Immortals After Dark 07 - Kiss of a Demon King

of us killed."
    "She has been punished accordingly."
    "Why would Hettiah do this with the demon, any-way?" Yes, he could get her with child now, but... "The heir has to be mine. I am Rydstrom's queen." Saying that out loud shook her.
    I' m the true queen of this castle. And he's my . . . husband.
    Omort gazed away. "The child only has to be of his blood."

    "The rage demons won't recognize any but a legitimate heir."
    "I might have . . . misspoken about the prophecy.
    The boy need only be born from him."
    Misspoken? "What exactly do you know about how he will unlock the well?"
    Omort studied her face with those eerie yellow eyes. "I want to trust you. I need to. These hours have been agonizing to me."
    "You plan for us to rule together, but you tell me nothing."
    "I didn't want to put undue pressure on you." He twisted his ring. Lying to me. "The fact is that Ryd-strom's son will be sacrificed."
    "What did you say?"
    "His firstborn child will be given to the well-"
    "You mean cast into it?" She wove an illusion over
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    her face as her eyes darted for a waste bin in case she vomited.
    Sabine hadn't particularly wanted a demon son-the only reason she would ever have done this was for the power-but she'd be damned before someone harmed her offspring. Demon halfling or not.
    "This is why I didn't tell you. I didn't think that you'd understand what had to be done. You're not as ... strong as you act."
    Not as evil. He was assessing her reaction. If she was somehow pregnant from that debacle and became pro-prietary about the child, Omort would just punish her, and still kill her son. Any sign that she might care for
    her babe would be seen as weakness.
    "What makes you think that Hettiah will have an
    easier time seducing him than I did?" Sabine didn't
    even bother mentioning Lanthe in this context. She
    would never do this.
    "The demon will be given an aphrodisiac."
    Over my dead body. "Because the heir doesn't have to be recognized."
    "Exactly. Sabine, open your thoughts to me." "Never, Omort. I'll tell you what I'm thinking. I couldn't care less about what 1 had to do to get the
    power from the well," she lied, meeting his gaze without
    hesitation. "But 1 am infuriated that you didn't believe
    you could trust me with this. Why?"
    "Sabine, everything hangs in the balance."

    "Tell me."
    He stood to pace once more. "Cadeon has taken up the charge. He has the Vessel and proves unrelenting. I wasn't going to worry about him since Cadeon has failed in every attempt to redeem himself. But in this, he continues to succeed. Because the very Vessel he's to deliver to Groot seems to be aiding him in her own
    doom-"
    "Rydstrom said that Nix has vowed the sword can kill you. Is this true?"
    Omort fiddled with his ring, even as he met her eyes. "No. Of course the sword won't work.
    Nix isn't infallible."
    He's lying'. Breathe . . . breathe . . . "You're not being truthful with me."
    His eyes skittered over the floor. "It is . . . possible." This explained why he'd been so unstable! "I need to trust you. Can I trust you?"
    Never! "Of course, brother." He can be destroyed!
    "This is one of the reasons I seek Nix in particular," he said. "So I could question her about the weapon."
    To disguise her excitement, Sabine acted indignant. "Why didn't you tell me this? You keep critical secrets like this from me? This is a vulnerability we can't afford-especially not now.
    Especially since Cadeon might actually succeed."
    The ne'er-do-well brother of Rydstrom was that close to having the means to give death to the deathless. How to use this information? How to exploit this vulnerability in him?
    "I should have confided in you." Omort stopped in front of her, then reached for her face, murmuring, "I love you."
    She jerked back. The last of her temper-gone. "You don't love me. You don't know what that is!"
    What was worse, Sabine didn't know if she had a grasp on it either.
    If Omort had been sleeping with one of his sisters, it hadn't been Sabine.
    She'd been a virgin for Rydstrom. After all these years, she'd remained untouched.
    What if I impregnated her? Rydstrom gazed up at the ceiling of the cell he had gotten to know too well. It was absolutely possible for her to have conceived.
    Conceived my child. He found himself wanting it to be true-even as he knew the clock would begin tick-ing down on his life. If she was pregnant, they would have no more use for him.
    More than ever, he had to escape. Take my female, take my child, return for