Page 33 of Prince of Demons (Demon’s Mark #2)
Kirigan
A beep from his phone alerted him to movement from the west wing of his estate, where his son and daughter-in-law had gone to have their video call with Kesh. When he glanced at the screen, he saw Selma walking down the corridor with Kamaran in her arms. Unescorted.
The darkness in his gut tightened. He was moving before he’d decided to, crystal glass clanking as he roughly placed his bourbon on the table and headed out the library door.
He intercepted her before she reached the cozy lounge she favored. Her eyes widened slightly at his sudden appearance, her grip on the baby tightening a little, but her scent no longer soured with fear at the sight of him, like it had in the beginning. “Kirigan…”
“Kain let you leave his side? Without a guard?” he interrupted.
The Breeder sighed, rolling her eyes. “Yes. Seeing as I’m his queen, not his prisoner.” She stepped to the side to get around him and continued to the lounge she’d claimed after she and Kain moved in.
Kirigan followed her, taking a seat on the window ledge as she got comfortable on the sofa and began nursing her baby. Despite the lack of fear in her scent these days, he knew she found his companionship… unpleasant. He didn’t have the capacity or the inclination to care.
They settled into tense silence, broken only by the small suckling sounds from his grandson.
Kirigan stared out the window, trying to ignore the sound.
It cut like tiny shards of glass through his nervous system, and the darkness in him snarled to wring the little creature’s neck.
End the sounds, and the agony of the memories they brought from when his own sons were young.
He exhaled slowly, deeply, letting the madness wash through him.
There was no point fighting it; he’d given up on that folly decades ago.
A small hiss from the Breeder brought him back with a sharp twinge. He snapped his head around just in time to see her yanking Kamaran from her breast to rub at her nipple, eyebrows locked in a displeased frown as she glared at her baby.
“He bit you?” He only noticed his clenched fists, his furious voice, and the dark well of magic pouring out of him when he saw Selma’s eyes widen in shock, followed by a protective bubble of light erupting around her.
With a force of will, he tempered the madness down.
Only when he was sure it was back under control did he say, “My apologies.
You and your child are safe. I promise."
His daughter-in-law took a long, hard look at him before she lowered her magic barrier. “What the hell was that?”
“Nothing. It was nothing.” He turned back to the window, staring blindly out at the tapestry of autumnal foliage lighting up the grounds.
It wasn’t ‘nothing’. But if he confessed to her, or to Kain, exactly what it was, they would leave.
Which would make them more vulnerable to the Europeans.
His estate was the safest place for them, and so they would stay.
He’d control the madness, even if it broke him to pieces. He had to.
“He shouldn’t hurt you. You’re his mother. He owes you everything. More than everything.”
“He’s a baby. And I think he’s teething. It’s normal.” With another cautious look his way, Selma placed his grandson at her other breast. He heard her mutter, “But if you bite me again, you little asshole, I’m gonna start bottle feeding you,” under her breath.
She was nothing like his mate had been.
It should fill him with relief, should allow the belief that she would never be driven to take her life in order to escape to settle into his broken mind.
Diligently, he’d watched her on the cameras he’d installed since she and Kain moved into his home, looking for any sign that she was fading like his Janette had, and he’d found none.
By all accounts, she was a doting mother, fulfilled by her life by his son’s side.
She even took him eagerly when they coupled, sometimes initiating the intimacy, without activation of her clitoral ring.
Yet still… the idea that one day she might realize the horror of her situation, and then his firstborn would experience what it was like to lose his mate?
It kept him on edge, alert to her every movement.
In some ways it was a relief—to feel a brush of fear again, instead of the decades of nothing but dark, maddening despair.
Kain joined them shortly after. He went to his Breeder immediately, ensuring she was well, as instinct dictated he do.
“Did Kesh say anything else about the Seer?” Selma asked her mate while he fussed around with the pillows behind her.
“Only to confirm that he would invite her suitors and begin the official courting process.” The hesitancy in Kain’s voice pulled Kirigan’s attention from the window.
“What aren’t you saying?” Selma asked, eyes narrowed. She’d heard it, too.
Kain sighed. “Nothing. Just… I don’t know. Kesh seemed…”
“Kesh seemed what?” Kirigan snapped. Something clawed from the darkness—icy foreboding.
“He seemed… somewhat reluctant to call for her courting. I spoke with his Second last night—Mallorn was agitated at the territorial behavior he claims Kesh is exhibiting over the girl. The last thing we need right now is for Kesh to lose control of his closest allies due to this woman. I’m sure it’s nothing, though.
Just testosterone and instincts running high in the presence of an unmated Breeder.
Things will settle once she has selected a mate. ”
“And what if it’s not nothing?” Selma said softly. “You know how he is—pretends he has no interest in women, but deep down…”
“Even if that were the case, this girl’s not a Pure-Breeder. He can’t lay claim to her.” Kain’s brow creased in a frown. “Not that it would necessarily stop him from wanting to, but he is too honorable to risk everything for a woman he can’t have. No matter what his instincts may or may not want.”
Selma only looked at him. Nothing was said, but Kain’s face still crumbled with frustration. “Fuck! This is the worst fucking timing!”
“I’ll go see him,” Selma said. “I know you don’t want me and Kam traveling unless we need to right now, but if you’ve got even the slightest hunch that something’s amiss with Kesh and this woman, I need to make sure she’s going to be okay.”
Kain opened his mouth to protest, but he didn’t get the chance.
“No. I’ll go.” Kirigan pushed off the window ledge, already headed for the door.
“Kirigan, it’s my responsibil?—”
“Your responsibility, little queen, is to stay alive. It is my responsibility to ensure my son is not getting twisted up in instincts that will ruin him and the Breeder under his care,” he interrupted her, tone soft but brokering no argument.
“I need you to go to Maine first,” Kain said. The gratitude in his eyes for the diversion was not missed. He didn’t like telling his mate no—a sentiment Kirigan understood well. Now. They both knew the consequences of making a woman realize she had no agency over her life. Or body.
“Maine? What for?”
“The disturbance I felt in my Stone of Power—it may be connected to the attack in Maine that Kesh thwarted,” Selma said.
“According to Kesh, the two lords that led the assault were much stronger than they reasonably should have been. If the Europeans have brought one of their remaining Stones of Power to our shores, we need to know. Urgently.”
“There’s no one strong enough to pick up a magical imprint like that, no one I’d trust not to attempt to take that power source for their own gain—except you.
” Kain sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“And if it wasn’t a Stone of Power, then we still need to know what it was, and what happened to it, so we can work out if the Europeans have access to more of them.
We nearly lost Maine in this assault, despite Aran being one of the strongest lords on the Eastern Seaboard. ”
The crown was a heavy weight on his eldest son.
He’d known it would be, since before he claimed it.
Kirigan glanced back at his daughter-in-law, still cradling his grandson to her breast. She seemed to truly love her demon child.
And her demon mate. One day, she would realize the truth.
The despair would set in. Hopefully, when that day came, she would be stronger than his sons’ mother.
And if not… he would be there to ensure she couldn’t leave this world, and take his eldest’s sanity with her.
His duty to his family’s survival wasn’t a light in the dark recesses of his madness, but it was the only thing he had left.
Stopping the Europeans from breaking them came before the foreboding clawing at the back of his skull, urging him to go to Kesh and the Breeder under his care.
With a silent nod, he strode out of the room, his focus turning to finding and securing the power source their enemies had attempted to use in their quest to bring down his family.