couldn't answer, she was using all her energy to hold the sickness inside. Aine ran for the back door with both Demons hot on her trail. She burst into the alley behind the tavern. A bin with refuse and rotting meat assaulted her senses.
"Leraye, wait," Barbas said sharply.
She rounded the trash receptacle just as Barbas's hand curled around her bicep. He jerked as if blasted by an energy pulse. But she couldn't worry about that as she bent and spewed the meager contents of her stomach into the overflowing container, and her humiliation splattered all over the garbage.
Barbas held back her hair, nearly holding her body upright as she expelled the sickness from her body. Aine slumped for a moment, collecting herself before straightening to face the two Demons. The slight contact was the first she'd had in months. She wanted to weep because the touch was harsh and not at all tender. Aine held the memory of Barbas's sweetness in her heart and hoped that he would protect her from this Demon warrior. Like he tried to protect her from her father in the prison. But as she looked at his face, her heart splintered.
"Gods." Barbas's face was dead white, as if he'd had a shock. As if she'd betrayed him. Which wasn't remotely true. Hadn't she kept his secret?
The menacing one, Leraye, scanned Barbas as if looking for injury. "What's wrong?"
"She's...pregnant."
FIFTEEN
Barbas couldn't move. Struck immobile by his newfound knowledge.
"Well, this is unexpected." Leraye glanced around the empty alley, continually casing the area for enemies. But Barbas couldn't seem to focus on anything but Aine.
"How did you know that?" Aine stepped back, away from Barbas and Leraye. In a protective gesture, she wrapped her arms around her middle. Protecting her baby from him.
Aine was going to have a baby.
His baby? "Is it mine?" He curled his palms around her shoulders, his grip tense, bordering on ruthless. But Gods.
"No," she said sarcastically. "While imprisoned for the last three months, I traded sex for food. You ass. Of course it's yours. Why do you think I'm here?"
Too many items to address in that flip diatribe. Barbas released her shoulders and dropped back a step and concentrated on the only item forefront in his mind. His child. Their child. "But...how?"
"This is not the place to discuss the...situation." Leraye curled one arm around Aine's shoulders in what likely looked like a hug to an outsider but she was well and truly restrained. And Barbas could not stop the swell of aggression that swamped him. He didn't like Leraye touching her. Which was crazy. Leraye was enamored of his own loves.
"Do not forget, she is well trained," Barbas murmured his mind still fuzzy. A baby.
"She won't do anything to endanger the baby." Leraye refuted.
Aine said, " She is right next to you."
Leraye pushed Aine into Barbas arms. "You take her. I'll watch your back."
Barbas relaxed as soon as Leraye stopped touching Aine. He had gone around the bend. He had much more pressing concerns than Leraye touching her. But Barbas was happy when her shoulders relaxed and her body curved into his. When she'd been pressed against Leraye she'd held stiff as a body in full rigor. "We need to blindfold you."
"I know where the Castle is located."
Both Demons stiffened. Leraye shot him a look but Barbas shook his head, negative. He had not revealed anything to her.
"Then why did you chose to come to the village?" Leraye asked evenly.
"To approach the cloaked castle would be an act of aggression. I mean no harm. The move was intended to be a conciliatory gesture on my part."
"Fair enough," Leraye replied.
But Barbas had had enough. He felt exposed, raw. His earlier anticipation at seeing his lover again had dissolved into a conflicting mass of emotions. Primary was unease. They were too out in the open here. Too public.
"Let's go." Barbas glanced around one last time. "I don't have a good feeling about this."
Within minutes they were on their way to the
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