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want to be saved.
Just kill me now.” Monq ignored that as completely as if she hadn’t
spoken at all. “And if you keep taking all my blood, I’m not going
to be able to make enough milk for my elfling.”
    He waved his hand. “We’re done with that.”
Then looking away as if something had caught his interest, he said,
“At least I think so.
    “Here. Sit. Let me tell you the news.”
    “Should I call the press?”
    “This is not a joking
matter, Elora.”
    “Lady Laiken.”
    “Is Rammel standing behind you with his hand
up your shirt?”
    She looked stunned. “Monq! You made a
joke!”
    “Pffft. Will you just stop
and listen? Please?”
    “Yes, I will. I’m all
yours.”
    “I never use your blood frivolously. In
fact I used some that was collected before you left for Edinburgh
to mutate a strain of rats for testing purposes.”
    “You did what?!?”
    “So I’ve been using the
rats to test an airborne chemical that would weaken potential
assailants from your home world.”
    “Deliverance says it’s
called Stagsnare Dimension in his circles.”
    “Um-hum. Stagsnare
Dimension. The biggest obstacle was coming up with a chemical
solution that has no harmful side effects to other species that
might frequent Jefferson Unit. So I’ve been testing on both normal
rats and Elora rats.”
    “Elora rats? Please. I’m
begging you. Tell me you did not name a species of rats Elora Rats .”
    Refusing to be distracted,
he dismissed that with a characteristic wave of his hand. “And I
think we’ve got it.”
    She stared and blinked a
few times. “Are you saying that, in the event of an attack by
natives of Stagsnare Dimension, you could gas the intruders without
adverse effects to Jefferson personnel?”
    “Yes. I believe we
understand each other.”
    “And they’ll be weakened
to mimic indigenous physical ability?”
    “Yes.”
    “Why not just terminate while you’re at
it?”
    “Good question. Because
then there would be side effects. Bad ones.”
    “Okay. So the assassins
will lose the edge they would normally get from slipping to this
dimension.” He nodded. “And that’s without any negative consequence
to the rest of us. Including the tiniest of us,” she said
pointedly.
    "Um. More or less. Do you
want the good news or the bad news?"
    Elora's shoulders sagged
as she sat back in the chair and sighed deeply. "It has been my
experience that, when you ask that question, there’s usually a
teeny weeny tiny tidbit of microscopic good news and a shitload of
bad."
    "Young lady...!"
    “Especially when you add ‘more or less’ to
that.”
    "Just give me the
news."
    "Very well. There's no way
to make you immune from the effects. It's what they call a trade-off. You
wouldn’t retain superior strength and speed, but neither would
others from your dimension of origin. They wouldn’t have any
advantage over those who come to your aid. And there will always be
people at Jefferson Unit ready to come to your aid. Capable people.
So you’d have a better than good chance against them. It wouldn’t
be just you. Alone.”
    It was easy to read both
concern and sincerity on Monq’s face. There was no question in her
mind that he cared about her in his own way. Maybe not as much as
the Monq who had been her tutor growing up and had taught her
everything from Latin to horseshoes, but still.
    “And you’re ready to test
it on me. Monq. You do realize that I’m nursing.”
    He pursed his lips. “I
can’t tell you what to do about that, but I think staying alive is
more important. I can give you something to dry up your milk
quickly and painlessly and without having any detrimental effect on
your, uh, natural shape.” Monq turned pink when trying to
communicate that last bit of info.
    “You mean feed Helm formula milk
instead.”
    “You could wait until he
weans naturally, but…”
    “I get it. I’ll talk it
over with Ram tonight. Maybe I’ll look into baby
formula.”
    “Already done. I put
Allicent on