Free Blood Reunion by Connie Suttle Page A

hands—several on some fingers. One for each of her Inner Circle mates. Gavin's ring was the largest, and had a huge diamond in the center surrounded by swirls of smaller diamonds. Many people across the Alliance had copied that ring and many wives of important men proudly wore something similar. All the Inner Circle mates had a ring, too—a large gold signet ring with the claw crown engraved upon it. That ring was guarded carefully and no one was allowed to copy it. It was the official seal for the Queen of Le-Ath Veronis.
    "I will wake her, if you will help us convince her to eat," Connegar smiled. Ry smiled back—it was rare to see two Larentii smiling on the same day.
    "How is she?" Thurlow, whom Ry and Tory hadn't seen in nearly a month, walked in with Norian. Thurlow must have gone to get Norian—he'd been on Hraede to handle some business there. Thurlow sometimes had the same feel about him that Kifirin had, only to a lesser degree. And he didn't blow smoke as Kifirin did at times. Thurlow had dark hair and a slightly crooked nose; otherwise, he would have been quite handsome. As it is, he still drew interest whenever he was off-planet.
    "As well as can be expected," Connegar replied to Thurlow's question. "She should eat, though, before she becomes nauseous."
    "When will we know who the father is?" Norian asked.
    "The Wise Ones do not wish to give out that information for a while," Connegar replied.
    "So they want to leave us in the dark." Norian wasn't happy and Ry and Tory both knew it. "We'll all have our hopes up, and then get disappointed."
    "Will this make you treat her any differently?" Reemagar asked.
    "You should know better than that," Norian snapped. "We all think of these children as ours in some way."
    "Then think of this one as yours as well." Connegar rose from his chair and made it disappear with a thought. "Wake her, young one." Connegar tapped Ry on the shoulder. Ry nodded and leaned down to touch his mother's shoulder.
    "Mom, wake up and come eat," Ry said softly. He knew his mother would hear—could have heard from across the room, even.
    "Honey, what are you doing?" The Queen's eyes opened slowly.
    "Trying to get you up so you can have dinner with us," Tory said over Ry's shoulder.
    "I don't know," the Queen sat up with Connegar's assistance. "I feel queasy."
    "If you will eat, that will subside," Connegar pointed out.
    "Are you going to be like this for the next seven months?" Queen Lissa swung her legs over the side of the bed. She was still dressed in the same clothing she'd worn to the Council meeting. "I need to change."
    "Here," Connegar used power to change what the Queen wore. She now had denim pants and a stretchy shirt on. She looked down at her outfit.
    "I sure hope the others don't freak when I show up at the table looking like this."
    "I do not care what you have on, you will come eat. Now." Gavin was there and pulling her off the bed. "Come along, young ones. We will stand over her if necessary and make sure she eats."
    Ry grinned at Tory as they followed Gavin and their mother from the royal suite.
    * * *
    Calebert sat across from Glendes, Eldest of Grey House, in Glendes' private study. "I can't fault her work," Calebert stated. "But Nissa takes so long to accomplish a single task. She should be working much faster than this."
    "What do you have her doing?" Glendes had the tips of his fingers together as he watched the Master Wizard of the Weapons Division carefully.
    "Cleaning rust from daggers and blades," Calebert replied. Nissa was Glendes' great-granddaughter, and it grieved him to bring this news to Glendes. "It takes her an entire day to clean a single dagger, and it takes two days to do a sword. She should be taking an hour at the most for a smaller blade."
    "Have you talked to her about it?"
    "Several times." Calebert blew out a sigh. Calebert's short vest was dyed yellow—the color of the Weapons Division of Grey House. Glendes wore the black robes of the Eldest of