Page 54 of Demonchild

“I was just thinking, you’ve come out here to visit me many times now, always at night and always on foot, with one exception. And yet, as far as I can tell, you’ve never brought a lantern.”

“I don’t need one,” Malissa said. “I’ve always been able to see quite well in the dark.” She smiled. “When I was little, my nursemaids used to tease me that I was part cat.”

Partsomething, Beliath thought.

“And let me guess,” he said. “You’ve always been an exceptionally fast healer as well. When you were little, you were always getting into some kind of trouble or another, always falling down and scraping your knees or your hands. Yet you always managed to heal much faster than other children.”

She looked at him curiously.

“Yes…”

“And you’ve always had a knack for finding hidden things. As soon as you came to Drachenval, you found all the secret passages without even really trying. And you happened upon my darkstone ring, even though nobody else has been to this place in ages.”

The little queen began to look worried.

“Beliath, what are you getting at?”

“You say you never knew your mother, Malissa. I wonder, did you ever know your father either?”

“Of course! My father is Lord Herzog.”

“Is he really?”

The queen’s eyes were wide now, and Beliath could see the gooseflesh texturing her bare skin in the candlelight.

“You think I’m a bastard child?” she asked.

“I think you’re a demonchild, a cambion, a half-demon. I’ve suspected it ever since the incident with the poison. Based on the dose you were given, our child should have been killed.What saved him was your body, Malissa—a body that is far more resilient than that of an ordinary human.”

“But… I don’tlooklike a demon.”

“Neither will our child, remember? If your true father was a Sabaoth like myself, he could have used his magic to hide your true nature when he conceived you in your mother’s womb.”

The queen’s lip trembled softly. Tears were forming in her eyes. One of them rolled down her cheek, and Beliath gently wiped it away.

“Come now, little one. It’s not such a bad thing to be a demon, is it?”

“It’s not bad,” Malissa said. “Just… overwhelming. If my real father really was a demon like you, what happened to him and my mother?”

“I don’t know,” Beliath said. “Perhaps nobody knows, except…”

“My father,” Malissa finished. “Or my stepfather, or whatever he is.”

Beliath saw the look of hurt in her eyes. It wasn’t the idea of being a cambion that upset her. At least, Beliath didn’t think so. It was the fact that the truth had been hidden from her all these years. She’d been lied to, about her mother, about herself, about everything.

And Beliath would be damned if he would add to that lying anymore.

“Malissa,” he said, lifting her chin with his finger. “There’s something I must tell you. I have lied about something, and I hope you will forgive me.”

“Lied about what?”

“I told you I had put a curse on you to make you die during childbirth if you did not free me at the time of the equinox. It isn’t true. I only said that as a way to ensure you would come back and free me. It was wrong for me to do that, and I am sorry. Now you know, and it is up to you whether or not you still wish to set me free.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could answer, Beliath interrupted her.

“Before you say anything, Malissa, know this: If you do free me from my prison, the child you are carrying in your womb will never be Wulfgang’s heir, and you will no longer be his wife. I will take you away from this place, and we will travel the world together as mates, as a family. Once you set me free, you will no longer have any choice in the matter. I will take you with me, whether you want me to or not.”

When he was finished, the little queen raised herself up on her knees and kissed him. That kiss told him everything he needed to know.

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