A Warrior's Quest (6 page)

She
’d made her decision months ago, and that was the decision she would live by.

Kindara was seeing to Danae, Rathan was pacing the hall outside Danae
’s suite. Aureliana thought it sweet how worried he was for the sister he’d had a hand in raising.

Ren was worried, too, though he tried not to show it.
Softer emotions were not her
Rajni’s
way, by any means. He might not like showing it, but he cared about his sister a great deal. A part of her softened toward him again.

As the hours crawled by he grew more worried, and Aureliana found herself staying by his side. How could she not?
He was her
Rajni
. And he needed her. She rocked Cerridwen when the little one fell asleep in her arms. By that point Ren was pacing over the parlor rug. “How long do such things take?”

“As long as they take.” She
’d had many friends birth babes, and the waiting was by far the hardest part for the loved ones. “You do no one any favors wearing a hole in the carpet.”

“Danae is so young to have spawned. Damn that Warrior bastard for daring to do this to her.”

“Has she said anything yet of what had happened?” Danae was remarkably close mouthed about her time captive in the Warrior Twin Kings’ home. Bronwen had said far less. “Bronwen speaks of it not at all. And we do not dare push the issue on her.”

Bronwen had been taken by one of the warrior
Twin Kings when he was a political prisoner in Rathan’s castle. Rathan had had nothing to do with it; from what Aureliana knew of the situation Ren had even objected, but Rathan’s board of advisors—who’d technically ruled in Rathan’s absence—had gone ahead and kept the Twin King captive.

Koios had broken out of the castle the night Aureliana had been brought to the castle for the first time. After Ren had attacked her that day.

It had taken several hours before anyone had realized Bronwen had been taken. Aureliana would never forgive herself for that. She had vowed to keep Bronwen safe, and the first real challenge to that oath, and she’s failed.

When Bronwen and Danae had been found, Danae was half-starved and Bronwen had lost what had remained of her sight. Aureliana suspected she
’d used too much of herself keeping Danae alive during those three weeks they’d been held captive.

Yet the Warrior
Twin Kings still went unpunished for what had happened to Bronwen and Danae. Aureliana knew that weighed on her
Rajni
—and his brother. And the Twin Kings were frequently political guests of Rathan. No one was happy about that.

But until Bronwen and Danae opened up about what had happened to them in that other kingdom, no formal sanctions could be levied against the
Twin Kings.

***

Two hours later and the girl warrior was stretched out on his brother’s couch, Cerridwen curled up in her arms—both sound asleep. They looked so natural together. The girl warrior’s hair was far lighter than Cerridwen’s black curls, her skin paler, but she held the spawn like she cared for her. Perhaps she did; no, he
knew
she did. Was that one of the things that drew him to her side time and again? Her softness where his daughter was concerned?

He stood next to the couch staring down at them for the longest time, wondering just what destiny could be in store for such a female. She was so fragile to hold such responsibility. Did she have any inkling about what was to befall her?

He could not ask her without revealing what the Wolf god had told him. And that would endanger her. He would have to live with his curiosity, and make damned sure he kept his vow to keep her safe.

A commotion sounded just outside the door, running feet and shouts.
Ren grabbed the handle of his sword and blocked the parlor door with his body.

Rathan stood in the hall, yelling at the
Twin Kings. The girl healer was unconscious in his brother’s arms.

Ren shoved his way in front of the closet twin, hand on his sword. “You disturb my spawn with your yelling. Explain yourselves.”

Koios pulled his blade and put it at Rathan’s throat, just sliding it past the unconscious girl healer’s ear. “Give her to me. I’ve claimed her as
servila
, and kept her the two weeks required; she is by law mine.”

Ren laughed at that. “You think we would allow a valued and honored member of our family, our court, to be
slave
to a lesser king?”

“My foster daughter is no male
’s
slave.
” The voice was cold, chilling. Beautifully female. She stood at the Warrior Twin King’s back. None had seen her enter. She was that good? Or had they been that complacent? How had she managed to get out the back exit of the parlor and around to the hall without anyone knowing it?

Her dagger—something she carried with her always—was at the male
’s throat, despite him being so much larger than she. Her eyes were cool when they met Ren’s. When she glanced at Rathan.

Her eyes were cool, but her hands were steady. Her words burning. “Rath, would you tell me, how is Bronie?”

“Exhausted. Kindara says she gave too much of herself to Danae, again. The spawn was a large one, and it was apparently closer than we could have expected. My sister is more Witch than Succubus. And Witches are frailer. Kindara could not do much to help, I’m afraid.”

Sinrik relaxed his own grip on his sword. He was in an awkward position—he alone could pose a threat to the warrior girl, but his brother was blocking his limited range of attack.

It was an awkward moment for everyone.

Aureliana was the next to speak. “Bronwen needs rest, then. Not a barbarian yelling over her and threatening to take her from those who love her. How is Danae?”

“Our sister sleeps now. Her daughter rests beside her. A beautiful spawn, who very much favors her mother.” Rathan’s pride was evident. “She is called Zephra. Kindara tends them both now, with help from Isolde, Cerridwen’s nurse. I have been tasked with seeing to young Bronwen.”

Aureliana drew her dagger across Koios
’s throat lightly. It was a tease, a warning. A definite threat. Ren knew it would just infuriate the warrior male. It would
him,
if he were in the other male’s place. To be threatened by a weak female such as she—that was the height of insult to a Warrior of Koios’s caliber. “Rathan, if you will carry her to her suite, I will sit with her until she wakes. I had a hand in raising her; she will be comforted in my presence.”

Ren had his sword at the ready and he took over from her when she stepped away from the
Warrior Twin Kings.

She
’d put herself in a deliberately vulnerable position and he would not have that repeated. They would be having words once she was back in a safe position.

Koios growled when she stepped out from around him, his skin the color of red demon rage. Aureliana barely looked at the large threat. Ren prepared to jump between them, if necessary. No, he would definitely be chastising her for her carelessness as soon as they were alone.
She had to be made to understand that she was just not safe in his world any longer…

Not that she ever had been.

“Girl. Remember
this
, a demon Warrior King
does not take kindly to threats.”

She snorted in a most delicately feminine w
ay. She never looked at Koios. An action designed to pick at the other male’s ego. Ren knew she was doing it with purpose. “
Please
, if Ren and all
his
blustering doesn’t frighten me, why should you?”

***

 Ren waited until she and his brother were safely out of the hall before turning to the Twin Kings. He pulled his sword and had the first of the brothers on the ground in seconds. He turned to the second, while holding the brother captive.

They were kings,
yes
. Warriors, doubly so. But
he
was the one
Warrior
who superseded all in this realm. And that was more by strength and might than by birth.

He
’d had Koios by the tunic and off his feet in seconds. “You will
never
threaten
that
female again. One foul word in her direction and you will face death at my hands.”

“You would break our laws then? For an outside female? They are fit for no better than
servila
at our hands. You know this. It has always been the way. Yet
you
, prince of all Demonkin would set one up so high? Foolish. And foolhardy. You always did think with the Incubus part of your head, Renakletos. Much like your brother.” Koios reached up and grabbed Ren’s sword. It was only Ren’s years of experience at holding himself in check that kept him from simply removing this threat to the healer girl with a quick twist of his blade.

But his brother had drilled into him time and time again that killing every annoyance wasn
’t appropriate for a prince such as him. More’s the pity. It would be so satisfying to rid Relaklonos of the warrior twins by sword.

It would make things much simpler for his sister, as well.

“Forget you not, Koios, that the
queen
you owe your allegiance to is now of that same Kind, the Kind you see fit as only
servila
. Think
you
my brother will forgive such a slight as quickly as I? These females are cherished members of
my
family, in
my
keeping. Insult them again, and it will be the last you do.”

“Take me to my spawn. I deserve to be at the spawn
’s bedside the night of her birth. This is my right as her sire.” The quieter of the Twin King’s wrapped his hand around Ren’s arm and pulled Ren’s attention away from the older twin. “Please.”

It was the
please
that reminded him of his own spawn still sleeping on the parlor couch. Of how he had felt being barred from her birth, only to be given the child two hours later, with barely a blanket wrapped around her. He’d never been so helpless in his nearly two thousand years on the earth as he had been when that tiny creature was placed in his arms by the nurse Isolde.

Isolde had defied Cerridwen
’s mother—who’d ordered the spawn turned over to the foundlings group—to give Cerridwen to Ren. He’d never forgotten Isolde’s courage. And he’d offered her a position as Cerridwen’s nursemaid on the spot.

She
’d taken care of his daughter every day since. But if she hadn’t been so brave, would he have ever found his spawn? Would he be still separated from Cerridwen to this day?

“I will stay with you, and you are not to pressure or frighten my sister more than you already have.”

“Agreed. I just need to see…her.” But which her did the Twin King refer?

“Your brother controls himself. Any attempt to find the healer girl or to interfere with Danae and her spawn will result in your immediate expulsion from this castle. If you cannot agree to that—both of you—then you will never see the spawn. Agreed?” He was overstepping his bounds, but neither Rathan nor Danae was there to stop him. And he knew in his soul it was the right decision to make.

“You have my—
our—
word.” Sinrik’s words were tight but Ren knew he meant them. “An oath that we will both abide by.”

“Then I will take you to the spawn.”

Danae would be angry with him, but he understood more about these two males then he thought they realized. For what he knew of them they were honorable males, trying only to preserve the dying out Kind of Warrior Demons. They weren’t the
same
race as Ren’s mother, but they shared a common ancestor. Ren’s race was far rarer and was just a bit stronger and larger than what the two Warrior Demon Kings were.
They
were the more common
Beskre
Warrior Demons. Ren was a
Phrymos
Warrior Demon. The differences between the two races were there, but one had to know where to look to see them.
Phrymos
were more deadly.

It was one reason why his father had chosen Ren
’s mother to consort with for a time.
Her
people were stronger allies in whatever war his father was facing at the time just before Ren’s birth.

Not that it mattered; his mother had abandoned him at the age of twenty to his father
’s keeping, much as Danae’s mother had her. And Cerridwen’s her.

There was a common theme among his family, apparently.

But not him, he would never abandon his child. Not for anything. He was honor bound—to himself—not to. He’d long made that vow to any offspring.

His sister
’s suite was directly next to the healer girl’s. Ren knew it was deliberate. They had bonded during their time in the twins’ captivity. Grown closer than Ren thought possible; but they were of an age and had shared a traumatic experience. And somehow they had kept each other alive in a situation where that shouldn’t have been possible. He was appreciative of what the healer girl had done for his sister every day. If the healer girl had not been taken just after Danae disappeared, what would have happened to his precious sister? He had other sisters—probably close to forty or fifty—but none were as part of his
family
as Danae. He cared for his little sister. And he’d protect her, and her spawn.