Page 39 of Demonchild

He lifted her gently and set her down on top of the stone altar so that her face was toward the sky. He had lain her atop that altar many times before, but today was different. Today was not about pleasure. Today was about saving their child.

The woman whimpered as she looked up at him with tears in her eyes.

“I’m so scared,” she said. “Beliath, what’s wrong with our baby?”

Ourbaby. He was glad to hear her say that. And he was glad that she no longer seemed to think he was the cause of her suffering. Yet at the same time, he was scared too. It was not an emotion he had ever experienced before. He’d never had anything worth losing—until now.

He did his best not to let his fear show. He needed to be strong for Malissa.

“I don’t know,” he told her, “but I’m going to find out.”

Gently, he plucked her hands away from her belly. Then he rested his own hands there, directly over her womb. He focusedall of his attention on the child growing inside her. He could sense its pain and distress.

And he could sense the cause of it too.

“This isn’t magic,” he growled darkly. “This is poison.”

The queen’s eyes went wide.

“Poison?”

Beliath nodded and gently palpated her abdomen, sensing the nature of the poison inside her.

“I know the recipe,” he said. “It’s an old one. Very old. It’s meant to induce a miscarriage. Whoever gave you this poison wasn’t trying to killyou. They specifically wanted to end your pregnancy.”

“Who—” the queen started to say, but then shook her head, as if to say that question could wait til later. “Can you stop it? Can you save our baby?”

“Yes,” said Beliath. “I think so.”

He pressed his hands a little more firmly against her belly and sent his magic into her to fight the poison. She had taken a big dose. A very big dose. Beliath was amazed that the baby had been able to survive it.

Glad, but amazed.

It was Malissa’s body that had saved the child. She seemed to have a natural resistance to poison—or rather, anunnaturalresistance. An ordinary woman would have lost the child already.

Clearly, Malissa was not an ordinary woman.

Beliath already knew she was special, he just hadn’t realized to what extent.

It took almost half an hour and most of the magical energy he had stored up inside him to eradicate the last traces of the poison from Malissa’s system and the baby’s. When it was over, he let out an exhausted sigh.

“Is it better?” Malissa asked. She still had tears in her eyes, but she had stopped sobbing. “Itfeelsbetter.”

“I have eliminated the poison,” Beliath said, gently caressing her stomach. “The baby is alive, but very weak.”

“Will he survive?” Malissa asked, fresh tears surging into her eyes.

“He will,” Beliath reassured her. “I just need to heal him. But…”

“But what? What’s the matter?”

“Malissa, I hope you will not think me crude, but I will need to pleasure you.”

“Now?”

“I’m afraid so. I’ve expended all of my magic getting rid of the poison. Now I need to replenish it, and for that I need food.”

“Food?”

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