Awakening the Demon's Queen (14 page)

“
That is between us, do you
not suppose? I will tell you this; I will see to it that she is
happy.” Rathan kept his words gentle. Did the girl know of the
sibling growing within her mother?

“
Will you? How can you?
Taking away choices makes no one happy. If you’ll excuse me. I’m
going to my rooms. Mickey? You wanted to talk?” There was pleading
in the girl’s eyes when she looked at the younger of Rand’s sister.
They were close, then, as the girl’s mother had
indicated.

“
Of course, Ji. Rand...”
Mickey stood and stared at her brother for a moment. “Well...never
mind. Let’s go, Ji. Good-bye Rathan.”

Mallory followed her sister out moments
later, with the information that she was to find Emily and discuss
some matters with her and Josey. That left Rathan with the
wolf.

“
I see the girl wants
nothing to do with you. I fare little better.” Rathan was now free
to voice the concerns he held. Rand, he knew, would hold his
counsel and could offer sound advice. It was why they were
friends—they trusted one another with everything of
import.

“
Fair enough.” Rand’s words
held derision. “I’m not sure I want anything to do with a woman
like her, either.”

Both men knew he lied. Lupoiux wanted their
mates from the moment they first laid eyes upon them. “Still. You
are mated. She’s yours.”

“
So what’s the next step in
your plan?” Rand leaned forward, his expression dark. “Take her? Go
where?”

“
I am considering it, but I
am not sure the results and the time it would take her to get past
it are worth that action. She is the type of woman, I think, who
requires a man to finesse her. She is determined. This quest of
hers is one she feels passionately about. Her womankind do need
medical care. You know as well as I do how fragile they are. And
now that your sisters and cousins are Dardaptoan, they will need
the same. How can I deny her from doing what she must? It may mean
life or death for her, your mate or sisters or cousins.”

Both men were silent for a moment, until Rand
spoke. “What must be done?”

“
That is something I must
discuss with my woman. I suggest you speak to your own to find out
what they were doing on that road in the first place. I will send a
message to my peoples’ head healer, I suggest you do the
same.”

****

Kindara accepted the hug from Aureliana and
clung. They’d been friends for more than four hundred years.

“
You ok?” Auri
asked.

“
I don’t know.” Kindara
shook her head. There would be things she’d discuss with the other
woman after her brother Aodhan was gone. “We’ll talk later. We have
other things to discuss.”

“
Security on your project
from now on.” Aodhan sat at the desk that the king often occupied.
As one of his top advisers Aodhan helped Rydere manage the
Dardaptoan people. He had volunteered a few years ago to help
Kindara find what she needed to help their people, after he and
Aureliana had lost a sister during childbirth. He had argued
against her and Jierra going without an escort, but Kindara hadn’t
wanted to wait for him to free some of his men from their tasks
hunting the Lupoiux who had attacked Josey. Had he sent his guard
ahead, the demon and Lupoiux would no doubt have been unsuccessful
in taking them. “You choose, but no less than two guards at all
times.”

“
I’m not arguing. I want
Aureliana and Belnus.” She named the male Dardaptoan who often
accompanied Barlaam on research trips. Belnus was young—only around
a hundred—but he had a keen understanding of sciences and medicine
though he was not a healer. He was also strong and foreboding with
dark features and an attitude much like her brother’s.

“
Done. Although I wish you
would take someone besides Auri.”

Kindara fought the urge to snap at him.
Dardaptoan males would never believe that the females were as
strong as they—and in most cases they would be right, but Aureliana
was an exception. She was of the Adrastos house, same as her
brother, and that house was renowned for their warrior spirit.
Aureliana exhibited that spirit and had trained herself to be as
fierce as any of her male relatives. “It’s Auri and Belnus or no
one, Aod. I will need people with me who understand what we are
doing, who can pull double duty if needed. Auri and Bel can both
pitch in with the experiments in the field. I’m also taking
Bronwen. She is young but so skilled.”

“
Consider them yours for the
duration. Provided Theo will let his sister go.” Aodhan frowned.
“We were lucky with Cormac’s Rajni—we all know that.”

“
But we gained something
else from the attack.” Kindara thought back to the hours of
research she’d spent while studying her sister-in-law’s newly
changed blood. “Josey carried some strong antibodies. That’s what
helped her. If we could duplicate those antibodies in a form older
Dardaptoans could use, we may actually have a start. Mal gave me a
sample a few days before I left. She’s got them, too. I’m assuming
Emily and Mickey do, as well. I was planning to see, but we got a
lead on that witch in Hot Springs.”

“
Mallory mentioned it. She
wants to help as much as she can.” Aodhan’s face darkened. “Are
they worse off as Dardaptoan than they were as humans? Would human
women have more medical options, you suppose?”

Kindara hesitated. Every Dardaptoan male she
had ever known obsessed over the health of their Rajnis. “I don’t
know, Aod. But I’m going to do all that I can to answer this. We
are so far behind the other Kinds medically. I will change that.
Somehow.”

“
Any resources you need, we
will get it, Kinney. One way or another.” Aodhan’s vow was more
potent for the quiet sincerity behind it.

“
Dahn
Emily has pledged all the resources of Taniss Industries as
well.” The sick irony was not wasted on Kindara. “They’ve years of
research in medicines.”

“
We’ll use it, no matter how
distasteful.” Aodhan’s disgust was as deep as Kindara’s and evident
on his face. “We’ll do what we must.”

“
Yes, we will. Whatever we
must.”

****

Kindara would need to do
more studies and more experiments on the Dardaptoan women. Compare
their results to those of the newly turned Taniss women. It would
be nice if she could also get some non-turned Taniss samples
somehow, as well. That was something she would have to discuss
with
Dahn
Emily.
Jade, perhaps. Then Kindara would be able to study the closest
biological relative of Josey. See if there were possible DNA
markers for the antibody Josey and her cousins
possessed.

Her mind was filled with various tasks as she
walked back to her chambers. The demon featured little in her
thoughts; by focusing on her people’s plight maybe she could forget
him.

Until she entered her rooms and found the
very creature asleep in the bed she’d once shared with Iavius. She
stared down at him for a moment. Has she ever met anyone as
arrogant as he? How had he entered her rooms? Each wing of the
hotel was guarded, kept private for the inhabitants. Even the demon
should not have been able to enter without permission. That he had
told her one thing—she could not avoid him, he would find her
wherever she went.

She shook him awake. “Get out of my
rooms.”

“
But they expected me to
stay among the humans on the fourth floor. That was unacceptable.”
The demon sat, moving with a lazy grace that did little to hide the
dangerous nature of his soul. “Did your meeting go well? You look
stressed.”

Was that how the demon thought it would be?
Him pretending to be a solicitous and caring mate? Asking her how
her day had been as if nothing had happened between them? “Of
course I’m stressed! I’ve been kidnapped, seduced, impregnated, and
on top of that I am charged with saving my race!”

Why did she spend every moment with him
wanting to scream? Not even Iavius had heated her the way the demon
did. With Iavius life had been laughter. With this demon every
moment was fire.

“
Tell me what you are
searching for? Is it drugs? Medications? My people have a complex
medical system. I have sent word to one of my siblings to begin
compiling the information for you. We have lands rich with herbs
that do not grow here. We already know that no race or species is
immune to the power of my horns. Even yours. Your child mentioned
pain killers; does your head still pain you? Maybe you can
reproduce the
Mesmus
. Reproduce some of our other offerings.”

Kindara hesitated. Her people had no pain
killers. Yet, his ability to subdue her mind had freed her from any
pain. Could she afford to overlook his offer of assistance? “What
will you gain from helping me?”

“
Besides helping ensure you
survive birthing our spawn? Besides aiding the Taniss family;
protecting Mallory and the others? I think you underestimate my
desire to protect them. It’s almost as great as my desire to
protect you.” His hands slipped around her waist and he pulled her
toward him. The smell of him had her lungs clenching. Heat and male
mixed with a spice of some sort. He cuddled her head against his
chest. Long male fingers began parting her hair. He rubbed her
scalp slowly, the movements designed to lull her. He whispered the
words above her. “Let me help you, pet. This does not have to be
your burden alone.”

Kindara found herself nodding before she
really thought about it. How did he do that? Get her to agree to
things without thought? Was he doing something with powers she had
yet to identify? “I’m to leave tomorrow. Finish the journey I
started.”

“
I will accompany
you.”

“
I already have a guard,
thank you. Two of them.”

“
Still, you go nowhere
without me. Inside this building is one thing, but out there...I am
a king, pet. You carry the next one. You are far too great a prize
for me to risk you.”

“
I am no prize.” She pulled
away and dropped into the chair in front of her writing desk. Why
did she spend so much time with him telling him what she felt and
what she was? Why did she expend so much energy on the demon at
all? Was it just because of the babe?

She did not think so. Something about the
demon met something in her. Something she couldn’t explain and
wasn’t sure she wanted to. She tried to pull her mate’s face up in
her mind, and for once the laughing citrine eyes were replaced by
fire dark ones that were filled with a sexual heat like no
other.

“
Show me what you need. And
I will get it for you.”

“
I need to know what is so
different about Josey and her cousins. I need to know why we can’t
create medications that work. I need ways around this. What I don’t
need is to be kidnapped while in the middle of my
search.”

His grin was unrepentant. “But I can help you
with all of those things.”

“
Don’t you have to return to
wherever it is you came from? Hell, perhaps?”

“
Eventually, I must return
to my court. But in my lands we may be able to find what it is you
seek. My people have a rich history of medicine, including herbs
that do not grow on this world. Wouldn’t you like to study them, to
see if they hold the answers that you seek?” It wasn’t hard for her
to miss the cajoling purpose behind his words. Should she believe
him? Could she afford not to? What if he spoke the truth? His
damned demon horns had made her body do things she hadn’t wanted it
to. Had he not been able to render her unconscious with just one
touch?

Perhaps he could help her, at least in
developing an anesthetic for her people. “What types of
medications?”

“
Everything. We even have
things that can knit bones back together overnight. Admitted, they
have side-effects, but we’ve been doing this a long time. Have your
people ever studied our ways?”

“
No. We were told to avoid
you all. Only the Predatoi dealt with demons.” Had that been a
mistake? Could the demons have helped prevent some of the losses
over the years?

“
Well, that will change
starting tomorrow.” He stretched out over her bed. “I’m very
hungry, pet.”

“
So order a damned pizza.”
Kindara felt her eyes widen. Did he honestly expect to stay here?
“And get the hell out of here. And don’t come back.”

Chapter Sixteen

She had not ordered him out of her room on
sight, though their exchange had not been exactly as he had
planned. Dare he hope she was warming to him? Rathan flashed to the
room the Dardaptoans had given him. It was nothing like the suite
that his woman occupied. Not that it mattered; he would be flashing
to her in an hour or so anyway. He would not ever spend another
night without her in his bed. She was his, and he belonged beside
her.

Before, though, he needed to contact his
people to check the status of his own world. His hands heated and
his eyes shut, he began to mutter the words that would bring him
into contact with the only ally he could fully trust. Soon the
painting on the far wall was replaced by a film of iridescent
light. His younger sister—barely seventy—appeared.

He smiled. This child was one dear to him, as
he’d had the raising of her for most of her life. Their parents had
been unwilling allies when he was conceived. Danae was their last
ditch effort to reconcile centuries later. When that had not
improved their relationship, their mother had retreated to her home
lands and taken the babe with her. Rathan had fought long and hard
for mere visitation with the girl; once she had come of age at
fifteen, Danae had moved to his home. They had been close the last
fifty years and there was no woman he trusted as much as her.
“Sweetling! You look as beautiful as ever.”