Queen of the Darkness

this poison.
    Besides, Jaenelle would most likely head for Scelt. And that decided him.
    "I'm getting you out of here," he said as he started to lift her. Then he realized her hand was still clamped around the bladed stick. "Sweetheart, let go of the stick."
    "Have to clean... the blades. Can't... put a weapon away... without cleaning the blades. Lucivar... would skin me."
    Daemon almost gave her his succinct opinion about that, but glancing over his shoulder at the hacked-up woman, he swallowed any criticism he might have had about Lucivar's training methods. "I'll clean the blades. And I promise I'll never tell Lucivar you didn't do it yourself."
    Karla's lips curved in the barest of smiles. "You'd be likable if ... you weren't so male."
    "My Queen likes me that way," Daemon said dryly. He vanished the bladed stick, carefully lifted Karla, and turned.
    Her Master of the Guard blocked the doorway. "What are you doing with my Queen?"
    "Taking her away from here," Daemon answered quietly. "She's been poisoned. She needs help."
    "We have Healers."
    "Would you trust them?" Daemon saw the moment's hesitation. "I have no quarrel with you, Prince. Don't force me to go through you."
    The other man studied him, focused on the Black-Jeweled Ring. "You're Lady Angelline's Consort."
    "Yes."
    The man stepped aside. As Daemon passed him, he said quietly, "Please take care of her."
    "I will." Daemon paused. "Have you seen Morton?"
    The Master of the Guard shook his head.
    There was no time to think about Morton or what might have happened to him. "If you see him, tell him I'm taking Karla to Scelt. Don't tell anyone but Morton."
    The man nodded. "Come this way. There's a Craft-powered carriage out back. It'll get you to the Winds faster."
    The Master of the Guard drove the carriage while Daemon held Karla, using those precious minutes to wrap Black shields around her to protect her during the ride on the Winds. They stopped a few feet from where he had landed.
    "May the Darkness embrace you, Prince," the man said.
    "And you." Wrapping his arms around Karla, Daemon caught the Black Wind and rode hard toward Scelt.
    He stopped once, halfway there, to send a message to Khary. *I'm on my way back with Karla. She's been poisoned. We'll need a Healer and a Black Widow. The best you have.*
    *Jaenelle's on her way here,* Khary replied.
    That was all he needed to know. He caught the Black Wind again and continued the journey, knowing the sand in the hourglass was trickling away far too fast.
----
    10 / Kaeleer
    Sight shielded, Kaelas and twenty Arcerian males crouched on the roofs of the human dens, watching the bad winged males move around the village. Some of the dens had lights now that night had closed around them, and he could smell food cooking.
    *Meat?* one of the Arcerian Warlords asked.
    *No,* Kaelas replied. He felt a ripple of anger run through the other males. *The meat tastes bad.*
    *We have come for the hunt but will have no meat to bring back to the home dens?* another male asked irritably.
    *We promised the Lady we wouldn't hunt human meat,* a younger male said tentatively.
    *These males killed a male who belonged to the Lady,* Kaelas said firmly. *They killed the pale humans who belonged to Lady Karla.*
    Another ripple of anger, this time directed at the bad winged males. Arcerians didn't have much use for humans, but they liked Lady Karla and adored the Lady. For them, they would hunt and return to the dens without meat.
    The wind shifted slightly, brought a different scent.
    *We will take the animals that belonged to the pale humans,* Kaelas said. *The humans do not need them now. It will be payment for work.* He was pleased that he remembered that peculiar human idea. If the Lady snarled at him for taking animals from a human village, he could use those words.
    *Payment for work?* a couple of males echoed. Then one of them asked, *This is a human thing?*
    *Yes. We kill these bad males, then we can take good meat back to the dens.*
    Satisfied, the Arcerians settled down to study their prey.
    Kaelas watched the winged males for a minute. *We must hunt fast... and silent.*
    *Fast kills,* the others agreed.
    Kaelas watched the Green-Jeweled Warlord Prince walk to a den near the Sanctuary. But not for that one.
----
    11 / Kaeleer
    Jaenelle was waiting for him by the time Daemon reached Khary and Morghann's house.
    "She's bleeding too much for this just to be moon's blood," he said abruptly as he rushed into the guest room,