Page 56 of Prince of Demons
“Go get settled while you finish nursing him, little one. I’ll finish up here and be with you in a minute.” He bent to kiss her forehead and rub a knuckle over his son’s cheek. The expression in his eyes was so achingly tender, Kesh looked away, uncomfortable.
Selma leaned into her mate’s touch for a moment, then nodded. “I’ll see you in a bit then.” She looked back up at the screen and nodded at Kesh. “Please take good care of the Seer. With everything going on, I don’t want the importance of her wellbeing pushed aside.”
“I promise, she’s my first priority.” Reluctantly, in the beginning, but now? Putting Georgia above everything, even the war, felt… worryingly natural.
Both brothers watched in silence as Selma left. Only when the door closed behind her did Kain turn back to the screen.
“There is another matter concerning the Breeder we need to discuss.”
Kesh frowned. “My Breeder?”
The words ‘my Breeder’ hung in the air between them for a beat. Sick dread settled somewhere below his ribs as the unintended implication reflected off Kain’s face.
“What do we need to discuss regarding my ward?” he corrected, irritation rippling over his skin. It seemed he was fucking incapable of keeping it together, just because.. what? She reminded him of his fucking mother? Even for a demon, that was messed up.
Kain cleared his throat. “Mallorn’s report last night was… worrying.”
In a flash, irritation was replaced with a hot spike of anger. “Worrying? Don’t fucking tell me he was whining to you about how I’m handling Georgia.”
“He wasn’t whining, Kesh. He was agitated. I understand your inclination to keep the presence of an unmated Breeder in your territory quiet, considering the clusterfuck of a war we’re in, but I’m telling you, you’re gonna lose control of your men if you don’t allow them to start the courting process soon. We can’t afford to lose any of them, let alone a warrior as loyal as Mallorn.”
Anger faded to dread. He remembered the seething resentment in his old friend’s eyes when Kesh had commanded him to release his hold on Georgia. He’d been too preoccupied with his own roiling aggression, thanks to her presence, to worry about his Second’s. Could he truly lose his most trusted warrior over her? His friend?
Kesh looked up at the screen. At his brother. The man who’d slaughtered the old crown prince and split the continents with war, all to keep his mate.
Kain was right.
If anything would break his men’s loyalty, it would be this.
He pushed away the hollow feeling in his chest, forcing his focus to the priority: the war. His men. His duty as their prince. “I understand. I will send out the official invitation to her courting tomorrow. She should be mated within the week.”
28
Kirigan
A beep from his phone alerted him to movement from the west wing of his estate, where his son and daughter-in-law had gone to have their video call with Kesh. When he glanced at the screen, he saw Selma walking down the corridor with Kamaran in her arms. Unescorted.
The darkness in his gut tightened. He was moving before he’d decided to, crystal glass clanking as he roughly placed his bourbon on the table and headed out the library door.
He intercepted her before she reached the cozy lounge she favored. Her eyes widened slightly at his sudden appearance, her grip on the baby tightening a little, but her scent no longer soured with fear at the sight of him, like it had in the beginning. “Kirigan…”
“Kain let you leave his side? Without a guard?” he interrupted.
The Breeder sighed, rolling her eyes. “Yes. Seeing as I’m his queen, not his prisoner.” She stepped to the side to get around him and continued to the lounge she’d claimed after she and Kain moved in.
Kirigan followed her, taking a seat on the window ledge as she got comfortable on the sofa and began nursing her baby. Despite the lack of fear in her scent these days, he knew she found his companionship… unpleasant. He didn’t have the capacity or the inclination to care.
They settled into tense silence, broken only by the small suckling sounds from his grandson.
Kirigan stared out the window, trying to ignore the sound. It cut like tiny shards of glass through his nervous system, and the darkness in him snarled to wring the little creature’s neck. End the sounds, and the agony of the memories they brought from when his own sons were young. He exhaled slowly, deeply, letting the madness wash through him. There was no point fighting it; he’d given up on that folly decades ago.
A small hiss from the Breeder brought him back with a sharp twinge. He snapped his head around just in time to see her yanking Kamaran from her breast to rub at her nipple, eyebrows locked in a displeased frown as she glared at her baby.
“He bit you?” He only noticed his clenched fists, his furious voice, and the dark well of magic pouring out of him when he saw Selma’s eyes widen in shock, followed by a protective bubble of light erupting around her. With a force of will, he tempered the madness down. Only when he was sure it was back under control did he say, “My apologies. You and your child are safe. I promise."
His daughter-in-law took a long, hard look at him before she lowered her magic barrier. “What the hell was that?”
“Nothing. It was nothing.” He turned back to the window, staring blindly out at the tapestry of autumnal foliage lighting up the grounds. It wasn’t ‘nothing’. But if he confessed to her, or to Kain, exactly what it was, they would leave. Which would make them more vulnerable to the Europeans. His estate was the safest place for them, and so they would stay. He’d control the madness, even if it broke him to pieces. He had to.
