The Shadow Queen

hesitation, then Lucivar said,“We’re not the only ones who have scars. He hides his better than most men, but he’s got some.”
    “Yeah.” He wasn’t about to forget this particular scar anytime soon.
    “Daemon . . .” Lucivar eased back a little more, but still kept his hands on Daemon’s shoulders. “There’s something I’d like to ask you. If you can’t tell me, I’ll understand.”
    “All right,” Daemon replied, not liking the wariness now filling Lucivar’s eyes.
    “I meant what I said about Jaenelle’s temper riding the scary kind of bitchy.”
    “Not the side of her temper a smart man would choose to tangle with.”
    “It was Witch’s side of her temper. More than that. The look in her eyes . . .” Lucivar shook his head, frustrated. “For a moment, when I looked into her eyes, it felt like the abyss had opened up right under me and . . . I haven’t felt that kind of power since . . .” He sighed. “Hell’s fire. I don’t even know what I’m asking.”
    Yes, you do, Daemon thought. Making a choice, he brushed lightly against Lucivar’s inner barriers, asking to enter his brother’s mind.
    Lucivar hesitated a moment, then opened all his inner barriers, giving Daemon access to everything he was. Leaving himself completely vulnerable.
    Daemon moved carefully and went deep because what he was about to give his brother was information that had to be kept secret.
    When he reached the most protected part of Lucivar’s mind, he offered two images: Saetan’s memory of a tangled web that turned dreams into flesh, and his own memory of the Misty Place and a spiraling web of power—the power Witch had chosen to give up in order to have a more ordinary life.
    “Mother Night,” Lucivar whispered, his eyes widening. “Then the power is still there.”
    “It’s still there.”
    “Could she claim it again?”
    Didn’t Lucivar understand?
    “Could she survive if something pushed her into claiming it again?” Lucivar asked.
    “I don’t know if her body can still be a vessel for that much power. I think she could reclaim it . . . but I don’t think she would survive very long.” He swallowed hard. “That’s why I’m going to make sure she never has to make that choice.”
    Lucivar gave his shoulders a friendly squeeze. “ We’re going to make sure she never has to make that choice.”
    Of course.
    Daemon huffed out a laugh that also held a few tears. “I love you, Prick.”
    “I love you too, Bastard.” Lucivar stepped back and rolled his shoulders. “We’re going to camp here today and keep an eye on him? Make sure he really is stable when he wakes up?”
    “Yes.”
    “So let’s send a message to the scary little witch so she stops being scary, and then see what we can find to eat.”
    Neither of them would shake off the past hour quite that easily, but Daemon felt some of the weight slide off his shoulders. He smiled and slipped his hands in his trouser pockets. “Let’s do that.”

----

    CHAPTER 28
    TERREILLE
    W ith his ears still ringing from Gray’s yappy list of instructions, Theran knocked on Cassidy’s door. He hoped she’d still be taking a bath or otherwise occupied, so he’d have a little more time to figure out what to say, but she opened the door before he decided to knock a second time.
    “Prince Theran.”
    Wary. Surprised to see him. And the look in her eyes told him plain enough that she remembered the other time he’d come knocking.
    “May I come in?”
    Hesitation. Then she stepped aside to let him enter her sitting room.
    Who was with her? Not that it was any of his business. He was First Escort, not Consort, and the Queen could command the attention of any man in her court.
    Except it would kill Gray if Cassidy had taken another lover.
    “Am I intruding?” he asked when he heard some movement in her bedroom.
    Her look said Of course you are, but she replied, “Not at all.”
    Which was when Vae nudged the bedroom door open and joined them.
    “Just females here?”
    “Gray isn’t here, if that’s what you’re asking.” Her voice had a snippy edge to it.
    He knew that defensive tone. He’d used it enough times in his youth when Talon had called him on something and he’d tried to slide around admitting he’d done something he wasn’t supposed to do.
    What did she think he was going to do if she was with Gray? Go running to the Keep to tell Yaslana so he could storm down here and pound on everyone?
    Maybe that’s exactly what she thought. They had to work to get along on their best days, and he had given her enough reasons