Awakening the Demon's Queen (4 page)

He still wasn’t dressed. He turned to her
with a smile, yet the expression didn’t quite reach his eyes.
Memories of the moments before she’d slept crashed in on her.
Jierra, in the hands of a Taniss. Kindara sat, dislodging the
natural grass blanket. “My daughter...”

The demon frowned as he continued to stir.
“Is fine. I flashed to Rand to check on her while you slept. She’s
fine; he was feeding her fish.”

“
Flashed? You can do that?”
Of course he could, hadn’t he moved to block her from leaving the
cave earlier? “Can you take me to her?”

“
No. It’s too far away to
take you safely. Flashing a second person is incredibly dangerous,
to begin with.”

“
Has he...” Kindara shivered
as she remembered the things the eldest Taniss had done to her, to
Iavius. “Has he hurt her yet?”

“
Definitely not. Rand won’t
hurt a female. Ever.” The demon sounded offended that she’d even
suggested it. “What do you know of the Taniss family that
frightened you so badly earlier?”

****

She sank back to the pine bedding, then
pulled her knees to her chest. “That they are evil. More so than
you...at least the men are.”

Rathan stopped stirring for a moment. “None
of the ones I’ve met are anywhere close to evil.”

“
They are.” She pulled the
blanket over her, huddled under it. “They are evil killers who will
stop at nothing to get what they want.”

“
Who’d they kill?” The stew
was finished and he carried it and his canteen of water to her
side. He’d feed her first, then finish what was left. “Do you have
proof?”

“
Proof I have to look at
every day.”

“
Who hurt you?” Rathan
pulled the blanket over her exposed shoulder, then leaned her into
his chest. He held the camping spoon to her lips. “Eat,
pet.”

“
I’m not hungry.” She pushed
the spoon away, but he knew she was lying. He easily felt the
hunger in her mind.

“
Starving yourself won’t get
you to your daughter any sooner. Now eat.” She needed to eat, if
she didn’t, he’d compel her to. “Then we’ll talk.”

He fed her until she pushed the spoon away.
“No more.”

He ate the remainder. “Tell me how you got
those scars. All of those scars. Even these.” He ran a hand down
her back.

“
Thirty years ago, Leo
Taniss took me and my Rajni to his laboratory where he tortured and
killed my Rajni and nearly did the same to me. Had my brother not
arrived when he had, I’d be dead. The end.”

Her summation chilled him. “I’m sorry.”

Rathan knew Leo Taniss—Rand’s grandfather—was
not well-liked. In fact, the man was hated by most of his family,
including Rand. But to capture and torture two Dardaptoans was no
easy feat.

“
The tattoo...what does it
mean?”

“
Taniss Industries Specimen
211. Can’t you figure it out? He branded us like
cattle.”

“
Why 211?”

“
Because I was the 211th
Dardaptoan held and tortured in his lab. My Rajni was number
210.”

“
But why?”

“
He drained us of nearly all
our blood, then refused us more. To make a drug he’d invented.
D-Palitren, used as a damned vaccine for humans since the
seventies. Worse, he wanted to study us like rats. He’d cut me,
with a knife he’d dipped in something to make it scar, then stand
there and watch me scream. Watch Iavius try to get to me as I bled
and bled. And then it was my Rajni’s turn. And I
watched.”

The flat voice she delivered her tale in
chilled him the most. Rathan didn’t think, he scooped her into his
lap and pulled the blanket tighter. He placed a kiss on her
forehead. “I’ll kill him for you. This I swear. And I will make him
hurt as you have hurt.”

Her tears were hot against his skin as she
turned her face into his neck. Rathan did something he’d never done
before—he comforted a woman.

****

What was she doing? She wrapped her arms
around the demon’s neck as she asked herself that question over and
over again. But had anyone held her since that day? Since Cormac
had stormed Taniss’s compound and found her still clutching
Iavius’s body? Since her partner Barlaam had tried in vain to save
her unborn babe?

She couldn’t remember.

He rocked her, and she sensed the movements
were unnatural to him. He’d not held many upset women, that was
evident. Still, it touched her that he’d even try.

Maybe demons weren’t the evil monsters Cormac
painted them? “What did you plan to do with us? In exchange for
what you think happened to Mickey and the others?”

“
Not harm you. Never harm
you.” He shook his head emphatically. “Just keep you until we could
lure them to us. That is all.”

“
I see.” And she did. They
were the bait, in a cycle that would never end. “And when they came
for us, you would kill them. Including my brother.”

“
If he is the king’s
adviser, then yes.”

“
Even though they’ve not
killed, or harmed, the Taniss women in any way?” Although they had
been converted and mated.

“
Even though. Have they
harmed them?”

“
No...”

“
But there is something you
are not saying.” His hands tightened on her arms and he pulled her
back slightly to stare at her.

“
The Taniss women have been
converted into Dardaptoan. They have all found Rajni, as well.
Emily is the Rajni of our king, even. They have not harmed them, I
swear.”

“
I see.”

“
So you can take me to my
daughter then let us go.” Kindara heard the pleading in her voice
again.

“
I am taking you to her.” He
shook her chidingly. “I have sworn that. But it will take time.
Whether or not he lets you return to your people so quickly will be
up to Rand. It is his vengeance we sought.”

“
Even though his sisters and
cousins were probably taken for our people’s vengeance? Leo Taniss
has killed nearly a thousand of our people now, did you know that?
So what if my brother took his granddaughter? Doesn’t he owe our
people something? And it’s not like they killed them! Cormac didn’t
hang her from a wall and cut her, drain her dry!”

“
Cormac is your brother?
Which Taniss woman is he mated to now?”

“
Josey.” Sweet Josey, who
Kindara thought would be a perfect partner for her hard, harsh
brother. Kindara had had a difficult time reconciling the sweet
young woman with the evil grandfather at first. But if Josey could
make her brother happy, Kindara had decided to welcome her into the
family. “It is good because he can read her mind and speak to her
in her head.”

****

Rathan nodded. That was good, for Josey was
deaf. But it changed nothing. Rand’s territory had been invaded,
his females taken. But if they were true Rajni to these men,
killing these men would not be wise. It would only hurt Josey and
her cousins to lose their mates.

Like this poor little creature had. “We must
sleep now. I want to start out again as soon as the sun is set. You
need rest, my pet. It has been a long day for you, and I will need
to feed before we go.”

He didn’t miss the little catch in her breath
or the stillness of her body. “I see.”

“
Part of our bargain, was it
not?”

“
Yes...”

“
Come then, lie down. Do you
wish me to assist you in sleeping?” He motioned to his
horns.

“
No. I don’t like you doing
that.” She slid down on the pine needles, looking up at him with
clear vulnerability on her face. He settled beside her, something
he’d never done with the women he’d fed from in the past. Had he
ever slept beside a woman for a full night—or day, as the case may
be? He didn’t think so.

Still, it was cool in the cave and she’d need
his body heat. He’d gladly give whatever she needed. He pulled the
blanket over their bodies, then pulled her onto her side. Her
blonde head was pillowed on his chest and he kissed the silky
strands again. He held her to him. “Kiss me good-night, pet.”

“
My name is Kindara, not
pet.” But she obliged him, kissing him quite sweetly before pulling
away. He didn’t insist on more, knowing that if he did, he’d take
her again. And again. And she truly did need to rest.

“
Ah, but I love petting
you.” Rathan demonstrated once before tucking his hand into the
curve of her waist and snuggling his captive closer. “Now sleep,
understand.”

Chapter Five

He’d forgotten to utter the protection
spell.

Rathan mulled that over several hours later
while leading his little captive up the rocky terrain of the
mountain. Without that spell, she most likely already carried his
spawn. He’d never forgotten to use birth control, not in
twenty-three hundred years. Yet he knew that nestled within her
tiny belly his spawn was taking root. It was inevitable and it tied
her to him forever. Despite the vow he’d made, he’d have to find a
way to keep her with him.

Unlike many of his brethren, he’d never
spawned before. His first child, after all, would be the king or
queen of his people. And not just his tribe, but of all the demon
tribes. He was the High King. He’d never taken that knowledge
lightly. The child would have to be born of a female worthy of
being the queen. Was she? She’d been brave, protective, and
intelligent since he’d taken her from the highway. That was a
plus.

But how would she react knowing she carried a
demon child? Would she care for his child as much as she did the
daughter she’d shared with the Rajni she’d obviously loved and
adored? Would she fight and protect this babe?

Or would she hate the child because it was
not of her choosing or of her kind? If it were male, it would be
Incubus. If female, Dardaptoan like her. That was the way with the
humanesque beings and the Demonkin. Halflings took after the same
gender parent, with only a few traits of the other parent mixed in.
But would she hate and resent it because it was his? Like his
mother had hated him for being his father’s? He would not let that
happen to his spawn, he wouldn’t. That was a vow he’d made
centuries ago.

He pulled her closer, keeping a guiding hand
on her back. He could not have her falling, not while carrying the
spawn. It could be dangerous for her even though demon spawn were
extremely hardy and almost always guaranteed to survive birth.
Mothers weren’t so guaranteed, especially of other species. Demon
babes were often too large, too demanding to go full-term,
especially for delicate-built females like her.

That worried him more than he wanted to
admit.

He lifted her over a fallen log, his hands
lingering on her waist. What would she look like, her belly
swollen? “Are you tired, pet?”

“
No.”

“
Let me know if you need to
rest. We will stop as long as you need.”

“
Why are you hovering?
You’re the most solicitous kidnapper I’ve ever heard
of.”

Rathan stopped. “I prefer to think I am not
just your kidnapper.”

“
What would you call it,
then?” She stumbled on some loose leaves and he grabbed her,
pulling her hard against his suddenly rapid heartbeat.

“
I prefer to call
it...
lover
. I am
your lover, not your kidnapper.” Rathan set her back on her feet,
as carefully as he could. “And a lover is supposed to care for his
woman.”

“
I’m not your
woman.”

Yes she was, but Rathan understood why she
wouldn’t realize it. It would become clear to her in time.
Hopefully before the spawn made his or her appearance.

****

She wished he’d keep his hands to himself.
Every brush against her, every helping hand he gave her made her
burn with remembrance of what he’d done to her before they’d begun
hiking. It had been fast, and hot, and she’d screamed twice before
it was over.

He grabbed her hand when she stumbled again.
“Careful, pet.”

She wasn’t used to moving through the
darkness. No stars were overhead, and the moon was just a sliver.
The sandals on her feet were woefully inadequate for a mountain
hike. “I’m fine.”

He stayed close, not giving her breathing
room. “Where are we going?”

“
The family has a vacation
compound seventy-five road miles east. There’s two hiking paths
that run directly to it, and cut that distance by a
third.”

“
And once we’re
there?”

“
I will take you to my rooms
where you can have a bath and rest, if you wish.”

“
What’s your obsession with
me resting?”

“
You are a delicate
Dardaptoan female.” He seemed surprised at her question. “You
aren’t as able as I to withstand hard physical demands.”

“
A three day hike is nothing
new to me, though it has been three decades or more since the last
one.” Kindara remembered it well--Iavius, his brother Nalik, and
Cormac on the trail of a young band of warrior demons. She’d not
wanted to be separated from Iavius, so she’d followed the men. It
had proven a good thing, as there were more demons than they’d
expected. Her family had had a wonderful time battling them, but
Kindara’s healing skills had definitely been needed by the time
they were done.

“
Who let you?” Anger coated
his words and Kindara bristled.