They sounded hopeful. They also offered drinks and snacks, but Norian and I declined, leaving after two hours. We got all sorts of information on when the child from their family disappeared, only they made it sound as if it were their ancestors instead of immediate family. The mother seemed most hopeful. I think the father was resigned to the fact that he would never see his child again. I felt really bad for him. At least I knew where Toff was.

* * *

"That was useless," Norian was extremely disappointed, I could tell, as we got ready for bed.

"But did you see the hope in that mother's eyes—that she might see her son again someday? That gives me hope, Norian. Hope that if we do find your parents, that they'll be so glad and relieved to see you. That's what I hope for." I gave him a kiss.

"Lissa Beth, if you weren't here with me, I wouldn't have the courage to stay."

"Honey, we'll go out and check the younger child's parents tomorrow. Then you can find a place to snake around tomorrow night and if we don't find your relatives, we'll go see the last ones the following day."

"I know," Norian sat heavily on the bed.

* * *

"This is nice." I looked up at the tall, three-story, stone house. The first one we'd visited was spacious enough, but this was a manor. Like the other, it too was centuries old and built to last. The wood frames and shutters around the windows were freshly painted in a pale green, picking up a similar color in the stones. The manor was covered in a dark slate roof, with three chimneys jutting from the top. Flowers lined the perimeter of the house in wide flowerbeds, with hedged walkways to and from barns and outbuildings in the near distance. It was picturesque, no doubt about that. We knocked on the door and a woman who appeared to be another housekeeper opened it up to us.

"We were expecting you—the Silbars called us last night. Please come in," she said and motioned us inside. We were led into what looked like a library on the first floor at the back of the house, and there was a man there, waiting on us. I drew in a breath, recognizing his scent, just as my skin itched furiously and he drew a laser pistol from behind his back and fired.

Chapter 12

I had Norian turned to mist in a blink and the laser blast went right through us. I was so angry I might have taken our assailant's head off when I materialized, but I held myself back, knocking the pistol from his hand first and then tossing him into a wall and holding him there.

"You stupid ass, you almost killed your brother," I hissed in his ear—the one that wasn't making a dent in the library wall, that is.

"My brother is dead," he managed to mumble. Yeah, I had him crunched up against the wall pretty good. The painted surface was going to have an imprint of his body in it when I let him go, I think.

"You sound so fucking sure of yourself," I countered. "Where are your parents?"

"Out in the field, supervising the harvest. I took the communication last night. Do you know how many false reports we've gotten over the years? People saying they had information, only they wanted money. At first we paid. I've made sure the last few that came didn't get out of here alive." Well, that was fine and good, provided he wasn't killing the innocent. I jerked him away from the wall, practically threw him into a chair and stood in front of him with my arms crossed angrily over my chest.

"Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you might be in, if you'd harmed either of us?" I snapped at him. Good heavens, he even looked like Norian. It made me wonder what his parents looked like.

"None, if I buried the bodies in the right place." Yeah, he was about to make the turn, looked like.

"Norian, I think you're going to have to convince your brother, here, that he doesn't need to bite either of us," I said, looking from homicidal sibling to Norian and back again.

Norian was staring, unable to move. I think his mouth was open, too. I reached over and tapped the underside of his chin. He closed his mouth. "This is my brother? Reedy?" He was looking closely at his brother, as if he were looking for something familiar.

"Don't give me that," Reedy, if that was his name, hissed. Yeah, it was too close to the full moon and the snake wanted to take over.

"This is Norian Keef, Director of the ASD," I hurried to make an introduction, before things got farther into the danger zone. "And I am Lissa, Queen of Le-Ath Veronis. We don't need your money. We came to find Norian's family. Therefore, if you'll shut up and listen, maybe we can all learn a few things." Reedy was still glaring at us suspiciously. Yeah, I might, too, if two people showed up without warning and claimed to be a monarch and the head of the Alliance Security Detail.

"My ID," Norian produced his badge from a pocket. Reedy frowned as he looked at it.

"Could be fake," he muttered.

"These aren't." I let my claws slide out, and I pointed one of them at Reedy. "I can smell your blood, Reedy, or whatever your name is. Now, I truly don't want to be responsible for killing Norian's brother, but it sounds like you have a little blood on your hands already. I suggest you get your parents in here. We need to have a pow-wow before the moon comes up and you all get scaly and hissy."

"How do you know anything about that?" Reedy still didn't sound convinced.

"Let's take a little trip," I suggested, and folded all of us to Le-Ath Veronis, where the full moon, thankfully, was six days away.

"Little girl, tell me where you have been." Cheedas had hands on hips as we showed up in his kitchen.

Reedy looked around him, shock showing in his face. "Where am I?" he whispered.

"You are in my kitchen, in the Queen's palace on Le-Ath Veronis," Cheedas snapped, lifting a ladle and waving it at Reedy. "And you should have more respect for my Raona, or you will not receive the best of food."

"He can make good on that threat," I said mildly, smiling at Cheedas. He smiled back at me.

"Are you staying for dinner, Raona?" Cheedas asked.

"No, honey, we have to get Norian's brother back home before they call out the dogs," I said. "He was just having a hard time believing we are who we say we are."

"Avilepha, you should come home soon," Kifirin appeared beside me, shocking Reedy further. Kifirin blew smoke as he looked around me at Reedy. "Lay a hand or a scale on my mate and I will kill you slowly," he said.

"You're threatening me?" Reedy huffed.

"I do not threaten. That is a promise." Kifirin's smoke grew heavier.

"You probably don't want to talk to Kifirin that way. You're one of the dark races, after all, and he won't waste a minute doing away with you," I informed Reedy. Truly, it was for his own good.

"Kifirin? I heard he was a myth." Reedy kept digging the hole deeper. If I didn't stop him, he'd bury himself in a self-made grave.

"Yeah? Well, lion snakes might be myths to some people, too, yet the reality is right here, is it not? Let's go find your parents, you stupid shit." I folded us away again.

* * *

"Mother, I couldn't stop them. This one claims to be Queen of Le-Ath Veronis, and this one says he's my brother." Reedy rushed to give out information when we landed in front of Norian's mother. The scent was all over her. She'd given Norian his eye color—I saw that right away. We stood on the edge of a large wheat field under a tent of some sort. A small table occupied part of the space, and it was covered with a water jug and cups. Machinery was working out in the field, harvesting the wheat crop and raising dust.

"Nori, I think you're going to have to change." I looked at Norian, who shrugged before his clothing puddled around him and he rose up, hissing, his hood spread out. It resembled the mane of a lion, which most likely gave them their name.

"See, not so far-fetched anymore, is it?" I had a claw at Reedy's throat again. He was staring at Norian, who snaked to my side and lifted himself to drape over my shoulders.

"Honey, now might not be a good time," I kissed his head and he dropped down again.

"Is that my son?" Norian's mother was looking at him closely, now. "The pattern belongs to the family, but that can't be my Lirokalif."

"Is that why you called him Keef?" I asked. "The name was too long for him to say it properly?" Norian was gathering his clothing, after he put the claw crown ring on first. He got points for that, in my book.

"And we called Yaredolak, Reedy, for the same reason," Norian's mother agreed. "Is this my son? Is it? Will someone explain where he's been all this time?" She was about to have a meltdown, too, and Reedy just looked bewildered, now.

* * *

"The Alliance boarded the ship—it was a freighter smuggling other things besides me," Norian sat at a table inside a large kitchen at the family manor. Norian's mother, father and his doubting brother sat with us while Norian told his story. "I couldn't tell them my real name, I could only say Keef, umma and pap," he went on. "They almost killed me when the full moon came along. Ildevar Wyyld showed up, made arrangements for me to be brought up and schooled and then convinced me to work for the ASD."

"And now you're the Director." Norian's father was still in shock.

"Yes. And only recently made Ildevar Wyyld's heir. After I married Lissa Beth." Norian put his hand over mine. The claw crown ring was prominent on his finger.

"But you've been gone so long, I'm not sure how to fit you into the family," his mother sighed.

"You don't have to fit me into the family. I just wanted to find you. Make sure I hadn't dreamed you, or something. With the way Reedy greeted me, it's probably just as well." Poor Norian. If he'd expected a tearful reunion, he wasn't getting it.

"It's the full moon, and we'll be going out in a while," Reedy was still acting grumpy.

"What is wrong with you?" I asked. "Norian isn't taking anything away from you. And now, your parents can rest easier, I hope, knowing that their child wasn't tortured, killed or held in somebody's zoo. Norian has a job to do, so he isn't going to be hanging around, depending on you to support him. And I'm still a little pissed over the fact that you tried to kill us without knowing whether we were good or bad. I get a slight itch, looking at you. Why is that, Reedy? I know you're fifteen years older than Norian. That would have made you nineteen or twenty, when Norian was abducted. Who did you make a deal with, Reedy?" I'd done a little Looking. Reedy had given away sensitive information.