Broken Forest: Book One of the Daath Chronicles (33 page)

Jeslyn sang. Her voice, like a soft bird, harmonized with me.

“In the night/when the world comes alive/All that breathes/ Will sing with me/A song of fate/ To spread love’s joy/ Till the morrow comes.”

My hands feverishly brushed the keys. I lost myself in her song. I had never had a human sing like that for me, and never while I played. The combination affected a part of my mind I was not familiar with. Strange warmth flowed through every one of my fibers.

When I finished playing, Jeslyn clapped her hands. “That was magnificent! You’re a wonderful pianist.”

“Thank you. The piano is a fine instrument.” I turned on the bench, facing her. “And who knew my betrothed was such a song bird.”

She smiled. Suddenly it bothered me that she would soon be dead.

If she dies, she will die in bliss.

I gazed at her, activating the spell held within my eyes. Holding her hands, I spoke. “Our wedding will be a joyous day and nothing will upset you. Do not be troubled this night …”

“There’s something I wish to discuss with you,” she interrupted.

“What is it?”

She breathed in deeply before speaking. “What do you know about the attack on my brother? How do you know he’s dead?”

“Why do you think of such dark things, tonight?”

“I need to know,” she said softly.

I wondered where her curiosity came from. “My Council sent me word about the attack on Crain Village. They had mentioned two young boys were slaughtered.”

She stared at me with wide eyes. “How do you know for certain it was my brother?”

Holding her hand, I met her gaze. “One of the men was still alive. When my people had asked of Avikar, he pointed to one of the slain boys.”

She shook her head.

“What is it? What do you know?” Her questions stirred questions of my own. Did the Council truly succeed in their actions or had they been fooled? With the ball, the invasion and Jeslyn, I had never thought to inquire further
.
Even if her brother was still alive, he’d never make it to Daath.

“Jeslyn?”

Her head shifted slightly to the left, as if she couldn’t face me. “I know he’s alive. I already lost one brother. If Avikar’s dead, I would feel it.”

Feel it? Humans and their feelings.

“If there’s any chance The Council is mistaken, I will find out. This I swear.”

She nodded, satisfied with my answer. “I know you are a good man, Lucino, but I do not trust this Council of yours. I do not think they have your best interests at heart.”

How right you are my dear.
“I will be careful.”

I lifted her hands to my mouth and kissed them. “Sleep, well, my lady.”

“There’s one more thing,” she said, her cheeks flushing with color.

I lowered her hands. “Yes, my lady?”

She leaned forward.

What is she doing?

She moved closer and then pressed her lips against mine.

No!

This was forbidden. The law stated no intimacy with a human until after the ceremony. The ceremonial wine contained a sterilization element that would affect the human, making our human brides unfertile. A Reptilian/human offspring was considered an abomination. If The Council found out, I would be stripped of my position.

Yet her lips were inviting and I found I could not pull away. The touch set off different sensations, very overpowering sensations. A red haze clouded my mind.

I scooped her into my arms, forgetting the law, forgetting the consequence.

I wanted her in a way I didn’t understand. Desire to touch her and kiss her skin. It was unexplainable. As we landed on the sofa, she broke the connection. When her lips left mine, I regained composure.

This must end, quickly.

Strange feelings blocked out the logical side of my brain. Her hands reached for me, pulling me closer to her face. I activated my spell, before things turned worse.

“Jeslyn, we must stop this.”

She ignored the order.

What? My spell.
I jumped away from her. “What have you done to me?”

Her eyes were glassy. “I’m sorry.” Her hand went to her mouth. “I don’t know what came over me. You’ve never kissed me before, and I … I’m sorry.”

I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be sorry. After we are married you may do as you please.”

“Forgive me,” she whispered. “That’s not like me at all. I’ve wondered what it would be like to kiss you … then this strange urge came over me …”

“Of course. I must say goodnight.” I should have removed myself from the sofa, but I was drawn to her. Inexplicably. Her eyes met mine and I kissed her. I could feel the beast inside breaking free, the animalistic part of our nature. The part I had buried. Giving into desires was considered a weakness.

I stood, pulling her to her feet and wrapped my arms around her, kissing her with a severity that worried me. Our lips parted. I could see the hesitation in her eyes, but also the desire.

My control broke.

“No!” Lucy ripped Jeslyn out of my grip.

I growled as she passed her off to Abigail.

“Take her upstairs, now!” Lucy ordered and locked the parlor doors behind them. She met my hard stare and screamed a mental order:
Pull yourself together!
]

Roaring, I leapt at her, wanting to rip her apart. How dare she take what’s mine. Slamming her against the door, I grabbed her neck and squeezed.

Lucino, snap out if it!

I squeezed and squeezed.

You leave me no choice, brother.

Bursting pain shot through my groin and into my stomach. I grabbed myself and fell to the floor. I couldn’t find the strength to do anything more than breathe. When the pain passed, I stood.

“Was that really necessary?” I grunted.

Lucy swiftly moved out of reach. She rubbed her neck, adorned with red hand imprints. “Considering you almost killed me, yes, I think so.”

“My apologies. You know I would never willing harm you. I don’t know how I allowed things to get out of control.”

“I do,” Lucy glared.

“Explain.”

“Abigail contacted me about Jeslyn acting strange since her bath last night. I went to the washroom and found this.” She held out a finger with a yellow substance on it.

“Is that sulfur?”

“Yes.”

“Demons. Take her back to her room and put a ward over it. No one except you or I will enter that room. I must see Romulus.”

When I entered the laboratory, Romulus was working on another one of his lavish experiments. He had moved on from lizards to actual humans, dead ones. Normally his work didn’t bother me, but seeing the human’s chest ripped open with metal prongs, its organs arranged on a table, was a bit revolting. The putrid smell was enough to gag me.

“Hmm, the prince pays me a visit.”

I walked around the large metal table and stood further from the stench. “I’ve been busy, but now I seek your counsel. Lucy found the trail of a demon near Jeslyn.”

“That is interesting. Only the elders possess the power to call demons. Perhaps your brethren have turned on you, hmm?”

“No, Falcur is loyal.”

“Hmm.” Romulus bobbed his head and dug into the human’s chest with a scalpel. “These specimens are very interesting. Did you know humans are the only animals to have emotional tears? This one cried obsessively before it died. Fascinating creatures.”

“There is another issue I wish to discuss.”

Romulus scrunched his fat bulbous nose as he removed another organ.

I averted my eyes. Experimentation was critical, but I preferred not to see it.

“My captivation spell had no effect on Jeslyn,” I said.

That piqued his interest.

“That is very interesting.” Romulus wobbled to the door and called outside for one of the guards. “Bring me Specimen D from the cage.” When he entered the room, again, he ushered me to the side. “Sit and we will test your powers.”

The guard brought in a woman, battered and skinny. Romulus pointed to a chair adjacent to mine. “Place her here.”

The woman must have been drugged; she neither fought nor tried to run.

“Do a simple order, hmm,” Romulus said, moving out of my way.

Staring into the woman’s eyes, I activated the spell. “Touch your nose.”

She did.

“Again,” Romulus said.

“Close and open your eyes three times,” I ordered.

She obliged.

I sighed. “The spell works fine.”

Romulus told the guard to take the specimen away. Then he turned to me, tapping his chin. “Tell me about this human girl.”

“What is there to say? She is human.”

“Hmm, yes, but you’ve spent some time with her, alone?”

I stood, towering over him. “Yes, but that means nothing. I’ve been alone with humans before. My spell has always worked.”

“When was the last time you captivated her?”

I thought back to earlier. After I played the piano, though there was no way of knowing if it had worked. “I’m not sure.”

“If you are not honest with me, I cannot help you.” He turned and went back to his corpse.

Telling Romulus what happened would be dangerous. Even though he was loyal to the royal family, it was too risky. But if my powers were ineffective, I would need his counsel. I checked the room, making sure we were alone. I went to Romulus and whispered, “She kissed me.”

Romulus’ eyes bulged. “And your powers, they stopped working on her after?”

“I can’t be certain, but possibly.”

Romulus mumbled to himself and tapped his head.

“What does a kiss have to do with my powers?”

He muttered and paced around the room. “I must think on this. Very disturbing.”

Telling by his frantic mumbling and pacing, he would not speak much more with me this night. “I’ll be in my chambers. See me with your findings.”

And I left him to his madness.

Later that evening, I sat in my private chamber by the fireplace, contemplating the day’s events. How could a human cause me to react in such a lucid manner? Jeslyn had more of an effect on me than any female I had come across. It was distressing.

There was a knock at the door.

“Enter.”

Lucy walked in and sat in the chair across from me. “I discovered the spirit used was a demon of coercion.”