Noah (10 page)

“Sweetheart, we have talked about this,” he scolded her gently, running a broad, graceful hand down the length of her wet hair. “We will do this for us, and for us alone. As with our wedding, it is their duty to adapt to us. Those who do not adapt, those who think to fight me—let them come if they dare.”

“Damien,” she breathed nervously, sweeping her fingers into his hair and holding him in place for her mouth and its desperate kiss.

He knew her fears too well for words. Even without his telepathy, he had come to know her nearly better than he knew himself. She was more emotional than she normally would be, more fearful as her mating cycle rapidly approached and more of their impending future was put up for scrutiny.

Syreena had two mating cycles every year. Spring and fall, close to the full moon at Beltane and the one at Samhain. These short weeks every year were the only time she could conceive, no matter how frequently they made love at any other time. Last spring had been an experience unlike anything Damien had encountered in his long lifetime of dealing with women. She had been aggressive and insatiable. She had taunted him and teased him and used him to exhaustion almost every minute of the day from the beginning to the end of the cycle.

They hadn’t truly decided whether or not they were ready for children before last spring’s cycle had struck her, but once it had hit, they hadn’t even been able to make an effort at caution or control.

In spite of their recklessness, however, Syreena hadn’t conceived.

She had been devastated. It should have been impossible for her to fail to conceive. She’d never heard of a heat cycle not producing a child automatically, in the absence of actions or chemistry to prevent it. So her automatic assumptions began to fall into two categories: first, that something was wrong with her; second, and perhaps the worst of all, that a Vampire and a Lycanthrope couldn’t conceive a child. Though there were hints in ancient writings that it was possible, there was no known written or living proof of it. Still, it was illogical for her to blame herself. The Vampire conception rate was notoriously low to begin with.

Regardless, if he was forced to leave her alone for the next cycle in order to take care of business at the Demon court, she would suffer a great deal, and very likely would be impossible to live with. If he thought the atmosphere in his home was hostile now…after three weeks with Syreena on a hormonal bender, in amongst a gathering of Vampires who disapproved of her to start with, there would be a lot of ramifications to deal with.

Neither could they leave together. Stephan and Jasmine could capably protect their holdings, but with the current civil unrest, it would be unwise for both of them to leave the homeland castle unattended. The more he thought on it, the more sending Jasmine seemed like the best solution for everyone. Of course, it would no doubt look like Damien was catering to his bride, an act that many of his species would look on as a weakness.

But Damien didn’t care about appearances in this particular situation. He could never leave Syreena to cope with such a painful struggle when his mere presence could prevent it. Apparently she didn’t realize that, or else she wouldn’t have climbed the tower after hearing him discuss traveling to Noah’s court. He would maintain patience, however. She was learning, just as he was, and it did no good for either of them to lose their tolerance for the other’s misunderstandings.

For the present, she was catching a good case of the shivers and would be better off inside the citadel walls. He swept her up into his embrace easily just as his feet lifted from the ground. He flew them up to the very same window she had dived from earlier, leading her inside so she could warm up and rest with him as the dawn made its imminent approach.

When the Demon King entered the Council chamber a short time later, a hush fell over the Elders gathered about the triangular table. Noah stood for a moment, assessing the energy of the room. Gossip among Demons, he noted, was one of the fastest-flying creatures in all the world. He had no doubt that everyone around him was at least partially aware of what had so recently transpired.

He didn’t hold still long, determined not to be read as reluctant to face his peers. He moved to the large chair at one of the three points of the table that marked its highest-ranking members. The other two points were occupied by his sister’s husband, Gideon, who was the only Ancient of their kind, and Jacob, the Enforcer, who reached to cover the small hand of his wife seated next to him.

“I have called this Council meeting with one purpose only,” he said directly, his deep voice filling the stone room and ringing back to him from the vaulted ceiling. “It is time we altered Demon law, Councillors, to suit the vast changes our society has undergone since the first Druid was discovered and accepted into our culture.” He did not look at Isabella as he referred to her, the act too hard for him in that glaring moment. He would face that reckoning later, when there were not so many witnesses. “I have watched the centuries fall by just as many of you have, and we all know too well the price we pay every Samhain and Beltane because it is stamped on our genes that it be so.

“I have glorified myself in the past as a scholar dedicated to finding a solution to the cruel pressures we endure during those Hallowed moons.” Noah paused to lay a hand on the smooth wooden surface of the Council table, leaning forward so he could meet all the attention focused on him. “Many of us have cried out with suffrage, cried foul when the Enforcer put us to the screws, and simply cried because sometimes the agony is just too much for a soul to bear.” The Demon King straightened as the slap of his hand on the table resounded in the room.

“I tell you now I feel nothing but shame toward myself, toward us all, for enjoying the role of the victim too well. We have had three years in which to initiate changes and have barely made efforts to do so. If you think it is my recent transgression that makes me say this, you would be right. But even before that incident, the Druid Corrine had begun to open my eyes to our indolence.

“It comes to this: We have the means to put an end to this tragedy, and I am determined to make it the law to do so. As it stands now, the Enforcers are a necessary evil and they are vilified for representing the possibility of what we might become. That begins to end this very moment.” Noah heard Isabella make a surprised sound, the squeak catching in her throat, and his mouth turned up at one corner as he looked directly at her. “The law is as I speak it now. Every unmated member of Demon society who is of Elder age will utilize Corrine’s skills to find the Druid mate that is to be Imprinted upon them. Only this will cure our culture of its madness, and so it will be done. In the future I will expand the law to include adults. Of course, all are free to do so at any time or age if they wish it. The only reason I do not make it universally mandatory is because I do not wish to overtax our Druid, who will hereby be referred to as our Matchmaker. It takes much effort, I realize now, to be a living divining rod.”

He paused to take a slow, calming breath.

“I once said that Isabella would be the first note in the call to save us from ourselves. I realize now that, as she is the note, her sister is the symphony. It is the responsibility of every member of this Council to set an example by being among the first to approach the Matchmaker in this matter.”

The silence broke at last, nearly the entire table erupting in protest both large and small.

“Noah, you cannot do this,” the Body Demon Peter protested, his chair scraping back loudly as he jumped up. “You have no right to command us to do something that should be a personal freedom for every living creature in the world. No intellectual being should be forced to find a mate!”

“
Every
being is forced to find a mate,” Noah countered sharply, the bite of his retort like a slap in the face. “You have never crossed that maddening line, Peter, so you do not know what I mean. Let me assure you that every creature of the world is stamped with the drive to find perfection in companionship. It is encoded in every fiber of our beings. It is because we have taken the unnatural course of solitude that Demons are being forced by nature, by these Hallowed moons and their madness, to follow our internal compass toward our intended partners no matter what the cost.

“Believe me, Peter, you do not want to pay the price I have paid. I walked this world so desensitized to the needs of my soul and my body that I failed my most perfect Destiny and dispatched my mate to her death. I refuse to see that happen to another of us. I am ruler of this race, and I
will
force this dictate upon you. And as with any law, those who do not obey will face my Enforcers. I will press the matter with severe ramifications that will far outweigh the penalty that already exists. A punishment I must now suffer that will add to a pain that if I could share it—” He broke off, swallowing visibly but refusing to break contact with the dozen pairs of eyes watching him with bated breath. “I could pardon myself from this if I wished, but what kind of leader would I be if I did not expect myself to follow the laws I set down for all others?”

“Noah, no one here expects you to suffer the humiliation of—”

“Please,” the King cut in, his voice hoarse and pained. “Those of you here who call themselves my friends will not tempt me any further on this matter. Jacob and Isabella will see I am justly served for my transgression. To be quite frank, no one deserves the right more than they do. This meeting is adjourned.”

There was no more argument and, mercifully, not even a sound of debate or speculation. Noah turned from the table and crossed back to the door. He halted before going through it to turn slightly back to those behind him.

“Bella, Jacob…you will attend me.”

The King closed his eyes when, after a moment’s pause, he heard the sound of two chairs pushing back across the marble floor. He finally crossed the threshold, refusing himself any urges he had to look back.

“Noah, I beg you to reconsider,” Jacob argued quietly after the last Council member had left them alone in the Great Hall of Noah’s castle.

As he pressed his monarch, Jacob observed his unusually subdued wife out of the corner of his eye, trying to get a bead on her thoughts and feelings. She was shutting him out with exceptional strength, however, shunting him away from their telepathic connection. It was a level of ability he had not realized she had. Even so, it was completely lost on him why she would decide to use it against him in that sensitive and crucial moment. He could have used her input, support, or feedback. Whichever she was willing to offer up.

He continued watching as his wife moved in one direction while Noah moved in the other to stand closer to the fire.

“Jacob, it is your duty to not only uphold the law, but to hold those who break it accountable. I am not an exception to that rule and, as I have already stated, I will not hear argument otherwise.”

“You
will
hear it,” Jacob said sharply, advancing on his sovereign. “I have been your Enforcer for four centuries, and no one knows better than I how and when to enforce the law. The reprimand you are seeking for yourself is intended to sway future weakness from occurring. It is designed to halt the temptation toward innocents who would fall victim to the potential danger of a Demon out of control. This edict was never meant to reprove those who are striving only to seize their one true mate in life. Especially when taking into consideration that once you do become mated to that person, there is no longer any threat of this insanity overtaking you. By our very own laws and traditions, you have the right to claim what you have claimed. Laws that I helped you draw up, I might add.”

“
No one
has the right to do so in a way that endangers the innocents around them,” Noah bit back.

“Then consider Kestra if you will not consider yourself,” Jacob said grimly, his voice echoing in the stone room. “If you undergo standard procedures, you will be left physically and emotionally devastated. To penalize yourself would mean punishing this innocent. She is becoming a Druid now. You know what that means. She will need to feed off your energy. She needs your full strength if she is to survive such a taxing alteration of her genetic code and physical being. None of us knows what this might do to her, to you both, if you persist on this path.”

“No,” Noah murmured. “No. I cannot walk away from this without being answerable for my actions. If not standard punishment, then you must devise something in its stead. I demand your compliance in this, Jacob.”

“Very well.”

Both men looked up when Bella finally spoke, her soft voice—usually so full of her vibrancy and humor—wintry and dead as it fell on them. She had her arms folded tightly around her midriff as she advanced on the Demon King, the bite of her step a warning come too late to her husband.

“
I
will punish you,” she hissed at the Demon King, her hand suddenly flying at Noah’s face and striking him so hard that the slap reverberated through Jacob’s very bones. He could only imagine how it had felt, knowing how powerful Bella was in spite of her compact appearance. But as Noah recoiled from the surprise of the blow, the male Enforcer knew the psychology behind the strike was what would cut to the quick.

“You are never to go near my child again! Do you understand?” Isabella gritted the dictate through clenched teeth, her full fury and outrage finally, after all these hours, taking aim at their first solid target. It was a brutal, tangible thing. “Never! You will not even look at her! Do you hear me? I trusted you! Trusted you with her life and her safety like I would never have trusted anyone else,
and you betrayed me!
You betrayed
her
and used
her
for a wild experiment that could have—” Bella choked on her emotion, her tears finally spilling as she fought for her voice. “How could you do that? How could you put my baby in such horrific danger?
She loves you! I
loved you!”