Captive By Night: A Dardanos, Co. Taken Collection

by Calle J. Brookes

  She should have pushed him away. Kindara knew it, but the man—the damned demon—had hands that burned her. And he used them well.

  He pulled her up, then turned her to recline against the window seat. He pushed her tunic the rest of the way down her arms, using the sleeves to pin her wrists behind her. Kindara arched, knowing what position he wanted her in. He’d had her in it before.

  His eyes heated, burned the red fire she recognized as Incubian lust. She smiled.

  This was what she needed—this would make her forget for a little while. She pulled her hands free, jerking the white satin, causing one sleeve to rip at the seam. She didn’t care; she wanted to touch him. To grab him and put her mark on the golden flesh she knew waited beneath his shirt.

  He was not Iavius, but he was hers. And she would have him when she could. Her hands sank into the black silk and she curled her fingers into claws; she ripped his shirt free of his trousers and over his shoulders.

  “Pet?” His whispered word held indulgence and lust. Strong heat that evoked an answering flame inside

  Kindara. “Be gentle, my love. We must take care.”

  “I don’t want gentle, demon. I want to forget.” Kindara stood, then straddled him. “Help me forget.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Auri was propped up in the bed when Kindara entered her chambers two mornings later. Kindara stopped in the door frame and stared at her friend. “You’re awake.”

  “I’m awake.” Auri moved with deliberation, rising up farther in the pillows. “Was I not supposed to be?”

  “I’ll admit it, for a moment there I doubted you’d ever wake again.” Kindara sank to the seat beside the bed.

  “How would you have explained that one to Aod?” Auri’s nonchalant tone belied the pain that Kindara read on her face. “So what exactly happened? I remember fighting the demon warrior. I remember tasting something not Dardaptoan and remember you sewing me up like a damned pillow.”

  “That was pretty much it. I used an embroidery stitch so it would look pretty. The demon warrior carried you to the castle here and you fed from him. He helped Rathan hold you while Bron and I sewed you back together again. I’m not sure where he is now.”

  “Why? Why did he attack like that?”

  “Apparently his daughter was kidnapped.”

  “Poor child. Has she been found?”

  “I don’t think so. But apparently there is no big rush to retrieve the missing or taken in Relaklonos…” Kindara leaned in to check the stitches holding Auri’s skin in place over the wound in her back. She hesitated before continuing. “I have something to tell you…”

  “Ok. Shoot.”

  “Apparently Relaklonos is divided into seven semi-warring feudal kingdoms. Rathan is king of them all, with the other kings vying for his seat. Rathan’s advisers had one of these kings—a warrior—as hostage for a few weeks. They were debating how much he was worth to trade back to his people. He escaped yesterday morning. He…Bronwen was taken by the king of warriors. Rathan is working to buy her back.”

  Aureliana would have jumped from the bed if Kindara had not blocked her. “Stay. Rathan is getting her back.”

  “How? Has he organized parties to intercept this warrior bastard? Are you sure she’s still alive? What is he doing? Have you contacted Aodhan or Theo?”

  “He is sending his cousin to the warrior king’s home. They will trade her back or purchase her back. Apparently they cannot release prisoners here without some sort of face saving measure. But Rathan assures me she will not be harmed or killed. And he will get her back for us.”

  “You trust him, don’t you? Despite everything that has happened, you’re beginning to depend upon him.

  Are you sure you should?”

  “I think I have no choice. Not anymore.” Kindara brushed a hand over the spot she knew the babe rested. He was so tiny, but the healer and mother in her knew where her babe slept.

  Aureliana’s eyes narrowed and she stared at Kindara for several long moments. “Kinney…what do you mean?”

  “I’m carrying his child, Auri. A babe. A babe who will be king of this world.” Kindara was inexplicably nervous. Auri was the first person other than Barlaam that she’d told. Her friend knew her best of all, and would understand the situation from her vantage point.

  “Holy goddesses, Kinney! Are you crazy? He’s a demon! Can we even have demon babies? Is it possible?”

  In four hundred years, Kindara had never seen Auri as shocked as she was.

  “It is. Barlaam confirmed it before we left. And…and I feel it. There’s a babe.” Kindara’s eyes welled as she remembered telling Aureliana about the first babe she had carried. Carried and lost. “I will not lose this one, Auri. I…cannot.”

  Auri’s eyes filled. She’d held Kindara for days after Cormac and Dhar Rydere had found her, found Iavius’s body. Held her while she miscarried Iavius’s babe. “You won’t. Kinney, you won’t.”

  “Barlaam agrees. So does the demon. Said they rarely ever lose one. There’s a strong, very high chance of a successful pregnancy.”

  “And after the babe is born? What will you do then? With the demon?”

  “Somehow split our time between Colorado and Relaklonos. It will take years, possibly decades to study the medical practices of Relaklonos and the seven realms. Then even longer to create possible medications for our people. My time here could be justified…”

  “That is not what matters, Kinney. Your time doesn’t have to be justified. It’s your time. And you deserve it.” Auri draped an arm around Kindara, her move slower and more deliberate than usual to accommodate the fresh stitches. “I think after all that has happened to you, you deserve time for yourself that is not devoted solely to our people. Iavius and Erastine would have wanted that. You deserve to be happy.”

  “Happy with an arrogant demon who expects everything to go his own way?” Kindara thought of the first time he had touched her, thought of the heat in his eyes. Then of the moment he’d told her of the babe, the tenderness on his face. She thought of the way he spoke of Josey and Mickey and the rest of the Taniss women. How he’d hugged Jade back at the Taniss vacation cabin. The tenderness with which he spoke of his younger sister and Renakletos’s young daughter.

  He cared. And she knew he cared for her. “He’s not my Rajni, Auri. I never contemplated life with someone other than Iavius.”

  Aureliana stared at her for a moment. “Iavius would not have wanted you to be alone forever. He’d want you to find someone to be happy with. He would want you happy. And you haven’t been.”

  “Life is a long time to be with someone other than a Rajni, Auri.”

  Aureliana sighed before settling back into the pillows. “Life is a long time to spend alone. I have done it for over four hundred years. Wake up, Kin. Take your chance when you can.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Rathan rammed the sword into his brother’s side. “I have taken you, brother. Yield.”

  Ren countered with a ham-handed blow to Rathan’s abdomen. “Never. The fight ends when you are down.”

  “Then we will be here for more hours than I care to spend. I wish to spend the evening with my female, not bludgeoning you until you turn blue.”

  “I can turn blue anytime I wish.” Ren demonstrated, his skin going cold blue in an instant. “Just bow down to superior fighting skills, and go get your consolation kisses.”

  Rathan snorted. He had seen his brother turn his skin various colors like the Gaian chameleon many times before. It was a trait many warriors possessed, and one Ren was good at exploiting. “And if I do? What will you gain?”

  “Cerridwen.”

  “Your daughter is more than fine. She’s having a grand adventure, kidnapped and kept in a castle.”

  “Complete with a daddy prince on his way to rescue her.” Ren lashed out with a long leg and Rathan avoided. “Which I should be getting to. Had you had anything to do with it, I would be wiping the floor with y
our blood.”

  “I did not take the wee Cerri. And had I known my court was as filled with traitors as it is, I would have seen to it she was taken to Gaia and kept far from this place. You know that, right?” And Rathan would have. The five-year-old was as dear to him as Danae. He may not have been in his realm often during the child’s lifetime, but he would make a point of visiting his kingdom for an afternoon or two each month. “I would not risk her life for anything. Her or Danae.”

  “You suspect Agmendias.” Renakletos’s tone said he held no surprise. “I have for a long time. And he was particularly close to our father if you remember.”

  Rathan lowered his sword. “Are you implying Agmendias holds responsibility for Galveston? For Father?”

  “Someone does. I know you think it was me.” Ren gave one more blow to Rathan’s arm before he too lowered his sword. “I’ve made my peace with that. Decades ago. Had I been in your position, I may have seen it the same way. But I knew it was not me…therefore, it must have been someone else close enough to Father to have had access.”

  “And you’ve spent the last century proving that.” Rathan felt shame hit him. It was not his brother, and he should not have doubted him. But all the evidence he had collected in over a hundred years had said otherwise. “In one hundred years, I have found nothing to implicate Agmendias.”

  “Yet you have found much to convict me in that same time.” Ren’s eyes flashed with warrior pride, anger, and to Rathan’s shame, hurt. “And have not confronted me with it. Just assumed I was out to displace you. Take from you what is yours by right of birth.”

  “I am ashamed, brother.”

  “What you do not seem to realize, is that I have never wanted what you have had. I am more warrior than diplomat. I would never be king, and I do not want it.” Renakletos’s voice rose and he dropped the sword he held. “I do not want what is yours!”

  Rathan let his brother strike him. He deserved it. He grappled with his brother until they were fighting hand to hand over the thin mat. “Do you think I wanted to think it was you? I bled over it. Grieved both my father and my brother for decades. And then I just accepted it and did my best to give my people the time they needed to accept me as their new ruler.”

  “From Gaia? A completely different realm? How did that benefit Relaklonos?” Ren snorted as he attempted to pin Rathan to the mat. “Admit it, you could not face me thinking as you did. Do.”

  “Did. And that was not true. I ruled this realm from Gaia. I saw to it that my peoples’ needs were met through Phelius and Danae.”

  “While you searched for proof of my treachery! How was that being a good king?”

  “While I searched for proof of your innocence! That may not have been being a good king, but being a good brother was more important to me! Do you not understand? What proof I found only convinced me of your guilt! Had I returned to Relaklonos, I would have had no choice but to arrest you for treachery! To watch you hang! I would not do that for all of the realms!”

  Both men stopped. Stared at one another. Finally, Ren spoke. “Someone has made it look like I betrayed and killed our own father. Someone manipulated us both. Why?”

  “Because after one hundred and ten years of my inattention, they could stage a political coup. If they could support their claims. Manufacture enough proof.”

  “So they needed to keep the two of us distracted for ten more months, until the one hundred-tenth anniversary of Father’s death. Then they could convene a Council of Realms and displace you from the throne.” Ren echoed the thoughts running through Rathan’s head. “Yet you chose now to return, and will be convening your own council within the week. You have a mate and a spawn on the way.”

  “Making me and mine a great threat to whoever hatched this.” Rathan’s thoughts flashed to the people he loved the most—Kindara and the spawn, Danae, Renakletos and Cerridwen. Kindara and the spawn were safe in the northern wing of the castle. As was Cerridwen and her nurse. Danae…he had yet to hear from his sister.

  “We need to be taking as many precautions as possible. I have sent Phelius to Lothicano to fetch Danae and the young healer Bronwen back. Yet other than Phelius, I am not sure of any of the Council’s loyalty.”

  “So we know not who we can trust within our own home.” Ren’s voice was lowered as he leaned over to assist Rathan to his feet. “It is not safe here. Especially for them.”

  Rathan nodded, mind running over the available options. Had it just been him and Ren his choices would be different. But they had a child, a wounded woman, and a pregnant one within their keeping that had to be kept safe at all costs. “We need to get the Dardaptoans out of the realm and to safety. Cerridwen, too. I can contact Phelius and have him bring the girl healer and Danae to Gaia. My woman’s brother is a real mean bastard, a Predatoi of disgustingly great skill. He will keep them safe.”

  Ren paused as he started to slide his sword into the sheath his father had gifted him with on his one hundred year birthday. “You’re asking me to send my only spawn to a demon killer for safe keeping, brother.

  It is an enormous thing you ask.”

  “I would send him mine. For now, his keeping is safer than mine own.”

  ****

  Kindara read the medical tome Phelius had told her beginning healers in Relaklonos were required to memorize. It was full of physiological data on all of the 3000 or so types of beings found in Relaklonos. It was fascinating to read of the differences between the disparate beings. They had so much more than the dozen or so Kinds that populated her world. Gaia. Named so millions of years ago, after the large supercontinent that had broken into pieces to form the only world Kindara remembered. She started to say something to Auri, but when she glanced up, Auri was sleeping so soundly she hated to disturb her.

  The sound of the door opening had Kindara looking in that direction.

  A small girl of less than five years stood in the door.

  Kindara smiled. The child had tiny silver horns upon her head, and blue-black hair. She looked much like

  Rathan. “Hello. Can I help you?”

  “I wanted to see the warrior lady.” The little girl closed the door behind herself, then approached the bed. “I am a warrior, you know.”

  “Are you now?” Kindara was surprised when the child climbed onto the bed and sat staring down at Aureliana. “So is she.”

  “I heard everyone saying my daddy hurt her.” Sad red eyes looked at Kindara. “I don’t think my daddy would do that. He’s a good prince.”

  “I think it was an accident. What is your name?”

  “I’m Cerridwen Analia Deni Malickus. The princess.” Pride was clear in the little girl voice. “My uncle is the king and my daddy is the prince.”

  “I’m Kindara. I’m a healer from Gaia. This is my best friend, Auri.”

  The little girl touched a strand of dark chestnut hair where it curled on Auri’s pillow with an almost reverent hand. “I think my daddy is sorry.”

  Auri’s eyes opened and she tried to rise. She looked at Kindara. “Kinney?”

  “Meet Cerridwen; Renakletos’s daughter, I presume. She wants to apologize for her father.”

  “Really, now? Hello, Cerridwen. I’m Auri. How old are you?”

  “Five.” She held up three fingers proudly. “Daddy says I’m a big strong warrior princess. I’ve been kidnapped, you know.”

  “Really? I was kidnapped, too.” Kindara was charmed and confused. A kidnapped child? Renakletos’s missing daughter, certainly.

  “Did your daddy prince come rescue you, too? Did Uncle Rathan take you like he did me?”

  “Uncle Rathan did kidnap me. But then he took me home.”

  “Uncle Rathan had cousin Phelius take me to keep me safe. Then we waited for Daddy to come save me. He’s good at being a saving daddy prince.” The child leaned over to stare at Auri less than five inches from the woman’s face. She tilted her head from side to side as she studied Auri. “You don’t look like a Warrior lady
. They’re kind of ugly. You’re pretty. More like a princess. Maybe daddy should save you, too.”

  “I think I’ll pass on that, peanuts. I prefer to save myself in most situations.” Auri crossed her eyes to make the child laugh. “Does your daddy have to save you a lot?”

  “No. Just this time. Cousin Phelius said that people are trying to take the crayon from Uncle Rathan. Said they think having me can help them do that. I told Cousin Phelius that I have lots of crayons and we could share. Uncle Rathan brought them from Gaia. I don’t think Cousin Phelius understood what I was saying.” She pouted for a moment, before sinking her little hands into the curls spread over the pillow. “Your hair’s soft and pretty. You’re pretty.”

  Auri touched the girl’s long black hair. “So is yours. Where is your mommy, Cerridwen?”

  “I don’t think I have one anymore. Daddy said to Cousin Phelius once that my mommy was wordless as a mother.” She shrugged. “But I have my daddy and he loves me lots and lots.”

  “So why did you come visit me and Auri today, Princess Cerridwen?” Kindara asked, smiling at the tiny girl.

  “Daddy still has to come to the tower to rescue me. He hasn’t done that yet. I saw him with Uncle Rathan. They were fighting like this.” She mimed swordplay. “They were talking, too. I don’t like watching swords or fights, so I came to the tower. Daddy will come find me and I won’t be kidnapped no more. Are you still kidnapped?”

  “No. We came here so Uncle Rathan could help us find medicines for our people.”

  “So no hansim prince saved you?” the little girl frowned. “That’s so sad. I’ll tell Daddy he can rescue you, too.”

  “That’s not necessary, baby.” Auri sat up though it was obviously difficult for her. She began braiding the girl’s hair. The child let her and Kindara smiled inwardly. Auri had a definite soft side—she used to spend the evenings with Kindara and Jierra, braiding hair and polishing nails. Girl things that Auri had little opportunity to experience as the youngest child of sixteen brothers.