They did fight first and question last. It was how they had preserved through so many millennia of being the armies involved in every conflict. Warriors were often hired as mercenaries to fight battles between the species that populated Relaklonos.
“I beg your pardon? That’s it? You’ve nearly killed her and could have killed Belnus, and that is all you have to say?” Bronwen sat at Belnus’s side, stroking the dark brown hair that was now matted with dirt and blood. “What are you, anyway? You’re not like Rathan.”
“I am warrior, girl. And demon.” He looked at her, then at the large male at her side. “I will flash him to the gates of the castle. Someone put a curse on the grounds—I cannot flash inside them, just outside.”
“Protecting my interests,” Rathan said, but his brother and the male Belnus were already gone.
“Who was that?” Kindara asked, as she wrapped part of her green sash around the cloth she had pressed to her friend’s side.
“That, I am ashamed to say, is my brother, Renakletos.”
“You’re related to that monster?”
“He is no monster, pet. Just a creature of his roots. Ren is a fighter through and through. He once commanded my father’s army. We should be thankful he is searching for his daughter and needed questions answered, or he would have slaughtered all of you in the time it takes to blink.”
“This habit of getting attacked when you leave me alone is starting to concern me.”
“That is why you will not be away from my side ever again.” He meant every word he spoke. He would never leave her so vulnerable again. Renakletos had proven that even with a Dardaptoan male of great skill guarding her—not to mention the warrior woman, as well—she was not safe. That was now Rathan’s top priority.
“Can she be moved now?” He nodded toward Aureliana. “We should get her to the castle before dark. Fortunately, my chief healer, my cousin Phelius, is currently residing there. He arrived to help you with your quest.”
“I don’t think we have any choice but to move her now. We need to clean the injury as best we can. Infection sets in so easily in our people. It’s one of the three things that can kill us.”
Rathan knew the others, bleeding and hypothermia. Before he could lift the woman his brother returned. Rathan tensed, hand going back to his sword.
“Relax, brother. You and yours are safe. I gave the male to Phelius. He’s taking care of it.”
“His name is Belnus and he’s not an it.” Bronwen glared at Renakletos. “He’s got a family, too. A Rajni. And a daughter. She’s sixteen. What makes you so special?”
“Sorry, little girl. I did not mean to offend.” Renakletos was playing the game, saying the right words. Rathan hated that he could not trust the one brother who he had once cared about the most. Of the sixty half siblings he possessed, Ren and Danae were the ones he cared for. Loved. Had loved.
One hundred years was apparently not long enough for betrayal to fade.
Renakletos stooped beside Aureliana. “She is cold. I have a blanket in my pack.”
“Where is your pack?” Rathan asked. “Their kind can freeze to death in forty degree weather.”
“Behind that outcropping of rocks, two hundred feet that way. I was searching for Cerridwen when I heard your voices.”
“And you reacted without provocation.” Kindara condemned him with her eyes. “And Aureliana paid the price, and may very well pay further.”
“Tis a little scratch. Why would it cost so much? What are you all that this is so? Even your male, strong though he was, was easily taken down.” Derision was clear in Renakletos’s voice.
“They are Dardaptoan. From the Gaian realm.” Rathan referred to the name of the continents before they broke into the landmasses they were today. “The ones cursed by Eiophon, the wolven god.’’
“To be forever weak.” Renakletos lifted Aureliana into his arms, tucking her head—now free from its hood—onto his shoulder. “She did not fight like one so weak. Had she not slipped and fallen, I would not have gotten her so quickly. Had she had a longer sword, I would be bleeding.”
Admiration was in his tone. Rathan knew his brother valued fighting ability above all else; rather than the woman’s uncommon beauty, he would remark upon her skill with a sword. A common thing with warriors.
“Were that it was you.” Kindara adjusted the blanket over Aureliana, tucking it gently over her friend’s shoulders. “If she dies because of you, her brother and mine will find you and rip you apart.”
“Kindara. If she dies, I will deal with him. He will not go unpunished. But we will not be letting her die. We will stop that from occurring. I can promise you that.” No matter what he had to do, Kindara’s friend would not be lost.
“I hope you can keep that promise.”
Chapter Twenty
Kindara felt ill. So much had happened in so little time. Would Auri be alright? Could Rathan keep the promise he had made? The warrior that Rathan claimed as brother walked ahead of them. Rathan had not let Kindara walk near the other man. Instead, Bronwen stayed at his side to assist with Auri. Auri’s chestnut hair blended with the auburn of the male who carried her. Her face was turned toward the warmth of his neck.
He walked as if her weight mattered little. Kindara hated him; he should have been the one in need of medical care, not Aureliana. If Auri died, Kindara would see him dead. Even if she had to do it herself. It would go against her gift, but she would do it.
“Why does he not seem so concerned with finding his daughter?” Kindara asked Rathan as he walked at her side. “I’d be going crazy now, searching for Ji.”
“Warriors do not show emotion, pet. And young Cerridwen is quite a prize for the warring people. She is the closest in heir to me, you see. She was taken by my people to protect from his.” Rathan studied his brother, a puzzled expression on his face. “I suspect my brother thinks the same. And he knows my people would not hurt the girl.”
“Why? If he thought that, why would he attack us? It doesn’t make sense.”
“Renakletos rarely does make sense to me. And I think it was more that he saw you as trespassers more than kidnappers. Apparently, my brother has claimed a portion of my kingdom for himself while I was away. A portion we had entered. Now that I have returned, he knows that all lands revert back to me, unless I state otherwise.”
“Crazy.”
“Just politics, pet. And I am sorry your friend got caught in the middle.”
“I just hope she doesn’t die because of politics.”
****
Rathan threw orders to the staff the moment they entered, and had them scurrying to find the items Kindara would need. The warrior demon carried Auri up a large set of stairs and into a room at the top. It was large, and decorated opulently with blues and greens, accented by silver.
The warrior lowered Aureliana to the bed then stepped back. Rathan turned to the two maids who hovered by the doors. “Help prepare her for the healers; remove the bloodied clothing and bathe her. Kindara will state her needs, and you are to fulfill them. And someone please fetch Phelius. He will be needed, as well. Above all, this room must be kept warm and clean.”
His people obeyed without question, though for many it was the first they had seen him for more than one hundred years. Kindara stood over her friend, watching her closely. Rathan hurt for the despair on his woman’s face.
“I’ll need an antiseptic of some kind—the strongest you have. We need to be aggressive in cleaning the lacerations. I am flying blind here; I don’t know what type of bacteria exists in your world compared to ours. I’ll need something to stitch the opening. And two strong men to hold her down while I do it. Even out like she is, thanks to those devil horns of yours, she’ll still feel it. And Auri will fight. If she does, she can do more damage around the stitches. And bleed out.”
“I will assist.” Renakletos knelt beside the bed. “Brother, you take the other side?”
“When the time comes.” Rathan wante
d his brother out of the castle; at least until he knew more of what motivated Renakletos. If Ren learned that Kindara carried his spawn, and that spawn would supersede Cerridwen as heir, Renakletos could pose the biggest threat to Kindara yet.
If his brother had betrayed him once—killing their father in the process—what was to keep him from slaying Kindara to prevent the spawn from ever making it into this world?
It was one reason why he had blocked Ren from being able to flash into the castle at will. Danae still lived on the grounds, in a beautiful tower wing that faced the western rising sun. Rathan would do anything to protect his sister, as well. Even though she and Ren had been close through the years. Danae had not been born for the events of 1900. She had never known the betrayal Renakletos was capable of. Rathan would keep it that way.
****
Auri lay writhing on the bed covers, a white sheet beneath her and towels beside her to stop any flow as Kindara and Bronwen flushed the bacteria from her injury. Rathan and his brother held her down, but still she fought. Even with Rathan’s magic horns, it was obvious Auri still felt what they were doing. Still suffered. Kindara fought the emotions pushing in on her heart and focused on what gruesome tasks lie ahead. “I’ll need access to her back. The blade went clear through. We’ll have to flush that out, as well. Rathan, if you will hold her around the hips? I’ll need you to hold her from the front.” Renakletos did as she ordered, though it was clear he resented taking her direction.
Kindara held her breath and poured the green liquid the healer Phelius assured her was the strongest astringent his people possessed, and prayed to her goddess that it would be enough to cleanse her friend’s injury.
The cut on Auri’s back hissed and even bubbled as the green liquid filled it. Auri let out a piercing scream, the kind that Kindara still heard in her nightmares. It was the same type of scream that her young sister-in-law had made before she had died at the hands of Boltier at the TI complex thirty years ago.
The big warrior demon barely flinched. He turned Auri’s head into his neck and murmured sounds into her ear. He jerked his head back. “She bit me!”
Rathan laughed softly. “They are bloodsuckers, brother. Do not put your neck where one can bite—unless you want them to.”
“Damned vampires.” The warrior cursed, keeping his head tilted from Auri’s face.
“She needs blood then. Demon, is there some who can donate? Bronwen cannot afford to give more.” Kindara was leery of using too much demon blood. She’d not had an ample opportunity to study it and its effect on her Kind. Too much may be just that--too much for a Dardaptoan body to handle properly.
“I will have some brought up. We do have other creatures besides demons in Relaklonos. There is blood here for those who need it.”
“I will give. My blood is strong and has the properties of both warrior and demon.” Renakletos tilted his head forward toward Auri. “And she already has a preference.”
He pulled his hair back to reveal Auri’s face. She was already feeding from him, tucked as close as a lover.
Kindara didn’t like it, but the faster the volume Auri lost was replenished the better it would be for her friend. “She’ll stop when she has enough.”
“It’s not as if he’ll bleed to death, pet. A demon such as Renakletos never runs out of blood.” Rathan brushed a hand down Kindara’s arm. She found the touch soothing, comforting in a way that would have shocked her only three days before.
“Why? What does flow in your veins?”
“It is a blood of sorts, but not based on oxygen and cells the way yours does. Phelius will describe it to you later.”
Kindara nodded. “Demon, I’ll need you to hold her as steady as you possibly can. Bronwen, prepare me two needles. The back we can use a small, 6-0 thread. The front is more gaping, I want 4-0.” Kindara waited until her assistant handed her the two packages. “Rathan, it’s vitally important that she does not move for this. We’ll take a break in between front and back.”
The males both nodded; Rathan braced his arms around the sides of Aureliana’s waist. His brother tightened his grip around her shoulders, tucking her head tighter to his chest. “I will keep her tight against me.”
“Ok. Here we go.” Kindara plunged the first stitch through the flesh of her best friend.
Auri keened, the sound tearing through the room. Sweat beaded on Kindara’s forehead. Rathan wiped it off.
“Is this normal for their people?” Renakletos’s arms were clenched tightly around Auri, all that prevented her from jerking away from the needle.
“We are cursed to feel pain more than the average kind. To be weaker than all but humans. To have little medical care. Every time I stitch through her skin it’s like I’m stabbing her with your sword over and over again.”
Leo Taniss had taken great advantage of that fact when he’d had her and Iavius trapped in his lab. Studying them like rats beneath a microscope. In her own research, Kindara refused to use live subjects—even rats—unless it was absolutely necessary, instead she tested everything out on herself that she could. They were testing demon blood out in a trial by fire. If it worked for Auri, Kindara would give the demon anything he wanted if he’d provide more demon blood for her people.
If he helped her save her people, there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t give him. Even herself.
Finally, the incision on Auri’s back was closed. Kindara stood, wiped the blood off her hands. “We need to lay her flat for this. You’ll still have to hold her.”
“Can you give her nothing to help the pain?” Renakletos asked, running a large hand through Auri’s hair.
“I’ve been a healer for four hundred years, warrior. This magic potion in your brother’s horns is the first chemical to ever work on my people.” Kindara prepped the skin around Auri’s laceration. “She’s out from it, but she still feels everything. Every. Thing. And she will not forget it.” They spoke little while Kindara closed the wound. Once she was finished the maids moved in to strip the soiled bed clothing and finish prepping Aureliana for sleep. “Hopefully, she will rest now. Let the healing begin.”
“Phelius will be here shortly. He was called away to tend an injured child. He will sit with her.” The demon stepped to her side, ignoring the rest of the room’s occupants. “You, pet, need to change out of those soaked clothing and eat something. You’ve done all you can for your friend.”
“I can’t leave her here. She may wake.” Kindara knew he was right; she wasn’t doing anyone any favors by being in wet, blood soaked-clothing—not Auri, not herself—not the babe.
“I will stay, Kinney. I won’t leave her.” Bronwen stood by the bed, holding one of Auri’s hands in hers. “You’ve been through a lot these past several days—take a break.” The younger woman nodded toward the bed as she spoke. “I know what to look for, and what to do. If not, I can send for you easily, I’m sure.”
Kindara nodded. “Watch for fever. It’s almost a given, and you’ll know the signs.”
They stared at Auri for a moment. They both knew the odds. If the initial blood loss didn’t take Auri, fever or blood infection very well could. It had taken so many.
****
His woman was nearly staggering as he led her down the long hall to the king’s suite. His suite, decorated in the colors of his family, as it had been for thousands of years. She’d sleep there for the first time tonight, and for every night for the rest of their nights. He wrapped a supportive hand around her waist. “Come, precious.”
“Where?” Kindara’s voice was so soft he almost struggled to hear her.
“To sleep, is all. And to feed.” Rathan stopped walking and pulled her to him. He lifted her, with no resistance from her. That, more than anything, told him her true state. “Tuck close, woman. You will be sleeping in moments.”
“Why can’t anything be easy, demon?” Her head fell to his shoulder and she turned her face into his neck instinctively. Slipped her arms around his neck and melted h
im completely.
“Because then it would not matter as much, pet.” Rathan stroked the blonde hair that was matted with sweat. He had already ordered a hot bath drawn for her, and robes laid out. Robes that denoted her high position as his mate.
Despite the events of the last few hours, a part of him was filled with utter jubilance. She was his, in his world, and in his home. And she would sleep in his arms.
“I don’t think I can do much more for Auri. It’s in the goddess’s hands. They are always in the goddess’s hands, and she’s been remarkably inattentive lately.”
He carried her into the suite, missing the fanfare the moment deserved. But she did not need that. She needed loved; someone to take the burden off her shoulders.
He had not realized only a few nights ago how important to him she would be. Now she was everything; more so even than his kingdom. More so than the spawn.
Demons did not find true mates, but every once in a while, a pair of demons would find a tie so wondrous all envied it. Lilith and her Lothan had had such a tie. His parents had not. He now feared that he would soon feel that tie for this delicate, yet stubborn creature in his arms.
Would she ever feel the same?
****
He helped her through her bath, surprised and concerned at her lack of resistance. It took little prodding for her to drink the juice he’d spiked with a strong dose of his blood.
He had sent the maids eager to serve them away and carried his woman to their bed. She looked so frail against the purple and black silk that dominated the bed. So ethereal. Like the angel he first thought she looked like.
Tonight she would rest; he would see to it. Tomorrow was soon enough for her quest to resume.
****
He was called to the warrior woman’s room in the middle of the night, brought by a rushed knock at the door and a fearful explanation.
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