around the laceration are already blackened, proof that he has only
moments to live. It was an injury made by a blade of rare painite—the only
weapon that can kill a demon.
“I had to, brother.” Jadon glances at his pregnant mate. “She must live.”
“You summoned me to save a human?” Kameen’s voice vibrates
through the trees, rumbling the ground beneath our feet.
Jadon shakes his head. “The child. She is …” His nostrils flare. “They
came for us. For our daughter. They know she’s special. She could be
the —”
“Who burned them?” Kameen jerks his head at the nearest charred
body, his eyes narrowed. “You cannot summon fire, and your human …”
His lip curls in disgust. Jadon is a powerful water demon, and him taking a
human as his mate is a source of great dishonor to his family. His choice
caused his exile. Summoning his brother—the most powerful demon alive
—was a huge risk. Jadon could have used his last shred of magic to put out
the flames and used any remnants of healing energy to try to save his mate.
And maybe he should have.
“She did,” Jadon insists. “Our daughter burned them all.”
A shiver of lightning ignites my veins. “The child caused the fire from
her mother’s womb?”
He nods, beseeching me with his eyes, likely trying to appeal to the
feminine compassion I cannot help but feel for an unborn child. “You must
protect her.”
Insignius clears his throat. “You know we cannot intervene.”
Jadon tries to stand, but his body is too weakened by the painite, and he
stumbles back to the ground. He makes a grab for his older brother’s cloak,
his fingers slipping over the thick black material without finding a hold.
“Please, Kameen. You know what the prophecies say. She could be the
key.”
Kameen snorts, but I feel his iron will softening under the pressure of
his brother’s dying plea.
“Jadon,” the human calls, her voice weak like her body. Her eyes flicker
closed, and Death takes her quickly, as though aware He is in the presence
of a being so powerful they could bring her back to life with a snap of their
fingers. But Kameen would never allow me to so blatantly disobey the
ancient laws.