Queen of the Darkness (The Black Jewels #3)(83)
Author: Anne Bishop

10 / Kaeleer

Sight shielded, Kaelas and twenty Arcerian males crouched on the roofs of the human dens, watching the bad winged males move around the village. Some of the dens had lights now that night had closed around them, and he could smell food cooking.

*Meat?* one of the Arcerian Warlords asked.

*No,* Kaelas replied. He felt a ripple of anger run through the other males. *The meat tastes bad.*

*We have come for the hunt but will have no meat to bring back to the home dens?* another male asked irritably.

*We promised the Lady we wouldn’t hunt human meat,* a younger male said tentatively.

*These males killed a male who belonged to the Lady,* Kaelas said firmly. *They killed the pale humans who belonged to Lady Karla.*

Another ripple of anger, this time directed at the bad winged males. Arcerians didn’t have much use for humans, but they liked Lady Karla and adored the Lady. For them, they would hunt and return to the dens without meat.

The wind shifted slightly, brought a different scent.

*We will take the animals that belonged to the pale humans,* Kaelas said. *The humans do not need them now. It will be payment for work.* He was pleased that he remembered that peculiar human idea. If the Lady snarled at him for taking animals from a human village, he could use those words.

*Payment for work?* a couple of males echoed. Then one of them asked, *This is a human thing?*

*Yes. We kill these bad males, then we can take good meat back to the dens.*

Satisfied, the Arcerians settled down to study their prey.

Kaelas watched the winged males for a minute. *We must hunt fast… and silent.*

*Fast kills,* the others agreed.

Kaelas watched the Green-Jeweled Warlord Prince walk to a den near the Sanctuary.But not for that one.

11 / Kaeleer

Jaenelle was waiting for him by the time Daemon reached Khary and Morghann’s house.

"She’s bleeding too much for this just to be moon’s blood," he said abruptly as he rushed into the guest room, followed by Morghann, Khary, and Maeve, the village Healer. "And there’s not much time left."

Jaenelle placed a hand on Karla’s chest, her eyes focusing on something only she could see. "There’s enough," she said too calmly.

Morghann laid a padding of towels on the bed.

Daemon gave her a cold stare as he laid Karla on the bed. Was the woman more worried about her precious linens than about a friend who had been poisoned?

"It’ll disturb her less to change a towel than to change the linens," Morghann said quietly, her eyes clearly telling him she knew what he’d been thinking—and had been hurt by it.

There was no time for an apology. Morghann and Maeve stripped off the bloody nightgown and robe, and quickly wiped the blood off Karla’s skin. Jaenelle paid no attention to the physical ministrations, remaining focused on the healing.

Daemon was about to tell her what he knew about the poison when he looked down at his blood-soaked sleeve. Memories of being soaked in Jaenelle’s blood rushed at him. He ripped off the jacket, then the shirt. Khary took them and handed him a wet cloth.

As he scrubbed the blood off his skin, Jaenelle said, "There were two poisons used. I don’t know one of them."

Handing the cloth back to Khary, Daemon moved to the bed. "One of them comes from a plant that only grows in southern Hayll."

Jaenelle looked up, her eyes blank and iced. "Do you know an antidote?" she asked with an odd calm that scared him.

"Yes. But the herbs I have are several years old. I don’t know if they’ll still be potent enough."

"I can make them potent enough. Make the antidote, Daemon."

"What about the other poison?" he asked as he started clearing a work space on the bedside table.

"It’s witchblood."

A chill went through him. Witchblood only grew where a witch had been violently killed—or where she had been buried. Used as a poison, it was virulent and deadly—and usually undetectable.

"You can detect it?" Daemon asked cautiously.

"I can recognize witchblood in any of its forms," Jaenelle replied in her midnight voice.

Another memory rushed at him. Jaenelle staring at the bed of witchblood she had planted in an alcove on the Angelline estate.Did you know that if you sing to them correctly, they’ll tell you the names of the ones who have gone?

Even dried into a poison, did the plants tell Witch the names of the ones who were gone?

Locking away the memories, along with his heart, Daemon concentrated on making the antidote.

"Maeve," Jaenelle said, "get some basic plasters ready. We’ll have to draw out some of the poison. Morghann, I want you to leave the room. Don’t come back for any reason until I tell you."

"But—"

Jaenelle just looked at her.

Morghann hurried out of the room.

"May I stay?" Khary asked quietly. "You three will be involved in the healing. You’ll need a free pair of hands to fetch things."

"This won’t be easy, Lord Khardeen," Jaenelle said.

Khary paled a little. "She’s my Sister, too."

Jaenelle nodded her consent, then leaned over the bed and said so softly Daemon was sure he was the only one close enough to hear, "Arms or legs, Karla?"

The answer, if she got one, was private—Sister to Sister. But it began a healing so gruesome he desperately hoped he would never witness anything like it again.

12 / Kaeleer

Kaelas listened to the sounds coming from the room and snarled silently. The Green-Jeweled Eyrien Warlord Prince was mating with the pale female, the young Priestess. Her cries disturbed him. They were not like the sounds the Lady made with Daemon. There was fear and pain inthese sounds.

He almost slipped through the Green shield the male had placed around the room, almost decided to repay Morton’s death with a fast kill instead of the kind of death that was owed when the female cried, "But I helped you.I helped you! "

Remembering KaeAskavi’s she-kitten, who was now an orphan, and all the other pale humans that had belonged to Lady Karla and were now dead, Kaelas took a step back. The female had fouled her own den, had brought in poisoned meat. She deserved this winged male for a mate.

Careful not to disturb the Green shield and alert the male, he placed a Red shield around the room, caging the humans. He added a Red psychic shield so that when the male noticed he was trapped, he wouldn’t be able to warn the other winged males.

Slipping out of the building, Kaelas paused, listened. There were more winged males than cats, but that didn’t matter. The Green-Jeweled Warlord Prince was the only one of the winged males who wore one of the dark Jewels, and he was already caged. Among the cats here, Kaelas was the only one who wore a Red Jewel, but the shields from the Opal, Green, and Sapphire Jewels the others wore would protect them while they attacked with teeth and claws.