Blood Double (God Wars #1)(70)

"Then concentrate on that. Q'And Ribalo is nothing more than a pawn at this moment—his usefulness ended when he was caught."

"How do we get anyone close to the Queen, then, if her senses are so sharp?" Erithia ventured to ask. Timidity worked best with this one, so she kept her eyes lowered.

"Find someone close to her," his voice rumbled with amusement. "Surely you know what to do past that."

"Of course. Of course I will. I do." Erithia nodded.

"Then focus your energy on that, instead of attempting to save the fool in the dungeon. I hear they're going to move him, anyway. Offer that as an excuse to your associate—that your attempt went astray because of plans to move the target. Let him fuss about that while you direct your efforts elsewhere."

"Yes. Of course I will."

"Of course you will, if you expect things to turn out as you want."

"Yes."

*

"Kinsman," Ferrigar nodded to Glendes Grey. "I hear you were assisted by the Vhanaraszh. Will you tell me what transpired?" Ferrigar employed power to make himself smaller and settled on a guest chair in Glendes' study.

"She called herself that," Glendes studied the top of his desk for a few moments. "I feel bad that we cannot offer compensation of any kind for her help."

"Vampires and their ways," Ferrigar huffed, displaying a rare bit of emotion.

"Gavin and his ways," Glendes huffed in reply. "Shadow has gone to Le-Ath Veronis twice since he took her home, and little has changed. Gavin still treats her as less than a second-class citizen, has managed to promise her to a vampire to keep others from inquiring about her and forces her to work all hours of the day and night. He even has the palace comesuli in his thrall, and all of them refuse to help Breanne in any way."

"They are not feeding or clothing her?"

"Shadow says as much. She survives on blood substitute."

"This angers me."

"Can you do anything about it?"

"Not at this time—the Wise Ones say not to interfere. I assume something will come of this, but I fail to see it."

"What does Vhanaraszh mean?" Glendes lifted an eyebrow as he asked. Grey House was descended in a very long line from Ferrigar's only daughter, who'd chosen a human shape to marry a wizard many years earlier. She'd also elected to die when her mate's long life ended. Together, they'd formed the Grey House dynasty and settled on Grey Planet.

"Ah. That," Ferrigar nodded wisely. "Vhanaraszh is the female equivalent of Vhirilaszh. Both mean the same. The words in the Larentii language mean Restorer."

"Restorer?"

"Yes. The prophecy has been in the Larentii Archives for millennia. The Vhirilaszh and Vhanaraszh are expected to work in tandem at times, just as the Vhanaraszh and Changer are supposed to work together."

"But what are they supposed to do?"

"I believe only those three might know, and they may not know until the situation appears," Ferrigar's mouth twitched, as if he wanted to smile. "Now, you will tell me what she managed to do for Grey House. For the Archives, you understand."

Glendes began his tale.

*

Reah's Journal

"Honey Blue?" I was surprised by Nefrigar's visit. When I'd last spoken to him through mindspeech, he'd been very busy recording information for the Archives.

"Hello, Lara'Kayan. Are you and the child well?" Bright-blue eyes smiled and a large, blue hand went automatically to my belly.

"As fine as I can be," I lowered my gaze. I wanted to keep the nightmares and other concerns away from him if I could, but that effort was wasted—he knew it anyway.

"My love, do not fret. Things are somewhat better than they were before," Nefrigar lifted me and smiled. I touched his handsome face with a hand, causing him to lean in for a kiss.

"How are they better?" I asked.

"The Vhanaraszh is among the worlds," his smile turned into a grin and he kissed my hand next.

"Vhanaraszh?"

"Yes. Although the Vhirilaszh is making an ass of himself. I worry that the two may never be together as prophesied."

"Is that a bad thing? And who are these people?"

"You have already seen the Vhanaraszh, you merely did not realize it. Both Vhirilaszh and Vhanaraszh are invisible to most, if not all, including the gods. You might call them wild cards."

"Wild cards?" I'd heard Teeg use that phrase now and then, but still didn't understand its meaning.

"Something they have no knowledge of and no control over." Nefrigar was definitely grinning, now.

"What does that mean?" I asked, leaning in to get another kiss from Nefrigar. His mouth is so warm, and always tastes of sunlight.

"It means that should the Vhanaraszh choose to disappear, none might be able to find her. None can find the Vhirilaszh, either, unless he chooses to be found."

"How is that a good thing?" I asked.

"If the Vhanaraszh chose to disappear now, who knows what she might accomplish? Connegar and Reemagar placed a locating chip on her at first, not realizing who she might be. Somehow, that locating chip has been destroyed. I believe that this happened the first time she employed a great deal of power to Change What Was."