more."
iAm walked fast. Out of the apartment. To the elevator.
Inside of which, he hit the button marked "P" for "Penthouse."
When the doors slid open, there were two choices: One direction took him to the Brother Vishous's place. The other to his old friend's.
He strode down and rang Rehvenge's bell.
When the symphath opened up, Rehv appeared as he always was: mohawked, purple-eyed, mink clad. Dangerous. Little bit evil.
"Hey, my man, how you be," the male said as they embraced and clapped each other on the shoulder. "Come in."
As iAm entered the Reverend's private space for the first time in a good year or so, he found that nothing had changed, and for some reason, that was a relief.
Rehvenge went over to a leather sofa and sat down, propping his cane up next to him and crossing his legs at the knees. "What do you need?"
As iAm tried to put together the right words, Rehv swore a little. "Man, I knew this wasn't a social call - but I didn't expect your emotions to be a fucking mess."
Ah, yes, the sin-eater way meant that there was no hiding anything from the male.
Still, it was difficult to speak of it all. "I'm not sure you're aware of what's been going on with Trez?"
Rehv frowned, his dark brows narrowing that intense, violet stare. "I thought the Iron Mask was doing good business. You boys in trouble? I've got plenty of cash if you need - "
"Business is great. We've got more money than we can spend. The issue is my brother's extracurricular activities."
"He's not into drugs, is he," Rehv said darkly.
"Women."
Rehv laughed and brushed that off with the flick of a dagger hand. "Oh, if that's all it is - "
"He's completely out of control - and one of them magically appeared in his bed tonight. We got home and there she was."
Rehv went back to the frowning. "In your apartment? How the fuck did she get in?"
"The lowest common denominator with a security guard." iAm paced around the modern room, dimly noting that the view was, in fact, better from this height. "Trez has been fucking anything that moves for years, but lately he's been so reckless - not wiping memories, hitting 'em more than once, not worrying about consequences."
"What the hell is wrong with him?"
iAm turned and faced the half-breed who was the closest thing to family he had outside of his flesh and blood. Matter of fact, he trusted the guy more than ninety-nine percent of his own bloodline.
"Trez is mated."
Long silence. "Excuse me?"
iAm nodded. "He's mated."
Rehv got up off that couch. "Since when?"
"Birth."
"Ohhhhhh." Rehv whistled softly. "So it's a s'Hisbe thing."
"He was promised to the queen's first daughter."
Rehv was silent for a while. Then he shook his head. "That would make him the future king, would it not."
"That's right. And even though we are a matriarchal society, that is not an irrelevancy."
"Check us out," the male murmured. "He and I and Wrath. Quite the trifecta."
"Well, it's different for the s'Hisbe, of course. The queen is the one who dictates everything for us."
"So what's he still doing on the outside. With all us UnKnowables?"
"He doesn't want anything to do with the s'Hisbe."
"Has he got a choice?"
"No." iAm glanced over at the wet bar in the corner. "Mind if I have a drink?"
"Are you kidding me? I'd be getting hammered if I were you."
iAm wandered over, considered his options, and ended up picking a decanter that had a little necklace reading Bourbon around its throat. He went straight up, and as he took a pull off the rim of a cut-crystal glass, he savored the burn over his tongue. "Nice."
"Parker's Heritage Collection, Small Batch. The best."
"I didn't think you were a big drinker."
"That's no excuse for not knowing what you serve your guests."
"Ah."
"So what's the plan?"
iAm tilted his head back, emptied the glass into his mouth and swallowed hard. "We need somewhere safe to stay. And not just because of the women thing. We had a visit by the high priest this past week - and given we're on the outside, that means they're getting serious back home. They're looking for him - and if they find him? I'm afraid he's going to kill the s'Hisbe's representative. Then we've really got a problem."
"You think he'd take it that far?"
"Yes, I do." iAm poured a refill. "He's not going back there, and I need time to figure out how to resolve the conflict before something disastrous happens."
"You guys want to move into my