How to Love a Blue Demon (46 page)

“Yes,” Cass agreed.
“He looks much better.”

“My dear, you should rest.”

“No.”

The Queen raised a brow at the brevity of her response. Cass raised hers in return. The Queen laughed softly and ran an affectionate hand over her son’s mate’s hair.

“You would make a fine queen,” she said, turned and was gone.

Eyoen healed rapidly with Cass and the healers in constant attendance. Cass was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes a few days after the battle.

“My dear,” he whispered, reaching for her.

“I’m here.”

“Don’t, cry,” he rasped.

She laughed, sending crystals flying as she threw herself on his chest. “
Why not? That’s all I do these days.”

He sighed, inhaling deeply to bring her scent into his lungs as they h
ugged.

“It’s so good to see your eyes open again,” she whispered.

He laughed softly, slowly sitting up and then standing, his cream loin cloth falling to the floor. He stretched, the healers hovering.

“I feel as though I have not held you for an eternity.”

Cass grinned up at him, her arms firmly wrapped around his narrow waist. “I can think of something else you haven’t done to me for an eternity.”

He laughed.

“Sire,” the old healer bowed his way forward. “It would be best if you took the waters for awhile. It will alleviate your stiffness and condition your still healing skin.”

“Yes, I will, thank you. Care to join me?”

Cass nodded quickly.

The healers le
d them to a large pool in a connecting room. Easily 12x18, the pool was beautifully tiled in the same cream and gold as the main healing chamber, and its water was a pale pink.

“How is the water treated?” Cass asked.

“Do you see the bottom?” the young healer asked. She nodded. It appeared jagged, as though the tiles it was set with were not smooth or uniform. “Those are crystals embedded within the tile. Coupled with the salts and minerals, they combine to infuse the water, turning it into the strongest non-invasive healing tool available on Cyanus.”

Eyoen, already hip deep in the pool, gestured to Cass to join him.

She looked at the old healer. “Can I go in too?”

He nodded. “Yes, miss. It won’t hurt you. It will give you more energy, and any malad
ies you may currently suffer should disappear.”

“Come,” Eyoen said impatiently. “Thank you, healers. You may leave us now.”

The demons bowed themselves from the room.

“You were kind of short with them.”

Eyoen looked surprised by her comment.

“They healed you,” she said simply. “They should be treated with more respect.”

He laughed softly, hands busily lifting her shift over her head. He tossed it aside and immediately filled both hands with her butt, his face pressed against her throat. “They will be well compensated for their part in my recovery, my dear, never fear. And if you like I will apologize later,” he said against her skin. “But right now I care for nothing except you.”

That first kiss was lush and sweet, and they fell into it like they’d been separa
ted for years not days. Eyoen sat her on the edge of the pool so he could move between her legs. Serendipitously, the change in height was perfect to align the more anxious bits of their anatomy.

Eyoen moaned sof
tly as he drank from her lips, his tongue tangling with hers.

Cass sighed voluptuously, shivering with happiness at the
familiar feel of those big blue hands in her hair, on her neck, his heat warming her. “I’ve missed you.”

“No more than I’ve craved you, my dear. My hero,” he whispered, leaning back so she could see the pride shining in his yellow-gold eyes. “There will be parades and monuments built in your honor, Cassidy Dodge. You shall stand up on the
dais with an entire star worshiping at your feet, as well they should since you are their savior.”

Cass
smiled and shook her head. “I don’t need a parade, lover. I just need you back on your feet.”

“That you shall have,” he promised. “I have to be 100 percent to keep up with you.”

Cass laughed, her happiness charging Eyoen’s spirit as effectively as a battery.

“I love you,” they whispered together, healing waters swirling bu
sily around them as they stood happily in each others’ arms.

“I haven’t the strength to make love to you properly,” he mourned, face buried in her neck where he sucked fretfully as she stroked his thick black hair.

“Then I will make love to you.”

Cass
had him sit on one of the steps in the pool, a large, flat surface where he could lean back on his elbows and let the water lap over but not entirely cover his body. Gently she splashed him, his pleasured groans like forgotten music to her ears as the waters soothed his wounds and her touch hardened his cock.

She smiled when his head lolled on his neck, and told him to “conjure me a big water proof pillow for your head.”

He did, the little magic creating a welcome snap of energy in the air.

“Now lean back,” she crooned.

He did, watching her closely as she traced each healing spot on his body with loving fingers and lips. His once perfect blue skin was marred nearly black by bruises in some places, and Cass wished they could resurrect the demon Unjel just so she could kill his sorry ass again.

The day before s
he’d quietly asked the Queen what happened to Unjel. The Queen’s beautiful face tightened into an angry mask.

“He and his lieutenants were tried and convicted of treason and executed. His army’s dead were shipped to their home worlds, and the survivors released in a gesture of good will. They’ve all been warned that should
any of their demons or allies raise arms against Cyanus again, there will be no quarter. They will be executed on sight.”

But
Cass quickly put away her blood thirst. She let every ounce of her feeling for him bleed through those touches. Eyoen felt her heart beat more heavily, pleasurable thumps in her chest to reflect the pulse of healing love energy that traveled from her body to his.

“Yes,” he whispered, head thrashing slowly on hi
s pillow. He shivered as her love ran over and through him. “Yes,” he said again, back arching as his hips writhed, seeking.

Cass ran both hands from his neck, down his chest, stopping every and anywhere she liked on the way down while her mouth opened over that qu
esting blue cock. She licked its large cap gently, and Eyoen cried out.

“My love,” he said, offering a low, broken moan of appreciation as she began to suck.

She hummed around his shaft, her hands busily shaping and rolling his balls beneath the healing pink water. She moaned too, happy to have him inside her again in this small way. Her pussy clenched empty and needy, and she shivered as the water seemed to tingle excessively on those parts that missed her demon most.

When his breathing grew rough, and his limbs tense, she sucked faster, harder, her hands and mouth moving greedily over him, demanding, insistent until he gave up his seed in a trembling rush.

“Oh, my love,” he whispered, eyes closing as he reluctantly succumbed to fatigue. “I would fight a thousand battles to keep the pleasure of you for me always.”

For the next few days, Eyoen and Cass were never more than a hands span apart. He rested. Sometimes he fell asleep with his brothers and sisters still talking
to him. They were often in his chamber, lounging on the bed until it was a crowded tangle of blue limbs. Cass occasionally had to fight her way free, but she didn’t mind. She knew having them close was good for him. Not only did their energy feed his healing, their presence fed his spirit.

She’d quickly broken them of their habit of giving her an almost worshipful thanks. She had not saved their star, she insisted. She’d simply done her part, as they all had.
But no one believed her. Gifts from all over the star poured into the palace. Cass commissioned a gown be made from some of the gifted fabric, and a hat made from others, adorned with precious metals and stones that were also gifts. She wore slippers from one citizen, earrings from another, and anything else that caught her fancy when she and the other members of the royal family appeared at the council celebration for the victory.

The entire star seemed to be in attendance, and when cries of
peeshu! Peeshu!
rang out, Cass looked at Eyoen and then at the King and Queen. When they nodded, she began to sing for the first time since the battle.

“What a difference a day makes.
Twenty-four little hours…” the old Dinah Washington tune seemed appropriate.

When she finished the applause was practically deafening.
She gifted the crowd with a beautiful bow and a curtsy so long and low demons swooned at this evidence of her majesty. She had won the hearts of the people long before the battle with her kindness and her curious enjoyment and appreciation for all things Cyani. Her voice had enchanted them, but now, knowing she had been the key that turned the battle against the enemy Unjel in their favor, she could do no wrong.

The King and Queen couldn’t contain their smiles, and Eyoen and his sibling
s laughed aloud and clapped like they were in the audience, pride demanding a physical demonstration unlike anyone was used to seeing from the royal family.

The King winked at her, and Cass’ happier than she’d ever been in her entire life, winked back.

It had been
two weeks since the battle, and Cass was preparing to go home. Her work commitments were drawing near, and enough time had passed that people were starting to get a bit squirrely wondering where she was, since, naturally, no one had heard from her except Priti, and that had only been once. Inter-planetary calls were not cheap, even for a royal.

Cas
s was sad. For the past week she’d been revisiting her favorite places on the star. She spent several days at the spa, where she stocked up on hair cream, and was buffed and massaged down.

Her voice, which ha
d gotten rough following The Battle, was the impetus for several new inventions. One remedy, a foul tasting gargle that made her gag so terribly Eyoen’s claws had to be pulled from the healer’s throat, proved successful almost immediately. Just a few minutes after she very gratefully spit it out, her voice was perfect again. She was also the inspiration for a new burn cream, which she informed Eyoen hurt worse than the actual burn.

He di
dn’t react well to that one either. He was beside himself that she had not told anyone she was injured. But she’d ignored the burn because she was focused on his injuries. Hers began to heal without attention thanks to all the time she spent beside him in various healing pools.

When the healer applied the ointment to the spot on her calf s
he’d screamed blue murder, and Eyoen had roared in outrage, backhanding the demon across the room. The poor healer had to have another healer come and reset his jaw and shoulder, but a few minutes later her skin was perfect again.

But
on the day before they were scheduled to return to earth, Cass was sick at dinner. She hadn’t been feeling the best since she woke up, but not wanting Eyoen to freak out and potentially cancel their return trip home, she tried to hide it. Unfortunately, the scent of the after dinner ale they usually drank sent the rest of what had been a lovely meal straight up, out and into a plant near her chair.

Eyoen poofed in so many healers, no one could hear over the din. Finally the King took over, banished everyone except for Cinque, the Queen, Eyoen and Cass, and it was Cinque who pronounced
, “She’s breeding!”

He and the King slapped a da
zed Eyoen on the back several times, their faces split from ear to ear with grins, and the Queen was practically vibrating with happiness at the prospect of another grandchild.

Cass, prostrate on a stuffed co
uch with the Cyani version of a wet towel on her forehead, blinked a few times, and said, “Shit.”

“Well,” said Cinque, knowledgably. “You may be having some human symptoms of pregnancy, but at least you won’t have to gestate for nine months. Just a few short weeks and – ” he trailed off, looking from Cass’ appalled face to Eyoen’s glare to the King who was examining the mosaic pattern on the ceiling.

He cleared his throat. “Well, I have some matters of state to attend to,” and quickly took his leave, the King and Queen following close behind.

Cass sighed gustily and plopped the
herb anointed towel back over her eyes. She felt a vague sense of movement, and when she moved again she was lying in their bed.

“A few weeks?”

“Yes, my dear.”

“When were you going to tell me?”

“I wasn’t hiding it from you. We’ve never discussed pregnancy. I, well, I suppose I forgot to tell you about the differences.”