"It's personal."
"Ah." The king nodded. "Got it."
Xhex spoke up, her voice grave and respectful. "He did a good thing for you. Rehvenge did a very good thing for you."
"You don't have to remind me. It's the reason you two are sitting here in my home."
Ehlena glanced over at Xhex, trying to read in the female's face what they were referring to. She got nothing. Not a surprise.
"Here's my question," Wrath said. "We bring him back, how are we going to get around the e-mail that came in to us? He said it was nothing, but clearly he lied. Someone from up north threatened to ID your boy, and if he gets loose...that trigger's going to be pulled."
Xhex spoke up. "I will personally guarantee that the individual who made that threat will not be able to use a laptop after I'm through with her."
"Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice."
As the king smiled and drawled out the word, he leaned to the side and seemed to be stroking...With a start, Ehlena realized there was a golden retriever seated next to him, the dog's head just barely peeking up over the top of the desk. Wow. Odd choice of breed, in a way, as the king's companion was as kind-looking and approachable as its owner was not-and yet Wrath was gentle with the animal, his big, broad palm moving down its back slowly.
"Is that the only hole that needs to be plugged in his identity?" the king asked. "If that leak is eliminated are there any other parties who could threaten to expose him?"
"Montrag is good and dead," Xhex murmured. "And I can't think of anyone else who would know. Of course, the symphath king could come after him, but you can stop that. Rehv is one of your subjects as well."
"Damn f**king straight, and let's hear it for the whole 'possession is nine-tenths of the law' thing." Wrath's smile returned briefly. "Besides, the leader of the symphaths is not going to want to f**k with me, because if I get testy, I could take away his happy little home up there in freeze-your-nuts-off territory. He's under my privilege, as they used to say in the Old Country, which means he rules only because I let him."
"So are we going to do this?" Xhex asked.
There was a long silence, and as they waited for the king to speak, Ehlena looked around the pretty, French-inspired room to avoid Wrath's eyes. She didn't want him to know how anxious she was, and was afraid her face reflected weakness: She was totally out of her element here, sitting before the race's leader, presenting a plan that involved going into the very heart of an incredibly dark place. But she couldn't risk his doubting her or excluding her, because no matter how nervous she was, she wasn't backing down. Fear didn't mean you turned away from a goal. Hell, if she believed that, her father would be institutionalized right now, and she might well have ended up as her mother had.
Doing the right thing was scary sometimes, but her heart had taken her here to this place and was going to carry her through...whatever came next, and whatever it took to get Rehvenge out.
Ehlena...are you there?
Yes, she sure as hell was.
"Couple of things," Wrath said as he shifted around with a wince, like he had a fighting injury. "The king up there-he's not going to like us coming onto his turf and walking off with one of his own."
"With all due respect," Xhex cut in, "Rehv's uncle can go f**k himself."
Ehlena's brows popped up. Rehvenge was the nephew of the king?
Wrath shrugged. "I happen to agree, but my point is, there's going to be conflict. Armed conflict."
"I'm good with that," Xhex said evenly, like they were talking about nothing more than what movie to go see. "Very good."
Ehlena felt the need to interject herself into the conversation. "And so am I." As the king's shoulders stiffened, she tried not to be too forceful, because the last thing they needed was to get booted out the door for disrespect. "I mean, I would expect nothing more, and I'm prepared for it."
"You're prepared for it? No offense, but a civilian hanger-on is not a good thing if there's going to be fighting."
"With all due respect," she echoed Xhex's words, "I'm going."
"Even if it means I pull my men out?"
"Yes." There was a long inhale, as if the king were thinking of how to shut her down nicely. "You don't understand, my lord. That's my..."
"Your what?"
On impulse, to give her position some added weight, she said, "That is my hellren." In her peripheral vision, she caught Xhex's head whipping around toward her, but she'd jumped into the pool and couldn't get any wetter. "That's my mate and...he fed from me a month ago. If they've hidden him, I can find him. Also, if they've done what they"-oh, Jesus-"probably have to him, he's going to need medical attention. And I'm going to give it to him."
The king played with his dog's ear, rubbing his thumb on the soft, pale brown flap. The animal clearly liked the way it felt, and leaned into his master's leg with a sigh.
"We have a medic," Wrath said. "And a physician."
"You don't have Rehvenge's shellan, though, do you."
"My brothers," Wrath called out abruptly. "Getcha asses in here."
When the study doors opened wide, Ehlena stared over her shoulder, wondering whether she'd pushed it too far and was about to be "escorted" out of the mansion. Sure as hell, any one of the ten tremendous males who came in would be up to the task. She'd seen them all before at the clinic, except for the one with the blond-and-black hair, and she was not at all astonished to find that they were fully armed.
To her relief, they did not perform a cash-and-carry on her, but settled around the dainty, light blue room, filling the place up to the rafters. It seemed a little odd that Xhex did not look at any of them, staying focused on Wrath instead-although maybe that made sense. As hard-core as the Brothers were, the king was the only one whose opinion truly mattered.
Wrath looked around at his warriors, his wraparounds shielding his eyes so that there was no way to tell what he was thinking.
The silence was a killer, and Ehlena's heart thundered in her ears.
At last, the king spoke. "Gentlemen, these lovely ladies want to make a trip up north. I'm prepared to let them go up there to bring Rehv home to us, but they're not going in alone."
The response was immediate from the Brothers.
"I'm in."
"Sign me up."
"When do we go."
"About f**king time."
"Oh, man, there's a marathon of Beaches running tomorrow night. Can we go after ten so I can see it once all the way through?"
Everyone in the room turned to the blond-and-black haired guy, who was propped up in the corner, massive arms over his chest.
"What," he said. "Look, it's not Mary Tyler Moore, 'kay? So you can't give me shit."
Vishous, the one with the black glove on his hand, glared across the room. "It's worse than Mary Tyler Moore. And to call you an idiot would be an insult to half-wits around the f**king world."
"Are you kidding me? Bette Midler rocks. And I love the ocean. Sue me."
Vishous glanced at the king. "You told me I could beat him. You promised."
"As soon as you come home," Wrath said as he got to his feet, "we'll hang him up by his armpits in the gym and you can use him as a punching bag."
"Thank you, baby Jesus."
Blond-and-Black shook his head. "I swear, one of these days I'm just going to leave."
As one, the Brothers all pointed at the open door and let silence speak for itself.
"You guys suck."
"Okay, enough." Wrath came around the desk and-
Ehlena sat up sharply. His palm was gripping the handle of a harness that went around the dog's chest, and the king's face was forward, his chin held high, so that he couldn't have been looking at the floor at all.
He was blind. And not in the sense of being unable to see very clearly. Given the way he was now, he couldn't see anything at all. When had this happened, she wondered. He'd appeared to have some vision when she'd last seen him.
Respect rolled through Ehlena's chest as she and everyone else in the room looked up at him.
"This is going to be tricky," Wrath said. "We need to send in enough fighters to provide both cover as well as search and rescue, but we don't want to create more disturbance than absolutely necessary. I want two teams, with the second on standby. We're also going to need car support in the event Rehvenge is incapacitated and we have to transport him back-"