Page 38 of My Demon Desire
Fighting the urge to cry, I nod. "Let's go."
"It's too dangerous right now." Reis takes a breath and meets my gaze. "He's being held in the dungeon."
A mixture of anxiety and unease floods my body and I swallow hard. “How do you know that?”
“When we were out searching for you.” He pales. “I overheard guards complaining about a new captive from the human world that the queen treats like a pet in the dungeon.”
My hand flies to my mouth, covering it. The queen can't know he’s the heir, right or she'd have killed him. Maybe his blood did the same thing to her and she can't figure out if he's royal or not exactly.
Reis takes a deep breath and meets my gaze. "He is being held as a hostage. The queen believes that if she holds your father, she can have you come to her willingly."
“Why would she even bother with me? She doesn’t even know I’m here.”
“But your father does,” Reis says gently. “She would’ve gotten him to talk. To tell her everything and believe me, no one can resist her torture. He’d have given her the fact that you’re here, that you’re royalty, all of it.”
I clamp my lips shut and shake my head, my chest feeling like I swallowed shards of glass. "No. We have to do something. I have to get him out of there."
His thumbs rub across my hands sending tingles through me. "You're not alone in this, Annalise. We'll help you. But we can't rush in. The queen will be expecting that."
"All right." I force out a shaky breath. "Then what do we do? How do we beat her?" My heart thuds against my rib cage.
"You have magic inside you."
When I scoff and open my mouth to protest, he places a finger over my lips.
"There's a powerful magic inside you that you could wield. One that could help you against the queen. But it's locked up tight under a spell I can't break." Reis releases my hands and I feel the chill of his absence.
"So what do we do? Did the ritual tell you anything about how to gain access to my magic?" Which sounds so strange coming out of my mouth.
He takes a deep breath and holds my gaze. "I could sense there are three locks. One has been cracked, but the other two remain strong and intact. I've no idea what caused one of them to fracture. Perhaps it was following your father through the portal here."
I nod, that makes sense. "And my father must have magic too." Since I interrupted him performing a ritual to bring Mom back. I shudder. What would have happened if I hadn't intervened? Would he have been successful and brought Mom here with him instead of me?
"You must figure out how to unlock the remaining two locks. To go up against the queen now would be suicide for all of us and she'd have no further reason to keep your father alive either."
My skin crawls. "She knows about me then?"
"By now, yes, I'm certain she does."
He didn't have to tell me that she'd probably done something to my dad to get him to talk about me. I push aside the images of him being tortured and nod, taking a shaky breath.
"I'll do whatever it takes," I whisper, vowing with all my heart.
Reis steps closer and cups my chin, making me look up into his intense gaze. His gaze is blazing with emotion and desire as he looks into my eyes. He leans down and presses his lips to mine, and I feel a warmth spread through me as his lips move against mine.
"Annalise," he whispers against my lips.
Warmth in my chest intensifies and I wrap my arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.
I can sense a power coming from him, and I know that he has secrets he isn't telling me.
But in this moment, all I can focus on is the warmth of his lips and the way his hands have move around my waist and pull me closer. His erection presses into my stomach and heat floods me.
When he finally pulls away, my lips feel tender and my heart is pounding.
"We'll get him back," he whispers, brushing a strand of hair from my face.
For a moment, I take in his tender gaze and the feeling of his hands on my skin, I know that with his help, I will succeed in rescuing my father. I just have to find the two remaining locks to my magic.
