Текст книги "Prince of Demons"
Автор книги: Nora Ash
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Текущая страница: 15 (всего у книги 24 страниц)
33
Kesh
His magic defenses flooded out a millisecond too late, making his body take the full impact of his father’s attack. A deep ache rattled through his bones, but Georgia’s agonized cry made the pain fade to nothing on a rush of fear so deep, he could barely breathe.
“Georgia! No, no, no!”
“She’s fine.” His father’s calm voice didn’t suggest he’d just attacked his own son unprovoked. “Only a divine creature would be harmed from that kind of magic.”
Kesh ignored him and carefully cupped Georgia’s face, tilting it up to his. “Tell me where it hurts, sweet one.”
She gasped up at him, eyes wide and shocked, searching his for reassurance, for protection. “My… bones. All of them. B-but it’s fading. I think… I think I’m okay.”
He searched her gaze, verifying she was telling the truth before carefully standing up to place her on his throne… and then, he turned to his father.
“You.” Every cell in his body itched with violence. “Have you entirely lost what little was left of your mind? You come into my domain and attack me? While a Breeder is under my care? Do you have a death wish? If you weren’t my father, I would smear the walls with your blood! Explain yourself!”
“I didn’t attack you—I attacked her. It was your choice to put yourself in harm's way. I had to make sure you hadn’t been bespelled by a goddess.”
Kirigan’s exasperated tone did little to calm Kesh’s fury. He clenched his fists until his knuckles cracked. “Explain. Better.”
“I've just come from Lord Aran, who said a woman and a child were seen on the battlefield—and that your Second dragged them off. And then I arrive here to find this female perched on your lap. Exactly as a manipulative goddess would be, were she undercover and trying to gain influence with demon royalty. I had to make sure you were not being poisoned.”
“Why the fuck would a goddess have been on the battlefield in Maine? And why on Earth would I have brought her home, rather than slit her filthy throat? You think I can’t recognize a divine cretin when I see one?”
“You wouldn’t have recognized this one. As for why she was there… I will explain, once we are in private. This matter is urgent, but it is not for the Breeder’s ears.”
Every molecule of Kesh’s being resisted the idea of bringing the man who’d just attacked Georgia to his home, but they were at war. If his father said a matter concerning a goddess was urgent, then there was no way around it. Gritting his teeth, he said, “I can’t leave the Breeder with my men—she’s still unmated. Follow us to my apartment—we can talk privately there, while she is safe in another room.”
He left Georgia in the bedroom, with orders to stay.
She gave him an annoyed look and muttered something about not being a pet as he closed the bedroom door behind him.
It bothered him—that she was irritated with him. Instincts he could do nothing about prickled at his spine, urging him to fix it. Ridiculous, of course. There was nothing to fix. He wasn’t to be her mate; it wasn’t his job to keep her happy. And yet, his stupid, primitive wiring kept his mind preoccupied with thoughts of how to please her… make her sweet on him.
Frustration oozed off him as he entered the living room where his father waited. “Out with it, then. Why did you think the Breeder was divine?”
Kirigan arched an eyebrow at his insolent tone, but thankfully didn’t call him out. He wasn’t in the mood to be put in his place by his insane but immensely powerful sire.
“There were signs of divine presence during your battle with the Europeans in Maine. But… hidden. Expertly so. One of them was there.”
Kesh sucked in a breath. He knew better than to question his father on matters concerning magic. The ancient demon was one of the utmost experts on the matter, not only in the Americas, but in the world. The thought of a goddess having been so close, without Kesh so much as sensing it? Unsettling was too mild a word.
“Why? What was her purpose? To make us rip into each other? We don’t exactly need divine intervention for this war.”
“To steal a Stone of Power. The Europeans had one with them. I felt its echo, along with the faintest trace of a god’s presence as it vanished off the battlefield. To pull that off, whoever they are must be… very old. Powerful. And sly. Aran mentioned his men seeing your Second drag a human woman with a child off the battlefield… hence my assumption about the girl on your lap.” Kirigan leveled him with an emotionless yet somehow entirely judgmental look. “I didn’t anticipate you bringing a Breeder into battle.”
Heat touched Kesh’s ears, his brow pulling down with a sense of defensiveness. “There was no other choice. I couldn’t leave her behind. Aran needed urgent assistance, or we would have lost his entire territory, and there wasn’t time to get another lord to look after her. She was supposed to stay out of danger, behind magical wards.”
“Your sister-in-law should have prepared you for the fact that Breeders aren’t always meek and compliant.” Kirigan’s gaze slid toward the hallway and the closed bedroom door. An unsettling intensity flickered through his black eyes. “Why did she enter the battlefield? Does she possess the light?”
“No. She’s not Pure.” Kesh took a half-step to the side, blocking his father’s view of the door shielding Georgia. “She’s just a soft-hearted Breeder, who saw a wayward spawnling on the field and decided to put her own life at risk for an insignificant human’s. Which would be the child Aran mentioned. She clung to that thing like she’d birthed it herself, so Mallorn had to rescue them both.”
Kirigan’s gaze narrowed, returning to Kesh’s. “What happened to the child? After it was rescued?”
Irritation bubbled up Kesh’s spine, partly from being grilled on the less-than-ideal decisions he’d had to make in a less-than-ideal situation, and partly from the reminder of how thoroughly he’d been manipulated by Georgia and his ridiculous instincts to please her. “I took it back to its mother. Can we perhaps return to the slightly more important issue of a fucking god having stolen a Stone of Power right from under our noses? What kind of havoc can they wreak with that? Because I assume we’re all thoroughly fucked.”
“I’m not certain. The three stones are forged with ancient, demonic magic. A divine creature would run into some trouble wielding one, I would imagine. However, for them to risk the theft, they most certainly will have a plan to use it. Whatever havoc they’re planning, it will be bad.” Kirigan paused. “You say you took the child back to its mother? And there were no… irregularities in the handover?”
What was everyone’s obsession with that fucking girl? First Georgia, and now his father. Who, he knew all too well, didn’t possess a protective bone in his body when it came to human children. “No. Except from us nearly losing the entire fucking Eastern Seaboard to a concealed Stone of Power—which is apparently now in some god’s hands—and me having to bring a Breeder to a battle with the Europeans because Kain can’t tell Selma ‘no’ which made it somehow my responsibility to play matchmaker to a wayward female, everything went smoothly.”
“And she is proving... troublesome, is what I understand from your brother?”
It was unlike Kirigan to display any kind of tact. Which meant Kain would have passed on Mallorn's aggravating presumptions about Georgia, and any territorial instincts Kesh may or may not be displaying for her.
He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. “No more than any Breeder would, given the circumstances. Once I’ve dealt with… a minor complication… and she’s picked a mate, I’ll be able to return my full focus to the war. Whatever else you may have heard stems from my men's growing agitation with the presence of an unmated Breeder, nothing more.”
“Minor complication?” Kirigan raised an eyebrow in interest.
“The kind it would be better if her suitors didn’t know too much about. She sold her body to a demon, ended up in a brothel… And the contract’s technically still active. Not much more than a bump in the road, once I… convince… the demon who owns her that it would be in his best interest to surrender his claim willingly. But I can’t bring her back to the brothel now that her presence in my territory is known, and I can’t leave her here while I go deal with him, for the same reasons I couldn’t leave to handle the Maine situation without her.”
“So leave her with me.”
Kesh blinked. “With you?”
“You think I might forcefully try to claim the girl the moment you turn your back, like your men?” Despite Kirigan’s dispassionate tone, he still managed to make the idea sound as preposterous as it was.
Heat touched Kesh’s ears. “No.” Only a moment’s hesitation there. “But your behavior with Selma these days is… a little concerning. Georgia is my responsibility. If something were to happen to her, especially at the hands of my own father… The ripple effects would be enough to take down our entire family.”
Kirigan’s eyebrow arched higher. “My behavior with Selma is cause for concern?”
Kesh sighed irritably, wishing his brother was the one to have this conversation, not him. “You follow her to the bathroom. That’s not normal. You know that, right? And you… hover. To a disturbing degree. I’m frankly surprised to see you here, this far away from her and the baby.”
A shadow passed over his father’s eyes, and for a second, dread clutched at Kesh’s gut. If he’d pushed him too far—
“I hover because, if she dies, Kesh… so does your brother.” The words came out stilted; like they were too sharp to comfortably pass through his throat. “Women are… delicate, after giving birth. To a degree neither you nor Kain can fully comprehend. I am only here because no one else can be. But while I am, utilize me. If taking care of this complication will mean the girl can be mated and you can return your full focus to the war sooner, then trust me to guard her while you are away. She is not Selma; my… instincts… won’t be on edge with her. And we need your attention on the kingdom, especially now that the gods are getting involved.”
A long moment of silence passed between them. It was, perhaps, the closest his father had come to acknowledging how much their mother had hated them, and the shadowy talons raking at his guts in response were acid.
It didn’t matter. She was long dead, and he’d known the truth since he was young.
Kesh forced a slow, even breath through his lungs, forcing his focus to what did matter. “Very well. I will leave Georgia under your care while I deal with the lowlife who owns her contract. I will be back shortly.” He paused, giving his father a firm look. “But keep your distance. I don’t want her traumatized.”
34
Georgia
The sound of the front door slamming shut made Georgia perk up.
Finally.
It’d become very swiftly clear to her that the lunatic attacking her out of nowhere was Kesh’s father—which hadn’t made the situation any less tense. For the rest of her life, she would remember the tight clenching low in her gut as the big, brutish demon prince cried in her arms while he divulged the horrors his father had committed, and the devastation they’d led to.
She hadn’t anticipated ever seeing him in the flesh, and now that she had, she was glad the experience was over. Even without shooting black magic at her and accusing her of being a goddess, of all things, it’d been obvious that there was something not-right about him. He’d looked like a human to her, in the same way that Kesh did now she’d been marked—slightly too big, ever-so-slightly off—but even so, his eyes had given away what even Kesh’s recounts from his childhood couldn’t quite capture: something fundamental was broken inside him.
Georgia shuddered at the memory of those black eyes, so similar yet so entirely different to Kesh’s, and then resolutely pushed it aside. Whatever was wrong with him, it wasn’t her problem. In a week or two, she would likely never see the demon prince again, let alone his unhinged dad. And that was absolutely fine. More than fine.
She pushed open the door and walked through the hallway into the living space. Kesh stood staring out the floor-to-ceiling windows, his back to her, black hair tumbling over his shoulders.
“Well, you weren’t kidding. Your dad’s certifiably insane. I’ve never been called a goddess before, but blasting magic at me seems like a wild overreaction. I see where you get your charming temperament fro—” Her snarky voice died on a wheeze when the demon by the window turned toward her, and dark, dead eyes pierced her to her soul.
“You feel comfortable mouthing off to my son? And he feels comfortable enough with you to touch on my… instabilities?” Kirigan looked at her with what seemed like nothing but polite interest. Georgia still took several steps back toward the hallway, her mouth turning dry with abject horror at her mistake.
“How very… interesting.” Those awful eyes swept up the length of her body, as if investigating a new puzzle piece for where it might fit.
“Where… where’s Kesh?” she managed to croak.
“Out.” He didn’t take his gaze off her. “He will be back soon.”
Kesh just left her with him? Alone?
Georgia fidgeted under the disturbed demon’s intense stare, feeling heat flood her cheeks and her pulse thud unevenly in her throat. Kesh wouldn’t have left her if he’d believed his father a threat to her—that much she felt certain of, despite everything else. Yet her instincts screamed at her that this creature was far more dangerous than any of her demons she'd encountered.
“Um… I’ll… wait for him in there, then…” She backtracked until the bedroom door hit her ass, fumbled with the knob until the door swung open, and quickly stepped inside. Then she slammed it shut and turned the lock.
“Jesus Christ.” It came out in a hoarse whisper. She shuddered and rubbed at her arms, trying to settle the sudden flush of goosebumps.
“I never did understand why humans really went so hard for him in particular. I mean, I know his PR campaign was flawless, but… there are so many other, far more interesting deities to worship. Don’t you think?”
Georgia yipped at the unexpected voice and spun around. On the bed, wearing a clean white dress, her feet bare and legs crossed at the ankles, sat Suzanne.
“Wh– How—what??” Complete confusion. This—this made no sense. Did Kesh bring her here? No, that would be ridiculous. He’d made it plenty clear he’d seen the girl as a stain to be scraped off his boot as swiftly as possible.
Did she follow them back from Maine?
No, even more ridiculous—and even if she somehow had, it didn’t explain how she’d made it through Kesh’s guards and up to the penthouse floor.
“Don’t be scared. I’m not here to hurt you.”
Georgia blinked at the scrap of a girl. “Hurt me? Honey, how did you get here? Does your mother know where you are?”
Pearling laughter cut her off. “Oh, Georgia… Your kind really are the gentlest souls humanity has to offer.” Suzanne waved a hand. Golden light shimmered off her slim figure, and suddenly, a grown woman sat on the bed in her stead. “I apologize for deceiving you, dear one. I needed to tap into your protective instincts in a bit of a rush up in Maine. And seem as non-threatening as possible to the big brute you’ve been saddled with.”
Acid shock replaced confusion, followed by a wave of fear.
Kesh’s terrifying father was right—there had been a goddess on the battlefield.
“What do you want from me?” Georgia had seen plenty of demons in her life. A goddess, however? That was a first. Instinctively, she backed up and fumbled for the doorknob. A soft prickling in her fingers as she connected with the metal made her glance over her shoulder. The door shimmered in the same golden light that had turned Suzanne from a sweet, non-threatening child into a full-ass goddess.
“It’s just a little… camouflage. That demon out there has quite the nasty reputation. Trust me, neither of us wants him aware of my presence.” Suzanne shuddered. “And you really don’t have to look so scared, Georgia. I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help. Come, have a seat. Let’s have a little… girl chat.” She patted the bed.
“Help?” Cautiously, Georgia peeled herself off the door and approached the goddess. She looked sincere, her facial expression friendly and open. And if there was even a chance… “Help how? Can you… can you get me out of this… Breeder situation?”
Suzanne sighed softly, her soft lips tilting with a hint of regret. “Unfortunately not. The Breeder situation was negotiated many centuries ago—it’s not in my power to undo it. But I can help you get a bit more say in what happens going forward. To you, and the world around you. Is that of some interest?”
Considering her life had been written off as a broodmare? “Yes. Yes, that has… some interest.” Georgia cautiously sat on the spot Suzanne indicated. “But as I understand it… well, I’m pretty much trapped. I signed a contract… this, being allowed to pick my own… er, husband, I guess… is pretty much best-case scenario. Right?”
Suzanne rolled her eyes. “Oh, I bet the brutes genuinely believe that’s a real win for one of their helpless little Breeder slaves. No offense. Even after their new queen demonstrated what kind of power you contain, they still can’t quite wrap their meaty heads around you being more than a womb to exploit.”
Georgia blinked. “I’m sorry… power? What power am I supposed to contain? And… what exactly is it you can do to help me? And why do you want to? What’s in it for you?” It felt borderline disrespectful to ask that of a freaking goddess, but considering the circumstances, it felt prudent. “And also, what was the whole Maine-charade about? If you didn’t want Kesh to know your identity, why come here?”
“Ah, yes… All fair questions.” Suzanne smiled, her eyes crinkling at the corners, but there was a sharpness in them. “Your power, darling, is what draws the demon scum to you like flies to honey. It’s the light you carry—their darkness craves it on a primordial level.”
“My light? I don’t carry any light. At most, I carry a depressive gray. There’s nothing special about me—outside of being able to see through demonic disguises. Well… I could. I can’t anymore, not after this thing.” Georgia touched a hand to her forehead. “And, supposedly, the whole… breeding thing.”
Suzanne let out another pealing laugh. “Oh, sweet girl… Yes, outside of being one of the rarest creatures on the planet, there’s nothing special about you. Your light, Georgia, is what makes you feel others’ pain. Makes you do whatever you can to help them not hurt anymore. It’s what made you run into the middle of a battlefield to save a helpless child. But it’s more than that—it’s magic in its purest form.
“For centuries, it was believed the ability to use it had been lost with the agreement to tie your fates to the demons. It hasn’t. The queen proved as much. You are powerful, Georgia. More than you know. You just have to learn to unlock it.”
Georgia rubbed at her temples, where a headache was threatening to form. “Okay… let me get this straight… You’re saying I have magic? As in… make things levitate, heal illness, blow things up magic?”
Suzanne’s lips curled up in an amused smile. “Yes… depending on application.”
“…And that I don’t currently have access to it, because… someone agreed to turn me… and people like me… into demon broodmares?”
“Simplified, but yes, in its essence.”
“But now you have the key to unlock my ‘potential’ and turn me into a light-blasting badass?” Georgia lowered her fingers from her temples and stared at the goddess by her side. “Do you know what a pyramid scheme is? Because you very much sound like you’re trying to recruit me for one of those.”
The goddess’s smile turned into a mischievous grin. “You’re a little sassy, aren’t you? Good for you. And you’re not entirely wrong, of course. Helping you isn’t an altruistic endeavor. The demons have always been… problematic. It’s in their nature. They fight divinity on primitive instinct alone. But with the new king’s mating, some of us have seen a… let’s call it a spark in the darkness.
“You see, he loved his mate so much, he went against the evil core within his very nature to set her free. And with that one act of true love, he reawakened the magic we all thought lost.”
Georgia blinked. “So… Okay, you’re saying the king—Kesh’s brother?—loved his wife so much, she can now do magic? That’s… cool. But I’m not sure what that has to do with me?”
“You’re like her, Georgia. You have that same spark just waiting to be ignited. And here you are, under the protection of the brother to the first demon in history to choose love over possession… Fate weaves her web rather obviously sometimes, don’t you think?”
“Wait… wait, wait, wait.” Georgia stared at the smug-looking goddess. “Are you trying to insinuate I need to mate Kesh?”
“Well, him or his father, yes.” Suzanne smiled brightly. “That bloodline… Fate has touched their lineage. Whichever one claims you will be fine.”
“Whoa, hold up.” Georgia pushed down the wave of nausea at the suggestion of being ‘claimed’ by Kesh’s scary father. “Even if we ignore for a second that he’d apparently kill me if he… you know. I don’t love him. And he certainly doesn’t love me, either. Whatever happened to give the queen her powers, that’s not… that’s not something that will happen for me. I’m not like her—at all. I’m just…”
“A sad gray mouse?” Suzanne finished off for her, eyebrow arched sardonically. “A helpless little victim, content with bowing your neck and taking whatever scraps your demon overlords decide to throw at you?”
Heat flooded Georgia’s cheeks. The mocking words echoed Kesh’s opinion of her uncomfortably. Refreshing anger rushed through her veins. “That’s real easy to say, but it’s not like I can just wave my hands and be something I’m not. He says I’d die from being ‘loved’ by a demon lord.
“And again—I don’t love him. I can’t just start loving a demon who’s treating me like an inconvenience that needs to be pawned off because it suits some random goddess’s schemes. Which, by the way, you still haven’t explained. Why do you care what demon takes me in the end? And why should I care about your plans? It sounds an awful lot like you want to use me just as much as the demons do. How are you any better? At least they gave me my brother’s life in return.”
“Oh, I don’t think you have any idea what you are, little firecracker. But you will. All you need is a little… push.” Suzanne gave her a wicked grin, her eyes lighting up with an otherworldly glow as she leaned in.
Some of Georgia’s anger withered, unease creeping up her spine. “Wait, what are you—hey! Stop that!” Her voice rose to a sharp squeak as the goddess without delay pushed her down onto the mattress and slipped a hand underneath her skirt. Slim fingers brushed against her sex, then slipped up between her folds, violating and intimate. She kicked out, but it was too late. The goddess found the metal ring encircling her clit—and twisted.
Sharp, painful fire shot through her pelvis, forcing a cry from her throat as the dark magic in the ring sank deep into her flesh. And then… then came the awful, all-consuming need.
“Sorry about that. Had to be done, though.” Suzanne stood back up and brushed off her fingers.
“What… what did you do?” Georgia’s voice was a horrified rasp. Every molecule in her body throbbed painfully, her vision turning hazy at the corners. Her trapped clit swelled against the metal, angry and raw, and oh, God… she needed…
“I just gave Fate a little push. Sometimes, a drop of chaos is needed to get things moving in the right direction. Let’s see if one of the demon lords can’t help you awaken your power after all.” With a cheerful wink, she snapped her fingers, letting the golden shimmer barricading the door fall, before vanishing into thin air, leaving Georgia alone to writhe on the bed.
There was no more coherent thought; no more of anything.
Only the burning, all-consuming need eating her body alive.
