Demon Slave (Shadow Quest Book 2) (13 page)

Ava bounced with impatience. “What?”

“
You should not be seen in this manner.”

She looked down at herself. “Oops.” She was dressed in her sleeping gown and slippers. After calling for her maid, Terina, Ava ransacked her closet, choosing a deep blue gown that Nadua always said went nicely with her white hair and drove the boys nuts. Ava held it up against her body for Wren’s inspection.

“
That would be lovely,” he said, and then, as always when women things were about to happen, he retreated from sight. But she knew he’d stay close by in the hall.

With Terina’s help, she dressed and had her hair up in an elegant style in no time. Then she was out the door, startling Wren once again with her speed. Keeping up with her eager pace, he followed close behind.

“
My queen, slow down. Watch your step on the stairs,” he warned.

Wren was always trying to get her to be more responsible, but she would be queen soon—the ultimate responsibility. And Nadua had told her this was her time to be reckless, and irresponsible. So she would be.

A stuffy voice halted her step as Ava entered the great hall. Wren had to stop abruptly to keep from running into her.

“
Avaline, why are you running, child?”

Ava huffed in a breath. “Aunt Idesse, the troops are back.”

“
That is no reason for you to act like a commoner. The House of Dion is an ancient and respected family line. Take care to do us honor. You are lucky my sister, Odette, is not here to see.” Idesse was dressed, elegant as always, in purple flowing gown. The royal tailors probably spent months preparing every little detail to her specifications. Her long white hair shone like silver spun with ice. “Come.” She wrapped her arm with Ava’s. “Let us greet them together.”

Inwardly, Ava groaned, knowing she would have to walk at Idesse’s regal pace. She could practically hear Wren grinning behind her.

“
How is your education progressing, darling?”

“
Very well, Aunt Idesse.”

“
And your gown for Sir Baret’s ball?”

“
Uh...I don’t know. You would have to ask Terina.”

“
You must keep on top of these things. How dreadful would it be if the wrong thread were used, or a button out of place. How embarrassing. I pity Nalphia, for one, poor girl has no taste at all. She is forever walking around in the most hideous garments. I asked her once who her tailor was, just so I would know who never to commission.”

As if doing her a great service, Idesse divulged the name of the offending tailor, and warned her to keep clear. Ava nodded, as she always did with Idesse, and tried to tamp down her eagerness to see Nadua.

Finally, they reached the palace entrance. The troops were coming up the long walkway. Ava smiled and waved at the men in greeting, but dropped her arm once they came closer, and their solemn faces came into view.

Her smile faded completely when Tamir came forward and dismounted his edisdon to kneel before her. “Princess, I regret to inform you...”

Ava couldn’t recall his next words. Her world had split in two and the sound of it was deafening. She backed away, not wanting to hear any more. A warm hand clasped her shoulder—Wren—but her eyes were too blurred to see him clearly.

A moment later, she found herself racing through the halls of the castle, not quite sure where she planned to go. Anywhere to get away. Anywhere where she could see Nadua again.

* * *

Marik trudged through the darkening forest with growing frustration.

He’d been so close to taking her. Her soft lips had been so welcoming, and surprisingly eager, making him imagine what else her lips might be eager for.

Marik groaned, his shaft hardening once again, even though he had just brought himself to come, twice—the whole while watching her from a distance, as she explored the shallow cave.

And still he couldn’t keep his thoughts from Nadua. Even now, his instincts were clamoring for him to race back to her and bury himself inside her. A hint of her arousal still swirled in his head.

And she
had
been aroused, almost desperately. At least at first. Her eyes had gone stark when Marik was ready to strip her of that damn cloak, and she’d nearly begged him to stop. Snapped from the Edge, he’d gone from thinking he would die without feeling her flesh against his, to releasing her and drawing away.

The astonishing thing about it was that Marik hadn’t blacked out. He’d been almost coherent, which, for being as deeply on the Edge as he was, was unusual. Perhaps she had some sort of power over him. Maybe that was her gift...Some kind of inherent control over those around her. It would explain her rise to power over those archaic people.

Or maybe it was that he was finally learning self-control.

He could only hope for the latter, because the next time the Edge claimed him, he feared nothing would stop him from satiating his lust on Nadua’s firm little body. Not even her lingering fear of him.

Clearing his head, Marik continued his hunt. He was searching for not only tonight’s meal, but that mysterious clawed creature who had robbed him of his prey. If it had been a wild beast defending its territory, it should have stuck around to attack Marik too.

What was even more unsettling, all three bodies were gone when Marik went to check the markings again. No traces of footprints gave any evidence of who, or what, had taken them.

Marik hurried so he could get back to Nadua.

* * *

The demon came back to the cave just before darkness fell, panting like he just run the length of the valley and back. He had with him a small catch of yellowbacks—small furry creatures, about the size of Nadua’s hand. They were mostly white, but for the line of yellow that ran along their backs. Hence the name.

When she was still learning this planet, Nadua had thought them cute, until one of the nasty things had speared her with its teeth. They were razor sharp and excreted a mild venom. Her hand had been swollen for the rest of the day.

With twilight dwindling, Nadua and Marik built a small fire for cooking. Nadua cozied up to it as best she could. The cave wasn’t very deep, and gusts of wind periodically swept the heat away. Marik sat across from her. Eye contact between them was minimal.

The meat was cooked to perfection, tender and juicy, with a hint of something Nadua couldn’t describe. While Marik was cooking, Nadua had watched with curiosity as he crushed up a mix of hard roots and sprinkled them across the sizzling meat. He said he’d pulled them from the ground. It added a delightful sweetness.

“
You have quite a talent,” she said, recalling him mentioning something about being a skilled cook. At the time she assumed he’d been feeding her nonsense.

Marik shrugged in response.

His mood had been somewhat sour since his return. Every so often, he would glance through the cave hole, into the dark forest. She wondered if their earlier discussion still affected him. Or what had gone unfinished. She considered broaching the subject but decided against it.

They enjoyed the rest of their meal in silence. Nadua figured he would go the rest of the night without saying more than a few words to her, so when he spoke next, it surprised her.

“
The one that threw the ice.” He paused. “You called him a kay-something. What does that mean?”

“
Kaiylemi. It’s a master of ice. Not all Cyrellians, but a few, I’m not sure how many, can somehow manipulate ice. Make it do what they want.”

“
Then, it was a Kaiylemi who tried to imprison you in ice? Was it the same one as today?”

“
A very powerful Kaiylemi had made that cage. I don’t believe it was the same person. The one from today could only manipulate small pieces of ice, probably had been very young. No doubt those nomads felt very lucky to have had him in their group. Kaiylemi’s are not as common as they used to be.”

After another short silence, Nadua asked, “What is it like on
Marada
?” If she were going to be taking up residence there, she might as well know about it.

Her question must have pulled him from a deep thought because he looked up at her with an almost vacant gaze. “It’s great. The ship provides everything we need, and then some. It’s more like a high class cruising ship. You’ll be right at home there, I bet.”

Nadua forced a smile. For the longest time, she accepted that her home was with Ava, even though she’d always known her time here was temporary.

Marik continued. “There’s entertainment, a large room for exercise, an entire deck called the Sanctuary, where plants grow to the ceiling—”

“
Plants?” She leaned forward. “You have live plants on board?”

He nodded, adding, “And a heated pool.”

A heated pool!

There was nothing like that on Undewla. The Cyrellian’s had no need for such a thing.

“
Well, we must find this
Marada
at once!” That pulled a large grin from him and she felt gratified by the small achievement. That is, until her next inquiry. “Do you have family there?”

The happiness seeped out of him. Pain flashed in his eyes before he schooled his features. Nadua got the sense that she’d asked the worst possible question.

“
No family.” is all he said, and then he began arranging the pallet. One pallet, she noticed, even though she had her furs and the fire had finally risen the temperature around them to a comfortable degree.

But when he motioned for her to join him, the protest on the back of her throat died away when she grudgingly admitted to herself that was where she wanted to be. The realization had her questioning her own sanity—amending that it was only because she hadn’t been with a man in over four hundred years that she yearned for the possessive way he held her during the night.

Once she was in place, Marik lazily fingered the material of her pelt.

“
I hate this,” he declared. “I don’t like the way it covers your scent. Once we’re on
Marada
, I’m burning it.” Then his arm came around her, pulling her close.

Nadua was of a similar opinion. At times her cloak felt like a cage she couldn’t escape, though she hadn’t known about the scent thing. However, she was grateful for the protection it provided.

“
If I feel I won’t ever need it again, I might just let you.” It was unlikely that she would ever come back to visit Ava. “Marik?”

“
Hmm.” He sounded half asleep already.

“
Promise me I will be able to say goodbye to Ava before we leave.”

There was a heavy silence. “I don’t know if I can make that promise.”

Her body tensed. “I won’t leave without seeing her.”

At length he replied, “Perhaps we can come back, sometime in the future.”

We?

“
Not good enough. Promise me.” When he made no sound Nadua added, “She’s like a sister to me. Please.”

He sighed. “Alright, Nadua. I’ll do what I can.”

* * *

Nadua looked up at a raging crowd. She was standing in some sort of pit while the onlookers screamed and shouted from their seats. It reminded her of the plays and tournaments that were performed back at the palace, but there was something much more sinister going on here. The people’s faces were twisted in anger, their eyes shining with malevolence.

Movement to her right pulled her attention to a bleeding, broken mass. The man’s slashed back was facing her, his body struggling to pull itself off the ground. She realized who it was before he turned.

Bile rose in her throat.

Two men with whips were striking him again and again from behind the safety of thick shafts of metal.

With a snarl, Marik launched at them, only to be thwarted by the bars. The whipping increased with enthusiasm, pushing Marik back in the middle of the pit. The sounds of agony he made tore at her heart. She tried to look away, but couldn’t.

The crowd cheered with Marik’s vicious roars, making her hate every one of them. Nadua could see in his vacant red eyes that he was lost to madness, filled with such hollowness that she couldn’t picture this demon as the same Marik she knew. He wasn’t the man who held her with surprising gentleness.

He was a beast, nothing more.

I don’t want to see anymore
.

Unfortunately, Nadua had never been able to control her visions. She couldn’t make them start, and she couldn’t make them stop. She had to keep watching.

To her horror, at the height of Marik’s torture, a woman dressed in poor clothing was dropped into the pit. She scrambled away, screaming and clutching the walls. Her foreign pleas echoed in the arena. The crowd went mad with excitement. A sick feeling nearly forced Nadua to double over.

Marik’s gaze settled on the woman. The girl cried out to those who were standing above her, looking over the edge and laughing.

Nadua begged her mind to make it stop.

When the booing began, Nadua looked at Marik, who had moved as far from the woman as he could get. His face was twisted in rage, his fists were opening and closing with the anticipation of violence, but he remained frozen.