Chapter 32 Selma #2
Kirigan’s upper lip curled in a snarl—the first expression of emotion she’d seen on him. “Of course I care. You and he are the only reason I still suffer through the torture of walking this Earth, despite what hatred for me still festers in your hearts.
“However, one does not simply charge into battle against the Queen of Demons, nor sling accusations of betrayal against our king’s heir. We need to plan, and you need to take care of the female—she’s dead on her feet, her sharp tongue notwithstanding.”
“As you wish. We will speak further in the morning.”
Kesh’s large hand found her shoulder again, and when he practically herded her out of the room, she got the distinct impression he was happy to put distance between them and his father.
“And Kesh?” Kirigan’s deep baritone called after them just before the door shut in their wake.
Kesh paused, and she could have sworn she heard a muted profanity slip past his lips. “Father?”
“Make sure the Breeder does not roam around unescorted. It would be a pity if she came to any harm.”
Selma’s heart jumped into her throat at the casual threat, and she gladly followed Kesh when he steered her down several long hallways and up a winding flight of stairs.
“What the hell did he mean by that? Did he just threaten me?” she finally asked when she was absolutely certain they were out of earshot.
The demon by her side sighed. “He is… not entirely stable, and he will occasionally lash out. It was not a threat—he likely doesn’t want to accidentally hurt you if he comes across you while he’s in one of his moods, and that was just a reminder for me not to let you out of my sight.”
She glanced up at Kain’s brother, frowning. “Is it because I might remind him of your mother? My scent, I mean.”
An odd expression crossed Kesh’s features and he gave her a long look out of the corner of his eye. “He told you?”
“About how she died? Yeah. I’m… I’m sorry. You were even younger than Kain—it must have been so hard for you, too.”
Despite the horrors of the night and the near-debilitating exhaustion starting to creep up along her limbs, she felt sadness for the tragedy that had ripped this family apart—and a stab of guilt for springing the subject on him.
Kesh’s dark eyes narrowed. “He knew you before that auction, didn’t he?”
Selma bit the inside of her cheek as she remembered the first time she’d seen Kain. “Yes. He saved me. It’s a long story. I didn’t think he was going to come to my auction, but he did—to save me again.”
“So that’s why he went. When I heard my brother was going to attend a Breeder’s auction, I didn’t believe it—until I saw him march down the stairs and challenge the Prince of Demons himself. Never thought he’d bid on a mate.”
Kesh opened a wooden door, revealing a rather large bedroom with a plush carpet and antique-looking furniture.
“Wait…” Selma paused as she realized what that sentence meant. “You… You were there?”
Her mate’s brother had seen her naked—had seen them have wild and obscene sex in front of a bunch of strangers. Heat flushed her face and she had to fight herself not to hide it in her hands. Fucking demons and their fucking barbaric customs!
“Yes.” He walked into the bedroom, pulling her with him before shutting the door. “I heard Kain would be attending and I was… curious. Of course he was going to save you—I should have realized there was some noble motive behind it. He always did have a soft spot for vulnerable women, after…”
He fell silent for a moment, but then seemed to gather himself with a deep intake of breath. “But he got you pregnant, you say? I bet that came as a nasty surprise to him.”
Hurt and some oddly protective instincts made her press a hand against her stomach to shield the small life growing there.
“He was happy,” she said, more than a note of frost in her voice. “Scared, but happy. Don’t you insult him, or me, by insinuating anything else.”
A wry smile pulled on Kesh’s devious lips, offsetting his look of mild surprise. “You really are a little firecracker, huh? Back-talking a demon Lord mere days after your claiming. Is that why he chose you?”
In truth she had no idea why Kain had fallen for her, but she didn’t feel like telling this stranger anymore of their private business.
He may have been Kain’s brother, but she was done talking about Kain when he wasn’t here.
If Kesh hadn’t heard about his brother’s decision to attend the auction directly from him, they obviously didn’t have a close relationship.
Selma set her jaw. “Instead of worrying about that, maybe you could tell me when we’ll go get Kain?”
“As soon as we’re able. My father isn’t wrong—it’s a rather delicate situation, and we, at the very least, need to know where he’s being kept before we can act. But this is not something you need to worry about, Breeder. I will take care of it—you just need to rest.”
Great, another overbearing male who’d decided she was too delicate to do anything but nap.
She was pretty exhausted, though, and that four-poster bed did look pretty inviting—and despite how annoying Kesh’s assurance that she didn’t need to worry because he was in charge now was, some embarrassing part of her responded to his self-assurance by letting go of her anxiety and fear.
Somewhere along the line, her hormones had evidently gotten the upper hand, and she now instinctively trusted big brutes who said they’d take care of everything so she didn’t have to.
It was infuriating.
Annoyed with herself as much as with him, Selma turned toward the bed. However much she wanted to throw a fit, she needed to sleep more than she needed to assert herself right now. Tomorrow, however, was another matter entirely.
Determined to climb in and disappear from the world under what looked to be extraordinarily thick and fluffy blankets, she kicked off her shoes and unzipped and removed Kesh’s leather jacket—and was halted by a sharp intake of breath from the demon behind her.
“I want the name of the one who did this.”
Selma blinked at his angry tone, then remembered what state Marathin had left her clothes in.
“Oh. It’s… a bit of a long story. One of Naharan’s accomplices chased me down when I fled.”
She pulled uncomfortably on her ruined shirt, ensuring that she wasn’t flashing him anything inappropriate, then finally climbed into the bed.
It was soft and heavenly, and she felt her muscles relax into the mattress on contact.
She didn’t want to think about Marathin and what he’d done to her, or even what she’d done to him.
“Who is he?”
The low growl from the end of the bed had the small hairs on her arms standing on end. Selma cracked her eyes open halfway to look at the demon Lord.
“He’s dead. I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay? I’m so tired.”
Kesh grunted an assent, though he still looked rather scary and angry as he hovered by the end of the bed. When she let her eyelids slide closed again, she heard him move quietly around the room, undoubtedly to turn off the light and ensure that everything was safe for her.
She sighed. As infuriating as it was to be treated like a china doll, there was still something rather endearing about these big brutes’ obsessive need to care for the women whose scent drove them loopy.
Besides, the somewhat familiar pattern reminded her of Kain, and she dozed off with a feeling of being safe in the hands of people who would help her save her mate.