having a field day with that information," I grumbled.

"They are. You just haven't been watching the vids. Everybody is having a fit that Grey House is being dragged into this, but they're not defending you at all. They think all these Casinos are making you wealthy beyond reason, so there's very little sympathy. In fact, some journalists are saying that Cloudsong should just settle for what they can get from you."

"Norian, did you set out to turn my day into a pile of steaming crap? Did you?" I'd just lost my appetite and dropped the half sandwich onto my plate.

"Breah-mul, that wasn't my intention."

"What was your intention?" I snapped at him.

Cheah-mul, I was only trying to inform you. That is my job. I know you have not watched the vids in days."

I hugged myself and allowed my head to drop onto my desk. Grant and Heathe left the room at Norian's urging. He then came to the side of my desk and sat there, begging me to straighten up. I didn't cooperate. "Lissa Beth, they cannot beat you in a fair fight, so they are digging at you the only way they can. If you allow them to hurt you like this, then they win. Do not let them win."

"Norian, you're not the one whose name gets dragged through the muck on every vid screen in every Alliance household," I muttered, shivering when I sat up straight.

"You forget about the vid screens outside the Alliance that also pick it up," Norian tilted my chin up so his eyes could look into mine. "We are both wounded, deah-mul. Inside. We have to stand tall and pretend it doesn't matter to those who do not know us." Norian had now used the third portion of the declaration of love—he'd called me breah-mul, cheah-mul, and now deah-mul. It meant my breath, my heart and my soul in the language of Wyyld, one of the Twenty Charter worlds of the Alliance. I figured it was easy to rhyme songs in that language. "Come with me, Lissa Beth. Trell is waiting for us."

Chapter 7

"Does the Alliance have a problem with privacy?" I had hands on hips as I stared at another line of low-walled cubicles—six this time—inside the ASD office located in Xindis, Trell's capital city. Lendill was there to meet us, after getting a communication from Norian that we were on our way. He chuckled at my dismay over the situation.

"There are four showers and all of them have doors," he said, grinning.

"Oh, so they think semi-privacy is all right, then?" I wrinkled my nose at Lendill.

"Better than nothing," he was still grinning. "It's nice to see you, Raona. None of the other Liaisons were so involved in our investigations. Frankly, none of the others had any talent, either. They only gave half an ear to Norian, their signatures on permission papers and that's about it."

"You didn't give me that option," I glared at Norian. He had the nerve to give me a cheeky grin.

"If you hadn't hauled me off to Twylec and then proceeded to destroy the Solar Red Temple all around me, then we wouldn't be here now. You showed me what you could do, so I chose to capitalize on that. You can't blame me—I have to use all assets available to do my job."

"I leave the running of Le-Ath Veronis to others, just so you can have your way, Norian Keef?" I was making a face at him, now.

"I like getting my way. It's so much better than not getting my way." Norian sighed blissfully.

"I ought to smack you," I muttered, lifting my bag and tossing it onto my borrowed bed from ten feet away.

"I've never seen any other woman do that," Lendill was impressed.

"I can do the same with you—or Norian. Personally, I'd rather toss Norian."

"Lissa Beth, stop complaining. We have several things to check on, tonight. We'll get dinner while we're out." Norian lifted his bag and delivered it to his cubicle, next door to mine, in a more traditional manner. Lendill, just as before, had taken the last space, farthest from the door.

* * *

"What can you tell me, Lissa Beth?" Norian lifted an eyebrow as I scented my way through the large apartment.

"Six people were here regularly. All tainted in some way."

"Tainted?" Norian was now very interested. We'd left Lendill behind—he hadn't gotten much rest lately, so Norian told him to get an early meal and go to bed. Lendill seemed happy to comply. Norian had gotten addresses from Lendill before we left the ASD office, so we went to check on them.

"When I smell a taint around their normal scent, that means they're bad—done something they shouldn't—I can't explain it better than that," I said, looking out a wide window onto the street below. Night had fallen and the streetlamps were glowing, illuminating the light snow swirling to the ground. Winter had come to that portion of Trell and it was bitterly cold. Norian had gotten Taff and Mora, my two assistants, to pack warm clothing for me. I hadn't even thought to Look to see what the weather was like. I would have walked out without a sweater, even. Norian opened my bag earlier, pulled out a coat and helped me into it before we left headquarters.

"Lissa Beth, if we walked up to someone on the street who had done murder, are you telling me you can scent that about them?"