I blinked in surprise. “Why?”
“Puts him in solitary, keeps him from general population and keeps cameras on him. Anyone doing this much bullshit might have bad plans for him on the inside.” Ballard made a few notes. “What did he do to this Malarthe character?”
“Malarthe sued me, hewasmy attorney, and Esmeray might have given the judge doubt as to the truthfulness of his claims. Also, he’s affiliated with The Church, now.”
Ballard groaned. “Yeah, you’re one of ours. We’re taking care of your mate.”
“You have no idea how much this means.”
“Hybrids have it rough enough.” He nodded at me firmly.
“I thought you were part elf.” I stared him down, the dark hair and pointed ears matched to his spectral eyes, but nothing more.
“Yeah, but my partner… Hybrid mage helped him out. Atwood. Good guy.” Ballard turned in his seat, and I glanced up in time to see my mate being brought in cuffs and a silver, blessed collar. Ausmius rose up the wall behind me with a violent hiss that rang in both mine and the officer’s ears. He tamped down almost immediately, shrinking into the floor as if all the energy had gone from him.
“Oh fuck. Hey, Rosewill, give the mage a moment with his mate there. Alpha genes going nuts. That’s his mate and babe.” Ballard gestured toward Esmeray, who peered up at me with eyes dark and listless, the fire in them gone.
“Gre?” He stumbled, feet shackled too.
And in that moment, I realized a few things at once. Demons had a demonic form, one they hid and kept treasured while topside. It was difficult to drop the seals and made them vulnerable, but with the collar, I saw his true form and my rage intensified. He might as well have been naked before them, such a vulnerable thing. His pale skin shone glassine, and eyes were rimmed with white, pupils and irises a bottomless darkness that no fire rose in. A slender tail dragged the floor behind him as thin limbs tipped with clawed nails hung weakly over his belly.
The officers stepped away as I rushed forward, taking Esmeray into my arms. “Esme.” I whispered the pet name to his slightly pointed ear, the tip notched and flatter than most.
“Gre. I didn’t. You know I didn’t.” His voice choked, and tears coated his cheeks, skin nearly sparkling like bone ash had been strewn over his cheekbones. I kissed him, pressing our lips together as I whispered to him.
“I know. I—” I hesitated as Ballard cleared his throat behind me. “Look, we can’t do much at the moment. I love you and trust you beyond all else. You are mine, and nothing will stand in the way. When they question you, impress upon them that you feel suicidal. Please. They’ve made arrangements so if you do that, they’ll put you up somewhere safer.”
Esmeray stared up at me and nodded. “My shadow isn’t listening. He’s so weak.”
“I know. He’s not handling your pregnancy well at all. Please. I’ll do all I can.” I cupped his cheeks and stroked his silken dark hair again as runic symbols, a shade paler than his own skin, seemed to move over his flesh like stripes. He was a gorgeous demon, and even more beautiful were the horns he bore, three tines on each side of his head, rising up with a gentle curve like a beautiful obsidian crown. I touched them ever so gently. “They had no right to make you show them.”
“It’s just to make sure everyone who looks at meknowshow bad I am.” He huffed in disgust.
“Only I get to know howbadyou are. And you’re fierce and strong. I love you.” I said it again because I meant it, and an officer coaxed him away, showing great deference for Esmeray.
Officers glanced at me sympathetically, and Ballard went around whispering to each of them just how much care needed to be taken.
Chapter Seventeen
Esmeray
I didn’t think I’d make it another day in the place, alone in quiet, visited by Gre every other day. We couldn’t have sex, couldn’t kiss or touch save for fingertips through small holes in plexiglass. My only company was my babe and Ausmius who grew weaker by the day, separated from me.
My father sent word that he promised he’d have me out, but Malarthe wasn’t making his demands known quite yet and motioned to extend the court date for further investigation and discovery.
They’d taken an amniotic fluid sample to test his claims of paternity but, of course, Malarthe refused to submit a sample. Gre had submitted a sample, too, to push his claim. The child was his, after all, but, as a hybrid, his blood needed far more time and an aura sample to prove…and an aura on a babe couldn’t be tested until birth. At least they’d be able to prove the giraffe part.
I held my belly in quiet contemplation and relished the sensation of my child moving within. I’d missed several doctor’s appointments, so I couldn’t even know my child’s gender. Demonic pregnancies, according to incarceration standards, didn’t need prenatal care, so even then, I couldn’t get any additional care. Never in my life had I wanted to be in my childhood bed more than at that moment.
For me, this was hell.
Greginald
I sat in Draevus’s office with BellardBellendBeaumont and a representative of The Church, my chair on my father-in-law’s side of the desk for once.
“This is extortion.” Draevus hissed as Beaumont propped his feet up on the end of Draevus’s desk.
“Call it what you like. It’s negotiations. Gre converts to Singulatarianism and rejects his goddesses and the deic realm. We take aminimalsettlement and we drop the accusations.” Beaumont slicked his hair back and grinned, not even showing the decency of looking at us.
