Bound To The Demon

by C. J. Brookes

  He had a queen to claim, after all.

  That had waited long enough.

  63

  Three weeks. She had heard nothing from him in three long, unending weeks.

  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. Ren reported to her every evening, after he’d heard from his brother through some demon magical channel she had no clue about.

  That helped. A little. Until she had him back, nothing would help fully.

  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.

  It didn’t do her any good without samples to test directly from his world. Now, she needed him.

  She’d tried telling herself it was so that she could return to Relaklonos and finish her research.

  That was just a lie. She missed the arrogant demonic ass. 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.

  She’d finally learned what a gamata was when she’d cornered the big purple warrior—who could apparently change his skin color whenever he chose, who was now masquerading as an overly tall, absurdly muscled human—and demanded answers to every question she’d had.

  Kindara got the feeling she might have actually terrified him for a little while there.

  He kept calling her Queen Kindara, as if it was a given.

  Cerridwen called her Aunt Queen Kindara.

  The 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.

  The babe 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 the November chill froze Kindara to the very marrow of her being, to be…her mate.

  Her gamata.

  They were not Rajnis; Kindara had no doubts that Iavius was the mate the Goddess had picked for her many, many centuries ago.

  This was different. Though it felt just as deep, just as strong as that bond she’d formed long ago with Iavius.

  Rathan was her mate in every sense of the word. Rajni or not.

  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 hungered for her male. And she was going to find him.

  She’d been away from the demon long enough, and that ended today. If it was merely a political tango, he could deal with it while she was at his side.

  The queen’s place was at the king’s side, after all. That was something else she was coming to grips with. He’d made her queen by default. Without her agreeing to it.

  But it was done. Now, she had to deal with it.

  Cormac sat curled up in the dhar’s recreation room, his Rajni asleep in his lap, her blond head on his shoulder.

  Joselyn still suffered bouts of weakness that were near debilitating; Cormac stayed near her to ensure all her needs were immediately met.

  Cormac looked up when Kindara closed the door behind her. “You need something?”

  “Yes. To speak with you and the warrior demon Renakletos. I can’t find him.”

  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.

  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 had, she would not have had the joy of raising her daughter, or have the hope for the future she had now.

  If she had not survived, the hope that now hinged on what she’d find in the demon world wouldn’t exist.

  Theo had already told her she would find the answers in the demon world.

  She would find a way to save their Kind. It was just a matter of time.

  If she hadn’t lived—this moment wouldn’t have been possible.

  Sometimes it felt like something more than just the Fates was out there controlling lives.

  She didn’t mean the Goddess either.

  “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-gold eyes so like their father’s had been. “I love him, and I love the babe. I will not lose them. I will not lose them, I can’t.”

  “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 living siblings now—they’d lost a brother forty-three years ago—and their parents had been gone three hundred years.

  Lost in childbirth, along with the babe, so long ago.

  Kindara and he were incredibly close; she knew he loved her. That love would have him accepting the demon. Because the demon made her happy.

  Happier than she had been in three decades.

  She just had to get back to her damned demon. Somehow.

  “So, big brother, how exactly do I get there?”

  “Not only am I giving you to the damned demon, now, I have to show you the way? Demanding, aren’t you?”

  “I think I’m going to be. From this day on.” She shot him a wicked grin. “Starting with my demon. Take me to him. I know you can.”

  64

  She had one more loved one to tell. Jierra. Her heart.

  “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 vestis 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 mattress. “Going back to him? To the demon world, forever.”

  “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 opening away. “We’re mates now. I belong at his side. It won’t be forever. I’ll be traveling back and forth. I would have been anyway, to study demon medication. I’ll just…be with him as well. Are you ok with that?”

  “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? Hunting Jierra most times, Cormac had said.

  Jierra refused to acknowledge him as her male now
.

  In fact, Jierra refused to acknowledge the wolf even existed. She was giving him one seriously nasty cold shoulder.

  Guilt had her hesitating. Her daughter needed her now. Was it right that she was just about to port off to another realm when her daughter needed her most? “Ji...have you talked to him yet?”

  Jierra’s shoulders tightened, and she wrapped her arms around her stomach, which curved more than it had even done last week. Lupoiux pups grew fast. “No. And I’m not going to. He’s arrogant and rude, and I hate him. And his demands.”

  “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.” He would. She had no doubt about that—the Goddess had never made a mistake in Rajni pairs that Kindara had ever seen.

  Even if Kindara personally couldn’t stand that damned fleabag, he was the one male in any universe best meant for her daughter.

  Or for the female her daughter was meant to become.

  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 Dardanos. You will have to see him. And what of the babes? Has he mentioned anything about them?”

  Fear flashed into Jierra’s eyes. A panic that Kindara had never seen there before. Kindara barely heard Jierra’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 back there!”

  Kindara closed her eyes as the fury filled her. Her grandbabes would not be raised among a herd of Tanisses. Or a pack of 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 wants me to take over Emily’s house. By myself. He doesn’t want me. He doesn’t really want the babes either. He just thinks we belong to him.”

  Kindara hesitated. That didn’t sound like any mate she had ever seen. “You know your uncle will never allow him to hurt you, baby. And the demon and I are only going to be a portal opening away. There are plenty of ways you can get messages to me, that don’t even require that. Just ask your uncle and he will get me for you. I will be coming back here several times each week to work with Barlaam and Thadd. I can just do my research best from Relaklonos.”

  “And you’ll be with him.” Jierra 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 male besides Iavius, but I do love the demon. Intensely. 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. It was fun and playful. 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 most because he can make me laugh again, even when I want to hit him for being so…so arrogantly 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 female. 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. I have Uncle Cormac to scare the big bad wolf away.”

  “Yes, you do. I love you, baby.”

  “I love you, too.”

  She made herself a vow. No matter what happened with Rathan, she would be there to support Jierra when her daughter needed her. She’d just have to find a way to make it work somehow.

  65

  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 Ren 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. Aureliana seemed to be ignoring the big demon, though his daughter sat at her feet, coloring diligently in a coloring book. Aureliana had seen to it that she had a steady supply of coloring books and crayons—and a bag to collect all the blue ones in for her imaginary friend Argi.

  Kindara stopped by Aureliana. Both to check on her and to get a quick confidence boost. Aureliana had always told her to go for her dreams.

  This situation was no exception.

  “Aureliana.”

  “Kinney. Going somewhere?” Aureliana smirked. She’d always been able to read Kindara.

  “You know I am. How are you feeling?” Just seeing her friend alive was a miracle. Kindara knew that more than anyone. Had it not been for the big purple demon’s blood…then again, if it hadn’t been for his stupidity, Aureliana would never have been injured in the first place.

  “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.” Aureliana ruffled the dark curls on the demon child’s head. Someone—and she suspected she knew who—had seen to it that Cerridwen’s hair was brushed and braided every day to hide the tiny silver horns on her head. “Occasional playtime, now and then. Not much else.”

  “You volunteering to change that?” Kindara knew Aureliana’s soft spot. She had raised a few foundlings over the years. It did not surprise Kindara that Aureliana had taken the girl under her wing while Cerridwen and Renakletos were in Gaia.

  That was exactly what Aureliana would do. She had a soft spot for the motherless and fatherless of their Kind.

  “While I can. Are you sure this is what you want to do?”

  “Yes. I just need someone to open the portal opening. I can’t seem to get my hands on one of the damned things. Rumor has it the demon warrior is in possession of some.”

  “And that’s where big bubba comes in. Good luck with that.” Aureliana smiled a somewhat sad smile. “And with your second chance.”

  Kindara hurt for her friend. She knew Aureliana wanted nothing more than to find her own Rajni. And she hadn’t forgotten Aureliana’s claim she didn’t have one. She would ask her about that, on her next visit. “You’ll find him, Aureliana. When you’re supposed to.”

  “Hmmm. Will I? I’m beginning to doubt that, Kin. I’m starting to think something went haywire when I was born or something. 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,” Aureliana 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 ju
st right!”

  Renakletos was studying the movements of the two sparring males. He looked up and stood when Kindara approached. He half bowed. “Queen Kindara, my lady.”

  She ignored the ridiculous greeting. She half suspected he used it because he knew it irritated her. Same with his cocky little bows. He was a demon king—he most likely bowed to no one. “Take me to him.”

  Renakletos’s face went blank, calculating. “I cannot do that. My king and brother forbade it.”

  “Don’t tell me you always do everything he orders. I know that’s a lie.” Kindara pulled in a deep breath and tightened her hand on the pack over her shoulder. This was the last hurdle to her plan. “I’m going back to him. And you’re going to take me.”

  “No, I am not. I cannot.”

  “Don’t tell me you won’t. I know you can.” Kindara stared up at the giant male, shifted to block the path he stood on. “Take me to him.”

  He started to speak. “I cannot.”

  “Yes, you can. You will.”

  “No, pet. He said he cannot. Not that he will not.” A voice came from behind Kindara, and she stiffened. This had not been a part of her plan.

  But it was happening.

  For all her bravado, turning to face him felt like one of the hardest things she had ever done.

  66

  Rathan stood between her brother and his, dressed in his customary black. His horns were proudly displayed now, his stance arrogant.

  But he was unsure. Of her.

  She could see it in his eyes. She stepped toward him.

  “Demon.”

  “Pet. Is that all you have to say to me after these long weeks?”

  “What do you want me to say?” Kindara kept walking until she stood less than a yard from him.

  “That you have missed me some? That you dreamed of me every night? That you need my touch and so much more?” He lifted his arms to her, but still, Kindara hesitated. “Kindara?”