Demon Revealed (High Demon #2)(8)
Author: Connie Suttle

"Oh, no," my vision went dark.

"Reah, don’t pass out, baby," Tory was patting my cheek while Karzac rushed over, placing fingers against my forehead.

Vice-Director Schaff was standing next to the sofa when I woke. I blinked up at him, wanting to cry. Was he going to hurt me again? That’s what Edan had done. If I passed out after he hit me, he’d hit me again when I woke, just for fainting in the first place.

"She thinks you will harm her. State your business and leave." Karzac was still there and handing out orders. Tory was there, too, as was Aurelius. My head was in Auri’s lap while Tory paced and blew clouds of smoke from his nostrils.

"Reah, we wanted to tell you soon," Lendill began. "About Edan Desh. Addah had the DNA tests run shortly after your birth. He suspected even then. We figure it was the reason he sent you to Edan. His mistake was never telling either of you what he’d found—that Edan was your father. We suspect foul play, not only in that but also in your mother’s death. We are currently investigating Edan, Marzi Desh and the physician who attended your mother. We are very close to bringing charges against them—for rape, murder and child abuse. You no longer have to level abuse charges—if other, more serious crimes are committed, the abuse victim doesn’t have to be involved. The state will prosecute." Lendill nodded curtly to Karzac and strode swiftly from the room.

"I was born of rape." That fact settled into my brain—it was so much like Edan to do something like that and so much like his mother Marzi to convince him it was a good idea in order to get rid of another, whom she saw as a rival.

"Reah, you can’t let that upset you," Aurelius now held me on his lap. "None of this was your doing, love."

I saw the wisdom and reason in his words—it did nothing to keep my heart beating at a more steady rhythm or my mind from going in circles. They’d killed my mother. She hadn’t wanted to leave me, perhaps. Her death was something that had plagued me over the years and Marzi’s whispered "You should never have been born," when I was six now made more sense.

"Marzi probably wanted to tell Addah that my mother had gone to bed with Edan," I mumbled, while Aurelius kissed my temple and held me tightly against him. "But when my mother became pregnant, I guess other things prevented it."

"Reah, stop thinking about it, baby." Tory went to his knees in front of Aurelius and me. "We’re trying to get you back from the other things. This shouldn’t have been dumped in your lap just now."

"No time would have been a good time, my love." Aurelius stroked hair away from my face. I suppose my hair was finally growing out a little.

"Reah, I don’t want to place you in a healing sleep but I will if this overwhelms you," Karzac sighed.

"I just feel cold," I muttered. I did feel cold.

"It would help if you’d drink some hot tea with Tory and me." Aurelius rose easily, even with me still in his arms. He was vampire—he was strong.

"I want to come." Gavril poked his head in the door. "Master Morwin wouldn’t let me leave my lessons early. I got here as fast as I could." His dark eyes held a silent apology for me.

"Chash, don’t worry about it." Aurelius set me down and Gavril and I were hugging each other tightly.

"I heard all that stuff; my hearing’s really good," Gavril said. "Reah, it doesn’t matter how you got here. Where would Aurelius and I be if you hadn’t been born? I’d have taken that shot instead of you—you shoved me out of the way. Believe me, anybody brave enough to pound on a High Demon in his smaller Thifilathi to keep him from killing a witness gets the highest marks in my book."

"She was pounding on me? I don’t remember that," Tory grumped.

"And yelling at you. I think if she hadn’t been your mate, you might have killed her, too." Ry walked in. I hadn’t seen him for a while—he’d stayed out of the picture while Tory had been courting me.

That’s how I ended up being escorted to the kitchens by a High Demon, a vampire, the child of vampires, a Karathian warlock and a healer. The palace cook was the same one, I saw—he still hadn’t gotten his job on the light half of the planet.

"You’re the one who made the fish," he said when I walked in, supported by Gavril on one side and Aurelius on the other. Tory had allowed his younger brother to help me down the long warren of hallways into the kitchen. "I am Chef Harding," he held out his hand. "I can never get the fish to come out right," he said.

"You’re cooking it a little too long," I said. "Make the sauce first, then do the fish. It always turns out better that way."

"I don’t suppose I could get your sauce recipe?"

"Not that one," I said. Gavril and Aurelius let me go so I could work at the counter with Lissa’s cook. "I can show you one that won’t get you involved in a lawsuit with Desh’s, though." That’s how Chef Harding and I collaborated to make fish with a new sauce and serve it to our audience. Karzac had held Aurelius back while I worked. "We will allow this—it is a distraction," he whispered. I heard but pretended I hadn’t.

"This is amazing," Chef Harding moaned with pleasure as he tasted his portion.

"I am happy with this," I agreed—the recipe had been bubbling in my head for a while—I just hadn’t found the time to try it. We had a menu planned around the fish before all was said and done. Norian, Lissa and Lendill walked into the kitchen right then and I was proud of myself—I didn’t slam plates down or grumble as I served the Director and his second-in-command.

"I’m immune to poisons, so you’ll have to kill me a different way," Norian’s half-grin was a little on the wry side. Lendill said nothing at all.

"Permission to speak freely, Director?" I asked, gazing steadily at Norian Keef.

"Permission granted."

"I wouldn’t stoop to killing you," I snapped. "You’re not worth spending the rest of my life in prison over, or dying on one of the worlds that still hands out the death penalty. Vice-Director," I pointed an angry glare at Lendill Schaff, "I hope your life is never in danger. I might have second thoughts about saving that tight ass of yours." Skipping to get to Aurelius had been easy—I don’t know why I hadn’t thought of doing it before. I skipped away now; it was a simple feat to accomplish.

"Bel?" The light was dim inside his cell but bright in the hallway just outside it, making it difficult to identify the wizard. Bel was sitting on a cot shoved against the back wall, his gaze locked on the white wall opposite his cage. His expression was a hopeless one—he didn’t expect to get away from his Alliance prison.