The Devil's Concubine (27 page)

Swallowing with an effort, Aliya covered her mouth and nose with her hand, trying to

keep the bile from rising in her throat, trying to focus on anything besides the bodies her horse was daintily picking a path through. Skittish, shying and jerking its head as it tried to pull free of the man who led it every few moments, its nostrils quivering and flesh flicking, the horse she was mounted on reflected her own revulsion at traversing the

valley of the dead.

They halted near the center, forming a line and Aliya saw then that they had been

met there by the leaders of the clans of the man beasts. Abruptly alert, she scanned the long line until her gaze lit on Talin, scanning his body searchingly for signs of wounds.

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Briefly, their gazes met, but he looked away almost at once as her father nudged

his horse slightly forward of the others. “We will fight no more,” he said, his voice loud and strident in the near deafening silence that held them in its grip.

Some of the tension seemed to ease from every man in both groups as the high

king of the man beasts, who had stepped forward as her father had, nodded. “We will

withdraw,” he said in a deep, rumbling voice.

“You will agree not to seek retribution?” King Andor demanded.

The dragon king surveyed the men facing him. “Nothing will bring back the

dead,” he growled ominously. “…On either side.”

King Andor nodded after a moment. “We will withdraw to rest and meet again

here to discuss the conditions of peace.”

“Nay. We will not!” the dragon king contradicted him in a rumbling voice.

“There will never be true peace between our peoples, only animosity and renewed

attempts to war as soon as you have recovered. We have no wish to live among you, side by side with our enemies, the man children. We have decided to take our people and go north to the land of shadows to carve out new kingdoms for ourselves.

“Know this! No man child shall ever step foot across our boundaries again and

live to tell of it.”

Aliya stared at the dragon king in dismay and then glanced quickly at Talin.

He would not meet her gaze. His face was as if carved from stone.

He thought she’d betrayed him, she realized. It was just as she had feared, and he

would not speak up for her believing that she had returned to her father. “Wait!” she gasped before she had time to reconsider it. “I will go with you.”

She shrank back as all eyes turned to her.

“Your place is with your own people!” her father growled ominously.

“My place is with my husband! Talin! For mercy’s sake, I did not betray you.

Do not let them do this!”

He glanced at her then, and she saw his gaze was filled with pain, not hate, but

with knowledge, as well, of the inevitability of it. Her heart clenched in her chest painfully. “Your father is right,” he said after a prolonged moment. “You belong with your own kind.”

Aliya felt her chin wobble. She fought it, fought the tears clogging her throat. He loved her. Everything he had done spoke of love. It didn’t matter than he had never said the words. She
knew
it in her heart!

It did matter! She wanted to hear it, needed to.

“Then tell me you do not care for me and I will stay with these people whom I

have come to despise! I will live with their hate if you do not want me anymore.”

His face twisted with pain. He opened his mouth to speak and closed it again.

Swallowing thickly, he shook his head fractionally. “It does not matter. The high king has spoken.”

Aliya stared at him for a long moment and then glanced at the dragon king

hopefully. He studied her face searchingly, glanced at Talin’s stony expression and then looked at her once more.

If you were with child then your place would be with your husband.

Aliya felt her jaw sag as the words flowed through her mind. Instinctively, she

cupped a hand over her belly. She saw when she turned to look at Talin again that his THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE

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gaze had focused upon her hand, become intent. “My child needs his father!” she

announced baldly.

The look her father bent upon her made her quiver inside.

The dragon king almost seemed to smile. “She carries the child of a man beast.

She must go with us for I will not allow the child to grow up among his enemies.”

King Andor glared at her, grinding his teeth. Abruptly, he jerked on the reins,

turning his horse and kicking it into motion. Almost as if they had practiced the steps and performed on a parade field, his allies and the royal guard turned as one and followed him.

Aliya felt the pain in her heart ease as she heard them ride away. One by one, the

kings of the man beast clans turned away, as well, until at last Talin and Aliya stood alone in the center of the field, gazing at one another. Stepping forward at last, Talin grasped the horse’s halter and looked up at her. “You will not see him again,” he said slowly.

A spurt of pain clutched at her chest, but Aliya nodded. “He was lost to me long

before now. Mayhap, in time, he will cease to hate me and think fondly of the daughter he once claimed to cherish--mayhap not. It does not matter. I belong with the man I love.”

A faint smile curled his lips upward. Moving closer, he caught the pommel and

swung himself up onto the horse behind her, wrapping his arms around her. “You are

certain you will not come to regret being the devil’s concubine?” he murmured, dipping his head to lavish a row of light kisses along the side of her throat.

“Not if that devil is you,” she said huskily.

His arms tightened around her briefly. Finally, settling one along her waist to

steady her, he took the reins and kicked the horse into motion. Aliya relaxed back against him as they finally left the battlefield behind. “You did not tell me you loved me,” she said pensively.

He leaned down and nipped her earlobe with his teeth. “Did I not?” he asked

teasingly.

She elbowed him in the ribs. “You know very well you have not said it.”

“I adore you,” he murmured, amusement threading his voice.

She let out an irritated huff of breath and he drew back on the reins, bringing the

palfrey to a halt. Catching her chin, he tipped her face up and kissed her hungrily. “I love you,” he murmured when he broke the kiss.

Aliya gazed up at him searchingly and was satisfied. “You will not be angry with

me then?”

His brows rose questioningly.

“I am not with child,” she admitted guiltily.

Talin chuckled, his arms tightening around her. “Do you think one man beast

among us believed that for a moment?”

“No?” she asked, surprised and more than a little uneasy.

“No--especially not Balian, for he is no mere beast with the senses to know these

things instinctively as is the case with the rest of us. He has powers far beyond any other.”

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Aliya smiled, feeling totally relaxed for the first time since she had lied, feeling

warmth and gladness replace the anxiety that had been riding her. She had been

accepted, welcomed by the king of kings.

“We must try to remedy that situation with all haste, however,” Talin said huskily,

spurring the palfrey once more.

The End

Return to a realm of fantasy and forbidden love in The Shadowmere Trilogy, now

available in Trade Paperback wherever books are sold.

The Shadowmere Trilogy by Jaide Fox: Trade Paperback ISBN 1-58608-670-7

In a land shrouded in darkness, protected by magic and the fierceness of its people--for those who venture into these forbidden lands, the penalty is death ... or worse. But sometimes it is not the monsters who are to be feared, but the emptiness of an existence without love. For the first time, bring home the trilogy and discover passion and magic ...

and love.

Untamed: When Lord Conrad captured a beastman as a sacrifice to heal her curse,

Ashanti vowed to free the innocent man at any cost. Never did she expect her untamed

captive would soon become her master....

Seduced by Darkness: Raphael, Lord of the Hunters, took Swan at the borderlands--

mysterious, tempting ... and perilous to her very soul. For to give in to his dark seduction would be to consummate the sorcerer’s curse ... and leave her forever the swan maiden ...

and his prey.

The Dragon King: If Shadowmere had a ruler, Balian would be king. He is the most

powerful of their number, feared above all others. And the time has come to find his

mate.

THE DEVIL’S CONCUBINE

Jaide Fox

123

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