“I suggest we all take this inside.” Kindara recognized the voice of her king and she turned to see him just inside the archway leading into the royal wing of offices. Theo stood at his side. Kindara’s breath, unsteady anyway, grew more ragged. How was she to explain what had happened to Bronwen? “I would like some answers as to why you just appeared within our gardens, despite our security—no demon should be able to open a portal within the walls of this building. Not that you’re not welcome, Kinney. It just should not have been able to be done.”
“My brother is king. He does what he wants, where he wants.” Ren shrugged the threatening stares off. “He said bring his woman to her brother. I assume one of you is he?”
Cormac pulled Kindara to stand behind him. She didn’t resist, just continued to stare at the place she’d last seen the demon. “I am her brother. Why is the demon not with her? Where is young Bronwen? Belnus? What has happened to Aureliana? I suggest you explain yourself, demon. Or you will soon feel my sword.”
Cormac’s hand clutched the hilt of the black jewel encrusted sword that marked him as being of the ancient band of demon hunters.
Renakletos obviously recognized what the sword symbolized. “Were it not for my brother’s words against it, I would be running you through with that sword, Predatoi. But my brother and king ordered me to ensure Lady Kindara’s safety. I will gladly do that with my life.”
Aureliana sighed from her perch in the warrior demon’s arms. “Enough of this. No one is going to kill anyone here. Aod, Cormac, the demon king’s castle was under attack. Little Cerridwen here is the king’s current heir. The giant here is her father and the demon king’s brother. In case you all have not figured it out.”
“And Bronwen?” Theo asked from his position next to Kindara. He was stroking her hair, the gesture meant to soothe. The seer knew what she felt, Kindara understood that. “Where is my sister?”
“She has been taken by the Lothicano Warrior King. My brother will be negotiating to get her back. Belnus is still in my brother’s castle. I am afraid I cannot say for certain his condition, though he was well last I saw him.”
“So if your brother’s castle is under attack how can he successfully retrieve my sister?” Theo asked, though Kindara suspected he knew exactly where and how Bronwen was. He did not seem as upset as Kindara had expected, meaning he’d probably had a vision of his sister. She found that oddly reassuring. Now if he could just assure her that the demon was safe…
“Rathan is king. High king. He will not fail.” Renakletos tightened his arms when Aureliana squirmed from obvious impatience.
Kindara looked at Auri’s oldest brother. Aodhan studied the warrior demon, his expression one of wariness and suspicion. But he did not seem poised to attack. But if the demon continued to hold Auri, Kindara knew that would not last.
“Can we please take this inside? I need to sit down. It has been a long few days. We will explain everything.”
****
Kindara’s face burned into his mind. She had not wanted to leave him and that--more than anything--gave him a sense of triumph. His woman wanted him.
But that was not important now. He had to isolate the traitor amongst his people. Nothing, no one, threatened Rathan’s family.
He strode down the crumbling hallway with clear purpose.
Rolfun, head guard of Rathan’s men, met him inside the great hall. “Sire, it’s the Lothicano Warrior King, here demanding the return of his twin.”
“I will speak with him. There will be no war between warriors and demons today.” The warrior king would return Danae and young Bronwen, and Rathan would not declare war. It was as simple as that. “Send out a ‘party’ to meet him. Tell him I will speak with him in the great hall in two hours. In the meantime, I want to speak with Agmendias. It is high time he reaffirmed his loyalty. Or faced the consequences of his actions. I have no time to waste on these trivial matters. Go.”
***
Kindara ignored the conversation around her. Auri was settled on the settee despite her brother’s protest that she be taken to her rooms and examined. Auri had countered with the fact that the top healer of the people was the one responsible for sewing her up—and it wouldn’t get any better than that. All of her arguments were made from the big warrior demon’s hold.
Kindara kept quiet, her mind consumed with worry for the damned demon. His brother seemed remarkably unconcerned, but hadn’t the demon said he didn’t trust his brother?
So why had he sent him with her?
Cormac echoed her questions. “Why did the demon Rathan not return with you?”
“He has matters of state to address. He sent me to guard his female and spawn.”
Kindara focused on his words and jerked her attention toward her brother. Had he caught what Renakletos had said?
His darkening face told her he had. “Kindara?”
“We will talk in my suite, brother.”
This was not something open for public discussion. The babe…the babe was the most important part of her world now. It had to be. And she was not sorry for his existence.
“We will.”
The king’s eyes showed the smallest hint of surprise. In four hundred years of ruling, Dhar Rydere had seen many things. She doubted this babe made that much of an impact on him. Dhar Rydere patted her shoulder. “Kinney, what of Bronwen? Belnus?”
“Belnus was slightly injured upon arrival in Relaklonos. But he was recovering nicely. When the demon’s castle was attacked, he was too far away to return with us.”
“So is there significant threat to his life?” Rydere asked the warrior demon.
“No. The attack was mild and more a political statement than anything. They attacked our oldest wing of the castle that we were needing refurbished anyway. As a face saving measure.”
“So why the big hurry to return Kindara and Aureliana that you would leave without Belnus—the guard we assigned to go with Kindara?” Aodhan settled at his sister’s side, one hand on her shoulder to hold her still. “Do not mess with us.”
“Because my first blood duty is to protect my brother’s female and his heirs. Currently, my daughter Cerridwen is the heir presumptive. The spawn’s birth will change that. They both must be kept safe. Even though the attack was presumed to be mild and insignificant, my brother felt it more prudent to remove his female and heirs from the castle until the threat is neutralized. And until the traitor in my brother’s court has been eliminated. My brother will return for his female when the time is right.”
“And when will that be?” Cormac asked. “I have much to discuss with this demon king.”
“No, brother. You do not. Rathan will be coming for me and the babe.” Kindara paused as all eyes turned toward her. Auri’s alone were supportive and reassuring. “And when he does, you will not interfere. And…and…I will be going with him.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
She bled to be with him. Ached for him nearly as much as she had in the days after Iavius. Only the knowledge that Rathan still lived lessened her pain.
Three weeks. She had heard nothing from him in three weeks. She’d kept herself busy with the medical tomes she’d managed to bring through the portal with her, but she’d read the six texts completely. Now she needed him. She’d tried telling herself it was so that she could return to Relaklonos and finish her research.
But that was just a lie. She missed the arrogant demonic idiot. Missed the feel of his touch, the light in his eyes when he looked at her. The tenderness on his face when he spoke of their babe.
Their babe had passed his first month in her womb and Barlaam had assured her the babe—and it was definitely a boy—was strong and growing beautifully.
He and Jierra were her solace. Her daughter was thrilled with the babe within her mother, though she made little mention of the babes she herself carried.
But damn him and the goddess herself, Kindara wanted the demon there to reassure her the babe was well, to hold her when th
e November chill froze Kindara to the very marrow of her being, to be…her mate.
They were not Rajnis; Kindara had no doubts that Iavius was the mate the goddess had picked for her many, many centuries ago, but she knew she needed the demon now. Wanted him and would do what she had to in order to be with him.
She stood, setting the medical book she’d been reading aside. She’d find her brother and the demon’s and inform them of her plans. She’d been away from the demon long enough and that ended today.
Cormac sat curled up in the king’s recreation room, his Rajni asleep in his lap. Josey still suffered bouts of weakness that were near debilitating; Cormac stayed near her to ensure all her needs were immediately met. Yet Kindara knew that the ties between the two were still strained. She ached for her brother, and Josey, too.
Cormac looked up when Kindara closed the door behind her. “Kinney.”
“Cormac. I need to speak with you and the warrior demon Renakletos.”
Cormac sat his mate gently on the sofa cushion then stood. His face was darker than usual as he looked at her. “This is about that demon of yours, is it not?”
“Stop reading my mind. You know I hate it when you do that.”
Cormac had inherited that gift from their great-great-grandfather and he used it whenever it suited him. They had had many arguments through the years about him feeling the urge to take a walk through her mind whenever he wanted. But it had saved her life thirty years ago; he’d found her then through the agonized screams she’d felt within her mind after Iavius’s death. Cormac had tracked her and the only other survivor with his gifts.
She had resented him for so long; a part of her had hated him for not letting her die there beside Iavius and his young sister. That resentment had colored their relationship for these last thirty years.
It was time that ended. Had he not found her when he did she would not have had the joy of raising her daughter, or have the hope for the future she had now.
“I love you, big brother.” Kindara wrapped her arms around him, snuggled her face into his chest. “But…”
“But you have to do this.” He finished for her, and for once she didn’t challenge him for walking through her thoughts. “I don’t have to like it.”
“But you have to accept it.” Kindara pulled back and looked into the dark eyes so like their father’s had been. “I love him, and I love the babe. I will not lose them.”
“I will see to it that you don’t.” Cormac’s vow was fierce, and Kindara saw the remembered pain on his face.
He had cared for Iavius, too. Had grieved for the babe she’d lost. Though two hundred years existed between their ages, they had always been close. They had no other siblings and their parents had been gone three hundred years.
Kindara and he were incredibly close; she knew he loved her. That love would have him accepting the demon.
Now she just had to get back to her damned demon.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Mama?”
Jierra had not called her that in twenty years, and Kindara’s heart hurt at the need for reassurance buried in her child’s one word. Kindara set the jacket she held aside and faced the girl standing in her doorway. “Baby?”
“You’re really going?” Jierra stepped into the room and pulled the door closed behind her. Kindara watched her daughter for a moment as the girl pushed some of the clothing spread over Kindara’s bed aside and sank down onto the foot. “Going back to him?”
“Yes. I’m going. I belong with him now.” And though she held great resolve and belief in what she was about to do, she did not want to leave her daughter without the girl understanding that she would be just a simple portal away.
“Do you think you’ll be happy with him? Even though it’s different than anything from before?”
Was it about Rathan Jierra was asking, or about the damned wolf that still prowled the halls of the resort? “Ji...Have you talked to him?”
Jierra’s shoulders tightened and she wrapped her arms around her stomach. “No. And I’m not going to. He’s arrogant and rude and I hate him.”
“I’m sorry, baby. I don’t know how the goddess could do that to you. You deserve a mate who loves you for the special person that you are. Maybe...maybe someday he’ll see that.”
Jierra lowered her eyes. “I doubt it. I just want him to go away.”
“He’s not. Not with two of his sisters right here. Not with them--goddess help us--bringing a branch of Taniss Industries here to Dardano. You will have to see him. And what of the babes? Has he mentioned anything about them?”
Fear flashed into Ji’s eyes. A panic that Kindara had seen there before. Kindara barely heard Ji’s whispered reply. “Yes.”
“What did he say?” When her daughter refused to look up at her, Kindara tilted Ji’s chin up until their eyes met. “Ji?”
“That...that if I didn’t do what he wanted, he’d take the babes and raise them himself.” Jierra’s hands still covered the spot where those babes rested. “At his house. I’d never get to see them. He’s not taking my babes!”
Kindara closed her eyes as the fury filled her. Her grandbabes would not be raised among a herd of Tanisses. Or Lupoiux, for that matter. “He’s a fool if he thinks any of our people will allow him to do that. What did he want you to do?”
“Go with him back there. To live in a house on his grandfather’s property. Not even his house. He doesn’t want me. He doesn’t really want the babes. He just thinks we belong to him.”
Kindara hesitated. “You know your uncle will never allow him to hurt you, baby. And the demon and I are only going to be a portal away. I will be coming back here nearly every day. I can just do my research best from Relaklonos.”
“And you’ll be with him.” Ji bit her bottom lip, a habit she’d had as a small child. “Do you think you love him, then?”
“Do I love him? I never thought I’d ever be able to say I loved another man besides Iavius, but I do love the demon. It’s different, though. With Iavius there was the understanding that the goddess put us together, that we were meant to be together. We both had that reassurance that we were put together for a reason. Our love started as that connection and grew. With the damned demon, it was a way to forget at first. Then he...blindsided me with how important he became so completely. I do love him, Ji. And not just because of the babe.” She touched her own abdomen lightly. Her son was in there, hers and Rathan’s. “Though there is a strong connection because of the babe. I love him because he can make me laugh again even when I want to hit him for being so...male.”
“I want you to be happy, mother.”
“I know you do. And I think I can be. But not at the expense of you.” Kindara sank to the bed beside her daughter. “I love you so much.”
“I know you do. But I’m a grown woman. Your happiness shouldn’t be at the expense of mine. I’ve got other things to think about--like what I am going to name these babes and which suite we are going to live in. Mine is too small for two babes.” Jierra’s words were lighter, but the confusion was still clear behind them. “Go to him, mother. I’ll be ok. And I have Uncle Cormac to scare the big bad wolf away.”
“Yes, you do. I love you, baby.”
“I love you, too.”
****
She had spoken with the two people that mattered the most and they supported her. She had the bag she was taking with her back to Relaklonos slung over one shoulder. She was ready. Now she just had to get the big Warrior demon to take her to his brother.
She found in the gardens, watching Dhar Rydere and Aodhan engage in a battle of mock swordplay. Aureliana sat on a bench padded with extra pillows a few yards away. Auri seemed to be ignoring the big demon, though his daughter sat at her feet coloring a picture. Kindara stopped by her friend.
“Auri.”
“Kinney. Going somewhere?” Aureliana smirked. She’d always been able to read Kindara.
“You know I am. How are you feeling?”
“Like someone stabbed me with a six foot sword. Other than that, pretty good. Planning on making a drastic change?”
“Of location. It doesn’t seem so drastic to me now. I need the warrior demon.”
“Good luck. He seems to be remarkably unavailable for everything except blood and bludgeoning.” Auri ruffled the dark curls on the demon child’s head. “Occasional play-time, now and then. Not much else.”
“You volunteering to change that?” Kindara knew Auri’s soft spot. She had raised a few foundlings over the years—humans, mostly. It did not surprise Kindara that Auri had taken the girl under her wing while Cerridwen and Renakletos were in Gaia.
“While I can. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”
“Yes. I just need someone to open the gates.”
“And that’s where big bubba comes in. Good luck with that.” Auri smiled a somewhat sad smile. “And with your second chance.”
Kindara hurt for her friend. She knew Auri wanted nothing more than to find her own Rajni. “You’ll find him, Auri. When you’re supposed to.”
“Hmmm. Will I? I’m beginning to doubt that, Kin. But anyway...what’s the next step?” She was still in pain; Kindara could see it in her eyes. “You going demon hunting?”
“Yes.” Kindara nodded, attention turning toward the warrior demon. “It’s been long enough.”
“I’ll say,” Auri adjusted her shoulder when the little girl climbed carefully into her lap. Kindara started across the garden. “Hey, Kinney!”
Kindara turned back toward her. “Yes?”
“I love you, kid! See he treats you just right!”
Renakletos was studying the movements of the two sparring men. He looked up and stood when Kindara approached. He half-bowed. “My lady.”
“Take me to him.”
Renakletos’s face went blank, calculating. “I cannot do that. My king and brother forbade it.”
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