Rella howled happily.“This is too good.He gets to be the little statue.”
“Shut up and call me if anything happens that you aren’t comfortable with.”
“Yes, Your Imperial Majesty, Diena of Alody, first of their name.”
“You are really working on that.”
“I am.They refer to mothers in their titles.Moms are super important.”
“Having given birth once, I can appreciate that no one in your life will put out more effort for you.Okay.Hugs and keep me posted.”
Rella nodded formally and sighed in relief.No more reapers staring at her with hot eyes.That was unnerving.Dealing with Maro for years had been demoralizing and irritating, but the day his head flew off, she had been free.She owed Diena, and that debt was for life.
* * * *
Diena returned to theparty and dismissed the blocking wave.Jennella looked at her ruefully.“That was effective.”
“I know.You are too nosy for your own good.”She looked down the table.“Salat, the reapers have left the site.If they come back...poof...crispy critters.It would be best if they consulted me about the status of my citizens.”
Salat nodded.“I will pass that along to the guild.”
She smiled.“Good.Syrella isn’t completely immune to her own effect, but she doesn’t want to turn it off until someone can muscle through it and actually have a conversation with her.When that happens, I will reset her system.”
Alody looked at her.“Reset her system?”
“Yes.The same way I did for myself.Different situations, similar outcomes.That is the reason I wanted to experiment with someone else’s embryo.I would have freaked out if something was happening to my own child.Having that emotional distance let me alter things until I had it right.Now I am good if I want to have my own.”
The folks around the table began to ask, and Alody looked at her.“How?”
“When you are ready, I will show you.It is hella disconcerting if you don’t get pregnant right away.It requires meditation.Four hours a day to convince your body not to lock the child in your slow age cycle.”
There was a wave of silence in the room, and then Diena smiled.“Or you can set your reproductive organs to contemporary time for most of a year.Your choice.”
Alody blinked.“Set them to time?”
“I will show you.It’s astonishingly easy if you work at it.”
Salmet said, “Control time?”
“Only for my particular hourglass.I can slow the sand or speed it up.”She shrugged.“Or for those who share blood with me.I am guessing that it is one particular bloodline that has this issue.Lucky us.”
Alody asked, “There are others?Aside from Aluhara?”
Diena nodded.“With myself, you, and Aluhara counted, there are seven.Syrella and Avik are two, and the other two are waiting for my message to return to the city.They are recovering in the islands.Sethir-born with Khaskik genes a few generations back.”
Jenaki sat up.“You knew?”
“Yup.While I was at Z-Corp, I had basic access to their systems, and you wouldn’t believe how far that can take you if you know what you are looking for.”She shrugged.“And I went to the library.”
He paused and laughed.“Of course.”
She could have told him she ripped the information from the stone of the palace, but she would mention that later.
She settled at the table next to him and smiled.“All the bad men are gone, and some are slightly poached.”
Salat exhaled.“Good.I was worried there would be an issue.”
“My friend indicated that the empress was active and that she was raising the heat.They left at that point.”She looked at the dessert platter.“If anything else happens, she will call me, or she will let me know after Avik has dealt with things and how badly we need cleaning drones.”
