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From here, he caught sight of the shine of metal in her hand. The hand not holding Sandy was clutching a long, thin knife. The sight made him freeze.
Elffa twisted it. Letting him have a good look.
“Practice ran long today, son. Were you perhaps waiting for your little whore to return from the clinic. Hm?”
He followed Sandy’s lead and said nothing. Biting his tongue so hard it bled in an effort to keep from demanding she get that thing away from her.
“Sad to say, she didn’t make it.” Elffa lifted the knife, smiling. “It was a good attempt though. I almost missed the clause that if she got pregnant before mating you, that adulthood would automatically be conferred upon her. Very sneaky. You’re getting more clever. But unfortunately for you, that just means I have to get more restrictive.”
“Don’t kill her!” Rane broke, blurting out the words as his fear for his female overrode his attempt at keeping his mouth shut.
Elffa laughed. “I’m not going to kill her. That would ruin the entire reason I brought her. If I killed your mate right before your eyes, at best you’d become useless to me. At worst, you might just take yourself out entirely. And that would be a waste.”
Sandy’s icy façade broke. Her gaze darted over to Elffa, then back to him. Something like concern quickly hidden.
Did she not know? Male telfay lived for their females. His mother was absolutely right. If something happened to her, he wouldn’t be able to survive her loss. If they were mated, he might die there on the spot the moment he realized she was gone. The shock of despair and pain was often too much for a male to bear.
But since they weren’t mated, it would probably just render him near vegetative. He would still be there, still alive and capable of thought, but he wouldn’t want to be anymore. He would lose all his drive and desire if Sandy wasn’t there.
Is that what was happening now? Was Elffa threatening Sandy to remind him that she owned and controlled him?
“Don’t be crude, Rane,” she gave him a look, as though disappointed in the direction his thoughts had taken. “That’s not what this is. I already said I’m not going to kill her.”
“Why am I here then?” Sandy asked, her voice completely stable and strong. “What was the reason you even brought me here?”
“To be Rane’s mate, of course.”
“But why? What does that buy you?”
Elffa chuckled, tapping the flat of her blade against her thigh. “So, you found the law about immigrant parents being granted adult status, but not the one about legal limits on adult guardianship?”
Rane frowned. “Limits? What limits? You’ve taken even my ability to appeal. You have total control over me!”
“Yes.” She sighed. “But only for another three years. In three years, you’ll be thirty-five. Which will automatically transfer your case to a higher tribunal for review.”
He did know that, in fact. Back when he once believed he could fight against his mother, he’d looked up the laws surrounding guardianship. But he figured it wouldn’t matter after the smear campaign that his mother had taken him through all his life. Everyone would know that he was a drug and alcohol addicted sex fiend who couldn’t be trusted to take care of himself. That wouldn’t change just because his case was moved up to a higher tribunal.
Unless…
He stared at his mother, understanding dawning. “It’s already gone to a higher tribunal. You meant the highest tribunal.”
Elffa gave him a look that might have been pride. “It seems my son might have inherited some of my intelligence after all. Local tribunals oversee initial adulthood cases. Higher tribunals take over for regional or complex cases. Which yours is. And has been for the last fifteen years. Your fame, your notoriety, the fact that you’ve been denied further appeals, means that you have already been overseen by a higher tribunal. Which means, when you reach thirty-five, the only place left to go is the highest tribunal.”
Rane laughed, but it was a sound without humor. “And you don’t have any friends on the highest tribunal, do you?”
“Unfortunately not,” she agreed with a sad sigh. “There’s a chance, no matter how small, that my efforts will have failed, and they will approve your right of adulthood. I can’t leave this up to chance. Luckily, I have a solution.”
“How am I a solution?” Sandy asked. “He’s still going to age up in three years.”
“Yes. But you won’t, will you?” Elffa leaned over, smiling at her. “You see, your age is in human years, which are much smaller than ours. Furthermore, Rane, as a consequence of having been under adult guardianship for over ten years, is not allowed to be an adult guardian by himself. If his mate was already an adult and you had young, he’d be allowed to be their father, of course. But if he mates someone now, even if he is cleared for adulthood at this very moment, he won’t be allowed to be your guardian. That will go to the next trusted relative. Me.”
“That won’t happen!” Rane swore, struggling against Orza and Kirs. But he couldn’t stop the twisting fear in his belly because his mother looked so self-satisfied.
“It will,” she promised. “I might have let you continue to live your life for a bit longer. You were doing such a good job of making yourselves look foolish, you didn’t need me. But then Drevor betrayed me, and you actually made a plan that could have gotten you away from me. So, you’ve done this to yourself.”
She raised the knife, pulling harder on Sandy’s hair. Jerking her upright.
“Don’t hurt her!” Rane roared, Orza and Kirs’ claws dug into his flesh, drawing blood.
