Kiss of a Demon King

37

"Wake the hell up!" Sabine shot up in the bed, blinking around her. "Is someone here?" she murmured, seeing no one in the luxurious room with her. How long had she been out? It was already dark outside.

"Are you up yet?" a voice said, laying words in Sabine's mind.

"Lanthe?"

"Ah, gods, Abie, I've been searching this city for you!"

Sabine swung her legs over the side of the high bed. "You're . . . here?"

"I got your message at Tornin and opened a portal here. I've been scouring this place hour after hour."

"The Vrekeners-"

"Are everywhere. But you have to get back for your dose-now! Where are you?"

"With the demon. In his home." In our home.

"Can you escape him?"

"Things are different between us," Sabine admitted. "We've kind of reached an understanding."

"Good! I'll make you another portal in six days, and you can return then. But for now, you have to come with me!"

"What has happened?"

"Omort lied-the morsus will hit you a week before you'd thought."

"He did what?" That bastard! When she faced him again, she would make him meet his nightmares, would show him scenes that even he couldn't bear.

"It's true. He admitted it to me himself. Abie, it's a mess at Tornin. The vampires bailed. The fire demons are squir-relly. And Omort nearly took my power and killed me."

"Then you can't go back there!"

"I convinced him that you would never accept him if he harmed me. Omort still believes the two of you will wed. Now, find your way out of the house, and follow my voice to the portal. We can't waste any more time."

"I can't just leave Rydstrom without a word," Sabine said.

"Are you jesting? As much as I hope it works out for you kids, now is not the time to start confiding in him."

When Sabine heard the paneled bedroom door creaking open, she quickly cloaked herself in invisibil­ity, then cast an illusion of herself sleeping soundly.

Rydstrom looked in on her, gazing at her sleep­ing form with an unmistakably proud expression. She probed his mind, just a touch.

-My woman . . . in my bed. At last.-

Then his expression changed once more, that line between his brows deepening.

"Oh, my gods, Lanthe. Rydstrom is looking at an illusion of me-and he appears to be ... in love."

"You saw that look?" Lanthe sounded wistful. "Did he have his brows drawn with feeling?"

"Yes. And as he walked out of the room, he kind of rubbed his chest a little." "Like his heart hurt!"

"I've only ever seen that on TV beforel" Sabine said. "Lanthe, I have to tell him-about everything."

"So he can do what exactly?" Lanthe demanded. "And while you're informing him that you are going to a place he will never let you go, I'll be Vrekener bait."

If Sabine explained the poison to Rydstrom, he wouldn't likely allow Sabine just to waltz back to Omort. And if she told him that she would probably die if she didn't make it through this portal, he'd insist that he could find help for her here. But there was no one on this plane who could prevent the morsus from striking.

Even knowing this, Sabine bit her lip, torn about what to do. "Sneaking out of his house seems so wrong."

"You are without a doubt one hundred percent in love, because it's making you stupid! It's not reasonable even to consider this. You can come back in mere days." "I could write him a let-" "Abie, I just heard wings."

Sabine was on her feet in a second. "I'm coming!" She hauled on her boots, then snatched up her clothes. Leaving the illusion on the bed, she kept herself cloaked in invisibility and slipped from the room.

She heard Rydstrom walking the house and eluded him to find her way out of a back door. As she hurried

off the property into the night, she hastily dragged on

her top and skirt.

The demon would follow as soon as he discovered her missing-she could only hope to make it to Lanthe's portal before then.

"Lanthe?"

"Sabine, just follow my voice. I'm in a park somewhere."

The streets all looked the same, like a labyrinth. Rain began to fall, lightly at first, then intensifying. Soon, lightning fractured the skies. Thunder quaked. As though poured from a bucket, rain pounded down.

"Lanthe?"

"I'm here. This weather blows."

Sabine caught sight of a park in the distance. "Talk to me."

"You're close."

"I can see a-" Sabine stumbled when she heard the demon roar her name, the sound echoing like a can­non's boom.

He'd started the chase. And he sounded enraged.

"Lanthe, he's coming for me!" No answer. "Lanthe?Where are you?"

When she answered, her voice was fainter. "Kind of had to make a detour."

"You're getting farther away from me? What are you doing?"

Her voice was a scarce whisper. "Right now I'm running from winged monsters. You?"

"Fleeing a seven-foot-tall rage demon. ..."