The Invisible Ring

bar—a man who looked big enough and strong enough to wrestle with Garth and come out the winner.
    Standing in the doorway. Jared looked at every face. No one but the innkeeper met his eyes for more than a second. Except for the innkeeper, the men were either lighter-Jeweled Warlords or Blood males who wore no Jewels at all.
    Jared slowly walked to the bar. relieved that the men, picking up the scent of danger and violence that swirled around him, carefully moved out of his way. Calling in the gold marks he hadn’t returned to Lia after his trip to the village, Jared placed one on the bar and looked the Green-Jeweled Warlord in the eyes.
    The innkeeper calmly returned the look, but Jared noticed a flicker of something else in the depths of the man’s eyes. Relief?
    “What’s your pleasure, Warlord?” the innkeeper rumbled.
    Jared let the silence spin out a little before he answered. “A room with a bath, if you have it. Dinner. A bottle of good whiskey.”
    “Have a room that shares a bath with one other. All the others use the common bathing rooms.”
    “Is the other room occupied?”
    That flicker again in the innkeeper’s eyes. “It is.”
    Damn.
    Jared turned slightly away from the bar and scanned the room. No one admitted being the other room’s occupant. However, tucked between the staircase leading to the upstairs rooms and the inner wall of the small, private room was a round table that held an open bottle and a half-full glass of red wine.
    The prickling started between Jared’s shoulder blades as two things struck him: Wine wasn’t usually served in a place like this, and all the men were standing or sitting on this side of the room, as if no one wanted to get too close to that table.
    He had to get Lia out of this room before whoever was sitting at that table returned.
    “I’ll take the room,” he said to the innkeeper.
    The man took the gold mark. He set a bottle of whiskey and a key on the bar. “There are glasses and a jug of water in the room.”
    Noting the number, Jared slipped the key into his pocket and picked up the whiskey.
    He took a couple of steps toward the stairs and stopped, clutching the bottle with suddenly numb fingers.
    The table was no longer unoccupied.
    Daemon Sadi raised the wineglass in a mocking salute.
    Balls and sass , Jared muttered silently as he walked over to the table, careful to keep Lia hidden behind him. Balls and sass.
    “Prince Sadi,” Jared said politely.
    “Lord Jared,” Daemon murmured.
    The golden eyes watching him looked deceptively sleepy. That deep voice flowed over him like warm water over bare skin. That beautiful face might have been carved from ice for all the feeling it revealed.
    “What brings you here?” Jared asked, feeling sweat trickle down his sides. He didn’t have time for this. Lia didn’t have time for this. “It’s not the sort of place I’d expect to find you or your Lady.”
    “You’re right about my current Lady. This wouldn’t be to her taste.” Daemon sipped his wine. “But I sometimes find places like this a refreshing change from a court.”
    “Then you’re alone?” Jared couldn’t mask his surprise fast enough.
    “My Lady and I have reached an agreement. I spend a few days away from the court each month.”
    “What does she get in return?”
    The Sadist smiled.
    Jared shuddered.
    “I don’t hurt her as much as I want to,” Daemon said too softly. Another wineglass appeared on the table. “Join me, Lord Jared.”
    It wasn’t an invitation or a request.
    Feeling sick, Jared tried to smile. “It would be a pleasure, but let me wash the travel dirt off first.” He didn’t wait for Daemon’s consent, but turned toward the stairs, using Craft to float Lia in a counterturn so that she ended up in front of him.
    Sweet Darkness, please don’t let the Sadist notice her , Jared silently prayed as he climbed the stairs, painfully aware of those golden eyes watching every move.
    As soon as he was out of Daemon’s line of sight, Jared grabbed Lia and hurried down the corridor. The inn was larger than he’d thought, and it took him a couple of minutes to find the side corridor that held his room.
    He put a Red shield around the room, a Red lock on the door. He pulled back the bedcovers, dropped all the shields around Lia. and laid her carefully on the bed.
    When he vanished her clothes and looked at her, the strength went out of his legs. He sat on the edge of the bed and stared at the viper rat bites.
    They had swollen to twice the size they’d been when he’d