Demon Revealed (High Demon Series #2) (20 page)

I can't leave the house, Vice-Director, until I have guards.
That idiot wizard Haral wanted to kill me yesterday. Somebody else got to him
first. Nearly took his head off and sliced him up pretty good. They must have
used a really sharp knife to do that kind of damage
.

Reah, I'll inform Erland Morphis—I know the King of
Karathia had a price on that one's head—he was a warlock, not your garden-variety
wizard
, Lendill told me. Well, that explained a lot. Warlocks tended to be
worse than wizards if they went bad. It made me wonder about Milus and Carthin.
They were the wizards, in addition to Haral, whom Bel said weren't native to
Mandil.

Does Wylend have a bounty on anyone named Milus or Carthin?
I asked.

You know Wylend? Well enough to call him by his first name?

Probably not to call him Wylend, but we did meet—I cooked
for him when Ry, Tory and I were on Tulgalan. He came to check on Wyatt.

I forgot about that
, Lendill said. It sounded as if he
were mentally chastising himself.
I'll ask about those two. That may not be
their real names, Reah. Many of
them have so many aliases we can't keep
track of them. If you meet with Ry soon, perhaps he can get a look at them. He's
aware of those wanted by Wylend Arden, just as well as his father Erland is
.
In the meantime, don't trust your bodyguards. Don't trust anyone there
except Tory and Ry.

Don't worry, Vice-Director. There aren't that many anywhere
who deserve my trust
.

Slamming things around in the kitchen helped with my
frustration, and that's where Teeg found me later. My new bodyguards were right
behind him. He'd hired two. Those two were Tory and Ry.

Consciously closing my mouth (it hung open for several ticks,
I just know it), I listened while Teeg introduced my new bodyguards. At least
they'd kept their first names. Ry was now Ry Nolin and Tory was Tory Lathif. I
wondered if Lathif was Tory's bending of the term Thifilathi, but I sure didn't
want to ask. Not out loud, anyway. Teeg grinned at my discomfort. Ry and Tory
were disguised, but I could see right through that. A bit of shimmer lay about
them, just as there had been when they'd been on Mandil. I'd learned that meant
that Ry had used the ability he had to create the disguise.

"Don't go anywhere without at least one of them,"
Teeg gave his instructions to me. "Don't let her out of your sight unless
she's with me," Teeg instructed Ry and Tory. Both nodded. "Now, go
make those tarts, I know you can't stand it," Teeg gave me a quick grin
and stalked out of the kitchen.

"He thinks this is funny," I muttered, crossing arms
over my chest.

Avilepha, if I could, I'd be kissing you breathless right
now
, Tory sent.

I love you, too
, I returned.
The kissing will have
to wait
. Tory grinned. Ry was watching Tory and grinned when his brother
did. "Come on," I sighed. "Let's go to the restaurant. We have
oxberry tarts to bake." I led them downstairs and out the side door to get
to The San Gerxon.

The private party was very successful. Arvil came, as did his
hired celebrities. I stayed in the kitchen, making sure we had enough of
everything. The salmon pastries went over very well, as did all the entrée samples.
We'd pulled out the best wine we had in stock, and when the desserts came, I
was baking more oxberry tarts quickly. Everybody loved them and wanted more. Arvil
brought people into the kitchen after the third batch went out.

"Reah, this is Wilffin and Wilffox, the brothers
Hardlow," Arvil smiled as he introduced the two most notorious criminals
in and out of the Alliance. Now I knew who Arvil's partners in the drakus seed
enterprise were. Tory and Ry, both of whom stood against a wall and out of the
way, never blinked when those two names were announced. It was my bet, though,
that one or the other was sending mindspeech to Lendill just as fast as he
could.

"A pleasure to meet you, Lord Wilffox, Lord Wilffin."
I nodded respectfully to both of them. I knew, as did almost everyone, that Wilffox
was older and even more murderous than his murdering younger brother, Wilffin.

"You're the one who made these wonderful tarts for me
last time. And that bit of chocolate cake with the cream center and the
caramel," Wilffin was smiling. I'd unwittingly pleased one of the worst
criminals, ever.

"Yes, Lord Wilffin," I nodded to him again. "I'm
glad to hear you liked them."

"It's the best thing I've ever gotten here. Might I hope
you'll cook for me again while I and my brother are here? I don't wish to
impose—Arvil tells me you're one of his heirs."

"Yes, Lord Arvil has been very kind. With his permission,
I will be happy to cook for you again."

"They'll be staying at the palace," Arvil was
smiling graciously. "We can make dinner arrangements, most certainly. Have
whatever you need brought from the restaurant, Reah. We'll make sure our guests
are served only the best."

"Of course." I smiled at the brothers Hardlow. It
wasn't until I watched them walk out of the kitchen with Arvil that I noticed
the four—
yes, four
—warlocks who closed in and walked out behind them. Each
Hardlow was protected by two warlocks. I'm not sure how I knew what they were,
I just did.

Holy crap
, Tory's voice sounded in my mind as I busied
myself at the prep table.

Did you send mindspeech to the Vice-Director?
I
returned.

In less than a heartbeat
, Ry's voice sounded in my
head.

Don't worry, baby, we'll do our best to keep all of us safe
,
Tory said. I shivered slightly—mothers frightened their children into obedience
by telling them the Hardlows would come get them if they didn't behave. We'd
all heard horror stories and seen vids of horrible crime scenes, on and off
Alliance worlds. No place was safe against them. They'd even been accused of
starting wars on non-Alliance worlds. This worried me. Were they attempting to
take the Alliance down with drakus seed? Prove that the Alliance army and the
ASD were powerless against them, so it should be every planet for itself?

That would be an effective way to annihilate all of us. Divide
and destroy. The Hardlows might be the biggest master strategists ever. I
hadn't seen Farzi and the other reptanoids recently, either. Arvil must have
sent them out to look for new planting fields again. The ground suddenly felt
shaky beneath my feet—this was a game too big and too deep for me to be playing.
I had no experience with this sort of thing. Why had Lendill demanded I stay
here? I was completely out of my element.

Steady, Reah.
Tory knew. Must have read the emotions
crossing my face. I deliberately didn't look at him, although I wanted to. There
was nothing I wanted to do more at that moment than to run to him and fling
myself into his arms. Ask him to take me away from Campiaa. Anywhere would do,
as long as people didn't want me dead and I wasn't surrounded by criminals who
might kill me on a whim.

Was Teeg in on this somehow? Did he know about the Hardlows? Another
question I was afraid to ask, since I might not like the answer. I folded
pastry around oxberries in creamy filling, preparing them for the oven. My
automatic navigator worked that night. I couldn't depend on my brain to form
any thought that wasn't wrapped in fear.

Tory and Ry escorted me back to the palace after the party was
over. I was never so thankful to get out of a kitchen in my life. Ry must have
placed a shield around us—Tory nodded to his brother first before pulling me
against him and leaning down to give the promised kiss. Several kisses,
actually. I clung to him before he pulled away. Someone could be wondering why
it took so long for us to walk the distance between The San Gerxon and Arvil's
palace.

* * *

"Sweetheart, you look ready to drop." Teeg was there,
waiting for us in the kitchen. I still hadn't eaten anything; he was having a
sandwich. Ry waved all of us into our seats and proceeded to make good
sandwiches for Tory, himself and me. I was nearly too tired to eat. Teeg did a
little coaxing and Ry set a glass of wine in front of me. I just wanted to
sleep where I sat. Tory was watchful, too, while Teeg massaged my neck. I'd
forgotten about Tory's claiming marks there. Teeg hadn't even asked about them.
I had no hair to cover them, although it was growing out. I probably had three
finger-widths of hair, now. Perhaps I should get it styled.

"Reah, you look fine," Teeg assured me. I didn't
even notice that he'd known what I was thinking.

Teeg showed Ry and Tory to their bedrooms down the hall in our
wing. They'd be sleeping on the same floor, at least, and I figured Ry would be
putting a shield around all of us while we slept. That's what I would do if I
had the ability.

"Reah, come here, baby." Teeg lifted me and carried
me after we'd left Ry and Tory in their rooms. I wrapped my arms around his
neck and buried my head against his shoulder. He helped me in the shower,
holding me up when I wanted to huddle in a corner on the expensive tiles.

"Don't let them do this to you, sweetheart." Teeg
rubbed a soft, fluffy towel over me, making sure I was dry before putting me to
bed. He didn't bother with pajamas for either of us; he just settled me under
the covers and crawled in next to me. His nearness soothed me so I closed my
eyes to sleep.

Chapter 10
 

Delvin didn't know what to do—Haral had mucked up the plan. Delvin
still didn't understand how Haral had been killed—the wizard had a shield
around him at all times. It could only have been a more powerful wizard, but
there weren't any on Campiaa. Not that he didn't know about. He and the others
had gotten word the moment the Hardlows arrived at the shuttle station. Both of
them had come, bringing all four warlocks with them.

Delvin didn't have enough power to fight one of those warlocks,
let alone four. Even with all eight of Arvil's wizards fighting, they'd still
be out-powered. Reah should have been off the planet at the very least and he
and the others could have plotted to remove Teeg. Arvil was extremely angry
that Haral had betrayed him. He hadn't spoken five words to any of his wizards
after the incident. Arvil hadn't wasted any time bringing in his allies,
however, and the Hardlows had shown up in less time than it took to blink. At
least Farzi and his bunch were off hunting new fields for drakus seed plantings.
Farzi gave Delvin the shivers and Delvin couldn't explain why.

"Perhaps you should amass your wealth in a more
conventional manner," Milus sat down at the bar next to Delvin. Delvin had
chosen a bar at one of the casinos Arvil didn't own. Milus had tracked him
down.

"We're this close," Delvin held up a thumb and
forefinger.

"Perhaps you're that close. I am considering retirement,
friend. I don't like the Hardlows or their warlocks. They could kill all of us
with barely a thought."

Delvin gave a quick nod—they didn't want to say that name too
loudly anywhere. The Hardlows were unforgiving if they felt slighted in any way.
Bodies tended to pile up in their wake if the rumors were true. Not that the
Hardlows would stoop to dirty their hands in a killing—that was what their
hired warlocks were for. Milus wasn't being completely honest with Delvin—he'd
already made up his mind to leave Campiaa the following morning. He wanted no
part in killing the girl, and if he were honest with himself—he liked Teeg.

Milus was old as a warlock. Very old. The King of Karathia had
hunted him for thousands of years. Milus was headed for a small, non-Alliance
world where he could sell his smaller spells for enough to eat and to buy a modest
home. Riches no longer called to him. Carthin had persuaded him to take this
job since Arvil needed as many warlocks as he could get as insurance against
the Hardlows' four power wielders—the Starr brothers. Milus smiled wryly. If
Arvil only knew how ineffective his wizards and warlocks would be against
those
four if they decided to attack.

"Something funny, friend Milus?" Delvin swallowed
the last of his drink and called for another.

"Just thinking about the Hardlows' warlocks," Milus
said. "Have fun, friend Delvin." Milus slid off his barstool and
clapped Delvin on the back. "I'm going to bed." Milus walked out of
the casino. He'd made up his mind suddenly. He wasn't waiting for the morning. He
could fold himself away easily, and he didn't want to take time to pack. Milus
disappeared the moment he was away from prying eyes.

* * *

"Yes, I met him at the bar in the Sandstorm Casino last
night," Delvin raked a hand through his hair. "He said he was
thinking about retiring. How am I supposed to know whether he decided to go
right then or if the same one who killed Haral got him, too?"

Arvil had discovered that Milus was gone when he woke. All his
wizards always gathered to learn what Arvil wanted from them during the day. Milus
failed to appear. His room was searched—nothing was missing and all appeared
untouched. Reah and Teeg had been called in, as had Reah's new bodyguards so
Arvil could give them information on Milus' disappearance.

* * *

Delvin looked as if he were about to have a meltdown. Things
were definitely not going as planned, somehow. I wondered just what it was that
Delvin had been plotting. He wasn't lying about Milus—at least I knew that much.
The Hardlows came in, warlocks in tow as Delvin explained about his meeting with
Milus the evening before. I got as much information as I could by snatching
quick glimpses at the Hardlows' warlocks. All four looked similar—with dark
hair and dark eyes. Close to the same height, too, but there were minor
differences. It made me wonder if they were brothers. Ry answered my mental
question.