Page 43 of On A Rift’s Edge (Riftworld #2)

To Kat’s surprise, Arimanius limped up to them as well, his living club-like weapon now elongated into a makeshift crutch. Giana stayed close to his side, her stylish dress smudged with dust, but her model-like poise untouched.

“Mom, Dad.” Remi waved a hand at his parents first, then at Lyall’s mothers. “And unwelcome guests. Meet my boyfriend, Kaveh.”

“He needs to lie down. I think he has a concussion.” Kaveh pressed Remi against his chest. “The building should be stable. Bug gave me its structural information before I…changed.”

“I thought we agreed not to tell Kaveh about our plans after I found you sneaking out of the monstertown.” Remi blinked a few times, his usual sharp wit nowhere in evidence. “Did you tell him, Kat?”

“I didn’t.” Kat met Kaveh’s gaze. “Helping Lyall was something I had to do, and I didn’t want you to be forced to fight him.”

He loved Lyall and allowing him to spend his life trapped because of Kat hadn’t been an option.

He expected fury from his friend, or maybe exasperation at his foolishness in thinking he could take on a ratkind mafia boss, but Kaveh only gave a tired shake of his head.

“Fortunately, I sent Kaveh a message through Evangeline.” Lyall grinned. “And the fight between the two of us would have been epic, even though I would have lost. Kat and I have the situation under control. You and Giana should take Remi to lie down in the back.”

Giana arched a brow at Kaveh’s dusty, naked form as she came closer. “I can also find clothing in my husband’s closet for you. Not that I mind the view.”

She reached into her expensive purse and handed Kat the seymour.

Giana and Kaveh helped a woozy Remi walk around the gaping hole in the floor to a relatively intact portion of the penthouse.

Giana opened a door to let them all into what must be a bedroom, and Mabel and Fable slunk out a few seconds later.

Arimanius gave a hoarse laugh. “I should have kept you in an indenture contract, Kat, and forgotten all about Lyall. You now have three hellhounds and an Azdaha drakone to back you up against me. What do the two of you want?”

Kat gave a sideways glance at Lyall, who stood at attention, doing a great “I’m-just-the-bodyguard” impression.

“Don’t ask me,” Lyall said. “This entire plan was all Kat’s.”

Right. Kat had pulled this off, and now he had to own the success as much as he would have owned the failure.

“First things first.” Kat held out the alien plant to Cesmak and Gremory. “A seymour-enforced truce between you and everyone here, including all of the ratkind.”

Cesmak scowled but touched a clawed finger to the thorny branch that emerged from the plant, feeding it her blood.

Gremory beamed as she did the same. “Such a clever human. Alpha Lyall is quite fortunate to be paired with you.”

Lyall groaned.

“About that.” Kat normally didn’t like to speak for other people, especially when dealing with family issues, but a lot of things needed to be cleared up.

He wasn’t going to get a better opportunity to get the riftpeople around him to listen.

“I agree with Lyall. A brutal fight that might end in death isn’t a good way to select a political leader. ”

“It’s tradition.” Cesmak gave an offended snort. “You shouldn’t criticize it, as you will be the spouse of the alpha.”

“My family’s tradition is that we learn to know and love our partners before committing to a life-long relationship.

” Kat felt on firmer ground with that one.

He was in love with Lyall, and he was beginning to accept that Lyall was in love with him, but marriage wasn’t on the table right now.

“Lyall’s been away from his family—from both of you—for a long time.

He wants to come home as your son, not as someone who wants to grab power. ”

“Besides,” Lyall added. “I fucking suck at clan politics. That fight wasn’t so I could take over as alpha. It was about stopping the two of you from killing my friend and his family.”

“You could learn how to rule if you came back with us,” Gremory put in. “There’s a great deal more to study than internal politics if the clan is to survive in this strange world.”

“I plan to abdicate as clan leader.” Lyall held up a hand as Cesmak sputtered an objection.

“After I un-exile myself and this mess here is cleaned up. The two of you have led the clan and worked with the leadership council for decades. I’d be willing to learn how you do it, but Kat and I have stuff to work out before we’re going anywhere. ”

Cesmak nodded, and Gremory gave a satisfied smile. “Some wisdom from my wild child. Kat is a good influence on you.”

Kat turned to Arimanius. Confronting the mafia boss was even scarier than dealing with Lyall’s deadly hellhound family. “We have an agreement, and now it’s time for you to accept it. Everyone in the room makes their own decisions about where they want to go and leaves unharmed.”

“We’re staying with the boss.” Mabel piped up from across the room, where she and Fable had huddled together after being kicked out of the bedroom.

“That’s fine.” Kat very much wanted the two hulking mafia enforcers to leave and never see them again.

“You can’t expect to get out of this without paying a penalty.” Lyall gave his former boss a snarky grin. Ari returned a sour look.

“Zale isn’t here, but I’ve already offered him sanctuary in the monstertown in return for him helping me.” Kat had no authority to do that whatsoever, and he half-expected Lyall to explode, but the hellhound only rolled his eyes.

“Zale’s made his choice, and he’ll have to deal with the consequences.” Ari radiated dominance, even as he stood there with a broken leg next to three hellhounds who would be happy to see him dead. “What about the hopper?”

Kat scanned the ceiling. The frog-like riftperson had stuck himself on a corner spot, resembling an oversized glob of gum. “Teo, your indenture contract is null and void. What would you like to do?”

The hopper stretched out long arms and legs, then sprang off the wall and came up to them. In a moment, his gangly frog shape had transformed into a hot guy around Kat’s age. “It doesn’t matter what I want, gatito. I can’t go back to my cadre, and your monstertown is drakone territory.”

“You told me you wanted to create fusion music and play computer games.” Kat watched as Teo glanced uneasily between the hellhounds and Ari. “You don’t enjoy being a fighter, and you don’t have to be one if you don’t want to.”

“You can go back to Portland with my moms.” Lyall appeared as surprised as Kat that those words had come out of his mouth. “There’s no monstertown, but plenty of riftpeople live in the city. As long as you don’t try to harm my clan or cause trouble with humans, we’ll extend our protection to you.”

“Do you think I could fit in?” Teo’s eyes were wide, and he all but vibrated with hope and excitement. “With the Earth people, I mean.”

“Look, someone has to keep Portland weird.” Lyall raised a hand as Cesmak opened her mouth to protest. “I’m the alpha, and this is my first political decision. Revenge for the sake of revenge doesn’t solve anything.”

“I’d be interested in talking with a hopper about their society and technology.” Gremory cocked her head at her wife. “I’d argue that taking a valuable fighter away from our ratkind enemy and putting him in our debt is a form of revenge. A most interesting one.”

“I’m most certainly in debt, but especially to you.” Teo gave Kat one of his not-quite-human smiles. “Is there anything you want from me?”

The old Kat would have protested that of course he didn’t. The new Kat thought that having a dangerous riftworld fighter owing him a favor was a good thing. “You can start by not calling me ‘kitten’ in Spanish. If I need anything else in the future, I’ll let you know.”

“Best to take it with us now, then.” Cesmak didn’t bother to refer to Teo as a person, but she didn’t argue with Lyall’s decision, either. She made a gesture in the air, and sigils floated in front of her. A mini-hellmouth opened inside the hole in the floor Kaveh had burst through.

Gremory extended her hand to Teo, who took it with a combination of wariness and anticipation, and they stepped down into the lava-dripping entrance and disappeared.

Cesmak turned to leave, then paused. “You’re a better fighter than when you left us, Lyall. Better than me. You’re also a lot wiser. Wiser than me. And your human—” Cesmak gestured to Kat. “The Matchmaker chose well. Keep him close. I expect to see both of you at the next clan feast.”

The alpha of the Mount Hood Rift bared her neck again to her son, then left through the portal.

Lyall let out an exasperated breath. Kat wanted to ask if this meant he remained the leader of his clan but decided that conversation could wait.

“That leaves you and the Pouch Twins.” Kat turned to Ari. “If you want any medical assistance before you leave, I’d be happy to do what I can.”

“What I want is my son.” Arimanius’s anger was so sudden, Kat had to stop himself from backing away. Lyall had drawn closer to him, and he could sense his increased tension. This could still end in a bloody fight.

“I’m not going to let you punish Remi for your mistakes.” Lyall was bristling with anger.

Kat had no doubt that Lyall could take on an injured Arimanius and the Pouch Twins. Kaveh was close as well.

This situation didn’t need more violence. Arimanius must know that he couldn’t win, and there was no rational reason why he wouldn’t take this opportunity to escape.

Unless his thinking wasn’t rational.

“You think Kaveh is forcing Remi to stay with him, don’t you?” Kat put himself between Lyall and his former boss, which made both of them unhappy.

Kat didn’t care.

“This was never about the control object. You wanted to punish Lyall for not protecting Remi by targeting me. But Lyall stayed to help him, and I stopped Cesmak from killing you because Remi’s my friend, too.

” Kat felt he could understand Ari or at least his motivations.

“Giana agreed to help me when my mom told her I could get through to Remi, because she wants to make sure he’s safe.

Look, I’m not going to try to convince you that Kaveh loves Remi so much that he’d never force him to stay with him.

I am going to remind you that Remi is the son of two of the best con artists on both Earth and the Riftworld.

If he didn’t want to be with Kaveh, he’d find a way to leave. ”

“Kat’s right.” Giana’s voice came from behind them. She made her way around the hole in the floor. “Remi may have a concussion, but otherwise he’s fine. Maybe he’ll agree to talk to us after this, and maybe he won’t. But he’s with Kaveh because that’s what he wants.”

Arimanius regarded both Kat and Lyall, his eyes all but colorless in the sunlight streaming in from the broken windows. “I badly underestimated you, Kat. I’ll follow the requirements of our seymour contract and leave with my wife.”

“You owe Kat an obligation.” Lyall growled out the words. “He saved you from Cesmak ripping out your heart and eating it. As you may have noticed, she’s big on hellhound traditions.”

“I’m aware of that.” Arimanius took Giana’s arm and began to limp toward the door of the penthouse.

“Kat can call on me to resolve my debt at any time. For now, I’ll leave both of you a few words of advice.

The creature inside the control object—this Lyric—is a threat to both the Earth and the Riftworld.

I’m not the only one who will come after them. ”