Kain cursed and let Selma slide to the floor so his hands were free and his body between her and their attackers. His powers enveloped them both just in time to block a crushing blow of magic.
He growled at the cowardice behind the invisible attacks. These were filthy traps placed by weak enemies!
“I see I didn’t tire you nearly enough.”
The queen stepped out of thin air. She yanked on the chain in her hand, pulling his father out in the open too.
Kirigan stared straight ahead. Not a single hint of emotion flickered in his gaze despite the blood trickling from the barbs on the thick metal collar around his neck.
Kain pushed the odd pang in his gut away and bared his teeth at the queen.
“You will not stop us from leaving,” he snarled in return. “Without your little tricks, even a queen has no hope against a Lord.”
The queen’s painted lips quirked. “Perhaps not under normal circumstances. But as you might be able to spot, I’ve already incapacitated two Lords without breaking a sweat, and despite all your bravado, you are not even at your full strength. Are you, my Lord?”
She had a point. How had she managed to trap both Kesh and Kirigan this easily?
He narrowed his eyes in concentration as he focused his powers. She was right—he was not at his best, and it was more challenging than it should have been to keep the protective barrier raised around himself and his mate while pushing his magic outward.
A faint shimmer filled the room, outlining the forms of several dozen crouched figures—hidden females ready to attack, no doubt. Yet that didn’t explain how the magic constricting around Kesh’s neck kept him kneeling and immobile, nor how his father, one of the most powerful demons he knew of, had been captured.
“A parting gift from His Highness,” the queen purred. “For a son of one of those empty-headed cunts you all fawn over, he is quite crafty.”
She held out the wrist on the hand not around Kirigan’s chain, letting the jewel mounted on her silver bracelet sparkle.
Kain gasped, almost losing his grasp on his magic. A Stone of Power!
“Now, don’t look so surprised. You didn’t think I’d offer to help my sworn enemy just for a stud—even one as handsome as you? Lucky for me, your Prince thought you a great enough threat that he was willing to bargain this stone for our help in taking you out of the equation.
“Not that I doubt the little bitch hiding behind you had something to do with his compliance. I do wish I understood what you saw in the pathetic little cretins, but I suppose I will have the chance to test her myself before Naharan picks her up.”
Blinding rage surged through his veins, partly at the threat to Selma and partly at the depth of the Prince’s betrayal. The three Stones of Power were as ancient as their race and had been safeguarded by their rulers for millennia to ensure the gods never got within breathing distance of them. Giving one to a sworn enemy who had already proved she would cooperate with the gods was treason.
If he had to give his own life to stop her, he would.
Kain grabbed at the very root of his essence, forcing his magic to burst out through his marred hands in a sudden blast that covered his leap toward the queen.
The room exploded in movement and shrieks as the hidden females sprang to aid their ruler, but they were too late to stop him.
He grabbed her shoulder, her bones snapping with a satisfying crunch when he closed his fist. The chain holding his father captive fell from her grasp.
The queen shrieked and twisted, throwing him over her hip and to the ground faster than he could anticipate.
He rolled to get back on his feet, but it was too late. Black power closed around his windpipe, and when he looked up, he saw the Queen bent over him, her features pulled into a fierce snarl. The Stone of Power shone at him, keeping him down.
“For that I will kill you,” she hissed. “I have two other Lords I can breed now.”
Kain tensed, trying his best to free even an ounce of his power, but the magic from the stone kept him completely pacified. He had failed.
“Kain! No!”
Selma’s scream, shrill with anguish and fear, cut through to his very soul.
His mate. He would leave her behind to endure unspeakable horrors and a future as a breeding slave for a demon who would never treat her with the respect she deserved—and there was nothing he could do to change it.
Nothing he could do but die.
“Now, child!”
