Demon’s King (High Demon #3)(11)
Author: Connie Suttle

"Reah, sweetheart, we could end up in several places. I’m bringing Farzi and Nenzi with me, just for you. I didn’t want you to feel outnumbered with me and two warlocks."

"You’re only taking two?"

"Astralan and Stellan are coming. The other two are staying here with my assistant, to keep things running."

"I didn’t know you had an assistant."

"We stay separated, just in case."

"You’re not going to tell me."

"And risk getting a good employee killed? No way."

"Well, then, we mutually distrust one another."

"Reah, you’re ASD and they probably have my name on a wanted list somewhere."

"And if I said they didn’t?"

"I have Gavril, remember. If my name isn’t on the list yet, it will be."

"True. Is he all right?"

"Gavril is quite fine. He isn’t bored or lonely. He’s being kept busy."

"I’m begging you not to mistreat him."

"Gavril will be fine as long as you don’t mistreat me or disobey. Understand?"

"Yes."

"Reah, I’m not asking for the universe here. Most kidnappers would be asking for everything you know."

"Is that what you intend to get, Teeg? Everything I know?"

"Reah, I hope you trust me enough one day to tell me freely. Until then, you’re welcome to keep the ASD’s secrets."

"You think that day will come?" It was my turn to snort at him. A tiny curl of smoke came from my nostrils as a result. Teeg zoned in on that immediately.

"Is that what I think it is? I thought that was impossible for female High Demons."

"Well, it isn’t for this one. Go away, Teeg. I have to finish packing." I tossed a jacket into my bag.

Teeg answered me by falling onto my bed and laughing. Hard. He did get up and move my bag for me after I closed it up. He was still chuckling. I pointed toward my bedroom door. He grinned and shook his head.

"Treat me well and Gavril gets treated well." He wanted in my bed. "Come on, Reah. I won’t force it—I just want to be in the same bed."

"And I’m supposed to believe you?"

"Reah, I won’t force you." He sidled up to me and put his hands beneath my jaw, his thumbs rubbing my earlobes gently. "I know what my Reah wants," he said softly, leaning in to place a kiss on my collarbone. "I know what my Reah likes." Fingers slid beneath the scoop neck of my blouse, caressing bare skin. He nipped my neck gently. I whimpered. "See?" He lifted his head and gave me a kiss, nipping my lower lip with his teeth and then deepening the kiss. "You’re my wife, Reah. I won’t ever let you go." I knew the truth in his words—he meant them. Is that why I didn’t fight him when he took me to bed and loved me so gently I almost wept? I’m not sure I would ever have the answer to that question.

* * *

"Where are we?" I looked around the luxurious home—it was the top floor apartment in a very tall building. Marble floors, expensive rugs in beautiful colors, an open space leading to windows, floor to ceiling, along one wall gave me a spectacular view of a city all around as the warlocks landed us somewhere.

"One of my homes," Teeg announced, walking toward a wall and waving his hand across a scanner. I hadn’t even realized we’d set an alarm off by appearing as we did. It made sense, though. Teeg seemed to be ahead of everyone in the technology game.

I still didn’t know where he kept the remote that prevented me from skipping or sending mindspeech. If I could get my hands on that and turn it off, I’d be sending mindspeech to Lendill in less than a heartbeat, telling him where I was and who had kidnapped Chash. I worried about Gavril every day, although Teeg was telling the truth when he said Chash was fine and not being mistreated. He also wasn’t lying when he said that if I didn’t mistreat him, then Gavril wouldn’t be mistreated. Treating Chash well was a good way to keep me in line and he knew it.

"Our bedroom is through here." Teeg took my elbow and led me through a beautiful kitchen that matched the rest of the home, then down a hall that held doors to several bedrooms, until we reached the suite on the end. Light surrounded us as we walked in the master suite, with another spectacular view through wide windows. The bed was enormous and covered with expensive fabrics and pillows.

"You bought that bed just for you?" I wondered how many women he’d slept with since I’d left him. I pushed those thoughts out of my head. I had no right to dig at him over that. I had two other mates. Well, three, counting Lendill. Four if Wylend decided to make his move.

Wylend—he was smooth and charming on the outside. Tough as steel on the inside, and once he chose to love someone, that love was fierce and consuming. He loved me, even though he held it back when he took me to dinners or brought me in on his arm at a ball he was holding at his palace. If any money-hungry woman saw Wylend’s palace, they’d have pushed for marriage right away. I was content to wait with Wylend until I was free of the ASD.

Karathia still wasn’t a member of the Alliance. Well, the Reth Alliance, anyway. Wylend never said, but he was watching the Alliance Teeg was putting together very carefully. Eventually, Karathia would be forced to make a decision. Even I knew that—it simmered around Wylend most of the time, although he didn’t think I’d guessed at it.

Wylend had been King of Karathia for six thousand years—had inherited the throne from his father after taking down the warlocks who’d attempted a coup by murdering his father, the former King. Wylend was a powerful warlock and he surrounded himself with powerful warlocks he could trust. Erland Morphis, Ry’s father, was one of those and perhaps the best and strongest that Wylend had around him. Ry had inherited his father’s abilities plus some, unless I missed my guess. After all, Queen Lissa, who rumor had it was a goddess, was mated to Kifirin the god and was Ry’s mother.

"I thought about you the whole time I was building this place," Teeg moved my hair aside to place a kiss on my neck. "The kitchen was built with you in mind. Not too big, not too small, with cabinets and things that you can reach easily. I wasn’t thinking when I put Arvil’s together. You have to have a step-stool to reach the upper shelves."

"Teeg, what are you doing?" I turned to face him. "The ASD is searching for me and for Gavril. You have to know that. They’ll go crazy if they learn you have both of us." I didn’t add that Wylend would likely send anybody he had (and that was a lot of warlocks) if he learned that Teeg held me and his great-grandson hostage. Wylend was Lissa’s grandfather. Erland was one of Lissa’s mates. If that wasn’t a double whammy (one of Lissa’s terms) against Teeg, then I was a lion snake shapeshifter.