A Warrior's Quest

by Calle J. Brookes

  She hadn’t known that. “What did he say? Did he tell Aodhan his ridiculous ideas?”

  “Aodhan said that Ren knew he was your Rajni and that you belonged together. Aodhan isn’t happy about it, but he said Ren would keep you safe. From whatever is coming.”

  “But what is coming?” She was done fooling around with it, done hiding her head in the sand. Something was coming and it involved her. She could die tomorrow in the wars that every sense she possessed was telling her were fast approaching. She fought the urge to drop her hand to the sword at her side. An Adrastos could always sense when a war was coming. It was both a blessing and curse to those in her family line. “And why does Ren feel like he needs to be with me for it?”

  “I guess that is something you will have to ask him.”

  ***

  She would do just that. Mallory agreed to watch the babe for her while she tracked down her Rajni. He was surrounded by at least twenty men lined up in neat rows. A security detail, but for whom? He was prepping them for something; she could see that in the way he was speaking with them, though he was using a language she did not understand fully. Her gifts were with sword and organization, not languages. She got by, but only because many in Rathan’s realm spoke English or a variant of it. Something about the early carriers of the English language being a tribe of demons from Relaklonos who’d been banished to Gaia for past transgressions. He looked up when she approached. He bowed to her. “Kitten, come. I was just about to have you fetched.”

  Have her fetched? “I am not a dog, Ren. You will not be fetching me.”

  His men stood stoic. Ren glared down at her, but held out a hand. “Where’s the spawns?”

  “Thas is with my sister-in-law. I would think you would know where Cerridwen was.”

  “These are your personal detail of warriors, kitten. They are yours to order about as you wish, as long as you never leave the castle without them. Inside, you will have a guard of at least two, though they have been trained in preserving your—our—privacy.”

  Armed guards were nothing new to her. Aodhan had a detail assigned to her from the moment she had been dropped off on his door. But her brother had had the right to protect her, by blood and by responsibility. Ren did not have that. He had not earned the right to her.

  “I don’t need an armed guard, Ren. I need to speak with you.”

  He dismissed his men. She waited until they were back in his suite before turning on him. “I won’t be owned.”

  “No one owns you. But you do belong to me. As I now belong to you. There is no law in this land strong enough to break that bond. You will adjust in time. You would if we were both Dardaptoan and Rajni. Would you not? So what is so different here?”

  “Because you don’t mean it. I want to know what you know, why you are so insistent. Why you have attached yourself to me now, when nine months ago you wanted little to do with me. I want answers, Renakletos.” She pushed against his chest when he tried to wrap his arms around her. “You have them. It’s time I did also. What do you know that I do not?”

  ***

  She wouldn’t be content with a pat answer. He knew that with just a single glance at her face. No, not her. She was a stubborn female and when she wanted something she was going to go for it. Not even a Warrior demon like he could break that willfulness.

  “What has changed in you?” She still had her hands in front of him, trying to stop him from touching her.

  He crossed his own arms over his chest. “What do you mean? I know no more than you do.”

  “Bullshit. You’re hiding something from me. You barely gave me a glance for nine months. Now, since your arrival in Levia, you are everywhere I turn.”

  It took everything he had to keep his face blank. “I do not know what you mean.”

  “Coward. Spill.”

  He fought down his ire at her insult. The prince of Warrior Demons was far from a coward. Surely she knew that? “I am not coward.”

  “Then you are dishonest. Which is it?” Her arms crossed in front of her chest. “Tell me. Now. Or so help me, I’ll take Thas back to Levia first thing in the morn. The Goddess can explain to me what you will not.”

  And she would learn of her destiny from someone other than her mate. He did not want that.

  “What do you know?”

  “That there is much in store for you in coming days. And that you must be protected.” That was the truth; yet he’d not touched anywhere on what the Wolf god had told him. Nor would he. He could not forget the Wolf god’s warning that she must never learn of her fate.

  He would never be the one to put her in danger. His job was to protect his mate, and that was what he would do. Even if it meant the loss of his own life. How could he not? He had given her his soul when he’d sealed their gamata bond. Surely she realized that?

  Was she going to make him come out and say it?

  “And who told you that?”

  “The god of wolves. That is all he and the girl goddess knew. And that I was to protect you.” Ren wrapped his hands around her tense shoulders. “And that is what I will do.”

  “So the only reason you are with me at all is because some deities you consider beneath you predicted that I would need protection?”

  How was a wise man to answer that? Ren had no idea. “I do what I must to protect those in this castle.”

  “Even try to charm me into being with you?” She asked the question slowly and Ren tensed even more. What was she thinking? “Even though you didn’t want to be with me to begin with?”

  “No.”

  “Yes. That’s exactly what you’ve tried to do. I won’t be an obligation or someone you have to take care of. That you are reguired to be with.” She opened the drawer to the dresser he’d had moved to the suite especially for her belongings. She started pulling those blasted white tunics and trousers from the drawer. “Where’s my bag? The one I always carry my things in?”

  “I had it put away. You do not need it.”

  “Yes, I do. Get it for me. I’m not staying with a man who sees me as nothing more than an obligation.”

  “You are not just an obligation.” But she was; had started out as just that. But, didn’t they have the time now to build on that? Why did she think everything had to happen between them right now? “What do you want to be to me? I can make that happen. I am half Incubus.”

  “Ren, you’re an idiot if you think that is what I want. Just…just have my things sent back to my room. Thas’s, too. I…don’t want to see you right now. And probably not for a very long time. I don’t want you.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Aureliana’s heart was bleeding as she walked away from him—every Dardaptoan instinct she possessed was screaming at her to turn back, to go with her Rajni, that everything would work out the way it was supposed to. That she was meant to be with the big demon. But she knew it would never work—how could it?

  She would not ever be an obligation for anyone. She’d been just that four hundred years ago, and wouldn’t again.

  No, the only way she would be with Ren was if he loved her. And that was something she greatly feared would never happen.

  Her arms were full with her belongings, meager though they were. She’d never had all of her things brought over from Dardanos, a vague hope that she’d someday be able to return to her home sitting in the back of her mind.

  But that hope, just like the one that she and Ren would ever be happy together, was ridiculous. And it was time she remembered that.

  Tiny arms wrapped around her knee, nearly tripping her. Aureliana shifted some of the things in her grasp until she could see the precious face of Ren’s child. Cerridwen looked so much like her father it shot yet another arrow through Aureliana’s chest.

  “Are you mad at my daddy?”

  “A little.” Dear goddess, she loved this child. Tears filled her eyes.

  “Are you mad at me?”

  “No, baby. No.”

  “Then why are
you mad at my daddy?”

  “That’s a grown-up thing, baby. Your daddy and I just can’t get along together anymore.” What was she supposed to say? “But we both love you very much.”

  Cerridwen shocked her by turning green. Her skin turned green just as fast as her father’s turned blue or purple or any other color. Yet he’d told her that females of his Kind never possessed that gift. “Sweetie, does your daddy know you can turn colors?”

  “No. I can do other stuff now, too. I could not before Fana. Watch.” The little girl emanated a green light; it surrounded her completely. Aureliana dropped the clothing in her arms and touched the light. It singed her palm, but Cerridwen was completely unaffected.

  One of the gifts the Laquazzean had given her? A protection, perhaps?

  “How can you be my new momma if you leave?” The green light stopped, and Cerridwen rewrapped her arms around Aureliana’s knees. “Daddy said you were staying with me forever. Daddy said!”

  “Sweetie, I’ll still be here. I promise. Just in my own room. You can see me whenever you want.” Cerridwen’s face turned mutinous. Why was it that the very things she found so irritating in the father were so endearing in his daughter?

  “But you won’t be my momma like Daddy said.! I want you for my Momma. Momma’s live with their spawn! I want a Momma.”

  She scooped the little girl in her arms, not caring that her clothes were at her feet. “Oh, baby. I love you, just like a momma would. I promise you that. I promise. I always will!”

  “Then why can’t we work together to make all of us happy?”

  His words were quiet, unlike Ren at all. Aureliana turned to face him. When had he come up behind her? Had he followed her and she just not noticed? “I can’t...”

  “No. I can’t. I won’t do it without my mate. And that is you. I know I’m not what you wanted. But I’m asking for a chance to at least try to be. I’m a Warrior first, pet. Incubus second. I do not know as much about the Incubus ways as I thought I did. I am sorry. I will do better.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He hesitated. “I mean that I find myself caring where you are, how you are. Whenever we are apart. And in those nine months since I hurt you, I’ve found myself thinking of you far more often than I ever could have thought. Does that mean something? I do not know. Fated mates like your Rajnis are not something my people know much about. Just gamata.”

  “Is there much difference?” Both were bounded mates, were they not?

  “More so than I realized. Gamatas choose each other, sometimes for political reasons, sometimes for depth of emotions like Kindara and my brother. Sometimes for reasons only known to the demons involved.”

  “Depth of emotions? You mean love. Your brother and Kindara love each other. Immensely.”

  “Yes, they do. And...I do not understand that.”

  “How can you not?”

  “Because Warriors are not trained to love. We are trained to protect, defend. Provide. Our honor is dependent on such. Not love. Love is weakness for Warriors.”

  She could see his confusion, could read it on his handsome face. He was her Rajni, and she hurt for him, too. “But Incubi do love. And you love Cerridwen, and Danae. Even Rathan and Iaschu. Why not your gamata?”

  “I have always been more Warrior than Incubus. I am nothing like my brother. He is full Incubus, I am more Warrior. It is who I am.”

  “Is it? You need to think about that.”

  ***

  She left him in the hall, after scooping up the clothing that had fallen at her feet when she’d held his daughter. The daughter she took with her. He just watched them walk away. They were his life, did they realize that? He would die for either one of them. Surely he had made that clear to them? Surely that was what mattered, not some notion of soft, girly, flowery love?

  He had questions, both about what she had said and about how he felt. Was it as simple as she said? Did he love the warrior girl? How was he to know?

  He did care Danae and Cerridwen. And he felt a great deal of affection for Rathan and their half-brother Iaschu.

  But how was he to know if what he felt for the warrior girl was the kind of love she described? He needed more information before he could answer that question.

  He flashed to his brother’s side, ending up in his brother’s private sitting room. Rathan held Kindara on his lap. His sister-in-law was sleeping; why hadn’t his brother put her in the bed just a room away? It would be far more comfortable for both of them.

  Rathan stared at him for a moment. “Something wrong?”

  “Yes. There is. Tell me...do you love her?”

  “Of course I do.”

  “How do you know? Is it because you are Incubus? Because of your spawn? Why?”

  “I know it because without her I cannot breathe. I love her because of the spawn, yes. To some extent, but it is far more than that. I would love her if there were no spawn. Ever. She’s my reason for waking, brother. More than two thousand years I was alone; I am not now. And that is what matters. Why do you ask? The warrior girl...?”

  “Thinks that I cannot love her. So why should she be with me? Thinks I see her as little more than an obligation.”

  “Well, do you see her as more than that?” His sister-in-law had apparently awakened and was staring at him like he was nothing more than a specimen in her lab. Ren did not like it. At all.

  Her eyes were too much like the warrior girl’s. Too knowing. Too accusing.

  “Of course I do. I could have protected her just as well without taking her as gamata. And she knows I am her mate. I do not understand why she kept that withheld for so many months. Unless…she found me lacking? Because I could not give her love? I do not understand. Explain it to me, please.”

  Kindara stared at him for a long, quiet moment. “You really don’t get it, do you? You have to understand. Dardaptoans find their Rajnis and from that moment on, they care more about that mate than themselves. And what’s more…they expect that in return. From the very beginning. And that is where you’ve failed her. If she says you are her Rajni, Aureliana knew it the moment she laid eyes on you. And we both remember what happened in that moment.”

  Ren understood then. Nine months had passed, and though he’d spent a great deal of his time thinking of her—more than he’d realized—he had not sought her out. Or made her feel like she was more than what she had accused him of viewing her— an obligation. Surely she knew she was more than a damned obligation?

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Ren thought on Kindara’s words as he crossed the outer courtyard a few minutes later. Was it as simple as that? He had failed to give the warrior girl the soft words and foolishness that she apparently wanted? That did not sound like the Aureliana he knew. At all.

  But Kindara had known her for more than four hundred years; wouldn’t his sister-in-law understand her better than he ever could?

  A rush of envy hit him. Would he ever know the warrior girl as deeply as he wished? Even brushing her mind hadn’t yielded the results he’d wanted. Far from it. His female was far more complex than he had thought. And he wanted her. Now.

  He almost flashed to her but changed his mind. She did not like it when he did that. It startled her so.

  He started across the courtyard in search of his gamata.

  The only female he passed was Isolde, looking pale and tired. He paused a moment. She was not Warrior, was more Witch than anything. Much like his sister Danae. “Isolde? My spawn?”

  “She is still with Aureliana, sir. She came to fetch young Thas a few minutes ago. Cerridwen pestered her into a trip to the inner courtyard grotto, I believe. If you hurry, you should be able to join them.”

  “Thank you. Please, take the rest of the day for yourself. I shall be spending the time with my family. My gamata and I will tend to our spawn.” A great roar went up from somewhere in the castle. Screams. The sounds of men fighting; sounds he’d recognize anywhere. “Isolde! Inside, sound the alarms!�
�

  He flashed to his gamata’s side.

  What he saw horrified him.

  He drew his sword, and charged.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Aureliana used every bit of her skill to battle back the weird yellow demons surrounding her and the children. These bastards would never harm her children; she’d die stopping them if that was what it took.

  Cerridwen was behind her, wrapped around Thas and emanating a strange greenish glow. The girl’s eyes had clouded over at the first sign of attack and she’d seemed to disappear inside herself. Aureliana couldn’t worry about that now.

  These demons were smaller than her, but larger than the shojo. They resembled those other beasts to some extent. Same demon family, perhaps?

  They were around her, battling her back, keeping her separated from the rest of the Warrior demons in the courtyard. Why? Was it just because of the children, or were they after something else?

  Someone else?

  Her? But why?

  She refused to look toward her Rajni. If she did she was afraid of what she would see. He would be right in the thick of any fighting, probably more so than she would. He’d fight to get to her and the babes, while she fought to defend. She sought no battles, but the battles sought her in this strange demon world.

  There were more demons coming, yellow and red, and a mix of orange. Ren’s men stood out for their being blue and purple skinned. Aureliana swung her sword, surprising those coming toward her.

  They stepped back until more joined them. She could not get through them; they numbered in the dozens, and still more filled the courtyard. Where were they coming from? Was it just like the Shojo attack? Hadn’t Rathan and Ren put better security into place? The guards Ren had insisted she have were fighting with everything they had to protect her and the children; she would not forget the three who had died fighting the Shojo. But this threat seemed so much more determined.

  She glanced toward Ren, worry for him making her momentarily clumsy. A demon slashed across her forearm with a nasty, filthy razor claw. She stepped back, and something burned the back of her leg.