Iseult shut off the communication before her assistant could reply, but she was confident Betrys would follow her orders.The woman from Petros was too terrified of damage to her son to risk disobeying an order.
“What’s wrong?”Leo demanded.
After answering her com-circle, the flush of healthy color had left Betrys’s cheeks, leaving her as white as the bandage covering his wound.Now she clutched her communicator so hard he feared it might break, and she paced back and forth until her rapid strides started to make him dizzy.
She came to an abrupt halt, her eyes wild with fear.“Iseult is at the resort.”
“Saber told us she was here,” Leo reminded her, puzzled by her reaction.
“It seems more real now that she’s demanding I attend a meeting with her.”She bit her bottom lip.“Promise me your younger brothers are responsible.They won’t mess up this chance to snatch Ricci?”
“Come here, sweetheart.”
She hesitated before closing the distance between them, reluctance in every step.“I don’t understand why you’re being so nice to me, why your brothers are helping to grab Ricci…” Her shoulders hunched inward.“You were hurt because of me.”
“Come here,” Leo repeated, his voice a sharp whip of demand.“Lie with me again.I want to talk.”
“I need to read my cards.That will tell me what to do.”
Leo stared at her departing back and gave a snort of self-derision.All his life he’d found it easy to grab a woman’s attention.They took one look at him and almost fell over themselves to please him.Betrys never behaved the same as other women from his past.
On hearing the front door open and close, he laughed aloud.
“Must be losing my touch.”
The door opened, and Leo cocked his head.Not Betrys returning.
“Saber.”Leo’s nostrils flared.“Scarlett.I’m awake.Come and entertain me.”
“Where’s Betrys?”Saber asked.
“Ugh.”Scarlett’s nose scrunched as she followed Saber into his bedroom.“Do you have to keep those creepy things on your shelf?”
“Yes,” Leo said.“They remind me to look before jumping.Saber, Iseult’s arrival has put the fear of God into Betrys.She told me she needed to read her cards.”
Saber frowned.“I hope she doesn’t lose her nerve.It’s too late to call things off now.”
“I won’t fail,” Betrys promised from behind them.“My son’s life depends on me.I had to get my cards so I can do a reading.The thing is, what will happen once we have Ricci?Iseult isn’t stupid, and it’s so unusual for her to go off-planet.She’s behaving weirdly, and she’s determined to have another man.She wants a Mitchell.”
Saber’s frown dug deeper into his forehead.“She’s not getting one.We can’t trust her, and it’s not safe.We’ve all seen what she did to Leo.She almost killed him, and somehow, she laid that egg sac in him.That can’t happen—”
“I’ve got some info,” Scarlett burst out, excitement radiating in her restlessness.
“That’s what we came to tell you,” Saber said dryly.
“I managed to locate a maid who used to work on the planet Spiderus.In exchange for a free holiday, she answered my questions.And get this, she was there before Iseult left.She told me Iseult was shunned by her kin and forced to leave or face execution because she had an affair with her sister’s husband.The maid remembered a huge fuss because not only did they have an affair, but her sister caught them having sex in spider form.For some reason, that’s a big no-no.”
“Not very honorable,” Leo agreed.“But why is that so taboo?The sex in spider form, I mean.”
“Because that’s the form in which they conceive,” Scarlett said.“According to the maid, the males of the Spiderus race are not very fertile.Iseult’s sister was furious and blamed Iseult for her husband’s misstep.”
Betrys sidled a little closer and tugged at her robe.“But Iseult doesn’t have any offspring.”
“No.”Scarlett radiated triumph.“The maid informed me it’s possible for the male to pass off his sperm and for the female to hold on to the fertilized egg for years.I think that somehow, Leo triggered something in Iseult, and she released her egg.”
“Ugh.”Leo shuddered.“Thank God you dug it out of me.The thing is dead, right?”
“Very dead.”Saber picked up the jar and studied the contents.“It’s not moving any longer.The vinegar has killed it.”
