Wicked Abyss (Immortals After Dark #17) - Kresley Cole Page 0,95
with this?”
When Sian recalled the night Calliope had escaped him, how frantic that chase had been, his calm deserted him. “I would have done anything not to lose my mate.”
Rune stabbed his fingers through his hair. “You don’t have the right to make vows for me.”
“You of all people should comprehend my motivations. Put yourself in my place.” Sian grabbed his friend’s forearms, needing him to understand. “Would you have hesitated to protect Josephine—until you could discuss your actions with me? Could you live with her death not once, but twice?”
Rune turned to Josephine. They shared a look that was fraught with emotion, communicating so much, though not a word was spoken.
Will Calliope and I grow that close?
Rune faced him again. “You know I couldn’t.”
“Then back me in this.” Sian released him.
“Godsdamn it, demon.” Rune exhaled. “I will make . . . sacrifices for you to keep your mate safe. But if you’d found your female before I found mine—and I didn’t know what this bond felt like—we would not be having this conversation.”
“I believe that.”
“What about the demons enslaved in Sylvan? I know you have zero intention of leaving them to that fate.”
“I will come up with something.” Put it on my list. “But first I need to complete an undertaking in my own kingdom.” He’d announced his ideas to Uthyr:
“I’m going to engage my legions in something other than war.”
—Begone, chimera! Do not return without the real Abyssian Infernas.—
Rune sat once more. “What bloody undertaking?”
“I’ve ended the legions’ battles forever.”
“What will you do with such bloodthirsty subjects?”
They’d been created to war. “They will mine ore.” Gold abounded in Slaughter Gorge.
Sian had considered telling Calliope about his work, knowing she would be pleased, but he’d decided to keep it a surprise. He’d prefer to garner some success with his first societal transformation before he revealed all to her.
Though the legions had liked his vision for them very well, converting the battle-happy demon warriors into workers was taking some effort.
He made daily trips to oversee progress, reluctantly leaving Calliope. She would relax in the library with hellcats, spiders, and books piled up all around her. She read as fast as she did everything else, the pages flying. . . .
Rune said, “Your mate’s had some effect on you.”
“I want to rid her new home of conflict.” Her censure of his royal record still affected him. “But it’s not just her. My brother once dreamed of peace.”
“Any other changes on the horizon?” Josephine said. “Maybe like . . . kids?”
“Unlikely.” How could Sian ask that of Calliope? “Aside from obvious concerns, what if they look like I do now?”
Rune shook his head. “The hell-change curse would remain dormant, no? As long as you live, your pups wouldn’t be affected.”
Josephine rolled her eyes. “So what if they look all demonic? You said your chick digs your appearance.”
“And about those other concerns,” Rune said, “don’t let my millennia of bitterness influence your decision. All I needed was a mate who worships me as I am.”
“Worships?” Josephine made a hand-job gesture.
“Will you two have children?” Sian asked.
Rune nodded. “I warned her they’d likely be banebloods.”
Josephine said, “So I told him our kids would just have to find wicked-cool mates like their father did.”
“Mates? Though dark fey are so few?” Before Josephine, Rune had searched the worlds over for a female of his kind. If Sian and Calliope had children, would they be setting up their offspring for misery and loneliness?
Rune chuckled. “Hell, Sian, maybe your baneblood spawn will date ours.”
He’d never considered that.
Rune traced forward to slap his shoulder. “My sons could mate your daughters.”
Knowing his friend’s past with females, and already protective of any future daughters, Sian grated, “If your sons wish to die. . . .”
FORTY-SIX
Abyssian could sense whenever someone crossed the barrier into Pandemonia.
Weirdly, Lila had gotten that sense not long ago, glancing up from her book. Though her ears had twitched like crazy, the hellcats all around her had snoozed without so much as a whisker twitch.
Either Lila was developing the Force, or her queenly gifts were expanding. Maybe she could do even more than reading Abyssian’s stray thoughts and seeing hallucinatory deer.
Tempted to go investigate, she closed her book—one of millions.
In their first week of marriage, Abyssian had told her he had a surprise for her. . . .
He traced her to a different part of the castle, squiring her through an arched double doorway. “This is the Tower of Learning.”