Page 12 of Daughter of the Darkened City

The demons glared at Kaemon, incredulous. Kaemon only crossed his arms, unmoving, as Melina grabbed the tray and continued to serve the tables. Serving had been her first job, and she still helped often. She enjoyed it, but the last few days of the demons being here meant that they all hovered around her, haunting her every step, trying to keep her and the baby safe.

It was suffocating for Enid to even watch. Kaemon stood up for her but had confided in Enid that he had to fight his own urges to stop her.

Melina was small, but very strong, and she wasn’t doing anything that would harm her or the baby. But a demon colony was always in each other’s business, so it was to be expected.

Dryston’s gaze settled on the scene, frowning at the interactions.

“What’s that look about?” Enid asked.

He pursed his lips, taking a drink of beer. “Melina’s a human.”

“An astute observation, brother. Maybe you can become a detective if the whole Lord of Shadows thing doesn’t work out.”

Dryston gave her a dull look. “She doesn’t have magic, right?” He looked at Kaemon for confirmation, who nodded. “So, how does the mate bond work?”

How indeed? Enid had always been told the mate bond was magical.

“Do you doubt that it’s real?” Kaemon asked. There was a stiffness in his voice. Enid knew he struggled with feeling undeserving of Melina. He’d confessed as much to her before and the truth of those thoughts sometimes leaked out in the words he used or the way he spoke of her. His question was defensive as much as it was worried.

“I felt the bond with her the moment I met her, Kaemon,” Enid said, reaching across and squeezing his hand. “But even without it, I think she’d never want to leave your side.”

Dryston crossed his arms. “I don’t doubt it at all. We can all feel it. The moment I met her, something shifted in the colony’s magic. She’s synched into it.”

Enid could feel that too. Which explained why she’d immediately felt like she’d known Melina when she met her. A demon’s magic was tied to each other in the colony. Usually, when a demon found their mate, a rite was performed to pull the mate’s magic into an existing colony.

“How did that happen without the rite?” Enid asked, suddenly seeing how odd it was.

Kaemon tensed at the mention of the rite. The last ceremony he’d attended had been when their colony was killed. When Kaemon had been captured and their whole lives had changed.

“So, she won’t need the rite to be a member of the colony?” Kaemon asked, relief clear in his voice.

The rite was technically dangerous to begin with. It required a full moon, a moon temple that let the moonlight in, a few priestesses, and each colony member old enough to take part. The priestesses drew each person’s power out, reformed it so each one was tied to one another, then returned it. However, more than a couple of demons were needed for the rite, or those performing it would die.

“She has no colony,” Dryston said. “It’s been ages since we’ve seen a demon with a non-demon mate. I assumed they wouldn’t be bound. We’d have to ask a priestess, but I believe no rite was required because there’s nothing tied to her magic already. Still…”

Dryston chewed his lip and frowned.

“What? The suspense is killing me, Drys,” she said sarcastically.

“Still, she has no magic. I don’t understand how the mate bond would work with her.”

Enid looked out, seeing the other demons watching Melina like guard dogs. They clearly felt a powerful instinct to protect her, which was very much colony related. Though Kalen and Mandel weren’t part of the colony, they still fed off the energy there, being bound to Dryston as their lord.

“But magicless beings can still have spells put on them and use magical objects, right? So, maybe it’s like that?” Enid offered.

Dryston nodded. “Maybe. We should seek a sorcerer in Elf Glen when we arrive.”

They would leave in the morning for the Elven city, having sent a raven ahead of them to request an audience with King Leeth. Her stomach knotted at the thought. Even though Dryston said she’d done the right thing, she had this foreboding feeling that she’d fucked up by going to King Leeth unilaterally.

She always did, though, when it came to anything with Dryston. She’d never lived up to his standards. Dryston’s posture was always straight and unrelenting, his face stoic and strong, his morals unbending. He drank but never became drunk. He roughhoused but never took it too far. He was a model person, a perfect ruler.

Enid was the opposite. She’d discovered too young how alcohol and leaf made her senses calm and easy. She’d discovered too younghow having a body in the bed next to her made her feel less alone. She discovered too young that no matter how hard she tried, she could never be as good as Dryston.

But she could certainly be so much worse than him, that the attention felt like some mark she made that was her own. She had been treading water since she was thirteen, desperately trying to make her own way, to figure out how to trust herself. But even her family couldn’t, so how could she?

Yet Dryston had thanked her and hadn’t admonished her for running away. He’d even said she did the right thing. Did he have any idea how she clung to that little praise? She savored it like a starving person would a crumb.

Enid had many other thoughts and questions, but they died away when the doors to the tavern opened. Something inside her went taut, yanking her attention to the entrance. Light streamed in, blinding for a moment. Only the silhouette of a winged person was visible through the brilliance. The door closed, and the person came clearly into view. Enid caught her breath.

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