Page 72 of The Lost Nation

I was still burning to know what happened to Thad and Xena, fearing that the lack of information meant the worst. Regardless, I would ask Ronan as soon as I could. I knew Benedict was not in any state of mind to discuss it. I would give him that courtesy.

We settled in together, my eyes drifting shut as his breathing evened out. We didn’t know what the future held, but at least I knew we would face it together.Allof us.

Chapter 31

Xana

The sun was setting over the western horizon, turning the grey sands into a sheet of liquid gold. From our vantage point on a high dune, it was easy to see the remnants of the demon force scattered about in small, make-shift tents. The children were in the middle, and the seasoned warriors on the edges. Not that we expected to encounter any life in this gods-forsaken-wasteland.

Earlier that day we’d felt a strange pulse thrum through the land. Thad had turned to me, those dark eyes sparkling with mischief.

“They succeeded then?” I’d asked, but he only grinned and turned back as we marched forward.

I sighed, closing my eyes as the sun bathed me in the last vestiges of light.

“Feeling introspective?”Thad appeared at my side, much happier and carefree since we'd left the fortress. It was amazing how I’d come to care for him while he’d been trapped there, unhappy and afraid. Out here in the desert, in the western expanse across the mountains and away from Dorea, he wasalive.

Well,nowhe was. The magickal effort he’d expanded to get everyone through the mountain range and in one piece on the other side took him out for three days. He’d mumbled something about using the raw white magick that was in the air from the fortress, and promptly passed out.

We built our camp here and waited for him, since we had enough supplies to last a month or so. I was skeptical at first—how could we survive out in the desert withchildren?

The children and a good number of the 2nd generation demons (we refused to call them half-breeds) with water witch blood in them easily found an underground stream, and we built our makeup camp around its bubbling waters. In those first three days Thad was unconscious, we had the humble beginnings of a respectable oasis laid out.

“Do you think we’ll stay here?” I asked, since it was a logical question. Thad sighed, one eye on his people. The outcasts of Dorea.

“Perhaps for a while. Then we will move on. I think they are eager to explore the rest of this world, and are better equipped than most to do so.”

I hummed in agreement. “The children?”

Thad snorted. “What better way to raise children than to travel? They’ll have none of this half-breed nonsense in their brains. It is the best way.”

I nodded. “Agreed.”

His arm came around my waist, and I relaxed into his shoulder. I still felt guilty about leaving Wren and the other drakens at times, but they would simply have to believe me when I’d said it was my choice.

I’d had so many taken from me in the past.

“Some of the children will likely want to have families when they grow up,” I murmured, since there were a number of female children in our group. Thad had already made it clear before we left the fortress what would happen ifanyof them were mistreated. Well, the ones that were likely to do that had been slaughtered before we’d left. Thad wasn’t taking any chances with the safety of the young ones.

Thad had taken an impossible situation and made the best out of it. The demons who wished to simply live their own lives would have the chance, and the 2nd generation demons would grow up free of fear or abuse, with those who understood their chaotic white magick. Once they got older, they would be given the choice to either leave, or seek out their witch heritage back in Dorea.

Under the circumstances, it was for the best that no new demon blood was brought in this world. And everyone had agreed.

No one would be allowed to have children. If you wanted a family other than us, you had to leave and seek it elsewhere. The demons weren’t from this land, and any knowledge of where they’d come from had died with the Overlord. The 1st generation demons suffered in the climate of Dorea, making us think the air here was different than what their bodies were made for. The worst part was that they had no idea where they came from—it was as if their early lives and memories had been stolen from them. There were only about a dozen left.

I glanced up at Thad, noting the dark circles under his eyes. “You’ve done well by everyone the best you could. You should be proud.”

He sagged slightly against me, and I nuzzled into his chest. I bared my neck to him, and his eyes flared with arousal and need. We vanished a moment later, and reappeared in our own tent, isolated from the others for privacy.

“I still fear I will hurt you,” he admitted, even as his fangs glistened at the site of my bare neck. I laughed.

“Trust your draken instincts. Queen Wren has done fine so far, and so will you.”

I regretted mentioning her the instant the words left my mouth. His face shuttered, and a haunted look reached his eyes. I grabbed his chin, forcing that gaze to mine.“Thad. Sheforgaveyou. She wouldn’t have tried to mate with you otherwise.”

Admitting some other female had tried to takemy matehad my inner draken seethe with rage, but I pushed it aside. Thad wasmine. “Ssh. Stop thinking. There is only here, andnow.”

I pulled Thad down on top of me, the thin gauze of my garment easily thrown aside. He groaned as he leaned into my bare chest, our scales glinting against the candlelight as the tension finally eased from his shoulders.

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