AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"But… why?"
He shrugged. "That we don't know."
My mind cartwheeled as it tried to put together all the pieces of information he had given me.
"All we know is that the victor will be taken to Tartarus, that is all. After that, theAsphodelreturns to Elysian, where the seven maidens will be dropped off, as well as any of the Tainted and other Nayphyllym who were captured."
"Tainted?"
"Nayphyllym who were born to a Nayphyllym mating others outside their species. Their blood still holds powers for us. The more diluted it becomes, the less effective it is for us. Daemons can only sire children with pure Nayphyllym or Tainted whose blood has not become too diluted yet."
I shook my head as if to clear it. "So you come here and raid Earth for… Nayphyllym and Tainted to produce the next generation for this sick… quest?"
"Yes."
Why have I never heard of this? I wondered before I realized that the last time the Daemons had visited Earth must have been during the thirteenth century. If there were any records of aliens having landed during that time, our historians would have never believed it, would have never given this any serious credibility, and it would have been buried along with all the other nonsense of heaven and Earth, witches and demons and gargoyles. I swallowed. It had all been there, always, but nobody had believed it or given it any credibility, and the ones who actually did had been made laughingstocks in our society.
"So what does this mean? For us?"
He rose and scooted onto the bed next to me, put his arm around me, and pulled me against his chest. "I don't know, Fay. All I know is that you are my karamia, and I cannot live without you."
I snuggled into his embrace. "Will you take me back to Earth?"
"Do you want me to?" he asked hoarsely, and I felt his heart skipping a beat.
I didn't even have to think about an answer. "No."
He pulled me tighter.
"I don't know how this will work, Fay, but I swear to you I will make it work. In the meantime, I need you to trust me. Will you do that?"
I had no reason to and yet I heard myself say, "Yes."
"Behlial commanded my brothers' and my presence for breakfast, so I need to leave you, but Fay, I swear to you I will be back, and we will figure this out."
"Willshebe there?" I asked. I wanted to slap myself for my stupid question, because of courseshewould be there, hisbride,and it shouldn't have mattered to me one bit because I had ten thousand more important questions to ask and things to think about.
He took my face into his hands. "Fay, I swear to you, I will never touch another besides you."
His eyes were sincere, and I believed him, but… "But you are supposed to have a son with her, aren't you?"
His expression darkened, and for a moment he truly did look like a demon from hell, and yet he didn't frighten me, not one bit. "That will never happen."
Iwasinadark mood when I went to fetch Phoebe, reminding myself repeatedly that none of this was her fault, and I needed to be patient and courteous.
Thankfully she was already dressed. A servant, I assumed a Tainted, must have already informed her of Behlial's request. I was thankful for that, but also realized that my absence in the royal quarters would sooner or later be noticed. I would need to be more careful.
"Good morning, Phoebe," I forced my voice to sound pleasant.
"Azazel," she greeted back carefully. She looked young and fragile in her black dress, and I was glad that I picked her; there was no telling what Nergal or Balaam would have done to her.
"I already told you yesterday that I won't touch you, but I want to reiterate this," I said.
"I'm not going to thank you for something that should be expected," she replied with more spunk than her innocent face suggested.
"I don't expect thanks, but I need you to understand that for this to work, we need to be discreet about this. I will need to hold your hand, maybe place an arm around you; it is expected. Behlial expects us to have a son soon." At the sight of her stricken face I added, "Don't worry, that won't happen either." Even though I had no idea how to pull any of this off. Keeping my hands off her and fighting my brothers was one thing, but how was I going to get away with not getting her pregnant? Sooner or later Behlial would demand it or give her to somebody else to do the deed.
Thankfully she didn't ask any other questions. Her brave demeanor faltered some and she mumbled, "I understand."
