She felt just as bereft as she had before. A sob racked her body. If Cormac hadn’t been holding her up, she would have collapsed to the ground next to him. He was rocking her, demanding to know where she was hurt. Where the pain was coming from.
It came from her soul. From the heart she hadn’t realized she still had.
It came from not having her male and not knowing when she will be with him again. But that was a pain she could not put into words now.
Cerridwen wrapped tiny arms around Kindara’s leg and held on while her father glared at the males around them.
“That’s my sister you’re holding so tightly she cannot breathe,” Aodhan said, pointedly. He moved closer. “Give her over, demon. Now.”
Kindara was aware of it all, but none of it mattered.
She wanted her demon.
Someone in this Goddess-damned place would know how to get her back to him. Somehow.
“Put me down, demon. I can walk.” Aureliana squirmed in the warrior demon’s arms. “Kindara, are you ok?”
“I…we…need to go back. Help him.”
“My brother needs no help to deal with the traitors. Just time. Time when he knows you are safe, and are one less burden on his shoulders while he keeps the realm safe.” Ren loosened his hold, allowing Aureliana to breathe more freely. He ignored Aodhan’s reaching hands, deliberately pulling Aureliana to one side. Kindara half suspected he was doing it to be contrary. That seemed to be a habit of his. “He says stay here. Here we will stay. Now, is there someplace I can put this female so the healers can tend her? It is best she not be jostled too much. I am sure your warriors will have many questions for me.”
“You don’t put me anywhere, demon, except down. I’m not helpless, and I can walk.” Aureliana’s frustration started to break through the hold fear and grief held on Kindara’s soul. “You should be dealing with your daughter now. Not me.”
Kindara pulled air into her lungs. Tried to orient herself.
Rathan was not dead. He was just in another world. With legions of demons to protect him. She’d seen two of his brothers coming up alongside him as he’d shoved her through the barrier. Males he claimed to trust.
It was just the barrier between the worlds, making it feel like they were lost to one another. That was all.
He was safe. He was the king; he had those to protect him just as Rydere did here in her world.
She had to remember that.
He was not dead.
He couldn’t be. Her fingers wrapped the medallion. It warmed at her touch. Like it was trying to find him in whatever world he was in.
Rathan would come for her soon. She trusted him to do just that.
Kindara would focus on that, while focusing on what she had to do.
She was going to go back for her demon king. Nothing was going to stop her. It might not be today, but she would get back to him. No matter what. She would never lose her mate again.
“You have sixty-eight stitches in your back and side, put there two days ago. You battled demons this day and were nearly crushed by stone. You cannot walk without hurting. You will be carried. You will not argue with a demon king, female. I forbid it.” Renakletos tightened his arms, his expression fierce. Several of the younger males in the gardens took involuntary steps backward.
“Screw you, demon.” Aureliana hissed at him. But she did not fight to be put down.
Kindara sought for herself. Then she found what she suspected. Aureliana was in a great deal of pain. And hiding it. She never wanted to be weak in front of her brother, or other warriors.
Kindara bit back a curse as just where they were sank in—half of the males surrounding them were demon hunters. Predatoi of the finest skills. Including her own brother, who was by far one of the best Predatoi of their Kind.
“Silence, female. I am a king, after all. You will do as you are told.” Aureliana being in Ren’s arms might be all that was stopping them from attacking Rathan’s brother right now. Aureliana and the child so close. “Now, which of you is the king? The healer’s brother? We have much to speak of.”
“Arrogance is a family trait.” Aureliana wasn’t happy about it, but she gave in to the warrior. Of course, she too realized who and what surrounded them. She dropped one hand to touch the child’s hair. “Cerridwen, you don’t have to be frightened. I promise. These are my friends and my big brother. Kindara’s big brother, too. He’s really nice—and really ticklish. His female has a dog. He’ll let you meet her. You’re safe here.’’
“I suggest we all take this inside; it’s beginning to snow again.” 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. She would have to tell him and Thadd what had happened to their youngest sister.
She had completely forgotten Bronwen. In a world at war.
Rydere continued speaking. “I would like some answers as to why you just appeared within our gardens, Kindara, despite our security—no demon should be able to open a portal within the walls of this building. Not that you’re not welcome. It just should not have been able to be done. That it was concerns me.”
“My brother is the demon high king of Relaklonos. He is over eleven thousand five hundred years old,” Ren stated with pure arrogance and challenge in his tone. Somehow, he appeared larger and more arrogant than ever before. He was also still purple. Had they been in the hotel’s general courtyard, that would have brought serious questions from human guests. “He does what he wants, where he wants, when he wants. He asked that I bring his female to her brother, and keep her safe until he returns for her. 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 her demon. “I am her brother. Why is the demon Rathan not with her? Where is the healer Bronwen? The warrior guard Belnus? What has happened to Aureliana? The source of this blood? 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 my queen’s safety. I will gladly do that with my life. Even if it means dealing with your ilk.”
Kindara winced; she hoped that slip of the tongue had gone unnoticed.
Her eyes met Barlaam’s—she knew it hadn’t.
Aureliana sighed impatiently from her perch in the warrior demon’s arms. “Enough of this. No one is going to kill anyone here. Aodhan, Cormac, the demon king’s castle was under attack by a traitor on the high council, I think. Little Cerridwen here is Rathan’s current heir. The giant purple doofus here is Cerridwen’s father—and the demon king’s brother. In case you all have not figured it out. He’s a massive pain in the ass, but no one will be using swords today. Rathan sent us back when the castle was attacked to keep Kindara and his niece safe. We were right in the middle of fighting demons when it happened. I took out two, Kindara took out one—nicely done, by the way—and Rathan the last. That is the source of the blood. The castle was taking hits—from cannons, if you can believe it—so Rathan basically shoved us back here to keep Kindara and Cerridwen out of the line of fire. Apparently, he can open portals whenever he wants. Renakletos here is just incidental. He happened to be there when the attack happened. Satisfied?”
“And Bronwen?” Theo asked from his position next to Kindara. He was stroking her hair, the gesture meant only to soothe. The seer knew what she felt, Kindara understood that. She almost threw herself into his arms and clung to the safety he represented. He…he could tell her if her demon lived. If he chose to. “Where is my sister?”
“She has been
taken by the Lozicano Warrior King Koios for ransom,” the demon answered for her. “She will be fetched once this traitor has been caught and it is safe for her return to our castle. For now, she is safer with the twin king. He is a reasonably honorable Beskre warrior, who will guard her well.”
“So if your brother’s castle is under attack, how can he successfully retrieve my sister?” Theo asked.
“Rathan is king. High king. He will not fail.” Renakletos tightened his arms when Aureliana squirmed from her obvious impatience. And pain. “Stay still, female. I shall not be putting you down until I am damned good and ready to. You are far more trouble than any female should ever be. Whoever raised you has much to answer for.”
Kindara looked at Aureliana’s brother. Aodhan studied the warrior demon, his expression one of wariness and suspicion. But he did not seem poised to attack. However, if the demon continued to hold Aureliana that way against her permission, Kindara knew that would not last.
Aodhan always had liked a good brawl. And he wasn’t that much smaller than the demon. In fact, less than a few inches and fifty pounds or so separated the two fierce warriors in size.
It could be a close to even match.
Especially if the others joined in.
The demon’s daughter was watching avidly, her little face much like her uncle’s. Kindara’s babe would possibly resemble this child.
Kindara could see how afraid the little babe was. No. Kindara wasn’t about to let anything else scare her babe’s cousin. Not if she could help it. This was her niece now, too.
“Can we please take this inside? I need to sit down. It has been a long few days. We will explain everything.” She stepped forward and took Rathan’s niece—her niece—by the hand. “Cerri, welcome to my home. Welcome to Gaia. Are you ready to see what it’s like here?”
“Gaia! I got to go to Gaia!” The little girl’s excited shouts did what Kindara had not been able to. The warriors surrounding them relaxed and backed off. Slightly. “I want crayons and a doll like Uncle Rathan said he’d get me! And can I see a real puppy? Can I? Can I, please?”
She clapped her hands and jumped up and down, looking at her father and begging him in the manner typical of babes everywhere. “Please, Daddy? Please? Can I have a puppy?”
The word daddy did it.
Dardaptoans considered family sacred, after all.
The tension around them dissolved as if it had never existed.
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Kindara ignored the conversation around her. Aureliana was settled on the settee in the dhar’s large sitting room, despite her brother’s protest that she be taken to her own rooms and examined. Or the healer’s hall.
Aureliana had countered with the fact that the top healer of their Kind was the one responsible for sewing her up—and it couldn’t get any better than that.
All of her arguments were made from the big warrior demon’s hold.
Ren was refusing to let go of her—certainly just to be stubborn in the face of Aureliana’s own tenacity. He held her up with his hands, while his daughter played right next to her feet—with Aodhan’s ever-tolerant wolf, Tajic.
Not exactly a typical puppy.
Kindara kept quiet, her mind consumed with worry for the damned demon. His brother seemed remarkably unconcerned. Kindara tried to reassure herself of what that meant.
Although her own brother had told her years ago, demons didn’t think in the same way Dardaptoans did. They were apparently far more battle happy than Dardaptoan males.
And that said quite a lot. “Why did the demon king not return with you?”
“He has matters of state to address—that require the king’s presence only. He decided the new queen would be safer here with her brother to guard her. I do not necessarily agree a Predatoi will ever be a good guard for the queen of demons. We have a traitor on the council we have just identified. Rathan sent me to guard his female and his unborn spawn so that they would remain safe. These twin kings are not the only threats to the heirs of Relaklonos. Either my spawn, or the one the queen now carries.”
Kindara focused on his words and jerked her attention toward her brother. This was not how she intended for her brother—or anyone—to learn of her babe.
His face darkened. “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 right now. And she was not sorry for his existence. It might anger her brother, but he would just have to get over it.
Or she would find a portal opening and open it herself. Rydere had them somewhere in his office. She had seen them before. Small, jelly-like colored balls, they were rather distinctive. Unlike some very powerful ancients, most needed these little spell-filled balls to open a barrier between worlds.
She’d find her way.
She’d go back to Rathan and leave Cormac behind until he got over himself again. Her babe was what mattered now.
“We will.”
The king’s eyes showed the smallest hint of surprise. He knew better than to say anything to her, though.
“Belnus was slightly injured upon arrival in Relaklonos, but he is recovering nicely. He’s being nursed by one of Rathan’s younger sisters now.” Kindara didn’t know it for certain, but she suspected there was a story there. One Belnus had not shared. “He seems to be enjoying it.”
“So is there significant threat to Belnus’s life?” Rydere asked the warrior demon.
“No. Today’s attack by the twin kings is mild and more a political statement than anything. It is the traitor Rathan is tracking who attacked the queen and her friend this day. But Rathan and more than a dozen of our brothers are in pursuit of Agmendias now. It is only a matter of hours until Agmendias is found and punished for his treachery. He dared to put hands on our queen, and on my spawn. He will pay for that.”
“So why such a big hurry to return Kindara and Aureliana that you would leave without Belnus—the guard we assigned to go with Kindara? And that you would leave Bronwen behind?” Aodhan settled at his sister’s other side while Thadd examined the injuries from a few days before. “Do not lie to us. This injury to my sister was significant.”
Ren glowered at him—but refused to move from Aureliana. He continued to hold her steady.
He said he owed her for protecting his daughter; and he was going to see her healed. Kindara suspected he was doing it merely to be contrary. No one told this demon king what it was he was to do. Everyone could see he was pushing Aureliana’s buttons with every word that came out of his mouth. “To protect the heirs to my realm. 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. Yes, we made a babe, the demon and I. We are…gamata. Whatever that means exactly.” Kindara paused as all eyes turned toward her. Aureliana’s alone were supportive and reassuring. “And when he does, you will not interfere. And…and…I will be going with him.”
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Nothing, no one, threatened Rathan’s family. He reiterated that to himself after Agmendias’s body was carried away.
He strode down the crumbling hallway with clear purpose. Agmendias’s family would have to be dealt with; to ensure the treason had gone no further than their father.
The male had had fourteen daughters, not a son among them. They would have to be investigated, and brought before the truth-tellers for evaluation. Before he settled that estate and sent them on their ways. If they were innocent of their father’s crime, then they would never learn the truth of their father’s treachery, just be told he’d died in battle. It would be the only way to protect those females from what those loyal to Rathan would demand become of them.
He would never see females punished for sins of their fathers again.
Agmendias’s greed and quest for
power not his own had just destroyed the ancient male warrior’s family.
It would never have been worth it.
Holfun, head guard of Rathan’s personal warriors, met him inside the great hall less than eight hours after he had sent Kindara to her brother for her own safety.
His brother Joru, the head of the entire military force of Relaklonos, was at Holfun’s back, nursing an injury to his arm. An injury that hadn’t been there two hours ago. “What is it now?”
“It is the twin king Sinrik. He’s here to demand the release of Koios. Apparently, he does not know his brother has returned to Lozicano. He has his own forces starting to surround the courtyard walls.”
Simple. Convenient.
Rathan didn’t buy that for a moment.
No. He easily sensed that upstart bastard Agmendias behind this.
His actions had been responsible for stirring up the feud with the demon twin kings in the first place.
Now, he would never know. Damn it. Politics would not keep him from his female any longer.
She would not understand that the barriers between their worlds would feel like they had severed the ties between their souls. She would need him soon.
“I will speak with him. There will be no war between warriors and all demons today.” The twin kings would return Danae and Bronwen, and Rathan would not declare war, nor bring his much larger forces against the struggling Lozicano territory. It was as simple as that. “Send out an envoy 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’s daughters. I have no time to waste on these trivial matters. Go.”
No one would ever come as close to harming Kindara and those he cared about like this ever again. He’d already had reports—one of the young sisters he provided for, a female born just before his father’s disappearance—had been injured when a wall fell in upon her.
There would be restitution for all the damage that the twin kings and Agmendias had caused.
And damn it, it was time he got his sister Danae and the blind girl healer back. This had gone on for too long.
Bound To The Demon Page 23
