Demon’s King (High Demon #3)(5)
Author: Connie Suttle

"It’s over, we just have to cover up the small wound," second voice said. He did so, wiping off the wound and covering it with more bandaging. "You’ll still have to be bathed for a while until the wound heals and the casts come off. The scans look good, though. Should be a few days at most."

"I want to wash my hair." My voice sounded like one sheet of sandpaper rubbed against another.

"I know, pretty girl. We’ll see about that."

"Don’t f**king call her that." First voice had arrived and was watching. Second voice was silent. I cringed.

The restraints came off next. "Try to raise your right arm," second voice said. I tried. That was the best that could be said. I got it off the bed but I shook with the effort. "Grip my fingers." I gave the best grip I could. It wasn’t much. Second voice moved to the other side of my bed and did the same with my left hand. My arm was weighed down by the cast, although it was made of the lightest materials. I did better at squeezing his fingers on that side.

"Now the blindfold," first voice demanded.

"Now the blindfold," second voice repeated. I learned it was grip-fastened in the back so I wouldn’t have to lie on a knot in the fabric. Second voice pulled it away and I blinked, unprepared in the sudden light. Even though it was dimmed, it still hurt my eyes. They watered while I worked furiously to get my sight to clear. I peered into second voice’s face. It wasn’t a bad face and he was smiling at me. He looked to be around forty turns or so, had dark-brown hair, hazel eyes, a nose that was a bit large and a dimple when he smiled. I couldn’t bring myself to smile back at him.

"We’ll let you try to eat in just a little," he assured me. He wasn’t going to tell me his name. Well, I wasn’t going to tell him mine, either. Things might have gone well if first voice hadn’t stepped into my line of vision. It took everything I had to rip one of the restraints from the bed rail and fling it at him, screaming the entire time.

Chapter 2

"Let me go, you stinking pile of shit," I shouted at Teeg San Gerxon. Of course, I was weeping and hanging precariously off the bed while I did it. My muscles no longer obeyed me and the pain of moving with cracked and broken ribs was unbearable. I learned then that my back, too, could bellow its displeasure.

Second voice was shouting for help and Astralan, the warlock ass**le, was there to help in only a blink. Both got me back on the bed—with second voice fussing the entire time while Teeg stood off to the side, watching with hooded eyes and absolutely no expression on his face. Once I was back on the bed and arranged to second voice’s satisfaction, Teeg came to the bed again. "Done with your little outburst, Reah?" I didn’t answer him. "And I don’t intend to let you go. While you voided the adoption with Arvil, we are still married. I never set that aside, you know. You’d have learned that if you hadn’t skipped away from me the last time."

"Oh, boo-hoo," I said, turning my face away from him. "Send me back to the Alliance—they don’t recognize your marriage contract there. See? Problem solved."

"I could have set it aside here. I decided not to."

"It’s too late for me to sign a pre-nup."

"Reah."

"Teeg, don’t even try. You get everything you want? Do you?"

"You’re harder, now."

"You can bet your ass on that." Working for the ASD had done that. Dealing with what he’d done to me before had done that. Now he was back to torture me again.

"Can you still cook?" Astralan asked.

"Astralan, go ahead. Do your best sorcery or whatever the hell it is that you do. I dare you." I turned my head back to glare at the warlock. "How’s Teeg treating you? As well as the Hardlows?"

"Not even a comparison," Astralan grinned.

"We had everything set up to take Zellar down inside that hotel room, Reah," Teeg crossed arms over his chest. That chest was just as wide as it was before. "But the Alliance sends in one of theirs. It couldn’t have turned out more perfect. They hand you right back to me, when I’ve been looking for you for years." I pointedly ignored the fact that Teeg was just as handsome as he ever was.

"Sure, you looked for me. And Elves are real, too," I muttered. I didn’t add that if I were in better health, I might consider breaking his perfect nose with a single punch.

"You might be surprised," a smile tugged at Teeg’s mouth.

"What do you want from me, Teeg? Am I a hostage? You intend to beef up your bank account by selling me back to the Alliance? Force them to do something they don’t want to, just to get your way?"

"Oh, I have a project in mind." He nodded at my assessment, his dark eyes giving nothing away. "But I want your help to track those fool apprentices Zellar trained first. They could be anywhere. I’ve hacked into the ASD records, Reah. I know you still don’t miss. You’re going to help me take those f**kers down before they destroy what I’ve tried to build."

He meant his new alliance. I realized that quickly. "Still building things, Teeg?"

"Trying to—yes." Long, well-shaped fingers raked through dark hair.

"Uh-huh." I handed him one of Queen Lissa’s best, unusual phrases. It stopped him for a moment and he blinked curiously at me, attempting to determine what I meant, more than likely.

"I also know you have other mates. I suggest you cooperate with me or I’ll put a price on both their heads." That statement made my chest hurt. It made me want to cry. "You didn’t take him, did you?" I could barely get my hand up to wipe away the tear that fell.

"Take who?" Teeg was staring at me.

"Nobody," I muttered.

"Maybe we did, then." Was he using what I’d just given him or did he have Gavril? I was shaking.

"You’re upsetting her." Second voice had my wrist in his fingers, checking my pulse.

"You mean Gavril, don’t you?" Teeg sounded smugly satisfied. How had he gotten that name? I’d never said it to him. Neither had Ry nor Tory. An ASD agent never gave the enemy a target to go after. Teeg knew he’d hit the mark when I didn’t answer. "We have him—we just didn’t realize he’d be important to you in any way. We were going to present other demands to Le-Ath Veronis. Is that where you live, Reah?" Teeg was digging into my ribs verbally. It hurt. My breathing quickened.

"Do not hyperventilate," second voice issued the command. My body ignored him. Astralan helped get me sitting up in bed and my head down as far as it would go. "Get the quickshot!" Second voice shouted. I struggled; they gave it anyway. I was out in no time.