He felt Saetan grab him, dig in, hold on.

That rush of power vanished as quickly as it had struck—and that scared him more than the blast. For Jaenelle to unleash and reabsorb that much power that quickly…

“Jaenelle,” Daemon said, springing to his feet. He sent out a psychic probe, a quick, casting search for her, and brushed against a spot in the Hall that was burning cold. Despite his pulling back quickly, the lancing pain almost drove him to his knees. And that drove him forward.

“Daemon, no!” Saetan said, struggling to get to his feet.

Daemon ran through the corridors. He didn’t need to search anymore. The corridors got colder and colder the closer he got to the room where she had unleashed that power.

“Daemon!”

He heard Saetan running to catch up to him, but by then he’d reached the door to the room. Using Craft, he opened the door, then stepped into the room.

The cold had a jagged edge that was physically painful, but he barely noticed it because, as he looked around, he couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing. It wasn’t until he realized that the odd red speckles on the windows were frozen drops of blood that his mind identified the rest…

“Daemon.”…and he understood what Lucivar had been telling him about Jaenelle’s forced marriage. She splattered him all over the room.

“Daemon.”

He heard the plea in Saetan’s voice, but couldn’t respond to it. A peculiar numbness had settled over his emotions…and without being able to feel, he could think.

He knew why Saetan hadn’t wanted him to see this room. By the very nature of his duties, a Consort couldn’t be inhibited when dealing with his Queen. A Consort knowingly and willingly made himself physically vulnerable to her in ways no other male in the court had to. A Consort who feared his Queen couldn’t function in the bed.

But he’d seen this side of her before. Oh, it had been only a faint glimpse, but he’d known that this was another facet of Witch.

And this was the side of her that would be drawn to the surface by intense arousal as well as intense rage. Could he live with that? Could he lead the sexual dance once he brought out this side of her?

The heat of the sexual hunger inside him, the driving need to mate with Witch that suddenly engulfed him, burned away the emotional numbness. And left in its place a chilling approval of what he saw.

He stepped out of the room and closed the door.

“Daemon,” Saetan said softly, watching him.

Daemon smiled. “It’s a pity about the wallpaper. It was a lovely design.”

4 / Kaeleer