Demon's King (High Demon #3)

I settled in to read a book I'd picked out, falling asleep eventually with the comp-reader on my stomach.

"Shhh, go back to sleep, sweetheart." Reah's eyelashes were dark against her pale skin. Teeg worried over the dark circles under her eyes. He'd taken the comp-reader out of her hand and set it aside, almost waking her. She wasn't recovering as fast as he'd like—the ranos grenade had hit her full-on, blasting her through the window opposite Zellar's room and onto the roof of a nearby building. Anyone else would have died. Reah had come very close.

This wasn't supposed to happen. Zellar's body had practically disintegrated in the blast and he'd held a shield around himself. They'd found bits and pieces of him. Teeg's heart had almost seized in his chest when he'd seen Reah on the vid-screen, kicking in Zellar's door. Astralan had folded him to Kareed; Teeg had almost been crazy after watching Reah get hit.

Now that she had her voice and senses back, all she wanted to do was fight with him. He'd hurt her more than he'd intended. His hope had been that she'd forgive him a little when he found her again. Now his ring was missing from her finger and he wondered what she'd done with it. He'd sealed his fate with her for the moment, telling her he'd taken Gavril. Teeg brushed silky white hair away from Reah's face. "My pretty baby," he crooned softly.

"Here's what you asked for." Teeg handed the comp-vid to me. I almost wept at the image on the screen. Chash was there, holding up a similar comp-vid with the day's news from an Alliance world. The date was clearly visible at the top of the news video.

"Is he safe? Are you treating him well? Is he scared?" I wiped tears off my cheeks. I wished there were a way I could get this to Lissa and Gavin. More than likely, they were still terrified for their youngest child. Teeg decided to be awful about the whole thing.

"That's none of your concern," he snapped. "Do I have your promise—not to do anything stupid and not to harm anyone inside my home? You won't escape, I've already seen to that. We did an implant, Reah. Right here." Teeg pointed to a spot on his collarbone. "It's inside the bone, Reah, and Jes tells me the bone has formed around it. No more mindspeech or skipping unless I turn this off." He held a small transmitter in his hand. I stared at him, completely speechless. "I told you I hacked your records. Two years ago, in fact." How could he be so hard? How?

"I want to kill you," I muttered.

"You're still my wife, Reah. I have the papers to prove it. Where's my ring?"

"If I thought you wanted it back, I wouldn't have tossed it in the ocean on Le-Ath Veronis." I had. I'd asked Aurelius to take me sailing and I'd dumped the thing the moment we couldn't see land any longer. Who knew where it was, now?

"I'll get you another ring."

"I won't wear it. You see this?" I turned the comp-vid around so he could see Gavril's image. "As long as you have him, I won't wear it."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Teeg warned. I wanted to tell him to go fuck himself, but then he might take back the promise to let me out of my cage. He looked angry and frustrated, his dark hair rumpled, a deep frown marring his handsome features. "Jes, release the brakes on that stupid bed and bring her."

That's how I got a ride to the old bedroom that Teeg and I had shared. That now seemed a lifetime ago, with a different person. He'd taken my freedom away and kidnapped Chash. Now he wanted to get me another ring. Logic no longer seemed a part of him.

"Now, Reah, I'm going to offer something else if you promise to do what Jes tells you. I need you back on your feet and ready to fight Zellar's spawn quickly before they scatter so far we'll never find them." Teeg had allowed Jes to transfer me to the bed. He'd called a servant to push my hospital bed out of the spacious suite. More than anything, I wanted to hobble to the bathroom and soak in a tub of hot water. The casts were still on so that was out of the question.

I wasn't about to ask him what he was offering now. I didn't need to; Farzi and Nenzi walked into the room. Teeg knew which buttons to push. This had upset me more than anything, when he'd taken Farzi, Nenzi and their brothers away. I'd been planning to take them to a jungle world that held little population so they could live as they pleased. Two of Teeg's warlocks had folded them away at Teeg's bidding. I still wanted to slap all of them for that.

"Farzi? Nenzi? I was sobbing now. Nenzi rushed in, Farzi right behind him.

"Be careful of her broken," Jes' words went unheeded as Nenzi nearly flung himself on the bed beside me, hugging me as hard as he dared. Farzi sat next to both of us.

"Our Reah," Farzi reached out to touch my hair. "Your hair quite long now."

I sniffled and wiped tears off my face. "This was how it was supposed to be. Before it was whacked off to make me look like a boy. Farzi, are your brothers all right?" I wanted to ask if they still lived—all of them—but I was afraid to.

"Our brothers do fine." Nenzi answered my question, pulling my head against his shoulder. "Nenzi misses Reah. Teeg says he cannot find. Now she is ours again." I didn't upset Nenzi by telling him that Teeg had kidnapped me. Gavril, too. I brushed Nenzi's dark hair off his forehead instead.

"Nenzi, I really missed you. And Farzi and all your brothers."

"We not find another good cook," Nenzi smiled at me.

"But Ardalin is here," I said.

"She isn't the same," Farzi pointed out stiffly. That told me right then that Ardalin didn't like the reptanoids. Only their eyes were different—on the surface of things, anyway. No reason to mistreat my people.

"Ardalin is superstitious," Teeg cleared his throat.

"Then send her to one of your many casinos," I snapped. "There is no reason anyone should mistreat Farzi, Nenzi and the others."

"I was hoping you'd help interview potential replacements." Teeg lifted an eyebrow at me.

"Uh-huh. And go take care of rogue wizards and help you with whatever you want to blackmail the Alliance over. My schedule is full, Teeg."

"Reah, not fight with Teeg. Please?" Nenzi's eyes were begging.

"Only for you, Nenzi." I hugged him with my good arm.

"Should have brought him in, first thing," Teeg muttered.

Two days later, with Nenzi, Farzi and six other reptanoids looking on, I got my casts off. My skin looked pale and shriveled when they were removed. "Now you can take a shower, but you probably need help," Jes said. He looked hopeful but Teeg, who was also there, frowned. Jes didn't offer his help. Farzi and Nenzi ended up helping me. They held me up when I didn't think I could stand and I washed myself. I don't know why I didn't worry about them seeing me naked but I didn't. I'd seen all of them naked before, when they'd turned to lion snakes. Nudity was completely natural to them, and held no embarrassment. Honestly, I thought of them as family. Perhaps they saw me the same way.

Farzi helped wash my hair—I wasn't thrilled about Treesa coming in again. Teeg, though, was there when I came out of the shower, dressed in the robe Farzi had helped me slip on. Nenzi was still fussing over me when Teeg picked up the comb and wordlessly started working on my hair. I tried to fend him off, but he stopped me with a sentence. "Gavril will be better off if you let me do this." Was he threatening both of us? I shivered at the thought. Teeg went back to working on my hair. When he finished combing it out, he lifted strands of it to his nose.

"It smells wonderful," he murmured. "Reah, your friend will be fine as long as you treat me well. Treat me as you did before, Reah. When you loved me, still."

I wrapped my arms around myself and rocked a little. What did he want? To go to bed with me?

"No, Reah, you're still recovering. I won't expect that just yet." Teeg got up and walked out of my bedroom. Farzi and Nenzi stared after him.

"Reah, he not harm you—I know this," Farzi sat on the bench beside me.

"Farzi—he's already brought harm. Here." I touched my chest.

"Reah, Teeg not—he not do—he not mean," Nenzi couldn't think of the words. I couldn't really tell if he were saying that Teeg wasn't mean or if he didn't mean it. Either way, I silently disagreed.

Both of them helped me into bed. My legs were still shaky and I felt worn out just from bathing. Jes had said he was starting rehab the next morning. I hoped I could get to sleep so I'd be rested; Teeg wanted me on my feet quickly. More than anything, I wanted to contact Lendill and let him know that Zellar was gone but his trainees might be scattered and already causing havoc. If any of them knew what they were doing, they could already be passing their secrets off to others. It was a frightening prospect. I wanted to get that remote away from Teeg, but Gavril's life might hang in the balance.

"Sleep, our Reah," Farzi turned out the light and he and Nenzi silently left my room.

"You can make it." Who knew that Jes could be such a slave driver? I walked down the hall to the elevator and then to the kitchen with little or no help. I think I was drenched in sweat and trembling by the time I got to the kitchen. Ardalin and an assistant were there cooking breakfast. Ardalin was making a great deal of racket, banging her pots and pans. She wasn't much of a cook if she treated good cooking utensils that way. The eggs she served me were terrible and I found bits of shell in them. I picked it out and ate what I could. Teeg came in with Astralan and the other three warlocks.

"Reah, I hope I get to eat one of your meals again someday," Astralan grinned. Well, he'd just made my life worse, as far as Ardalin went.

"You know," I said, pointing my fork at him, "I ended up on a non-Alliance planet once because the master cook for the Governor of the Realm was so jealous of me he locked me in an escape pod during a drill and reprogrammed the thing. I think if Ardalin had an escape pod, I'd be on my way back to the Alliance right now." Ardalin stiffened at the mention of her name. Well, I wasn't about to get killed or nearly killed again because of my cooking skills. I hadn't failed to notice how Ardalin looked at Teeg when he came in or the fact that he got the best of what she was serving.