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"I have to, Daemon," Jaenelle said gently. Her fingers stroked his head, tangling in his hair.
"Why?" Daemon cried. He raised his head, his eyes pleading. "I know you care for your family—"
"Family?" Jaenelle let out a small, bitter laugh. "My family lives in Hell, Prince. "
"Then why won't you go? If you don't think the Priest will take you, at least go to Cassandra. A Sanctuary offers some protection. "
"No. "
"Why?"
Jaenelle backed away from him, troubled. "Saetan asked me to live with him, and I promised him I would, but I can't yet. "
Daemon leaned back on his heels. This was brutal, and it was blackmail, but she wasn't leaving him any choice. "I know about Briarwood. "
Jaenelle shuddered. "Then you know why I can't go yet. "
Daemon grabbed her with bruising force and shook her. "No, I don't know why. If I tell him—"
Jaenelle looked at him, her eyes huge and horrified. "Please don't tell him, Daemon," she whispered. "Please. "
"Why?" he snapped. "He won't turn on you because of what's been done. Do you really think he'll stop caring for you if he finds out?"
"He might. "
Daemon leaned back, stunned. Since it made no difference to him, except that it made him want to protect her more, he'd assumed Saetan would feel the same. Would it make a difference?
"Daemon," Jaenelle pleaded, "if he finds out I've been . . . sick . . . if he thinks I'm not good enough to teach the Craft to . . . "
"What do you mean, 'sick'?" But he knew. A hospital for "emotionally disturbed" children. A child who told stories about unicorns and dragons, who visited friends no one else saw because, wherever they existed, it wasn't in Terreille. A child whose sense of reality had been twisted in Briarwood for so many years she didn't know what to believe or whom she could trust.
Daemon held her close, stroking her hair. He felt her tears on his neck and his heart bled. She was only twelve. For all her Craft, for all her magic, for all her strength, she was still only twelve. She believed all the lies they'd told her. Even though she struggled against them, even though she tried to doubt the words they'd pounded into her for so many years, she believed their lies. And because she believed, she was more afraid of losing her mentor and friend than she was of losing her life.
He kissed her cheek. "If I promise not to tell, will you promise to go—and not come back?"
"I can't," Jaenelle whispered.
"Why?" Daemon said angrily. He was losing patience. They were losing precious time.
Jaenelle leaned back and looked at him with her ancient, haunted eyes. "Wilhelmina," she said in a flat voice. "Wilhelmina's strong, Daemon, stronger than she knows, strong enough to wear the Sapphire if she isn't broken. I have to help her until she makes the Offering. Then she'll be stronger than most of the males here, and they won't be able to break her. Then I'll go live with the Priest. "
Daemon looked away. It would be at least four years before Wilhelmina could make the Offering. Jaenelle, if she stayed in Beldon Mor, would be long dead by then.
A sharp rap on the door startled them. A woman called out, "You all right in there, missy? Hurry up, now. The girls are selecting partners for the dance. "
Daemon slowly got to his feet. He felt old, beaten. But if he could keep her safe until tomorrow, Saetan might have more persuasive weapons at his disposal. Wrapping the sight shield around himself, he opened the door and slipped out behind Jaenelle. The woman, impatiently waiting outside, took a firm hold of Jaenelle's arm and steered her back into the ballroom.
Daemon slipped along the edge of the room silently, invisibly. It was such a small thing to stop a heart, to reach in and nick an artery. Was there any man here who wasn't expendable, including himself? No, not when the ice whispered in his veins, not when the double-edged sword was unsheathed. He slipped up behind his cousin and heard Kartane say, "That one? She's a whey-faced little bitch. The sister's prettier. "
Daemon smiled. Still wrapped in the sight shield, his right hand reached out toward Kartane's shoulder. For a moment, before his hand tightened in a malevolent grip, he felt Kartane lean against him, enjoying the sensuous, shivery caress of the long nails. Daemon enjoyed feeling the sensuous shiver change to shivery fear as his nails pierced Kartane's jacket and shirt.
"Cousin," Daemon whispered in his ear. "Come out to the terrace with me, cousin. "
"Get away from me," Kartane growled out of the corner of his mouth as he tried to shrug off Daemon's hand. "I've business here. "
Daemon continued to smile. Foolish of the boy to try to bluff when he could smell the fear. "You've business with me first. " He pivoted slowly, pulling Kartane with him.
"Bastard," Kartane said softly, walking toward the terrace to keep from being dragged there.
"By birth and by temperament," Daemon agreed with amiable coldness.
When they were out on the terrace, Daemon dropped the sight shield. Compared to the fiery cold he felt inside himself, the air seemed balmy. While he waited for Kartane to stop looking at the garden and face him, he absently brushed the branches of a small potted bush. He smiled as ice instantly coated them. He kept stroking the bush until the whole thing was coated. Then, with a shrug, he took his gold case from his pocket, lit a cigarette, and waited. He was between Kartane and the door. His cousin wasn't going to leave before he was ready to let him.
Shivering violently, Kartane turned.
"The whey-faced little bitch," Daemon crooned while the cigarette smoke ringed his head.
"What about her?" Kartane asked nervously.
"Stay away from her. "
"Why?" Kartane said sneeringly. "Do you want her?"
"Yes. "
Daemon watched Kartane stagger back and grip the terrace railing for support. Finally, the truth. He wanted her. Already, in ways Kartane and his kind would never understand, he was her lover.
"There are prettier ones if you want a taste," Kartane coaxed.
"Flesh is irrelevant," Daemon replied. "My hunger goes deeper. " He pitched the cigarette, watching it sail past Kartane's cheek before falling into the garden. "But, cousin, if you should ever mention my . . . lapse . . . or my choice . . . "
The unspoken threat hung in the air.
"You'd kill me?" Kartane laughed in disbelief. "Kill me? Dorothea's son?"
Daemon smiled. "Killing your body is the least of what I'd do to you. Remember Cornelia? When the time came, she was actually grateful for what I did to the flesh. " It took only a moment for Daemon to slip beneath Kartane's inner barriers and, with the delicacy of a snowflake, drop into his mind the memory of what Cornelia's room had looked like just before Daemon left. He waited patiently for Kartane to finish heaving. "Now—"
A shriek of rage and the sound of breaking glass in one of the rooms above the ballroom cut him off.
Daemon swayed. Why was the ground—not the ground—why was he spinning this way, spiraling toward something that made him shiver?
Spiraling.
The last time he'd felt something like that was when . . .
Daemon ran through the ballroom, through the hallway, and raced up the stairs. He hesitated when he saw Alexandra, Philip, Leland, and Robert standing with a group of people outside one of the doors, but another crash and a scream pulled him forward. He hit the door running and exploded into the room.
The only light in the room came from the open door. The lamps were shattered. A small brass bed, conspicuous because it didn't belong in a sitting room, was twisted almost beyond recognition. Broken vases crunched under him. A group of men, pressed together in the center of the room, stared, deathly pale, at something in the corner.
Daemon turned toward that corner of the room.
Wilhelmina huddled in the corner, shaking, whimpering. Her dress, partially undone, had slipped down, revealing one round young shoulder.
Jaenelle
stood in front of her sister, holding the neck of a broken wine bottle with an ease that spoke of long familiarity with a knife. Her blazing sapphire eyes were fixed on the group of men.
Daemon moved toward her slowly, careful not to break her line of vision. He stopped an arm's length from her. If she lunged, she could gut him. It didn't occur to him to be frightened of her. That shadowy voice he could finally put a name to whispered up from the depths of his own being: Protocol. Protocol. Protocol.
Jaenelle spoke.
Daemon glanced at the men, at Philip and Alexandra and the others who were creeping in through the doorway. They looked shocked by the wreckage. He wondered how many of them would have been shocked by what was supposed to have happened here. Philip and Alexandra stared at Jaenelle, and he knew they were hearing unintelligible nonsense. Even he didn't know the Old Tongue well enough to translate all of her beautiful, deadly words.
"Dr. Carvay?" Philip said, his eyes still on Jaenelle.
Dr. Carvay, the head of Briarwood, stepped away from the group of men, glanced at Jaenelle, and shook his head. "I'm afraid the child has become unstrung by all the excitement," he said solicitously.
"Lady. " Daemon sent his thoughts along a Black thread. Protocol. "Lady, they can't understand you. "
Jaenelle stopped speaking. As Philip and Alexandra conferred with Dr. Carvay, she struggled to find the common language.
Dr. Carvay walked toward Jaenelle. "Jaenelle," he said in a too smooth voice that made Daemon turn squarely to face him, "come with Dr. Carvay now, dear. You're upset. You need some of your medicine. "
"Stay aware from her," Daemon growled. An instant later he felt a tightening pain between his legs. He stared at Alexandra, who looked frightened but determined. She was using the Ring against him. Now, when Jaenelle needed him, she was threatening to bring him to his knees. He clenched his teeth against the pain and waited.
"Come, Jaenelle," Dr. Carvay said again.
"You can't have my sister," Jaenelle finally said, her voice husky with rage. "Not ever. "
Every man in the room shuddered at the sound of her voice.
"We don't want your sister. We want to make you bet—"
"I'll send you into the bowels of Hell," Jaenelle said, her voice rising with her rage. "I'll feed you to the Harpies you helped create. I'll shave you if you ever touch my sister. I'll shave you all!"
"JAENELLE!" Alexandra stepped forward, eyes flashing.
"You disgrace your family with this behavior. Put that down. " She pointed at the broken bottle.
Daemon watched, heartsick, as Jaenelle, rage and confusion warring in her eyes, lowered her arm and dropped the bottle.