Anne Bishop - Queen of Darkness

She couldn’t draw a full breath. ”You did this. You did this.”

”You were becoming a problem, darling. It’s nothing personal.”

She felt the pain of the insult even through the physical pain. ”Hekatah…”

”Yes,” Daemon purred, ”Hekatah. Now, don’t worry, darling. I’ve put an aural and a protective shield around your cabin, so you’ll be quite undisturbed for the rest of the day.”

He walked out of the cabin.

She tried to crawl to the door, tried to scream for help. Couldn’t do either.

It didn’t take long for her world to become nothing but pain.

Daemon closed the door of the prison hut he’d been using whenever he needed to stay somewhere for a little while. Reaching into his jacket pocket, he withdrew the Jewels he’d gone to Dorothea’s cabin to retrieve-Saetan’s Black ring; Lucivar’s pendant, ring, and Ring of Honor. He knew her well, knew exactly where to probe for a hiding place. It hadn’t taken him more than a minute to slip around her guard spells and lift the Jewels while he stood there and talked to her.

He studied the Jewels and sighed with relief. Both men had put strong shields around the jewelry before handing them over to those bitches, so there was no way the pieces could have been tampered with or tainted. Still…

Setting the Jewels into the washbasin, he poured water over them, added some astringent herbs for cleansing, then let them soak.

This would be the last day, the last night. He could endure it that much longer. Had to endure it.

He closed his eyes. Soon, sweetheart. A few more hours and I’ll be on my way home, on my way back to you. And then we’ll be married.

Picturing Jaenelle slipping the plain gold wedding ring onto his finger, he smiled.

And then he remembered the seduction spell Hekatah had woven around him. Oh, he’d been aware of it, could have easily broken it-but he had let his body respond to it while he touched Hekatah. Kissed Hekatah. Hated Hekatah.

Just a game. A nasty, vicious game.

He barely made it to the chamber pot before he was quietly, but thoroughly, sick.

”It’s your turn, Prick.”

Because he was looking for it, because he knew what to look for, Lucivar saw the sick desperation in Daemon’s eyes.

So he remained passive while Daemon unchained him and led him into the other prison hut, the one closest to them. And he stayed impassive while Daemon feverishly rumpled the small bed.

Then he let out an anguished Eyrien war cry that startled Daemon badly enough to fall onto the bed.

”Hell’s fire, Prick,” Daemon muttered as he stood up.

”Convincing enough?” Lucivar asked mildly.

Daemon froze.

All the masks dropped away. Lucivar saw a man physically and emotionally exhausted, a man barely able to stay on his feet.

”Why?” he asked quietly.

”I had to buy Jaenelle some time. I needed your hate to do it.”

That simple. That painful. Daemon would regret it, deeply regret it, but he wouldn’t hesitate to rip out his brother’s heart if that’s what Jaenelle needed from him. Which was exactly what he had done.

”You’re here with Jaenelle’s consent,” Lucivar said, wanting the confirmation.

”I’m here at her command.”

”To play out this game.”

”To play out this game,” Daemon agreed quietly.

Lucivar nodded, let out a bitter laugh. ”Well, Bastard, you’ve played a good game.” He paused, then said coldly, ”Where are Marian and Daemonar?”

Daemon’s hand shook a little as he raked his fingers through his hair. ”Since Surreal didn’t have to blast anyone with the Gray to get away from here, I have to assume she safely reached the hiding place where I had left them. They’re all at the Keep by now.”

Lucivar let that sink in, allowed himself a moment’s relief and joy. ”So now what happens?”

”Now I create a shadow of you, and you head for the Keep. Stay on the Red Wind. The darker ones are unstable.”

Shadows. Daemon never could have created shadows that convincing. Not by himself. And Jaenelle… Jaenelle, having grown up around Andulvar and Prothvar, would have expected an Eyrien warrior to be able to accept the pain of the battlefield, no matter what that battlefield looked like.

”What do you need?” Lucivar asked.

Daemon hesitated. ”Some hair, skin, and blood.”

”Then let’s play the game through.”

They worked together in silence. The only sound Lucivar made during that time was a sigh of relief when Daemon slipped the Ring of Honor over his cock and used it to remove the Ring of Obedience in a way that wouldn’t be detected.

Putting on the Ebon-gray Jewels Daemon had returned to him, he watched the final steps to the spell that would create a shadow of himself. And shuddered when he saw the tormented, anguished creature whose lips were pulled back in a rictus grin.

”Hell’s fire, Bastard,” Lucivar said, feeling queasy. ”What was it you did to me that I would have ended up looking like that ?”

”I don’t know,” Daemon replied wearily. ”But I’m sure Hekatah can imagine something.” He hesitated, swallowed hard. ”Look, Prick, for once in your life, just do as you’re told. Get to the Keep. Everyone who matters the most to you is waiting for you there.”

”Not everyone,” Lucivar said softly.

”I’ll get the High Lord out.” Daemon waited.

Lucivar knew what Daemon was waiting for, what he hoped for. He wanted to be told that Saetan wasn’t the only one left who mattered.

Lucivar said nothing.

Daemon looked away, and said wearily, ”Let’s go. There’s one more game to play.”

Saetan stared at the bangles lying on the ground. Why had Daemon made such a point of them? And why did they chill him so much?

He hissed in frustration, then jolted at the sibilant sound.

”You wish to undersstand thiss?” Draca had asked.

Bangles floating in a tank of water. Draca holding an egg-shaped stone attached to a thin silk cord. ”A sspiral.”

The stone moving in a circular motion, spiraling, spiraling, until all the water was in motion, all the bangles caught.

”A whirlpool,” Geoffrey had said.

”No,” Draca had replied. ”A maelsstrom…. Sshe will almosst alwayss sspiral…. You cannot alter her nature…. But the maelsstrom…. Sshield her, Ssaetan. Sshield her with your sstrength and your love and perhapss it will never happen.”

”And if it does?” he had asked.

”It will be the end of the Blood.”

End of the Blood.

End of…

Those bangles weren’t a message from Daemon, they were a warning from Draca. Jaenelle was spiraling down to her full strength to unleash the maelstrom. The end of the Blood. Was that why she had insisted that the First Circle remain at the Keep? Because it would be the only place that could withstand that devastating power? No. Jaenelle didn’t like to kill. She wouldn’t destroy all the Blood if she could…

Damn it. Damn it, he needed to draw that vision back. Needed to see those webs again in order to remember that one important thing that was eluding him. Deliberately eluding him. A veil had been drawn across that vision to keep him from remembering that one thing until it was too late.

But if she was going to unleash the maelstrom, what in the name of Hell was Daemon doing here?

Stalling. Buying time. Keeping Dorothea and Hekatah distracted. Playing games to… Marian and Daemonar. Then Surreal. He’d heard Lucivar cry out a couple of hours ago, but there had been no sign of him since then. Which only left…