Kobal
“Stay with her!” I snapped at Bale when I stormed out of the tent.
“Wait, Kobal, we have to talk about what just happened!”
I rounded on her. “What about it?”
She took an abrupt step back and folded her hands demurely before her. I’d rarely seen such a position from her. She treated me like her king when it was required, but she’d always been free to say what she had to around me, as had the others. I valued their opinions. Now she looked like she was trying to handle a live bomb. Perhaps she was; I certainly felt as if I was ticking steadily toward a large explosion.
“You have to admit you handled that poorly,” she said.
“No human will attempt to harm her again,” I grated.
“They barely trusted us before—”
“I don’t care if they trust us or not; they will do what has to be done if they want their species to continue.”
Bale looked toward the others as if seeking help.
I turned to face all of them. “What do you have to say about it?”
“Nothing,” Morax said. “If it had been Verin that woman tried to kill, I would have eaten her head after to make an even bigger point. She deserved to die.”
“I would have done the same if it had been Morax,” Verin replied. “And I’m not one for head eating.”
At least someone could see reason. My fingernails dug into my flesh as I recalled what had transpired with River. She’d calm down; she’d come to her senses once she realized I’d done what had to be done. She was human, and they were overly sensitive creatures.
Since arriving here, she’d been far more resolute and composed than most of the humans thrust into this new existence of knowledge, probably because of her demon and angel side, but she was now showing her more irrational, human side.
She’d been through a lot, and Lucifer had rattled her last night. I knew he was the main source of her irrationality now, but I wasn’t used to dealing with humans in a fit of emotion. They cried far more often than we did, and also showed affection and friendship with far more ease than us. Perhaps, I’d handled it poorly, but I wasn’t going to apologize for it.
I couldn’t have stopped my course of action anyway, not once I smelled River’s blood on the air, not once Isawit on her pristine flesh. There had been no control after that. I hadn’t been able to protect her from Lucifer last night, but I could protect her from that woman and from any possible future attacks from a human.
We were different, but she would understand, and then she would ask me to return to her. She had to; I wasn’t going to give her up. There was no separating the two of us. I’d marked her as my Chosen, and she’d done the same to me.
However, she was not fully demon; she didn’t feel the bond as deeply as I did. If she did, she would have had no problem with what had happened today, and she wouldn’t be trying to push me away. She would have done the same thing if the roles were reversed.
If she didn’t feel the bond as acutely as me, if she didn’t feel this twisting, wrenching disconnect from her as deeply as I did, she may not return to me.
No!I refused to consider the possibility. She would come back. There had been enough demon in her to mark me repeatedly and to wield fire. There would be enough to drive her into my arms once more. I couldn’t consider the consequences of it being any other way; I would go mad with the loss if I did.
“Did you stake up the remains of that woman?” I inquired of Corson as I tried to keep my riot of emotions under control.
“That is taking it a step too far,” Shax replied, ever the voice of reason. “They all know what you did. Talk is flying around the camp already, but to stake her out somewhere will only upset them and make them believe we’re monsters.”
There was that word again. River had told me I was acting like one, and perhaps I was. It was time to regain control, to react to this situation as I would have before River had become central to my life. As badly as I wanted that woman’s body splayed out for all of the humans to see, I had to admit Shax was right.
“I’ve already ordered it to be done; I can’t back down from that now,” I said.
“Then have her remains put somewhere they won’t see them much,” Shax replied.
I rubbed at my chin as I considered his words. “Have her placed in the field above the burned out town where the revenirs attacked. Few people will see her there, but there will be enough of them to know my command was upheld.”
Shax’s shoulders sagged as he heaved a breath. “Now to convince the fifty humans you’ve chosen for this mission they won’t be slaughtered.”
“There’s a good possibility they will be along the way,” I muttered.
“True, and they know this, but I think they’d far prefer to knowyou’renot the one who is going to do it. We have to make sure they don’t tuck tail and run from this mission, Kobal.”
